Bill Chappell

"We have begun to build a problem-solving machine," say the members of a governor-appointed panel that has spent months identifying entrenched issues in Ferguson, Mo., and talking with members of the community about ways to tackle those problems.

From eliminating jail time for minor offenses to changing how police are ...

After less than two years in office, Tony Abbott's often contentious reign as Australia's leader has ended. Abbott was ousted by his own Liberal Party, which voted to make Malcolm Turnbull its leader after Abbott was dogged by sinking opinion polls.

The vote to unseat Abbott took just over 30 ...

A man suspected of killing a state trooper on Interstate 24 has died after he was shot by police in Kentucky. The suspect, Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, 25, was shot after a brief manhunt, according to the Kentucky State Patrol.

It all began Sunday night, when Trooper Cameron Ponder, 31, pulled ...

Updated 3:15 p.m. ET

An unusually fast-moving wildfire in Northern California's Lake and Napa counties has destroyed at least 400 homes since it started Saturday, officials say. The fire is 5 percent contained; it has injured four firefighters, and authorities are investigating reports of a civilian death.

Thousands of people ...

Updated at 5 p.m. ET

The World No. 1 Serena Williams was upset by the unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, ending Williams' quest to win the first calendar Grand Slam since 1988.

Favored at 300-1 odds and having never lost a match to the 32-year-old Vinci, Williams ...

John Richard Moore Jr., who starred in the Our Gang shorts of the 1930s that later became TV's The Little Rascals, has died just days short of his 90th birthday. Moore's busy career as a child actor included scores of films; in one, he shared a kiss with Shirley Temple.

The power-sharing deal that has allowed Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists to run Northern Ireland since 1998 is in jeopardy, after leading ministers resigned in a political crisis that has deepened amid allegations that members of the Irish Republican Army may be linked to a murder.

First Minister Peter Robinson, ...

Petra Laszlo, the videographer caught on camera sticking out her leg to trip a migrant as he ran from police while clutching a child to his chest, says she is sorry — and that she's not "heartless." Laszlo says she panicked when she saw people running toward her in a ...

The South Korean man who attacked U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert in Seoul six months ago has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Lippert, who had only recently taken the Korea post, received cuts to his face and hand but survived the attack by Kim Ki Jong.

Lippert, 42, ...

The airspace around Disneyland is restricted. That's the lesson learned by a company that was set to spray for mosquitoes in Orange County, Calif., Wednesday night — but had to call off the mission because it didn't have a waiver to fly near the theme park.

"A complication arose in ...

New images of the dwarf planet Ceres give fresh detail to its most intriguing features: a cluster of bright spots that NASA says "gleam with mystery" and are intensely different from anything else on Ceres' surface.

Taken from fewer than 1,000 miles away, the images may finally help NASA figure ...

Chris Henkey, the pilot who's being called a hero for his fast and calm handling of a potentially disastrous situation, is due to retire next week after 42 years in the cockpit.

Henkey, 63, was down to his last flights as a British Airways pilot before an engine caught ...

Houses were washed away and people raced to high ground in central Japan on Thursday after a major river burst through a levee overwhelmed by torrential rains. The Kinugawa River's banks collapsed around midday, flooding a residential neighborhood.

Nearby areas also sustained severe flooding and mudslides; the government has urged ...

Instead of welcoming some 53,000 students to the start of the school year, teachers in Seattle are marching in picket lines Wednesday, going on strike over issues that range from pay to testing.

From member station KUOW, Ann Dornfeld reports for our Newscast unit:

"The district said it ...

In a $725 million deal, the 127-year-old National Geographic magazine is leaving behind its nonprofit status and becoming a key piece of a new venture between its parent organization and 21st Century Fox.

The dramatic shift will place the venerable magazine, with its iconic yellow-rimmed covers, under a new venture ...

Quiksilver, the clothing company that has sold surfing gear since 1969, is seeking relief from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. The filing is for the company's American division; it comes on the day Quiksilver had been scheduled to discuss its third-quarter financial results.

The maker ...

After a widely watched video showed one of its journalists tripping a man carrying a young boy as they attempted to run past police in Hungary, the TV network N1TV has fired the camerawoman.

The man she tripped was one of hundreds of migrants who pushed past police and fled ...

Thousands of refugees and other migrants who are streaming into Hungary from Serbia are finding themselves detained near the border, frustrating their attempts to reach Germany.

The president of the European Union is calling on countries to welcome their share of what the U.N. predicts will be at least 850,000 ...

Andrew Kohut, the founding director of the Pew Research Center, has died at age 73. The former leader of the polling group that calls itself a "fact tank" had been battling a form of leukemia that his son says was first diagnosed in 2009.

Kohut's wife, Diane Colasanto, posted a ...

Two defensive backs from John Jay High School's football team are suspended — and could face criminal charges — after they teamed up to blindside a game official at the end of a football game in central Texas this weekend.

The two players were suspended from both the school and ...