Health care tax hikes may be just a start

WASHINGTON (AP) - New taxes are coming Jan. 1 to help finance President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Most people may not notice. But they will pay attention if Congress decides to start taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, one option in play if lawmakers can ever agree on a budget deal to reduce federal deficits.

Gun support runs far deeper than politics

BRYAN, Texas (AP) - Adam Lanza's mother was among the tens of millions of U.S. gun owners. She legally had a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle and a pair of handguns, which her 20-year-old son used to kill 20 children and six adults in 10 minutes inside a Connecticut school.

Firemen’s killer left chilling note, deaths at 3 after Christmas Eve attack

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) - An ex-con killed two firefighters with the same caliber and make military-style rifle used in the Connecticut school massacre after typing a note pledging to burn down his neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said Tuesday as another body, believed to be the gunman's missing sister, was found.

Christmas storms blamed for two deaths

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A Christmas Day twister outbreak left damage across the Deep South while holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection battled sometimes treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions.

LA-area homeless man set on fire as he sleeps

NORWALK (AP) - Authorities say a 55-year-old man was set on fire as he slept outside a donut shop in southern Los Angeles County.

Obama likely to curtail holiday trip

KAILUA, Hawaii (AP) - President Barack Obama is likely to cut short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii to return to Washington as lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

‘Odd Couple’ star Jack Klugman dies in LA at 90

LOS ANGELES (AP) - For many, Jack Klugman will always be the messy one. His portrayal of sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison on TV's "The Odd Couple" left viewers laughing but it also gave Klugman the leverage to create a more serious character, the gruff medical examiner in "Quincy M.E." His everyman ethos and comic timing endeared him to audiences and led to a prolific, six-decade acting career that spanned stage, screen and television. Klugman died ...

More shoes showing up under Christmas tree

NEW YORK (AP) - Shoes are coming out of the closet and landing under the Christmas tree. They're a top seller this holiday season - a big feat considering most years they don't even make gift lists.

Unwavering NRA opposes any new gun restrictions school shooting’s aftermath

WASHINGTON (AP) - An unwavering National Rifle Association said Sunday that new gun regulations would not make children safer and that a White House task force on gun violence may try to undermine the Second Amendment.

Oregon mall shooting survivor tells her story

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A teen who survived the Dec. 11 shooting at an Oregon shopping mall says she didn't realize the gun that shot her was real until bullets started whizzing past.

Lieberman fears country may go over ‘fiscal cliff’

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators bickered Sunday over who's to blame for lurching the country toward a year-end "fiscal cliff," bemoaning the lack of a deal days before the deadline but bridging no differences in the debate.

Nation news briefs

• AIR MARSHAL PROGRAM A MODEL FOR SCHOOLS?: WASHINGTON (AP) - The former congressman who's heading the National Rifle Association's school emergency response program that would include volunteers to help guard children says it makes sense because it's similar to placing air marshals on planes.

Obama and family fly to Hawaii for Christmas

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama and his family are spending the Christmas holidays in Hawaii, where the president was born and raised.

NRA calls for federal funding of armed police officer in every school

Nation news briefs

PHILLY TEEN SUES SCHOOL OVER ROMNEY T-SHIRT FLAP: PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The family of a Philadelphia teenager who says she was mocked by her geometry teacher for wearing a Mitt Romney T-shirt to class has sued the teacher and the school district.

Jupiter-bound craft runs into problem

School superintendent carried gun to school

GOP weighs short-term debt limit hike

Ex-cop killed after firing at courthouse

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - A retired police officer armed with an assault weapon and a handgun fired up to two dozen shots at a U.S. courthouse in West Virginia on Wednesday before police returned fire and killed him, authorities said.

Expert: Mom, baby deaths put TB back on the radar

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The winning battle against tuberculosis in the United States may, ironically, be part of the reason why the disease wasn't detected in a young Las Vegas mother and her baby until it was too late, experts said.

Charity to pay military death benefits

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration, scrambling to tamp down a controversy over suspended death benefits for the families of fallen troops, announced Wednesday that a charity would pick up the costs of the payments during the government shutdown.

Judge sued for returning teen to sex offender

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - An anti-abortion group has sued a Texas judge who ordered a 15-year-old girl to keep living with her grandmother, even though she claimed the woman's convicted sex-offender boyfriend was making aggressive advances and that the couple was trying to force her to terminate a pregnancy.

Menu offers something new: Silence

NEW YORK (AP) - Quiet, please. Your dinner will now be served.

News from around the nation

2 HURT WHEN BALLOON HITS POWER LINE IN NEW MEXICO: RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) - A balloon flying in Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta hit a power line as it tried to land Wednesday, sending two men to the hospital with burns and injuries from a 40-foot fall, officials said.