The Murders That Don't Count  —  Delric Miller IV died in a hail of bullets a month ago.  When someone fired 37 AK-47 rounds into his Detroit home at 4:30 a.m., he was mortally wounded while dozing on the couch.  He was nine months old.  No one made the multicolored teething ring he got …

Civil rights leaders condemn Sharpton's call for escalated civil disobedience  —  Rally Saturday in Sanford hosted by NAACP  —  Author: Erik von Ancken, Anchor/Reporter, evonancken@clickorlando.com  —  NAACP condemns call for escalated civil disobedience  —  SANFORD, Fla. -

When the Archbishop Met the President  —  Cardinal Dolan thought he heard Barack Obama pledge respect for the Catholic Church's rights of conscience.  Then came the contraception coverage mandate.  —  New York  —  The president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops is careful to show due respect for the president of the United States.

EPA Backpedals on Fracking Contamination  —  Texas Water-Pollution Suit Dropped; Third Recent Setback on Drilling for Agency  —  The Environmental Protection Agency has dropped its claim that an energy company contaminated drinking water in Texas, the third time in recent months that the agency …

This Creepy App Isn't Just Stalking Women Without Their Knowledge, It's A Wake-Up Call About Facebook Privacy [Update]  —  This app is meant to all be in good fun, but it's potentially a weapon in the hands of stalkers.  —  “Boy, you sure have a lot of apps on your phone.”  —  “Well, it's my job.”

A Health Law at Risk Gives Insurers Pause  —  As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the federal health care law, one option that had seemed unthinkable to its designers and supporters now seems at least possible: that the court could strike down the entire law.

Why Are American Conservatives More Anti-Science Than European Conservatives?  —  Chris Mooney has a new book out, The Republican Brain, which I haven't read yet.  But he has a long piece over on the right which says, basically, that conservatives are wrong about a lot of stuff …

Orwell and March Madness  —  If you've been watching the N.C.A.A. men's basketball championship — a k a March Madness — you've undoubtedly seen the commercial.  It's an N.C.A.A. ad that shows college athletes pumping iron, running sprints and playing games.

Mega Millions: Why I threw away common sense and bought a ticket  —  We played.  —  My husband and I decided to do a financially unwise thing and take a chance at winning the $640 million dollar Mega Millions lottery.  It's not a smart use of even a dollar because the odds of winning are, well, astronomical — 1 in 176 million.

Obama Campus Fervor Losing to Apathy as Students Sour on 2012  —  On election night 2008, freshman Meagan Cassidy left Lake Forest College and hopped a train to Chicago to celebrate Barack Obama's impending victory.  —  “There was probably no better place to be,” Cassidy said in a phone interview.

Swingin' Kennedy  —  Since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, Swingin' Anthony Kennedy has been the swingingest swinger on the Supreme Court, the big Numero Cinco on all those 5-4 white-knuckle nail-biting final scores.  So naturally Court observers have been paying close attention …

Petrol crisis ‘is our Thatcher moment’, Tory MPs reportedly tell party members  —  Unite accuses ministers of ‘spoiling for a fight’ after memo from MPs emerges comparing situation with 1980s miners' strike  —  Tory MPs have compared the panic over fuel supplies to the 1980s miners' strike …

Battles to Change Prison Policy of Solitary Confinement  —  ATWATER, Calif. — Ernesto Lira is not a murderer.  He has never participated in a prison riot.  The crime that landed him behind bars was carrying three foil-wrapped grams of methamphetamine in his car.

IRS not investigating Nikki Haley for tax fraud  —  South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's office Friday provided IRS documentation that she is not facing investigation for tax fraud, calling accusations that she was “totally contrived.”  —  Haley denied the rumors of a looming tax indictment on Thursday.