Steven Tyler exiting as 'Idol' judge

Steven Tyler exiting as 'Idol' judge

Parents accused of locking girl in coop

Nation news briefs

MICH. WOMAN: I TENDED CORPSE, WATCHED NASCAR : JACKSON, Mich. (AP) - A woman said she kept the dead body of her companion in a chair in their southern Michigan house for months because she didn't want to be alone.

Romney booed for hitting 'Obamacare' at NAACP

Calif. beach to be roped off year-round for seals

CHULA VISTA (AP) - California coastal regulators voted Wednesday to keep a rope barrier up year-round at a picturesque San Diego beach that's used by seals during breeding season. The seals' presence at Children's Pool has been the subject of a long-running fight, and emotions ran high at the California Coastal Commission meeting, with the public comment period lasting about two hours. ...

Electric rates not falling along with fuel costs

Home cooking expert Cunningham dies at 90

Arcing power lines caused Utah wildfire

Health care options for young, healthy & broke

WASHINGTON (AP) - They're young, healthy and flat broke - and now the government says they have to buy thousands of dollars' worth of medical insurance. What should tapped-out twentysomethings do?

Wildland firefighters win federal health benefits

Episcopal Church approves same-sex blessing

Nation news briefs

TEXAS SWITCHES TO 1-DRUG EXECUTION DUE TO SHORTAGE: DALLAS (AP) - Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, announced Tuesday that it would become the latest to switch to single-drug executions amid a drug shortage that has left states scrambling for acceptable alternatives.

Strip club sues 'Octomom' for cancelled shows

NYC rally: The Million Big Gulp March

New York may go smaller with 300-square-foot apartment units

Miss USA crown goes to Connecticut contestant Erin Brady

Adult smoking rate dips to 18 percent

NYC aims to require composting food scraps

Nation news briefs

FBI REACHES MILESTONE IN MOST WANTED FUGITIVE LIST: WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI has reached a milestone in its 63-year-old program of pursuing its "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives."

Nation news briefs

FBI REACHES MILESTONE IN MOST WANTED FUGITIVE LIST: WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI has reached a milestone in its 63-year-old program of pursuing its "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives."

To ease shortage of organs, grow them in a lab?

Miss Utah latest beauty queen to botch answer

Ohio police chief takes criminals to task online via Facebook page

Ohio police chief takes criminals to task online via Facebook page

Shopper is killed chasing bank robber

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania bank robber fatally shot a supermarket customer who ran after him and tried to stop his getaway car, police said. South Strabane Township police identified the dead man as Vincent Kelley, 46, of Washington, Pa. Kelley and his friend Jared Cameron, 21, were shopping at the Giant Eagle in Strabane Square when police said the man robbed an in-store Citizens Bank branch about 2:30 p.m. Sunday. "I saw him ...

Hitchhiking cat 'Mata Hairi' headed home to Oregon

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A well-traveled cat named "Mata Hairi" will soon be reunited with her owner after spending nearly 10 months traveling thousands of miles with a hitchhiker who rescued her from the rain. The feline adventure started in Portland, Ore., when the cat's owner, Ron Buss, let her out of the house on Sept. 1. The cat, white with patches of dark gray, usually left for no more than a couple of hours ...

Still no Hoffa after 1st day of latest search

Still no Hoffa after 1st day of latest search

Texas, SD court Conn. gun makers

Nevada non-Hispanic white population shrinks

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Nevada's non-Hispanic, white population shrunk in all but three counties from 2010 to 2012, according to new U.S. Census Bureau figures. Washoe County, covering Reno-Sparks, and Humboldt County in rural north-central Nevada each had a fraction of a percentage point increase in non-Hispanic white population over the two years, the bureau said. Northeast Nevada's Elko County posted the only significant gain, about 3 percent, in a trend the Reno Gazette-Journal first ...

Jury convicts Arizona man in terrorism hoax

Perry signs 'Merry Christmas' bill into law