Updated: 8:32 AM Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the government appears headed over the so-called fiscal cliff because of a lack of progress in bipartisan negotiations.

Posted: 6:51 AM With a proposed payout of more than $1 billion, one major chapter of a nearly four-year legal saga that left Toyota Motor Corp. fighting hundreds of lawsuits and struggling with a tarnished image has ended, though another remains.

Updated: 8:32 AM President Obama and lawmakers are running out of time to work out an agreement to stave off the across-the-board tax increases and budget cuts that are set to take effect next week.

Posted: 6:10 AM A nonprofit group is reporting that the number of law enforcement officers who died while performing their duties declined this year compared to 2011.

Updated: 8:33 AM The average number of people seeking unemployment benefits over the past month fell to the lowest level since March 2008, a sign that the job market is healing.

Updated: 8:31 AM Four national retailers have agreed to recall more than 150,000 Nap Nanny baby recliners after at least five infant deaths and dozens of reports of children nearly falling out of the recliners.

Updated: 3:42 AM District of Columbia police say they are investigating an incident in which NBC News reporter David Gregory displayed what he described as a high-capacity ammunition magazine on "Meet the Press."

Posted: 12:45 AM Some schools in Philadelphia will soon have condom dispensers in their high schools. According to ABC News, students as young as 14 years old will have access to free condoms. This is part of an effort to fight the "epidemic" of sexually transmitted diseases among Philadelphia teens.

Updated: 4:34 PM Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz of Hawaii has been appointed to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Posted: 3:46 PM Federal regulators are weighing whether to make airlines reveal prices for baggage and other fees to online sellers like Orbitz and Expedia.

Updated: 6:11 PM A spokesman says former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital.

Posted: 2:50 PM Methamphetamine lab seizures are on the rise in the nation's cities and suburbs, raising new concerns about a lethal drug that has long been the scourge of rural America.

Updated: 1:24 PM Officials in Newtown, Conn., are asking people to stop sending gifts to the grief-stricken community following the deadly school shooting, saying they're deeply grateful but can't handle the donation deluge.

Updated: 6:21 PM A spokesman says the fever that kept former President George H.W. Bush in a Houston hospital over Christmas has worsened, and doctors have put him on a liquids-only diet.

Updated: 8:32 AM Starbucks is using its coffee cups to jump into the political fray in Washington.

Updated: 1:42 PM A crusade against toy guns that began in 1987 is being re-launched following the elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left dozens dead.

Updated: 4:34 AM Thousands of previously unpublished Boy Scouts of America files that detail suspected sexual abuse by employees and volunteers have been posted to an online database by a newspaper.

Posted: 4:13 AM The Taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide attack at U.S. military base in Afghanistan. A vehicle driven by the bomber exploded at the gate of the base in the eastern part of the country today, also killing three Afghans.

Posted: 4:09 AM The upper chamber of Russia's parliament has unanimously voted in favor of a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children.

Updated: 8:36 AM Ben Affleck is taking his name off the list of possible candidates for U.S. Sen. John Kerry's seat, which would be open if the Democratic senator from Massachusetts is confirmed as secretary of state.

Updated: 2:44 AM Authorities say a 62-year-old ex-con who killed two upstate New York firefighters and then himself apparently mapped out a plan. Police say William Spengler typed a note saying he wanted to burn down his neighborhood and do what he does best, "killing people."

Posted: 2:39 AM People moved by the deadly mass shooting at a Newtown elementary school have found ways to console and help grieving residents during the holiday.

Updated: 8:36 AM President Barack Obama is cutting short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii, planning to leave for Washington on Wednesday evening as he and lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

Updated: 12:45 AM U.S. shoppers spent cautiously this holiday season, a disappointment for retailers who slashed prices to lure people into stores and now must hope for a post-Christmas burst of spending.

Updated: 6:02 AM A Christmas Day twister outbreak has left damage across the Deep South while holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection are battling sometimes treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions.