A natural gas platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico late Tuesday. Officials from Houston-based Walter Oil & Gas Corp say no oil has leaked from the rig.

A Massachusetts State Police sergeant will be on desk duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation over his unauthorized release of photos showing the hunt and capture of one of the Boston bombing suspects.

Three women whose bodies were found wrapped in trash bags last weekend in East Cleveland have been identified. They are Angela Deskins, Shirellda Terry and Shetisha Sheeley.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The prospect of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell resigning as he copes with a federal investigation into the nearly $150,000 worth of lavish gifts the Republican and his family received from a wealthy executive is unlikely, people close to the governor insist.

(CNN) -- Senate Majority PAC, an independent group that works to keep the Senate in Democrats' hands, launched another attack ad Tuesday against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, highlighting the Kentucky Republican as a "guardian of gridlock."

(CNN) -- San Diego Mayor Bob Filner's former spokeswoman sued him for sexual harassment Monday, calling Filner unfit "to hold any public office" and adding a new dimension to the scandal he faces.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Republican-backed attempt to give local and state governments greater power over their school systems, while reducing federal education funding, passed the U.S. House on Friday, though it was expected to face Democratic resistance in the Senate and President Barack Obama has vowed to reject it.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A top-secret court has renewed the authority of U.S. national security officials to collect telephone data as part of an anti-terror surveillance program that was exposed by intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In some of the most personal and unscripted comments on race of his presidency, President Barack Obama broke his silence Friday with surprise remarks from the White House on Trayvon Martin, his first public comments since a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the teenager's shooting death.

The Full text of President Obamas speech on the Trayvon Martin case verdoct that acquitted George Zimmerman of any wrongdoing.