By DAVID GOLDMAN and KATE BRUMBACK (ADAIRSVILLE, Ga., AP) — A massive storm system raked the Southeast on Wednesday, generating tornadoes and dangerous winds that flipped cars on a major… Read more »

By BOB SALSBERG (BOSTON, AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick has named his former chief-of-staff William “Mo” Cowan to serve as interim U.S. senator for Massachusetts until a special election can… Read more »

(MIDLAND CITY, Ala., AP) — Police, SWAT teams and negotiators clustered at a rural property where a man was believed to be holed up in an underground shelter Wednesday after… Read more »

(BURGETTSTOWN, Pa., AP) — Police say a western Pennsylvania man stopped at a bar and had a beer minutes after he broke out of a police station holding cell after… Read more »

By MIKE STOBBE (NEW YORK, AP) — Federal health officials say at least 16 people in five states have been sickened by salmonella food poisoning linked to ground beef. No… Read more »

By DAVID CRARY (NEW YORK, AP) — President Barack Obama’s emphatic gay-rights advocacy in his inaugural address thrilled many activists. Yet almost immediately came the questions and exhortations as to… Read more »

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN (ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., AP) — For at least a week, 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego had been planning the attack, authorities said. After shooting his mother and three siblings… Read more »

By ALICIA CHANG (LOS ANGELES, AP) — Opportunity, NASA’s other Mars rover, has tooled around the red planet for so long it’s easy to forget it’s still alive. Some 5,000… Read more »

By JASON DEAREN (HALF MOON BAY, Calif., AP) — Mother Nature saved the best for last, with some of the largest swells of the day arriving during the final heat… Read more »

By DIRK LAMMERS (ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D., AP) — Stacey Darling loves watching family movies at the Ellsworth Air Force Base theater in South Dakota because it’s so much… Read more »