CENTREVILLE, Mich. - A Michigan teenager killed in a fire in her home had been chained to her bed, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported Friday.The newspaper cited anonymous sources who said that Calista Springer, 16, of Centreville was very thin. The sources said that complaints had been made about alleged abuse and neglect in her home dating back to 1995. Calista's stepmother, Marsha Springer, was burned in the fire Wednesday night but survived. Her father, Anthony Springer, ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has made a substantial cut into Sen. Hillary Clinton's advantage with Democratic elected superdelegates, a report said.Obama increased his support among superdelegates after winning 11 consecutive nominating contests against Clinton, The New York Times reported. "The momentum doesn't hurt. So yeah, I think he's going to unify the upcoming primaries, and I think he's going to win them," said vice chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party Marianne T. Stevens, who ... [full story]

Sci­en­tists in Italy have de­vel­oped com­put­er pro­grams that mim­ic hu­man decision-making by us­ing sim­u­lat­ed “re­gret” to im­prove per­for­mance. The mod­els do a bet­ter job than oth­ers in pre­dict­ing some as­pects of hu­man decision-making, the re­search­ers report. The stu­dy’s bas­ic as­sump­tion was that peo­ple mod­i­fy their be­hav­ior dur­ing stra­te­gic games by look­ing back­ward to what might have been their best move, once they know what the oth­er play­ers’ move was.  Da­vide Mar­chiori of the Uni­ver­s­ity of Tren­to ... [full story]

Feb. 14, 2008 Reports: Pamela Joyce Durham, 59, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Oscar Pinto-Gonzalez, 23, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Sarah Jayleen Yankee, 25, was arrested for probation violation, ID theft, theft, and forgery. Feb. 15 Reports: James Walter Owens, 64, was arrested for harassment. Christopher Wheeler, 28, was arrested for assault and coercion. Brandon Douglas Coats, 21, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Feb. 16 Reports: Samuel Fox, 25, was arrested ... [full story]

Feb. 8, 2008 Reports: Hugh Robert Nicholson, 34, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Jordan Kenneth Ashley, 21, was arrested for assault and attempted robbery. Kevan Lance Pealer, 53, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Feb. 9 Reports: Benjamin John Mansker, 18, was cited and released for minor in possession of alcohol or tobacco. Leron Jay Cubit, 28, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Sergio Moras Hernandez, 27, was arrested for violation of a restraining ... [full story]

Feb. 1, 2008 Reports: John Michael Johnson, 28, was arrested on a probation violation warrant. Feb. 2 Reports: Jeffery Norman Hoover, 46, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Ronald Edward Decker, Jr., 35, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for probation violation. Arturo Aguero Ortiz, 33, was arrested for violation of a restraining order and contempt of court. Linda Sue Biente, 44, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Jeremy Bryan McCoy, 22, was arrested for ... [full story]

A vault designed to pro­tect va­nish­ing seed va­rie­ties for fu­ture gener­a­t­ions opened Feb. 26 on a re­mote Arc­tic is­land.The Sval­bard Glob­al Seed Vault, a pro­ject of the Nor­we­gian go­vern­ment, re­ceived in­au­gu­ral ship­ments of 100 mil­lion seeds that orig­i­nat­ed in over 100 coun­tries.  The seed vault's entrance juts out from a mountainside. (Credit: Mari Tefre/Global Crop Diversity Trust) With de­posits rang­ing from un­ique va­ri­eties of Af­ri­can and Asian food sta­ples such as maize, rice, wheat, cow­pea, and ... [full story]

Jan. 25, 2008 Reports: Tami Leigh Shipman, 26, was arrested for trespassing, resisting arrest, and an outstanding warrant. David Lee Childers, 46, was arrested for trespassing. Jamasa Chantel Graham, 19, was arrested for assault. Danielle Hope Sahme, 32, was cited and released for possession of methamphetamine. Jan. 26 Reports: Cody Michael Parker, 26, was arrested for coercion, strangulation, assault. Lori Lyn Hansen, 40, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Julie Marie Broeker, 41, was arrested ... [full story]

Jan. 18, 2008 Reports: Hector Edward West, 31, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Celina Marie Kinzinger, 32, was arrested for child neglect when she allegedly left two children unattended in a car for at least 20 minutes. Joshua David Zukoski, 25, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Jan. 19 Reports: Christopher Aron P. Vela, 21, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Garrett Jacob Medina, 27, was arrested for criminal mischief. Pedro Portella Delima, 21, ... [full story]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA senior managers completed a review Friday of space shuttle Endeavour's readiness for flight and selected March 11 as the official launch date for the STS-123 mission. Commander Dominic Gorie and his six crewmates are scheduled to lift off to the International Space Station at 2:28 a.m. EDT. During the 16-day mission, the crew will deliver and install the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the ... [full story]