By MATT VOLZ 2010-09-09T07:36:42Z HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A Montana tea party association's board will reconsider kicking its president out of the group for an anti-gay exchange on Facebook after several members resigned over his dismissal, a board member said Wednesday....

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR 2010-09-09T07:29:59Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's health care tab will go up - not down - as a result of President Barack Obama's sweeping overhaul. That's the conclusion of a government forecast released Thursday, which also finds the increase will be modest....

By JENNIFER C. YATES 2010-09-09T07:28:16Z SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- Former first lady Laura Bush will speak at a National Park Service fundraiser in Pittsburgh on Friday, a day before joining Michelle Obama in rural Pennsylvania to remember the victims of Flight 93, which crashed there in the Sept. 11 attacks....

By JOAN LOWY 2010-09-09T07:26:52Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a regional airliner crashed in western New York a year and a half ago, killing 50 people, the Obama administration promised swift action to prevent similar tragedies. High on the list: new rules governing the number of hours pilots may work, to prevent tired flight crews from making fatal errors....

By KEN THOMAS 2010-09-09T07:10:30Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people dying on the nation's roads has fallen to its lowest level in six decades, helped by a combination of seat belts, safer cars and tougher enforcement of drunken driving laws....

By PHILIP ELLIOTT 2010-09-09T07:09:47Z WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- The Tea Party Express is asking supporters to raise $250,000 for its preferred candidate in Delaware's contentious Senate primary....

By NANCY BENAC 2010-09-09T07:06:44Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- First came the outrage over plans for a mosque near ground zero. Now there's anger over a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran....

By BETH FOUHY 2010-09-09T07:05:55Z NEW YORK (AP) -- It sounds like a political grudge match for the ages: Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, battered by ethics charges and stripped of his chairmanship of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, defending his seat against Adam Clayton Powell IV, son of the legendary Harlem lawmaker Rangel ousted 40 years ago....

By PAUL ELIAS 2010-09-09T05:25:31Z SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons....

By JULIE PACE and TOM RAUM 2010-09-09T05:25:02Z CLEVELAND (AP) -- Politically weakened but refusing to bend, President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that Bush-era tax cuts be cut off for the wealthiest Americans, joining battle with Republicans - and some fellow Democrats - just two months before bruising midterm elections....

By ANDREW DeMILLO 2010-09-09T04:22:02Z LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday it would be a mistake for voters to give in to "anger, apathy and amnesia" and deprive Arkansas of the Senate Agriculture chairmanship by defeating Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln....

By DON BABWIN and SOPHIA TAREEN 2010-09-09T03:06:35Z CHICAGO (AP) -- The last time Chicago was left without a Daley at the helm, the next mayor was thrown out of office by voters angry because he couldn't keep snow off the streets....

By IVAN MORENO 2010-09-09T00:11:01Z DENVER (AP) -- Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is shrugging off the suggestion that a national GOP group won't help finance his campaign anymore and said Wednesday he will continue to fight for votes....

By LOLITA C. BALDOR 2010-09-08T23:21:35Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pakistan's ambassador to the United States is calling on conservative radio and television host Glenn Beck to denounce the planned burning of the Quran to show that Americans are tolerant of other faiths....

By MATTHEW LEE 2010-09-08T23:19:13Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department has ordered U.S. embassies around the world to assess their security ahead of a Florida church group's planned weekend burning of the Muslim holy book amid fears it could spark anti-American violence....

By LOLITA C. BALDOR 2010-09-08T23:16:39Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- Massive flooding that has submerged vast swaths of Pakistan has stretched thin the Pakistani military and will hamper its fight against terrorists, the country's ambassador to the U.S. said Wednesday....

By KEVIN FREKING 2010-09-08T22:05:38Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- The agency charged with monitoring off-road racing on federal lands is promising to increase staffing and crack down on violations of racing permits....

By JIM KUHNHENN 2010-09-08T21:59:52Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- When it comes to sorting out President Barack Obama's health care initiative, take three political ads and call a doctor in the morning....

By ANNE FLAHERTY 2010-09-08T20:57:44Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- Military bases across the U.S. have banned the sale of a new video game that lets a player pretend to be a Taliban fighter and "shoot" U.S. troops in Afghanistan....

By 2010-09-08T20:05:13Z PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Pennsylvania's Democratic governor says that "wackos" are taking over the Republican Party in Congress....