What becomes of the brokenhearted? Some never recover, some bounce right back. Others join the ranks of the walking wounded for months or years, or until love blooms anew. For former Nickel Creek mandolinist and singer Chris Thile, enduring the painful aftermath of his failed marriage proved more wrenching - and, later on, artistically productive - than he could have ever imagined.   PUNCH BROTHERS - 'There's a level of music compatibility that I'm not sure ... [full story]

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - A former New Jersey police officer was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison for a drunken crash that killed a toddler and left his mother with brain damage.Kevin Freibott, who pleaded guilty last year to vehicular homicide, must spend almost seven years behind bars before he will be eligible for parole, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported. Superior Court Judge Peter Vazquez imposed seven years for killing Jose Carlo Zelaya and ... [full story]

We can't escape geometry. If you're reading this inside your home or office, you're surrounded by straight edges. When you're driving, as often as not you're navigating a grid. Nature might not favor clean lines, but we do in the things and the daily surroundings we design.   LIGHT SIGHT - Erwin Redl's installation, 'Matrix II,' consists of green light-emitting diodes. CNS Photo courtesy of San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.  Though it may be all around ... [full story]

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Authorities in Scotland said Thursday three suspected radioactive parcels found at a school turned out to contain educational training items.Fire crews had donned radiation suits and used decontamination equipment in an Edinburgh, neighborhood for about four hours Wednesday, and the area around the school was cordoned off. Eight fire engines were sent to the scene.Authorities later found that the packages contained educational matter and had small amounts of radioactive material in them, ... [full story]

"Cube," as Lincoln Schatz has dubbed the space, possesses 24 video cameras, which all film the person or people in the room for 60 minutes. Then, the existing videos will be combined into one continuously runningstream, in which a software program randomly determines what appears on a 42-inch screen. He calls it a Generative Portrait, since what you see will shift constantly.   'CUBE' EXHIBIT - Artist Lincoln Schatz takes a peek at one of the ... [full story]

Late morning, nestled in a spare San Diego State University classroom, 12 students are gingerly anticipating the next 2 1/2 hours. They'll be sharing the first rough pages of their work-in-progress screenplays, personal words read before their teacher and classmates.   FOLLOWING THE SCRIPT - In a San Diego State University class of fledgling screenwriters, senior Duane Eues checks the work one more time before having the first portions of his script read by other students ... [full story]

Four children including two brothers were killed, and 12 others were hospitalized with injuries, in Minnesota last week when a van reportedly ignored a stop sign and barreled into a school bus. The driver of the van, who did not speak English or have a valid drivers license, was charged with homicide. Authorities described the driver as an illegal immigrant using a phony name. She had pled guilty in 2006 for driving without a license. ... [full story]

Christina Ricci has always been artistically adventurous. She wanders off the beaten path once again as the star of the new oddity "Penelope." It is a whimsical and offbeat romantic fairy tale starring Ricci as a woman with a nose like a pig's snout. She is a warm-hearted young heiress who lives in seclusion under a family curse that can only be broken by finding true romance. Her co-stars in this contemporary fable include Reese ... [full story]

NEW RELEASES PENELOPE - One could have hoped that "Shrek," with its moralizing switcheroo ending, imposed at least a generation-long hold on the ugly-princess-with-a-curse template. But that would have been a squandering of hope, which, come to think of it, doesn't do you any good when you're born, as the poor little rich girl Penelope (Christina Ricci) was, with the snout of a pig. Because it seems the snout-curse will be lifted only when she ... [full story]

There was a telling moment during the recent Democratic presidential debate in Austin. Hillary Clinton made a sarcastic remark about the pseudo-scandal involving whether Barack Obama had borrowed a few lines of rhetoric from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and in response the audience booed her. They didn't think the crack was fair, and they let Clinton know it. The moral is that, in politics, even if you believe an attack on an opponent is justified, ... [full story]