Hundreds of Occupy protesters marched to Seattle's Harbor Island Monday, and briefly blocked traffic coming into the city's busy port. The Seattle event was the culmination of a day of coordinated protests at ports up and down the West Coast.

President Obama is marking the fulfillment of one of his most significant promises: ending the war in Iraq. During a news conference Monday with Iraq's prime minister, Obama warned other nations — particularly Iran — not to interfere in Iraq when the U.S. military presence ends.

The rules, which come two decades after Congress ordered the agency to regulate toxic air pollution, would give power plants nationwide just three more years to slash mercury and other harmful emissions. But some big power plants are angling for more time.

It can be expensive to learn to be an airplane mechanic, but once you become one, there are higher-paying opportunities in places like the military or the natural gas industry. For one airplane maintenance facility in Oklahoma City, that means hundreds of jobs go unfilled.

The thing Democrats really want is the thing Republicans hate. And the thing Republicans want is the thing Democrats are against. And yet, somehow between now and Christmas, most political watchers believe the partisan differences will quietly be worked out.

Pears sound like a healthful school lunch treat, but not if they're Comice pears. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says they don't qualify for kids who get free lunches, but a senator wants to change that.