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AP – Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, President Barack Obama on Tuesday sealed his health care overhaul and made the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process.

AP – Federal authorities had been monitoring members of a Michigan-based Christian militia for some time but were forced to “take them down” over the weekend after learning of an imminent threat against police, the U.S. attorney leading the prosecution said Tuesday.

AP – Dragged deeper than ever before into the clerical sex abuse scandal, the Vatican is launching a legal defense that the church hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him deposed.

AP – The bodies of 21 babies, some with hospital identification tags around their tiny ankles, washed ashore on a river in eastern China and two mortuary workers were detained for allegedly dumping them.

AP – The second major rainstorm of the month pounded the Northeast on Tuesday, pushing rivers over their banks, closing roads and schools, prompting evacuations, and shattering at least one rainfall record. Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri asked residents Tuesday afternoon to get home by dinnertime to avoid traveling in what officials expect to be the worst flooding to hit the state in more than 100 years.

AP – A judge on Tuesday sentenced serial killer Rodney Alcala to death before hearing emotional testimony from the families of four women and a 12-year-old girl he strangled in the 1970s.

AP – The Easter Bunny might lower your chances of having a heart problem. According to a new study, small doses of chocolate every day could decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by nearly 40 percent.

AP – Actor Rip Torn pleaded not guilty Tuesday to burglary and firearms charges stemming from his January arrest inside a Connecticut bank after hours.

AP – A western Pennsylvania man was charged with simple assault for allegedly attacking a pastor’s husband during a Palm Sunday church service. Police said the man, 31, was jailed on three counts of simple assault stemming from Sunday’s incident at the Christian Church of Wilkinsburg, just east of Pittsburgh.

AP – Ozzie Guillen just had to point out what a nice job his hair stylist did and how cool his new shades are. As news goes, that barely registered. The Chicago White Sox’s manager is simply providing glimpses into his personal life through his Twitter account, and if his boss doesn’t like it, well, Guillen’s response can easily be summed up in 140 characters or less: Too bad.