WASHINGTON - The federal government may have about 30 percent fewer firefighters for this year’s Western wildfire season than it did last year, according to lawmakers — setting the stage for what could be an election-year debacle on the fire lines.

WASHINGTON - A crackdown on illegal immigration will have to go forward without help from Congress, the Bush administration said Friday, asserting that an executive-branch-only approach is better than doing nothing.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The country's calf crop has been depleted to its lowest level in 60 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it could take several years to replenish supply.

WASHINGTON - Tests have confirmed mad cow disease in what appears to be the first case in a U.S. born animal, the Agriculture Department said Friday.

WASHINGTON - Federal officials raced on Wednesday to find out where a Washington state cow, apparently infected with mad cow disease, was born and may have been infected.

WASHINGTON - Just days after discovering the nation's first case of mad cow disease, the United States has lost nearly all of its beef exports as more than a dozen countries stopped buying American beef as insurance against potential infection.

WASHINGTON – Migrant laborers in this country will be able to get information on workers compensation, wage-and-hour laws and other U.S. labor protections “no matter how you got here,” under an agreement signed Monday.

WASHINGTON - The United States banned poultry from mainland British Columbia on Monday because of a case of bird flu, though Canadian officials said it wasn't the virulent form in Southeast Asia blamed for more than 60 human deaths.

TOKYO - Japan and South Korea halted imports of U.S. beef on Wednesday after a cow in Washington state tested positive for mad cow disease, depriving American exporters of two of their largest overseas markets.

WASHINGTON — Roughly 40 percent of Americans do not have high-speed Internet access at home, according to new Commerce Department figures that underscore the challenges facing policymakers who are trying to bring affordable broadband connections to everyone.

Arizona K-12 students were chosen to adorn the 85-foot blue spruce Capitol Christmas Tree, also known as The People's Tree, in Washington, D.C.

ACCRA, Ghana - President Bush said Wednesday that talk of the United States building new military bases in Africa to expand its influence is "baloney."

Williams Gateway Airport entered a new era Tuesday by opening a U.S. Customs office to monitor international cargo and passenger flights.

COPENHAGEN — Large pieces of a climate deal fell into place Thursday with new offers from the U.S. and China, but other tough issues remained before President Barack Obama and other leaders can sign off on a political accord to contain the threat of an overheated world.

NAJAF, Iraq - The United States intensified pressure on a radical cleric Thursday, seizing the governor's office from his fighters in Najaf and killing an estimated 40 insurgents in battles east of the holy city, a U.S. official said.

LUBBOCK, Texas - As Americans feast on Thanksgiving meals, the agriculture industry and workers who supplied the bounty have a plateful of worries.

WASHINGTON - The nation’s unquenchable thirst for gasoline — and finding an alternative to what’s been called our addiction to oil — has produced an unintended consequence: The cost of the foods that fuel our bodies has jumped.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is shuffling its homeland security operation to make 5,000 more armed agents available to protect commercial flights.

A Mesa couple who suspects their pet Boston terrier was poisoned by tainted dog food expressed gratitude Friday that 10-year-old Penny is alive and getting better.

Mexican trucks subject to strict new safety measures will begin to move on U.S. highways, and Mexico will begin to lift tariffs on U.S. goods entering that country under an agreement signed Wednesday in Mexico City.

PHOENIX – Arizona has depleted its groundwater over the past 70 years enough to fill Lake Powell nearly three times, according to the first federal study of the state’s groundwater since the 1980s.