Government planners from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin are among those meeting next week to work on plans for a proposed 1,640-mile trail network around Lake Michigan.

Anne Drake began losing her sight at age 46 and says Tabitha helped her battle back. Tabby is Drake’s first guide dog, and won a national award for her help.

More gays are running for congress than ever before.

People in the coastal corridor battered by superstorm Sandy are trying to reclaim their routines, even as rescuers comb neighborhoods looking for survivors.

Stripped of its bustle and mostly cut off from the world, New York was left wondering Tuesday when its particular way of life - carried by subway, lit by skyline and powered by 24-hour deli - would return.

Trucking companies across America are scrambling to hire new drivers, who have been tough to find even during the recession.

Republican Mitt Romney seems determined to soften his emphasis on abortion and ignore facts critical to the auto industry as he seeks support from key voting groups in the waning days of a close presidential race.

Disney is paying $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company behind "Star Wars," from its chairman and founder, George Lucas. It's also making a seventh movie in the "Star Wars" series.

One week before a close election, superstorm Sandy has confounded the presidential race, halted early voting in many areas and led some to ponder whether the election might even be postponed.

Many homeowners who suffered losses because of flooding from Hurricane Sandy are likely to find themselves out of luck. Standard homeowners policies don't cover flooding damage, and the vast majority of homeowners don't have flood insurance.

Parts of West Virginia and some neighboring states have seen blizzard conditions today, as wet snow and high winds spin off the edge of superstorm Sandy.

New Mexico authorities say an unknown hazardous material release has sickened about 200 people near the Mexican border just northwest of El Paso, Texas.

A major airport in northern Japan has been closed after an unexploded bomb believed to be from World War II was found.

Hurricane Sandy is churning off the East Coast and is expected to join up with two other weather systems to create a huge and problematic storm affecting 50 million people. Here's a snapshot of what is happening or expected, state by state.

Another small step has been taken in the private space transport business.

With two months left in 2012, Chicago has surpassed the number of homicides it had for all of last year.

A Florida judge is denying prosecutors' request for a gag order in the trial of a neighborhood watch leader charged with fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

The FBI says the number of violent crimes reported to police decreased 3.8 percent last year to 1.2 million, the fifth straight year of declines.

The Supreme Court seems skeptical of a government request to throw out a lawsuit challenging an expansion of a surveillance law used to monitor conversations of foreign spies and terrorist suspects.

Chicago has reached a grim milestone city officials wanted to avoid but knew was coming.

Waves on east coast already at Hurricane Irene levels; officials say the worst is still yet to come.

Additional inspectors are being sent to nuclear power plants in five states as Hurricane Sandy approaches the East Coast.

The city of Chicago is demolishing the 200th building deemed dangerous under a program that targets vacant structures used by gangs.

Massachusetts officials say they have shut down a compounding pharmacy after a surprise inspection prompted by the nationwide meningitis outbreak linked to a different state company.

Supporters of gay marriage who are fighting a proposed ban on Minnesota's ballot are trying to win over a particularly skeptical audience: senior citizens.