A rocket carrying an Earth-observing satellite has launched on a mission to track changes to the planet's natural resources.

State police now say three people are dead in a courthouse shooting that happened this morning in Wilmington, Delaware.

Pope Benedict XVI is telling the faithful in his first public appearance since announcing his resignation that he stepping down for "the good of the church."

Emergency officials say an apparent tornado has caused significant damage in Hattiesburg, Miss., after passing along a main road.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 25 cents over the past two weeks.

Officials say burned remains found in a California mountain cabin have been positively identified as fugitive former police officer Christopher Dorner.

The mayor of a southeastern Ohio town has resigned over accusations that she repeatedly called a gay police officer "queer" in front of his colleagues and created a hostile work environment.

Authorities served a search warrant at a Southern California storage unit as part of their investigation into a fugitive former Los Angeles police officer suspected of killing three people.

The Boston fire department says an 11-year-old boy has died of carbon monoxide poisoning after being overcome as he sat in a running car to keep warm, while his father was shoveling snow to get the car out of a snow bank.

For many in the Northeast, the warnings were eerily familiar: Stock up on food and water. Stay off the roads. Be prepared to lose power.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a statement Friday that the buses operated by Scapadas Magicas LLC pose an imminent hazard to public safety.

A criminal investigation is under way after a hacker apparently accessed private photos and emails sent between members of the Bush family.

A former U.S. ambassador to Mali has alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site -- cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants its troops are now fighting.

A storm that forecasters warned could be a blizzard for the history books battered the New York to Boston corridor Friday, grounding flights and knocking out power to half a million customers across the Northeast.

A power company says the cause of the Super Bowl blackout was a faulty device that had been installed to prevent a failure of electric cables leading to the Superdome.

President Barack Obama is telling leaders at the annual National Prayer Breakfast he hopes they maintain the morning's bipartisan spirit a little longer.

A study finds that people who consume a lot of fried foods and drinks like sweet tea and soda were 41 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than people who ate that way about once a month.

Thousands of police officers in Southern California and Nevada are hunting for a disgruntled former Los Angeles officer.

Carly Swain had a chance to talk with Mary Poppins herself. Julie Andrews and her daughter are releasing their new children's book and spoke with Carly about it.

The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service says it plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays, but continue delivering packages six days a week.

Boy Scouts here in Eastern Carolina say they have lost funding due to policies on not admitting gay scouts and leaders.

Denver police say at least two children were among three people shot and killed at a house in the northeast part of the city.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says a South Pacific earthquake generated a tsunami that may be destructive near the epicenter.

Eager to buy time and avoid economic pain, President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to pass targeted short-term spending cuts and higher taxes as a way to put off sweeping, automatic cuts that would slice deeply into military and domestic programs starting March 1.

Authorities in Southern California say a boy and a girl had fingers torn off during a game of tug-of-war at their high school.