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LOS ANGELES – While carmakers have their hands out to Congress, a kindly soul showed up in a car to deliver his own bailout to those on Skid Row. The anonymous donor continued a holiday tradition by handing out $10 bills to people at The Midnight Mission. The shelter estimated …

An Iraq war veteran who waved a gun and an American flag on a Highway 101 overpass and stopped traffic for hours in Santa Barbara last month has been ordered by a judge to stay away from Tom Cruise. Edward Van Tassel, 28, with help from his sister, has appeared …

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sunday marked the fourth day of searching a wooded area for clues in the case of a missing toddler Caylee Anthony and detectives are being tight-lipped on whether any more evidence has been found. On Thursday, a utility worker found a child’s skull less than a half-mile …

SEATTLE – A man buried up to his chest by an avalanche of dry cement at an industrial plant was in serious condition Friday after firefighters extracted him from a mound of gray powder, officials said. The 29-year-old worker, whose name was not released, was operating a front-loader at a …

CONAKRY, Guinea – Guinea’s coup leader solidified his hold over this impoverished West African nation Thursday as the prime minister who served under its late dictator surrendered and stepped down along with dozens of other government leaders. While some welcomed new military leader Capt. Moussa Camara as a break with …

WASHINGTON – By the time the jury box was full Wednesday in Sen. Ted Stevens’ corruption trial, it was clear the Senate’s longest-serving Republican was a long way from home. Stevens failed in his bid to transfer the trial to Alaska, where he has been a figure in politics for …

Gasoline-powered lawnmowers that are a big cause of summertime air pollution will have to be dramatically cleaner under rules issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The long-awaited regulation requires a 35 percent reduction in emissions from new lawn and garden equipment beginning in 2011. Big emission reductions are also …

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that the nation’s still-frozen credit markets are very fragile and Congress must move quickly to pass a $700 billion bailout package for financial firms. Paulson said that the nation’s outdated regulatory system for financial market must be overhauled but the first job …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered the people of Afghanistan his “personal regrets” Wednesday for U.S. airstrikes that have killed civilians and said he would try to improve the accuracy of air warfare, the imperfect fallback for U.S. commanders who say they don’t have enough ground forces for …

MINNEAPOLIS – A federal judge granted a new trial to a Minnesota woman convicted of pirating music files in the nation’s first file-sharing trial, ruling Wednesday he made an error in the jury instructions that “substantially prejudiced” her rights. Jammie Thomas was convicted last October and a jury in Duluth …