Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has blocked New York City's plan for a mandatory uniform fleet of yellow taxis, ruling it violated a provision requiring a hybrid option. The city's so-called Taxi of Tomorrow, a Nissan NV-200, is not a hybrid. The judge's decision Wednesday declared the law creating...

Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

Investigations of IRS' targeting of groups is continuing in wake of ouster of top official WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't look for the outcry over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of tea party groups to subside with the ouster of the agency's acting commissioner. Three...

Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration is warning state taxpayers of an email scam that seeks personal information. The department says the sender of the email claims that the recipient's tax return is being reviewed by Arkansas Revenue Services and...

Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University scientists are part of a multistate partnership receiving a $9.6 million, five-year grant to find ways for cattle producers to adapt to climate extremes in their grazing operations. Kansas State agronomy professor and team leader Chuck Rice says...

Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of the X1.2 class solar flare on Tuesday May 14, 2013. Solar activity continued on Tuesday as the sun emitted a fourth X-class flare from its upper left limb, peaking at 9:48 p.m. EDT. This flare is the 18th X-class flare of the current solar...

Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013

AP WASHINGTON DAYBOOK, Thursday, May 16 CONGRESS-SENATE CONGRESS-SENATE NEW 11 a.m. CARDIN - PEREZ NOMINATION - PRESS CALL — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) will hold a conference call with media to discuss the nomination of fellow Marylander Tom Perez. Joining Senator Cardin will be...

Updated: Wed, May 15, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope is broken, potentially jeopardizing the search for other worlds where life could exist outside our solar system. If engineers can't find a fix, the failure could mean an end to the $600 million mission's search, although the space...

Updated: Wed, May 15, 2013

A central Florida teenager who was accused of igniting a chemical explosion on school grounds — and who became the subject of a grassroots social media campaign on her behalf — will not face criminal charges, authorities said Wednesday. Polk County State Attorney Jerry Hill wrote in a...

Updated: Wed, May 15, 2013

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina Senate passed two major environmental rollbacks Wednesday ahead of a deadline over objections from Democratic lawmakers. The bills would repeal rules for managing pollutants in Jordan Lake and a host of restrictions on new jetties along the coast that...

Updated: Wed, May 15, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's sixth annual conference for software developers opened Wednesday with a chance for the company to showcase its latest services. Announcements included new features for online games, maps and search, a new music-streaming service and enhancements to its Google Plus...