U.S. National News

FILE - In this file photo taken Aug. 13, 2009 South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford attends a meeting in Columbia, S.C. Sanford faces ethics charges he broke state laws more than three dozen times by violating rules on airplane travel and campaign money, according to details of the allegations released Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. Sanford's lawyers have claimed the allegations involve minor and technical aspects of the law. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, File)
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SC legislators begin Sanford impeachment hearings

AP - 4 minutes ago

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Legislators irked for months over Gov. Mark Sanford's summertime vanishing act and his tearful revelation that he was in Argentina for a rendezvous with his lover plan to start debating a measure Tuesday that ultimately would remove him from office.

  • Former state Sen. Joseph Bruno leaves federal court in Albany, N.Y., on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. A jury will begin deliberations Tuesday morning in the federal corruption case against Bruno. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
    Ex-NY politician's corruption trial wrapping up AP - Mon Nov 23, 7:54 PM ET

    ALBANY, N.Y. - The corruption case of former New York Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno has gone to the jury, which will decide whether he used his power to line his pockets and deprive New Yorkers of honest government.

  • Alleged Hawaii spy found competent to stand trial AP - Mon Nov 23, 10:10 PM ET

    HONOLULU - A Maui man accused of selling military secrets to China has been found competent to stand trial.

  • FBI Special Agent in Charge Ralph Boelter answers questions during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009, in Minneapolis, about newly unsealed charges against eight defendant related to involvement with extremist groups in Somalia. U.S. Attorney for Minnesota B. Todd Jones looks on at right. (AP Photo/Star Tribune, David Denney) ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS OUT. MINNEAPOLIS-AREA TV NOT TV. MAGS OUT.
    Charges unsealed in missing Somalis terror probe AP - Mon Nov 23, 7:34 PM ET

    MINNEAPOLIS - Promising both "true brotherhood" and "fun," several Somali men convinced fellow immigrants in Minneapolis to return to their East African homeland and take up arms with a terrorist group, according to federal charges unsealed Monday against eight individuals.

  • Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signs a copy her her autobiography, 'Going Rogue', at the North Post Exchange at Fort Bragg, N.C., Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)
    Sarah Palin's book tour hits NC's Fort Bragg AP - Mon Nov 23, 10:15 PM ET

    FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Sarah Palin brought her book-signing tour to North Carolina's Fort Bragg on Monday as thousands greeted the former Republican vice presidential candidate in a campaign-like gathering that tested military rules involving politicians.

  • Wis. man with alleged child porn shrine charged AP - Mon Nov 23, 6:39 PM ET

    MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin man transformed his apartment into a pornographic shrine to young girls, arranging mannequins in a sex act, plastering every flat surface with pictures and setting up a bed covered with stuffed animals, investigators said Monday.

  • Honoree Sir David Frost and his wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, right, arrive to the 37th International Emmy Awards, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)
    Britain wins 5 International Emmys; 1st for Brazil AP - Tue Nov 24, 2:50 AM ET

    NEW YORK - Julie Walters and Ben Whishaw took the top acting awards as British TV productions won five International Emmys on a night that saw Brazil get its first ever for a Bollywood-style telenovela.

  • Susan Boyle appears on the NBC 'Today' television program in New York Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
    Overnight star Susan Boyle focus of TV special AP - Tue Nov 24, 2:02 AM ET

    NEW YORK - TV Guide Network says it will air a special program starring singing sensation Susan Boyle next month.

  • Police: Pa. man killed puppy before Steelers game AP - Mon Nov 23, 2:10 PM ET

    BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. - Police say a western Pennsylvania man told them he kicked his girlfriend's puppy to death because he was upset that the pit bull wouldn't behave before the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers game.

  • 2 men charged after 3 men found slain in rural Ky. AP - Mon Nov 23, 11:53 AM ET

    GLASGOW, Ky. - Kentucky State Police say two arrests have been made following the discovery of three bodies in rural Kentucky.

  • Freight trucks, center, breeze through a congested border check point using a Free and Secure Trade Lane, or FAST Lane, in Laredo, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. The FAST Lane is part of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
    Program to help truckers attracts drug smugglers AP - Mon Nov 23, 2:38 PM ET

    LAREDO, Texas - A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

  • Madeline Martinez, right, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, talks with a patron at the Cannabis Cafe Tuesday Nov. 17, 2009, in Portland, Ore. The patrons of the Cannabis Cafe are people with Oregon medical marijuana cards. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
    Medical marijuana finds social outlet in Ore. cafe AP - Mon Nov 23, 8:51 AM ET

    PORTLAND, Ore. - At the newly opened Cannabis Cafe, people sit around taking tokes from a "vaporizer" — a contraption with a big plastic bag that captures the potent vapors of heated marijuana. Glass jars hold donations of dried, milky-green weed, and the cafe serves up meals and snacks for the hungry.

  • FILE - In this file photo of Nov. 27, 2008, balloons float down Broadway during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York. For the first time in its more than 80-year history, the parade route is bypassing Broadway as it heads south from the Upper West Side to Macy's flagship store in Herald Square. Participants will be using a new route. It's one that uses the city's streets and avenues and includes turns around five different corners. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, File)
    New Macy's Parade route means no cutting corners AP - Mon Nov 23, 3:21 PM ET

    NEW YORK - It won't be just the balloons, marching bands and floats on display in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The laws of physics will also be on parade.

  • In this image made from video and released by NASA, astronaut Robert Satcher Jr., top, and astronaut Randolph Bresnik are seen working on the International Space Station, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. The pair of astronauts stepped out on the third and final spacewalk of their shuttle mission Monday, helping to install an enormous oxygen tank at the International Space Station. Atlantis and its crew of seven will depart the space station Wednesday. (AP Photo/NASA)
    Astronauts take spacewalk No. 3 after suit snag AP - Mon Nov 23, 5:05 PM ET

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A pair of astronauts zipped through the third and final spacewalk of their mission Monday, helping to install a 1,200-pound oxygen tank at the International Space Station and accomplishing everything else on their list.

  • With a bodyguard beside him, Dr. Conrad Murray, left, the cardiologist under investigation in the death of pop star Michael Jackson, arrives at his clinic Monday, Nov. 23, 2009 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
    Jackson's doctor returns to his Houston clinic AP - Mon Nov 23, 4:41 PM ET

    HOUSTON - Michael Jackson's doctor returned to work at his Houston medical clinic on Monday for the first time since the pop star's death and his patients welcomed him back without reservation.

  • Teacher Kinzi Blair poses in her classroom at an elementary school in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
    Health reform: Is tax on 'Cadillac' plans fair? AP - Mon Nov 23, 4:17 PM ET

    Schoolteacher Kinzi Blair makes only $46,000 a year, but she has what many would consider a "Cadillac" health plan, now targeted for a big tax increase by health reformers.

Crimes and Trials News

  • NYC police promote head of 9/11 trial security AP - Tue Nov 24, 3:02 AM ET

    NEW YORK - The man in charge of the New York City Police Department's security planning for the upcoming trial of the Sept. 11 terror attack suspects is being promoted.

  • FILE - This 2000 file picture provided by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences shows Nidal Malik Hasan when was a medical student at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday Nov. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, file)
    Atty: Fort Hood suspect may use insanity defense AP - Tue Nov 24, 1:18 AM ET

    FORT WORTH, Texas - An Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people during an attack on his Texas post will likely plead not guilty to the charges against him and may use an insanity defense at his military trial, his attorney said Monday.

  • Iranian soldiers carry out a military manoeuvre near the city of Zahedan close to the Pakistani border. An alleged Belgian arms dealer has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to export fighter jet engines and parts to Iran, US justice officials said.(AFP/FARS News/File)
    Belgian in US court admits Iran arms dealing AFP - Tue Nov 24, 1:10 AM ET

    MOBILE, Alabama (AFP) - An alleged Belgian arms dealer has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to export fighter jet engines and parts to Iran, US justice officials said.