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A South Dakota inmate pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in the killing of a prison guard during a botched escape attempt and was sentenced to life in prison.

Children returned Thursday to an elementary school where the entire staff was replaced after the arrests of two former teachers on charges of committing lewd acts with students in class.

A Muslim convert from Brooklyn pleaded guilty Thursday to using a website he founded to post online threats against the creators of the "South Park" television show and others he deemed enemies of Islam.

A man arrested in the killing of a couple in a wealthy Phoenix suburb had been jailed in December on suspicion of illegally possessing weapons but was released days later because prosecutors needed more time to develop their case, authorities said.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is tying lots of strings to the extra cash he's offering public schools, universities and communities in next year's budget.

Attorneys for a group of former inmates told the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday that former Gov. Haley Barbour's pardons of them are valid.

Attorneys are scheduled to deliver closing arguments in the court-martial of a Hawaii-based Marine sergeant accused of hazing a lance corporal who later committed suicide.

Authorities in northeastern Alabama say a man dove into the Tennessee River after seeing his girlfriend's car sinking and drowned in the fast-moving water. But authorities say he may not have realized the girlfriend had already escaped from the car and was helped to shore by a fisherman.

Police say a pregnant teenager was held captive nine days in a California home, where she was bound with tape and beaten by a jealous boyfriend.

The family of one of four people killed in a New York pharmacy holdup filed a $20 million lawsuit Thursday, alleging that a drug company that manufactures painkillers, a physician accused of improperly distributing the drugs, police officials and others were responsible for the victim's death.

Weather Underground Forecast for Thursday, February 09, 2012.

Sinister allegations of abuse by at least two teachers in a Los Angeles school have forced awkward discussions as parents warn youngsters that people they trust - pastors, teachers, even relatives - might do things that could hurt them.

Sinister allegations of abuse by at least two teachers in a Los Angeles elementary school are prompting parents to remind their children that pastors, teachers and even relatives might do things that could hurt them.

Nearly eight minutes elapsed between when a social worker called 911 to report that Josh Powell's children were in danger and when sheriff's deputies were dispatched, emergency call logs show. The home was a gas-fueled inferno - with Powell and his two young boys inside - by the time officers were on their way.

Supporters of a war memorial cross deemed unconstitutional last year by a federal court plan to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, amid a growing fight nationwide over the use of religious symbols to honor fallen troops.

Bret Baker welcomes customers aboard a Boeing 757 wearing a three-piece suit and a sparkling smile. His manner is all Friendly Skies but his pocket patch bears the seal of the Vice President of the United States, signaling that this is government business.

The smallest cattle herd since the 1950s likely will mean higher beef prices at the supermarket for the next two years.

Authorities say a 7-year-old girl recalled her stranger danger training and was able to get away from a parolee who tried to abduct her at a Walmart store in west Georgia.

Karoun Demirjian of the Las Vegas Sun has been awarded the David Lynch Memorial Regional Reporting Award for exceptional coverage of Congress from a local perspective.

A former Salvadoran military officer accused of a role in the 1989 deaths of six Jesuit priests has been formally indicted in Massachusetts on charges he lied under oath and made false statements on U.S. immigration forms.

A Canadian man in a New York court has admitted attempting to buy sophisticated technology for the now-defeated Tamil Tiger insurgents in Sri Lanka.

Candy company executive Nello Ferrara lived a sweet life.

An Oregon judge declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked in the murder trial of a 24-year-old hotel clerk accused of killing her newborn son.

A man has been arrested following a December Sweet 16 party shooting that killed one person and injured seven others at a western Pennsylvania home.

Stanford University's latest five-year fundraising drive netted $6.2 billion, the largest amount ever raised in a higher education campaign, school officials said Wednesday.

A document accidentally posted on a prosecutor's website cites a pharmacist's version of the friendly fire shooting death of a federal agent during a New Year's Eve robbery and differs from an account offered by an attorney for the retired police lieutenant who fired the fatal shot.

A Mississippi man was put to death Wednesday evening for killing two men in a December 1995 robbery spree after the courts declined to stop the execution based on arguments that the inmate was mentally ill at the time.

A father who took out a restraining order against a 10-year-old boy accused of threatening his son with a knife has reached a deal that will keep the kids at separate schools

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday significantly expanded a long-running trade secrets case when they unsealed an indictment that accuses a company owned by the Chinese government of conspiring with a California couple to steal trade secrets from DuPont Co.

Weapons from China, Russia and Belarus are fueling the nine-year-old conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, Amnesty International said in a report late Wednesday.