It started with a party invitation to a 15-year-old girl from
some young men she knew. She took her 7-year-old stepsister to an
apartment down the street from their home near the New Jersey
Statehouse, where the girls had been hanging around outside on a
Sunday afternoon.

A sign outside a northern California business that accuses
President Obama of being “niggardly” is causing
controversy among locals, KTXL-TV reported Wednesday.

After one of their own was killed while riding the range, many
ranchers in southeastern Arizona say they will now be looking over
their shoulder. Meanwhile, New Mexico National Guard members are
heading down to the border.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) canceled all events that
were planned for its “Young Eagles” program following
revelations that the party’s money was used to reimburse a
tab at a California strip club, Politico reported Wednesday.

A newly released letter to then-Pope Paul VI indicates the
Vatican was aware of clergy abuse in the U.S. nearly five decades
ago.

Desert Winds Middle School was put on lockdown Wednesday as
police searched for a handgun on campus.

A Chechen rebel leader has claimed responsibility for this
week’s Moscow metro bombings that killed 39, The Kavkav Centre, a
Chechen internet site, said Wednesday.

A group of Icelandic chefs this week offered customers a unique
gastronomical experience: a gourmet meal cooked over hot lava and
served near an ongoing volcanic eruption, one of the chefs said
Wednesday.

A Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on charges of
witchcraft is due to be beheaded this week, his lawyer said
Wednesday, urging officials and rights groups to intervene on his
behalf.

A SeaWorld Orlando trainer attacked by a killer whale died of
drowning and blunt-force trauma to her head, neck and torso.