Nation News

A judge in southern Illinois says the hiding of a boy for nearly two years in a crawl space in his grandmother's home during a custody fight amounts to neglect. Read More

A man charged with looting the house of a Northern California family that died in a car crash insists he didn't know about the tragedy at the time. Read More

A young giant panda who became a major attraction after his birth at Washington's National Zoo will leave for China early next year for breeding. Read More

Clergy and laypeople voting to replace two retiring assistant bishops in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles were choosing Friday from a pool that included two openly gay candidates. Read More

An Indiana teen accused of strangling his 10-year-old brother to satisfy a craving to kill pleaded not guilty to murder Friday, as his parents and relatives attended a viewing of his brother's body a few blocks away. Read More

She arrived in Washington with more of a splash than any White House social secretary before her, and no wonder: Desiree Rogers had obvious style, wealth, a Harvard MBA, years of corporate experience, and friends at the top, most importantly Barack and Michelle Obama. Read More

Burglars broke into the offices occupied by two members of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's legal defense team overnight and stole eight computers and a safe, police said Friday. Read More

Police said Friday they have issued a murder arrest warrant for one of two missing Southern California teens and believe charred and fragmented human remains found in the suspect's Riverside County backyard belong to the other youth. Read More

Tensions between black and Asian students at a public high school erupted in a series of assaults over two days, leading to 10 suspensions and several students seeking medical treatment. Read More

The campaign manager for longtime U.S. Rep. Chris Shays pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he embezzled about $250,000 in campaign funds. Read More

A 5-year-old female giraffe that suffered a neck injury while being transported to the Tulsa Zoo from Ohio has died. Read More

A Fort Drum military policeman accused of stabbing to death two Army buddies at their apartment fled to Ohio in a car belonging to one victim and admitted to an investigator that he killed them, authorities said Friday. Read More

A judge says prosecutors don't have to disclose before trial any payments from a federal informant to four men accused of plotting to bomb New York synagogues. Read More

A state senator was sentenced Friday to probation and domestic abuse counseling, the resolution of a yearlong legal drama that began when he took his girlfriend to a hospital with a gaping, bleeding wound under her eye and ended with her begging a judge to let them be together. Read More

A Flint woman accused of starving her adopted quadriplegic daughter to death and stashing the body in a storage unit pleaded no contest Friday to involuntary manslaughter. Read More

Sarah Palin says the United States should rededicate itself to seeking God's will, arguing that a humble spirit could help leaders get more answers on issues such as health care, energy and national security. Read More

Colorado State University will join most major colleges nationwide in forbidding concealed weapons on campus after a vote that pitted faculty asking for a ban against students demanding the right to carry guns. Read More

An abortion doctor said Friday that he will likely perform more late-term procedures at his Nebraska practice to meet the demand left when a Kansas physician was shot and killed earlier this year. Read More

Houston Mayor Bill White abandoned his campaign for U.S. Senate on Friday in favor of a run for Texas governor. Read More

Lawyers for a former stripper convicted of a murder conspiracy asked the Alaska Court of Appeals to overturn her conviction because a jury was allowed to read a victim's "letter from the grave." Read More