CLEVELAND (AP) — Kimberly Smith holds up the piece of paper that is the only thing keeping her from bankruptcy: an application for extended unemployment benefits. She's not happy that she needs it. And she's upset that it was nearly taken away.

Tanya Zumach isn't afraid of fire. She got engaged at Burning Man, an annual desert gathering in Nevada that culminates in a huge ceremonial fire, and her frequent parties sometimes include fire spinning, a sort of dancing performance art with flaming objects.

Riverside resident Mary Whitt shops less often these days at upscale mall stores and more at dollar stores.

WASHINGTON – Departing Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter on Tuesday said conservative Republicans who backed tea party challengers against establishment candidates in the recent elections engaged in political cannibalism.

When Liz Anderson's 9-year-old son asked her if Santa Claus was real, she froze. Only days before, she had been lecturing him on the importance of telling the truth. Now here he was, tears welling in his eyes, and his younger sister playing nearby.

Senate Democrats on Dec. 18 voted to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gays in the military. Republicans, however, continued their attempts to amend the arms control START Treaty while successfully blocking the immigration reform DREAM Act.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After days of relentless rain, Southern California on Wednesday was facing the most intense storm system yet, with hundreds of homes evacuated, roads covered with water and mud, and residents anxiously eyeing already saturated mountainsides denuded by wildfires.

WASHINGTON - (AP) — President Barack Obama signed a landmark law Wednesday repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military, fulfilling one of his major campaign pledges and casting the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied.

ATLANTA – The U.S. teen birth rate in 2009 fell to its lowest point in almost 70 years of record-keeping — a decline that stunned experts who believe it's partly due to the recession.

A gift-giver's thoughtfulness is as apparent in how a gift is wrapped as in what's inside.