The bureau, which says it's been hard-hit by sequestration cuts, hopes the compromise plan will forestall furloughs and bring it back to full capacity.

A congressional vote to renew extended unemployment benefits may have to wait until the new year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will push for it in January if a last-minute extension fails to come together.

Student athletes know they need to avoid concussions. But hits that don't cause concussion symptoms can affect the brain, too. Researchers are now trying to figure out who is most at risk from those smaller hits, and if they can be warned in advance.

After a few moments of review, the top life events people reported in 2013 can read like a 10-sentence short story — perhaps a fable, or a coming-of-age tale. In the U.S., hot topics included the Super Bowl, Pope Francis, and the Harlem Shake.

People who have surgery or are hospitalized for serious illnesses sometimes develop dangerous staph infections. The culprits can be bacteria that were living on people all along. Scientists say the germs thrive in remote parts of the nose that aren't typically tested. Other benign microbes might help keep the bad ones at bay.

On Wednesday, Chaz Stevens' beer can-covered pole joined a number of other displays in the state Capitol in Tallahassee. There is also a religious nativity scene and an atheist display. Stevens says he's protesting what he sees as a flagrant disregard for the separation of church and state.

The Food and Drug Administration Wednesday advised companies to change the labels on their drugs to make it illegal for livestock producers to use drugs for "growth promotion" or "feed efficiency." The announcement is the latest step in a long-running effort by the FDA to reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture.

Colorado enacted several tough gun-control measures after the shooting in Newtown, Conn. — and then voters ousted two lawmakers who backed those laws. One former senator says he has no regrets, while the man who helped remove him is now focused on other gun-rights supporters.

Starting in the 1980s, leaders in Garden City, Kan., decided that they were going to treat the immigrant influx as a blessing, not a curse. Working conditions are tough, but the jobs offer decent wages, and a good support system provides a brighter future.

California plans to get 33 percent of its electricity from wind and solar power by 2020. But that will only work if the state can economically store some of the energy for release on cloudy, windless days.

The United States has suspended shipments of non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels across the Turkish border. The move came after Islamist militants seized a warehouse full of supplied equipment and other aid supplied by the U.S. that had been under the control of the secular Supreme Military Council. Islamist groups have gained considerable ground in northern Syria in recent months in clashes with secular rebels and Kurdish militiamen.

The White House released some upbeat enrollment numbers for the troubled health care law Wednesday, just as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius headed back to Capitol Hill to face skeptical lawmakers.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Kansas supreme court should not have overturned the murder conviction and death sentence of a man who said he was high on crystal meth when he killed a sheriff near Wichita.