Opinion: Allowing trade of natural gas with our allies would open the nation up to new possibilities.

Opinion: Our best and brightest shouldn't have to face a threat from within their own ranks.

The law made the procedure illegal if performed about 18 weeks after fertilization, earlier than the time recognized by Supreme Court precedents.    

Volatile trading in stocks and bonds could continue while investors sort out what's going on with the Fed.

A day after admitting the killing of four Americans in drone strikes, the president will announce that control of the program will move away from the C.I.A. Mr. Obama also plans to renew his effort to close Guantánamo prison.    

They are frustrated after a gay-rights amendment is withdrawn from the immigration bill.

Ford said on Thursday it is closing its two Australian auto plants.

Some residents who lost their homes were debating whether it was time to move on.    

A friend of the deceased suspect in the Boston bombings was shot dead in Florida in an altercation while being interviewed by F.B.I. and other investigators, officials said.    

Two 19-year-old Oklahoma men who took cover in a cellar during a deadly tornado were able to use their cellphones to get video of the twister as it passed over the home.

Charles Gafford was at the home of friend Alex Rodriguez as the tornado struck Monday. While in the cellar, they got their phones through an opening in the overhead door.

The video shows the tornado approaching and passing over the home. Debris, including tree limbs and a tire, fly past. The video has drawn more than 280,000 views on Youtube.

Rodriguez's mother, Amanda Odom, told The Associated Press that 19-year-olds "do stupid things" and if she had been home, there would be no video.

The tornado is blamed for at least 24 deaths in Moore.

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Watch the AP's video at http://bit.ly/10MRTnk

Backers of the legislation headed to the Senate floor were mobilizing to bring more Republicans on board by focusing on strengthening its border-security provisions.    

The House of Representatives approved a bill as expected on Wednesday to force approval of Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Amid low voter turnout, City Councilman Eric Garcetti beat the city controller, Wendy Greuel, and will take over a city facing myriad problems.    

Voters in Portland, Ore., defeated a measure on Tuesday to add fluoride to the water supply by a 60-to-40 percent margin.    

The company announces it paid off the balance of a $465 million government loan nine years early.

The measures faces little hope in the Senate, as well as a presidential veto.

Timothy P. Murray said on Wednesday that he would resign on June 2, a move that surprised the political establishment there.    

A 37-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a case in which a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin were discovered in Washington state last week.

A grand jury indictment accused Matthew Ryan Buquet of mailing a threatening communication to U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle at the federal courthouse on May 14.

The indictment did not mention ricin. However, the U.S. Postal Service said last week that two letters were intercepted -- one addressed to the courthouse and the other to the downtown post office -- and they contained ricin in a crude form that did not immediately pose a threat to workers.

Buquet appeared in federal court in Spokane after the FBI said agents arrested him Wednesday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty.

The short, balding Buquet wore dark-tinted glasses and was shackled in court. He gave brief yes and no answers to questions from U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno.

Imbrogno ordered him held without bond until a bail hearing scheduled for next Tuesday. A public defender was appointed for Buquet.

If convicted of mailing a threatening communication, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby declined to comment after the hearing, and little information about Buquet was immediately available.

Ricin is a highly toxic substance made from castor beans. As little as 500 micrograms, the size of the head of a pin, can kill an adult if inhaled or ingested.

There were no reports of illness connected to the Spokane letters.

Investigators in hazardous materials suits spent most of Saturday executing a search warrant at a three-story apartment building in downtown Spokane. Witnesses reported that agents escorted a man from the building.

The Spokane investigation comes a month after letters containing ricin were addressed to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. A Mississippi man was arrested in that case.

James E. Holmes, charged with murder in the mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater, had received six packages from an online ammunition dealer before the attacks, unsealed documents revealed.    

Vermont's governor has signed the first-in-the-nation law aimed at protecting companies from so-called patent trolling — the practice of making deceptive claims of patent infringement in the hopes of collecting licensing or settlement money.

The law, signed Wednesday by Gov. Peter Shumlin, allows courts to consider if a claim is deceptive and specifies other factors that can be considered as evidence. Courts can award damages or relief to Vermont companies wrongly pressured into paying licensing fees or a settlement, and the Vermont attorney general can conduct civil investigations and bring civil action against violators.

Intellectual property law professor Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University in California said Vermont's law is a novel approach but he said it's unclear if Vermont has the authority to regulate patent activity.