U.S.

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will spend two years in federal prison. McDonnell was sentenced on Tuesday. He and his wife were convicted of using the governor's office for favors to businessman Johnnie Williams in exchange for over $170,000 in loans and gifts.

A 66-year-old Vietnam vet is due to be executed next week for the 1998 murder of a deputy sheriff in Georgia. There's no question that he shot the officer thanks to a grisly dashcam video. But the man's lawyers say PTSD and mental illness were not taken into consideration at sentencing.

Pitchers Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Pedro Martinez, and second baseman Craig Biggio were elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Robert Siegel talks to Tom Goldman about the selections and some of the notable ballplayers who did not get in, like Don Mattingly.

Republicans formally took full control of Congress for the first time during Barack Obama's presidency on Tuesday. Republicans took over the Senate and added to their majority in the House.

Capital punishment and lethal injection were in the news quite a bit in 2014. Unable to secure certain drugs, states began using new ones, and that caused a number of executions to go awry.