WASHINGTON (AP) -- Builders broke ground on more single-family homes and apartments in June, helping the battered construction industry gain a little life after a dismal spring.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Leaders of a bipartisan "Gang of Six" senators said Tuesday that they're nearing agreement on a major plan to cut the deficit by more than $4 trillion over the coming decade in what could be a bold entry into a debate on the deficit long bogged-down by bitter partisanship.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A police detective testified Monday that a white teenager wasn't at the scene when a black man was killed by a pickup truck in what authorities have said was a hate crime.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Kids may be safest in cars when grandma or grandpa are driving instead of mom or dad, according to study results that even made the researchers do a double-take.

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that communities have a right to ban Islamic mosques.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The mystery of Alaska's missing moon rocks has been solved. Getting them back to a state museum likely will depend on a judge.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Why is Netflix raising its prices? In part, because the company miscalculated how many people still want to receive DVDs by mail each month, a more expensive service to provide compared with its streamed Internet videos.

CHICAGO (AP) -- A liberal group upset over potential cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security has delivered pledges to President Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters threatening to pull its support.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Washington state transportation officials on Wednesday announced a new initiative to place electric vehicle charging stations at key intervals along the West Coast's busiest highway - a development that should allow drivers to cruise the 580 miles from the southern border of Oregon all the way to Canada by the end of the year.

DALTON, Ga. (AP) -- Badly outnumbered by Union forces and sensing looming defeat in the Civil War, Confederate Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne made a shocking proposal about a century and a half ago: the Southern government should free black slaves willing to fight in rebel ranks.