Rise in identity fraud tied to smartphone use (Reuters)
Reuters - Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over 2010, according to a report released on Wednesday by the research firm Javelin Strategy & Research.
Ex-mine official charged in fatal W. Virginia blast (Reuters)
Reuters - The former superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where 29 workers died in a 2010 explosion was charged on Wednesday with felony conspiracy for impeding mine safety enforcement efforts before the blast, federal authorities said.
Virginia lacrosse murder trial goes to jury (Reuters)
Reuters - Jurors began deliberating on Wednesday to decide whether a former University of Virginia lacrosse player killed his ex-girlfriend in a drunken rage or if her 2010 death was accidental.
Is It Time to Start Worrying About Inflation Again? (Time.com)
Time.com - The greatest threat to any long-term investor is inflation. It not only erodes the value of stocks and bonds, but also depresses economic growth and misleads policymakers
A Champion in Purgatory: Muhammad Ali Returns to Vegas (Time.com)
Time.com - As part of an extended celebration of his 70th birthday, the ailing legend appears at a massive fundraiser to benefit brain research
Maryland Senate committee approves gay marriage bill (Reuters)
Reuters - A Maryland Senate committee approved a gay marriage bill on Tuesday, sending the issue to the full Senate and moving Maryland closer to becoming the eighth state to legalize same-sex nuptials.
NYPD monitoring of Muslim students sparks outrage (AP)

This combo made from file photos shows Yale President Richard Levin in New Haven Conn. on Sept. 13, 2009, left, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in Cambridge, Mass. on Nov. 29, 2011. Bloomberg is facing off with Yale University over efforts by the NYPD to monitor Muslim student groups. Levin on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 said in a statement that monitoring of students based on religion was 'antithetical' to the schools' values. Bloomberg defended the practice, saying there is nothing wrong with officers keeping an eye on websites that are available to the general public. (AP File Photos)AP - The mayor faced off with the president of Yale University on Tuesday over an effort by the city's police department to monitor Muslim student groups for any signs that their members harbored terrorist sympathies.
High court rules for power company over Mont. dams (AP)
AP - The Supreme Court sided with a power company Wednesday in a dispute with Montana over who owns the riverbeds beneath 10 dams sitting on three Montana rivers.
Ex-director: Local NJ police didn't spy on Muslims (AP)
AP - A former police director of New Jersey's largest city says no local officers were used in a spying operation that monitored and catalogued his city's Muslim neighborhoods.
W.Va. mine boss charged with fraud in deadly blast (AP)
AP - The superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud the federal government, becoming the highest-ranking Massey Energy employee to face criminal prosecution so far over the deadly blast.
High court torn over law banning lie about medals (AP)

In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, Doug and Pam Sterner are photographed in their home in Alexandria, Va. Pam is the author of a college paper that led to the drafting of a federal law in 2006, the Stolen Valor Act, aimed at curbing false claims of military valor, and Doug exposes phony medal winners. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)AP - The Supreme Court appears to be sharply divided over a law that makes it a crime to lie about having been awarded top military honors.
Panel: All adults should get whooping cough shots (AP)
AP - A federal advisory panel wants all U.S. adults to get vaccinated against whooping cough.
Wounded vets regain bit of camaraderie in kitchen (AP)

Chef John DeShetler, left, speaks to members of the Wounded Warrior Project taking part in a culinary bootcamp at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)AP - Julio Gerena is in a wheelchair, his long career in the U.S. Navy and Army forever behind him. But the 52-year-old recaptured some of the old military camaraderie while peeling potatoes and chopping cilantro in a crowded kitchen.
11 children removed from Texas home in abuse case (AP)

A rusty chair and some toys sit outside a Dayton, Texas, house Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, where 11 children, some of them reportedly found in restraints, where removed by children's protective services last month. Texas authorities said Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, that they removed 11 children last month from the home where a registered sex offender lives after they found eight confined in a small, dark bedroom with restraints tying some to their beds. One month after a raid on the house, authorities are still trying to determine how the children are related and why they were there, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. Along with the children, 10 adults were living in the one-story, 1,700-square-foot home. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)AP - Texas authorities said Tuesday they removed 11 children from a crowded home where a registered sex offender lives after they found eight confined in a small, dark bedroom with restraints tying some to their beds.
Obama helps break ground on black history museum (AP)
AP - President Barack Obama heralded a new national black history museum as "not just a record of tragedy, but a celebration of life" as he marked Wednesday's groundbreaking of the long-sought-after museum on the National Mall.
NYPD built secret files on NJ, Long Island mosques (AP)

Mohammed el-Sioufi, an accountant and vice president of the Islamic Culture Center, a mosque in Newark, is interviewed by the Associated Press about the New York Police Department's surveillance of the Muslim community in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. Americans in New Jersey’s largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department’s effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive, even the city’s mayor says he was kept in the dark. For months in mid-2007, plainclothes NYPD officers snapped pictures of mosques and eavesdropped in Muslim neighborhoods. The result was a 60-page report, obtained by The Associated Press. It cited no evidence of crimes. It was just a guide to Newark’s Muslims. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Americans living and working in New Jersey's largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department's effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive even the city's mayor says he was kept in the dark.
Childhood comic collection expected to fetch $2M (AP)

This Feb. 13, 2012 handout photo provided by Heritage Auction shows the CGC-Certified 3.0 copy of Action Comics #1 from the Billy Wright Collection at Heritage Auctions in Dallas,Texas. On Wednesday, the collection is expected to bring more than $2 million when Heritage Auctions offers the comics at auction in New York City. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Heritage Auctions)AP - A comic collection that includes a staggering array of some of the most prized issues ever published was headed for auction Wednesday in New York City, where it was expected to fetch more than $2 million.
Geithner: Obama seeks 28 percent corp. tax rate (AP)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about the importance of the payroll-tax cut and jobless-benefits extension compromise that bi-partisan House and Senate conferees reached last week, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)AP - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the current business tax system is bad for business and for job creation and says a plan by President Barack Obama to reduce corporate tax rates would make the tax system more globally competitive.
Clinton heads abroad to push Syria diplomacy (AP)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during the first-ever State Department hosted Global Business Conference, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)AP - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to ramp up diplomatic efforts against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime on a trip to North Africa this week, as some countries begin to explore the possibility of arming Syria's rebels.
Jurors weigh murder case of ex-Va. lacrosse player (AP)

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2012 file photo, George Huguely V, right, is escorted by a sheriff's deputy as he arrives for his trial at the Charlottesville Circuit courthouse in Charlottesville, Va. Jurors are set to begin deliberations Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 in the trial of Huguely, the former University of Virginia lacrosse player who is charged with slaying his ex-girlfriend in a drunken rage. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)AP - Jurors in the murder trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player began deliberating Wednesday whether he battered his ex-girlfriend to death in a drunken, jealous rage or if his intent to talk with her spiraled out of control, leaving her bleeding and dying in her bedroom.