A rapid series of attacks spread over a wide swath of Iraqi territory killed at least 50 people on Thursday, targeting mostly security forces in what appeared to be another strike by al-Qaida militants bent on destabilizing...

In a trial that revealed the lives of elite athletes at a top-notch school, a former University of Virginia lacrosse player faces 26 years in prison for the beating death of his former girlfriend amid a swirl of betrayal,...

Drivers who are distracted while behind the wheel could be charged with a misdemeanor - even if they haven't broken any other laws - under legislation endorsed by a Missouri Senate committee.

A St. Louis official says the city will continue to use red-light cameras while it appeals a judge's ruling that the ordinance is invalid.

Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler will serve as a policy adviser for a group of fiscal conservatives in the U.S. House.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is casting herself as a combatant against special interests in the first TV ads of her re-election campaign.

The talk of the day among Ray Stoesser and other rice farmers is Iraq's decision not to buy U.S. rice, a stinging move that adds to a stressful year punctuated by everything from drought to unusual heat.

Two members of a breakaway Mexican drug gang dissolved their victims' corpses in vats of acid in a gruesome display of Mexican cartel tactics played out on U.S. soil, a prosecutor told jurors.

In a ruling that appears headed toward appeal, a federal judge has ruled that Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives.

The government cannot deny health benefits to the wife of a lesbian court employee by relying on the 1996 law that bars government recognition of same-sex unions, a federal judge has ruled.

West Virginia mine safety officials were to release the final report on a 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners Thursday just as federal prosecutors turn up the heat on managers they say contributed to the tragedy.

Police say a gun brought to a Washington state elementary school in a third grader's backpack discharged, apparently by accident, critically wounding an 8-year-old classmate.

A man gunned down along with his wife and other family members at an Atlanta area spa he co-owned was a prominent member of Atlanta's community of roughly 100,000 Korean-Americans, according to friends left confused and...

A Northern Illinois University chemistry professor studying solar energy conversion has won a five-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

More than 4,000 people will hustle up Chicago's John Hancock Center this weekend for charity.

The village of Oak Park outside Chicago has expanded the boundaries of its Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District.

A medical practice in Quincy has been recognized by a nonprofit health-care quality group.

A top federal lawmaker who's a native of East St. Louis says the southwestern Illinois city will get $400,000 in federal money in hopes of reducing crime.

Eastern Illinois University already has topped its goal of raising $50 million by July 2014 through its Expect Greatness fundraising drive.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durban of Illinois has announced a nearly $1.4 million federal investment in five fire departments in the state.