WASHINGTON (AP) — Ascending to speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner is ready to take the gavel from Democrat Nancy Pelosi, vowing to "give government back to the people" and bring an end to congressional gridlock.

AIR FORCE ONE (AP) -- Ending a two-week vacation, President Barack Obama is appealing to newly-empowered Republicans to resist jockeying for the White House in 2012 and work with him to get the economy growing and the jobless back to work.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- A high-ranking Navy officer who produced and showed raunchy videos to the crew of an aircraft carrier three or four years ago is expected to be relieved of his command of the ship, defense officials said Tuesday.

Wildlife experts are trying to solve a mystery that evoked images of the apocalypse: Why did more than 3,000 red-winged blackbirds tumble from the Arkansas sky shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve?

President Barack Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.

CHICAGO (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Danny Davis withdrew from the Chicago mayor's race Friday, leaving former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun as the only remaining prominent black candidate in the campaign.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- The old Boone Murphy House in Pine Bluff, which for a time served as a Union Army headquarters in the Civil War, is being renovated.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The new year will bring a stronger voice for conservatives, once on New York's endangered list, and for liberals with an environmental bent following gains they made in the November elections.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Allstate Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. over $700 million in toxic mortgage-backed securities that the insurer bought beginning in 2005, only to see their value decline rapidly.

A tornado fueled by an unusually warm winter air sliced through parts of northwestern Arkansas early on New Year's Eve, killing three people, injuring several others and knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.