LA-area foothills under mudslide threat

Homeowners in mud-ravaged foothill towns north of Los Angeles packed their cars and left Tuesday as evacuation orders took hold and a new winter storm arrived.

Feinstein aims to stop proposed landfill expansion

California's senior senator wants to halt the proposed expansion of the West's largest toxic waste dump while the state investigates birth defects in a nearby town.

NY expert: Sodomy claims not supported by injuries

A medical expert says a man claiming he was sodomized by police with a baton did not have severe enough injuries to support his account.

3 acquitted in Ohio teen's restraint death

A jury on Tuesday acquitted three former employees of an Ohio treatment center for troubled teens of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 17-year-old girl who suffocated and choked on her own vomit after being restrained facedown on the floor.

ATF blames Texas church fires on serial arsonist

A spate of recent fires that destroyed or damaged several churches in eastern Texas were intentionally set, likely by the same person or group, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Iran boosts nuclear enrichment, drawing warnings

Iranian nuclear technicians set dozens of centrifuges spinning Tuesday to begin enriching uranium stocks to a significantly higher level, prompting President Barack Obama to warn of a "significant regime of sanctions."

Another major storm headed to snowy Mid-Atlantic

Snow blew across the Midwest on Tuesday and headed for the hard-hit Mid-Atlantic region, where federal government offices have been closed since last week and utility workers struggled to restore power already knocked out by a weekend blizzard.

New indictment boosts charges vs. Raj Rajaratnam

A new indictment has boosted criminal insider trading charges against one of America's richest men in what New York authorities have described as history's largest hedge fund insider trading case.

Suspect testifies in own defense in Calif. murders

A California man with a genius IQ who is charged with the serial killings of five females donned an earring Tuesday and took the witness stand in his own defense.

NY governor says rumors that haunted him are dying

New York Gov. David Paterson says he believes an anticipated story by The New York Times about his personal conduct won't include much-rumored talk of wild behavior.

Mass. mom guilty of murder in girl's fatal OD

A Massachusetts woman was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday in the fatal prescription drug overdose of her 4-year-old daughter.

Ex-officer surrenders in off-duty Philly killing

A former Philadelphia police officer has turned himself in to face murder charges in the shooting death of a neighbor during an off-duty altercation last year.

Killer talks of KS abortion doc's death on YouTube

The convicted killer of a Kansas abortion provider has little sympathy for the family of his victim, comparing them to the relatives of a hit man in a recording posted online.

Police: NH man who took over Clinton office flees

The man who took hostages at a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign office in 2007 cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet Tuesday, then fled, and he is considered dangerous, authorities said.

Court halts rules on Edwards sex tape retrieval

A North Carolina court has temporarily stopped the security rules that a judge issued for the retrieval of the John Edwards sex tape.

Police debate use of family DNA to ID suspects

Police in at least two states are increasingly using a DNA crime-solving technique that some legal experts say amounts to guilt by association: If your brother, father, uncle or son has been in trouble with the law and is in a DNA database because of it, you, too, could fall under suspicion.

Man charged in Detroit airport breach ordered held

A federal judge has ordered an Ohio man detained after authorities say he walked through a passenger screening checkpoint at Detroit Metropolitan Airport without a boarding pass, prompting an evacuation.

New endangered pronghorn site eyed in Arizona

Federal wildlife officials plan to move a handful of endangered Sonoran pronghorns to the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in western Arizona next winter in hopes of establishing a new population of the rare animals.

Ted Anthony named AP assistant managing editor

Ted Anthony, a veteran editor and correspondent for The Associated Press who has helped develop social media strategies and new storytelling techniques in AP newsrooms, has been named an assistant managing editor for the news cooperative.

Michigan man with 100 dogs gets 5 years probation

A Michigan man who had hundreds of live and dead Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes in his home has been sentenced to five years of probation in a mental health program and ordered not to own animals.

Former soldier sentenced to prison for bribery

A retired Army master sergeant who pleaded guilty to bribery and money-laundering charges stemming from his time in Iraq has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

Conn. worker cites gas smell an hour before blast

A worker who was in a Connecticut power plant when it exploded on Sunday tells The Associated Press there was a smell of natural gas in the plant less than an hour before the blast.

Newark airport breach suspect pleads not guilty

A lawyer for a Rutgers University graduate student charged with a January security breach at Newark Liberty Airport that led to worldwide flight delays entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday and defended his client as "simply a lovesick man who made a mistake."

Pa. ex-aide discusses sex life in corruption trial

A former state legislative aide testifying in a public corruption trial delved into his sex life Tuesday, saying under cross-examination that he had been having problems with sexual performance for which he received medical treatment.

Cops search San Antonio landfill for missing baby

Police began excavating a landfill Tuesday in search of a body or other evidence in the disappearance of an 8-month-old Arizona boy who was last seen with his mother at a San Antonio hotel on the day after Christmas.