Woman charged with murder in NY subway shove death

NEW YORK (AP) - A woman who told police she shoved a man to his death off a subway platform into the path of a train because she has hated Muslims since Sept. 11 and thought he was one was charged Saturday with murder as a hate crime, prosecutors said.

3 horses killed, 2 drivers hurt in freeway crashes

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say three horses were killed after they ran from a Northern California ranch onto freeway lanes, where they were struck in accidents that sent two drivers to the hospital with minor injuries.

CA medical board combats prescription overdoses

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The California Medical Board is asking for the public's help as it combats reckless prescribing by doctors.

Launchers turned in to LAPD were from military

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Experts say two rocket launchers turned in during a one-day gun buyback program in Los Angeles appear to be antitank weapons from the military.

Light snow expected on some Bay Area mountains

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thunderstorms, lightning, snow, massive waves and generally odd weather were all being reported across California as yet another storm moved through the region during the last weekend of the year.

Road trip on tap for NASA's Mars rover in new year

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Since captivating the world with its acrobatic landing, the Mars rover Curiosity has fallen into a rhythm: Drive, snap pictures, zap at boulders, scoop up dirt. Repeat.

21 missing Pakistani policemen found shot dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Twenty-one tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan's troubled northwest tribal region early Sunday, government officials said.

Ex-President Bush's condition improves

HOUSTON (AP) - Former President George H.W. Bush's condition continued to improve Saturday, prompting doctors to move him out of intensive care, a spokesman said.

Over the fiscal cliff: Soft or hard landing?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three days out from the end of the year, lawmakers appeared to have made little progress toward devising a compromise to keep the nation from going over the so-called fiscal cliff at the start of 2013. All eyes were on the Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate, who vowed to keep chipping away despite the wide gulf still separating them.

All eyes on them, Senate leaders seek fiscal deal

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate leaders rushed to assemble a last-ditch agreement to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of postelection gridlock.

New Calif. law eases sperm donor testing rules

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California women who want to get pregnant using sperm from a donor they know should find the process easier and less expensive next year, thanks to a new state law scheduled to take effect on Jan 1.

4 dead in Moscow airliner crash

MOSCOW (AP) - A passenger airliner careered off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport and partly onto a highway while landing on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing at least four people.

Maine same-sex couples marry in first hours of law

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Arriving in a limo, Donna Galluzzo and Lisa Gorney had all the trappings of a traditional wedding: Rings, flowers, wedding vows, an entourage and a friend to officiate.

2 dead after being swept into SF Bay by wave

SAUSALITO, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say a man and a juvenile fishing near the Golden Gate Bridge died after being swept into the ocean by large waves.

2012: A year of turbulence and altered landscapes

It was a year of storms, of raging winds and rising waters, but also broader turbulence that strained our moorings. Our atmosphere, our politics, our economy - rarely in memory have they seemed in such constant agitation.

Obama wants research to wean vehicles off oil

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to authorize $200 million a year for research into clean energy technologies that can wean automobiles off oil.

GOP Sen. Portman of Ohio now supports gay marriage

CINCINNATI (AP) - Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is now supporting gay marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his sons is gay.

Missing LA-area movie exec now believed murdered

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The 10-month search for a movie executive has gone from a missing persons investigation to a murder investigation, and a convicted drug dealer has been named a person of interest.

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.