WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week. But the rise comes after applications hit their lowest level in nearly three years, and economists expect further declines as the economy improves.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A congressional panel investigating homegrown terrorism in America displayed sharp divisions Thursday over how to frame the discussion, reflecting a country still struggling with how best to combat terrorism nearly a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Dozens of protesters camped outside the Wisconsin state Assembly chamber on Thursday in anticipation of a final vote on explosive anti-union rights legislation that whisked through the Senate after Republicans outmaneuvered their missing Democratic counterparts and brought a three-week stalemate to its unexpected end.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is asking a federal appeals court in Atlanta to act swiftly on a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the government's health care overhaul.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Space shuttle Discovery is back on Earth from its final voyage.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin Democrats who fled the state nearly three weeks ago asked Monday for a meeting with Gov. Scott Walker to talk about changes to his plan to eliminate most public workers' union rights, a request the governor dismissed as "ridiculous."

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices continued to set new post-recession highs Monday as forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi pounded rebels near a key oil port in Libya. It's unclear how long the country's oil exports will be cut off, and traders prepared for a worst-case scenario in which world supplies would be under pressure for months.

Some 300 people gathered in Times Square on Sunday to speak out against a planned congressional hearing on Muslim terrorism, criticizing it as xenophobic and saying that singling out Muslims, rather than extremists, is unfair.

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -- Clemson University anthropology students will be scratching below the surface of Upstate history in a northern Pickens County cemetery where former slaves were buried and, until recently, forgotten.

University Park, Pa. -- Just as the constant pressure soldiers face on the battlefield can follow them home in the form of debilitating stress, African Americans who face chronic exposure to racial discrimination may have an increased likelihood of suffering a race-based battle fatigue