Senate panel boosts spending on IRS, Pell Grants

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate panel divided along party lines Thursday to approve legislation funding President Barack Obama's health care and financial services overhaul laws and boosting spending on the IRS and Pell Grants for low-income college students.

Man sentenced in Grand Canyon child abuse

F-22 oxygen problem worse than thought

Nation news briefs

DEMS: OBAMA COULD LOSE, DONORS BETTER GET MOVING: WASHINGTON (AP) - In growing numbers, once-confident Democrats now say President Barack Obama could lose the November election.

10,000 germ species live in and on healthy people

Bishops press religious-freedom fight with gov't

Most every day is Flag Day for Philly seamstresses

Nation news briefs

NJ YACHT HOAX RESPONSE COST MORE THAN $300,000: NEW YORK (AP) - Rescue officials say a search operation after a fake report of a yacht explosion off the New Jersey coast cost agencies including the Coast Guard more than $300,000 and took about five hours.

Smoke from wildfire 60 miles away blankets Denver ‘ 100 structures burned

Average price of 4-year university up 15 percent

Tanned NJ woman's salon is fined for overexposure

Face-chewing victim 'awake and alert'

KKK group aims to adopt highway in Georgia for litter control; state balking

Sheriff: Man writing book on kindness shot while hitchhiking across Montana

Nation news briefs

HAWAII TELESCOPE SEES WHAT COULD BE OLDEST GALAXY: HONOLULU (AP) - A team of Japanese astronomers using telescopes on Hawaii say they've seen the oldest galaxy, a discovery that's competing with other "earliest galaxy" claims.

SEC: Harrisburg, misled investors

Prosecutor weighs charges in soccer ref death

Study: Bill would cost $6.3 trillion

Woman accused of faking rape, fraud

Funeral director considers burial offers

Funeral director considers burial offers

ACT to start giving tests digitally

3 missing women found in Cleveland

Nation news briefs

2 DROWN IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY RIVER: SACRAMENTO (AP) - Two men drowned in a Sacramento County river over the weekend in separate incidents that officials are blaming on the cold water.

Man accused of lying seeks release

BOSTON (AP) - Lawyers for a man charged with lying to investigators after the Boston Marathon bombings are asking a federal judge to release him from jail, saying he had nothing to do with the deadly bombings and isn't a flight risk.

Uncle arranging suspect’s burial rites

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The uncle of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev arrived in Massachusetts on Sunday to arrange for his burial, saying he understands that "no one wants to associate their names with such evil events."

Obama to grads: Reject cynical voices

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A year to the day after kicking off his victorious re-election campaign on this college campus, President Barack Obama returned to Ohio State University and told graduates that only through vigorous participation in their democracy can they right an ill-functioning government and break through relentless cynicism about the nation's future.

Solar powered plane lands in Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) - Alone in the single-seat cockpit and high above the American Southwest, pilot Bertrand Piccard could hear only his plane's gear box and the quiet whine of four electric motors. No noisy jet engines.

Giffords receives Profile in Courage award

BOSTON (AP) - Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords received the 2013 Profile in Courage award at the John F. Kennedy Library on Sunday in recognition of the political, personal, and physical courage she has demonstrated in her fearless public advocacy for policy reforms aimed at reducing gun violence.

Utah cabin had uninvited guests: 60,000 or so bees

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - It was the biggest beehive that that Ogden beekeeper Vic Bachman has ever removed - a dozen feet long, packed inside the eaves of a cabin in Ogden Valley.

Gerbils strut their stuff at New England pageant

BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) - The American Gerbil Society's annual pageant brought dozens of rodents scurrying to New England this weekend for a chance to win "top gerbil."