Archive By Section - Signal AP
Appeals court hears challenge to Florida drug test law
ATLANTA (AP) - Lawyers on both sides of a battle over a Florida law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test appeared before a federal appeals court Thursday, presenting technical arguments about constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.
Weekly applications for US jobless aid dip to 363K
WASHINGTON (AP) - Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 363,000 last week, a level consistent with modest hiring.
Consumers give U.S. economy a lift before election
WASHINGTON (AP) - A flurry of reports Thursday showed that U.S. consumers are growing more confident and spending more, boosting a still-weak economy just five days before the presidential election.
US stocks rise on strong economic data
U.S. stocks rose strongly Thursday following positive reports about manufacturing and consumer confidence, two keys elements of the economic recovery.
Presidential politics reignites in Sandy's wake
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - Presidential politics reignited in the wake of natural disaster Thursday, with the candidates beginning their full-throttle closing arguments with new vigor on the same pocketbook concerns that have dominated the campaign from the start.
Salmon swim across flooded road in Washington
UNION, Wash. (AP) - A flooding river covered a road in Washington, allowing some migrating salmon to swim across the pavement.
Raft of office-buying fuels disgust from Chinese
XILINHOT, China (AP) - In a small town in northern China's Inner Mongolia where sheep and cattle easily outnumber humans, Fan Chen paid a Communist Party boss three times an average urban resident's annual salary to become a local police chief.
Broker: Wright-designed Ariz. home to be preserved
PHOENIX (AP) - A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Phoenix home that had been slated for demolition will apparently survive under a new owner.
Wind kicks up 100-year-old volcanic ash in Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A smog-like haze that hung over part of Alaska's Kodiak Island this week was courtesy of a volcanic eruption - 100 years ago.
Louisiana ex-con executed for 2003 Texas killing
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Donnie Lee Roberts, convicted in his girlfriend's 2003 slaying in Texas, was executed Wednesday for fatally shooting the woman and taking items from her home to sell or trade to support his drug habit.
Fire erupts at Ky chemical train derailment site
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Flames from a derailed train car sent people rushing out of neighborhoods and an entire town near Louisville on Wednesday while firefighters tried to douse the chemical blaze that left three workers badly burned.
Greece outlines new austerity as debt load rises
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's government on Wednesday outlined the new austerity measures it intends to take over the next two years, a series of painful spending cuts and tax hikes that its international bailout creditors are demanding in exchange for rescue loans.
Brad Pitt donates $100K for gay marriage effort
WASHINGTON (AP) - Brad Pitt has agreed to donate $100,000 to help the Human Rights Campaign raise money for its efforts to support same-sex marriage initiatives in several states.
Syria presses heavy air bombardment of rebels
BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian warplanes fired missiles at opposition strongholds around Damascus and in the north on Wednesday as Turkey, a key backer of the anti-regime rebels, appeared to distance itself from an earlier call to impose a no-fly zone.
English town to burn Lance Armstrong in effigy
LONDON (AP) - His career is in ruins and now an effigy of Lance Armstrong is about to go up in smoke.
Articles by Section - Signal AP
Facebook can now say more on user surveillance
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) - Facebook's top attorney said Friday night that after negotiations with national security officials the company has been given permission to make new but still very limited revelations about government orders to turn over user data.
Bear with head stuck in jar is rescued in Pa.
JAMISON CITY, Pa. (AP) - Four central Pennsylvania residents said they used only a rope and a flashlight during a wild chase to rescue a young bear whose head had been stuck in a plastic jar for at least 11 days.
Google launches Internet-beaming balloons
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) - Wrinkled and skinny at first, the translucent, jellyfish-shaped balloons that Google released this week from a frozen field in the heart of New Zealand's South Island hardened into shiny pumpkins as they rose into the blue winter skies above Lake Tekapo, passing the first big test of a lofty goal to get the entire planet online.
Amid Gitmo strike, ex-detainee tells of force-feed
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - For more than three months, the U.S. military has faced off with defiant prisoners on a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, strapping down as many as 44 each day to feed them a liquid nutrient mix through a nasal tube to prevent them from starving to death.
Iranian-Americans and expatriates vote in election
LOS ANGELES (AP) - With their passports in tow, Iranian-Americans and expatriates trickled into polling sites across the United States on Friday, joining their countrymen half a world away in voting in Iran's presidential election.
1 dead, 6 injured in Northern California crash
BRENTWOOD (AP) - A woman has died and six others, including four children and a pregnant woman, have been injured in a crash in the San Francisco Bay area city of Brentwood.
Crews battling Colo. wildfire hold flames in check
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Crews battling the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history say they were better prepared to take on the flames because of lessons learned fighting last year's Waldo Canyon Fire, a similarly devastating blaze that devoured hundreds of homes and killed two people only a few miles away.
Abalone diver drowns in waters off NorCal
SANTA ROSA (AP) - An abalone diver has drowned in the waters off Northern California.
Poll: Most men aspire to be dads
A recent Associated Press-WE tv poll found more than 8 in 10 men said they have always wanted to be fathers or think they'd like to be one someday.
Officials: NSA programs broke plots in 20 nations
WASHINGTON (AP) - Top U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday that information gleaned from two controversial data-collection programs run by the National Security Agency thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries - and that gathered data is destroyed every five years.
Police: Dealers take over Santa Cruz man's home
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) - Santa Cruz police say they have arrested five people on charges that they allegedly turned a disabled man's home into a drug house and bicycle chop shop while failing to care for him as they were supposed to.
Lawyer: Miguel inviting lawsuit over fan's injury
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The woman who was kicked by Miguel during a Billboard Music Awards performance continues to suffer cognitive difficulties and has yet to receive any assistance from the R&B singer nearly a month after the incident, her attorney said.
Former Elmo puppeteer wins 3 Daytime Emmy awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Kevin Clash, the Elmo puppeteer who resigned amid allegations that he sexually abused underage boys, won three Daytime Emmy Awards for his work on "Sesame Street."
CA school district wins $2.6M in false rape case
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Long Beach Unified School District has won a $2.6 million judgment against a woman who falsely accused a former high school football star of rape that landed him in jail.
UPDATE: Celebrations break out in Iran after election
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Wild celebrations broke out on Tehran streets that were battlefields four years ago as reformist-backed Hasan Rowhani capped a stunning surge to claim Iran's presidency on Saturday, throwing open the political order after relentless crackdowns by hard-liners to consolidate and safeguard their grip on power.
