Pa. caretaker charged with drinking old whiskey

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The live-in caretaker of a western Pennsylvania mansion is facing criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner's whiskey.

Ga. Senate passes competing bill on lobbying rules

ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia Senate has upped the ante on the House as the two chambers attempt to overhaul lobbying rules at the Capitol.

Soccer players suspended over drinking allegations

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Authorities say 18 players on a high school soccer team in east Georgia have been suspended and removed from the team after they were accused of drinking alcohol while on a school-sponsored trip.

Senate Democrats on track to pass budget

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats controlling the Senate moved on Friday toward approving their first budget in four years, promising another, almost $1 trillion round of tax increases on top of more than $600 billion in higher taxes on the wealthy enacted in January.

Punxsutawney Phil 'indicted' over spring forecast

Police: Ga. infant killed while pushed in stroller

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia mother says a young gunman opened fire on her baby as she pushed him in a stroller, wounding her and killing the 1-year-old boy.

UGA student reports attack by mime

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - A University of Georgia student told police she was attacked by a woman who appeared dressed as a mime.

Tolls on Georgia 400 to end before Thanksgiving

ATLANTA (AP) - Transportation officials say the tolls on Georgia 400, a busy commuter route on the north side of Atlanta, will end later this year.

UGA student reports attack by mime

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - A University of Georgia student told police she was attacked by a woman who appeared dressed as a mime.

3 dead, including suspect, in Marine base shooting

Business limits rifle sales, sheriff plans boycott

SUGAR HILL, Ga. (AP) - A north Georgia sheriff has planned a boycott in response to a business limiting the sale of semi-automatic rifles to the general public.

Electoral College count affirms Obama win

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress made the obvious official on Friday. President Barack Obama has been re-elected.

2012 worst year for whooping cough

The nation just suffered its worst year for whooping cough in nearly six decades, according to preliminary government figures. Whooping cough ebbs and flows in multi-year cycles, and experts say 2012 appears to have reached a peak with 41,880 cases. Another factor: A vaccine used since ...

US economy adds 155K jobs in Dec.

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, a steady gain that shows hiring held up during the tense negotiations to resolve the fiscal cliff. The solid job growth wasn't enough to reduce the unemployment rate, which remained 7.8 percent last month, the Labor ...

House OKs $9.7 billion in Sandy flood aid

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than two months after Superstorm Sandy struck, the House on Friday overwhelmingly approved $9.7 billion to pay flood insurance claims for the many home and business owners flooded out by the storm.

Sandy Hook students return to class

MONROE, Conn. (AP) - The youngsters who survived the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary returned to class Thursday for the first time since the shooting rampage, settling in at their old, familiar desks but in a different school in a different town. Classes resumed for the first time since last month's shooting in Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators.

House re-elects Boehner speaker

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House and Senate ushered in a new Congress Thursday, re-electing embattled Republican John Boehner speaker and hailing one of their own who returned a year after being felled by a stroke. The 113th Congress convened at 12 noon EST, the constitutionally mandated time, with pomp, pageantry and politics on both sides of the Capitol.

Ga. Republicans vote against 'fiscal cliff' deal

ATLANTA - Georgia's Republicans in the U.S. House voted against a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" after the state's two senators voted for it.

Desert Storm commander Schwarzkopf dies

WASHINGTON (AP) - Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.

Putin says he will sign anti-US adoptions bill

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will sign a controversial bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, while the Kremlin's children's rights advocate recommended extending the ban to the rest of the world.

U.S. tries to make producing coins cheaper

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - When it comes to making coins, the Mint isn't getting its two cents worth. In some cases, it doesn't even get half of that. A penny costs more than two cents and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make and distribute. The quandary is how to make coins more cheaply without sparing our change's quality and durability, or altering its size and appearance.

State Dept security chief resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three State Department officials resigned under pressure Wednesday, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Sept. 11.

Benghazi review slams State Dept.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The leaders of an independent panel that blamed systematic State Department management and leadership failures for gross security lapses in the deadly Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya will explain their findings to Congress on Wednesday.

12/21 sparks dread, celebration

MEXICO CITY (AP) - The clock is ticking down to Dec. 21, the supposed end of the Mayan calendar, and from China to California to Mexico, thousands are getting ready for what they think is going to be a fateful day.

Company that made gun used in shooting to be sold

The company that makes one of the weapons used to kill elementary school children in Connecticut is being put up for sale by its owner, which called Friday's tragedy a "watershed event" in the debate over gun control.