LAREDO, Texas (AP) -- A mother who had been denied welfare benefits killed herself and shot her two children after a seven-hour standoff at a government social services office, police said.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- An unexpected but fruitful relationship has blossomed between two potent forces in the swamps of South Florida: the American crocodile, and a nuclear power plant.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The new owners of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 men were killed in an explosion agreed Tuesday to pay a record $210 million to cover fines, compensate victims' grieving families and improve underground safety.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Technology bloggers are asking if our cellphones are spying on us after a security researcher said a piece of software hidden on millions of phones was recording virtually everything people do with them.

DETROIT (AP) -- About three dozen volunteers joined Detroit police officers in a hunt Monday for a 2-year-old girl reported missing by her father, who said she was taken during a carjacking last week.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A second senior citizen is claiming the Transportation Security Administration made her pull down her pants as part of a search at New York's Kennedy Airport.

DALLAS (AP) -- Major U.S. airlines are again trying to raise prices on many domestic flights.

BEIJING (AP) -- China wants to convert some of its mountain of U.S. government debt into investment in renovating American roads and subways, the commerce minister said Friday.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities have made an arrest in the shooting death of a man near the former Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hall.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The nation's first free broadcast network targeting African-American audiences arrived in the nation's fourth-largest media market on Thursday.