AP - A California Highway Patrol report released Wednesday says an officer responding to a report of a runaway Toyota Prius arrived to find a Border Patrol agent near the driver with lights flashing.
AP - Complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyotas repaired under recalls have nearly doubled in the past two weeks, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data.
AP - All the world from the Sydney Opera House to the Empire State Building turned Irish, or at least Irish for the day, as revelers marked St. Patrick's Day with bagpipes, dancing, emerald lights and green body paint in a flurry of celebration.
Sheriff: Man sold his wife for sex on Craigslist (AP)
AP - A woman feared she'd never see her young child again unless she complied with her husband's scheme to sell her sexual services on Craigslist, authorities said Wednesday.
Texas polygamist guilty of child sexual assault (AP)
AP - Prosecutors say a member of a polygamist group whose sprawling West Texas ranch was raided in 2008 has been found guilty of sexual assault of a child.
AP - A series of children's textbooks on Islam contains misleading and inflammatory rhetoric about the religion, inaccurately portraying its followers as inherently violent and deserving of suspicion, according to a Muslim civil liberties group.
AP - Workers at a Nevada research lab were checking on a primate room when they came across a ghastly sight: Thirty dead monkeys were essentially cooked alive after someone left the heater on. Two others were near death and had to be euthanized.
AP - Schoolchildren, parents and hundreds of residents have spent days packing and stacking sandbags to protect their cities against the rising Red River. The National Guard is in place, keeping watch over the water. Dike builders are finishing last-minute work.
Search for Washington state mom and son resumes (AP)
AP - Authorities in Washington state on Wednesday resumed their search for a woman who appears to have abandoned a van on a remote Puget Sound beach over the weekend and disappeared with her 8-year-old son.
Report alleges Afghan contractor shot Ind. Marine (AP)
AP - The U.S. Marine Corps' investigation of the February death of an Indiana Marine in Afghanistan concludes that he was fatally shot when an Afghan security contractor fired shots at a group of Marines.
AP - An angry letter and a bag of Golden Flake chips were taped inside Major Bashinsky's abandoned car when it was found near downtown Birmingham.
Leprechaun-garbed holdup suspect among 2 shot dead (AP)
AP - Two bank robbery suspects, including one dressed in a green leprechaun costume, were shot dead after a St. Patrick's Day chase and shootout with police in Tennessee, authorities said.
AP - The $75 million heist at a pharmaceutical warehouse in Connecticut this week was just the most audacious example of a growing phenomenon: Thieves are stealing large quantities of prescription drugs for resale on the black market.
AP - A convicted embezzler who snagged a $9.1 million business tax credit from the state of Michigan was arrested Wednesday on a parole violation, a day after he appeared on stage with Gov. Jennifer Granholm as she announced the credits.
AP - An announcement at a Walmart store in New Jersey ordering black people to leave brought chagrin and apologies Wednesday from leaders of the company, which has built a fragile trust among minority communities.
AP - Doors are expected to shut on more than a quarter of Detroit's 172 public schools in June as the district fights through steadily declining enrollment and a budget deficit of more than $219 million, an emergency financial manager said Wednesday.
AP - Some children lugged sandbags that weighed more than they did. Determined teens showed up just after dawn with groups of friends, ready and willing to shovel. New groups of kids arrived by the busloads, all ready to join the race to protect their city from the rising Red River.
Episcopal church approves 2nd gay bishop (AP)
AP - The Episcopal Church has approved the election of a lesbian assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles, making her the second openly gay bishop in the Anglican global fellowship, diocese officials said Wednesday.
