Foxboro - Five-year-old Danny Nickerson wanted cards for his birthday, which is today. He got it in spades, or perhaps avalanches, as 30,000 cards and 3,000 gifts flooded in and more were coming.

Vancouver - The University of British Columbia has been researching that elusive thing that America’s constitution is dedicated to pursuing, and presumably catching: Happiness. Apparently happiness is now regional, rather than national.

Metairie - A school district in Louisiana has agreed to end its discrimination against Latino students as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.

Sofa seat belts on; this week sees the release of Need For Speed on DVD. The film’s raison d’etre is to see how many ridiculously fast cars they drive (and destroy) in 132 minutes of fully-leaded action.

A woman who owns a so-called "kennel" in the Boston area will likely face charges relating to owning and operating a puppy mill. But the real story here is not the woman and her puppy mill, but rather a little puppy named Noisette.

The hottest men's fashion trend today is not what you might guess. No macho sleeveless T-shirts or "hunky-looking" pants can compete with..are you ready for this? It's the "floral beard." Man has come a long way in his quest for masculine beauty.

Colleges have been instrumental in changing the culture of reporting sex assaults on their campuses. After what happened at Penn State, colleges see that they can save reputations by encouraging students to take action and report.

Caldwell - The California Missions seem pretty familiar to us Californians that it is easy to assume that just about everyone knows of them. Yet, according to author and historian John J. O'Hagan, few people really know much about the California Missions.

New research has shown that female students are twice as likely to end up in debt at university as their male counterparts owing to poor personal finance skills and the large amounts of stress placed on them.

A bottle of naturally carbonated water, that is more than 100 years old, has been recovered from a Polish shipwreck near the Polish coast.

Denver - Three Colorado counties are now issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after a judge struck down the state's gay marriage ban.

Delhi - A girl in India was raped on the orders of a local council in a remote region of the country. This story pops up in the midst of a larger movement against the rapes and women's demands for more protection.

San Francisco - A 98-year-old woman is being evicted from the San Francisco apartment she's lived in for 50 years by real estate speculators with a reputation for expelling vulnerable residents.

Spokane - The first man to legally purchase recreational marijuana in Spokane, Washington says he was fired from his job after his employer spotted him in a television news segment.

Arlington - Sergeant Gary Carter of the Arlington Police Department saved the same pit bull for the second time today when he adopted the 11-month-old puppy before he could be put down by animal control.

There are dogs, and there are dogs...and then there are dogs who follow nobody's rules but their own. These are awesome dogs, dogs who are super intelligent and think like humans, at times driving their owners absolutely crazy.

Melbourne - Children of same-sex parents enjoy above-average health and happiness, according to the newly-published results of an Australian study.

Kansas City - The Verrückt in Kansas City is the world's largest water slide. Now it has finally been finished and you can get some idea of how thrilling it could be by watching the attached video.

I could see them scurrying in utter confusion, trying to escape being killed or captured. Others avoided capture by holding grenades to their chests and blowing themselves up. ~CJ Miller on PTSD