MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the state's new and contentious collective bargaining law from taking effect, a measure that drew tens of thousands of protesters to the state Capitol and sent some Democrats fleeing to Illinois in an tempt to block a vote on it.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress has approved $6 billion in spending cuts as part of legislation to keep the government running for three more weeks

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A desk-sized NASA spacecraft is riding the brakes all the way to Mercury, about to pull a tricky maneuver Thursday night to become the first man-made object to orbit the tiny planet

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States has authorized the first evacuations of Americans out of Japan

NEW YORK (AP) -- President Barack Obama found out years ago he had an Irish ancestor who fled the potato famine in 1850.

ATLANTA (AP) -- All Georgia executions are off after federal drug agents seized the state's supply of a sedative used in lethal injections that has been challenged by capital punishment critics and death-row inmates

If you want to impress in your NCAA tournament office pool, you'll need to pick the right double-digit seeds to win in the early rounds. AP Basketball writer Jim O'Connell says schools like Belmont and Richmond should lead your sleeper list.

The Brookfield Zoo near Chicago debuted 10 African wild dog puppies to the public Tuesday. The litter was one of only three successful breeding groups among North American zoos in 2010. The species is critically endangered

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Officials at the University of California, Los Angeles, are evaluating what to do about a white student who posted a video on YouTube mocking her fellow Asian classmates and criticizing them for calling family members in the library following the tsunami.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman for two weeks in a "house of horrors" after she repeatedly rejected him is being investigated in two cold cases of missing women, including his ex-wife's disappearance