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After vote on gay youth, Scouts face more turmoil

The Boy Scouts of America will get no reprieve from controversy after a contentious vote to accept openly gay boys as Scouts. Dismayed conservatives are already looking at alternative youth … More →

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Oklahoma principal recounts twister hitting school

MOORE, Okla. — Teachers and students at Plaza Towers Elementary School hunkered down against the storm just as they had been taught in countless tornado …

Syrian regime OKs peace talks amid skepticism

BEIRUT — Syria’s government has agreed to attend a U.S.-Russian-brokered peace conference, according to Moscow. While this development might seem at first glance to be …

Soldier’s slaying prompts UK security review

LONDON — Both of the suspects accused of butchering a British soldier during broad daylight on a London street had long been on the radar …

Judge says Arizona sheriff’s office profiles Latinos

PHOENIX — A federal judge ruled Friday that the office of America’s self-proclaimed toughest sheriff systematically singled out Latinos in its trademark immigration patrols, marking …

Obama’s drone rules leave unanswered questions

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama left plenty of ambiguity in new policy guidelines that he says will restrict how and when the U.S. can launch …

Photos: Older brother held in deaths of 2 younger siblings

WEST POINT, Utah — A 15-year-old boy is in custody after authorities investigating the stabbing deaths of his younger adopted brothers found him miles away …

Jury foreman says Arias testimony didn’t help her

PHOENIX — As jurors in Jodi Arias’ murder trial filed one by one from the courtroom after a dramatic five months of gut-wrenching testimony and …

Roaches shed sweet tooth to survive

NEW YORK — For decades, people have been getting rid of cockroaches by setting out bait mixed with poison. But in the late 1980s, in …

80-year-old becomes oldest to conquer Everest

NEW DEHLI — Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura broke the record for the oldest person to climb Mount Everest when the 80-year-old reached the summit at …

Birth control coverage up for federal appeal

DENVER — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part …

Hurricane outlook: Another busy season on Atlantic

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Get ready for another busy hurricane season, maybe an unusually wild one, federal forecasters say. Their prediction Thursday calls for 13 …

Drug czar study highlights link between marijuana, crime

WASHINGTON — Marijuana is the drug most often linked to crime in the United States, the U.S. drug czar said Thursday, dismissing calls for legalization …

Vietnam POWs reunite at Nixon library

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — U.S. Navy Lt. Mike McGrath was just 27 years old, with a wife and two toddler sons in the U.S., when …

Obama defends drones, says terrorism threats narrower

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrower terror …

Clashes in Lebanon feed fear of Syria spillover

BEIRUT — Lebanese supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad fired heavy machine guns and lobbed mortar shells at each other Thursday in some …

26 killed in simultaneous car bombs in Niger

NIAMEY, Niger — Suicide bombers in Niger detonated two car bombs simultaneously on Thursday, one inside a military camp in the city of Agadez and …

Cockroaches quickly lose sweet tooth to survive

NEW YORK — For decades, people have been getting rid of cockroaches by setting out bait mixed with poison. But in the late 1980s, in …

Boy Scouts vote to allow openly gay youth to join

GRAPEVINE, Texas — The Boy Scouts of America threw open its ranks Thursday to gay Scouts but not gay Scout leaders — a fiercely contested …

Muslim hard-liners ID suspect in London attack

LONDON — A man seen with bloody hands wielding a butcher knife after the killing of a British soldier on the streets of London was …

IRS official says she didn’t break law, takes 5th

WASHINGTON — At the center of a political storm, an Internal Revenue Service supervisor whose agents targeted conservative groups swore Wednesday she did nothing wrong, …

Median CEO pay rises to $9.7 million in 2012

CEO pay has been going in one direction for the past three years: up. The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million …

Union power at issue with new L.A. mayor

LOS ANGELES — The incoming mayor of Los Angeles was able to defeat a fellow Democrat by depicting her as a pawn of utility union …

Weiner launches bid to become NYC mayor

NEW YORK — Anthony Weiner knows there may be a lot of New Yorkers who would never consider voting for him again, but he says …

White House admits drone strikes have killed Americans

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen …

GOP questions IRS scrutiny of anti-abortion groups

IOWA CITY, Iowa — When a small anti-abortion group in Iowa sought nonprofit status, the Internal Revenue Service asked its board to promise not to …

FBI fatally shoots man in Boston bomb probe

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Chechen immigrant was shot to death by authorities in central Florida early Wednesday after he turned violent while being questioned about …

IRS official to take the 5th at House hearing

WASHINGTON — Summoned by Republicans, a key figure in the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups plans to invoke her constitutional right against self-incrimination …

FBI ID’s Benghazi suspects — but no arrests yet

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and …

Poll: Teens prefer to use Twitter

WASHINGTON — Twitter is booming as a social media destination for teenagers who complain about too many adults and too much drama on Facebook, according …

Apple CEO defends tax strategy to Congress

WASHINGTON — The Senate dragged Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, into the debate over the U.S. tax code Tuesday, grilling CEO Tim Cook …

Guatemala ruling could keep ex-leader from prison

GUATEMALA CITY — The annulment of the genocide conviction of Guatemala’s former U.S-backed dictator and restart his trial halfway through could spawn interminable delays in …

Jodi Arias asks jury to let her live

PHOENIX — Jodi Arias asked jurors Tuesday to give her life in prison, arguing she “lacked perspective” when she told a local reporter in an …

Senate panel OKs immigration bill

WASHINGTON — Far-reaching legislation that grants a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee …

Jury deliberating Arias’ sentence to return

PHOENIX — Jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial said Wednesday they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced …

Questions linger in shooting of Hofstra college student

MINEOLA, N.Y. — As a grieving family prepared for the funeral of a Hofstra University junior killed by a police officer’s bullet during a standoff …

World record broken for riding Ferris wheel

CHICAGO — A manager of Chicago’s Navy Pier rode the tourist spot’s Ferris wheel for more than two days, bringing the world record for the …

Photos: Wave of attacks kills at least 70 in Iraq

BAGHDAD — A wave of car bombs and shootings killed at least 70 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, …

AP CEO: Phone records seizure unconstitutional

WASHINGTON — The president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press on Sunday called the government’s secret seizure of two months of reporters’ phone …

L.A. voters to decide fate of medical marijuana shops

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles politicians have struggled for more than five years to regulate medical marijuana, trying to balance the needs of the sick …

Florida city wonders who won record Powerball jackpot

ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. — Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth …

Obama urged to push economic issues

WASHINGTON — Five months into President Barack Obama’s second term, allies and former top aides worry that his overarching goal of economic opportunity has been …

Honeybees trained in Croatia to find land mines

ZAGREB, Croatia — Mirjana Filipovic is still haunted by the land mine blast that killed her boyfriend and blew off her left leg while on …

Researchers working to map ‘food genome’

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought. Same goes for soda. Until …

IRS scandal may reinvigorate tea party

DES MOINES, Iowa — Is the tea party getting its groove back? Shouts of vindication from around the country suggest the movement’s leaders certainly think …

Victims: Marines failed to safeguard water supply at Camp LeJeune

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A simple test could have alerted officials that the drinking water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated, long before authorities determined that …

IRS probe ignored influential groups

WASHINGTON — There’s an irony in the Internal Revenue Service’s crackdown on conservative groups. The nation’s tax agency has admitted to inappropriately scrutinizing smaller tea …

Will Boy Scouts accept gay youth?

With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide whether its contentious membership …

Authorities: Hofstra student was killed by police

MINEOLA, N.Y. — A Hofstra University student being held at gunpoint by an intruder was accidently shot and killed by a police officer who had …

Obama continues to push agenda despite controversies

WASHINGTON — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama’s agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by …

Assad: Syria transition talks are internal matter

BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won’t step down before elections and that the United States has no …

Record jackpot-winning ticket sold

DES MOINES, Iowa — A lottery official says one winning ticket has been sold in Florida for a record Powerball jackpot of more than $590 …

Co-workers band together for chance at $600M jackpot

In workplaces across the nation, Americans are inviting their colleagues to chip in $2 for a Powerball ticket and a shared daydream. The office lottery …

Treasury came forward with IRS probe last summer

WASHINGTON — Senior Treasury officials were made aware in June 2012 that investigators were looking into complaints from tea party groups that they were being …

Obama tries to shift focus to jobs

BALTIMORE — President Barack Obama tried on Friday to leave behind the political battles that have overshadowed his second-term agenda, saying lawmakers should work on …

U.S. decries Russian missiles going to Syria

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration denounced Russia on Friday for providing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime with anti-ship missiles, saying the weapons would only worsen …

Torture evidence found in Syrian prisons

BEIRUT — Rights activists visiting abandoned government prisons in the first Syrian city to come under rebel control have found torture devices and other evidence …

Venezuela’s military enters high-crime slums

PETARE, Venezuela — Stern-looking soldiers clutching assault rifles wave down the beat-up Chevy Caprice entering this sprawling slum on the outskirts of Caracas. Flashlights in …

Hatchet hitchhiker suspect arrested during coffee run

ELIZABETH, N.J. — Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker. An employee at …

OJ’s ex-lawyer contradicts his testimony on guns

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson’s former lawyer defended himself point-by-point Friday against allegations he botched the former football star’s armed-robbery trial, and he testified Simpson …

Hagel orders review of sex-abuse prevention

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday ordered the military to recertify all 25,000 people involved in programs designed to prevent and respond to …

Powerball jackpot reaches record $600 million

DES MOINES, Iowa — Powerball officials say the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $600 million, making it the largest prize in the game’s history …

Photos: Arrests in New Orleans parade shootings cheered

NEW ORLEANS — Days after sudden gunfire brought a chaotic and bloody end to a Mother’s Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans, news of six …

California fuels $550 million Powerball jackpot

SAN DIEGO — The numbers sum up the frenzy that has taken over the Golden State since it became the newest in the nation to …

Badgered: Obama acts, but Republicans unsatisfied

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, seeking to regain his footing amid controversies hammering the White House, named a temporary chief for the scandal-marred Internal Revenue …

President vows sustained effort on military sex abuse

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday the nation’s military leaders told him they are “ashamed” of their failure to end sexual abuse in the …

Obama promises action on a trio of controversies

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama confronted a trio of controversies Thursday, pledging to work with Congress to ensure the IRS doesn’t abuse its power, urging …

Health reforms may penalize some Indians

SAN FRANCISCO — When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded …

O.J. Simpson testifies in bid for new Vegas trial

LAS VEGAS — His leg shackles rattling as he shuffled to and from the witness stand, O.J. Simpson made his own case Wednesday for a …

Sexual abuse cases put Pentagon under fire

WASHINGTON — One after another, the charges have tumbled out — allegations of sexual assaults in the military that have triggered outrage from local commanders …

Russia claims spying case was second this year

MOSCOW — A Russian security services operative — his features bathed in shadows — went on state television Wednesday to claim that the U.S. diplomat …

White House renews push for federal shield law for media

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday revived a push for a federal media shield law as criticism mounted over the way the Justice Department …

Health reforms penalize some Indians

SAN FRANCISCO — When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded …

Photos: Abortion doctor gets third life sentence

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby that he described as so big it …

House speaker blasts IRS; Holder set to testify

WASHINGTON — As the investigation into the IRS’ targeting of conservative political groups widens, House Speaker John Boehner says he has a question: “Who’s going …

Jurors find Jodi Arias eligible for death penalty

PHOENIX — The same jury that convicted Jodi Arias of first-degree murder last week took less than three hours Wednesday to determine that the former …

Holder says he played no role in AP phone subpoena

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday defended the Justice Department’s secret examination of Associated Press phone records though he declared he had played …

Convicted abortion doctor gets life in prison

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia abortion doctor convicted of killing three babies born alive at his rogue clinic dodged a possible death sentence Tuesday in a …

Study questions benefits of severely reducing salt intake

WASHINGTON — A surprising new report questions public health efforts to get Americans to sharply cut back on salt, saying it’s not clear whether eating …

Group wants U.S. to toughen up DUI laws

WASHINGTON — States should cut their threshold for drunken driving by nearly half—from .08 blood alcohol level to 0.05 — matching a standard that has …

Minnesota governor signs gay marriage bill

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday signed a bill making gay marriage legal in Minnesota, the 12th state to take the step, …

Justice, FBI investigating IRS tactics

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating the Internal Revenue Service for targeting tea party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax exempt …

Lawyer: Bombing suspect’s widow to cooperate

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A new criminal defense lawyer for the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev says his client will continue to cooperate …

O.J. returns to Las Vegas court in bid for new trial

LAS VEGAS — A weary-looking O.J. Simpson weighed down by shackles and four years in prison shuffled into a Las Vegas courtroom Monday hoping to …

Philly abortion doctor guilty in 3 babies’ deaths

PHILADELPHIA — An abortion doctor was convicted Monday of first-degree murder and could face execution in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive …

Feds secretly obtained phone records of AP journalists

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s …

IRS probe of conservatives more widespread

WASHINGTON — Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, …

Detroit is broke; could bankruptcy lie ahead?

DETROIT — The first report by Detroit’s emergency manager declares that the city is broke and at risk of running completely out of money — …

Abortion doctor guilty in 3 babies’ deaths

PHILADELPHIA — An abortion doctor was convicted Monday of first-degree murder and could face execution in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive …

Records: Cleveland suspect faced prior complaints

CLEVELAND — Records reveal the Cleveland man charged with holding three women captive for about a decade had been accused of threatening his neighbors, attacking …

Gunmen injure 19 in New Orleans parade shooting

NEW ORLEANS — Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a neighborhood Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least …

Pope Francis gives church hundreds of new saints

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic Church new saints, including hundreds of 15th century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to …

Police shoot suspect to end New Jersey standoff

TRENTON, N.J. — Police stormed a New Jersey home early Sunday and fatally shot a registered sex offender who had held his girlfriend’s three children …

Israeli PM criticized for installing bed on plane

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek alternate sleeping arrangements when traveling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customized bed on a …

Three Cleveland women issue first statements since last week’s rescue, ask for privacy

CLEVELAND — The three women allegedly imprisoned and sexually abused for years inside a padlocked Cleveland house asked for privacy Sunday, saying through an attorney …

Review chairman: Clinton didn’t make Benghazi call

WASHINGTON — The seasoned diplomat who penned a highly critical report on security at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, defended his scathing assessment but …