SEATTLE (AP) -- Students across the nation might eventually use the same math and English textbooks and take the same tests if states adopt new rigorous standards proposed Wednesday by governors and education leaders....

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House....

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time - the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries....

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- For soldiers patrolling in Iraq and Afghanistan, death can come from a bomb hidden in a trash pile or an innocent-looking face in the crowd. Returning home alive can depend on the quick turn of a steering wheel or pull of a trigger....

NEW YORK (AP) -- The FBI arrested a reputed U.S. mobster Wednesday on charges he provided protection for a Sicilian counterpart mapping out criminal turf in Florida - part of an international sweep aimed at further crippling the storied Gambino organized crime family and disrupting its ties to the Italian mob....

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State University says a background check on a janitor who shot two supervisors didn't reveal a criminal record, even though he had spent five years in prison....

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- After three Providence police officers were arrested last week in a cocaine-peddling sting, Chief Dean Esserman called it a "hard day" for the department....

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Cindy Hickey had rehearsed what she would say to her son when she finally got to talk to him months after he was detained in Iran. When the time came, the conversation lasted only about a minute, she said, "so it was hard to say a lot."...

ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) -- Even under the rough-and-tumble rules of the sea that Maine lobstermen live by, staring down the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun is extreme....

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address was "very troubling" and that the annual speech to Congress has "degenerated into a political pep rally."...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hundreds of construction workers raised a rallying cry of "Build it now!" on Tuesday, gathering with elected officials at the World Trade Center site to urge a quick rebuilding of the complex....

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Doris "Granny D" Haddock, a New Hampshire woman who walked across the country at age 89 to promote campaign finance reform and later waged a quixotic campaign for U.S. Senate, has died. She was 100....

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- Relatives of four women and a 12-year-old girl who were brutally slain in the late 1970s exploded in applause Tuesday as the jury recommended death for Rodney Alcala, a convicted serial killer whose bizarre defense strategy included lyrics from an Arlo Guthrie song and showing an episode of "The Dating Game."...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas' state education board, rocked by primary elections that may push the influential panel's far-right leanings toward the center, is set to take its first vote on a new social studies curriculum that could reverberate in classrooms nationwide....

EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) -- The government sent investigators Tuesday to examine a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway, and Toyota said it wanted to interview the driver as the besieged automaker dealt with a high-profile new headache that raised questions about the safety of its beloved hybrid....

MIAMI (AP) -- Toyota owners claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $3 billion or more, according to an Associated Press review of cases, legal precedent and interviews with experts....

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio State University janitor who was about to lose his job walked into a maintenance building for his early morning shift Tuesday and shot two supervisors, killing one of them and fatally shooting himself. No students were hurt....

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- SeaWorld has not decided whether a whale that killed its trainer by dragging her into the water will keep performing, an official said Tuesday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Legislation extending unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless appears poised to clear a key hurdle in the Senate Tuesday, its momentum helped by about 60 popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses that expired at the end of last year....