Gay marriage ceremonies begin in Maryland

BALTIMORE (AP) - Same-sex couples in Maryland were greeted with cheers and noisemakers held over from New Year's Eve parties, as gay marriage became legal in the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line on New Year's Day.

61 killed in Ivory Coast stampede

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) - At least 61 people were killed early Tuesday in a stampede following a New Year's fireworks display in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial center, said officials.

Despite cliff deal, tax hikes will hurt economy

WASHINGTON (AP) - A last-ditch tax deal in the Senate might let the U.S. economy escape the worst of the so-called fiscal cliff and avoid going back into recession. But even if the House goes along, the tax increases likely coming in 2013 will dent economic growth anyway.

Nearly 2 dozen dogs and cats exposed to parvovirus

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - Investigators say nearly two dozen dogs and cats seized at a Southern California pet store may have been exposed to parvovirus, which can be deadly if untreated.

3 more arrested in death of Calif. investor

MONTE SERENO, Calif. (AP) - Three more people have been arrested in connection with the brutal home-invasion slaying of a wealthy Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

Man charged in burning of LA homeless woman

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A 24-year-old Los Angeles man was charged Monday with attempted murder after a homeless woman was set on fire last week as she slept on a suburban bus bench, the district attorney's office said. Dennis Petillo is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on the attempted murder charge and an additional count of aggravated mayhem, said Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney. Carney will ask that Petillo's ...

Feds probe Stanford dam's effects on rare fish

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Federal regulators are investigating whether Stanford University's operation of a San Mateo County dam is illegally harming threatened steelhead trout on California's central coast.

Deal reached for stopping spike in milk prices

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top leaders in both parties on the House and Senate Agriculture committees have agreed to a one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill that expired in October, a move that could head off a possible doubling of milk prices next month.

Chavez suffers new complications in cancer fight

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez's new complications after cancer surgery prompted his closest allies to call for Venezuelans to pray for him on Monday, presenting an increasingly bleak outlook and prompting growing speculation about whether the ailing leader has much longer to live.

Father of Conn. school gunman claims son's body

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The father of the gunman who killed 26 people in a Connecticut elementary school, including 20 first-graders, has claimed his son's body, a spokesman for the family said Monday.

Asian nations giving enthusiastic welcome to 2013

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Sydney's skyline erupted with tons of exploding fireworks as revelers cheered in the new year from the city's crammed harbor in the world's first major celebration for 2013.

Lake Superior State's 38th list of banished words

DETROIT (AP) - Lake Superior State University's 38th annual list of banished words:

List: No love for 'fiscal cliff,' 'spoiler alert'

DETROIT (AP) - Spoiler alert: This story contains words and phrases that some people want to ban from the English language. "Spoiler alert" is among them. So are "kick the can down the road," ''trending" and "bucket list."

UPDATE: AP Sources: 'Fiscal cliff' deal emerging

WASHINGTON (AP) - Working with Congress against a midnight deadline, President Barack Obama said Monday that a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" was in sight but not yet finalized. The emerging deal would raise tax rates on family income over $450,000 and individual income over $400,000 a year, increase the estate tax rate and extend unemployment benefits for one year.

Over the fiscal cliff: Soft or hard landing?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were still in disarray as lawmakers returned to the Capitol to confront the tax-and-spend crisis. A tone-setting quotation was Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's assertion that the House under Republican Speaker John Boehner had been "operating with a dictatorship."

Vatican lashes out over accusations

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican is lashing out at "defamatory" and "anti-clerical left-wing" forces seeking to discredit Pope Francis over his actions during Argentina's 1976-1983 military junta.

Westminster council meets on exclusion of gay group from parade

WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California city is reviewing its rules after a gay Vietnamese-American group was excluded from February's annual Tet Parade in Little Saigon.

Journalist charged in hacking case

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Federal authorities on Thursday charged a journalist with conspiring with the notorious hacking group "Anonymous" to deface a story on the Los Angeles Times' website a little more than two years ago.

LA pays settlement to newspaper carriers injured in Dorner case

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The city has agreed to give $40,000 to two women whose pickup was shot up by a Police Department protection detail that mistook their newspaper delivery vehicle for the truck driven by rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner during his rampage, officials announced Thursday.

Foreclosure rates falling

LOS ANGELES (AP) - While the nation's foreclosure woes persist, new data show they're easing amid a resurgent housing market, rising home prices and efforts by some states to buy homeowners more time to avoid losing their homes.

Cruise line sends passengers home by air

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) - Passengers from the cruise ship Carnival Dream headed to the airport Thursday instead of sailing home after an on-board generator problem halted their trip in the latest maintenance headache for the world's largest cruise line.

TSA stands by plan to allow small knives on planes

Software glitch delays 660,000 tax refunds

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service says 660,000 taxpayers will have their refunds delayed by up to six weeks because of a problem with the software they used to file their tax returns.

Denver Nuggets owner buying Outdoor Network

DENVER (AP) - Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke is adding the Outdoor Network to his sports empire.

Missing movie exec's car found; homicide suspected

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Southern California authorities say they've found the car of a 20th Century Fox executive who vanished nearly a year ago and they now believe he is dead.

Shark used for Calif Kmart commercial dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A 5-foot-long shark has died after being put in a pool at a Los Angeles home that was used for filming of a Kmart commercial.

Study makes chilling forecast about quake, tsunami

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - More than 10,000 people could die when - not if - a monster earthquake and tsunami occur just off the Pacific Northwest coast, a new study predicts.

Furloughs increase Calif's long-term costs

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The state employee furloughs started under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger greatly increased the cash-out liabilities owed by California taxpayers when those workers leave government service.

Gulf spill trial: Contractor finds cement samples

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - BP's cement contractor on the Deepwater Horizon rig has discovered cement samples possibly tied to the ill-fated drilling project that weren't turned over to the Justice Department after the 2010 oil spill, a lawyer for the contractor said Thursday.

Ex-boss: NY rampage suspect was 'spooky'

HERKIMER, N.Y. (AP) - Police SWAT teams navigated a cluttered, abandoned bar to find the suspect in four fatal shootings holed up in a small room, killing him in a shootout early Thursday with officers after a nearly 19-hour standoff that paralyzed an upstate New York village.