Gov't report: Smooth launch unsure for health law
WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's no guarantee that President Barack Obama's health care law will launch smoothly and on time, congressional investigators say in the first in-depth independent look at its progress....

Chef describes kids' grief over Jackson's death
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson's personal chef described for jurors the home lives of the children during the final months of the singer's life and their ongoing grief over their father's death nearly four years ago....

NSA director says plot against Wall Street foiled
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying....

Baked Alaska: Unusual heat wave hits 49th state
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A heat wave hitting Alaska may not rival the blazing heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas, but to residents of the 49th state, the days of hot weather feel like a stifling oven - or a tropical paradise....

Award-winning journalist Michael Hastings dies
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Hastings, the war correspondent whose unflinching reporting from Afghanistan led to the resignation of a top U.S. army general, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, according to his employer and family....

FBI hunt for Jimmy Hoffa remains entering 3rd day
OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- FBI agents plan a third day of digging Wednesday in suburban Detroit for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared 38 years ago....

Search for Hoffa mystery endures for decades
Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance almost 40 years ago has been the stuff of urban legend, prompting numerous theories about what happened to the former Teamsters leader....

FBI digging at former home of famed NY mobster
NEW YORK (AP) -- FBI agents with jackhammers and shovels were digging Tuesday under a New York City house once occupied by a famed gangster who inspired Robert De Niro's character in the movie "Goodfellas."...

W.Va. mine safety lab creates disasters to train
JULIAN, W.Va. (AP) -- Orange flames lick at the roof of the coal mine, heat building and visibility dropping as smoke begins to fill the underground passageway. Then, with the push of a few buttons on a hand-held remote, the flames flicker out, the smoke dissipates and the lights come on. The roar of fire is replaced by the trickle of nearby water....

Zimmerman jury selection moving into a new phase
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the George Zimmerman murder trial are about to move into the next phase of jury selection....