Nation News

A new report has found that nearly a third of countries have stiff restrictions on religious practice, either because of government policies and laws or hostile acts by individuals or groups. Read More

Investigators said Wednesday that they believe foul play was involved in the disappearance of a Utah mother of two as they grew increasingly suspicious of her husband after he demonstrated an "unusual lack of cooperation" in the case. Read More

Environmentalists are voicing concern about a soon-to-be-implemented National Park Service policy that would enable parks to share profits from research within their boundaries. Read More

What's going on at the Georgia Statehouse these days? Read More

A Philadelphia woman charged with offering sex for World Series tickets faces a new prostitution charge on top of the earlier pending charges. Read More

A police chief ordered held without bail on charges he tried to cover up the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant by white teenagers was named in a 2006 lawsuit that claimed police beat to death a Hispanic teenager, then made it look like a suicide. Read More

Pre-kindergartner Taylor Pugh likes his floppy hair just how it is: long on the front and sides, covering his earlobes and shirt collar. Read More

Authorities say a North Carolina family failed to report the death of an elderly relative who lived in their home, leaving her body in her bed for months. Read More

The Wisconsin Legislature has passed a bill designed to cut down on drunken driving. Read More

Sen. Charles Schumer made an inappropriate comment about a flight attendant who demanded he turn off his cell phone, his office said Wednesday. Read More

A lawyer has asked a federal appeals court to let families of victims of the World Trade Center attacks remove ashes of their loved ones from a garbage dump. Read More

For many of America's social service charities, this holiday season is providing a daunting mix of heavier demand for services, reduced funding and an ever-widening range of clients seeking help as economic woes persist. Read More

A court commissioner had tentatively ordered a Houston woman to relinquish temporary custody of her two young children to her ex-husband's sister hours before the family was killed in a murder suicide, an attorney said Wednesday. Read More

The board of the nation's largest transit agency reluctantly approved a 2010 budget Wednesday that would cut bus and subway service and leave New York City children without free rides to public schools. Read More

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to formally rebuke Gov. Mark Sanford, again sparing him from impeachment over secret trips to see his Argentine mistress and his use of state planes. Read More

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is telling its field offices to mark certain fences and wind-turbine guy wires to make them more visible to sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and lesser prairie chickens. Read More

In a Dec. 15 story about an Ohio Supreme Court ruling requiring warrants for cell phone searches, The Associated Press erroneously reported the vote count. The court ruled 4-3, not 5-4. Read More

Sexual assault charges against a 9-year-old Liberian boy accused in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old girl were dismissed on Wednesday by a juvenile court judge in Phoenix. Read More

A judge set bail Wednesday at $2.26 million for a British motivational speaker accused of killing a Las Vegas woman during a meditation session and stuffing her severed body in a trash barrel. Read More

Authorities say a 12-year-old Colorado boy accidentally shot himself in the leg while playing with a loaded pistol his parents had hidden behind the family Christmas tree. Read More