VoteKansas.org

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Thirteen people were charged Wednesday in one of the biggest college hazing cases ever prosecuted in the U.S., accused in the death of a Florida A&M University drum major who authorities say was mercilessly pummeled by fellow members of the marching band....

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Facing one of the nation's worst budget crises, the Democrats who run Illinois insist they're serious about overhauling the state's expensive health programs and employee pensions. Gov. Pat Quinn underscored his determination by declaring he was "put on earth" to solve the multi-billion-dollar pension problem....

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Facing one of the nation's worst budget crises, the Democrats who run Illinois insist they're serious about overhauling the state's expensive health programs and employee pensions. Gov. Pat Quinn underscored his determination by declaring he was "put on earth" to solve the multi-billion-dollar pension problem....

DETROIT — Unions angry that Detroit is trying to put its financially battered books back in order by laying off hundreds of workers and imposing steep contract concessions on those who remain are considering an illegal strike.

Several Detroit municipal union leaders said striking has been one of several options ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As slogans go, President Barack Obama's promise of the "light of a new day" in Afghanistan isn't nearly as catchy as the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln the day President George W. Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq in 2003....

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A rapist who was on parole when prosecutors say he murdered a neighbor because he wanted the man's Harley Davidson motorcycle was hoping for a last-minute reprieve Wednesday, hours before his scheduled execution....

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A rapist who was on parole when prosecutors say he murdered a neighbor because he wanted the man's Harley Davidson motorcycle was hoping for a last-minute reprieve Wednesday, hours before his scheduled execution....

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey mother accused of causing skin burns to her young daughter by taking her into a tanning booth pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a child endangerment charge, and the tanning salon's owner appeared to corroborate her story....

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- An academic year that no Penn State senior was prepared for comes to a close this week when the university holds graduation ceremonies....

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- The judge overseeing the John Edwards campaign corruption trial sent the jury home Wednesday after eight days of talks without a verdict and released the four alternate jurors, who have garnered attention for their matching shirts but have not participated in the deliberations....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is expanding E. coli testing in some raw meat, a move expected to prevent more people from contracting the bacteria that can cause severe illness or death....

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Newt Gingrich, the colorful former House speaker and fiery partisan, formally exited the Republican presidential contest Wednesday and vowed to help Mitt Romney's bid to defeat President Barack Obama....

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An appeals court on Wednesday tossed out a convicted terrorist's lawsuit accusing a high-ranking Bush administration lawyer who wrote the so-called "torture memos" of authorizing illegally harsh treatment of "enemy combatants."...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- The first commercial cargo run to the International Space Station has been delayed again for more software testing....

ATLANTA (AP) -- While a black preacher told about 100 immigration protesters that incarcerated blacks and detained immigrants faced similar challenges, Jesse Morgan stood to one side of the May Day demonstrators, holding a large sign that read "Radical Queers Resist."...

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — A judge in northeast Ohio said Wednesday that a 17-year-old boy charged in a school shooting is mentally competent to stand trial in the deaths of three students.

The ruling by Judge Timothy Grendell in Geauga County Juvenile Court means suspect T.J. Lane can be tried ...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Drug Enforcement Administration issued an apology Wednesday to a California student who was picked up during a drug raid and left in a holding cell for several days without food, water or access to a toilet.

DEA San Diego Acting Special Agent-in-Charge William R. Sherman ...

WASHINGTON — The government plans to speed up the process for tracking E. coli in meat, a move that will help authorities more quickly find the source of bacteria outbreaks and hasten food recalls.

The new Agriculture Department program announced Wednesday would begin tracing the source of potentially contaminated ground ...

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A woman whose own skin is deeply bronze-colored from regular visits to a tanning salon has been accused of taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth in violation of state law, burning the girl's skin....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- About 15 million premature babies are born every year - more than 1 in 10 of the world's births and a bigger problem than previously believed, according to the first country-by-country estimates of this obstetric epidemic....