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PHOENIX (AP) — The careers of most politicians would crumble under the heavy scrutiny that the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America now faces.

But despite a mountain of legal troubles, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio remains popular with voters and has more than $3.4 million in the bank for his ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion — much larger than had been predicted just months ago — and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday.

The ...

CHICAGO (AP) — Jurors shrugged off Jennifer Hudson's star status and insisted it played no role in their decision to convict her former brother-in-law for slaying the Oscar winner's mother, brother and nephew — a verdict that means the 31-year-old Chicago man will likely spend the rest of his life ...

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago jury on Friday convicted Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law of murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in what prosecutors' described as an act of vengeance by a jilted husband.

Hudson, who expressed her undisguised disdain for William Balfour when she took the witness stand ...

PHOENIX — A conservative Arizona sheriff whose congressional campaign took a hit when he disclosed that he was gay amid allegations that he threatened a former Mexican boyfriend with deportation dropped out Friday, opting to run for re-election.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a Republican, is known for his hardline ...

ASHVILLE, Ala. — The 14-year-old half-brother of an Alabama girl found hanging from a tree was charged with murder Friday in her death, authorities said.

The body of Katelynn Arnold, 9, was discovered Thursday night outside her home in Ragland, a rural town about 40 miles northeast of Birmingham, said ...

CHICAGO — A pill to prevent HIV infection is already being given to some healthy people, but without government approval, it remains out of reach and too costly for many who need it.

Doctors, patients and advocates say that would change if the Food and Drug Administration takes a landmark ...

MADISON, Wis. — Newly-released documentary film footage from January 2011 shows Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker describing a "divide and conquer" strategy for going after the state's public employee unions that would begin with going after their collective bargaining rights, undermining his long-held claim that his divisive union rights law was ...

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ruled that a final volume of the CIA's three-decade-old history on the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba can remain shrouded in secrecy because it is a draft, not a finished product.

The CIA characterized the volume in court papers as "a polemic ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The former New England Mafia boss was sentenced Friday to 5½ years in prison for his role in the shakedown of Providence strip clubs, becoming the first ex-mob leader to be locked up in a case that has ensnared nine people described by prosecutors as having ties ...

GUNTOWN, Miss. — A man wanted by the FBI for killing a mother and daughter and kidnapping two other girls shot himself to death as officers closed in, but the two children were rescued without injuries and released from a hospital Friday.

Authorities who tracked Adam Mayes to a wooded ...

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of federal advisers Thursday, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.

In a series of votes, a Food and Drug Administration ...

GUNTOWN, Miss. (AP) — A manhunt for a fugitive accused of kidnapping and a double-slaying ended Thursday after the suspect apparently shot himself and died. The girls he fled with are safe, police said.

Adam Mayes, 35, was killed Thursday evening after authorities acted on a ...

ATLANTA — Eighth-graders in the U.S. are doing better in science than they were two years ago, but seven out of 10 still are not considered proficient, the federal government said Thursday.

What's more, just 2 percent have the advanced skills that could lead to careers in the field. That's ...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday vetoed legislation that would set up a state health insurance exchange as part of President Obama's health care overhaul, saying the state shouldn't rush to enact such a law and possibly create new burdens on taxpayers while the constitutionality of the ...

The Justice Department, which first targeted Sheriff Joe Arpaio four years ago over his handling of illegal immigrants arrested in the Phoenix area, filed a civil lawsuit in federal court Thursday accusing the sheriff and his office of "unconstitutional and unlawful actions" against Hispanics.

The complaint, which says the Maricopa ...

LOS ANGELES — The giant asteroid Vesta got clobbered not once but twice, and it has the scars to prove it.

Ever since the Hubble Space Telescope spied a huge depression in the asteroid's south pole, scientists surmised it was carved by a collision with a celestial object, most likely ...

An influential group of conservative state lawmakers is on the verge of proposing model legislation to block the Common Core national education standards that have been heavily promoted by the Obama administration.

The American Legislative Exchange Council's board of directors, made up of two dozen state legislators from across the ...

SEATTLE — Washington state's worst outbreak of whooping cough in decades has prompted health officials to declare an epidemic, seek help from federal specialists and urge residents to get vaccinated amid worry that cases of the highly contagious disease could spike much higher.

It is the first state to declare ...

NEW JERSEY

MOUNT HOLLY — Jurors in New Jersey have delivered a mixed verdict at the trial of a marijuana activist who lives in California and goes by the name "NJWeedman."

The panel in Mount Holly on Wednesday convicted Ed Forchion of possession of a pound of pot in the ...