WASHINGTON (AP) -- That nice Internal Revenue Service refund check many families eagerly await this time of year is down slightly from 2011 but still not too shabby: an average of about $3,000.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The parents of a black teenager shot to death by a Hispanic neighborhood watch captain in Florida told demonstrators in New York they will keep fighting to get justice for their son.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay Oregon more than $3.3 million to settle claims that the company used misleading statements and studies to market an antibiotic.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Watching the numbers on the gas pump tick ever higher can boil the blood and lead the mind to wonder: Why are gasoline prices so high?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the death penalty is possible if a U.S. military court finds an Army staff sergeant guilty of gunning down Afghan children and family members. But it isn't likely.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve said Monday that it plans to fine eight additional U.S. bank holding companies for improperly foreclosing on homeowners.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Storms shuffled through parts of the south-central United States again Tuesday, bringing more heavy rain, damaging winds and thunder so loud some people in Oklahoma mistook it for an earthquake.

EAST WILLSTON, N.Y. (AP) -- A New York school official is among those taking aim at a Nassau County sewer fee.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- While most Americans are familiar with the Underground Railroad that helped Southern slaves escape north before the Civil War, the first clandestine path to freedom ran for more than a century in the opposite direction.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new clue in one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries could soon uncover the fate of American aviator Amelia Earhart, who went missing without a trace over the South Pacific 75 years ago, investigators said Tuesday.