Posted: 1:08 AM Authorities in New Mexico say the five people who were found fatally shot in a home are a Fire Department chaplain, his wife, and three of their children.

Posted: 7:48 AM Vice President Joe Biden has been sworn in to a second term.

Posted: 7:45 AM Mallory Hagan says her first week as Miss America has been amazing, but she's not sure she's going to Inauguration Day because of the weather.

Posted: 7:41 AM Monday is President Barack Obama's big day, but memories of Martin Luther King Jr. will loom large over the festivities.

Posted: 7:34 AM Transit police in Philadelphia have arrested a man who allegedly threw a woman on the subway tracks at a station in the city's Chinatown neighborhood.

Posted: 7:20 AM In the middle of a bitter fight over a Republican president's nominee for defense secretary, a former White House occupant pleaded with senators to give the president his choice for the Pentagon job.

Posted: 1:58 PM Maine Sen. Angus King sees no strong reason to oppose President Barack Obama's pick for Secretary of Defense.

Updated: 7:04 AM An Algerian security official says at least 20 foreigners have escaped from the natural gas plant deep in the Sahara desert where Islamist militants are holding dozens of hostages.

Posted: 6:50 AM A story that Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o's girlfriend had died of leukemia -- a loss he said inspired him to help lead the Irish to the BCS championship game -- was dismissed by the university Wednesday as a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker.

Posted: 6:47 AM The Colorado movie theater where a gunman killed 12 people and injured 70 others is reopening with a private event for victims and officials.

Posted: 3:11 PM President Barack Obama unveils a $500 million dollar gun violence package after a mass shooting in Connecticut killed 20 elementary school children.

Posted: 12:58 PM The White House says a National Rifle Association video referencing President Barack Obama's daughters is "repugnant and cowardly."

Posted: 7:05 AM The White House says President Barack Obama will be joined by children who sent letters expressing concern about gun crimes when he announces proposals Wednesday to reduce gun violence.

Posted: 6:41 PM The House of Representatives approves a $50.7 billion measure for Superstorm Sandy victims.

Posted: 7:13 AM Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer and the nation's largest private employer, is making a pledge to hire every veteran who wants a job.

Posted: 6:57 AM The National Rifle Association says it has enough support in Congress to block any new laws that would ban assault weapons.

Posted: 4:24 PM A Republican senator says he thinks the issue of "overall temperament" will come up during former Sen. Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearing to be defense secretary.

Updated: 7:53 AM With the war in Afghanistan winding down after 11 years, President Barack Obama says the time is right for U.S. forces to let Afghans do their own fighting.

Posted: 7:46 AM The New York City medical examiner is reviewing hundreds of rape cases for possible DNA evidence errors.

Posted: 6:52 AM The Obama administration is meeting with the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups as officials look for ways to curb violence linked to guns.

Posted: 6:44 AM Newtown, Conn.'s schools superintendent is urging an indefinite police presence at the district's schools to allay fears among parents and children about gun violence.

Posted: 7:14 AM The National Rifle Association has had high-profile success over the years in shaping gun-rights legislation in Congress and statehouses and in working to defeat lawmakers who support tighter gun restrictions.

Posted: 7:07 AM The Obama administration says it might leave no troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, an option that defies the Pentagon's view that thousands of troops may be needed to contain al-Qaida and to strengthen Afghan forces.

Updated: 4:46 PM A protest was held Tuesday outside a West Virginia high school because of the way a teenage student with Asperger's Syndrome, or high functioning autism, was disciplined.

Posted: 6:31 AM Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband have launched an initiative aimed at curbing gun violence in the wake of the mass killing at a Connecticut school.