Eyder Peralta

Telling a story about forgiveness in the presence of love is easy. Telling a story about forgiveness in the absence of love is hard.

Forgiveness in the presence of love is done all the time — it's every story about relationships broken by mistakes, repaired by apologies and righted by ...

Things have changed.

That was the message delivered during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act on Wednesday.

Rep. John Lewis, a prominent figure in the civil rights struggle, said there is probably no greater symbol of that change than the fact that ...

The killing of three soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, "shakes our soul," President Obama said on Wednesday.

Obama spoke at a memorial service at the Army post for the second time in five years. The ceremony for the three slain soldiers today echoed the one held for the 13 people ...

The House Ways and Means Committee voted today to send the Justice Department a criminal referral over ex-IRS official Lois Lerner.

Fox News reports the committee voted 23-14 to accuse Lerner of using "extreme bias" by asking her agency to look into the tax-exempt status of some conservative groups.

The city of Detroit has reached a deal with some bondholders that allows them to keep 74 percent of the $388 million they are owed, the city announced Wednesday.

As the Detroit Free Press explains it, these unlimited-tax general obligation bondholders are the ones with the strongest legal position ...

The number of dead from last month's mudslide near Oso, Wash., has now risen to 35, the Snohomish County medical examiner's office said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the medical examiner's office said the last person identified was two-year-old Brooke Spillers of Arlington, Washington.

Snohomish County also said ...

The Texas Board of Education heard testimony this afternoon about a proposed Mexican-American studies elective high school class that could be offered state wide.

As the AP reports, proponents of the of the program say it will offer students a deeper understanding of the state's history. The AP adds:

Sparks don't usually fly during an hours-long meeting of the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.

But on Tuesday, when Texas Rep. Louis Gohmert brought up the House finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in 2012, Holder lost his cool:

"You don't want to go there, buddy," Holder said. "You ...

California state Sen. Leland Yee, a prominent Democratic lawmaker who pushed for more gun control, pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and conspiracy to traffic guns during an appearance in federal court on Tuesday.

The Sacramento Bee reports that Yee is facing up to 125 years in prison. ...

Army officials said Spc. Iván López went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last week after an argument involving a request for leave.

Ryland Barton from NPR member station KWBU in Waco sent this report for our Newscast unit:

"Investigators say López had gotten into an argument ...

Maryland lawmakers voted on Monday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The Baltimore Sun reports:

"As recently as Friday, the proposal seemed to be dying in the House of Delegates, before the Legislative Black Caucus and other advocates convinced a key committee chairman to change course.

...

The United States Agency for International Development came out swinging today against an Associated Press report that said the agency used public funds to build a social media platform designed to undermine the Cuban government.

In a blog post, USAID says the wire agency "falsely characterized" the program.

A federal judge dismissed (pdf) a case that challenged the Obama administration's targeted killing of three Americans in Yemen.

Nasser Al-Awlaki sued administration officials personally for the killing of his son and al-Qaida cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, his grandson and another American. His lawyers argued the administration violated the targets' ...

The mental health of the alleged Fort Hood shooter was "not the direct precipitating factor," Lt. Gen. Mark Milley said during a televised press conference on Friday.

An "escalating argument in his unit" may have led Spc. Iván López, who was being treated for depression and evaluated for post-traumatic stress ...

The Google-owned Nest Labs has halted sales of its smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, the company announced on its website.

In a letter from CEO Tony Fadell to customers, he said the company was concerned that users could unintentionally disable the device by waving their hands in front of ...

The Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for convicted Texas killer Tommy Lynn Sells on Thursday.

As we've reported, Sells' attorneys have been arguing that he should not be executed before the state reveals the source of its execution drugs. A lower court agreed with Sells and then ...

David Letterman, the host of CBS' Late Show, will retire in 2015.

His production company Worldwide Pants Inc. said in a press release:

"David Letterman, during a taping of tonight's Late Show, said that he informed Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS Corporation, that he will step down ...

A Senate panel voted on Thursday to declassify a controversial report on the interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency during the presidency of George W. Bush.

In a statement announcing the vote, Sen. Diane Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report "exposes ...

The funding of a social media platform designed to undermine the Cuban government was not a covert American operation, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said during his regular press briefing on Thursday.

"The program referred to by the Associated Press was a development program run by the United States ...

NASA is suspending "the majority of its ongoing engagements" with its Russian counterpart over the crisis in Ukraine.

The Verge, which first broke the news based on a leaked memo, reports that "the suspension includes travel to Russia, teleconferences, and visits by Russian government officials to NASA facilities. NASA ...