Posted: 9:03 AM Republicans' struggles to redefine their party are intensifying, as tea party insurgents and establishment Republicans vie to control congressional primaries.

Posted: 9:02 AM President Barack Obama will go to Israel in the spring, the White House said Tuesday, marking his first visit to the staunch U.S. ally since becoming president.

Updated: 2:08 PM The Tennessee Supreme Court has heard arguments from the city of Memphis and its residents challenging the state's voter ID law.

Posted: 5:56 AM A recent study by a Vanderbilt University researcher shows that for every year a person spends behind bars, life expectancy decreases two years.

Posted: 5:50 AM Deputy Attorney General Janet Kleinfelter said in documents filed just hours before DCS Commissioner Kate O'Day resigned Tuesday that it would take nearly 1,800 hours of labor to produce, redact and copy the records

Posted: 5:46 AM The Senate Judiciary Committee passed its version of the bill 8-0 on Tuesday. It's now being scheduled for a full Senate vote and could be on the Senate floor later this week.

Posted: 5:44 AM John Jay Hooker, a two-time Democratic Party nominee for governor and vocal opponent of the measure, spoke before the vote and told members of the committee that "people want the right to elect these judges."

Posted: 10:47 AM Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says Chuck Hagel "seems clueless" on U.S. policy toward Iran and he's urging the Obama administration to reconsider its defense secretary nominee.

Posted: 10:46 AM An internal Justice Department memo says it is legal for the government to kill U.S. citizens abroad if it believes they are senior al-Qaida leaders continually engaged in operations aimed at killing Americans.

Posted: 10:46 AM An Associated Press analysis of new FBI data published early Tuesday shows the National Instant Criminal Background Check system processed more than 2.78 million checks in December.

Posted: 8:54 AM As he prepares to announce a new wave of Cabinet and other senior posts, President Barack Obama is aiming to put a more diverse face on his administration

Posted: 8:51 AM House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is joining the growing list of Republicans who say the party needs to broaden its political appeal.

Posted: 8:49 AM After ducking comment for days, Sen. Robert Menendez is forcefully denying allegations he engaged with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, calling the claims false "smears."

Posted: 8:48 AM President Barack Obama declared Monday on his first trip outside Washington to promote gun control that a consensus is emerging for universal background checks for purchasers.

Posted: 8:19 AM Business leaders and labor union officials are delving into high-stakes negotiations over a particularly contentious element of immigration reform — a guest worker program to ensure future immigrants come here legally.

Posted: 8:17 AM How many Hispanic members are there in Congress? Turns out narrowing it down to one number is not easy. There is no dispute about the Senate. The House, however, is another matter.

Posted: 8:15 AM New Secretary of State John Kerry reported for duty Monday, acknowledging that as Hillary Rodham Clinton's successor he has "big heels to fill."

Posted: 8:13 AM Republican Sen. John McCain, a sharp critic of Chuck Hagel's nomination as defense secretary, said Monday he will not support a filibuster of President Barack Obama's pick.

Posted: 8:10 AM The legislation to renew the Violence Against Women Act appeared on a smooth path toward passage in the Senate, possibly by the end of this week. Monday's vote to make the bill the next order of business was 85-8.

Posted: 6:06 AM The state Senate is scheduled to hold its first hearing Tuesday on a gun bill that dominated last year's legislative session and caused aftershocks in the ensuing election season.

Updated: 6:06 AM The main House sponsor of a bill seeking to guarantee handgun permit holders the right to store firearms in their vehicles says he misspoke when he suggested that he routinely breaks the law.

Posted: 12:55 PM Republican bills before both chambers of the General Assembly would prohibit the governor from pursuing an expansion to TennCare, the state's expanded Medicaid program.

Updated: 12:52 PM As part of a grant to the Memphis City Schools, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is trying to determine which model will be more useful.

Posted: 8:41 AM President Barack Obama said Sunday that gays should be allowed in the Boy Scouts and women should be allowed in military combat roles

Posted: 8:39 AM The National Rifle Association's executive vice president continued to oppose background checks for all gun purchases despite polls indicating that most NRA members don't share his position.