Massachusetts’ top securities regulator on Tuesday accused Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. of fraud over the investment bank’s sales of auction-rate securities to customers who couldn’t access their money after the market for the risky investments froze.

Hip-hop mogul Marion “Suge” Knight is facing felony drug charges and a misdemeanor battery charge in Las Vegas.

A man whose groin was disfigured by a flesh-eating bacteria infection in prison has accepted a $300,000 settlement from the Washington Department of Corrections.

A Democratic senator says Democrats are letting Sen. Joe Lieberman keep his prized chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee despite supporting Republican John McCain for president.

Oil prices fluctuated Tuesday even as the government reported that gasoline prices recorded their largest drop ever in October and prices for home heating oil, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas fell substantially.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress on Tuesday that the administration remains firmly opposed to dipping into the government’s $700 billion financial bailout fund for a $25 billion rescue package for Detroit’s Big Three automakers, no matter how badly they need the help.

A fourth suspect has been arrested in the death of a Long Island lawyer who was shot during a botched ambush robbery that police say was set up by the lawyer’s business partner.

A Marine who sued Rep. John Murtha for defamation wants a federal appeals court to order the Pennsylvania Democrat to testify under oath in the case.

Malia and Sasha Obama are in Washington with their mother checking out new schools.

The father of Chief Justice John Roberts died Tuesday after a long illness, the Supreme Court said.