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(May 7, 2015 10:09 AM CDT) Wealth denial: It's real and it's rampant, according to a new CNBC poll. Conducted in March, the network's third Millionaire Survey of 750 Americans with a net worth of at least $1 million shows 84% believe they belong to the middle or upper middle class, though they actually represent the richest 10% of Americans. Some 44% of respondents said they were middle class, 40% said they were upper middle class, and just 5% said they were upper class. In total, only about 4% of those millionaires said they considered themselves to be wealthy. Respondents worth $5 million or more didn't feel much differently: About 72% identified as middle class or upper middle class, and only 11% admitted they were rich. This apparent denial could stem from the fact that many self-made millionaires started out in the middle class and still favor middle-class values of hard work and family. Experts add there's also a widening gap between the wealthy and the mega-rich. Curious about whom millionaires like politically? When it comes to 2016, they apparently favor Hillary Clinton, with 36% saying she would have their vote among potential candidates. Jeb Bush was second with 20%, followed by Elizabeth Warren with 8%, and Chris Christie with 7%. CNBC notes the poll is especially encouraging for Clinton, as the survey skews more Republican than the broader voting population. (Hoping to join the millionaire ranks? These four traits could help.)

(Jul 27, 2016 5:48 PM CDT) Yelp has just issued its third ever consumer alert, this one about a dentist in Manhattan who has sued five patients since 2012 for posting negative reviews, reports BuzFeed. Nima Dayani has asked for anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 in damages, so Yelp is warning consumers that Dayani's business is issuing questionable legal threats against reviewers and that reviewers have a First Amendment right to express their opinions on Yelp. Dayani appears to have backed off the lawsuits where patients agreed to remove their negative reviews. In one pending court case, a woman accused him in her review of being unable to diagnose her problem after a two-hour-plus visit. Dayani says that's untrue and that such claims aren't just negative but defamatory. I got hurt. You will get hurt, he claims the woman told him by phone, because she had been scolded for being gone so long by her boss, reports the New York Daily News. Yelp issued its first alert in May after a Texas pet sitting company sued a customer who violated its gag clause, which prevented her from speaking ill of the business; a Florida moving and storage company was issued the second alert in June after it sued a customer for defamation. Buzzfeed reports that both cases are ongoing, and notes that the alerts are being rolled out while Congress considers two bills that could protect consumers from being sued for online reviews. (That pet sitter says its business is now a shell of its former success and is seeking $1 million in damages.)

(Aug 22, 2014 4:05 PM CDT) In 1990, Han Tak Lee was convicted of murdering his daughter. Now, almost a quarter-century later, a judge says the 79-year-old's conviction rested on a scientific inaccuracy--and the former New York businessman is finally out of prison, the AP reports. According to a review of his case finished in June, much of what was presented to Lee's jury as science is now conceded to be little more than superstition. But Lee, who was initially sentenced to life without parole, the Morning Call notes, is not entirely out of the woods: Prosecutors say that there's more evidence against him, and they're likely to appeal. Prosecutors have 120 days to make their decision. For his part, Lee holds that a fire in the Pocono Mountains which resulted in his daughter's death was an accident, the AP notes. But investigators decades ago believed the fire was arson due to its intensity, which was once thought to indicate that an accelerant was used. Other features left in wood and windows after the fire were also seen as evidence of arson, but this is no longer considered accurate. The case is one of many facing renewed attention due to changes in the way arson is identified.

(Dec 31, 2010 3:15 PM) Stocks have ended a rocky 2010 quietly. The major indexes were little changed and trading volume was at one of its lowest levels of the year as many traders took the day off. Despite investors' concerns about the US and world economy, the S&P 500 and the Dow both rose about 14% for the year, including dividends. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, rose about 18% for the year after dividends. At today's close, the Dow rose 8 points to 11,578. The S&P 500 fell less than a point to 1,258, and the Nasdaq composite fell 10 to 2,653. The Dow finished the year at its highest level since August 2008, before the height of the financial crisis. The S&P had its best December gain since 1991. Not that things were smooth all year. Remember the flash crash of May?

(Apr 4, 2008 5:55 PM CDT) Of the $109 million the Clintons pulled in the past seven years, Bill pulled in the lion's share: That's the news in tax files released today, Ben Smith reports on Politico. The long-awaited documents reveal that, with Bill bringing in $80 million from books and speeches, the couple paid $33 million in taxes and gave $10 million to charity. Smith wonders about approximately $18 million unaccounted for in a summary of the returns, and notes that Matt Drudge received early copies, proving it's better to be feared than loved. Hillary is the first of the three presidential candidates to hint at 2007 earnings, the AP reports; a representative said the disclosure was matched by few in public service.

(Apr 19, 2012 2:06 PM CDT) Etan Patz disappeared way back in 1979, but the NYPD and FBI think they might find him at last. Authorities today swarmed a SoHo basement that they believe contains the boy's remains. The building is just 200 feet from the one Patz lived in, reports NBC 4 New York, and it's connected to a handyman who had contact with Patz just before his disappearance. Cadaver dogs have already caught a scent inside. Authorities say they intend to remove some drywall that wasn't there in 1979, and dig through the basement's brick walls in their search. We're hoping that there will be real results, an FBI spokesman said. This little boy disappeared in 1979, and here we are in 2012 still hopeful that we can bring closure to the investigation. Patz's case was huge news back in 1979, prompting Ronald Reagan to name May 25 National Missing Child Day. The case was reopened in 2010.

(Apr 15, 2016 3:58 PM CDT) A man convicted four years ago in the oldest cold case ever tried was freed Friday after an Illinois judge vacated his conviction and subsequent life sentence, CNN reports. According to CBS News, 76-year-old Jack McCullough was convicted of kidnapping a 7-year-old girl, choking her, and stabbing her to death in 1957. The case was reopened in 2008, and McCullough was arrested in 2011 and convicted the following year. After an appeal by McCullough, Illinois state's attorney Richard Schmack launched a six-month investigation that found what he calls clear and convincing evidence that McCullough is innocent. While the judge Friday vacated McCullough's conviction, he stopped short of declaring him innocent, and a new trial will be held, the Chicago Tribune reports. McCullough, who lived in the same neighborhood as the kidnapped girl, says he was 40 miles away at an Air Force recruiting center at the time of the kidnapping. It's an alibi that passed a polygraph test in 1957 and made it impossible for him to be the culprit based on the FBI's original timeline for the kidnapping. That timeline was later changed by police, and Schmack says documents--including phone and Air Force records--supporting McCullough's alibi were wrongly not allowed at his trial. A friend of the kidnapped girl picked McCullough out of a photo lineup when the case was reopened. But his was the only non-yearbook photo in the lineup, and she picked a different man out of a photo lineup 50 years earlier. That info wasn't allowed at McCullough's trial either. No physical evidence was ever found to support McCullough's conviction.

(Sep 19, 2014 2:18 AM CDT) There were two big issues being resolved in Scotland yesterday. The 2,400 members of a very old boys' club, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews, had been asked to weigh in by postal ballot on whether to allow women to become members, and it was yesterday announced that 85% of the turnout said yes, reports the Telegraph. This is a very important and positive day in the history of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, said the club's chief executive, who'd taken some heat for previously saying single-sex clubs are just kind of, for some people, a way of life that they rather like. Founded back in 1754, the club was originally granted access to play on the land as long as the then-Archbishop of St. Andrews would still retain ownership of the rabbits found on the course. Also called the home of golf and the Old Course, it has played host to a whopping 28 British Open Championships, the most recent in 2010. Amid recent controversy, sponsors had grown uneasy about being affiliated with the restrictive club, reports the New York Times. Three male-only clubs remain in the nine-course Open rotation--Muirfield, Royal St. George's and Royal Troon--so the debate may still run its course.

(Jun 25, 2014 5:29 PM CDT) Last time George Talley saw his beloved 1979 Corvette, it was parked on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit in the summer of 1981, reports WXYZ. He'd long ago given up hope of ever getting the stolen car back, but then came a call out of the blue from authorities in Mississippi who found it via a false VIN number. Better yet, it seems to be in decent shape, with only 47,000 miles. Talley, now 71 and still the rightful owner, told the tale on a Detroit radio station today, his only lament being that he had to figure out how to get the car shipped to Michigan. Enter GM exec Mark Reuss, who happened to catch the show, reports the Detroit Free Press. The company is going to pick up the car for its former employee and ship it back free of charge. (A 1957 Chevy stolen 30 years also recently made its way home.

(Feb 14, 2009 2:00 PM) Farrah Fawcett is suing for a minimum of $100,000 in a rights dispute over her legendary 1970s swimsuit photo, TMZ reports. The actress says two companies have been using the image--which once adorned bedroom walls the world over--without her permission and asserts that she owns all the rights. The suit names Bio-Graphics, Pie International, and author TN Trikilis.

(May 17, 2012 11:06 AM CDT) Banks initiated the fewest number of foreclosures since 2007 last quarter, according to new figures from the Mortgage Bankers Associations. But don't be too quick to don the rose-colored glasses: The number of loans in foreclosure remains stubbornly high at 4.4%--down only a hair from last year's 4.5%, in part because some states require courts to oversee foreclosures, drawing out the process. While the numbers are still disturbingly, historically high, signs of improvement emerge when you factor in past-due loans: 11.8% of all loans are at least 30 days past due or already in foreclosure; last year, that number was 12.8%, and two years ago it was 14.7%, the Wall Street Journal reports. The drop is due almost entirely to a decline in new homeowners who are late on their payments, indicating that households are stabilizing financially. The drops we continue to see are the best news out of this, says the MBA's chief economist. It indicates the speed with which we're working through the backlog.

(Jan 16, 2009 8:43 AM) In 2008, consumer prices crept up at the slowest rate since 1954, climbing just 0.1% for the year and missing the Fed's preference of 1.5% to 2% by a wide margin, the Wall Street Journal reports. Just months after inflation hit 17-year highs, a 75% drop in oil prices and slower spending caused a drastic reversal in the CPI. Overall energy prices dipped 21.3% in 2008, the largest annual decline ever. Price declines in energy and commodities are generally manageable; when they spread to the broader economy, there's a potential for a deflationary spiral akin to Japan's woes in the 1990s, but by cutting interest rates to near zero, the Fed has already taken action to prevent such a scenario. Some economists think CPI will turn negative on an annual basis soon.

(Mar 7, 2016 6:46 AM) Joseph Jones' wife, Nicole Tessa, went missing from the family's home in Patchogue, NY, in December 2010. On Friday, police arrested Jones on a charge of second-degree murder. The 33-year-old is due to be arraigned Monday, WNBC reports. Police declined to say what led them to arrest Jones, or why it took more than five years, reports CBS New York. I'm just so happy, finally justice is going to be served, Tessa's sister tells News 12. But Jones' girlfriend of three years, Melinda Oblatore, says Jones is innocent, adding that they live together with her children and he has never been violent. I'm bipolar, she says. I've gotten violent for him, and he just stood there. He's not this person. Jones has admitted that he and his wife argued on Dec. 17, 2010, the night she disappeared, telling WNBC at the time that I left, and she left, and when I came back she wasn't here. Jones filed a missing persons report, and Tessa's body was found four days later in a wooded area near the couple's home. Jones had said that his wife had left angrily before. But she would always bring her anti-seizure medicine and eventually return to their son, who was 3 at the time. I just want you to come home, Jones pleaded in 2010. Please, honey. I love you, I miss you, just come home.

(Sep 10, 2008 3:47 PM CDT) A federal appeals court has thrown out last year's conspiracy and kidnapping conviction of an ex-Klansman involved in the murders of two black teens in Mississippi in 1964. Lawyers for James Ford Seale said they will seek to have the 72-year-old cancer patient, who was serving three life sentences, freed on bond. The court didn't reverse it on the facts, the US attorney told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. They reversed it on a technicality. The statute of limitations for kidnapping had expired, the three-judge panel held. The district court erred by failing to recognize the presumption that changes affecting statutes of limitation apply retroactively, the court wrote. Said the brother of victim Charles Eddie Moore, who spent years pushing to have the case reopened: It's a shock, but there's nothing I can do.

(Mar 20, 2013 1:15 PM CDT) David Ranta has been in prison since 1991 for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi in a high-profile city slaying. Ranta is now packing up his cell, however, because prosecutors plan to ask a judge this week to set him free, reports the New York Times. No physical evidence tied Ranta to the killing, and a review of the case strongly suggests that police framed him. Consider a supposed eyewitness, then 13, who recalled that before entering the lineup room, a police detective told me to 'pick the guy with big nose.' Or the girlfriend of a criminal who implicated Ranta: I made up everything, she says, in order to get her boyfriend a deal. As for Ranta, now 58: I came in here as a 30-something with kids, a mother who was alive, he says. This case killed my whole life. The real killer appears to be a man who has since died in a car accident, at least according to his widow, who knows details of the murder that weren't made public. Click for the full story on the cold case, and how Ranta's defense attorney kept it alive.

(Apr 13, 2011 9:08 AM CDT) Sidney Harman, the stereo equipment magnate who bought Newsweek for $1 last year, has died at what his family calls the young age of almost 93. In a statement posted on the Daily Beast, the family notes that Harman learned he had acute myeloid leukemia one month ago and died of complications last night in Washington, DC. Harman, who co-founded the Harman/Kardon audio company and was married to former Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, remained the executive chairman of Newsweek until his death.

(Nov 29, 2011 1:29 PM) Thanks to recent DNA technology, a previously unidentified John Wayne Gacy victim is no longer anonymous. The Cook County Sheriff's office matched the remains found in Gacy's crawlspace to a 19-year-old who went missing in 1976 on his way to a party, William George Bundy, the Chicago Tribune reports. Bundy's sister says she always suspected Gacy killed her brother, because he often ensnared victims through his construction company, and Bundy worked construction jobs. Eight other Gacy victims remain unidentified. (Click for one suspected Gacy victim who turned up alive.

(Jul 7, 2015 10:16 AM CDT) Amanda Peterson, who starred as cheerleader Cindy Mancini in the 1987 rom-com Can't Buy Me Love, has been found dead in her apartment in Greeley, Colo. She was 43. While the official cause of death isn't known, Peterson's dad tells TMZ she had some illness and a sleep apnea problem that may have contributed. Her mom says she had some medical problems with her heart, per CNN. Peterson had suffered from pneumonia and sinusitis in recent years; she reportedly lived in a home with mold problems last year. Family members grew worried when they hadn't heard from her on Friday. Her body was found by police on Sunday. An autopsy is scheduled for today, reports the Greeley Tribune. Though best known for her movie role opposite Patrick Dempsey, Peterson also starred alongside Ethan Hawke in Explorers in 1986 and appeared in NBC's TV drama A Year in the Life beginning in 1987, reports the Hollywood Reporter. The latter role earned her a Young Artist Award, known as a Young Oscar, notes the Tribune. Peterson left the entertainment industry in 1994 and made Colorado her home. She'd most recently been trying to work as a writer, according to TMZ. With the news of her death, celebrities including Lance Bass, Scott Foley, Mario Lopez, and Sarah Michelle Gellar took to Twitter to remember the actress, who leaves behind a husband and two children, reports Us Weekly. (We've lost these stars recently, too.)

(Dec 8, 2009 8:26 AM) This decade is very likely to be the warmest ever recorded, with 2009 ranking among the top-five warmest years, the UN's meteorological agency told the Copenhagen climate conference today. Since records began in 1850, the warmest years have been 2005, 1998, 2007 and 2006. The current year is set to bump 2003 for the fifth spot.

(Jan 10, 2012 2:34 PM) The apocalypse is a smidge closer today: The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock from 11:54 to 11:55, reports USA Today. The symbolic clock has been in place since 1947 and now factors in climate change along with nuclear proliferation. We're still a few ticks away from the worst-ever mark of 11:58 in 1953. It is five minutes to midnight, the group warned. Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed.

(Nov 28, 2013 1:04 PM) An interpreter broke down crying yesterday when he relayed a message from a Holocaust survivor to the Polish man whose family hid him in their attic during World War II--a man he had not seen for almost 70 years. We never forgot the fact that you and your parents are the ones who saved our lives. The only reason we are alive is because of you and your family, Leon Gersten, 79, told Czeslaw Polziec, 81, both of them fighting against tears of their own. The first words Polziec said upon seeing Gersten at the airport were some of the few English words he knows, the New York Daily News reports: Hi! Hi! Hi! I am very glad to see you. They'll celebrate Thanksgiving and Hanukkah together, CNN reports. Gersten, now a Long Island psychologist, was sheltered by Polziec's Catholic family for two years along with other family members including his mother, sister, and his brother-in-law's family. These generations are growing up because of the Polziec family, Gersten said, gesturing to his extended family. The Polziecs did not know the Gerstens before the family showed up at their farm seeking shelter, but they went so far as to build an underground bunker, just in case the Gerstens needed to hide there. Polziec's father was even once beaten by suspicious Nazis, the New York Post reports. But the Gerstens were honest people who just wanted to do the right thing, said Polziec when asked why his parents took them in. The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous arranged the reunion, which came on the day before Hanukkah began.

(Mar 31, 2009 4:38 AM CDT) A Yemeni doctor held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 has been cleared for transfer abroad as part of the administration's review of prisoner cases, reports CNN. Justice Department officials say the hard part now will be to find a country willing to take him. The Bush administration once claimed the physician had taken part in an anthrax program of Al Qaeda, but he was never charged with any crime. Federal attorneys filed a motion to halt all legal proceedings against him yesterday.

(Sep 9, 2014 7:35 AM CDT) Greenhouse gases rose to record levels last year, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization, making a worldwide climate treaty more critical now than ever. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in particular peaked at 396 parts per million, the BBC reports--3ppm over the previous year, in the fastest rate spurt since 1984. We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement, Reuters reports. Scientists are concerned the increase isn't just due to emissions overload: It could also be because the biosphere is saturated and can't absorb any more CO2. The world's oceans are also soaking up the gas at unprecedented rates, notes the BBC. And humans aren't the only ones who should be worried: A National Audubon Society study says the migration paths and living quarters of more than half of the birds in North America are in danger from climate change, NPR reports. A UN summit is scheduled on Sept. 23 to set the next steps for global climate action. For Jarraud, that meeting can't come soon enough. We are running out of time, he says. [We need to] give our planet a chance and ... our children and grandchildren a future. (Here's a greenhouse gas that's reportedly even worse than carbon dioxide.)

(Jul 3, 2012 3:15 PM CDT) Volunteers picking up trash in a coastal Maine community found a message in a bottle that apparently floated down the coast from Canada. Becky Lee of Downeast Coastal Conservancy says she discovered the note as she and others cleaned up Tibbett Island off of South Addison. The plastic soda bottle was under a spruce tree with other debris. The note from a young Canadian girl named Taryn had been tossed in the ocean in July 2000. Lee suspects Taryn got help from her parents writing the note about her vacation in New Brunswick because it says she's 3 years old. Lee says she's excited with the find and would like to find the Welland, Ontario, girl, who would now be a teenager. Click for another message-in-a-bottle tale.

(Feb 16, 2008 6:54 PM) One engineer and futurist says it's only a matter of time before machines are as smart as people, and people are part machine, the BBC reports. Ray Kurzweil claims that artificial intelligence will produce human-level smarts and even emotions by 2029. Humans, meanwhile, will inject nanobots into their brains to improve intelligence. We're already a human-machine civilization, says Kurzweil. We use our technology to expand our physical and mental horizons, and this will be a further extension of that. Kurzweil is part of a group of thinkers the National Academy of Engineering has tapped to assess the challenges of the 21st century.

(Jun 15, 2008 9:24 AM CDT) A man's ability to perform credibly as a prisoner of war is founded on a strong belief in his nation's foreign policy, John McCain wrote in a 1974 essay that shows the seeds of the candidate's views on public support for war. The New York Times takes a look at the essay, which was written during his time at the National War College--a time McCain says was key in the development of his views on Iraq, . McCain wrote that prisoners of war in Vietnam who questioned the legality of the war were extremely easy marks for Communist propaganda, and proposed that the US work to teach troops about the reasons behind foreign policy decisions--even though such a program could be construed as 'brainwashing.'

(Jan 11, 2015 11:45 AM) Just days after the Keystone XL pipeline got a break in Nebraska, it appears to have hit a stumbling block in the United States Senate, which does not appear to have the votes to override the veto President Obama has said he's got waiting for the measure. My hope is that as this comes to the Senate we will take it up, we will not override the president's coming veto and we will move past this issue and towards a real debate about energy policy, says Delaware Democrat Chris Coons, an opponent of Keystone. North Dakota Republican John Hoeven concedes that Keystone proponents are still short of the 67 votes they'll need. Right now we've got about 63, but we're going to the floor with an open amendment process, Hoeven says, per the Hill. We're trying to foster more bipartisanship, so we can pass this measure and other measures and either override the veto or attach the bill to other legislation that will get 67 votes.

(Apr 15, 2015 9:12 AM CDT) You already knew Sizzler was pretty amazing (cheese toast, anyone?), but you can now thank the Internet for reminding you just how amazing it truly is. Someone posted a 1991 promo video produced by the restaurant chain on YouTube, and, well, it is amazing and has deservedly gone viral. First, there's the incredibly dramatic song, with lyrics including: We will make the most of all the best that freedom brings / Sizzler is the one that brings us choices / Reaching out across the USA / Each and every day, get a little freedom in your life. Then there are the images that accompany the song: a construction worker who looks vaguely like Liam Neeson, a young female baseball player, at least two actors wearing sailor hats, lots of people with dogs, and ... the Sizzler buffet with all its aforementioned choices. All over America, a quiet revolution has been taking place, intones a voice-over. Americans have rediscovered--are redefining--what's really important in their lives. ... They want good, basic home cooking. Quality food. And they want choices, variety--all at a reasonable price. Americans want value. And then, the song again: Sizzler brings the choices that you've been looking for / In giving you the right to choose, we're offering much more / By holding to traditions, yet changing with the times / Choices and selections, choices of directions, choices that can add a little freedom in your life / Sizzler is the choice of America / Sizzler gives you choices every day / That's the Sizzler way. As Thrillist explains, the nearly five-minute video was apparently a pitch to potential franchisees touting the fact that at Sizzler, you can either order off the menu or visit the buffet, and it's being described as more patriotic than the National Anthem, utterly perfect yet deeply unsettling and erotically-charged, and goddamn magical. (Click for 14 retro ads that are oh-so-wrong.)

(Jan 30, 2013 7:52 AM) As firsts go, this is an unfortunate one: The US economy contracted in Q4, marking the first time it has done so since the recession ended. The AP reports that the biggest cut in defense spending in four decades, reduced exports, and sluggish growth in company stockpiles contributed to the unexpected decline in GDP, which dropped at a 0.1% annual rate between October and December. Just how big of a surprise was it? Of the 83 economists survey by Bloomberg, not one expected the decline, with projections ranging from a 0.3% to 2.1% gain. Whether it's a harbinger of doom (raising fears the economy won't be able to handle new tax increases now in effect) or a one-off remains to be seen, notes the AP. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 15% decrease in federal government spending marked the biggest drop since 1973--a slump that strong consumer spending just couldn't overcome. Still, the GDP grew 2.2% for all of 2012, besting 2011's 1.8%. Meanwhile, payroll processor ADP today reported a gain of 192,000 jobs in January; that tops a revised December, which was lowered from 215,000 jobs to 185,000, reports the AP.

(Sep 8, 2008 1:54 PM CDT) Three men were convicted today of conspiracy to commit murder with homemade bombs, the BBC reports, but neither they nor five others were found guilty of plotting to blow up transatlantic flights in 2006. Their arrests, hailed as a major blow against terrorism, occasioned new airport regulations on liquids--soda was a key ingredient in the explosives--and caused vast scheduling chaos. While British home secretary says countless lives were saved by disrupting the Al-Qaeda-inspired group, seven of the defendants who made so-called martyrdom videos say they planned only to make a political statement and did not intend to take lives. The home secretary says he might seek a retrial for some of the men.

(May 28, 2012 7:32 AM CDT) The missed opportunities for justice seem to be stacking up in the Etan Patz case. The New York Times today reports on a prayer group suspected killer Pedro Hernandez attended in the early 1980s in Camden, NJ--and whose members he reportedly confessed to. The Times speaks to the then-leader of what the paper describes as a charismatic Christian gathering at St. Anthony of Padua, Tomas Rivera, who says Hernandez said that he had strangled a boy and deposited his body in a Dumpster. As for why Rivera never called police, He did not confess to me individually. He confessed to the group. The Times notes that the story could be key to the case for a number of reasons: For one, there's no physical evidence connecting Hernandez and Etan, which makes confessions all the more crucial. And the fact that this alleged admission occurred just a few years after Etan disappeared could dispel some of the skepticism about the strength of his current confession. The Times also spoke with one of Hernandez's 11 siblings, Norma, who said that while he never confessed to her, she, along with the entire family, was aware of the prayer group confession.

(Mar 6, 2015 8:10 AM) They got a whiff of ... goat. It's not exactly the aroma you want from your beer, but it's what scientists say they detected after analyzing two bottles of beer that had been shipwrecked for what's believed to be 170 years at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Beer isn't known for aging well, and these bottles, found off the coast of Finland in 2010, suffered less-than-ideal conditions: Actual seawater had entered in through the corks. But that didn't stop the intrepid scientists from inserting needles into those corks to remove some of the contents and perform chemical analyses on what they describe as a bright golden yellow liquid with little haze it. They even braved tiny sips of the liquid, reports Popular Science. Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the scientists say the beer smelled of autolyzed yeast, dimethyl sulfide, Bakelite, burnt rubber, over-ripe cheese, and goat, with phenolic and sulfury notes. Both beers contained live and dead bacteria, which likely caused the unpleasant organoleptic features. As for the taste, Popular Science notes the researchers identified flavor chemicals not unlike those found in today's beers. And because the beer was diluted by as much as 30% with seawater, the scientists surmise that the alcohol content was higher than what it measured at: 2.8% and 3.2% ABV. While the ship's name and destination remain unknown, divers did find additional precious cargo at the site 165 feet below sea level: more than 150 bottles of champagne. Here's how the champagne tasted.

(May 4, 2016 2:25 PM CDT) You're not going to hear about a weirder deal today, declares TechCrunch after a decades-old British speaker company was bought by a tiny Silicon Valley startup this week. Founded in 1966, Bowers & Wilkins boasts pages of audio products for sale. Founded in 2014, EVA Automation has no products to speak of. EVA solved that problem by buying Bowers & Wilkins. The financial terms of the deal haven't been revealed, but Engadget estimates it at approximately $175 million. Bloomberg reports the move was unusual as typically the more established company buys the new, exciting one. EVA Automation's stated goal is to change how people interact and think about the home. Meanwhile, Bowers & Wilkins has lagged behind in pushing new technology, such as cloud services, in its products. As part of the deal, EVA Automation will take on the Bowers & Wilkins name, keep Bowers & Wilkins' CEO, and continue to employ the speaker company's 1,100 workers (EVA Automation employs 40). EVA Automation founder Gideon Yu says he wants to start selling new speaker products next year. This is the way that Silicon Valley and other industrial companies raise the game for consumer-brand electronics, Bloomberg quotes Yu as saying. (A tight-lipped startup is taking over Palo Alto.)

(Jul 16, 2014 1:15 PM CDT) In the early 1980s, Byron Preiss buried 12 keys underground in North America that, when found, can be turned in for gems worth $1,000 each. He and a number of collaborators created a book called The Secret: A Treasure Hunt!, published in 1982, that contains a dozen paintings and poems, each of which leads the way to the location of one key--as long as the finder is willing to dig three feet and unearth one of the ceramic casques that holds each key. Preiss was inspired by a wildly popular book with the same idea, Masquerade, that was published in the UK in 1979--but The Secret wasn't nearly so popular, the clues are difficult, and just two keys have been found in the ensuing 32 years. Preiss, the only person who knew exactly where the keys are buried, died in 2005. But thanks to the book's resurgence on the Internet, James Renner is determined to unearth one of the keys, almost 30 years after he first became enchanted with the book as an 8-year-old boy at an Ohio library, he writes in Boing Boing. A Reddit post introduced the book to a new generation of treasure seekers late last year, and it includes links to all sorts of resources, including a comprehensive wiki about the book, high-resolution digital versions of the paintings, a map of the presumed locations of the keys, and much, much more. Or you can do things the hard way, buy the Amazon Kindle version of the book yourself, and try to decode it. As for the two keys found so far, the first was dug up by three kids in Chicago in 1984, and the second was found by two lawyers in Cleveland in 2004. The rest are still up for grabs--and, Preiss' widow confirms to Renner, the gems are, too, so anyone who finds a key will be rewarded. Renner is set to interview the three kids from 1984 and then travel to various locations to search for more keys--all with a documentary crew in tow to film the hunt. (Click to read about seven more lost treasures you can search for.)

(Apr 21, 2015 11:27 AM CDT) As a spring breeze wafted into his trench, commander Georges Lamour of the French 73rd infantry saw something almost surreal drift his way. A yellow-green cloud. He barely had time to react. All my trenches are choked, Lamour cried into the field telephone to headquarters. I am falling myself! Foaming at the mouth, crazed and blinded, the French soldiers fled in all directions--sucking for oxygen, finding instead poison that seeped into body fluids and ate away at eyes, throat, and lungs. World War I, and warfare itself, were never the same. Chlorine gas--sent crawling in favorable winds over Flanders Fields from German positions--sowed terror and agony for the first time on April 22, 1915. The era of chemical weaponry had dawned. Some 1,200 French soldiers were killed in the chaos of that first 5-minute gas attack and the fighting that followed. The first use by allied forces came in September, when the British unleashed poison gas on the Germans at the battle of Loos, just across from Ypres in northern France. Rival armies ultimately launched 146 gas attacks in Belgium, with Germany using 68,000 tons of gas to the Allies' 82,000 tons. The lethal power of more sophisticated gases increased the horror by the month, even as the improvement of gas mask designs required more and more poison to be deployed. The last gas attack came just three days before the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918. Historians estimate that more than 1 million soldiers were exposed to gas--and 90,000 killed, with survivors in many cases suffering from chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. Read more on the use of the gas.

(May 1, 2012 5:45 PM CDT) A Connecticut man has pleaded not guilty after being charged in his wife's murder of nearly three decades ago. The remains of Elizabeth Heath were discovered two years ago in a well below a barn that once belonged to her husband. John Heath, 68, who used an oxygen tank in court, reported his wife missing in 1984, days after filing for divorce. He told friends and family she had left him and their daughter with no explanation while he was asleep, the Danbury News Times reports. But her dogs and most of her things--including her car--remained. Her body was discovered by a father and son who were renovating the barn in 2010, after John Heath lost it in a 2005 foreclosure. The body's left arm was broken; when police told Heath the bone had been smashed, he reportedly said, Smashed like a... and waved his arms up and down without finishing his sentence, NBC Connecticut reports. Heath was traumatized by his experience fighting in Vietnam, according to friends, who said he had a temper.

(Sep 21, 2012 2:45 AM CDT) Leon Panetta has patched up a Reagan-era rift between the US and New Zealand. The defense secretary announced that the US is lifting a ban on Kiwi warships in its ports that has been in place since 1986, reports the BBC. The ban was introduced after New Zealand declared itself a nuclear-free zone and banned nuclear-armed or powered warships from using its ports or entering its waters. New Zealand's defense minister welcomed the move but said the nuclear ban remains in place and is non-negotiable. While we acknowledge that our countries continue to have differences of opinion in some limited areas, today we have affirmed that we are embarking on a new course in our relationship that will not let those differences stand in the way of greater engagement on security issues, said Panetta, the first top Pentagon official to visit the country in 30 years. He said the US military plans to lift restrictions on military exercises with New Zealand and thanked the country for its contribution in Afghanistan, reports Reuters. New Zealand has had a small contingent of troops in Afghanistan since 2003 and five of them were killed in attacks last month.

(Oct 19, 2015 7:30 AM CDT) In 1982, 13-year-old Carrie Ann Jopek went missing in Milwaukee after she got suspended from school. Her body was found 17 months after she vanished, buried under a neighbor's porch, but the search for her killer eventually went cold, the AP reports. Now her mom, Carolyn Touisgnant, may finally have answers after a man called a local news station and confessed. Jose Ferreira, 50, called WISN 12 on Oct. 11 and described exactly what had happened on that March day. His story was very detailed--disturbingly so, the station's newsroom director told the AP; he says the station called cops because of several red flags, leading to Ferreira's arrest on second-degree murder charges. Ferreira had also apparently called a crisis line and told an acquaintance about his crime, though it's still unclear why he came forward now. A more recent WISN 12 story says Ferreira confessed to cops that when he was 17, Carrie Ann changed her mind about making out with him at a house party, so he shoved her down a flight of stairs, breaking her neck. He said he buried her body under the porch and then denied knowing anything about it for the past three decades, even after her body had been found. She spent two of her birthdays underneath that porch, Touisgnant says, per the AP, adding that she sometimes still blames herself because she let Carrie Ann walk home from school that day instead of picking her up. Still, there's some peace in the prospect of getting justice. Everytime [I'd] watch Cold Case or some other detective show, I would hope and pray one of these days [we'd] get the person who did that to Carrie, she says, adding to WISN 12: Now he's gonna pay for what he did to her. (Is this the 20th century's most baffling cold case?)

(Dec 4, 2013 8:47 AM) Police just yesterday arrested a man in a 17-year-old rape and murder case. Just one wrinkle: Another man is already serving life in prison for the crime. The horrific murder of Geraldine Montgomery shocked the small town of Kalkaska, Mich., in 1996, NBC News reports. The 68-year-old widow was beaten and raped in her own home, then left in the trunk of her running car in the garage, where she asphyxiated. Jamie Lee Peterson was ultimately convicted after confessing to the charges, even though he recanted within days--and the DNA evidence didn't match him. Authorities explained that by saying he must have had an accomplice. But Peterson has mental health problems, and the co-founder of an Innocence Clinic involved in the case says this is a classic mentally ill false confession, Fox News reports. While searching for the supposed accomplice, investigators brought in Jason Ryan, then 19, who had also been questioned in the days after the murder. He was a drifter and convicted felon who was living in Kalkaska, less than two blocks from Montgomery's house, but he passed a polygraph test. He also gave a DNA sample, but it's not clear if it was ever actually tested, and he was ruled out as a suspect. But Peterson's defense team never gave up, and this year, the DNA was re-tested and found to match Ryan. It's not clear, though, whether Ryan's arrest will get Peterson freed; police still maintain he knew details about the crime that only someone involved would know. His defense team plans to ask for a new trial. (Arrests were also recently made in another old case, this one involving a now-elderly couple who allegedly killed their first spouses and kids in the 1970s.)

(Jan 13, 2017 12:06 AM) El Salvador, one of the world's deadliest countries, has recorded a rare day without a single homicide. National Civil Police commissioner Howard Cotto said at a news conference Thursday that no murders were reported the previous day in the gang-plagued Central American nation. The last time the country went a full day without any killings was Jan. 22, 2015, according to records kept by the AP. It also happened once in 2013 and on two days the year before that. The nation of about 6 million people averaged 14.4 murders a day last year. Killings peaked at 104 per 100,000 residents in 2015, the highest rate for any nation not in open war that year. The rate in the US, by comparison, was 3.9; in Canada, it was 1.5. Homicides in El Salvador fell by about 20% in 2016, but it was still one of the most violent countries, with 81.2 murders per 100,000 residents. Warring gangs known as maras are involved in drug trafficking, organized crime, and extortion rackets in the country.

(Mar 2, 2015 10:09 AM) A 1990s R&B singer died in a bizarre accident at her Los Angeles home Friday night. Charmayne Maxwell, a member of the Grammy-nominated group Brownstone, was reportedly home alone with her son after his soccer game; around 9pm, her husband, music producer Carsten Soulshock, came home to find her bleeding and unconscious. She had apparently fallen and sliced her neck on glass; LAPD sources tell TMZ it was a broken wine glass that cut her. She was rushed to a hospital but died en route; foul play is not suspected, but UPI reports that the investigation is ongoing. Maxwell's brother, Brandon, confirmed her death on Twitter, Us reports. Bad things happened to the most innocent people. My sister died in the most terrible way and I'm in so much pain right now, he wrote, following that up by slamming rumors that Maxwell committed suicide: People are so dumb. This is actually BS. Maxwell was 46. Brownstone was best known for its 1995 single If You Love Me. (Read about 20 more puzzling celebrity deaths.)

(Jul 30, 2009 1:08 PM CDT) Insiders say both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are on the list of baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, the New York Times reports. Ramirez recently finished a 50-game suspension for taking a banned drug; it's the first time Ortiz--Ramirez's teammate on two World Series-winning Boston Red Sox squads--has been linked to such substances. Now that they are separated--outfielder Ramirez is with the Los Angeles Dodgers--their fortunes appear to be deteriorating. I'm not talking about that anymore, Ortiz, a designated hitter, said today of the 2003 tests, which were supposed to be kept confidential by the players union but mysteriously surfaced. Insiders say which substances the players tested positive for is unclear.

(May 28, 2009 8:09 PM CDT) Ralph Nader says Democrats were so worried about him in 2004 that DNC chief Terry McAuliffe offered to give his campaign money if he steered clear of 19 battleground states, reports the Washington Post. When you get a call like that, first of all it's inappropriate,'' Nader said. The other thing is if you don't immediately say no, it's like taffy, you get stuck with it. McAuliffe, now running for governor of Virginia, didn't exactly deny the charge. A spokesman said he was worried that Nader would cost John Kerry the election as he did Al Gore in 2000 and added that Nader misses seeing his name in the press. Nader's campaign manager called it undemocratic -- the head of the Democratic party was telling Ralph where he could or could not run.

(Sep 1, 2016 5:34 PM CDT) The New York Times has an inspiring update on the man once known as the world's fattest. Paul Mason, who at one point weighed as much as 980 pounds, had to be removed from his apartment with a forklift in order to receive gastric bypass surgery in 2010. After six years of improvements and setbacks, he had his second surgery to remove excess skin on Wednesday. For someone who's so emotionally complicated, who could have given up many times--he hasn't, one of Mason's three doctors tells the Times. It's one of the most interesting parts of it, that you have someone who seems to have every reason to throw in the towel, and yet who has fought all the way. The 55-year-old Mason had 50 pounds of excess skin removed from his body last year. He lost another 10 pounds of skin Wednesday. To understand what that means to Mason, who says he felt trapped by the extra skin, the Times asks readers to picture a loose sac weighing three pounds attached to the bottom of each of your upper arms. Mason calls Wednesday's surgery life-changing. His doctors say it was the most extreme case of skin removal they've ever seen. Post-surgery, Mason--who was down to 310 pounds but has since gone back up to 350--hopes to treat his arthritic knees, get back to the gym, and buy a car. Read the full story here.

(May 8, 2008 12:37 PM CDT) It took the public two days to lead authorities to the Internet pedophile Interpol had been hunting since 2006, ABC News reports, with US authorities arresting Wayne Nelson Corliss, 59, early this morning in New Jersey. Police had been scouring the globe for a man seen abusing young boys in at least 800 photos circulating online. Corliss confessed during questioning, police said. Authorities found pictures of Corliss years ago on a convicted pedophile's computer, but couldn't identify him until they released a photo to the public. That two days later the primary suspect is in custody is an outstanding achievement and credit to the citizens, media, and law enforcement, said Interpol's secretary general.

(Oct 15, 2008 3:10 AM CDT) John McCain's flurry of attacks against Barack Obama has done the Republican more harm than his opponent, according to the latest New York Times/CBS poll. Obama now commands a 53% to 39% lead, with voters seeing McCain as running the more negative campaign of the two, the poll found. More than 60% felt McCain was spending more time attacking Obama than explaining what he'd do as president--and most thought less of him for it. Of those polled, 64% said they had heard something about Obama's links with former political extremist Bill Ayers--the focus of McCain main attack--but a majority said they were not bothered by the Democratic candidate's past associations. The economy remains the chief concern of voters, according to a Los Angeles Times poll that puts Obama ahead 50% to 41%.

(May 8, 2014 9:15 AM CDT) A former truck driver may have set a new record for driving his electric car from New York City to Miami and back: 58 hours and 15 minutes--and he did it all without spending a penny. Michael Fritts, who charged his Tesla Model S for free along the way, wanted to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his successful heart surgery by doing something special and fun and I also wanted to celebrate this wonderful vehicle, he tells WKTV. The experience left him feeling a little like Batman, adds the New York man, who returned from his journey Tuesday. Fritts' journey totaled 2,600 miles along the Eastern seaboard; he slept in his trunk as the car charged, according to TimeWarnerCable News. He took food, but didn't need money because Tesla Model S owners can charge their cars for free at 91 Supercharger stations in North America (plus 19 stations in Europe and Asia), according to the carmaker. A 20-minute charge provides enough energy to go 150 miles, Fritts says, and a computer monitor inside the car helps the driver find the stations--he stopped at 10 each way during his trip. He's applying to the Guinness Book of World Records for recognition. (In the annals of wild road trips: This man claims the fastest NY-to-LA drive ever.)

(Jun 29, 2008 4:23 PM CDT) After beating Italy and Germany to win its first title in 44 years, Spain no longer needs to think of itself as an underachieving soccer nation. The Red Fury won their second European Championship, playing with flair, finesse, and a determination that the team had lacked in so many previous competitions. The Spaniards may not have as many trophies as the Germans or Italians, but the sparkling performance in Euro 2008 finally ended Spain's curse of exiting major tournaments in the quarterfinals. The Spanish team had a weak start to qualifying for Euro 2008, with losses to Northern Ireland and Sweden, but it recovered with eight wins and one draw to claim its group.

(Jan 12, 2015 9:58 AM) Abdallah Khader was just 2 years old in 2009 when his family's car was hit by a drunk driver. Yesterday morning, at age 8, he succumbed to the injuries he sustained in that crash. Abdallah's parents tell WFAA he died at a Fort Worth, Texas, medical center; he had been in a near-vegetative state since the crash, strapped to a chair and on oxygen, and he frequently suffered from pneumonia, including at the time of his death. Meanwhile, Stewart Richardson--whose blood alcohol level was about three times the legal limit on the night of the crash in Arlington, Texas--remains in jail awaiting trial. His case is tied up because, WFAA reported last year, prosecutors want to use his prior DWI-related charges to get him a longer sentence--possibly life in prison rather than a maximum of 20 years. Richardson, 50, has seven prior convictions for driving under the influence, some of them in other states, the Dallas Morning News reports. In this case, he's been charged with repeat DWI offense as well as intoxication assault, but after the medical examiner rules on Abdallah's cause of death, the district attorney could change those charges. But prosecutors say Abdallah's death will not change the punishment they're seeking for Richardson, WFAA reports. Parents Loubna and Fahad Khader say the experience has been torture; in February, Loubna confronted Richardson, who apologized to her. I'm supposed to go home now and my son is going to be OK because you said you're sorry? she said. It's been five years today. Five years! My son is dying every single day. (In November, a drunk driver involved in a fatal crash got into another crash 11 years later.)

(May 31, 2014 11:45 AM CDT) Bowe Bergdahl is finally coming home. The Taliban freed the American soldier it has held hostage for five years, and he is now in US custody, reports the AP. The Idaho native went missing on June 30, 2009, in southeast Afghanistan, and had been the only US soldier held captive in the country. The Army sergeant was released as part of a deal brokered by Qatar that also freed five detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, reports the Washington Post. US officials say the 28-year-old seems to be in good health and was able to walk, but was under the care of military doctors. President Obama personally delivered the news to his parents and in a statement said his release is a reminder of America's unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield. Bergdahl, believed to have been held by the Taliban offshoot Haqqani network, was turned over to US special-ops forces at an unspecified location. The five Gitmo detainees were being transferred to Qatar and will have a one-year travel ban among other security restrictions, reports the New York Times.

(Jun 23, 2017 1:57 PM CDT) Five people, including two teenagers and a 12-year-old, died Friday after being electrocuted at a water park pool in northwest Turkey, Turkish media reports said. The three children were caught up in an electrical current in the pool in the town of Akyazi, in Sakarya province, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The park's manager and his son were killed when they dived into the pool to try and save the flailing children, according to the private Dogan news agency. All five were rushed to a hospital in Akyazi, but could not be saved, the AP reports. Anadolu said a sixth person was also hospitalized with injuries but did not provide further details. Private NTV television said the children were aged 12, 15, and 17. Gendarmerie officers were conducting an investigation into what caused the electrocutions, Dogan reported. Television footage showed ambulances waiting outside the water park and several people gathered outside the Akyazi State Hospital.

(Sep 9, 2010 10:54 AM CDT) The number of people dying on the nation's roads has fallen to its lowest level in six decades, helped by a combination of seat belts, safer cars, and tougher enforcement of drunken driving laws.Traffic deaths fell 9.7% in 2009 to 33,808, the lowest number since 1950, the Transportation Department said yesterday. In 2008, an estimated 37,423 people died on the highways. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the annual report shows that America's roads are the safest they've ever been. But they must be safer. And we will not rest until they are. Year-to-year declines in highway deaths have occurred in previous economic downturns, when fewer people are out on the road, but last year's reduction in fatalities came even as the estimated number of miles traveled by motorists in 2009 increased 0.2% over 2008 levels.

(Apr 26, 2016 10:11 AM CDT) The new Volkswagen: Mitsubishi? The car company announced Tuesday it has been cheating fuel tests in Japan for the past 25 years, an admission that caused shares to fall by 10% to a record low, reports CNNMoney. Mitsubishi's market value had already plunged last week with news that engineers from Nissan--Mitsubishi is a supplier to the fellow automaker--discovered that improper fuel-economy tests were used on four models: the eK Wagon, eK Space, Dayz, and Dayz Roox dating back to 2002, reports Reuters. Tuesday's revelation widens the scope of the problem. It isn't clear how many vehicles are affected, though no cars sold in the US are believed to be. Mitsubishi President Tetsuro Aikawa says he was unaware of the manipulation and the company is investigating who's responsible, reports Bloomberg. I'm truly sorry that customers were led to buy vehicles based on incorrect fuel-efficiency ratings, he said, per the New York Times. All I can do is apologize. The company said it's been using an unapproved method to measure deceleration, one that results in a too-rosy mileage rating. An industry expert says the unapproved tests may have been used on more than the four stated models, noting Mitsubishi has a history of covering up faults. In the 2000s, it was involved in Japan's worst automotive recall scandal to date after burying safety records and customer complaints, reports the Telegraph.

(Apr 1, 2013 12:08 AM CDT) The 1937 Hindenburg explosion is history's most famous airship disaster, but a bigger, deadlier, and earlier one involved an American craft that will be commemorated this week, the AP finds. On April 4, 1933, the US Navy's 785-foot USS Akron airship plunged into the Atlantic Ocean during a violent storm off the coast of New Jersey, killing 73 of the 76 men aboard. The dirigible contained no life vests; one of the only three survivors, Lt. Cmdr. Herbert Wiley, was found clinging to a board. The order was given to stand by for a crash, Wiley said in a newsreel interview. The ship hit the water within 30 seconds of that order and most of us, I believe, we catapulted into the water. The airship had been involved in three accidents before its final flight, and some of the men on board had survived the crash of the USS Shenandoah airship the previous year. A ceremony will be held this week in a New Jersey veterans park where a tiny plaque is dedicated to the victims. It's almost a forgotten accident, a historian for the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society says. The Akron deserves to be remembered.

(Jul 9, 2016 7:42 AM CDT) Soldiers brought scores of bodies to a hospital in South Sudan's capital after gunfire erupted throughout Juba on Friday evening, a doctor at the hospital said Saturday, as panicked residents worried of a return to civil war. The morgue is full at Juba Teaching Hospital, the doctor said, but a total count of the dead is not available because soldiers are not allowing doctors to examine the bodies. Another doctor there estimated 110 bodies, both soldiers and civilians. The gunfire Friday began outside the presidential compound as President Salva Kiir was meeting with first vice president and former rebel leader Riek Machar and soon spread through the city, the AP reports. Gunfire continued into the night outside a United Nations base in Juba sheltering more than 25,000 people. The former rivals issued a joint call for calm and residents were reporting quiet streets Saturday morning, on South Sudan's fifth anniversary of independence. Many people remained indoors. The latest spasm of violence began Thursday night with shooting between opposing army factions who are supposed to be carrying out joint patrols under a fragile peace deal reached last year. That shooting, which killed five soldiers, was similar to the skirmish between soldiers in Juba in December 2013 that led to the civil war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.

(Sep 6, 2016 11:25 AM CDT) After wrapping up its deadliest month in 20 years, Chicago logged its 500th homicide of the year over Labor Day weekend, when 65 people were shot, including 13 fatally. Nine of those deaths and almost half of all shootings resulting in injuries or deaths occurred between 6am Monday and 3am Tuesday, possibly as individuals and gangs sought retaliation for earlier shootings, police tell the Chicago Tribune, which now counts 512 homicides in the city so far this year, compared to 491 in all of 2015. An 80-year-old man and a woman who was nine months pregnant were among the victims, reports CBS Chicago, which has a detailed breakdown of the shootings.

(Oct 21, 2008 6:08 PM CDT) Barack Obama has opened a double-digit lead over John McCain in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Obama is up 52% to 42% in the poll, up 4 points from 2 weeks ago and his widest lead to date. While voters continue to view McCain as the candidate best prepared to be president, more have grown comfortable with Obama's ability and background. McCain's choice of Sarah Palin also hurt him among respondents. Voters have reached a comfort level with Barack Obama, said a Democratic pollster who conducts the poll with a Republican counterpart. The doubts and question marks have been erased. Obama is up by 12 points among suburban voters, 9 points among seniors, 12 points among independents, and 25 points in the Midwest, home to several battleground states.

(Apr 29, 2015 2:34 PM CDT) With smiles, tears of joy, and lots of licking, a Yorkshire terrier picked up as a stray in Iowa was reunited today with the 14-year-old girl from whom he was stolen in 2012, 1,000 miles away in New Orleans. Karisa Lambert was in tears when an animal control worker from Cedar Rapids handed the little brown dog to her at New Orleans' airport as TV cameras rolled and bystanders took cellphone videos. I'm so very excited to have Sam back, she said. Dad Thomas Lambert said his brother gave Sam to Karisa as a birthday present. The dog disappeared in June or July 2012 from their backyard, which is surrounded by woods in a rural part of the New Orleans suburb of Bridge City. We had just given him up for dead, he said. Sam was found April 14, wandering around an elementary school, according to a press release from the city of Cedar Rapids. His microchip implant enabled animal control officers to identify and reach the Lamberts. United Airlines donated a first-class seat for animal control specialist Michelle Johnson to fly to New Orleans and deliver Sam. This just makes all of us feel really, really happy--that we can make this miracle come true for this family and their little dog, said an animal control official. The Lamberts and several friends were waiting at the gate. He looks the same as he did when he disappeared three years ago, mom Donnille Lambert said. Sam didn't make a sound. He just wagged his tail and licked anyone in reach.

(Jan 20, 2016 4:54 PM) A cat that went missing from its military family has been found four years later, and now he's prepping for a possible plane ride home to be reunited. Hemi--so named because owners Jennifer and Robert Connell first found him under their car hood in 2009--disappeared in 2011 after the family moved from their North Carolina home to a Marine Corps base, the AP reports. Robert had been deployed, and Hemi apparently missed him. He kept looking for my husband and couldn't find him, Jennifer Connell says. And one day he got out, and we were never able to find him. Although the heartbroken Connells tried to track Hemi down, they were never able to, and eventually they ended up moving to North Dakota when Robert got a job there as a train engineer. Then, last week, a North Carolina animal shelter called: A woman had found Hemi hanging around her house, per the AP, and the shelter was able to find the Connells through Hemi's microchip. The family has set up a GoFundMe account to pay for Hemi to either fly home with their former babysitter, who works for an airline, or for the family to drive back to NC to pick him up. Any extra cash will go to the animal shelter that called them, Jennifer Connell says. (This cat was reunited with its owner after seven years.)

(May 8, 2010 8:19 AM CDT) Anti-gay preachers probably shouldn't go on European vacations with rentboys, no matter how much proselytizing they do, because other allegations soon will follow. In this case, Gawker's got the scoop on Carl Shepherd, a former male escort who says George Rekers hired him in 1992 for an intimate massage from a smooth young man. He knew the lingo, Shepherd says. It seemed like he'd done this before. Looking back I think he thought that it wasn't gay, that he hadn't crossed the line, because he didn't want me to masturbate him at all, Shepherd says. But when Shepherd mentioned he'd been in porn movies, he says Rekers' face curled up. He handed me $150 and I left. But I felt a bit guilty it had ended like that. I remember thinking that I'd really grossed him out, that I'd corrupted this confused man.

(Aug 24, 2008 1:11 PM CDT) A passenger jet carrying at least 120 people to Iran crashed today near the main airport in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz and US officials said. Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency quoted a Kyrgyz civil aviation official as saying 25 people survived. An airport official said the crash occurred after the crew reported a technical problem on board about 10 minutes into the flight to Tehran, and that the plane was returning to the airport. An unidentified Kyrgyz aviation official said there were more than 120 abroad and that 25 survived. An airport official said the plane belonged to Itek Air, a Kyrgyz company, but was operated by Iran Aseman Airlines. Itek Air has been banned from operating in the airspace of the European Union, according to a list published by the EU on July 24.

(May 27, 2012 6:43 AM CDT) The mass slaughter of elephants and rhinos in Africa by poachers has once again reached crisis levels, warns the world body that tracks endangered species. As many as tens of thousands of elephants were slaughtered by poachers last year alone, and the illegal trade in tusks and horns is pushing these species toward extinction, the chief of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species told a Senate committee on Thursday, warning that elephants are now in decline in every region of Africa. We have slid into an acute crisis with the African elephant that does not appear to be on many people's radar in the US, the founder of Save the Elephants tells MSNBC. What's happening to the elephants is outrageous, and the more so since we have been through these ivory crises before and should have found solutions by now. He urged the US to pressure other nations, especially China and Thailand, to do more to tackle the illegal trade in tusks and horns, saying that if China would declare a unilateral 10-year moratorium on ivory imports, there would be a future for elephants in Africa.

(Jun 19, 2010 12:07 PM CDT) Nice that BP cares about the small people, but it's the big people that are in trouble, writes William Kristol. This week's Gulf follies--with incompetent performances from President Obama, Tony Hayward, Joe Barton, et. al-- are just the beginning. Who wouldn't prefer to be governed by the first 500 (small) people in the phone book than by the big people currently in charge? he asks in the Weekly Standard. Ticking off the failures of big finance, big government, and big media, Kristol declares that the establishment hasn't been this discredited since the mid-1960s. Now it's up to conservatives to regroup and save the country from a failed liberal progressivism. A consitutionalist-populist political realignment is under way, he writes. The small people are winning.

(Dec 28, 2011 8:02 AM) After five straight months of gains through August, many market watchers had hoped home prices were finally trekking northward for good. No such luck: According to the just-released S&P/Case-Shiller Index, home prices fell in 19 of the nation's 20 largest cities from September to October, bringing the index 3.4% lower than it was at this time last year. And while prices usually trend downward in the fall, the LA Times believes these figures portend a weak market in 2012. In the October data, the only good news is some improvement in the annual rates of change in home prices, said the chairman of S&P's index committee, with 14 markets seeing prices at least fall more slowly. The lone city to post a gain was Phoenix, and that was just 0.3%. The biggest loser, meanwhile, was Atlanta, where prices dropped 5%.

(Nov 1, 2014 2:00 PM CDT) It's been more than half a century since a certain unidentified Canadian woman took a piece of Pompeii home with her, but it seems her guilt got the better of her: She has finally brought it back to the site, the BBC reports. The woman was on her honeymoon when she picked up a decoration from a theater entrance in the ancient city, which was covered in volcanic ash in 79 AD. Now, the woman is in her 70s. I regret what I did. I want to remedy (it), she tells an Italian paper, via the International Business Times. This has no precedents, the fact that someone was pushed by the weight of their conscience to hand back what they had taken, says an official in Naples. The object wasn't necessarily priceless in itself, but it was an element of ornament at the quadriporticus (rectangular open area) in Pompeii, where everything has its value, the official says, per the BBC. It's still in good condition, the Business Times reports. The woman won't be fined; instead, officials hope others who have taken items from the site will follow her example. (Pompeii continues to offer new findings: Thanks to work at the site, researchers recently learned that Romans ate giraffe.)

(Feb 11, 2014 8:05 AM) Today's a big day for China and Taiwan: They held their first talks since 1949, when the People's Republic of China was formed after a civil war. Since then, they've been perpetually frosty; China has continued to consider Taiwan its territory (albeit a renegade one), and has threatened force if Taiwan declares independence. But today the head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council met with the head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, and they agreed to set up representative offices for both organizations, Reuters reports. The official liaison offices will exist on one another's territory. A formal peace treaty and other sensitive issues such as decreasing military readiness were not discussed, but Reuters calls the talks historic and Chinese media call them landmark. Taiwan's Wang Yu-chi said the talks, which occurred in China, were unimaginable ... in earlier years. According to Time, relations between China and Taiwan are the best they've ever been, thanks to former Chinese President Hu Jintao's less aggressive approach, plus the desire of Taiwan's current president to improve ties. Trade and economic ties have been particularly strong of late.

(Apr 23, 2014 2:38 AM CDT) A mysterious quacking noise in the ocean that has baffled scientists for decades has finally been identified, researchers say. Acoustic recorders placed on Antarctic minke whales have produced what NOAA experts say is conclusive evidence that the sound is their chatter, the BBC reports. The sound was dubbed the bio-duck when it was first picked up by sonar operators on submarines in the '60s. It's since been heard in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and western Australia, typically in winter and spring. Still a mystery: why the whales make the sound. Researchers did note, though, that the vocalizations were always recorded when the whales were close to the surface, before making deep dives to eat. The discovery is good news for whale conservation, because acoustic monitoring can give us the timing of their migration--the exact timing of when the animals appear in Antarctic waters and when they leave again--so we can learn about migratory patterns, about their relative abundance in different areas and their movement patterns between the areas, the lead researcher says. The hardest part of the study was attaching the recorders to the whales with suction cups, another researcher tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Similar recording devices are used on other whales, but minke whales were a huge challenge, he says They're very difficult to approach closely because they're fast. They're like big dolphins--they zip around. (Speaking of whales, researchers recently discovered the planet's deepest-diving mammal.)

(Feb 14, 2014 8:44 AM) Police have--to their surprise--found a 52-year-old Oregon woman alive yesterday, almost a week after she'd disappeared. Police had been looking for Sharon Ruth Bates since Saturday. After getting a tip from her sister that she liked to climb Mount David, they searched the area, and found her trapped in the crater of an old well, the Cottage Grove Sentinel reports. She'd survived there without food, and despite last week's snowstorm. Bates had gone into the woods last Friday for some alone time and got stuck in the pit after finding herself unable to climb out due to the slippery conditions. She used a plastic bag to collect drinking water, but was growing steadily weaker. Truth is, I didn't expect to find her alive, a police corporal tells ABC 9. It makes me happy. Bates is currently recovering in the hospital. (Click to read about another hiker saved from snowy conditions ... in Hawaii.)

(Aug 27, 2013 12:04 PM CDT) Last month we wrote about the pitch-drop experiment, which is meant to demonstrate the concept that pitch (a tar derivative) is actually a high-viscosity substance, meaning it appears solid but is actually slowly flowing. An experiment to prove just that has been running in Brisbane since 1927--and now comes the news that the scientist who has headed the experiment since 1961 died last week without ever seeing it drop. He was 78. John Mainstone was actually responsible for resurrecting the experiment, which had been relegated to some dusty cupboard at the University of Queensland, reports Popular Science. As the custodian of the world's longest-running science experiment, drops did fall on his watch--eight have done so since its start--but Mainstone was never present for one. Two sad misses: Mainstone failed to capture a 2000 drop because the camera trained on it faltered; PhysOrg reports that he expected the ninth drop to fall this year. (You can monitor it here.) Though Mainstone retired in 1996, the Australian notes that he kept an office at the school and continued in his custodian role. He was awarded an Ig Nobel in 2005. (A similar experiment running in Dublin since 1944 finally captured a drop; see it here.)

(Dec 3, 2008 11:00 AM) Cher's next album will hark back to the era that spawned Sonny and Cher, reports the New York Post. The singer plans to cover songs of the 1960s, a time when I used to listen to music on my AM radio in my Ford Mustang. She mentions artists from the Beatles and Bob Dylan to Otis Redding and the Kinks as possible inclusions, calling the era such a magical time for music.

(Apr 22, 2016 10:30 AM CDT) As Canada grapples with a suicide crisis, it seems America may have one on its hands, too. Researchers at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics on Friday released a report that puts the US suicide rate at 13 per 100,000 people--a 30-year high, per the New York Times. The overall suicide rate rose 24% from 1999 to 2014 after declining in the 15 years prior, with suicides among young girls ages 10 to 14 surging 240%, though such cases are still rare (94 in 2014). An increase was seen in every age group except those over 75. The rate for middle-aged women rose 63%--it jumped 80% for white women of this age--while the rate for middle-aged men spiked 43%. If it were just one particular group, you could say 'that is where we need to focus, lead author Sally C. Curtin tells CNN. Exactly where the major influences are--we don't know all of the answers to that yet, a CDC employee adds, per the Wall Street Journal. Some possibilities: chronic medical problems, financial stress during the economic downturn, social isolation, a failure to get treatment for mental-health issues, and more access to lethal means, including opiates. The suicide rate rose 89% and 38% for Native American women and men of all ages, respectively, but declined by 8% among black men of all ages. The rate also declined for older adults, though men over 75 still have the highest suicide rate overall with 38.8 per 100,000 in 2014. The method of death is also altered: Suicide via hanging and other forms of suffocation rose during the study period to about 26% of all suicides. Men remain most likely to commit suicide using a gun, and women using poison.

(Sep 23, 2015 10:32 AM CDT) When Jesus Aparicio was left in a coma by a car crash on Dec. 12, 2004, his favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, had just risen to No. 1 in the world rankings. The Spanish man woke up from his coma last month--and when his speech finally recovered, one of the first things he did was ask about Federer. He was shocked to find out that the then-23-year-old is still high in the rankings today. When I knew that, at 34 years, he is still playing and is No. 2 in the world, I thought they were kidding me, Aparicio told puntodebreak.com, according to Tennis World. When I heard that he reached 17 Slam titles, I put my hands on my face. Aparicio was planning a trip to Wimbledon at the time of his car accident, and is excited that he still has a chance to see Federer play live: I want to see his match before he retires, perhaps his 18th Slam.

(Apr 14, 2015 11:21 PM CDT) There's a saying, when it's too good to be true, it usually is, a Brooklyn judge said yesterday, blasting the methods of retired NYPD detective Louis Scarcella and freeing a man Scarcella sent to prison for a 1991 murder. She overturned the conviction of Rosean Hargrave, which is one of dozens of Scarcella cases that came under review since the detective known as a legend for his conviction rate was accused of framing an innocent man, the New York Times reports. Hargrave, who was 17 when he was convicted of killing an off-duty correction officer, is now 40, and he was surrounded by family and friends as he walked out of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn yesterday, the Times reports. Another teen convicted in the case was freed in 2009. The judge ordered a new trial, saying Scarcella, at the time of the investigation, engaged in false and misleading practices that manifested disregard to the rules, law and the truth [and] undermine our judicial system, the New York Daily News reports. Six other Scarcella murder convictions have been tossed by prosecutors over the last two years, but this is the first one overturned by a judge, reports the Daily News. A Times report on the Hargrave case last fall found a long series of missteps, errors, and questionable decisions, including reliance on a single eyewitness, an apparent failure to test blood samples from the crime scene, vanished forensic evidence, and a decision to prosecute even when fingerprints at the scene didn't match those of either defendant.

(Jan 13, 2011 8:50 AM) Last year was a hot and wet affair, tying 2005 for the warmest year on record and standing alone as the year with the most precipitation, according to the National Climatic Data Center, which has records dating back to 1880. The earth's average temperature rose to 58.12 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.12 degrees above the 20th-century average. It was the 34th straight year that temperatures have been above average. This warmth reinforces the notion that we're seeing climate change, one scientist tells USA Today. The year saw a number of brutal heat waves--most notably Russia's--and he notes that the probability of these events does increase as the climate warms. But another climatologist notes that the temperature trend is pretty flat from the 1990s. We don't see much of a warming trend over the past 12 years.

(Nov 28, 2015 10:23 AM) After operating Chubby's Luncheonette in Hopewell Borough, New Jersey, for more than three decades, Carol Chubby Montello decided to spend her last night on Earth at the now-closed restaurant last month, NJ.com reports. Montello bought the 1950s luncheonette in 1979, quickly turning her regulars into a happy combination of family and unpaid staff. One regular says Montello would leave the door unlocked 24-7 --even though she wouldn't get in until at least 9am--so regulars could make coffee and heat up muffins. She was a tough little old lady but with a big heart, one frequent customer tells NJ.com. Chubby's Luncheonette went out of business about three years ago, NJ.com reports. Shortly after, Montello began to have problems in her chest. She didn't want treatment--or even to be diagnosed--deciding instead to ride it out. In the years after Chubby's closed, Montello could still be seen inside the restaurant--she lived above it--having coffee and a cigarette while reading the newspaper. When she was rushed to the hospital Oct. 11 she told her family she wanted to die in the space she'd turned into a home away from home for so many customers. They moved her hospital bed into Chubby's, where she died 11 hours later. Read the full story here. (This man chose 100 different countries as his final resting place.)

(Mar 3, 2010 10:00 PM) One of the alt-est of 1990s alt rock bands is on the comeback trail, but Pavement looks to be falling on deaf ears with today's hipsters. Sure, Pavement's got Guitars. Drums. Guy with a dopey voice. Earnest Lyrics. Yelling, Carles blogs at Hipster Runoff--but that sound is everywhere now, and it looks to Carles like their long-awaited reunion is just a way for the oldsters to make a buck. Maybe if I give them a shot, I will have a better historical appreciation for indie music + alt culture, Carles sniffs. But after doing some YouTube research, the verdict: Seemed mediocre, like a band that would get a lot of buzz that I would choose to neglect these days because it wasn't lofi/electro/chillwave enough for me.

(Dec 12, 2013 9:06 AM) Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel are separating after more than a decade of marriage, Menzel's rep confirms to Us. The 42-year-olds first met in 1995 while both were starring in the original Broadway production of Rent, and later co-starred in the film version of the musical. They married in January 2003 and have a 4-year-old son together. No word on the cause for the split, but Us notes they were plagued by cheating rumors over the summer, and People points out that in April, Menzel said that they sometimes had a long-distance marriage, which can be hard but we work at it.

(Aug 13, 2009 11:32 AM CDT) Donte' Stallworth has been suspended without pay for the 2009 NFL season, the Plain Dealer reports. The Browns wide receiver, who pleaded guilty in June to DUI manslaughter committed in Miami in March, violated league policies on personal conduct and substance abuse. Stallworth is banned from taking part in any team activity in the coming season. Longstanding league policies make clear that discipline is warranted 'if a player is convicted of or admits to a violation of the law...relating to the use of alcohol,' commissioner Roger Goodell wrote to Stallworth. The receiver reacted to the news on Twitter, quoting a 17th-century poet: I'M A LITTLE WOUNDED, BUT I'M NOT SLAIN; I WILL LAY ME DOWN 4A WHILE 2 BLEED, THEN I'LL RISE & FIGHT WITH YOU AGAIN.

(Jun 16, 2009 7:04 PM CDT) Bad news for Sammy Sosa's Hall of Fame hopes: The Cubs slugger is among the players who tested positive for doping in 2003, the New York Times reports. The retired Sosa, sixth on the all-time homer list, has long been suspected of taking steroids but has never admitted it. The new development, courtesy of unnamed lawyers familiar with the 2003 results, is the first time he's been linked to a positive test. These are the same test results that forced A-Rod to admit earlier this year that he had juiced, too. The tests, the first such conducted by the league, were supposed to remain anonymous, but names continue to trickle out. The revelation could raise legal trouble for Sosa, notes the Times, because he testified to Congress in 2005 that he never took illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

(Jan 27, 2015 9:37 AM) Seventy years to the day since the liberation of Auschwitz, some 300 survivors gathered at the infamous Nazi death camp to reflect on the occasion. Candles are being lit at the execution site known as the Death Wall as world leaders attend a ceremony this afternoon. It could be the last time aging survivors are able to gather in such numbers, the BBC reports. Says one 85-year-old of her visits to the camp: I'll do it for as long as I can. Why? There are still a lot of Holocaust deniers, the world over, and if we don't speak out, the world won't know what happened. The Soviet Union liberated the camp in 1945 and it became a museum two years later. German president Joachim Gauck and French president Francois Hollande will attend the ceremony; political tensions in Ukraine mean Vladimir Putin will not, though AFP reports that he is involved in a ceremony at a Moscow Jewish museum, per the Telegraph. President Obama, meanwhile, is in Saudi Arabia, the Telegraph notes, but a US delegation is being led by Treasury secretary Jack Lew, the AP reports. Steven Spielberg spoke to survivors last night, introduced by 81-year-old survivor Paula Lebovics as a man who has given us a voice in history, the AP reports. Meanwhile, European leaders are warning against the specter of continuing anti-Semitism: We've got to fight anti-Semitism and all racism from the outset, said German chancellor Angela Merkel at a Berlin event last night. We've got to constantly be on guard to protect our freedom, democracy, and rule of law. (Also expected at today's event: The grandson of Auschwitz's commandant.)

(Jul 31, 2012 10:32 AM CDT) They got hitched while still in their teens, divorced 20 years later, and are getting remarried after nearly a half-century apart. For Lena Henderson and Roland Davis, the second time around is finally here, even if they're both 85. The Buffalo-area couple plans to get married again on Saturday, with four generations of their family on hand to see it happen. I always thought it might happen, Davis tells the Buffalo News. It was always in the back of my mind. We're just thankful that we could get back together. The couple met as teenagers in Chattanooga, Tenn., and after marrying had four children together. They divorced in 1964 but always kept in touch. Henderson moved to West Seneca 30 years ago. Davis, a military retiree, was living alone in Colorado after his previous wife died several months ago. During a telephone conversation with Henderson, he proposed to her, and she said yes. The rest, as they say, is history. I don't know of a child that does not want their parents to be together forever, says their youngest daughter. That's the dream, man. That's the dream.

(Jun 30, 2014 3:05 AM CDT) The Pentagon says that if all 34 million Americans aged 17 to 24 tried to join the military, it would reject more than two-thirds of them for being fat, uneducated, felonious, on drugs, or for assorted other reasons--even before it got around to weeding out the ones with neck tattoos. The quality of people willing to serve has been declining rapidly, complains the commanding general of US Army Recruiting Command, which estimates that 71% of today's young people would fail to qualify for service, not including those turned down because of tattoos, ear gauges, or other cosmetic issues. Around a quarter of high school graduates don't have the basic math and reading skills needed to pass the Armed Forces Qualification Test, the military says, but the biggest reason for disqualification is obesity. In the past, a drill sergeant could literally run the weight off a soldier as part of the regular training program, a retired major tells the Wall Street Journal, but now, people who are 50 pounds or more overweight turn up at recruiting offices. Military recruiters, aided by enlistment bonuses, have still been meeting their targets in recent years, even though the general in charge of recruiting estimates that only 1% of American youth are both eligible and inclined to have a conversation with us.

(Nov 7, 2013 2:17 AM) An American who hijacked an airliner to Cuba nearly 30 years ago as a self-described revolutionary was in custody today, a day after returning home on a charter flight from Havana. The FBI says agents took William Potts, 56, into custody shortly after his flight arrived at Miami International Airport. Potts, who says he has returned to his homeland to seek closure, faces a 1985 federal indictment charging him with air piracy for the hijack of a Miami-bound flight in 1984. Calling himself Lt. Spartacus, a soldier in the Black Liberation Army, he told a flight attendant he had explosive devices aboard and forced the plane to land in Havana. Potts said he thought Cuba would welcome him and offer him training as a guerrilla. Instead, he was tried and convicted of air piracy and served 13 years in Cuban prisons. He was granted permanent residency in Cuba after serving his sentence. My position is I am a free man. I have served my time, Potts, who has described himself as the homesick hijacker, told reporters. But they seem to have another concept. They are going to take control of me. I will be under their authority. The US charge against him carries a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison.

(Apr 30, 2013 8:24 AM CDT) US home prices posted their biggest year-over-year gains in February since 2006, as a growing number of buyers bid on a limited supply of homes. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 9.3% in the 12 months ending in February. That's up from an 8.1% gain in January. Annual prices rose in all 20 cities for the second month in a row, the first time that has happened since early 2005. Phoenix recorded the biggest annual gain, with prices rising 23%. Prices jumped nearly 19% in San Francisco. Eleven of the 20 cities reported price gains in February compared with January. Those monthly numbers are not seasonally adjusted and reflect the slower winter buying period.

(Apr 24, 2008 10:53 AM CDT) New-home sales fell yet again in March, the Wall Street Journal reports, with single-family sales off 8.5% to an annual rate of 526,000, the lowest level since 1991. Analysts had expected a drop of only 1.9%. The median price, meanwhile, plummeted 13.3%, to $227,600. With an 11-month supply of homes available--the most since 1981--prices will likely continue to fall.

(Jul 15, 2016 4:04 PM CDT) Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are officially uncoupled after a judge finalized their divorce, the AP reports. The judgment signed by a Los Angeles judge on Thursday provides few details, but states neither Paltrow or Martin will pay spousal support. The actress and Coldplay frontman married in December 2003 and have two children together, ages 12 and 10. In March 2014, the pair announced they were separating and undergoing a process called conscious uncoupling. The announcement on Paltrow's lifestyle website, goop, drew attention to the term coined by Los Angeles therapist and author Katherine Woodward Thomas, who has created a five-step Conscious Uncoupling online process. Paltrow filed for divorce the following month, citing irreconcilable differences.

(Jan 26, 2011 8:07 AM) Scientists in the Arctic have recorded what is by far the longest swim a polar bear has ever been known to make. A female bear fitted with a radio collar swam continuously for almost 10 days through icy waters north of Alaska, covering 420 miles as she searched for ice floe hunting grounds. We are in awe that an animal that spends most of its time on the surface of sea ice could swim constantly for so long in water so cold. It is truly an amazing feat, the lead researcher tells the BBC. The epic swim, however, came at a huge cost to the bear: she lost more than a fifth of her body fat, and her yearling cub did not survive the journey. It was simply more energetically costly for the yearling than the adult to make this long distance swim, the lead researcher says. The team says that as Arctic ice continues to decrease, polar bears will have little choice but to continue making such long swims, at equally high cost.

(Dec 27, 2009 8:03 AM) A bomb has killed the 310th US soldier to die in Afghanistan this year, making the total number of 2009 casualties exactly twice that of the 155 lost in 2008. And though this has been the deadliest year of the war for the US, military officials tell the AFP that those numbers will likely worsen with the troop surge. International forces have suffered 196 losses in Afghanistan this year.

(Nov 8, 2013 12:40 PM) Oh, the song puns and jokes about unmentionable acts in a theater are flying fast and furious with news that Alanis Morissette is adapting her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill into a Broadway musical. Yes, that album, the one with You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket, and Ironic, among others, reports Playbill. The 39-year-old Morissette was just 21 when Pill came out and made her the youngest-ever winner of a Grammy for Album of the Year. She'll be working on the project with Tom Kitt, who arranged Green Day's American Idiot for Broadway. Workshop performances are set to begin next year, but there's no word on when the production will hit the stage. It will no doubt be interesting to see how the songs from Morissette's angsty '90s opus are strung together by plot, writes Kase Wickman at MTV.com.

(Mar 17, 2015 6:51 AM CDT) Richard III is going to be buried again and they're not planning to cram him into an ill-fitting grave this time around. The English king, who was killed in battle in 1485 and found under a parking lot in Leicester in 2012, was placed in a coffin on Sunday for the first time since his death, in preparation for a grander burial at Leicester Cathedral next week, the BBC reports. On Sunday, a procession will carry the coffin of the last Plantagenet king from the city's university to the cathedral, where the Archbishop of Canterbury will lead a service before the king is finally buried, reports CBS. The ceremony will happen at dusk as the sun sets and as the thoughts of people always turn to the night and to the possibility of death, the bishop of Leicester tells the York Press. Items including a rosary and a piece of embroidered linen were placed in a lead casket along with the king's bones, reports the BBC, which notes that the king's coffin was made his 17th great-grandnephew, Canadian carpenter Michael Ibsen. The 57-year-old is a direct descendant of the king's older sister and his DNA was used to prove that the parking lot bones belonged to the king. I was touched when they asked me to do it, Ibsen told the Leicester Mercury last year. I think it has a lovely resonance that I'm making a coffin for a distant relative. It's a real honor. (In the years out of the ground, Richard III's remains revealed that he wasn't the hunchback Shakespeare described, he had a bad case of roundworms, and he had an extremely violent death.)

(Jun 11, 2009 12:35 PM CDT) The NCAA will require the University of Alabama to vacate at least 10 football victories from 2005-07 over rules violations that saw players arrange free textbooks for friends, the Birmingham News reports. The school will also be placed on 3 years' probation, but the football program won't lose any scholarships. Other UA programs received penalties that included vacating individual records.

(Feb 20, 2012 1:58 PM) Police have found the skeleton of Nicholle Coppler, an Ohio girl missing since she ran away from home in 1999, officials announced this weekend. Coppler's remains were found earlier this month at the home of Glen Fryer, where she was last seen; Fryer had connections to human trafficking and killed himself in 2002 while awaiting sentencing for raping another girl, 12. I knew in my heart she never left that house, Nicholle's mother Krista Coppler tells the Lima News, adding that she believes Nicholle wanted to come back home but Fryer held her in his house. Police, who had searched Fryer's home before to no avail, were finally able to unearth Nicholle's body after the state took possession of the house due to unpaid taxes and it was demolished. Nearly all of the girl's body was found buried under a crawl space, and officials are still working to determine the cause of death. They are also investigating others who may be to blame for Nicholle's fate, including others linked to human trafficking, people who knew Nicholle was in Fryer's house, and others who lived in the house.

(Jun 20, 2008 8:21 PM CDT) Breaking out of a tight race, Barack Obama registered a 51% to 36% lead over John McCain in the newest Newsweek nationwide poll, released today. Obama's bounce, expected after Hillary Clinton conceded him the Democratic nomination, comes courtesy of younger voters, who prefer him by 66% to 27%. Among registered voters age 40 and up, the two hopefuls are in a statistical dead heat.

(Jan 28, 2016 5:25 PM) The stars of one of the most famous Super Bowl commercials of all time recently reunited on a football field in Texas, CBS News reports. In 1979, Pittsburgh Steelers player Mean Joe Greene famously drank a young boy's Coke, tossing him his game jersey in exchange. Thirty-seven years later, that boy--Tommy Okon--says Greene is one of his oldest friends, according to People. That commercial is kind of what Joe is: tough football player who's a nice guy, Okon says. Greene and Okon met up to film a segment on Super Bowl advertising. Still special after all these years, Greene says after recreating the iconic ad. He was probably just relieved he didn't have to chug 18 bottles of Coke this time around.

(Apr 30, 2013 5:06 AM CDT) It's party time in Amsterdam: Queen Beatrix has signed her abdication papers, making her son Willem-Alexander the country's first king since William III died in 1890. Huge orange-clad crowds gathered in the Dutch capital to say farewell to the popular queen and celebrate the annual Queen's Day holiday, which will be King's Day next year, the BBC reports. Crowds watched giant screens in the city's Dam Square outside the palace as Beatrix, Willem-Alexander, and his Argentine-born wife signed the papers before emerging on a palace balcony, followed by the couple's three young daughters. The new king and queen's eldest daughter, Catharina-Amalia, is now Princess of Orange and next in line for the throne. Willem-Alexander--who says he wants to be a king that can bring society together --was later inaugurated in a ceremony attended by royal guests from 18 countries, though it wasn't a crowning. A Dutch monarch is never crowned, the Guardian explains. It's not a coronation. There is of course a Dutch royal crown, but it's never actually worn. It's almost more like a Washington thing. It's an inauguration and swearing in. At 46, he is now Europe's youngest monarch, notes the Telegraph.

(Jul 9, 2012 10:37 AM CDT) President Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $71 million in June, the Obama campaign announced today, an amount that would sound pretty darn impressive--if Mitt Romney hadn't absolutely blown it out of the water. Romney and the RNC announced an eye-popping $106 million haul today, according to ABC News, confirming earlier reports that it had shattered GOP fundraising records. We got beat. Handily, the Obama campaign said in an email to supporters, according to Politico, which predicts Obama will be financially outgunned all the way to November.

(Oct 1, 2015 3:38 PM CDT) A woman found dead in 1981 in Arizona has just been identified as Brenda Gerow, who went missing from New Hampshire in 1980. Gerow, then about 20 years old, left Nashua for Arizona with John Kalhauser, who had already been convicted of manslaughter nine years earlier in a man's shooting death, the Lowell Sun reports. And the year before he moved to Arizona with Gerow, he was also indicted for armed assault with intent to murder in connection to another shooting, this one of his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend. Kalhauser was out on bail when he left for Arizona. We think she ran off, we don't know, Gerow's father tells the AP. My daughter was just gone and we have no idea why. I don't know what happened. Thirty-three years and still no reason why. Gerow's brother tells the New Hampshire Union Leader his sister was a free spirit who met Kalhauser at a nightclub. In 1995, Kalhauser's ex-wife disappeared from Arizona and Kalhauser (who had been using an alias) was arrested in connection with the 1979 incident. In 1996, he was convicted of armed assault with intent to murder in that incident; in 1999, he was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with his ex-wife's disappearance, though her body was never found. When Kalhauser was picked up in 1995, he had a photograph of a woman with him; in 2012, when investigators decided to exhume the body they found in Arizona in 1981 and reconstruct her face so that they could test evidence with new technology, WMUR reports, they matched her face up with the photo Kalhauser had been carrying. In 2014, they posted both images on social media, and tips ultimately led them to identify the woman as Gerow. Kalhauser is now considered a person of interest in her death, and the investigation continues.

(Feb 20, 2008 10:34 AM) American soldiers deployed to Iraq this summer will likely serve shorter tours, the AP reports. Soldiers at war today are serving 15 months and coming home for a year before going back to Iraq for another tour. War tours are expected to be shortened to 12 months for units leaving in early August, said the Army's top general. The number of US combat brigades in Iraq is dropping--20 were deployed in the country for most of last year, but only 15 will likely be left by July. The general said he is fairly comfortable that 12-month tours will be possible even if troop reductions continue as planned. He hopes to eventually shorten tours to nine months.

(Dec 1, 2015 9:29 AM) For more than a decade, a Russian army deserter was believed dead and buried--until he turned up recently hiding out in the woods in a remote eastern part of the country, the Guardian reports. A police spokeswoman said Monday that cops on the Kamchatka peninsula hauled in a 30-year-old man from Taganrog who had ditched his army post in 2004 after just a year in the service, the Tass news agency reports. His family had mistakenly IDed another man's body as their missing kin and even buried the stranger, while the soldier erected a makeshift house in the forest out of old construction materials near the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the police rep tells Tass, and he gathered berries and mushrooms and scrap metal, worked at a swine farm, and went fishing to earn his living. His desertion apparently wasn't much of a surprise, as regional officials say he had family problems, per the Guardian. At the time, Russians were required to serve two years in the military; that requirement has since been reduced to one year. Although Russian service members can face up to seven years in prison for desertion, it's unclear whether this particular defector will face jail time. There were lots of deserters in those days in the far east, the head of the NGO Committee of Soldiers' Mothers in Russia tells the Guardian. We've had cases when some would hide in a basement for years, but they would go through a psychiatric examination and would be set free. (Here's what America's most famous deserter was thinking before he took off.)

(Aug 28, 2013 10:43 AM CDT) Perhaps the CIA should have just kept its proverbial mouth shut. A week after the agency finally acknowledged it was behind the 1953 coup of democratically elected Iranian PM Mohammad Mossadeq, Iran's parliament has voted to sue the US for meddling in its domestic affairs, the LA Times reports. America's oppressive behavior (in 1953) shows that the Iranian nation has to stand up and pursue its trampled rights, said one Iranian lawmaker, per the AP. The parliament will now begin exploring just how it can take the US to international court. But the director of Iranian studies at Stanford doesn't think there's much substance to the plan. Clearly this is more political theater than international jurisprudence, he says, per the Times. I don't think this lawsuit is going to go anywhere other than to end up as an empty gesture by frustrated members of the conservative camp that have lost an election badly and are reeling from the fact that people have said a resounding 'no' to their policies.