High School Baseball Team Forfeits Over Sexting

The Evanston Township High School baseball team was supposed to be suiting up for a state playoff game tonight, but a sexting controversy brought the season to an early end. It seems girls at the Illinois school sent "inappropriate" photos to their boyfriends on the team, and school officials got...

16 Hurt in Airport Shuttle Crash in Atlanta

Sixteen people were taken to the hospital today, at least two in serious condition, after they were hurt in a crash between a hotel shuttle bus and a tractor-trailer near Atlanta's airport, officials said. The morning crash occurred on the road that loops around Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world's busiest...

Cleveland Kidnap Victims' Choice: Do They Want the Dogs?

As they continue their recuperation, the three Cleveland kidnap victims have an unusual choice to make, reports ABC News . Do they want Ariel Castro's three dogs? The chihuahua and two terrier-poodle mixes are in a foster home for the time being until the women decide. "I think it's really nice...

Florida Teen Rejects Deal in Sex-Abuse Case

Kaitlyn Hunt has decided that she's taking her fight to court. The Florida 18-year-old has rejected a plea deal in a high-profile case in which she is charged with having sex with her 14-year-old girlfriend, reports the Miami Herald . Prosecutors offered Hunt a chance to plead guilty to lesser child-abuse...

Bar Caught Serving Rubbing Alcohol as Scotch

A New Jersey restaurant is in hot water for trying to pass off a heady mix of caramel food coloring and rubbing alcohol as scotch, state authorities revealed yesterday, while another even cheaper establishment filled its booze bottles with dirty water. Both restaurants were caught in a state-wide sting intended...

Guy Wanted for 13 Years Caught in Colorado...

A man wanted for 13 years on attempted murder charges in Los Angeles was captured in Colorado after someone called police to report he was urinating on a wall outside a KFC restaurant. Miguel Sanchez, 59, initially gave officers a false name when he was arrested Wednesday, according to the...

Obama to Military: Sexual Assaults Making You Weaker

Barack Obama gave the commencement address at the US Naval Academy today, and he used the occasion to talk about the military's issues with sexual assault . The perpetrators of sexual violence "threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong," Obama said, according to USA Today . "We are determined...

Best Beaches of 2013

The annual "best beaches" list compiled by an expert at Florida International University in Miami is out for 2013, with one in the Hamptons taking top honors. Professor Stephen Leatherman, aka Dr. Beach, crunches several factors including water and sand quality, safety, and size of waves, notes LiveScience . Your 2013...

Did Obama Just End the War?

President Obama delivered a landmark speech on the war on terror yesterday, but people are divided on just how impressed we ought to be. The New York Times is singing the speech's praises. "As frustratingly late as it was—much of what Mr. Obama said should have been said years...

Burglar Swipes Baby's Ashes

We get it, burglars. You like shiny things. But some things are off-limits no matter how shiny, and one of those definitely should have been the small box containing the ashes of Caleb Ean Hughey, who died at birth in 2008. The Hughey family came home Monday to find that...

Highway Bridge Collapses in Washington State

An Interstate 5 bridge over a river collapsed yesterday evening, dumping two vehicles into the water and sparking a rescue effort by boats and divers who searched the chilly waterway in Skagit County, north of Seattle. Authorities said it appeared nobody was killed, but three people were injured in the...

Tsarnaev Friend's Father Suspects FBI Torture

The father of Ibragim Todashev , Tamerlan Tsarnaev's friend killed during FBI questioning this week, says he thinks authorities "tortured my son and that he suffered a painful death," he tells Reuters . Abdulbaki Todashev, who works for the mayor of Grozny, Chechnya's main city, plans to visit the US "and get...

Kidnappers Tortured Victim, Also Gave Him Cake: Cops

It was a bizarre and brutal kidnapping that lasted more than a month, but at least it has a happy ending. Police say the kidnappers grabbed a 52-year-old businessman in Queens as he was walking to his car last month and brought him to a neighborhood warehouse, reports the Daily...

Boy Scouts to Allow Gay Scouts

The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts. Of the local Scout leaders voting at their annual meeting in Texas, more than 60% supported the proposal. Under the proposal drafted by the Scouts' governing...

Arizona House Doubles Up on Prayer to Counter Atheist

A little addendum to a story out of Arizona this week about an atheist state lawmaker who took a turn offering a prayer of sorts before the day's session. In doing so, Juan Mendez asked his peers not to bow their heads and extolled the values of his own "secular...

Body of 2nd 4th-Grader on Deadly Field Trip Found

The body of a boy missing since a rockslide killed a classmate and left two others injured at a Minnesota park yesterday was recovered today. St. Paul's assistant fire chief says crews found the body late in the morning after they came up with a plan for resuming the search...

Heckler Gives Obama Grief

President Obama had some trouble wrapping up his policy speech today thanks to repeated heckling from the founder of activist group Code Pink, reports NBC News . As Obama was talking about Guantanamo Bay, Medea Benjamin began shouting criticism of US policy. “I'm about to address it ma'am, but you've got...

Obama Sees an End to 'Perpetual' War on Terror

In his big policy speech today, President Obama did indeed promise to rein in drone strikes —a higher threshold for targets will be required, along with a "near certainty" that no civilians will be killed—and to push once again for Gitmo's closure. The full text is here . Some highlights:...

Hurricane Forecast Doesn't Look Good

Unwelcome news on the heels of the devastation in Oklahoma: This year's hurricane season could be busier than usual. That from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which today released its annual prediction for the season, which begins June 1 and lasts six months. Federal forecasters say there's a 70%...

Cleveland Hero Scores Burgers for Life

Charles Ramsey—the neighbor who famously put down his McDonald's to go free the Cleveland kidnap victims —is getting burgers for life, but not from the source you might expect. More than a dozen Ohio eateries have offered up their burgers to Ramsey any time his stomach rumbles, and he'll...

Guy Buried by 1.5K Pounds of Pineapples, Survives

A Jersey City, NJ, warehouse worker somehow survived—and never even lost consciousness—after being buried by 1,500 pounds of pineapples yesterday. The 39-year-old was in stable condition last night, the Star-Ledger reports. Other than calling it an "industrial accident," the paper had no further details on what caused...

Man Butt-Dials 911 While Discussing Murder Plans

You know that person at the top of your contact list, the one most likely to get an unintended call from your butt? Well, if you're the murderous type, make sure that number isn't 911. This lesson comes too late for Scott Simon, who unintentionally dialed 911 while still frothing...

Calif. Man Pretended He Was Disney Heir: Police

He might have claimed to be from the happiest place on Earth, but police say Stephen Urquidez was living in his own little bogus world. The California man was arrested Tuesday on burglary charges, and the story is an odd one: Police say Urquidez went by the name "Stephen Disney"...

Oklahoma's Grim Task: Cleaning Up the Cemetery

The cleanup is under way in Oklahoma, and locals are tackling the bleak task of restoring a cemetery. "We know there are going to have to be some funerals here in the next few days," says a volunteer in Moore. "We don’t want them to come and see this terrible...

4th-Grade Field Trip Turns Deadly in Minnesota

A fourth-grade field trip to a Minnesota park ended in tragedy yesterday, after the rain-soaked slope the nearly 50 students were hiking on gave way, killing at least one child. A search for a second buried child was halted overnight after a search dog was unable to detect the student's...

Suit Filed Over Country's 'Toughest' Gun Law

The toughest-in-the-nation gun-control law passed in Connecticut in the wake of Sandy Hook shooting is getting its first legal challenge—but state officials don't seem worried. The Connecticut Citizen's Defense League and Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen have, with an assist from the NRA, filed a lawsuit that claims the law...

In Secret Ballot, Boy Scouts Vote on Gays Today

Today's the day: More than 1,400 Boy Scout leaders are gathered in Grapevine, Texas, to vote on allowing openly gay scouts to participate in the organization. Emotions were already running high yesterday, the New York Times reports, as dozens of protesters picketed outside the conference center with "no" signs...

US Admits Killing 4 Citizens in Drone Strikes

That the US killed American citizens in drone strikes isn't exactly news, but today marks the first time the White House is officially acknowledging it, reports the Washington Post . One day before President Obama gives a speech related to US drone strategy, attorney general Eric Holder sent a letter to...

Sergeant Accused of Filming Female Cadets in Shower

Add yet another case to the military's sexual-harassment file : This time, a sergeant on staff at West Point has been accused of filming female cadets in the shower, reports the New York Times . So far, the Army has warned about a dozen cadets they may have been spied upon, and...

IRS Honcho Defiant in 9-Minute House Appearance

The IRS official at the center of the storm over the agency's targeting of conservative groups told Congress today that she had done nothing wrong in the episode, and then invoked her constitutional right to refuse to answer lawmakers' questions, as expected . In one of the most electric moments since...