AP - Authorities have been investigating the disappearance of Susan Powell as a murder for at least several months, while they publicly left open the possibility that the Utah mother might be found alive.

AP - A 31-year-old man faces murder charges in the death of an Arizona couple found tied up and burned beyond recognition and four others have also been arrested in the case, police said Tuesday.

AP - Hammered by Republicans and the Catholic Church, the White House hinted at compromise Tuesday as it struggled to calm an election-year uproar caused by its rule requiring religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth control.

AP - Same-sex marriage moved one step closer to the Supreme Court on Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled California's ban unconstitutional, saying it serves no purpose other than to "lessen the status and human dignity" of gays.

AP - Ben Bernanke says the job market isn't as strong as the steadily declining unemployment rate might suggest.

AP - A vice president at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure resigned Tuesday, saying the breast cancer charity should have stood by its politically explosive decision to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.

AP - Political turmoil over abortion and birth control spread suddenly on Tuesday. A high-ranking official resigned from the Komen breast-cancer charity after its backtracking treaty with Planned Parenthood, and Republican presidential candidates blistered the Obama administration for a recent ruling on Catholic hospitals and contraception.

AP - Students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania can get the "morning-after" pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine, an idea that has drawn the attention of federal regulators and raised questions about how accessible emergency contraception should be.

AP - When students return to the school where two teachers were jailed last week for alleged lewdness, they'll have new teachers in their classrooms, a new principal in the front office and new workers serving lunch.

AP - A commission created by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn nearly two years ago with the ambitious goal of righting the wrongs of Chicago's police torture scandal is quietly falling apart, another apparent victim of the state's budget mess.

AP - Jury selection continued Tuesday in the case of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in a case that rocked the picturesque campus.

AP - Karen Handel has had two major run-ins involving Planned Parenthood. One helped crush her political career; the other has the potential to remake it.

AP - Former Sen. Bob Kerrey on Tuesday rejected a comeback run for Senate, dashing Democrats' hopes of holding a coveted Nebraska seat and leaving the party to scramble for a race all but guaranteed to go Republicans' way.

Reuters - An appeals court on Tuesday found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional in a case that may lead to a showdown in the Supreme Court.

AP - It was just last summer that the Dow Jones industrial average shed 2,000 points in three terrifying weeks. Investors had a host of things to worry about, including the possibility of another recession.

AP - When it started, American teenagers were doing "The Twist." The United States had yet to put a man into orbit around the Earth. And a first-class U.S. postage stamp cost 4 cents.

AP - Additional U.S. sanctions on Iran are more significant for their timing than their immediate effect on Iran's economy, coming as the United States and its allies are arguing that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.

Reuters - Below are highlights from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony on Tuesday on the state of the U.S. economy to the Senate Budget Committee. Bernanke's prepared testimony was virtually identical to testimony on Thursday to the House Budget Committee.