Assuming all goes as planned, at least 49 states will have signed on to a broad settlement between the banks and state attorneys general over robo-signing. Troubled homeowners may see some benefit, the banks will get some immunity provisions and the Obama administration is hoping to get some credit for negotiating the deal.

The move would make the state the seventh in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign the measure into law next week. The vote comes a day after a federal appeals court ruled that California's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

Fresh off victories in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum campaigned in Texas on Wednesday. He told a small group of pastors, some of them former supporters of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, that he is the true conservative left to challenge Mitt Romney.

A top State Department official wants to unleash the power of Twitter, Facebook and other services to crowdsource the fight to control the world's nuclear weapons.

Dismal attendance rates have put Detroit Public Schools at risk of losing vital state funding, so the city has launched an assault on truancy. Attendance agent George Eason says, "If we see that the parent is willfully ... not sending the child to school, then we will take every means necessary to enforce the law."

California, New York and a handful of other states have yet to sign on to a deal with mortgage lenders that would resolve the "robo-signing" issue. Lenders have pledged $25 billion to reduce outstanding mortgages, but some states say the deal doesn't go far enough to protect consumers.

Dolphins have been stranding themselves along the shores of Cape Cod Bay since the Pilgrims' times, and this winter is no different. What is different is how long the latest round of strandings has lasted — almost a month. No one knows why the animals come ashore, but when they do teams of rescuers mobilize to try to save them.