WASHINGTON – Lawmakers voting on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts (search) have few rulings to go by as a measure of the candidate’s judicial philosophy, but one place where they may try to hunt for ideas is through Roberts’ client and case lists as a private attorney. …

MARTINEZ, Calif. – The teenager arrested in the slaying of a prominent defense attorney’s wife once drew a pentagram on the ground at school and told other students he was reading from the book of Satan, according to former classmates. Authorities would not identify the 16-year-old, but the boy’s name …

WASHINGTON – Entrances to the White House (search) from Pennsylvania Avenue, a historic Washington thoroughfare, were briefly closed on Wednesday and workers already inside were told to remain in the building. The shutdown lasted about 20 minutes. U.S. Secret Service officers on the scene said the incident was prompted by …

DETROIT – General Motors Corp. (GM) Monday posted a quarterly loss of $1.6 billion, much worse than Wall Street had expected, and announced a deal with the United Auto Workers union to cut its health-care costs. GM also said it plans to eliminate at least 25,000 manufacturing jobs. The world’s …

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan – Pakistani and U.S. military helicopters delivered aid at a brisk pace to the earthquake-stricken region of Kashmir on Tuesday amid warnings from the World Food Program that a half-million survivors have yet to receive desperately needed help. Choppers landed under sunny skies in Muzaffarabad (search), the capital …

SAN FRANCISCO – Among the companies whose shares could see active trade in Monday’s session are Anheuser-Busch Co. Inc., General Motors Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. P&O, formally known as Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (PO) has been contacted by a Dubai port operator regarding the possible sale of …

CANCUN, Mexico – Thousands of haggard tourists, fed up after five days in hot and dirty emergency shelters, battled for airline and bus seats out of Mexico’s hurricane-battered Caribbean resorts on Tuesday. Officials said they still had no solid estimate of the damage caused by Hurricane Wilma (search), which lashed …

WASHINGTON – House lawmakers want all-digital TV broadcasts (search) to kick in sooner than a Senate bill requires, and they want to spend about a third less on the conversion. Legislation approved Wednesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee (search) calls for a Dec. 31, 2008, switch-over and provides …

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A man accused of molesting one of his 15 children while his family lived inside a national park was captured Wednesday more than 200 miles from his home. Robert Hale — known as Papa Pilgrim (search) — had been on the run for nearly two weeks after …

COMPTON, Calif. – Bill Cosby (search), who created a stir in the black community when he criticized young people for the way they speak, challenged parents in this crime-plagued, largely minority city to set goals for their children. “Somebody said ‘I’m either flippin’ burgers or sellin’ some drugs,”‘ said Cosby, …