Usa News

Illinois U.S. Senate Appointee Roland Burris arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - Roland Burris failed in his bid to take President-elect Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat on Tuesday in a scripted piece of political theater staged just before the opening of the 111th Congress.



AP - Federal prosecutors intend to charge a former security contractor for Blackwater USA in the killing of an Iraqi guard in 2006, his lawyer said Tuesday.
AP - A 6-year-old Virginia boy who missed his bus tried to drive to school in his family's sedan — and crashed.
AP - An all-out search for a missing Alabama organized crime specialist led to Las Vegas, where the decorated officer was arrested and accused of staging his disappearance to cover up the theft of $2,500 from his department, authorities said Tuesday.

In a Sept. 3, 2008, file photo Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., speaks at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.  The Minnesota state Canvassing Board is expected to certify the results of the re-count of the race between Republican incumbant Norm Coleman and the Democratic challenger for his seat Al Franken, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya/file)AP - No longer a U.S. senator, Republican Norm Coleman was headed to court Tuesday, seeking to overturn a state board's certification that Democrat Al Franken won the U.S. Senate recount.



In this Dec. 8, 2008 file photo, workers occupy the floor on the fourth day of a sit-in at the Republic Windows and Doors factory  in Chicago. A day after the around 200 protesting workers walked out of the windows and doors plant with their demands met, they say they hope their successful stand will inspire others around the country to take a similarly tough line against employers.  (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)AP - A union representing Chicago workers whose recent factory sit-in drew national attention are taking new action against the now-bankrupt company.



AP - Prosecutors in eastern Arizona have agreed not to use statements made by a 9-year-old boy as they pursue murder charges against him.

In this Aug. 20, 2007, file photo, Dr. Richard Sharpe is escorted into the courtroom at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, Aug. 20, 2007.  Sharpe had been charged with attempting to hire a hit man to kill the assistant district attorney who prosecuted him successfully for the murder of his wife. A Massachusetts prisons spokeswoman said Sharpe, a cross-dressing dermatologist serving a life sentence for his wife's murder, was found hanged in his Norfolk, Mass., prison cell Monday night, Jan. 5, 2009. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. (AP Photo/Robert E. Klein, Pool)AP - A cross-dressing, millionaire Harvard dermatologist serving life in prison for shooting his estranged wife to death has been found hanged in his cell, a prison spokeswoman said Tuesday.



AP - Nearly a year after headlines revealed a City Hall sex scandal, the former top aide to ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sent to jail Tuesday to serve the same punishment as her boss: 120 days with time shaved for good behavior.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn talks during a luncheon while announcing former assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins will head the Illinois Reform Commission in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 05, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)AP - Members of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's impeachment panel say they will move forward despite the possibility that they might not get to hear federal wiretaps of the governor's conversations with aides and others.



This June 14, 2008 file photo shows floodwaters  in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Despite a state budget crisis and a crumbling national economy, Iowa legislators will nonetheless take on one of the most expensive problems in state history — flood recovery.  (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)AP - Despite a state budget crisis and a crumbling national economy, Iowa legislators will nonetheless take on one of the most expensive problems in state history — flood recovery.



Fish swim near coral reefs. President George W. Bush is to announce the creation of the world's largest marine protection area spanning some 195,000 square miles (505,000 sq km) in the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman said Monday.(AFP/File/Hassan Ammar)AP - The home of a giant land crab, a sunken island ringed by pink-colored coral, and equatorial waters teeming with sharks and other predators are being designated national marine monuments by President George W. Bush in the largest marine conservation effort in history.



A firefighter looks out from a fire-damaged portion of a homeless shelter, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, in Paris, Texas. The fire tore through the small-town homeless shelter early Monday, partially collapsing the building and killing five men, fire officials said. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)AP - A table piled with donated clothes is being eyed as the potential origin of a fire that killed five people at a Texas homeless shelter, forcing some residents to flee into the cold streets barefoot and coatless.



FILE ** In this Nov. 15, 2008 file photo, demonstrators turn out for marriage equality at Los Angeles City Hall as part of a 'National Day of Action' in response to the recent passage of Proposition 8 which repeals the right of same sex couples to marry in California.  (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas, File)AP - Sponsors of California's voter-approved gay marriage ban accused Attorney General Jerry Brown on Monday of advancing a far-fetched legal theory to justify overturning it.



AP - Anthrax mailing suspect Bruce Ivins tormented his wife with rudeness and behaved erratically in the weeks before the Army scientist took his own life by overdosing on Tylenol, according to documents released Monday.
AP - The nation's largest owner of timberland disclosed Monday that it will no longer pursue changes in agreements governing its use of U.S. Forest Service roads — changes that critics complained could transform forests into housing subdivisions.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson puts on a smile as he leaves a news, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 in Santa Fe, N.M. after withdrawing his nomination as U.S. Commerce Department secretary. At left is Brian Condit, the governor's chief of staff. (AP Photo / Craig Fritz)AP - Gov. Bill Richardson's gold-plated resume had never been tarnished as he moved up the political ladder from congressman and diplomat to governor.



AP - A man was arrested in the shooting death of a woman whose 4-year son was abducted and left unharmed at a highway rest area, authorities said Monday.
AP - The Kansas parents who failed to report their 11-year-old adopted son missing nearly a decade ago are "people of interest" as authorities search for him nationwide, a sheriff said Monday.
AP - A whopper about a devious baby and his diapers is the top lie of 2008, an organization of champion fibbers declared Monday.