Sarah Palin announced Friday she plans to resign as governor of Alaska in a few weeks, saying she will try to "affect positive change" from outside government.

Philadelphia, Miss., declares independence from an ugly past. NBC?s Mark Potter reports.

Authorities in South Carolina are looking for a serial killer they believe has shot four people to death within 10 miles of each other over the past six days.

FIRST VISIT: Vice President Joseph Biden, left, meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki in Baghdad. Vice President Joe Biden's surprise two-day visit this weekend to Iraq was meant to ''re-establish contact'' with leaders here, but some Iraqis bristled at the messenger more than the message.

In what may well be a first, a Catholic archbishop worshipped with U.S. troops at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo then turned up across the minefield separating the base from Cuba a day later to offer a Mass for Cuban worshipers in Guantánamo province.

Newly released Defense Department documents and memos about the first years of operation of the jail at the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, portray a chaotic and sometimes violent operation that its own commanders described as dysfunctional.