HOUSTON -- Democrats say they're ready to take charge in Washington. They just can't agree how.

After nearly a decade of GOP rule, the party stands its best chance in years to seize control of the House, an opening that's intensified the long-standing fight between progressives, pragmatists and party professionals.

Some at the grassroots favor...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A 13-year veteran of the Broward Sheriff's Office was in uniform when he swiped action figures and DVDs from a Walmart without paying for them, officials said Monday.

Henry Guzman, 44, was arrested at the sheriff's office headquarters on West Broward Boulevard at 11 a.m. Monday and taken to the Broward Main Jail, said ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- John Conyers III, the son of former U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., will not appear on the Aug. 7 Democratic primary ballot to replace his father in Congress, Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett decided Monday.

The decision, which could be final, was largely based on an earlier review of nominating petition signatures submitted ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Former West Virginia coal executive Don Blankenship said he'll mount a third-party bid for the U.S. Senate after losing in the state's Republican primary, a move that if allowed by the courts could upend GOP attempts to unseat Democrat Joe Manchin.

Blankenship, who spent a year in prison on a criminal conviction after a 2010 mine ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump took steps Monday to punish Venezuela for what the administration called fraudulent presidential elections Sunday in the once-oil-rich country now devastated by economic and social crises.

The action came amid a growing international rebuke of Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, who claimed victory ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Three days before carrying out the deadly mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale's main airport, Esteban Santiago researched the layout of the Los Angeles international airport, prosecutors revealed Monday.

Santiago used his cellphone to look up a map of the LAX airport on Jan. 3, 2017, prosecutors wrote in court records. ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker will not be leaving the chamber to become ambassador to Australia, and neither will Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch.

An aide to Corker confirmed a report that the Tennessee Republican had been under consideration for the post.

Corker told The Tennessean newspaper that he had discussed ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Saying that he posed a possible flight risk and danger to the community, a federal judge on Monday ruled that the former boyfriend of a woman who was killed in an explosion at her Southern California spa should remain in custody without the possibility of bail.

Stephen Beal of Long Beach has not been charged in connection with ...Read more

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz made three video recordings of himself on his cellphone around the time of his attack, according to a summary of evidence turned over to his lawyers by prosecutors in the case.

The defense this month demanded a portion of the evidence prosecutors intend to use when putting Cruz, 19, on ...Read more

A New Mexico man who admitted paying hackers to sabotage websites affiliated with his former employers and government agencies in Minnesota, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

John K. Gammell of Las Cruces was sentenced last week in federal court in St. Paul to five years of supervised release and restitution that authorities were still...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration, two weeks after it withdrew from an international arms control deal that curbed Iran's nuclear ambitions, called Monday for a new global coalition to force the Islamic Republic to capitulate to a long list of political and military demands.

In his first major policy address, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Five women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staffers about the doctor's behavior.

One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand ...Read more

CHICAGO -- A Chicago police officer cleared in a controversial fatal shooting of an unarmed teen has been fired along with another veteran officer for lying about the circumstances of a domestic violence arrest almost five years ago.

In a unanimous decision, the Chicago Police Board voted at its monthly meeting Thursday night that Officers ...Read more

SEATTLE -- The cougar that attacked two bicyclists near North Bend, Wash., on Saturday, killing one and leaving the other with serious injuries, was "emaciated," according to a fish and wildlife official.

Capt. Alan Myers, of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife police, said the brain of the 100-pound cat will be tested to determine why it...Read more