RIVERWOODS, Ill. (AP) — Three people are dead after a plane transporting a medical patient crashed in the backyard of a suburban Chicago home. Authorities say five people were on board when the plane went down just before 11 p.m. Monday in Riverwoods, about 25 miles northwest of Chicago. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham […]

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Fire officials say a Texas man who had to be rescued from the chimney of his house wasn’t trying to be Santa Claus. He was just locked out of his house. Fire officials say they had to hoist the 22-year-old man by rope from the chimney of his house in southwest […]

MADISON, Wis. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s daughter, whose defection to the West during the Cold War embarrassed the ruling communists and made her a best-selling author, has died. She was 85. Lana Peters — who was known internationally by her previous name, Svetlana Alliluyeva — died of colon cancer Nov. 22 in Wisconsin, where she […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook might finally be laying down the groundwork for a highly anticipated initial public offering, long expected to take place sometime after April 2012. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the world’s largest online social network is looking into raising as much as $10 billion in its IPO. The Journal […]

NEW YORK Kids can video chat with Santa, follow him on Twitter or enlist NORAD to track his every move online. And yet in many ways, technology may be making it harder for parents to keep their children believing in the jolly old elf. At nearly every turn, the Internet threatens to blow the fat […]

PORTLAND (AP) — Portland police are investigating a fatal stabbing. Police said in a statement that they responded to a Forest Avenue home at about 7:15 p.m. on Monday where they found a man suffering from stab wounds. He was taken to Maine Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy is scheduled. Police […]

Report: Maine family should be alive DEXTER (AP) — A new law enforcement report says a Dexter woman and her two children would be alive today if the state’s justice system worked better. Authorities say Steven Lake killed himself in June after shooting his estranged wife, Amy, and children, 13- year-old Coty and 12-year-old Monica. […]

AUGUSTA Members of Occupy Augusta and the Maine Capitol Police agreed Monday to a standstill in a brewing dispute over an encampment in a state-owned park. A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s office said the agreement was reached during a conference call between the parties and U. S. District Judge Nancy Torresen. Occupy Augusta […]

AUGUSTA A state task force created to identify $25 million in budget cuts to address a shortfall in the 2012-13 biennial budget has met its goal. Members of the Streamline and Prioritize Core Government Services Task Force wrapped up their work Monday by agreeing to a series of cuts across a variety of departments. The […]