LEBANON, Mo. (AP) -- A man accused of killing his wife and encasing her body in concrete wants a judge to prohibit a statement he made to police from being used as evidence against him at his trial....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The family of a mid-Missouri kindergartner is hoping for more miracles....

BRANSON WEST, Mo. (AP) -- The Interactive Zoo and Aquarium in Branson West is closed after authorities pulled the attraction's occupancy permit....

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Monsanto Co. is installing a water management system at an Idaho phosphate mine the company depends on to make its Roundup weedkiller to stop the leakage of selenium and heavy metals into a tributary of the Blackfoot River....

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Prosecutors told leaders in Missouri's legal community that overwhelming caseloads and other problems plaguing public defenders are also burden those seeking convictions....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Step outside Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios and into the near west side neighborhood that's been home to her television talk show for two decades, and it's easy to get a sense of what she's meant to Chicago.

YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) -- Peggy Pauly lives in a robin-egg blue, two-story house not far from acres of onion fields that make the northern Nevada air smell sweet at harvest time.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty in what prosecutors said was a case of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina grandmother to death.

Every afternoon, seven days a week, Ed Epley has a 5 p.m. appointment with the war.

AMES, Iowa (AP) -- The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: "Ask an Atheist."

HONOLULU (AP) -- On New Year's Eve each year, thousands line up at fish counters across Hawaii to buy blocks of raw tuna, hoping that eating it will bring good luck and prosperity in the new year. This year, the long tradition may get a little more difficult to observe.

ATLANTA (AP) -- When Liz Fitzgerald realized her son and daughter were forced to read books in math class while the other children caught up, she had them moved into gifted classes at their suburban Atlanta elementary school.

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- Police found him sitting on the floor of his old apartment near a bucket of urine, still dressed in his hospital gown.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal officials say they arrested a man who strapped 15 live lizards to his chest to get through customs at Los Angeles International Airport....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- California tax officials say an interior designer's false disability claim was uncovered when he was spotted on a home improvement television show....

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina doctor could lose his medical license after a patient complained he made cutting criticisms, including telling her she was fat. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported the North Carolina Medical Board will decide if Dr. Earl Sunderhaus of Asheville overstepped the bounds of professional decency....

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) -- Authorities in western Michigan arrested a person twice in three days for driving the wrong way down the highway Kalamazoo County deputies said they were alerted about 1:30 a.m. Friday after several people called 911 when they passed the unidentified driver traveling south on northbound U.S. 131....

MERCER, Pa. (AP) -- A western Pennsylvania woman has been ordered to stand trial on charges she passed a drug-filled balloon to a state prison inmate while kissing him. State police said guards at the State Correctional Institution-Mercer became suspicious when an inmate appeared to swallow something after a prolonged kiss with a visitor on Oct. 19....