WASHINGTON (AP) — Jack Lew, President Barack Obama's nominee for treasury secretary, is a premier federal budget expert who would take the helm of the government's main agency for economic and fiscal policy just as the administration girds itself for a new confrontation with congressional Republicans over the nation's debt and deficits.

NEW YORK (AP) — A high-speed commuter ferry that crashed into a lower Manhattan dock, injuring dozens of people, had recently undergone a major overhaul that gave it new engines and a new propulsion system, and officials were looking into whether they played any role in the morning rush hour accident.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — The photos were chilling and enigmatic, just like their subject. In the pictures, taken on his IPhone hours before the Aurora movie theater massacre, accused gunman James Holmes mugs for the camera, sticks out his tongue and smiles as he holds a Glock under his face and displays his arsenal arrayed on his bed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden vowed urgent action against gun violence in America Wednesday, pledging steps by the Obama administration that he said could "take thousands of people out of harm's way" and improve the safety of millions more.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Too intimidated to fill out your tax return without help? Join the club.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "The Hunger Games" devoured the competition at the People's Choice Awards, emerging the top victor with five trophies.

NEW YORK (AP) — A high-speed ferry loaded with hundreds of commuters from New Jersey crashed into a dock in lower Manhattan on Wednesday during the morning rush hour, seriously injuring 11 people, including one who suffered a severe head wound falling down a stairwell.