AP - A key panel unanimously recommended impeachment for Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, setting up a vote that could make him the first governor to face such fate in Illinois' sordid political history. Blagojevich should lose his job for abusing power, mismanaging government and committing possible criminal acts, including federal allegations he tried to sell off a U.S. Senate seat, the special committee concluded.

AP - Roland Burris cleared a key hurdle Thursday on his way to filling President-elect Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, testifying under oath that he didn't strike any deals with Gov. Rod Blagojevich to get the plum appointment.

AP - Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest kept tens of thousands of people from their homes Thursday, brought freight trains to a standstill and stranded hundreds of trucks along the major highways that link Seattle's busy ports with markets around the country.

AP - Thousands of evacuated residents, including former FEMA chief Michael D. Brown, were allowed to return to their homes Thursday after firefighters partially contained a wildfire near Denver that destroyed two houses and several outbuildings.

AP - In grainy cell-phone videos played over and over on the Internet, police officers force an unarmed black man to the ground and hold him face-down on a crowded train platform. Suddenly one of the officers draws his gun and fatally shoots the man in the back — then looks up.