By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Board of Education is due to vote on Wednesday on a controversial proposal to close 54 schools in the country's third-largest public school district in what would be the largest mass school closing in the nation. The district's plans to close 53 elementary schools and a high school this year, mainly in Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods, has been met with protests by parents and union leaders who say the closings will disrupt communities and put children in danger with longer walks through troubled areas. ...
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America will convene a two-day meeting of 1,400 local leaders to consider changing its long-standing ban on openly gay boys in the scouting movement.
PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix jury deciding whether Jodi Arias should be sentenced to life in prison or death has resumed deliberations.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma emergency management official says authorities still are working to find six adults who haven't been accounted for since the devastating tornado that tore through the Oklahoma City area earlier this week.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.
NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Will gamers want One?
PHOENIX (AP) — The focus of the Jodi Arias murder trial now turns to the jury as it decides whether to impose a life or death sentence. The process has several more steps:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of a House panel angry over sexual abuse problems in the military are set to vote on a bill that would strip commanding officers of their authority to unilaterally change or dismiss court-martial convictions — a change that lawmakers believe will lead to a cultural shift that encourages more victims to step forward.
NEW YORK (AP) — This time "you're fired" is more than a Donald Trump catchphrase. Fox is turning the firing of real people from real jobs into prime-time entertainment starting this week.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Chechen immigrant was shot to death by authorities while being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombing case early Wednesday after he lunged at an FBI agent with a knife, officials said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the storm over the agency's targeting of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday that she had done nothing wrong in the episode, and then invoked her constitutional right to refuse to answer lawmakers' questions.
NEW YORK (AP) — One after another, major U.S. corporations have updated anti-discrimination policies to protect gay, lesbian and transgender workers, drawing plaudits from gay-rights groups. There's one prominent exception: Exxon Mobil Corp.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Train service from New York to Boston was back on schedule Wednesday on one of the nation's oldest and most heavily traveled railways, five days after a derailment in Connecticut injured scores of commuters and damaged tracks.
The newest Chevrolet Sonic is a peppy, stylish, versatile and good handling RS hatchback with standard turbo engine, leather-trimmed seats and smartphone infotainment link — all for a starting price tag of less $21,000.
SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. (AP) — Weeping filled a church Wednesday during a funeral for a Hofstra University student who was accidentally shot by police responding to a Long Island home invasion, with friends describing her fearlessness and love of life — riding bikes, climbing trees, going to more concerts than they could count.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Dan Garland could feel the latch on the shelter door begin to turn in his hand. It was as if the storm outside were a living, breathing thing — and it was trying desperately to get in.
BOSTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials say a man was shot while he was being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombing case after he lunged at an FBI agent with a knife.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The cost of a massive tornado that battered an Oklahoma City suburb could be more than $2 billion, according to a preliminary official estimate announced Wednesday. State authorities meanwhile said two infants were among the 24 people who perished in the twister.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base on Wednesday, a month after the test flight was postponed because of tensions with North Korea.
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The United States and its Arab and European allies will step up their support for Syria's opposition to help them "fight for the freedom of their country" if President Bashar Assad's regime doesn't engage in peace talks in good faith, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Wednesday.