HOUMA, La. – A 33-year-old work-release inmate was killed in Houma over the weekend after falling from a garbage truck, authorities said. James Ellis Griffin, of Houma, was picking up trash about 5:40 a.m. Saturday on a truck owned by Solid Waste Disposal Inc. when he slipped as he was …

BAGHDAD – Bombings in Baghdad and northeast of the capital killed at least 32 people Monday, Iraqi officials said, the latest in an apparent bid by insurgents to chip away at growing public confidence in recent security gains. At least 20 were killed and 30 were wounded in a suicide …

WASHINGTON – Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world. Most cattle that were grazing or resting tended to align their bodies in a north-south direction, a team of German and Czech researchers reports …

Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Todd Bowers knows the exact date and time an insurgent bullet embedded itself in his head: October 17, 2004 at 11:36 a.m. At the time, Bowers was serving in Fallujah with a U.S. Marine Corps civil affairs unit. His job was to help Iraqi residents rebuild …

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took a rare opportunity Thursday to switch roles and testify before his colleagues to blast polygamy, a still-used practice among some who practice the Mormon faith. Reid, D-Nev., is Mormon himself and noted that while his church had cast off its polygamist past, …

Companies collected tens of millions of dollars in government contracts by claiming to have main offices in poor neighborhoods that were actually empty duplexes, part-time offices and other ineligible locations, congressional investigators charge. Billions more remain at risk because the Small Business Administration doesn’t usually check paperwork, rarely conducts audits …

WASHINGTON – Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte were asked Friday to testify before a congressional committee on Jan. 16, along with their former trainer, Brian McNamee. Also invited to appear before the House Oversight Committee were former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, whose allegations were a central part of last …

CHICAGO – A former police officer suspected in the disappearance of his wife will be defended in a police brutality lawsuit by an attorney hired by the town that employed him, his personal attorney said Friday. Former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, who is a suspect in the disappearance of …

CLARE, Mich. – An elderly man was pulled from his burning central Michigan home by a motorist who stopped to help the homeowner as he tried in vain to save his pet dog. The motorist stopped Saturday afternoon and ran to the burning trailer home in the town of Clare. …

The first U.S. clinical trials in more than two decades on the medical benefits of marijuana confirm pot is effective in reducing muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and pain caused by certain neurological injuries or illnesses, according to a report issued Wednesday. Igor Grant, a psychiatrist who directs the …