US Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

BOSTON (AP) , The two bombs that ripped through the crowds at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 170, were fashioned out of pressure cookers and packed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings, a person briefed on the investigation said Tuesday.

A 6-year-old Michigan boy decided to take his family's Ford Taurus out for a spin Saturday morning, when a cop pulled him over for hitting a street sign. "I opened the door and asked him what he was doing," Lapeer County Sheriff's Deputy Karl Sapp said Sunday. "He told me he was going to the dealer to get the car fixed."

Members of the nation's largest teachers unions , the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers , are pushing to organize in charter schools in several cities around the nation. The Wall Street Journal reported that the efforts are particularly underway in Chicago, San Diego and Philadelphia.

CHICAGO (AP) , U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stopped in Chicago on Monday to visit the parents of the young U.S. diplomat who was killed while delivering textbooks in southern Afghanistan earlier this month.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Alicia Keys says she wants to spark a global conversation about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The Grammy Award-winning singer met with women who are part of an HIV program at United Medical Center in the nation's capital Monday to discuss their experiences with the virus, including the fear and stigma associated with the disease.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The Supreme Court seemed worried Monday about the idea of companies patenting human genes in a case that could profoundly reshape the multibillion-dollar biomedical industry and U.S. research in the fight against diseases like breast and ovarian cancer.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) , An attorney for the parents of a girl who was sexually assaulted and later hanged herself said Monday the teen awoke from the attack with drawings and the name of one suspect scrawled on intimate parts of her body.

NEW YORK (AP) , Dish Network Corp. is trying to snag U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel away from a Japanese suitor, the latest sign that satellite dishes are losing their relevance in the age of cellphones that play everything from YouTube videos to live TV. Dish offered $25.5 billion in cash and stock on Monday for Sprint, which Dish says beats an offer from Japan's Softbank Corp.

President Obama has been briefed about the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon and his administration is in contact with state and local authorities, a White House official said Monday. In the wake of the explosions that killed at least two people and sent dozens to the hospital, a White House official said Mr.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Here's a little secret for all you procrastinators on Tax Day: The Internal Revenue Service doesn't like to talk about it, but as long as you don't owe any additional taxes, there is no penalty for filing a few days late.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is canceling the creation of a heroism medal for drone pilots and cyber warriors, prompted by uproar over its precedence over the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. Mr.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The Supreme Court seemed worried Monday about the idea of companies patenting genes that can be found inside the human body, as it heard arguments in a case that could profoundly reshape U.S. medical research and the fight against diseases such as breast and ovarian cancer.

BEIJING (AP) , Embedded within Chinese leaders' convoluted, yet vague statements to Washington about North Korea is a simple message: Talk with Pyongyang. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's...

A prominent gun-rights advocate claims his group's staff was in the room during the drafting of the recently unveiled proposal to expand gun-purchase background checks and said that "we snookered the other side , they haven't figured it out yet."

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) , A bus carrying visitors from Yosemite National Park crashed on a main highway south of the park, leaving 16 people injured, the California Highway Patrol said Sunday. The bus was about 40 miles south of the park when it went off Highway 41 and over and embankment about 6 p.m. Saturday.