WASHINGTON -- Spurred by high-profile cases of endangered children and chronically overworked caseworkers, many states have taken steps this year to shield children from abuse and neglect, including adding caseworkers, tightening reporting requirements and expanding the definition of "abuse."

Some states and cities are pouring more money into ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- Amid a sixth day of protest after a police officer was found not guilty of murder in a 2011 fatal shooting, family and friends of another man killed by police gathered outside St. Louis City Hall on Wednesday.

On what would have been Isaiah "Vinny" Hammett's 22nd birthday, they served birthday cake and tried to draw attention to ...Read more

ATZALA, Mexico -- It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, the baptism of a baby girl in this sweltering sugar-cane hub south of Mexico City.

But the celebration at Santiago the Apostle Catholic Church turned abruptly tragic Tuesday when a massive earthquake rocked violently through the main square.

The colonial-style church shuddered, and ...Read more

AUSTIN, Texas -- Jeff Mateer, President Donald Trump's nominee for federal judge and a top official in the Texas attorney general's office, has come under fire after CNN reported Wednesday that he called transgender children evidence of Satan's plan and argued that gay marriage would lead to bestiality and multiple-partner weddings.

The quotes ...Read more

Obama says Republican health care plan would inflict 'real human suffering'

WASHINGTON -- The latest Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act would inflict "real human suffering" on millions of Americans, former President Barack Obama said Wednesday, speaking out in public defense of his signature health care reform effort.

The law ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- A St. Cloud couple will not be able to refuse wedding videography services for same-sex couples after a federal judge on Wednesday dismissed their lawsuit challenging Minnesota's human rights laws.

In a 63-page ruling Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Judge John Tunheim wrote that a provision of the Minnesota Human Rights Act ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles County judge decided to sharply reduce the $2 million bail keeping Marion "Suge" Knight's fiancee jailed on charges that she violated a court order by selling a key video in Knight's murder trial to the gossip website TMZ.

Toi-Lin Kelly, 36, was arrested this month after a grand jury indicted her on charges of ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- All St. Louis police officers could be wearing body cameras within 90 days after a contentious and chaotic vote of the St. Louis Board of Estimate and Apportionment Wednesday.

Normally staid affairs, the meeting featured crowd members and board members shouting each other down amid the crowd's demands for immediate action.

...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Three elderly victims stuck in a nursing home for days without air conditioning after Hurricane Irma had body temperatures ranging from 107 to 109.9 degrees, making them "far too late to be saved," state health care regulators revealed Wednesday.

Normal body temperature is 98.6.

The Florida Agency for Health Care ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration's ban on the use of a Russian cybersecurity firm's software is heightening suspicion worldwide that private internet firms might be in league with their home governments, an industry leader said Wednesday.

The Trump administration last week told U.S. government agencies to remove Kaspersky Lab products ...Read more

Advertisers on Facebook no longer can use offensive search terms such as "Jew hater" and "how to burn Jews" to target specific audiences, the company said Wednesday.

The new policy comes a week after ProPublica published a story demonstrating how advertisers could reach thousands of Facebook users by entering hateful search terms on the social ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would start slowly reducing the trillions of dollars in bonds it bought to try to stimulate the economy, another milestone in the central bank's efforts to return to a normal monetary policy after the Great Recession.

The long-awaited reduction in the Fed's $4.5 trillion balance ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Lee Kaplan, convicted of sexually assaulting six underage sisters over a period of years as he lured an entire family into a cultlike pseudo-religion, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 to 87 years in prison.

As the defendant listened and occasionally rolled his neck, Bucks County Judge Jeffrey L. Finley told Kaplan he had warped the...Read more