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(Jul 31, 2009 3:15 PM CDT) Data which showed a slowing pace of decline for US gross domestic products fueled modest advances in the markets today, with the Dow finishing its best month since October 2002, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bank of America and Alcoa paced advancers, and the Dow closed up 17.15 at 9,171.61. The Nasdaq lost 5.80 to close at 1,978.50, while the S&P 500 gained 0.73, settling at 987.48.

(Jan 22, 2010 6:44 PM) Relatives pulled an 84-year-old woman from the rubble of their home today in Port-au-Prince, digging for 20 hours with bare hands after hearing moaning coming from under the ruins left by the earthquakes that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12. Marie Carida Romain is very thin. She is in a state of shock and severely dehydrated, an American doctor tells CBS, adding that her survival is hardly assured.

(Jan 6, 2015 6:51 PM) There are road trips crammed with whining about bathrooms, personal space, and whether we're there yet, and then there are road trips five years in the making, crammed with two continents' worth of open road, sunsets, impulse detours, beaches, ruins, and not knowing what's around the corner. Sam Christiansen and Erica Victorson, formerly of Utah and currently of the Pan-American Highway that stretches from Alaska to Argentina, are on the latter sort of road trip. As KSL reports, the couple set off on their 30,000-mile odyssey in June 2013 in an XPCamper truck, their travel bug frustrated by that thing that bugs most of us, that most of our life is spent working, says Victorson. Time is what we craved, and it was the one thing money could not buy. But what you can't buy, you can save for, so Christiansen and Victorson did: For the aforementioned five years, they worked hard, scrimped, saved, and paid off debt. And then, says Christiansen, we took the leap of faith. In the year and a half since, they tell KSL, they've logged swim time with whale sharks, hiked glaciers, navigated some pretty precarious roads, and gotten what they term intensive Spanish lessons. Traveling by truck gives them the ability to get off the beaten path, says Victorson; the couple keep a blog at Song of the Road. Some of our favorite experiences have been exploring hard-to-get-to places and we just kind of stumble into these amazing adventures and meet lovely people who are not used to tourists. She laments a society that labels outside-the-norm dreams as frivolous, irresponsible, or selfish, but says simply: I've never been happier in my life. (If this road trip sounds too big, try one of these.)

(Nov 4, 2015 9:00 AM) Thirty-five years ago on Halloween, a young woman showed up in Huntsville, Texas, asking for directions to the Texas Department of Corrections' Ellis Prison Farm. The next morning, on Nov. 1, 1980, a passing trucker spotted her body on the side of the highway, reports ABC13. Likely aged 15 to 20, the girl was naked and had been strangled. Not only could police not find her killer, but no one at Ellis Prison Farm could identify the girl--who was white, five and a half feet tall, with brown hair and hazel eyes--and an investigation that followed offered no clues about who she might be. Now, Sheriff Clint McRae and the Walker County Sheriff's Office hope that sharing the few facts they have will lead to new information. Authorities say the girl--last seen wearing jeans, a yellow shirt, a white knit sweater, a rectangular brown stone pendant on a gold chain, and leather sandals--first visited a gas station on the city's south side, where workers gave her directions to Ellis Prison Farm. She left on foot, eventually arriving at a truck stop on I-45 on the north side of Huntsville. There, she again asked for directions, which employees wrote down. When they asked if the girl's parents knew her whereabouts, she said, Who cares? She did, however, say she was from the Rockport and Aransas Pass area about 260 miles away, per the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, though no one there could identify her. A search of police and school records has turned up nothing. (Cops recently identified a missing woman in a similar cold case.)

(Nov 24, 2015 11:17 AM) Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space firm beat Elon Musk's SpaceX to the punch and launched its Blue Shepard reusable rocket into outer space, then returned to its landing pad in its first successful uncrewed reusability test, Mashable reports. The BE-3 rocket and empty crew capsule flew to a suborbital height of about 62 miles, at which point the capsule and rocket separated, Engadget reports. The capsule landed on Earth with the help of parachutes, the rocket's engines roared back to life about 5,000 feet above the landing pad, and the rocket touched down at 4.4mph. Rockets have always been expendable, Bezos wrote in a Monday blog post. Not anymore. Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket. Bezos also tweeted a video of the event Tuesday morning, noting Controlled landing not easy, but done right, can look easy. Bezos notes how reusable rockets could economize space travel, telling CNNMoney that current space travel is akin to airlines throwing out every 747 jet after it makes a cross-country journey. You can imagine how expensive your ticket would be, he notes. Elon Musk tweeted kudos Tuesday, posting, Congrats to Jeff Bezos and the BO team for achieving VTOL on their booster, though he turned that compliment into a backhanded one with a tweet that read, It is, however, important to clear up the difference between 'space' and 'orbit.' His point: that even though SpaceX's rockets have yet to nail an upright landing after leaving Earth's atmosphere, at least his rockets leave the atmosphere--a task requiring 10 times more speed and 100 times the energy of suborbital rockets, per CNN. But Bezos says he doesn't even consider Musk's company, or Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, to be competitors. I think of our competition primarily as Earth's gravity, he says. Space is a big place. There's room for all of us. (The last Virgin Galactic launch didn't go well.)

(Jun 10, 2016 8:03 AM CDT) Friday is Prince Philip's 95th birthday--a fitting day to see the release of the final Annie Leibovitz photo of his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, with him smiling sweetly by her side. The fourth photo of the queen in the Leibovitz four-photo series, commissioned to celebrate Elizabeth's 90th birthday in April, shows the royal couple depicted in what USA Today describes as the celebrity photographer's widely acclaimed lush style combined with her empathetic insight. The portrait of the pastel-adorned pair, taken shortly after Easter at Windsor Castle, was released just as the UK's official celebration of Elizabeth's birthday kicks off. The other three photos, seen here, were unveiled in April. The couple has been married for nearly 69 years--the most enduring marriage ever for a British monarch, per PBS. It's the longest royal marriage in history, a writer for a recent documentary on the queen tells People. A tweet from the official Royal Family account on Thursday paid tribute to their long love affair, quoting the queen as saying: He has, quite simply, been my strength & stay all these years. One more interesting factoid from PBS: Elizabeth remains the only Brit who wasn't single at his or her coronation ceremony. (Click to see iconic photos from that ceremony.)

(Feb 2, 2013 3:36 PM) Imagine hiding in the trunk of your friend's car as part of a game of tag--and doing it as an adult. That's exactly what Sean Raftis, a priest, did in the 1990s to tag his old school buddy Joe Tombari. When the trunk opened, Raftis jumped out and touched Tombari, whose startled wife fell back and tore a knee ligament. I still feel bad about it, says Raftis. But I got Joe. It's all part of a game that friends from Spokane, Washington, have been playing across America since the 1980s, the Wall Street Journal reports. At a reunion, they decided to revive their old high-school game of tag as a way to stay in touch. Now they play each February, and whoever's It on March 1st has to stay that way all year. So these 40-somethings will be crossing state lines, hiding in bushes, and sneaking onto private properties in the wee hours, all to keep the game, and the friendships, alive. And Raftis knows it's pretty much his turn to be It again. Once I step foot outside the rectory, all bets are off, he says. I have to be a little more careful.

(Jul 11, 2012 1:13 AM CDT) Americans are feeling a little more optimistic and that has translated into better poll numbers for President Obama, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Obama is leading Mitt Romney 49% to 43%, up 5 points from a month ago, according to the poll, which found that the percentage of people who believe the country is on the wrong track has dropped 5 points, but still stands at 58%. Only 35% called Obama's performance on jobs and the economy satisfactory, his lowest score since December, but his ratings were up on almost every other issue, including health care, energy, education, and foreign policy. Pollsters say Obama had a pretty bad June but his numbers are now back to where they were in May. It's not like consumer confidence has turned a big corner, but people feel a little better about where they are and where they are going, one pollster says. Nothing bad has happened recently, and when nothing really bad happens people start feeling more optimistic. The Reuters poll is Obama's best showing in a national poll so far this month. A Washington Post poll released yesterday showed him and Romney tied at 47%.

(Nov 7, 2015 9:10 AM) Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the original famous Disney character before Mickey Mouse came along, appears in a long-lost six-minute cartoon recently found in the British Film Institute's archives, the Telegraph reports. Sleigh Bells was broadcast in 1928, but all copies were thought to have been lost and it has not been viewed since. This copy is thought to have been donated to the archive in the 1980s; apparently, no one realized it was the only surviving copy and it was thus overlooked until a researcher recently typed its name into the BFI's new online database while hunting down long-lost titles. It will be fully restored and screened at a BFI facility in London on Dec. 12. An animation programmer at BFI tells CNN this cartoon is the holy grail of Disney films, seeing as it was the second-to-last Oswald cartoon made before Walt Disney split with Universal (which owned the rights to Oswald) and created Mickey Mouse. The restoration of this film will introduce many audiences to Disney's work in the silent period, BFI's head curator says. It clearly demonstrates the vitality and imagination of his animation at a key point in his early career. Adds the president of Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Oswald shorts are an important part of our Studios' history, and we have been working with film archives and private collectors all around the world to research the missing titles. (Another, even older Oswald cartoon was re-discovered recently.)

(Sep 19, 2014 10:28 AM CDT) Something seemed amiss to police officers in Oak Harbor, Wash., who responded to an Aug. 6 call about an altercation in which a fellow officer required assistance. When they arrived on the scene, they found a man and woman who had been fighting and 69-year-old Jim Bailey, the supposed retired officer who had intervened in the quarrel, Q13 Fox reports. Officials suspicious of Bailey's story started investigating and found out not only was Bailey not a police officer, but he may have successfully pretended to be one since 1991. Bailey, a funeral home worker, was arrested--while wearing an Oak Harbor PD shirt, no less, KOMO News reports. What police found during their extensive search points to a prolonged history of impersonation. Oak Harbor authorities turned up numerous items in his car and home that indicated his double life, and they suspect he has received cash for training and lectures he gave while posing as a retired cop, KIRO TV reports. Bailey was an Oak Harbor reserve officer for a few years in the '80s, but he left to attend the police academy and never graduated. He only lasted two to three weeks at the police academy, he did not succeed there, notes the Oak Harbor chief of police. Q13 Fox reports that impersonating an officer can be treated as either a misdemeanor or felony; the local prosecutor will make the call. (This police impersonator picked an odd time to pull someone over for speeding.)

(Sep 24, 2014 6:42 AM CDT) Of the 2,753 people who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, 1,639 have now been identified. New York City's medical examiner's office yesterday announced that retesting of remains had led to another positive ID: that of Patrice Braut. The 31-year-old was the only Belgian citizen to die at the World Trade Center site, reports the New York Times. He was working on the North Tower's 97th floor as an employee in Marsh & McLennan's tech section, reports Newsday. The AP adds that Braut's remains were found in the original recovery effort between 2001 and 2002. His marks the first identification made since 7,930 unidentified human remains were moved in May from the medical examiner's office to a Ground Zero repository. The Times describes a photo taken at this year's ceremony marking the anniversary of the attacks--of Braut's mother holding a photo of her only child--as one of the most emblematic, touching, and well-circulated images from the event. In the Times' profile of Braut, published a few months after his death, the paper shares the story of a Christmas party four years prior, where Braut danced the night away with a girl who told him her name was Lupe--no last name given. The next day, Lupe Mendez found a note on her desk in midtown, saying, 'You left without saying goodbye,' recounts the Times. She felt like Cinderella. (It was recently revealed that on Sept. 10, 2001, Bill Clinton spoke openly about having passed up a chance to kill Osama bin Laden.)

(Jul 3, 2008 10:33 AM CDT) John McCain denies colleague Thad Cochran's recollection that he physically assaulted a Nicaraguan official in 1987, the New York Times reports, saying it's simply not true. The Mississippi Republican remembers that McCain reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and...snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair. Cochran, who has criticized McCain's temper but now tells the Biloxi Sun-Herald that the candidate has chilled, recalls thinking at the time, Good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission. While McCain denied the story completely ( it just didn't happen ), he did admit, I must say, I did not admire the Sandinistas.

(Jul 20, 2009 8:24 AM CDT) Food allergies are on the rise, but faulty tests are behind much of that increase, the Los Angeles Times reports. Eating controlled amounts of a certain food under medical supervision is the only way of knowing whether you're allergic to it, but primary-care doctors are more likely to employ less-accurate blood testing, resulting in a proliferation of misdiagnoses. Only about 25% of people who think they have a food allergy will actually have one, an allergist says, while in one study, researchers found that 90% of allergies were misdiagnosed. Often, those who think they have allergies are just intolerant of a given food, which demands different treatment. People are so happy and appreciative when they can get more foods in, another allergist says. Even just one food allergy changes your life.

(Nov 17, 2009 4:44 AM) During last night's Daily Show analysis of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed's upcoming trial, Jon Stewart pointed out Rudy Giuliani's blatant flip-flopping on the issue between 2006 and now. Though 2006 Giuliani believed that America is dedicated to the rule of law and We are a free society, we have respect for peoples' rights, 2009 Giuliani says that This seems to be an over-concern with the rights of terrorists. I guess Giuliani from 2006 is saying that the rule of law is something either you have or you don't, Stewart concludes. You can't cover up the lack of rule of law with some thin strands of principle that you pull almost comically over giant, barren areas of... That was a bald joke. Watch the video above.

(Jan 25, 2012 8:40 AM) Japan reported its first trade deficit since 1980 today, a $32 billion shortfall caused in part by the tsunami that struck the country, and in part by the strengthening yen. And while the tsunami may have been a freak occurrence, experts tell the AP that the deficit isn't. It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, one economist at Japan Research Institute says. Japan is losing its competitiveness, with its manufacturing giants largely moving production abroad. We may see Japan's trade balance recover to a small trade surplus, another economist says, but it won't return to pre-crisis levels. That's a big problem, Reuters observes, because the country relies on its once-massive trade surplus to finance its still-massive public debt. What it means is that the time when Japan runs out of savings--'Sayonara net creditor country'--is coming closer, one equities researcher says.

(Aug 6, 2008 2:17 PM CDT) Army scientist Bruce Ivins is the sole person responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks, and he had custody of highly purified anthrax spores with certain genetic mutations identical to the poison that killed five people, the Justice Department says. Ivins was unable to give investigators an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours around the time of the attacks, and he apparently sought to mislead investigators, according to an affidavit. The 62-year-old scientist committed suicide last week as investigators were preparing to charge him with murder. Officially, the case will stay open for an undetermined but short period of time. That will allow the government to complete several legal and investigatory matters that need to be wrapped up before it can be closed, the officials said.

(Jan 3, 2015 7:10 AM) Think before you jerk. Jerking isn't a joke. Such slogans, as reported in the Washington Post and elsewhere, garnered national attention when used to remind drivers in South Dakota not to over-correct their steering on slick roads. Indeed, the standard theory behind the way we steer our cars dates back to the 1940s but has left us with a longstanding mystery: data shows that we have a habit of jerking the wheel from time to time, puzzling researchers. Now, experts in Sweden are explaining the phenomenon, and their findings could lead to better safety systems in cars, according to a release at Eureka Alert. The jerkiness is tied to the way humans reach for things: When something is close by, we move our arms more slowly to grab it than we do when it's further away. The result is that both movements take the same amount of time. We immediately recognized this pattern as similar to steering behaviors, a researcher says. It was a bit of a eureka moment. Was it possible that this basic human behavior also controlled how we steer a car? A study of more than 1,000 hours of drivers' movements suggests that it certainly was. The team developed a mathematical model addressing the behavior; now, it is possible to predict how far the driver is going to turn the wheel, right when the person starts a wheel-turning movement. It's like looking into the future, the researcher says. That could improve safety: For instance, if a sleepy driver is edging off the road, his car's support system could predict how much he's going to jerk the wheel to try to correct things, often disastrously, and intervene to prevent it. (South Dakota eventually decided to drop the don't jerk and drive campaign.)

(Aug 29, 2012 3:35 PM CDT) An Afghan guerrilla leader offered to hand Osama bin Laden to the CIA on a silver platter in 1999, asking for nothing more than the $5 million bounty the Clinton administration had already placed on the terrorist leader's head, but the CIA demurred, a former Polish spy alleges in a new book. They gave us the exact location of the houses where bin Laden would be, what routes he'd be taking, what transportation he'd be using, and more, Alexander Makowski tells McClatchy Newspapers. But when Makowski brought the offer to a CIA agent, the agent passed. We do not have a license to kill, Makowski quotes him as saying. We have to capture bin Laden safe and sound so that he can stand trial. ... Any other solution is out of the question. The intelligence proved accurate, and Makowski has no doubt the guerrillas could have made good. He also accuses the CIA of disregarding months of intelligence warning of the USS Cole attack, which the agency deemed impossible.

(Sep 27, 2013 7:30 AM CDT) Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif yesterday sat down with the top diplomats from all the permanent UN Security Council countries, plus Germany--including John Kerry. That made the hour-long meeting the highest-level US-Iranian talks in 36 years, dating back to before the Islamic Revolution, the Wall Street Journal observes. Kerry emerged sounding optimistic, saying Zarif's presentation was very different in tone and very different in vision than that of his predecessors. Zarif, for his part, called the meeting very substantive, businesslike. Both sides agreed to more in-depth talks Oct. 15 and 16 in Geneva. Zarif said he'd like to agree to the parameters of the endgame for Iran's nuclear program in one year. But one potential sticking point is already emerging: Israel. At a disarmament meeting yesterday, Rouhani raised Iran's persistent demand that Israel sign the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Israel, meanwhile, made clear that it disapproves of the entire diplomatic push. The rhetoric is different, one Israeli minister said. But the substance is almost the same.

(Apr 14, 2009 3:15 PM CDT) More American CEOs than not received raises in 2008, Reuters reports. An AFL-CIO poll of 946 chief executives saw 480 with increased pay, while 463 took a cut. Salaries were up 7%, too; execs with raises earned an average of $5.4 million, while those who saw cuts took in an average of $3.9 million. The union hopes the results will spark a conversation on executive compensation.

(Jan 14, 2011 8:22 AM) Torrential rains continued to pour down on Brazil's Serrana region today, fueling floods and mudslides that have now killed at least 529 people--a total that's expected to rise, as rescuers continue to uncover new bodies. The rain did not stop at dawn and is continuing in the morning, which is making the rescue efforts more difficult, one fireman told Reuters. The number of deaths is going to rise quite a bit. The disaster has caused billions in property damage, and left more than 13,500 homeless. Military police have been deployed to the area, following reports of looting. There was one bright spot today, however, as rescuers saved a 6-month-old baby from the wreckage of a house. Newly sworn-in president Dilma Rousseff has earmarked 780 million reais ($460 million) in emergency aid. She blamed Brazil's housing policy for making high-risk homes the rule in Brazil, rather than the exception.

(Apr 4, 2016 12:37 AM CDT) Edwin Shifrin, 93, seldom discussed his time at war and his memory is fading, but the Missouri man received a prisoner-of-war medal in February after son Dan Shifrin dug through old news reports and his father's military records and pieced together what happened. Assigned to the Army's 30th Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 117th Infantry Regiment, Company C, Shifrin landed on France's Normandy beach in June 1944, a week after the D-Day invasion, and then fought the Germans in battles at St. Lo and Mortain. The Germans captured Shifrin on Aug. 7 and he ended up in the Stalag III-C prison camp, about 90 miles east of Berlin. Telegrams to US family members notified them he was missing in action. Shifrin was on the camp's escape committee, which devised a plan for prisoners to hide during roll call, causing a futile search for escapees. That allowed the prisoners to slip away unnoticed days later, when the head count had been lowered. Shifrin made his getaway with other prisoners in mid-January 1945, just weeks before the Russians liberated the camp. Dan Shifrin tells the AP that the rest of their journey is pretty hazy, but what's known is they hitchhiked on Allied supply trucks and purloined rides on horses and bikes on their way to Italy. By that April, Shifrin was back on US soil. After getting his law degree, he became a St. Louis attorney and worked well into his 80s. We knew he'd been in the war, that he had been captured, and that he escaped. That's about it. He didn't talk about it, his son says. My guess is he figured it was just part of his life--many went through it, many didn't return. Many of those who did return didn't return in one piece.

(Sep 17, 2014 11:14 AM CDT) Sheila Lyon, 12, and her 10-year-old sister, Katherine, disappeared almost 40 years ago while walking to a shopping mall near their Maryland home. The case went cold until earlier this year, when a former carnival worker, Lloyd Lee Welch, was named a person of interest in their 1975 disappearance--and now police are searching a Virginia property once owned by Welch's aunt and uncle in the hopes of finding clues about the girls, who were never found, My Fox DC reports. Welch has criminal convictions involving young female victims in the states of Virginia, Delaware, and South Carolina, according to the Montgomery County police chief, and detectives have been tracking his movements before he was imprisoned in 1997. A resident of Thaxton, Va., where police are currently searching, tells My Fox DC her father recalls Welch and thought maybe he wasn't right in the head. What exactly spurred police to start scouring the Thaxton property is unknown. They're focusing on an area where the old cemetery [in the woods] is, the resident says. You can't see it from the road. Welch, who was denied early release last month in Delaware, has a release date of June 2026, the Washington Post reports.

(May 18, 2015 9:00 AM CDT) Nurse Aruna Shanbaug was 25 when a cleaner at the Mumbai hospital in which she worked sodomized and choked her with metal dog chains. That was Nov. 27, 1973. Left brain-dead and paralyzed, she was kept alive by doctors at King Edward Memorial Hospital who fed her through a feeding tube for four decades. Six days ago, she developed pneumonia; Shanbaug passed away today, just shy of her 68th birthday, the Times of India reports. While alive, Shanbaug became the face of a euthanasia debate in India, whose Supreme Court denied a request to let her die in 2011, the BBC reports. My broken, battered baby bird finally flew away, says Pinki Virani, a journalist and author who filed the case rejected by the Supreme Court and wrote extensively about Shanbaug's plight. And she gave India a passive euthanasia law before doing so. Though Virani had hoped the court would order the hospital to stop feeding Shanbaug, it instead sided with hospital bosses, who argued Shanbaug accepts food ... and responds by facial expressions. But the BBC notes the case did lead to a loosening of some restrictions on euthanasia. A terminally ill patient in India can now be taken off life support in exceptional circumstances if family members want that to happen. (The Wall Street Journal explains that because Shanbaug's parents were dead, the hospital was considered her caregiver, hence the court siding with it.) Her attacker, Sohanlal Bharta Walmiki, served seven years for attempted murder and robbery but was never charged with rape because sodomy wasn't mentioned in India's rape laws. Perhaps she is paying for what she did in her last life, a nurse says in Virani's book, Aruna's Story, per Firstpost. Perhaps, like your Jesus Christ, she is paying for all our sins.

(Jun 2, 2015 2:33 AM CDT) In 1933, promising young Jewish-German violinist Ernest Drucker left the stage midway through a Brahms concerto in Cologne at the behest of Nazi officials, in one of the first anti-Semitic acts of the regime. More than 80 years later, his son, Grammy-winning American violinist Eugene Drucker, has completed his father's interrupted work. With tears in his eyes, Drucker performed an emotional rendition of the Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, over the weekend with the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel. I think he would feel a sense of completion. I think in some ways many aspects of my career served that purpose for him, the 63-year-old Drucker said of his father, who passed away in 1993. There is all this emotional energy and intensity loaded into my associations to this piece. Thursday's concert, and a second performance Sunday night, commemorated the Judischer Kulturbund--a federation of Jewish musicians in Nazi Germany who were segregated so as not to sully Aryan culture. After the humiliation in Cologne, the elder Drucker became a central player in the Kulturbund--to which, initially, the Nazi culture ministry granted relative freedom, so long as its performers and audiences were exclusively Jewish. As the years progressed, however, and the Nazi ideology took deeper root, greater restrictions were imposed until eventually they could only perform Jewish works, with Bach and Beethoven off-limits. The Kulturbund was reduced significantly after the pogroms of Kristallnacht in 1938. Musicians went underground or fled, like Drucker's father, who went to America. Click for more on the Kulturbund and the story of Ernest Drucker, who was supposed to play the entire Brahms concerto at his graduation ceremony at the Cologne conservatory of music.

(Sep 21, 2009 4:34 PM CDT) A case that has taken up the time of the New Jersey court system since 2006 apparently ended today with a judge's ruling that the litigants will share custody of their dog. Dexter, a 6-year-old pug, will spend 5 weeks at a time with each of his owners, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Doreen Houseman said she's eager to lavish a lot of hugs and kisses on Dexter, but her ex has other plans: He's considering appealing the ruling.

(Sep 22, 2015 12:47 PM CDT) In 2006, three teenagers kidnapped Brad Pearson in Philadelphia and repeatedly threatened to kill him as they drove around looking for an ATM. After scoring some cocaine, they finally let him go, much to the surprise of Pearson, then a senior in college. I tried counting to eight, but all I could hear was the hammer sliding, the click-clack of a roller coaster approaching the top of a hill, he recounts in Philadelphia magazine of the gun pointed at his head. I waited to die, and I prayed. He didn't die, however, and police later arrested Jerry Price, Tyree Brown, and Mordi Baskerville. Nine years later, Pearson visits the two who remain in prison, Price and Brown, and writes about it for the magazine. His meetings with his kidnappers are not confrontational, more about Pearson trying to figure out what brought the men to that point. Both are remorseful, and both have plans to work with underprivileged youth upon release. Pearson suffered nightmares at the time, but the kidnapping has since made him a stronger man, he writes. March 27, 2006, is millions of miles away, happening to three different people. Those people came from contrasting worlds and polar communities, brought together by the happenstance and opportunity of West Philadelphia. Now, we're bound together by that night, but no longer dragged down by it. Now, there are no nightmares, no anger. (Click for the full story.)

(Aug 24, 2016 11:21 AM CDT) Between his capture by the CIA in Pakistan in 2002 and his appearance at a US government hearing Tuesday, Abu Zubaydah lost his left eye. How remains unclear (Dexter Filkins dedicates an entire piece to the question at the New Yorker), but other details of what happened to him while in US custody have been revealed: Zubaydah is one of three men the CIA has admitted to waterboarding--83 times in August 2003. Filkins notes the interrogations Zubaydah was subjected to were so extreme that CIA agents asked for reasonable assurances that [Zubaydah] will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life. On Tuesday the AP reports he sat expressionless in a short hearing tasked with determining whether he should remain at Gitmo, where he has been for the last decade. It was Zubaydah's first public appearance since his capture, with the initial 10 minutes of the hearing aired live in a secure room at the Pentagon to journalists and others. The AP reports the government no longer maintains, as it once did, that Zubaydah was a senior al-Qaeda leader at the time of this capture; the CIA detainee profile on him now says things like he was generally aware of the planned 9/11 attacks. Detainees cannot speak at their review hearings, and a statement read on Zubaydah's behalf conveyed his desire to be reunited with his family and begin the process of recovering from injuries he sustained during his capture. The Guardian suggests his knowledge of CIA torture is a huge barrier to release. As one of his lawyers puts it, Abu Zubaydah will not be released. A decision should come in 30 days.

(Nov 1, 2014 5:29 PM CDT) Fire swept through a two-apartment building near the University of Southern Maine's commuter campus in Portland this morning, killing five people and critically injuring one, authorities say. The fire, which gutted the two-story structure, was reported at 7:17 am following a Halloween party the night before. We do not know whether the victims are residents of the home or guests, says a fire marshals' spokesman. It was unclear if any of the victims were students. The fire, Maine's deadliest since a 1984 blaze killed five in Hartland, ripped a hole through the roof of the house, and both apartment units were badly burned. Portland's fire chief says officials still don't know where the fire started. Authorities were unsure how many, if any, are still missing. One person suffered severe burns and jumped from a second-story window; he was reported in critical condition in a Boston hospital. A second person was treated and released from a hospital. Two bodies were found on the second floor and two others on the third floor. Seven people escaped the fire; at least one was a student, says the university's president.

(Dec 17, 2009 3:24 AM) Nobody seems sure just what is with Joe Lieberman but theories abound on how he turned from a liberal into a health care reform hijacker, writes Gail Collins. He may still be sour about not winning the 2004 presidential race--when he was also bitten by either a rabid muskrat or a vampire disguised as a moose, Collins notes in the New York Times. Whatever his problem is, Lieberman is a good example of how not to act when you're a failed national candidate, Collins writes. You can move on, and try to make yourself useful, like John Kerry and Al Gore managed to do. Or, like Lieberman and John McCain--who now opposes controlling Medicare costs-- you can work out barely suppressed rage by attacking things that you used to be for.

(Jul 20, 2012 4:48 AM CDT) The US is facing its worst epidemic of whooping cough since the 1950s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends that adults--especially pregnant women and those who spend time around children--get booster shots. Some 18,000 cases of the highly infectious disease have been reported to the CDC so far this year, more than twice as many as at the same time last year, reports NBC. Nine children have died, and infections are on course to hit levels not seen since 1959, when there were 40,000 cases. My biggest concern is for the babies. They're the ones who get hit the hardest, says the chief of the health department in Washington, one of the worst-affected states. Officials aren't sure what's behind the surge in cases, but they suspect that a new vaccine for children introduced in the late '90s is proving to be less effective long-term than the one it replaced. Adults are supposed to have at least one dose of whooping cough vaccine, but the CDC says only some 8% have complied.

(May 8, 2009 8:32 AM CDT) Stephen Morgan sent slain Wesleyan student Johanna Justin-Jinich 38 insulting and unwanted emails during a brief summer program the two attended at New York University in 2007, according to a police report that quoted an expletive-tinged email as reading, You're going to have a lot more problems down the road if you can't take any criticism, Johanna. Justin-Jinich reported the harassment to the university, but didn't press charges, the New York Times reports. The two lived in student housing during the 6-week program, called Sexual Diversity in Society, but not in the same building. Morgan has no apparent criminal history, police said, but chunks of his past remain unknown. A man who rented an apartment to Morgan said he was full of anger. Though he showed no evidence of anti-Semitism, he did say he disliked Vietnamese people, noted another. Police are also trying to pinpoint any link between the pair in Colorado, where they both lived.

(Aug 27, 2014 12:03 AM CDT) A century and a half after his valiant death in the Battle of Gettysburg, a Union Army officer is being awarded the nation's highest military decoration, thanks to a decades-long campaign by his descendants and Civil War buffs. The White House announced yesterday that President Obama has approved the Medal of Honor for 1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, who was killed during the pivotal three-day Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Cushing, who was born in Delafield, Wis., was 22 years old when he commanded about 110 men and six cannons defending a Union position against Pickett's Charge, a major Confederate thrust that could have turned the tide in the war. He was wounded as his small force stood its ground under a severe artillery bombardment while nearly 13,000 Confederate infantrymen waited to advance, but he insisted on ordering his guns to the front lines on the last day of fighting. Refusing to evacuate to the rear despite his severe wounds, he directed the operation of his lone field piece continuing to fire in the face of the enemy, the White House said in its announcement. With the rebels within 100 yards of his position, Cushing was shot and killed during this heroic stand. His actions made it possible for the Union Army to successfully repulse the Confederate assault. (Another posthumous Medal of Honor may be awarded to a member of the all-black World War I unit known as the Harlem Hellfighters who fought off 20 German soldiers with only a knife and a jammed rifle.)

(Apr 19, 2010 5:42 AM CDT) Americans who trust their government are becoming increasingly few and far between, according to a Pew Research Center poll that found that just 22% of those surveyed said they trust the government just about always or most of the time. This is highest level of distrust in the government the center has found in the 52 years it has been posing the questions to Americans, Reuters notes. Almost a third of those polled said they considered the federal government a threat to their freedom, with 56% of all respondents saying they were frustrated with the government, and 21% saying they were angry. Pew says a perfect storm of a poor economy, a dissatisfied public, and a hyper-partisan atmosphere on Capitol Hill is to blame for the levels of distrust, and predicts the lack of confidence in government will be a major factor in this year's elections.

(Nov 21, 2014 11:29 AM) After nearly 40 years in prison, a man convicted in a 1975 Cleveland slaying has walked out of the county jail as a free man. Ricky Jackson, 57, was dismissed from the Cuyahoga County Jail and walked out of the adjoining courthouse this morning about an hour after a judge dismissed his case. The dismissal came after the key witness--then a 13-year-old boy--at trial against Jackson and brothers Wiley and Ronnie Bridgeman recanted last year and said Cleveland police detectives coerced him into testifying that the three killed businessman Harry Franks on the afternoon of May 19, 1975. About two hours later, Wiley Bridgeman was also dismissed; Ronnie Bridgeman, who now goes by the name Kwame Ajamu, got out on parole in 2003, NBC News reports. Finally, finally, Jackson said as he left the Cleveland Justice Center Complex, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Jackson, who was just 18 when he entered prison, offered gratitude toward the Ohio Innocence Project (which says that of all exonerated US prisoners, he spent the most time behind bars) and county prosecutors and absolved Eddie Vernon, the boy whose testimony helped put him away. I don't hate him, he tells the Plain Dealer. He's a grown man today, he was just a boy back then. It took a lot of courage to do what he did. Because when it comes down to it, he's just happy to finally be free. The English language doesn't have the words to express how I'm feeling right now.''

(Jul 20, 2011 9:12 AM CDT) A group of 75 former NFL players is suing the league, claiming that it has been hiding the harmful effects of the concussions for nearly a century. The NFL knew as early as the 1920s of the harmful effects on a player's brain of concussions, the lawsuit reads, according to a copy obtained by TMZ. However, until June of 2010 they concealed these facts from coaches, trainers, players, and the public. All the players in the suit say they've suffered ill effects from on-field concussions--which the NFL last year acknowledged can include dementia, memory loss, CTE, and more. Among those filing the suit are former Dolphins wide receiver Mark Duper, and former Giants running backs Otis Anderson and Rodney Hampton. The suit also names helmet manufacturer Riddell as a co-defendant.

(Oct 3, 2016 2:40 PM CDT) For more than 30 years, the case of Marsha Carter's murder has been a cold one, with all leads turning up empty and the Bay Area case eventually fading out of the papers. That changed last month with the arrest of a Placer County man in connection with the death of the 25-year-old mom of four, the Richmond Standard reports. That man is 54-year-old Sherill Smothers, an ex-boyfriend who's now a quadriplegic after a drunk driver smashed into his car in 1988--five years after Carter's body was found in Sacramento in the trunk of her own car. The Daily Beast explains how on the morning of Dec. 7, 1983, three of Carter's sons (all 11 and under) went into her bedroom to find nothing but a bloody mattress; they ran out of a house to get a neighbor, and when they all came back, they also found the only witness to what had transpired: their almost toddler-aged brother, frightened but safe under the bed. Carter's body was found 10 days later, but with no compelling evidence and a witness too young to talk about what had happened, the case died out. The Standard notes, however, that Sgt. Stina Johanson wasn't ready to give up on the case, and she reopened it in 2008 and was eventually able to find enough to lead to Smothers' arrest. A rep for the Richmond Police is keeping mum on motive, noting only that Carter and Smothers were in a dating relationship. Police believe Carter was stabbed to death, per the East Bay Times. A secret grand jury hearing in August resulted in a decision to file murder charges against Smothers. He was arrested Sept. 14 but is now out on $1 million bail; the Daily Beast notes that would've been a small part of the $6.1 million he won in his suit against GM for the accident that paralyzed him. (More than 40 years later, two arrests in the slayings of two teens.)

(Jan 16, 2015 6:59 AM) The British-built Beagle 2 began its fall to Mars on Dec. 19, 2003. It was expected to land on the Red Planet on Christmas Day and begin its search for alien life (its name is a nod to Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle). But it was never heard from again. Now, high-resolution images snapped over the last two years by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the probe essentially just where it ought to be, within three miles of its target landing location, the BBC reports. It also appears intact. So what happened? The theory based on the images is that one or two of the probe's four petals holding its solar panels didn't deploy, perhaps due to a bad bounce or an airbag not separating sufficiently from the lander, mission manager Prof. Mark Sims says. Without full deployment, there is no way we could have communicated with it as the radio frequency antenna was under the solar panels. The BBC now calls it one of [the] most glorious near-misses in the history of British exploration, and UK Space Agency scientists say the mission needs to be relabeled a great success. As Sims puts it, the Beagle 2 achieved a trio of feats: landing on Mars, managing to enter its atmosphere, and being the first controlled landing on another planet. The BBC reports the probe can't be brought back to life, but this is not the end of the story, says Sims. We will do more imaging and analysis. The discovery is bittersweet as it follows the death of principal investigator Colin Pillinger last year. He would be putting in his grant application to go and fix it, a researcher says, per the Telegraph. His daughter adds, He would love that this could inspire that next generation to do Beagle 3. (In more Mars news, click for a recent oh my gosh moment. )

(May 19, 2011 7:00 AM CDT) A rare South American rodent not seen since the Spanish-American War has turned up at the doorstep of a nature reserve in Colombia. The red-crested tree rat ambled up to a pair of amazed volunteers at the El Dorado Reserve in the Sierra Nevada, Wired reports. The last recorded sighting of the elusive, guinea pig-sized rodent was in 1898, and recent missions to search the area for it came up empty. Biologists in the field tried everywhere, they put traps in the trees, on the ground, they looked everywhere, and then it just walked up to these biologists, Paul Salaman, a naturalist whose organization funded a long search for the rodent, tells USA Today. Little is known about the species, which appears to have no other rats in its genus. It could be many tens of millions of years old, Salaman says. An ancient relic of a rodent that happened to get isolated in this area.

(Oct 15, 2008 5:23 PM CDT) Pope John Paul II was injured in a 1982 stabbing by a crazed priest, but the wound was kept secret until now, Reuters reports. The late pontiff was visiting a shrine in Portugal to give thanks for surviving an earlier assassination attempt when an ultra-conservative Spanish priest lunged at him with a dagger and drew blood. The attack is revealed in a documentary film debuting at the Vatican tomorrow. I can now reveal that the Holy Father was wounded, his closest aide says in Testimony. The documentary also shows footage of the pope's final public appearance, days before he died at age 84 in 2005 after being debilitated by Parkinson's. On that day, he whispered to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz that he would soon die. If I can't speak any more, it's time for me to go.

(Jul 17, 2009 1:46 AM CDT) After many years of indifference, Berliners have started getting serious about saving what's left of the most famous symbol of the Cold War, Der Spiegel reports. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, locals viewed it as merely an unfortunate reminder of a bad past and little thought was given to preservation. Researchers believe more pieces of the wall are now overseas than still in Berlin. The feeling at the time was: Why should we deal with this just because the rest of the world expects us to?' said one wall researcher. There is still resistance to declaring Europe's most famous wall a world heritage site, but 26 wall remnants are now under protection orders.

(Jul 10, 2009 6:08 AM CDT) A man was gored to death during the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, today--the first fatality at the celebrated festival since 1995. The victim, believed to be British, was rushed to the hospital with injuries to his neck and lung, but doctors failed to resuscitate him. The bull that killed him also injured several others when it broke from the pack and ran back the wrong way, charging directly at the runners, says the Times of London.

(Mar 4, 2009 6:10 PM) Employers will hire 22% fewer graduates this spring compared to last year--making this year's dropoff the largest since the 9/11 attacks and the dot-com bust devastated the economy in 2002, BusinessWeek reports. And the situation could worsen, with 46% of employers unsure if hiring levels will rebound by the fall. Employers previously intended to keep college grad hiring levels even with last year, said an official who published the findings. The recession has particularly bruised the finance and business sectors, where projected hires have plummeted 70.9% and 31.3%, respectively. Accounting grads are still in high demand, but said one expert, High-demand in this economy is kind of an oxymoron.

(Jun 3, 2014 9:56 AM CDT) Apparently a record number of recalls and actual driver deaths weren't enough to drive the public away from General Motors. The company posted its best month of sales since 2008 last month, CNNMoney reports. Sales were up 13% compared to the previous year. May was kind to automakers overall, with Ford sales up 3% and Chrysler's up 17%. The news comes on the heels of Reuter's report that at least 74 people have been killed in GM cars in accidents strikingly similar to the 13 attributed to defective ignition switches. In each case, the car was in a frontal collision in which its air bags did not deploy, killing someone in the driver or passenger seat. Such accidents were found to be drastically more likely for drivers of the Saturn Ion and Chevy Cobalt, the top GM cars involved in the ignition recall, than in similar competitors.

(Feb 10, 2014 8:35 PM) The US kept quite an arsenal of nuclear bombs and missiles during the Cold War, but not everyone knows about its plans to use backpack nukes, reports the Smithsonian via Foreign Policy. Elite troops learned to use the bombs--called B54 Special Atomic Demolition Munitions (SADMs)--in case Communists attacked US-friendly countries like former West Germany. Although heavy, SADMs could fit in a backpack and be transported by parachute-drop, scuba mission, or even on skis. The trick was setting the timer (which was unreliable) and getting far enough away before they went off (although some commanders wanted men to stay behind and protect them). Luckily they were never used, and units trained in SADMs kept a grim sense of humor about it. Those who were to conduct the mission were sure that whomever thought this up was using bad hemp, said an SADM team commander. But backpack nukes served a strategic need: to destroy bridges, roads, and mountain passes in case Russian forces invaded countries where they could easily overwhelm US troops. The only downside: utter devastation. As Cold War tensions faded, the US recalled SADMs from storage depots around the world and eventually retired the project in 1989. The idea that the world came this close to the use of nuclear weapons on battlefields across the world is entirely unreal, says Business Insider. At least we can all be thankful that cooler heads prevailed.

(Apr 14, 2013 2:49 PM CDT) Is the Loch Ness monster harmless folklore or a clever conspiracy to lure tourists? An academic may shed light on the question with his analysis of 1,000 eye-witness descriptions of the alleged creature, the BBC reports. Marine biologist Adrien Shine notes wryly that several spotters were proprietors in the area. In fact the first modern witness was a hotel manager who yelled at her husband, 'Stop! The beast!' says Shine. Although there is a legend of a water beast in the area dating back to the Middle Ages, that 1933 sighting started a wave of eye-witness accounts from all walks of life. Still, Shine considers the first witness sincere because she hid from the limelight and let her husband report the incident. In fact Shine defends most sightings, even though one 1934 Nessie photo turned out to be a toy submarine with a serpent's head attached. Shine also objects to the notion that Nessie witnesses should take more water with it, meaning they were inebriated at the time. I have become more skeptical over the years, he admits. But I do believe the vast majority of witnesses are sincere ... and not drunk.

(Jan 14, 2009 12:17 PM) 2008 wasn't a great year for the federal government's reputation, with a Politico poll finding that 62% of Americans say their confidence in Washington has decreased in the past year. The main worry is the economy: 45% say that economic stimulus should be the highest priority (no other issue gets more than 16%). Even though they're hoping for aggressive federal action on the economy, poll respondents don't trust Washington to do it right. Only 5% said they have a great deal of trust that the government will manage its finances responsibly. Pluralities of respondents also expressed concern that tax hikes on the rich and corporations won't go far enough.

(Nov 2, 2014 10:07 AM) There's a new visitor roaming the Grand Canyon National Park's North Rim, and it's not exactly the fanny-pack-wearing/Nikon-toting variety: As National Geographic reports, wildlife officials are scrambling to confirm multiple sightings of a wolf-like animal that's believed to be a gray wolf--if it is, it would be the first gray wolf in the area since hunting eradicated the animals from Arizona in the 1940s. The creature is wearing an inactive tracking collar, notes LiveScience, and the Fish and Wildlife Service is attempting to obtain a feces sample so that it can confirm whether it is indeed a gray wolf; other possibilities include a wolf-dog hybrid, though officials say it doesn't resemble that, or a Mexican gray wolf. Meanwhile, don't mess with the critter: Until more is known about this animal, visitors to the area are cautioned that this may be a wolf from the northern Rocky Mountain population and [is] fully protected under the Endangered Species Act, says FWS in a statement. (He wouldn't be the first gray wolf to have wandered long distances; this guy apparently did it for love.)

(Aug 17, 2009 2:16 PM CDT) In 1959, Miles Davis was looking to forge a path away from the bebop spearheaded by mentor Charlie Parker, Fred Kaplan writes on Slate. Parker not only invented bebop, he perfected it, Kaplan continues, leaving Davis nowhere else to go. So when Davis was introduced to so-called modal jazz--with the emphasis on free experimentation with scales and away from rigid chord structures--he jumped at it. Man, if Bird was alive, this would kill him, Davis said. Before he recorded the best-selling jazz album of all time and the spearhead of an artistic revolution, Davis needed a pianist who knew how to accompany without playing chords. Which was crazy, Kaplan writes, because playing chords was what modern jazz pianists did. But with Bill Evans and hornsmen John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, a legend was born. The tunes have the same feel as the other blues tunes, Kaplan concludes, but there are no chord changes. It sounds (hence the album's title) kind of blue.

(Apr 1, 2014 1:35 PM CDT) Paul Ryan unveiled a Republican budget plan today that would slash $5.1 trillion in federal spending over the coming decade and balance the government's books with wide-ranging cuts in programs like food stamps and government-paid health care for the poor and working class. About 40% of Ryan's projected savings would come from the repeal of ObamaCare, reports the Wall Street Journal. Ryan's budget claims balance by 2024, but relies on $74 billion in savings in that year from the macroeconomic effects of cutting deficits, which CBO says would have a long-term positive effect because it would free up savings and investment capital. Democrats are sure to seize on the maneuver as phony math; without these projections, however, Ryan's budget plan would fall almost $70 billion short of balance. The New York Times writes that Ryan's plan will serve more as a 2014 Republican campaign manifesto than a legislative agenda. And the Washington Post says it amounts to personal manifesto on government austerity from a man who has emerged as the GOP's leading light on fiscal policy. The Post also notes that Ryan wants to replace the outgoing Dave Camp as the next chair of the Ways and Means panel while still keeping his options open for a 2016 run for the White House. His complete budget blueprint is here via the Hill.

(Sep 16, 2010 1:19 AM CDT) Illegal drug abuse in America has soared to its highest rate in almost a decade, according to a government report which finds marijuana, methamphetamine, and ecstasy use surging, but cocaine declining. Some 21.8 million Americans used illegal drugs last year, a 9% increase from the year before and the highest number since the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration began its nationwide surveys in 2002. Government drug czar Gil Kerlikowske says the rise in illegal drug use is disappointing, and he blames mixed messages on marijuana being given to young people. A spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, meanwhile, says the numbers show that the government's war on marijuana has failed. It's time we stop this charade and implement sensible laws that would tax and regulate marijuana the same way we do more harmful--but legal--drugs like alcohol and tobacco, he tells AP.

(Jun 14, 2015 9:35 AM CDT) The third member of the Bush political dynasty to seek the Oval Office will announce his intentions officially tomorrow, but today the candidate put some punctuation on it: Jeb Bush tweeted his campaign slogan today, completing his Jeb 2016 sentiment with an exclamation point. The excited-looking slogan harkens back to one he used when running for Florida governor in 1998, notes Mashable, adding that, The logo is also noticeably missing one of the most important aspects of Bush's campaign: his last name. Bush has sought to underscore he's his own man before; he'll announce his candidacy tomorrow at a rally at Miami Dade College.

(Feb 5, 2014 2:40 AM) The two Koreas today gave the green light to the first family reunions since October 2010. The meetings of select families from the North and South--who have had no communication since the 1950-'53 Korean War--will occur Feb. 20 to 25 at Mount Kumgang, described by Yonhap News as a scenic resort in North Korea. That timing will likely overlap with the start of the South's annual joint military exercises with the US. And, as Australia's ABC News notes, both sides have been here before. Agreed-upon reunions scheduled for last September were scrapped by Pyongyang four days before they were due to begin over the South's hostility. North Korea has urged Seoul to cancel the drills, painting them as a dry-run for a war against Pyongyang; Seoul has declined to do so. The drills have been conducted annually and they simply cannot be an issue for us as far as the reunions are concerned, a South Korean official tells the South China Morning Post. Roughly 100 South Koreans are expected to participate, though 70,000 are looking to do so. The Post notes that in past reunions, a few hundred people have had fleeting moments together; though about 22,000 Koreans have had reunions, there has never been a second meeting for any of them.

(Oct 24, 2014 12:56 PM CDT) Surgeon, zoologist, and photographer George Murray Levick took part in a 1910-1913 Antarctic expedition as part of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's crew, and while Scott perished on a journey back from the South Pole, Levick made it off the continent alive. He didn't accompany Scott to the pole, but survived the winter of 1912 by eating blubber in an ice cave before walking 200 miles to safety, the Guardian reports. His observations on necrophilia, murder, and rape by Adelie penguins while stationed at Cape Adare surfaced in 2012. Now researchers are learning more about the British explorer thanks to an exciting new find: his photographic notebook. It was discovered outside the expedition base at Cape Evans, revealed during 2013's summer melt, LiveScience reports. Though water had forced the pages together, researchers separated them to find details of Levick's photographs, including subjects, dates, and exposure details. On one page, under a heading that reads, This book belongs to, Levick's name is still visible in pencil. The journal has since been repaired, digitized, and sent back to Cape Evans, where it will stay with 11,000 other artifacts. The notebook is a missing part of the official expedition record, a researcher with the Antarctic Heritage Trust says. After spending seven years conserving Scott's last expedition building and collection, we are delighted to still be finding new artifacts. As more snow melts around the site due to climate change, more items have been turning up, including these crates of whiskey.

(Feb 19, 2011 5:13 PM) In direct contrast to the delirious joy in Bahrain, the death toll keeps climbing in Libya's protests. Moammar Gadhafi's minions killed another 20 people today, bringing the five-day total to at least 104, says Human Rights Watch. Gadhafi has effectively shut off Internet service and forbid media coverage, but witnesses told AP of attacks by police and government loyalists wielding guns, knives, and even anti-aircraft missiles. While the accounts are impossible to verify--and at least one puts the death toll closer to 200--a grim cycle has emerged, reports the New York Times: Security forces fire on funeral marches, killing more protesters and creating more funerals. In Yemen, meanwhile, President Ali Abdullah Saleh's forces also opened fire on protesters, killing at least one, reports AP.

(Jul 12, 2012 3:23 PM CDT) When Bob Dylan plugged in an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, folk music fans--who were used to Dylan's acoustic protest songs--were outraged. The Fender Stratocaster may very well be, the AP notes, the most historic single instrument in rock and roll. It also may have spent nearly half a decade in a family attic. Dawn Peterson, the daughter of a pilot who flew Dylan around, says the singer left the guitar in her father's plane. Though her dad tried to give it back, none of Dylan's people ever picked it up. She recently had it appraised by PBS for the season premiere of History Detectives, airing next Tuesday, and the show's historians say it is, in fact, Dylan's iconic guitar. This is really a pinnacle point not just in his career but for music in general, says one expert of the guitar's signficance. I don't think music in the 1960s would have been the same if Dylan had not gone electric. Included in the guitar case are song lyrics that, experts confirm, were handwritten by Dylan and appeared on later songs. An instrument appraiser confirmed that the guitar is from the right era, and matches the one shown in pictures from Newport. One problem: A lawyer for the singer insists he still possesses the guitar he used at the festival, which could be worth half a million dollars on the open market.

(Mar 30, 2012 11:11 AM CDT) Mitt Romney leads Rick Santorum 40% to 33% in Wisconsin, according to a new NBC News-Marist poll. Ron Paul follows in third with 11% and Newt Gingrich is last with 8%. Romney leads the way with moderate and liberal Republicans, conservatives, and those earning more than $75,000 per year. Santorum, however, leads with very conservative voters, evangelical Christians, and Tea Party supporters. But looking ahead, Wisconsin does not look nearly as good for Romney in the general election; he trails President Obama there 52% to 35% among registered voters, with 13% undecided. Obama's overall approval rating in Wisconsin is at 50%, and 52% of people in the state think the worst of the economic downturn is in the past. As for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who faces a recall, both his approval rating and his disapproval rating stand at 48%.

(Sep 10, 2010 8:24 AM CDT) The IRS doesn't have to go far to track down tax scofflaws: Capital Hill employees owed $9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end of last year, reports the Washington Post. And while their debt is only a sliver of the $1 billion owed by all federal workers, according to IRS data Hill employees' tax debt is rising at a faster rate than overall tax debt. All told, 638 people, or about 4% of employees, owe money. The average for Senate delinquents: $12,787. For those in the House: $15,498. If you're on the federal payroll and you're not paying your taxes, you should be fired, says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah. Earlier this year, he introduced legislation to do just that. But he may have trouble tracking down the culprits: The IRS data does not identify delinquent taxpayers by name or party affiliation.

(Apr 30, 2013 9:12 AM CDT) The indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel has effectively been broken up since 1998--but the group is about to tour again. Right now, Jeff Mangum et al are planning to start in the South (Asheville and Athens, Georgia) in October before heading to Taipei and Tokyo; just five dates have been announced thus far, but the band's website promises more will come, reports the Huffington Post. Some of the profits will go to a charity for Mongolian children, the band says via its site, which Vulture notes also features a strange multilingual reunion note that begins: and of water course womb rume is a wandering the welkin woman whose fune caul is all umbilical cord code...

(Feb 19, 2011 5:33 AM) The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed $61 billion in federal spending cuts this morning, burning the midnight oil to hack federal cash going to coal companies, oil refiners, farmers, health care reform, and environmental initiatives. The American people have spoken. They demand that Washington stop its out-of-control spending now, not some time in the future, says freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan. The measure passed largely on the might of the House's 87-member class of budget-conscious freshmen, and faces a fight in the Democrat-controlled Senate, reports the AP. Among the targets were Planned Parenthood, the ethanol industry, and the EPA, whose budget was slashed by about a third. The Pentagon was awarded a 2% increase, while the AP notes that domestic agencies largely saw around 12% in cuts. Click for more on the budget brawl.

(Jun 9, 2015 11:03 PM CDT) Prison activist Albert Woodfox, the last member of the Angola Three inmates held for decades in solitary confinement, will have to wait a bit longer to see if he'll experience the immediate and unconditional freedom ordered by a federal judge. A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the release of Woodfox, who spent more than 40 years in isolation after being accused of killing a guard. His supporters say it was retribution for his Black Panther Party activism to protest prison conditions. The order came a day after a federal judge ruled that the state can't fairly try Woodfox, now 68, a third time for the killing of a prison guard 43 years ago, and that the only just remedy would be setting him free after all the years he spent in extended lockdown. Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is appealing the release order, saying Woodfox is a killer who should remain locked up. The stay by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocks Woodfox's release until 1pm Friday, providing time for the court to decide whether to accept the state's appeal. His attorney, George Kendall, says he is hopeful and optimistic the court will release Woodfox while the state's appeal is pending. But he acknowledges the court could order Woodfox to stay in jail while that process plays out. He describes the conditions Woodfox has served his time under as brutal, and blasts the attorney general for fighting to keep him incarcerated. This case ought to end, he says.

(Jan 9, 2011 6:42 AM) This won't exactly help tourism: Acapulco, once known more for its white sand than its white powder, began its weekend with 27 drug cartel-related murders in a matter of hours. Police found 14 decapitated men, along with a 15th corpse, in a shopping center alongside handwritten warnings from a Sinaloa cartel, reports the AP. Six more bodies were found shot and stuffed into a taxi; four others were found elsewhere in the city, and two cops were gunned down--the only casualties to occur in a tourist-heavy area. Armed men also stormed a police station, wounding two more cops. We are coordinating with federal forces and local police to reinforce security in Acapulco, said a Guerrero state cop.

(Aug 29, 2016 4:33 AM CDT) The case of Jack the Ripper may have been solved--the Chinese version, that is. A serial killer who first struck in 1988 and is believed to have raped and killed 11 women and mutilated a number of them has been apprehended and confessed, state-run media report by way of the AFP. Gao Chengyong, 52, was arrested thanks to a relative's transgression: His uncle had his DNA collected following an arrest and officials realized a relation of the man was the Jack the Ripper they have been seeking, the BBC reports. The 52-year-old Gao was found at the grocery store he operates in Gansu, a northwest province. The murders occurred in that region and in Inner Mongolia through the year 2002; it's unclear why they ceased. While Gao reportedly confessed, a motive wasn't given by police. There was reportedly a pattern to the murders though, in that women who were wearing red were often the victims, and many were young (the youngest just 8) and lived alone. China.org.cn reports by way of Beijing News that one victim was found stabbed in her apartment, but her dismembered hands were never located. The first alleged killing happened in the year Gao's wife gave birth to a son. The married man has two sons, and Sky News reports one told local media has father suffered bitter[ly] when he was young; the son referenced his father's failure to become a pilot. Like his British counterpart, the Chinese murderer on some occasions removed the women's reproductive organs. But the tally of his alleged killings are more the double the five attributed to the original Jack. (Before Jack the Ripper came America's first serial killer.)

(Jun 11, 2008 1:45 PM CDT) French winemakers are increasingly worried about fizzling sales of futures from the 2007 Bordeaux harvest, AFP reports. Investors and drinkers are skipping the vintage because they expect little increase in price by the time it's ready to drink in 2009; one merchant says reluctance to trim prices shows avarice and arrogance from producers of France's flagship wines. People are turning their backs on the 2007 vintage, said one wine merchant worried about Bordeaux losing customers to producers from other regions. We have had some emails bordering on nasty from the UK, and the silence from America is deafening.

(Sep 7, 2009 12:15 PM CDT) Three British Muslims were convicted today of conspiracy to blow up airplanes with liquid explosives in a failed 2006 plot that led to restrictions on drinks and toiletries on flights, the Times of London reports. Ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar, and Tanvir Hussain were retried after a jury last year found them guilty only of conspiracy to cause explosions in a plot to place suicide bombers on at least seven flights from Heathrow to the US and Canada. The verdict is a boon for officials who have been under fire from passengers over the exacting carry-on restrictions. In a video made before his anticipated death, Ali had promised floods of martyr operations in Britain that would leave the streets littered with body parts. The cell planned to smuggle bomb components, including hydrogen peroxide, aboard jetliners in soda bottles and assemble them in midair.

(Aug 30, 2014 9:40 AM CDT) If it seems like it's been a blah summer for movies, know that Hollywood's accountants feel the same way. The New York Times reports that this has been worst summer for the film industry in North America since 1997. Ticket sales from May through August are expected to come in at $3.9 billion, down 15% from last year. While movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Angelina Jolie's Maleficient, and Scarlett Johansson's Lucy did relatively well, supposed blockbusters such as Edge of Tomorrow and Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn't meet expectations, and sequels in general didn't seem to have the lure they once did. Studios will surely counter that ticket sales must be counted worldwide now, not just in North America, but what they do not often mention is that overseas ticket sales are often less profitable, writes Brooks Barnes. In China, for instance, as little as 25 cents of every box office dollar comes back to Hollywood; in the United States, it's 50 percent. So is this a sign of things to come? Don't bet on it, reports Vox, which quotes BoxOffice.com analyst Phil Contrino as saying 2014 was just an off year. The movie industry is cyclical, and we're definitely in a down year, but that has a lot to do with the fact that 2015's slate is so impressive, he says. Many of the strongest franchises are lined up for 2015, and 2014 has suffered as a result.

(Jul 26, 2013 12:10 PM CDT) The boat that won this year's Transpacific Yacht Race was a feared competitor on the cutting edge of sailboat design ... back in 1936, when it won the race for the first time. This time, the Dorade was a much less likely winner. When he bought the boat for $880,000, people told owner Matt Brooks that it was a piece of antique furniture and that it couldn't be done, he tells the New York Times. Historic, all-wooden yachts are usually relegated to quick coastal day-sailing races, not 12-day ocean races. But Brooks fixed the boat up and hired an all-star crew to sail her, led by rising British phenom Hannah Jenner. Jenner and company quickly learned that old school steering techniques worked the best on Dorade, and, to top off the historical hat-tip, they used celestial navigation to chart their course. They finished the 2,225 nautical mile race in 12 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes, and 18 seconds, the best for its division, and, based on handicapping rules that account for different boat sizes and types, the best overall of the competition. The kicker? That finishing time was also a full day better than its 1936 time.

(Oct 15, 2015 12:19 PM CDT) Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the sole suspect convicted for the 1988 bombing that brought down Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people, died in 2012--but now Scotland and the US say they've set their sights on two other Libyans they want to question in the attack, the BBC reports. Scottish prosecutors have sent a letter to Libyan authorities on their behalf and that of US AG Loretta Lynch requesting permission for Scottish police and the FBI to interview the unnamed suspects in Tripoli, Reuters reports. While not many details are yet available on the suspects, they're believed to have worked with Megrahi in carrying out the attack, per a Scottish Crown Office spokesman. Megrahi claimed innocence until his 2012 death from cancer, three year after he was released on compassionate grounds from a Scottish jail due to his illness, per Reuters. Last December, Scotland's head prosecutor noted that while there wasn't any new evidence to vindicate Megrahi, it had been difficult to track down any new suspects due to ongoing turmoil in Libya after the 2011 death of leader Moammar Gadhafi, the news agency notes. But even some of the Lockerbie victims' families believed Megrahi and supported him as he tried to appeal his case, which is leading to some skepticism about these two new suspects, the AP reports. Many in this country simply don't believe Megrahi was involved and that this was a miscarriage of justice, the father of one of the victims tells the BBC. To try and bolt two more names on top of that is a very difficult situation. It will need to be supported by better evidence than was produced to achieve the conviction of Megrahi. (An Iranian spy says his country was actually behind the bombing, not Libya.)

(Aug 2, 2016 2:24 AM CDT) The Dr. Phil Show says never-before-heard details about the JonBenet Ramsey murder will be aired this fall when her brother speaks to the press for the first time. Burke Ramsey, who was 9 years old when his younger sister was found beaten and strangled to death in their Boulder, Colo., home on Dec. 26, 1996, spoke to the show for a three-part series that will air Sept. 12, 13, and 19, the Daily Camera reports. The 29-year-old will reveal what he knows about his sister's mysterious murder, the show says on its website. Expect more such shows as the anniversary nears. The Investigation Discovery network, for example, plans a three-part series on the case that also begins on Sept. 12, reports Variety. That series promises to re-explore every angle, but a network release acknowledges that we may never definitively know the answer to the question of what happened to JonBenet. People notes that the murder, which remains one of America's most famous unsolved killings, put Burke and his parents in the public eye. No charges were ever filed, though it emerged in 2013 that a grand jury voted in 1999 to indict parents John and Patsy Ramsey for child abuse resulting in death, but the DA refused to sign the indictment. DNA evidence, however, cleared all three family members in 2008. (One longtime suspect recently was busted on child porn charges, and former Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner has admitted big mistakes were made in the early days of the investigation.)

(Jan 17, 2011 7:01 PM) This is probably a little more special than anything your Average Joe has in the liquor cabinet: Three bottles of Mackinlays scotch whisky, which have sat beneath the Arctic ice since 1907, made their way home to Scotland today. The bottles are part of a crate of circa-1897 whisky found beneath a hut Ernest Shackleton used in his Nimrod expedition, reports the AP, and returned via private jet for, ahem, testing. The crate of whisky was found frozen solid last year, but researchers could hear the whisky in the bottles, unfrozen despite Antarctic temps as low as -22. But we'll never know what the bottles would have fetched on the market: A lab will get six weeks to test and taste the whisky, before it gets returned to its spot beneath Shackleton's hut.

(Apr 15, 2012 8:41 AM CDT) Amid a buildup to the centennial of the Titanic's sinking that went on and on, the actual event arrived last night, with ceremonies from Belfast to the North Atlantic marking the disaster that claimed nearly 1,500 lives. The MS Balmoral, on a cruise retracing the doomed liner's first and final voyage, observed a moment of silence at the site of the sinking with passengers lining the decks, reports the AP. Three wreaths were tossed into the waters. It was just so eerily quiet, says the great-niece of one of the ship's victims. And then you look down over the side of the ship and you realize that every man and woman who was not fortunate enough to get into a lifeboat had to make that decision of when to jump or to stay with the ship, until the lights went out. Says another passenger aboard the Balmoral, You still get a chill just looking at that water, imagining you have to go into it. In Belfast, where the Titanic was built, a plague with the names of the victims was unveiled in the Titanic Memorial Garden, notes the BBC. Titanic hit an iceberg some 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland at 11:40pm on April 14, 1912, and sank a scant three hours later.

(Jul 23, 2013 2:02 AM CDT) Injury, it seems, is nothing new on and around the Six Flags roller coaster where a woman died last week. Between April 2008 and April 2013, the park reported 14 injuries tied to the Texas Giant, though three occurred before or after patrons rode it, the AP reports. The gravest injuries were apparently concussions and strained muscles--but with the park reporting the data itself, The numbers that we hear about are typically the tip of the iceberg, says a safety analyst. And while fatal roller coaster accidents are rare, Most times that you have death accidents, it was something either ignorant or human error, adds a safety inspector for amusement parks. Meanwhile, the coroner says Friday's victim received multiple traumatic injuries in her fall, the Dallas Morning News reports. Her name, officials say, was Rosa Ayala-Goana, not Rosy Esparza, as her family had said; Esparza is her husband's last name. Amid word that there may have been a problem with her harness, the inspector notes: At the end of the day, it comes down to whether or not the person fits ... If the harness locks normally, without forcing it, it's OK. And the final say is up to the ride operator to tell you, 'I'm sorry, you can't ride.'

(Dec 13, 2013 11:44 AM) In the first detailed account of the Veterans Administration's psychosurgery program, the Wall Street Journal reveals the extent to which lobotomies were used on veterans in the 1940s and '50s, before antipsychotic drugs came on the market and public opinion dipped. Unearthed documents show how one of the most controversial figures in American medical history, Walter Freeman--who made the ice-pick-through-the-eye, transorbital method famous and used lobotomies to treat practically everything from delinquency to a pain in the neck, one VA memo notes--swayed the organization in favor of the procedure, despite the fact that only a third of patients were able to lead a productive life afterward. After doctors saw Freeman perform a lobotomy in 1943, a VA report recommended the surgery be performed on veterans suffering from mental illnesses. The memo, which noted a lobotomy does not demand a high degree of surgical skill, was approved. The US government went on to lobotomize some 2,000 veterans with Freeman in the lead, the WSJ notes. And while many at the VA had their doubts--in one case, Freeman posed for a photo op during surgery and penetrated too far into the patient's brain, killing the patient--the neurology division's chief wrote that if properly handed, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The full piece is worth a look.

(Jul 9, 2008 12:52 PM CDT) Hedge funds have fallen an average of 0.75% in the first half of 2008, the worst yearly start for the industry since Hedge Fund Research began collecting data in 1990. Even 2002, the only year on record in which the $1.9 trillion industry lost money, was sunnier. Investors are showing less patience than before to live through the bad times, one analyst tells Bloomberg. Underperforming funds are the hardest hit, as those with capital seek out fund managers with proven track records in a down market. But so far, Bloomberg notes, the money is staying in the industry. We don't see investors pulling the plug across the board and putting their capital into cash, one manager said.

(Dec 10, 2015 5:17 AM) In 1971, the middle class made up 61% of the US population. That figure has now plummeted to just below half, and analysts are worried about the breakdown of what the Los Angeles Times calls a pillar of the US economy. A Pew Research Center report released Wednesday culled data from the Census Bureau, Labor Department, and Federal Reserve to determine that 120.8 American adults are in middle-class households, while 121.3 million are in the lower- or upper-class tiers. Pew defined middle class as any household making two-thirds to twice the overall median income; for a family of three, that range is $42,000 to $126,000. What's led to what Pew calls a thinning in the middle and bulking up at the edges : more low-skilled immigrants to bolster the lower class, and more women in the workforce and increased college enrollment on the upper end. All of the tiers suffered during and after the Great Recession, but the middle class saw the financial gains it had reaped over the last quarter-century virtually wiped out: The median wealth of a middle-class household in 1983 was $95,879, a number that rose to $161,050 by 2007. But after the recession, median wealth for this group was back down to $98,000 in 2010 and remained at that number until at least 2013, the Pew report notes. A recent Gallup poll also shows that people's perceptions are in line with what the Pew report shows: In 2008, 63% of Americans identified as being part of the middle class, while the poll given this spring shows that number has dropped to 51%. (Plug in your own numbers to see where you fall on the income spectrum.)

(Nov 7, 2015 8:27 AM) A convicted murderer has been recaptured 37 years after he left a dummy in his bed and sawed through cell bars to make his getaway from Ohio's Marion Correctional Institution. Oscar Juarez, 66, who was just three years into a life sentence for the shooting death of a Toledo man when he escaped, was arrested in Saint Paul, Minn. on Thursday, reports WKYC. Authorities say Juarez moved to new cities and created new identities during his decades on the run--and dodged recapture by quickly posting bond after arrests under fake names in Texas and California in the '80s--but had apparently settled down in St. Paul, where he had been living under the name of Eleasor Morales Moreno, a woman who died in 1992, reports the Star Tribune. Residents of the apartment building where Juarez had lived since at 2006 tell KARE-11 he was a pleasant, quiet, helpful man who worked delivering the Star Tribune. You just never know, his landlord tells Fox 8. Kinda kept to himself, never had a complaint about him. When he moved in, everything checked out fine. He was tracked down by the Cold Case Unit of the US Marshal's Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, which is apparently on a roll: Authorities say Juarez is the eighth uncatchable fugitive to be tracked down by the squad since it was created earlier this year, reports WKYC. (After 45 years, cops in El Paso say they have cracked the city's oldest cold case.)

(Nov 1, 2012 10:11 AM CDT) Americans' confidence in the economy surged last month to the highest level in nearly five years, as many were encouraged by an improving job market. The Conference Board says its consumer confidence index increased in October to 72.2. That's up from 70.3 in September and the highest reading since February 2008, two months into the Great Recession. Consumers were more confident after seeing better job growth, the report noted. Hiring in July and August was stronger than first thought, and employers added a modest 114,000 jobs in September, the government reported last month. The survey is watched closely because consumer spending drives nearly 70% of economic activity. But the reading is still below 90, the level that indicates a healthy economy--which we last reached in December 2007. Click for a better-than-expected ADP jobs report, ahead of tomorrow's big report.

(Apr 26, 2008 6:28 PM CDT) Flames engulfed an apartment complex in Norwich, Conn., today and left more than 100 residents homeless, the Norwich Bulletin reports. The fire had already consumed two buildings when firefighters showed up at 1:30am, and they scrambled to get 105 of 150 tenants out in time. The rest are accounted for; the rubble remains too hot for corpse-sniffing dogs. Officials haven't identified a cause, but say flames spread quickly through a roof system devoid of fire stops. A lack of sprinkler systems didn't help either. For now, tenants have gone to stay at a nearby school. When you looked inside the courtyard it was what you pictured hell to look like, one said.

(Apr 30, 2012 2:55 AM CDT) More dead sea creatures are turning up on the shores of Peru. Over the past several days, 538 pelicans, 54 boobies, five sea lions, and a turtle have been found along a 40-mile stretch of coast, reports the BBC. The animals apparently died on the beach, and not at sea, say experts. What really concerns scientist is that this area is close to the spot where hundreds of dolphins were found dead earlier this year. A spokesman for the Peruvian government said officials are deeply worried. An investigation is continuing.

(Aug 1, 2012 8:58 AM CDT) Following Osama bin Laden's death, terrorist attacks around the globe dropped to the lowest level since 2005 last year--but there were still 10,283 attacks. That's down from 11,641 in 2010, ABC News reports. In addition to bin Laden's death, the State Department says the killing of other top al-Qaeda operatives, including Anwar al-Awlaki, caused the drop. The terror network is now on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse, says the department's report. Even so, terrorism is still a very real problem, particularly in states undergoing very challenging democratic transitions, says the State Department's counterterror coordinator, adding that Syria is worrisome due to reports of al-Qaeda operatives there. Al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Africa are also particularly dangerous, and as Boko Haram flexed its muscles in Nigeria, terror attacks actually increased there last year.

(Mar 1, 2014 10:34 AM) Sarah Palin is happily sticking it back to critics who mocked her comments about Russia back in the 2008 campaign, reports CNN. The reason is this quote from a speech of hers in Reno: Given what's happening on the ground, Palin took to Facebook to gloat a little. Yes, I could see this one from Alaska, she writes, recalling the Tina Fey I can see Russia from my house! spoof. Her post continues: I'm usually not one to Told-Ya-So, but I did. As Breitbart.com notes, Foreign Policy magazine called Palin's comments strange at the time and dismissed the idea as an extremely far-fetched scenario.

(Apr 2, 2016 9:53 AM CDT) On Friday night, 500 people were welcomed to the jungle when Slash and Axl Rose played together as Guns N' Roses for the first time in more than 20 years, AFP reports. It was--as Rolling Stone puts it-- a sight most GNR fans believed they would never witness again. The band announced the surprise show--taking place at the Troubadour in Los Angeles--Friday morning, leading many to believe it was an April Fool's Joke. But it was no laughing matter for the hundreds of people that lined up in the hopes of securing a $10 ticket to see the legendary rock band. Axl Rose, Slash, and bassist Duff McKagan hadn't played together since 1993 in Argentina. They opened Friday's reunion show with It's so Easy as dozens of fans not lucky enough to get tickets hung around outside hoping to catch snippets of the band. The lineup for the show also included keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, and drummer Frank Ferrer. Guns N' Roses will follow the Troubadour reunion with a full stadium tour and headlining spots at the Coachella festival. Rolling Stone has photos, videos, and the full set list from Friday's show.

(Dec 3, 2012 2:52 AM) Neither concern for the planet nor a weak global economy have been able to keep carbon emissions down, researchers say. Emissions rose 3.6% to a new record last year and have risen another 2.6% so far this year, putting the planet on what now appears to be an inevitable path toward climate change and more extreme weather, reports the New York Times. China and India's rapidly expanding economies led the emissions growth, which was more than enough to cancel out falling emission levels from Europe and the US. Representatives from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Doha to discuss climate change, but few expect the conference to bring the world much closer to solving the problem. Researchers warn that the internationally agreed upon goal of limiting warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit is rapidly moving out of reach. The goal will become unachievable unless large and concerted global mitigation efforts are initiated soon, says the scientist who leads the carbon tracking project.

(Aug 7, 2012 9:05 AM CDT) McDonald's has pretty much conquered America, but its hold is not yet complete: Less than 1% of all fast food traffic comes between 2am and 5am. But now the fast food giant plans to take aim at very-early-morning eaters, Business Insider reports. It's testing Breakfast After Midnight in 127 Ohio locations that are open 24 hours, expanding its breakfast menu so that it will be offered for 10 full hours, from midnight to 10am. Not all breakfast items will be offered, just the most popular ones--including McMuffins, hotcakes, oatmeal, and hash browns. Typically, McDonald's offers breakfast starting at 5am, notes Burger Business (which calls the 2am to 5am window fast food's last unconquered frontier ). The chain has been expanding its 24-hour locations; as of 2011, 40% were open 'round-the-clock. The marketing campaign for this new push will use the catchy term nocturnivores, Business First notes.

(Jan 23, 2015 5:02 PM) The last time anyone saw Dana Null, 15, and Harry Wade Atchison, 19, was when they drove off together in his Dodge Coronet in 1978. It now appears they never made it out of Florida's Broward County. A maintenance worker found Atchison's car yesterday at the bottom of a canal in the town of Sunrise, reports CBS Miami. Today, divers discovered human remains, and their families are awaiting confirmation that the young couple has finally been found. When I first got the call, I was kind of stunned, I guess you could say, Donna Amaya, Atchison's sister, tells ABC News. Afterwards, in letting the extended family know about it, it finally sunk in. As the Sun Sentinel reports, Null and Atchison went to a concert together on Oct. 7, 1978, then ended up back at Atchison's house trailer with friends. Witnesses say that after they argued, Atchison got in his car and began driving away, but Null flagged him down and jumped in, too. That was the last anyone heard from them. Both their parents have since died. I'm sure her family never forgot about her and the young man with her, Dinorah Perry of Missing Children International Ministries tells NBC Miami. I'm sure his family haven't forgotten. They just didn't know where to look.

(Feb 6, 2011 4:48 PM) More than 50 years after the suspicious death of a 7-month-old little girl, her mother has been arrested and charged with the killing. Jeaneen Marie Klokow supposedly died after falling off a sofa in 1957, but relatives thought Ruby C. Klokow, now 74, may have played a role in the death. In 2008, Klokow's oldest child, James, finally reported his suspicions to police and told them of the abuse Klokow allegedly inflicted on him and his siblings. After a two-year investigation, she was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Police had a tough time investigating the case, because physical evidence and many records were gone. An autopsy, as well as testimony from relatives, helped. Ultimately, Klokow herself admitted she had a hard time raising four children and might have treated her daughter too roughly. Both Jeaneen and another baby sibling, Scott, were disinterred; James believed his mother may also have played a role in Scott's 1964 death. Klokow admitted causing Jeaneen's death, but no evidence of foul play was found on Scott's remains. Click for more on the tragic case, including how Jeaneen actually died.

(Dec 14, 2013 2:45 PM) It has apparently become impossible to write a new Christmas classic. The holiday canon isn't just closed--it's a location-undisclosed black site that's locked down tighter than Santa's workshop, observes Chris Klimek at Slate. The last song that really fits the bill is Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You, and that came out in 1994. It's not for stars' lack of trying: Lady Gaga, for instance, had a Christmas song back in 2008, and Coldplay released one in 2010--but you probably don't remember either one. Yet much of the Christmas fare that comes out these days amounts to a rehashing of old favorites. Even the new stuff sounds sort of old : The original songs on new holiday albums by Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis are reminiscent of Phil Spector. What gives? Well, during the nostalgia-drunk holiday season, people crave old songs, Klimek writes. And because people can select individual songs on iTunes and YouTube rather than getting full albums, songwriters aren't likely to make much headway even if they tuck new material in with the old. Click for Klimek's full piece.

(Dec 29, 2008 3:54 PM) The number of people trying to sneak into the US appears to be plummeting, thanks to tougher enforcement and the beleaguered US economy, USA Today reports. Just 705,000 people were caught trying to sneak in from Mexico in fiscal 2008, the lowest total since 1976. We're definitely making it tougher on them, said one Border Patrol official. I'm not telling you that we've won the war, but we are making headway. Homeland Security has added 6,000 Border Patrol agents since 2006 and built 526 miles of fence since 2007. But the economy may be even more instrumental in the drop. Word gets back to Mexico really fast what the job opportunities are or are not, said one expert. It's risky and expensive to try to get to the US, so it's beginning to discourage people.

(Sep 16, 2009 5:18 AM CDT) The unemployment rate in Britain has climbed to 7.9% despite signs the economy is slowly beginning to pick up, the Wall Street Journal reports. The rate is now the highest since 1995, and analysts expect it to keep rising until well into next year. Unemployment remains especially high among Britons aged 16 to 24, raising fears of a lost generation of young people.

(May 17, 2016 12:17 PM CDT) For the first time ever, fewer than 10% of Americans lack health insurance, according to data released Tuesday by the CDC. And CNBC calls that a clear sign of ObamaCare's impact. In 2015, only 9.1% of Americans--about 28.6 million people--were uninsured. That's down from 14.2% in 2013 when ObamaCare really started to go into effect, the Hill reports. That drop amounts to another 16.2 million Americans who now have health insurance. Today's report is further proof that our country has made undeniable and historic strides thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Sylvia Burwell, secretary of health and human services, tells CNBC. Our country ought to be proud of how far we've come and where we're going. But regardless of ObamaCare's success in reducing the ranks of the uninsured--the Obama administration estimates more than 20 million Americans have gained insurance since the ACA passed in 2010--the Hill reports that Republicans still plan to use it as a wedge issue in November. Donald Trump and Senate Republicans believe hitting Hillary Clinton over ObamaCare will propel them to victories. This healthcare law has been devastating to the Democratic Party, John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, tells the Hill.

(Oct 14, 2009 12:47 PM CDT) At least 85,694 Iraqis lost their lives from 2004 to 2008 in violence, the Iraqi government said today in its first comprehensive tally released since the war began. Another 147,195 were wounded during that four-year period, says the Human Rights Ministry. The number includes Iraqi civilians, military, and police, but not insurgents, US troops, or other foreign forces or contractors. It also excludes the first months of the war after the 2003 invasion. For political reasons, the government's toll of Iraqi deaths had been one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war, until an AP report in April revealed that the government had recorded 87,215 deaths. Iraq's death toll continued to climb today when three near simultaneous blasts struck the southern Shiite holy city of Karbala. At least six people were killed, police and medical officials said.

(Jul 16, 2008 9:35 AM CDT) Consumer prices rose a staggering 1.1% in June, Bloomberg reports. The figure far surpassed analyst estimates, and brings the year-over-year figure to 5%-the biggest surge since 1991. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose a more-than-expected 0.3%. Inflation has galloped, one economist said. It puts the Fed in a really tricky position. I don't see how they can change rates this year. Wholesale prices saw an even steeper increase, rising 1.8% in June and 9.2% year-over-year. And while prices were skyrocketing, unemployment rose and wages fell an inflation-adjusted 0.9%, which analysts fear portends a big drop in spending. But the Fed seems wary of increasing rates, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ben Bernanke said yesterday that he expects inflation's rise to be temporary.

(Apr 16, 2014 12:49 AM CDT) After decades of mystery, the families of Cheryl Miller and Pamella Jackson finally know what happened to the two South Dakota girls one night in May 1971. Officials have confirmed that a 1960 Studebaker found in a creek last year contained the remains of the two 17-year-olds--and they appear to be the victims of a car crash, not foul play, the AP reports. The car was in the highest gear and the lights were on when it crashed, say investigators who suspect a tire blew when the girls were on their way to an end-of-school party, sending the car into the creek where it lay for 42 years until it was exposed by drought. Investigators do not believe alcohol was a factor. The girls were found in the car's front seats, and the forensic pathology and anthropology reports indicate that there's no type of injury that would be consistent with or caused by foul play or inappropriate conduct, the state's attorney general told reporters. A high school classmate already serving a 227-year sentence for rape and kidnapping was charged in 2007 with murdering the girls, but charges were dropped after prosecutors found that a jailhouse informant had lied. The attorney general said he was glad to be able to bring closure to the families, and deliver news that wouldn't lead to further suffering, Vermillion Plain Talk reports. I would much rather prefer, even though it doesn't change the fact that this is a tragedy, to be able to talk about an accident versus the other alternative, he said.

(Apr 11, 2008 11:10 AM CDT) Consumer confidence hasn't been this low since 1982, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan index, which reported a slide to 63.2 from March's 69.5. That was lower than even the lowest estimates in a Bloomberg analyst poll. The consumer's feeling increasingly hemmed in, said one economist. The economy is in a recession. The usual host of economic ills was depressing consumers, including high energy and food prices. One standout issue was employment; 80,000 jobs were lost in March, the most in five years. Oil prices, meanwhile, averaged $105.42 a barrel, a $10-per-barrel jump from the month before. Nor are consumers optimistic about a turnaround: the expectations index fell to 53.4, its lowest reading since 1990.

(Nov 3, 2008 10:43 PM) US auto sales dived in October to levels not seen since 1983, Bloomberg reports. GM, Ford, and Chrysler saw sales drop 45%, 30%, and 36% respectively as credit dried up and consumer confidence plummeted. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all saw sales fall over 20%, but managed to gain market share from their US counterparts. Toyota's 23% drop came despite a 0% finance program. GM said the industry sales figures, adjusted for population growth, were the worst in the post WWII era. Dealers--and automakers--are in danger of going bust if the freefall continues, but some expect improvement in November. I think quite frankly we're going to have a better month,'' a Nissan vice-president said. One way or another, this seemingly endless campaign finally gets closed. Whether you like it or not, you'll know what's going on.

(Apr 8, 2015 2:02 PM CDT) A Civil War cannonball that ripped through the cabin of Hannah Reynolds' master made her a footnote of misfortune, the lone civilian death at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. She died a slave at 60, hours before the war to end slavery unofficially came to a close. Or maybe not: A century and a half later, Reynolds' story is being rewritten. Newly discovered records show that she lingered for several days--long enough to have died a free woman. This new historical narrative has made Reynolds one of the central figures in commemorative activities marking Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, starting today. Friday night, a eulogy will be delivered over a plain wooden coffin representing Reynolds' remains, and 4,600 candles will be lit to represent the slaves in Appomattox County who were emancipated by Lee's surrender to Gen. Ulysses Grant. Genealogist Alfred L. Jones III says the Reynolds story was hidden in plain sight. Reynolds was left by her masters, Dr. Samuel Coleman and his wife, Amanda Abbitt Coleman, in their home as Union and Confederate armies headed to the fateful battle, the final one before Lee's Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on April 9, 1865. During the fighting, a Union cannonball blasted through the house, striking Reynolds and leaving a horrific wound in her arm. Jones worked for months seeking out the thin paper trail left by Reynolds. The breakthrough was finding Reynolds listed on a death registry in a public library in Lynchburg. That was just like I struck gold, he says of the document that listed the date of her death as April 12, 1865--not three days earlier, as was long believed.

(May 28, 2012 4:32 PM CDT) Twelve years after his older brother Roger Berget was executed for killing a man, Rodney Berget sits on South Dakota's death row awaiting his own death sentence. Roger was convicted in 1987 of murdering a man for his car and was put to death in Oklahoma at age 39; Rodney was convicted of beating a South Dakota prison guard to death with a pipe while he tried to escape in 2003. At the time, he was serving a life sentence for attempted murder and kidnapping. His execution is scheduled for September, but will likely be delayed for a mandatory review, the AP reports. While the Bergets are not the first siblings to be sentenced to death, the other three cases uncovered by the AP involve brothers who conspired together, while the Bergets' crimes were committed miles and decades apart. To have it in different states in different crimes is some sort of commentary on the family there, says one death penalty expert. The AP runs down the lives of the Berget brothers, who were born in the 1960s to a troubled family and grew up in South Dakota in poverty. Both did their first prison stints as teens. Click for their full story.

(Feb 5, 2012 9:50 AM) Egyptian investigating judges today referred 43 NGO workers, including 19 Americans, to trial before a criminal court for allegedly being involved in banned activities and illegally receiving foreign funds. Among the Americans is Sam LaHood, the head of the Egypt office of the International Republican Institute and the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Egypt had previously banned the younger LaHood from leaving. Five Serbs, two Germans, and three non-Egyptian Arab nationals were also referred to trial. The referral is the latest development in a long-running row over Egypt's crackdown on US-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton warned that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of $1.3 billion in military assistance and $250 million in economic aid. Already, Egyptian authorities are preventing at least six Americans and four Europeans from leaving the country, citing a probe opened last month when heavily armed security forces raided the offices of 17 pro-democracy and rights groups.

(May 13, 2016 4:36 PM CDT) So much for the conventional wisdom that--as CNN puts it-- people tend to drink in good times and bad. According to market research firm Euromonitor International, global alcohol consumption fell by 0.7% in 2015. It's the first time people are drinking less alcohol since Euromonitor started tracking that stat in 2001--and likely even before that. The Telegraph reports the world drank 1.7 billion fewer liters of alcohol in 2015 than it did in 2014. In a remarkable show of moderation, we only managed to put away 248 billion liters total last year. Experts blame the drop in alcohol consumption on slumping economies across the globe, according to the Week. China, the biggest alcohol consumer in the world, drank 3.5% less booze in 2015. Major drops were also seen in Russia (8%) and the Ukraine (17%). In terms of specific alcohols, rum and vodka had the worst 2015. Not even beer was safe, as consumption dropped 1.3%. But it wasn't all bad news. People actually drank more English gin, Irish and Japanese whiskey, and dark beer last year. And cider consumption rose 4.5%. It is no coincidence that those also happen to be the segments gaining further momentum with the ever-important millennial demographic, Euromonitor's senior alcoholic drinks analyst says. Experts expect alcohol consumption to rebound in 2016, so get out and party hard this weekend.

(May 2, 2016 4:14 AM CDT) The frozen remains of one of the greatest American mountain climbers who ever lived have been found on the mountain where he died. Alex Lowe was 40 years old and considered the best in the world when he died alongside cameraman David Bridges in October 1999, the AP reports. They had been scouting routes up the 26,289-foot Shishapangma in Tibet. His widow says that last week, two climbers looking for a new route up the mountain, the world's 14th highest, found the bodies of Lowe and Bridges thanks to ice melt. I kind of never realized how quickly it would be that he'd melt out, Jenni Lowe-Anker tells Outside magazine. I thought it might not be in my lifetime. Alex and David vanished, were captured and frozen in time. Sixteen years of life has been lived and now they are found. We are thankful, Lowe-Anker said in a statement on the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation website. Conrad Anker, Lowe's best friend and climbing partner, was almost killed in the same avalanche. In 2001, he married Lowe's widow and adopted his three sons, who are now adults. All five members of the family plan to visit Tibet this summer to recover the bodies. It's never something you look forward to, Lowe-Anker says. To see the body of somebody you loved and cared about. But there is a sense that we can put him to rest, and he's not just disappeared now. (On nearby Mount Everest, some of the more than 200 frozen bodies are used as landmarks by other climbers.)