Obama: Calif. attorney general is 'best-looking'

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - President Barack Obama praised California's attorney general for more than her smarts and toughness at a Democratic Party event.

Cherokee County deputy kills homicide suspect

CANTON, Ga. (AP) - A Cherokee County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man suspected of killing two people in Union County.

Judge wants trial in baby killing before year ends

NY judge makes morning-after pill available to all

NEW YORK (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration must make emergency contraceptives available to girls of all ages within 30 days, a federal judge has ruled, saying the agency's decisions regarding the so-called morning-after pill were "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.

Women's rights unfinished business

NEW YORK (AP) - Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the rights of women represent "the unfinished business of the 21st century" in the U.S. and around the world.

Georgia Department of Education to grade schools

ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia Department of Education plans to give parents a detailed look at schools' performance.

Official: Obama proposes cuts to Social Security

US economy adds 88K jobs, rate drops to 7.6 pct.

Pastor files suit in traffic stop mix-up

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - A pastor and his wife have filed a lawsuit after a mix-up led to police pulling them over and drawing their guns.

Famed movie critic Roger Ebert dies

Obama's budget to spare Medicaid

Woman jailed in fatal fire granted bond

MACON, Ga. (AP) - A woman charged with murder and child cruelty after three of her four children died in house fire has been granted $75,000 bond.

Laws, rumors have ammo hard to stock

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gun enthusiasts fearful of new weapon controls and alarmed by rumors of government hoarding are buying bullets practically by the bushel, making it hard for stores nationwide to keep shelves stocked and even putting a pinch on some local law enforcement departments.

Wall street stocks edge higher; Best Buy soars

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks edged higher on Wall Street as investors took advantage of a slump Wednesday to get back into the market.

Jimmy Fallon to take over Leno's spot

NEW YORK (AP) - NBC's recent personnel transition in morning television was a disaster. Executives hope their luck is better late at night, and they have a year to try and make it a smooth handoff from Jay Leno to Jimmy Fallon at the "Tonight" show.

Retired chimps may cost Emory millions

ATLANTA (AP) - Emory University might have to spend tens of millions of dollars to renovate the home of its research chimpanzees - all for aging chimps it doesn't necessarily need. The National Institutes of Health, Yerkes' only source of chimp-research funding, is phasing out biomedical chimpanzee research - now deemed "largely unnecessary" - and may soon raise standards for the housing of chimps that do remain in research. Only five of the 78 chimps ...

Obama to urge court to overturn gay marriage ban

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration on Thursday planned to urge the Supreme Court to strike down California's ban on gay marriage, wading into a case that could have broad implications for the right of same-sex couples to wed.

Ga. transportation tax generates nearly $9 million

ATLANTA (AP) - Nearly $9 million has been collected in taxes from three regions that voted to approve a 10-year, one percent transportation sales tax last year.

Stocks edge higher, with Dow nearing record

NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market pushed higher Thursday afternoon, sending the Dow tantalizingly close to a record high. Analysts said the market's upward move was more about traders getting excited than any particular economic event. Government reports and company earnings painted a picture of an economy that was beating investors' low expectations, not one that's growing like gangbusters. At mid-afternoon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 34 points to 14,109, just ...

Cuts imminent, Senate Democrats, GOP stage votes

WASHINGTON (AP) - Squabbling away the hours, the Senate moved toward certain defeat of last-minute plans to avoid $85 billion in broad-based spending reductions Thursday as the two political parties blamed each other for the latest outbreak of gridlock and the Obama administration readied plans to put the cuts into effect.

Bond denied for Ga. man in cannibalism threat

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - The man accused of threatening to eat a judge's children has been denied bond and is ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Ga. House lawmakers OK juvenile justice reform

ATLANTA (AP) - State lawmakers in the House have approved a sweeping overhaul of Georgia's juvenile justice system, with the bill now moving to the Senate for consideration. The legislation, based on recommendations of a special panel convened by Gov. Nathan Deal, is designed to provide judges with greater discretion in sentencing youth offenders and reduce overall costs within the juvenile justice system. The bill passed unanimously on Thursday. Supporters of the legislation ...

Obama nears deadline on gay marriage decision

WASHINGTON (AP) - The next phase of President Barack Obama's evolving position on gay marriage may come Thursday, the deadline for his administration to weigh in on a landmark Supreme Court case that could determine whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed. Gay rights supporters are pressing the administration to file a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to overturn California's gay marriage ban. Obama is not required to file a brief, though ...

Manning offers pleas to judge in WikiLeaks case

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) - An Army private charged in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history offered guilty pleas Thursday to 10 of 22 charges against him and a military judge said she would allow the soldier to read a statement explaining his actions. Pfc. Bradley Manning would plead guilty to sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, in violation of military regulations but not in ...

Student due in court after accidental shooting

ATLANTA (AP) - A girl who police say accidentally shot herself with a gun at a midtown Atlanta high school is set to make her first court appearance Thursday morning.

GA couple to appear in court in alleged abuse case

DALLAS, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia couple accused of confining their teenage son to a bedroom for years with little food is set to appear in court.

After 2 days of big gains, stocks turn mixed

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks turned mixed Thursday after two days of triple-digit rallies. Big-name companies reported higher quarterly earnings and the government said that the jobless claims are falling, but impending budget cuts cast a pall. The Dow Jones industrial average was up three points at 14,078 as of 10:06 a.m. That's 86 points away from the all-time high it reached in October 2007, before the financial crisis imploded. The Standard & Poor's ...

Congress set to OK bill renewing anti-violence law

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans appeared resigned Thursday to accepting an ambitious expansion of the Violence Against Women Act that would bring gays, lesbians, immigrants and Native Americans under its protective umbrella.

Cops: Grandma shot self, young grandsons in car

PRESTON, Conn. (AP) - A woman who picked up her two young grandsons from daycare and was supposed to bring them home so the 2-year-old could open his birthday presents instead drove them to a neighboring town and shot and killed the children and herself, state police and family members said.

Stocks surge; Dow on track to high close of year

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks surged for a second day, putting the Dow on track for its highest close of the year. The market rose on more evidence that the U.S. housing market is recovering and signs that shoppers are still spending, at least at discount retailers such as Dollar Tree, which reported a jump in quarterly earnings Wednesday. The gains were broad: Twenty-nine of 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average advanced. ...