Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law. Critics say the benchmarks are unrealistic and brand schools as failures even if they make progress.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The 30 U.S. troops and eight Afghans who died in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan were on a mission targeting a Taliban leader when an insurgent with a rocket-propelled grenade reportedly fired on the chopper and shot it down, U.S.-led coalition said Monday.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law in 1965, it was an antidote to Jim Crow-era efforts to suppress the black vote in Southern states still fighting bloody battles over racial equality.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service said Friday it lost $3.1 billion in the April through June period and could be forced to default on payments due to the federal government when the fiscal year ends in September.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- David Potorti recalls his mother's pain when his brother Jim was killed in the World Trade Center. Clutching her stomach, she cried out: "Jim. Jim. Jim." She said something else that made a lasting impression on him: "I don't want anyone else to feel the pain I'm feeling right now."

The jobs number beat the forecast of economists, who were expecting no more than 90,000. And it was an overwhelming relief for investors, who just lived through two of the most brutal weeks in Wall Street history.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger is making a comeback.

HONOLULU (AP) -- Scientists say a new lava flow has broken out at Kilauea, a volcano that has been continuously erupting for nearly three decades. The lava flow is entirely within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and currently poses no hazard to residents.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The U.S. Labor Department has fined three Washington state strawberry farms a total of $73,000 for employing children as young as 6 years old as pickers.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- As they prepare lesson plans for fall, teachers across Missouri have an extra chore before the new school year begins: purging their Facebook friend lists to comply with a new state law that limits their contact with students on social networks.