Jeremy White

Minnesota's state government shut down at midnight on Thursday as Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton was unable to strike a budget compromise with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The wildfire threatening to consume nuclear waste stored at Los Alamos National Laboratory is poised to become New Mexico's biggest ever, burning nearly 94,000 acres by late Thursday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recruited members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., train agents and police officers in speaking to people they disagreed with, a practice the agency has said it will discontinue.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously decided on Thursday that a recent law easing prison sentences for crack cocaine users can apply to people who are already incarcerated.

Documents added to the FBI's online reading room, the Vault, detail the period between 1947 and 1954 when a rash of sightings of unexplained flying objects (UFOs) swept America, according to the web site.

Stephen Colbert has won the right to use his television program to raise money for a Political Action Committee, a development that vindicates his satirical campaign but could have large implications for campaign finance reform.

On his last day as U.S. Defense Secretary, Robert Gates said that defense spending is not the cause of a soaring budget deficit and warned against disastrous cuts.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Jared Loughner, who allegedly shot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ari., and killed six others in a February rampage, can be forcibly medicated so that he can be brought to trial.

Federal officials have canceled the deportation of a Venezuelan man who married his American partner in Connecticut, signaling the government's willingness to recognize a crucial federal benefit for same-sex couples.

Rhode Island's Senate passed a bill Wednesday night allowing same sex couples to enter into civil unions, despite objections that the legislation continues some forms of discrimination.

President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser outlined on Wednesday an evolving military strategy that will increasingly rely on targeted, clandestine strikes rather than conventional military operations.

The Sixth U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati Wednesday ruled that the new U.S. health Care law's mandate that everyone purchase insurance is constitutional, handing the Obama administration a victory.

As firefighters continue to battle flames near the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and its stock of nuclear materials, nearby residents are growing anxious about smoke from the blaze dispersing toxic chemicals.

Passengers departing from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport had to wait Wednesday morning as airport officials cleared about 150 turtles from the runway.

President Barack Obama said gays and lesbians should receive equal treatment but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage during a news conference Wednesday, carefully parsing his answers to questions about New York's landmark same-sex marriage law.

California passed its budget on time, something that is a rarity in the state, and on paper it closes a $9.6 billion deficit. But both Democrats and Republicans criticized the final outcome, whose deficit-ending dimension assumes that economic growth will accelerate.

Seven same-sex New Jersey couples are suing the State of New Jersey to have their relationships recognized as marriages, not as civil unions.

Lawmakers called on federal agencies Tuesday to investigate the natural gas industry, responding to revelations that companies may have exaggerated potential profits and downplayed the risk and expense of harvesting natural gas.

Top federal officials urged the Senate Tuesday to once again take up legislation that would open a path to citizenship for some immigrants who arrived illegally as children.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has redoubled his efforts to close the Indian Point Nuclear Plant, including meetings between administration officials and executives at the company that run the plant.

As President Barack Obama waded into talks aimed at striking a compromise on raising the debt ceiling, Democrats and Republicans dug in on their increasingly acrimonious standoff over how taxes will factor into a deal.

California Governor Edmund G. Jerry Brown bypassed Senate Republicans and struck a budget deal with the Democratic majority Tuesday, abandoning sought-after tax extensions in favor of optimistic revenue projections.

The Texas Legislature approved a bill Monday to block funding for Planned Parenthood clinics and to restructure the state's Medicaid program into block grants.

Regulators and officials at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant assured an anxious public Tuesday that floodwaters inundating parts of the Nebraska plant do not pose any risk to public safety.

Appearing before the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations committee, the U.S. State Department's legal adviser argued that President Barack Obama has acted within the law despite failing to get Congressional approval for the campaign in Libya.

Samples of taped conversations of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich gathered by the FBI show multiple and overwhelming examples of a public official violating the law.

In the wake of New York becoming the sixth and largest state to legalize same-sex marriage, couples face a practical question: what does this law do?

A federal judge yesterday blocked two of the more stringent provisions of a new Georgia immigration law, saying they would have supplanted federal immigration laws.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, reprised her Tea Party credentials Monday as she formally announced her campaign for the presidency, repudiating the idea that government can address America's problems.