WASHINGTON – A wave of government layoffs in September outpaced weak hiring in the private sector, pushing down the nation's payrolls by a net total of 95,000 jobs.

ZAPATA, Texas — The Mexican government tells The Associated Press it's opened a federal investigation into the reported shooting of an American tourist on a U.S.-Mexico border lake.

WASHINGTON — Bank of America Corp., the nation's largest bank, said Friday it would stop sales of foreclosed homes in all 50 states as it reviews potential flaws in foreclosure documents.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday honored the sacrifice of an Army Green Beret who died in Afghanistan, awarding him the nation's highest military honor — the Medal of Honor — in a solemn East Room ceremony on the eve of the war's ninth anniversary.
Obama told the family and friends of Staff Sgt. Robert Miller that the 24-year-old Pennsylvania native had been born to lead, and had met his "testing point" with extraordinary courage.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A lawyer representing the White former San Francisco Bay Area rapid transit officer convicted of fatally shooting an unarmed Black passenger is asking a Los Angeles judge to grant a new trial.

HOUSTON (AP) — Images like those from Hungary of homes surrounded by red mud and cars floating through toxic sludge from a nearby metals plant would be unlikely in the U.S., where only two states have similar facilities, according to industry officials and regulators.

LOS ANGELES — Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva said she feared the Academy Award winner might kill her during a fight earlier this year, giving her first public account of an argument she claims turned violent.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 30 House members from California are calling on federal regulators to investigate whether mortgage companies broke the law by using paperwork that may have contained errors.

Supreme Court justices on Wednesday pondered the vexing question of whether the father of a dead Marine should win his lawsuit against a fundamentalist church group that picketed his son's funeral.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Solar power is coming to President Barack Obama's house.
The most famous residence in America, which has already boosted its green credentials by planting a garden, plans to install solar panels atop the White House's living quarters. The solar panels are to be installed by spring 2011, and will heat water for the first family and supply some electricity.