AP - Quick: Cochabamba is the third-largest conurbation in what country?

AP - A coalition of animal welfare groups says it has evidence that Ringling Bros. circus elephants are sometimes chained for days at a time, and the groups asked a judge Wednesday to halt the practice while a lawsuit comes to trial.

AP - Former police Sgt. Drew Peterson turned himself in Wednesday on a weapons charge unrelated to the disappearance of his wife, a high-profile case in which he has been named as a suspect.

AP - Never mind the free lunch. Almost nothing is complimentary on airlines anymore, not even what many passengers consider a simple necessity: a single checked bag.

AP - A dig for clandestine graves at Charles Manson's last hideout ended Wednesday, yielding no bodies and leaving scientists puzzled over the clues that enticed them to go this far.

AP - After the Boston Red Sox's 86-year span without a World Series championship, perhaps the most familiar streak in Massachusetts is the half-century that a Kennedy has represented the state in the U.S. Senate.

AP - The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday.

AP - Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans was built, raising serious questions about the reliability of the city's flood defenses.

AP - The 5-year-old daughter of Grammy-winning Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.

AP - The military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal.

AP - Child welfare authorities returned once again to a Texas polygamous sect's ranch, but this time they never made it past the gate.

AP - In a stroke of cosmic luck, astronomers for the first time witnessed the start of one of the universe's most fiery events: the end of a star's life as it exploded into a supernova.

AP - Child Protective Services workers have returned to the West Texas ranch of a polygamist sect after learning that there may be more children living there.