American and Mexican law enforcement have been finding an increasing number of underground tunnels, used for drug trafficking, of late. Some have electricity and ventilation, while others are hidden beneath sinks.

Mexican drug cartels have always been creative and illusive in transporting drugs across borders and into the homes, and bodies, of users. In the past, catapults, submarines, and extremely small aircrafts have been used. But the tunnels, and subsequent discovery of them, is a rather new development, one small town in southern Arizona finding itself at ground zero of it all: Nogales, Arizona. 

Since 1995, nearly 100 tunnels have been discovered linking the small, quiet town to Sonora, Mexico, its larger, and dominantly cartel controlled border buddy. The number is rapidly rising too, 22 functioning tunnels being discovered in just the past three years, reports Adam Higginbotham of Businessweek.  

What's to blame for this uptick?

September 11th.

As border security was strengthened and inspection efforts made more thorough, cartels had to figure out a new route. Tunnels were the answer.

While the sophisticated one's make news, most are quite rudimentary, characterized by hand dug, dirt walled, oxygen deprived passageways often so small one must lay and crawl belly down. Aside from squiggling their bodies through entrance ways, crawling through the dirt, and the possibility of running into an armed cartel member on the way, law enforcement agents have to constantly worry about the passageways caving in on them. The work is tough, dangerous, and to some, it doesn't seem to be making much progress.

As Anthony Coulson, a former DEA agent, told Businessweek, in Nogales, a pound of marijuana at wholesale pricing currently goes for about $400 a pound.

“That’s never changed,” Coulson says, “in 30 years.”

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Love will always find a way to survive – even when one party is a convicted murderer. 

National Geographic's 2011 documentary "Taboo: Prison Love" explores the lives of people in love with inmates. They stand by their partners despite never being able to share a meal or spend the night with them. 

They also look past unspeakable crimes including murder and drug trafficking. 

One woman marries her sweetheart, who was formerly one of the most-wanted fugitives in Texas. Another in Brazil enjoys conjugal visits with her husband. 

And a retired airline pilot has outfitted his bedroom as a prison cell – metal toilet and all – to feel closer to his wife, a convicted murderer. 

You can watch the entire documentary here.

This is Rachel, who lives in Texas. She fell in love with Johnny, who was on the state's most-wanted list for assault and other crimes.

Source: Taboo: Prison Love by National Geographic 

She says she's attracted to his "bad boy" image. Even though he won't be eligible for parole until 2019, she wants to make a commitment.

Source: Taboo: Prison Love by National Geographic 

Because he's in prison, she gets married on a local radio show with the host acting as a proxy groom.

Source: Taboo: Prison Love by National Geographic 

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Celebrities usually look good even when they're behaving badly – but sometimes they get caught off guard.

So after showing you sexy celebrities who looked as good as ever even in their mug shots, here are some famous people who didn't.

Probably not the Anna Nicole Smith you're used to seeing. She was arrested in 1989 for drunk driving and has this mug shot to show for it.

Mug shot via The Smoking Gun

David Cassidy, the 70's hearthrob from the "The Partridge Family," barely resembles his former self in this 2010 mug shot.

Mug shot via The Smoking Gun

The "Baywatch" star looks pasty and disheveled after her 2001 DUI arrest.

Mug shot via About.com

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The insanity defense is all the rage these days.

Jared Lee Loughner, who's accused of shooting former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is still being held in a prison hospital in Missouri while doctors try to ensure he's "mentally fit" to stand trial, the Associated Press reported in June.

And in the case of Anders Breivik, the man accused of shooting 77 people to death in Norway, many of whom were teenagers, prosecutors had called for an insanity ruling, the Associated Press reported in June. In an unusual twist, Breivik's lawyers attempted to portray him as a political militant rather than a madman.

Most recently, the media has questioned the sanity of notorious Colorado movie-theater shooting suspect James Holmes following a pair of bizarre court appearances.

A panel of doctors determined John Schrank was insane after he shot President Teddy Roosevelt.

The case began when Roosevelt decided to run for his third term in office.

Schrank shot the former president while he was campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisc., according to the Smithsonian. The bullet hit Roosevelt in the chest.

Schrank later told police former President William McKinley appeared in a dream and said he had been assassinated by Roosevelt.

"I looked upon his plan to start a third party as a danger to the country; my knowledge of history, gained through much reading, convinced me that Colonel Roosevelt was engaged in a dangerous undertaking," Schrank told police, according to the Smithsonian. "I was convinced that if he was defeated at the Fall election he would again cry ‘Thief’ and that his action would plunge the country into a bloody civil war.”

Doctors eventually declared Schrank insane, and a judge sentenced him to life in an asylum, according to PBS.

A Virginia jury declared Lorena Bobbitt temporarily insane after she chopped off her husband's penis.

Bobbitt chopped off her husband's penis and tossed it out the car window while driving along a Virginia highway.

She said she did so because her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, emotionally, physically, and sexually abused her during their marriage, according to The Los Angeles Times, which covered her acquittal in 1994.

She also claimed her husband raped her on the night she cut off his penis.

Jurors acquitted Lorena Bobbitt of the crime, agreeing with the defense that she suffered an "irresistible impulse" caused by the abuse, the Times reported.

Bobbitt was ultimately committed to a mental hospital. However, the judge ordered her released from the hospital five weeks after her acquittal, according to the LA Times.

American poet Ezra Pound was declared insane after he used a radio show to praise Hitler and Mussolini during World War II.

Pound allegedly received money from the Italian government during World War II to create pro-Fascist radio broadcasts.

He went on anti-American and anti-Semitic rants all the while idolizing Hitler and Mussolini and calling President Roosevelt "that Jew in the White House," according to PBS.

Pound was extradited to the U.S. following Mussolini's death where he was ultimately declared unfit for trial. He was committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, an asylum, for 12 years.

However, that decision later sparked some controversy years after the fact, with historians and psychiatrists alike questioning whether Pound was actually insane.

Professor Stanley Kutler told The New York Times back in 1981 that Pound was "eccentric" but not insane.

"The judgment of the doctors was that he had personality-trait disturbance and a narcissistic personality - but that is not a psychiatric judgment," Kutler told the Times. "Nobody ever actually said he was insane. He himself chose to plead that way."

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Just days before Putin's third re-election, a group of political activists called Pussy Riot performed a "punk prayer" titled "Mother of God, Banish Putin," in Russia's holiest site – the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

Filmed by a fellow activist, the YouTube video of their defiant performance quickly amassed millions of hits and became the ultimate national "symbol of the opposition movement."

On March 5, the day after Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President, two of the members were arrested. Very soon after, the third member joined them in jail. Now six months after committing their "crime," these three women are being tried for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred." They face up to seven years of jail time if found guilty.

Now, the jailed women have become synonymous with the anti-Putinist regime, gaining both domestic and international recognition for their "radical" religious ideology in which the Church is separate from the State (as dictated by the Russian Constitution). Among their supporters are internationally renown musicians, authors, and organizations, including Madonna, Amnesty International, and British writer, Stephen Fry.

Who are the girls behind Putin's punk prayer?

PUSSY RIOT: 

After serving two terms as President, Putin stepped down in 2008, conceding the Presidency to his political ally (and puppet, many argue), Dmitri Medvedev as there is a Russian law forbidding a President to hold more than two consecutive terms. For the following term, Putin then assumed the role of Prime Minister, as Medvedev became the head of state. Then, in September of 2012, Putin announced he would be running for a third term as President. 

It was following Putin's "brutal" announcement that Pussy Riot was formed. Their inspiration for starting this group was that, "[Pussy Riot] realized that this country needs a militant, punk-feminist, street band that will rip through Moscow's streets and squares, mobilize public energy against the evil crooks of the Putinist junta and enrich the Russian cultural and political opposition." 

THE BAND MEMBERS

Maria Alyokhina is 24 years old and is a student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow. She is also a member of Green Peace and supports the conservation of the largest lake in the world–Lake Baikal.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, despite being the youngest of the trio at 23-years old, is the informal leader of the group. She is a graduate of the University of Moscow where she studied philosophy. She is currently a member of "War," a dissident art group.

Yekaterina Samutsevich is 29 years old and studied at the Moscow Institute of Power and Engineering. According to The Independent, she once worked in a laboratory where she developed submarine and missile software.

None of the three women have a criminal record or history of violence.

THE TRIAL:

The closed-door trial of Pussy Riot members Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova, and Samutsevich began this week in the bulletproof Gadanski Court in Moscow. The trio are facing charges of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred." No bail has been posted as they are considered "too dangerous" to be released. If they are found guilty, they face up to seven years of imprisonment and at least a minimum of two years.

They have been incarcerated for the past six months and have been denied access to family visits.

The presiding judge over the case is Marina Syrova and the lead prosecutor, Alexander Nikiforov. Two witnesses took to the stand on Wednesday, neither of whom actually witnessed the alleged crime on February 21, but described their immense "spiritual suffering." The first, Oleg Ugrik, is a strong Orthodox believer who, after watching their video online, condemned the trio for their desecration of the religious space. The second, Eteri Ivanishvili, is a bursar in an entirely different Church from the one in which the act occurred.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty on Monday, claiming that their actions were merely political (and not an act of terrorism, as many are keen to believe) as they protested the Orthodox Church's public support for Putin. 

NATIONAL RESPONSE:

Nikiforov, has stated that "this trial has practically split society into two parts." A survey released by the independent polling agency, the Levada Center, mirrors that statement, saying "a third of Russians polled saw the sentence of two to seven years as 'adequate,' 43 percent said it was excessive, and 15 percent are against any punishment at all." That leaves very little room for individuals who feel indifferent towards this case.

There is currently an online petition with 43,478 signatures from Pussy Riot supporters calling for their immediate release. Many liken Pussy Riot's imprisonment to witch hunts in the Middle Ages.

In comparison, the extreme radically-minded supporters of the Orthodox Church are demanding harsher punishment by the Kremlin in order to combat the these rising "anti-clerical forces."

Meanwhile Nikolai Polozov, the attorney for Pussy Riot, has become an overnight sensation and national hero in Russia.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE:

Madonna, Peter Gabriel, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea, Franz Ferdinand, Beastie Boys, and Sting are all famous musician supporters of these feminist punk rockers. Anthony Kiedes (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) recently wore a Pussy Riot T-shirt at his Moscow concert and Madonna told Russian television she was "sorry" to hear about Pussy Riot's arrest. 

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand Tweeted: "I'm sure you are all fans of their right to express their opinion. Any world leader who claims to be a fan of the Beatles and John Lennon ... then imprisons contemporary musicians who express their political views, is the worst kind of hypocrite: a dangerous one."

Meanwhile Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz held a benefit concert in Brooklyn two months ago for the imprisoned band members. Heliotropes, Shady Hawkins, and TinVulva also performed live sets at the concert.

The Washington Post, writer Stephen Fry, and Amnesty International are also among the supporters.

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH'S RESPONSE:

Despite the Russian Constitution stating that the Church must be separate from the state, the Russian Orthodox Church has long been a supporter of Putin and have instructed their followers to "rely on the state and to be grateful for its care." For Putin, religion and the Orthodox Church has been a frequent viable source of legitimization throughout his quest for political power. These two factions of power go hand-in-hand, so much so that "religious and bureaucratic tongues have become blurred." As an additional note, Putin has also committed $120 million to the rebuilding of Orthodox churches. 

The trial of Pussy Riot has become a prime opportunity for the Orthodox Church to condemn any opposition of the Church and by extension, Putin himself. Meanwhile, Putin has used this as an opportunity to reaffirm his own political power by way of siding with the anti-Western Russian Orthodox Church.

Ugrik, a passionate believer in the Orthodox Church, declared that "black energy swept over" him following Pussy Riot's desecration of his Church and that Pussy Riot had "lowered themselves into hell of their own volition."

Vsevolod Chaplin, a high-ranking spokesperson for the Church, gave this statement: "It was a sin against God and it is God that is judging it, and all Christians should know this." Following the public apology from Pussy Riot, Chaplin responded, "their words had a double meaning. Any acceptance of a mistake is a step in the right direction. But they also insulted the patriarch, who is a symbol of the church."

PUTIN'S RESPONSE:

While in London yesterday (after speaking with Prime Minister David Cameron and watching Olympic judo), Putin told the press that people "should not judge [Pussy Riot] too harshly" and hopes that "the court would will come out with the right decision, a well-founded one."

Putin also noted that these women should feel lucky their prosecution is occurring in Russia rather than Israel or Russia's Muslim Caucasus. "I think if the girls had desecrated something in, let's say, Israel—there are some pretty strong guys there, you know—it wouldn't be too easy for them to get out of there," Înterfax reported.

"Or if they went to the Caucasus and desecrated some sacred Muslim place, we would not even have time to protect them," Putin added.

Sometimes, however, actions do speak louder than words. A day after he was inaugurated as President, Putin passed strict new laws banning protests on the streets. Special forces have also raided the homes of prominent and outspoken anti-Putin activists, including blogger Alexei Navalny, who now faces a potential ten years in prison. And top officials in the Kremlin, who are stauch Putin supporters, have proposed internet censorship similar to the Chinese. 

Putin is Russia's court. He will decide the verdict in the end," Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband said. "He is feeling enormous pressure both at home as well as abroad and, obviously, under such circumstances he no longer wants to be a bloody dictator."

THE VIDEO THAT GOT THEM IN TROUBLE:

Here is the original footage of Pussy Riot's "punk prayer" in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on February 21.

SEE ALSO: This couple claims they're the rightful owners of Bob Dylan's 40-year old abandoned guitar >

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Neighbors and activists have rallied around a Detroit woman on the brink of eviction.

Jennifer Britt's supporters are literally guarding the house day and night to ward off the county sheriff and dump trucks sent to empty out her family's belongings.

"That's why I'm still here today," Britt told Business Insider. "I'm sure if I hadn't gotten the support I've gotten they would have succeeded in evicting me by now." 

Britt's story earned the sympathy of her community after her attempts to  negotiate her mortgage for years after the death of her husband were rejected for apparently bureaucratic reasons.

When Britt inherited the mortgage, which was held by Flagstar Bank at the time, she managed to just dodge foreclosure by covering $26,000 in back payments with her late husband's life insurance policy. When she approached Flagstar about modifying her $1,550 monthly payments, however, they allegedly refused to discuss details with her at all because her name wasn't on their account.

"The terrible thing about Jennifer's case is that most people who go through this, they've at least talked to the bank," said Joe McGuire, a member of consumer activist group Occupy Detroit and Britt's legal counsel. "For Jennifer, the bank stonewalled her from the beginning. She paid all this money and she hasn't even gotten to the table with them." 

A Flagstar representative said on Monday that they aren't commenting on Britt's case.

By 2009, Britt's loan payments had been upped to nearly $2,000. She drained her savings, pouring upwards of $45,000 into the bank's coffers until she eventually ran out in 2009. Fannie Mae purchased the loan from Flagstar in 2010 and foreclosed on Britt soon after. Last month's eviction order was all but inevitable, and Occupy Detroit readied Britt and her neighbors for a fight.

Playing the waiting game 

From 9 a.m to 6 p.m., volunteers, activists and neighbors huddle outside Britt's home, shooting the wind and swapping stories while they watch out for signs of dump trucks hired to haul Britt's belongings out of the house.  

The plan, McGuire said, is to use a few cars to block the street if any trucks stop by. 

"My neighbors are in charge of me over the weekend," Britt said. "They just go about their day and drive by to make sure everything's fine. They all have jobs, too, but they come before or after or on their lunch break. They're wonderful people." 

Though the court has yet to tell McGuire or Britt whether Fannie Mae plans to back down, they suspect her home has been removed from the county's list of evictions. It's a good sign, McGuire said, but at this point, it's still very much a waiting game.  A request for comment was not returned by Fannie Mae.

"At this point, it seems like the bank is internally deciding what it's going to do," McGuire said. "We're at this weird limbo stage." 

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The Los Angles Police Department is looking into a series of death threats posted on Twitter regarding actress Ellen Page.

The "Inception" actress has received multiple threatening messages on her Twitter account, TMZ reports, including this scary Tweet:

Ellen Page if you continue to date Alexander [Skarsgard] I will K-1-L-L you in public in the next year ... Be it in a club, at a game, in a restaurant, or when you're signing autographs.

The LA Film Festival also received a terrifying message when someone called and threatened to "kill Page" when Page's movie, "To Rome with Love," was being premiered at their festival back in June.

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A woman in Detroit allegedly opened fire on people leaving the Detroit Princess riverboat early Monday morning, leaving one man in critical condition and six others with minor injuries.

Around 1:15 Monday morning, the woman, who's still being sought by police, shot into the crowd after getting into an argument onboard the cruise ship, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"It looks like a group of people were getting in some kind of fight," Detroit Police Sgt. Alan Quinn told the Free Press. "When they got back to shore, a female who was involved in the fight got into her car, drove back ... and then she shot into the crowd of people who were getting off the boat."

In the aftermath, Radio One Detroit Assistant Promotions Director Keith Gillespie told the Free Press he found three woman with wounds to their legs laying in the grass.

"My mind said this could be somebody's mother, my mother — I’d want somebody to stop and help her," he told the newspaper.

One of Radio One Detroit's stations was hosting the moonlight cruise.

After the shooting, the woman reportedly got in her car and drove away. Descriptions of both the woman and her car were not immediately made available to the Free Press.

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The boyfriend of "The Hills" character Stephanie Pratt could be in trouble after a YouTube user captured what appears to be him running over an NYPD officer's foot while the officer was writing him a ticket.

The video, which was first reported by the New York Observer on Sunday, shows officer Felix Recio writing Julien Chabbot a ticket for parking in a no standing zone, among other things.

Recio told Chabbot "to not get into the car and to not leave, and that's exactly what he did," an NYPD spokesman told the Observer.

Recio can be heard yelling that Chabbot ran over his "[expletive] foot," before pulling Chabbot out of the car.

Chabbot was charged with second-degree assault, vehicular assault, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct, according to the Observer.

As for Recio, "he has an injury to his left foot and right hand," the spokesman told the observer.

Check out the scene for yourself, filmed by Damian Mory:

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The man FBI agent Teresa Carlson identified as a "person of interest" in Sunday's horrific shooting at a Milwaukee-area Sikh temple has been "located, interviewed and cleared," WISN is reporting.

Carlson showed a picture of the man at this morning's press conference. Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said the previously unidentified man had been seen at the crime scene but left before police could speak with him.

FBI spokesman Leonard Peace confirmed to WISN that authorities have located the man.

However, he has been ruled as unconnected to the incident, Peace told WISN.

Peace reportedly did not have any other details about the man, such as his name or why he was at the temple that day.

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The insurance company being sued by Trayvon Martin's mother is asking a federal court to declare it isn't responsible for the teen's death.

Sybrina Fulton, Martin's mother, filed a claim for monetary damages against an insurance company for the Retreat at Twin Lakes' homeowners association after her son died, The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday.

Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America issued an insurance policy to the homeowners association about a month after the 17-year-old was fatally shot.

Martin was shot while staying at Retreat at Twin Lakes with his father's girlfriend.

In its court filings, Travelers wrote it "is in doubt of its rights," under the policy and is seeking "a declaration of its rights and obligations," with respect to Fulton's claim, according to the Sentinel.

The company has asked the court to rule it "has no duty to defend The Retreat at Twin Lakes," the Sentinel reported.

The family's attorney Benjamin Crump said Travelers is trying to avoid paying for Martin's death and the family is investigating claims with "all the insurance companies that might be applicable," according to the Sentinel.

News of the lawsuit comes on the heels of reports that Martin's parents are asking the state crime victims fund for monetary assistance, The Associated Press reported, via Fox News Latino.

The Attorney General's Office notified Fulton in March that she was eligible for the benefits but the office isn't releasing the amount Fulton is seeking.

As of August, Fulton hadn't received any compensation, according to the AP.

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Heloise Pechan's heart rose when she read the essay one of her students, a seemingly uninterested high school sophomore, had turned in for a class assignment on "To Kill a Mockingbird." The paper was clear, logical and well written -- a sign, she thought, that she had gotten through to the boy.

Her elation passed quickly. What came next was suspicion.

Pechan, then substitute teaching at a McHenry County high school, went to Google, typed the paper's first sentence ("Kind and understanding, strict but fair, Atticus Finch embodies everything that a father should be") and there it was: The entire essay had been lifted from an online paper mill.

"I went from amazement and excitement to 'Oh my God' in the space of a half-second," Pechan recalled.

That feeling is going around a lot these days. As technology puts massive computing power and the near-sum of human knowledge within a few taps of a touch screen, educators and students say young people are finding new and increasingly devious ways to cheat.

They're going to websites that calculate the answers for their math homework. They're snapping covert photographs of exams and forwarding them to dozens of friends. They're sneaking cheat sheets into the memory banks of their calculators.

Isha Jog, 17, a senior at Hoffman Estates High School, said she has even seen some of her peers getting quiz answers off their cellphones -- while the quiz is in progress.

At the same time, technology also is helping to foil digital desperadoes. Teachers are running essays though automated plagiarism detectors. They're using systems that allow them to observe what students are doing with their wireless classroom calculators. And they're using programs to shuffle test questions so every class gets a different version.

Still, experts say cheaters have the upper hand, leaving some educators to look for teaching techniques that are harder to game. But in the file-sharing, cut-and-paste world enabled by the Internet, some say the biggest challenge might be convincing students that what they're doing is wrong.

"I definitely think there's a mindset problem," said Carol Baker, curriculum director for science and music at School District 218, serving Oak Lawn and nearby suburbs, and president of the Illinois Science Teachers Association. "Today, kids are used to obtaining any kind of information they want (online). There are so many things that are free out there. I think kids don't have the same sense of, 'Gee, it's wrong to take something that somebody else wrote.' The Internet encourages all of us to do that."

Eric Anderman, a professor of educational psychology at Ohio State University, has studied student cheating. He says that while it's hard to nail down statistics on its prevalence, the best estimate is that up to 85 percent of high school students have cheated at least once.

It's unclear how digital technology has affected teens' willingness to cheat, he said. What is clear is that it has made dishonesty a lot easier.

"If you have 30 kids in a classroom, it's not easy to catch them," he said. "There's only so much one person can do. The kids really can get away with it."

Students interviewed by the Tribune say the Web has made homework a snap. WolframAlpha can instantly solve the most complicated equations, while Yahoo! Answers is a bazaar of solutions. York High School junior Kathleen O'Brien said some students post homework answers on blogs, too.

"Sometimes entire answer sheets for work sheets can be found online," she said.

As for tests, suburban high school biology teacher Jason Crean said he has heard about students texting exam questions to friends who have his class later in the day. In response, he now makes multiple versions of his tests, a step that has doubled or tripled his preparation time.

He said cheating seems to have become a social obligation that students strive to meet without considering the harm of their actions -- not least to themselves.

"If they learn anything in my class, I want them to learn to do things for themselves," he said. "That's a lesson they have to learn for life, and I don't want them to learn it the hard way after they've left. They need to think and solve problems ... and the technology is taking away from that."

Some are trying to find technological solutions to cheating. The College Board, burned by a scandal earlier this year in which Long Island students were paid to take the SAT for others, will soon require students to provide their photographs -- typically by digital upload -- before taking the test. The photos will later be sent to the test-taker's high school to thwart any would-be impersonators. The ACT is adopting a similar tactic for those who take the test away from their schools.

Back in the classroom, some teachers rely on turnitin.com, a website that, for $2 per student per year, will check essays against the Internet, 30 million journal articles and 250 million archived student papers to uncover possible plagiarism. Spokesman Chris Harrick said 10,000 schools use the service.

But Gary Anderson, who teaches English at Fremd High School in Palatine, said such websites create an atmosphere of mistrust. The better response, he said, is to think up techniques that will foil copying, such as requiring literary essays to include examples from a student's own life.

"You can prevent so much plagiarism and cheating simply by the kind of assignments we do," he said. "A three-page assignment you can find on the Internet isn't an assignment worth doing."

Math teacher Natalie Jakucyn of Glenbrook South High School in Glenview takes a more basic approach -- her students must hand in their cellphones before tests -- but agrees that imaginative long-term solutions are needed.

"What the educator needs to do is adapt to the age of technology and change the question," she said. "Maybe what (students) are learning should change. Maybe how they're learning should change. Now the challenge to me is to match that technology and say what I'm doing needs to change."

Meanwhile, the temptation to cut corners is likely to remain strong.

Aashna Patel, 16, a junior at Lake Park High School in Roselle, said digital technology has made cheating so easy that giving answers to friends -- even mere Facebook friends -- has become an expectation among many students. And Fremd junior Tyler Raap, 16, said the pressure to achieve at his competitive school often overwhelms his peers' sense of ethics.

"Teachers always give you the whole moral thing, but kids just want to get good grades," he said.

Anderman, the Ohio State researcher, said one thing has proved to cut down on cheating, but installing it would require a sharp cultural change in an educational system that is placing ever more importance on test results.

"The bottom line in our research is pretty simple," he said. "Where teachers are really emphasizing the test, you're more likely to get cheating. When teachers are emphasizing the learning more than the test, you get less cheating."

jkeilman@tribune.com

Twitter @JohnKeilman ___

(c)2012 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

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The Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania has decided to accept an HIV-positive teenager after previously saying the boy's chronic communicable disease could pose a threat to his fellow students.

The boy, who goes by the pseudonym Abraham Smith, filed a lawsuit against the school when he was first denied admission, claiming the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Associated Press reported Monday.

For its part, the school, which serves lower-income students, said it reversed its admissions decision after consulting with the Justice Department.

“The U.S. Department of Justice recently advised us that it disagrees with how we evaluated the risks and applied the law," school president Anthony Colistra told the AP. "We have decided to accept this guidance."

While the school's decision hasn't ended the teen's lawsuit, his lawyer said he is considering the admissions offer.

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Australia's ABC News has an interview today with Ciaron O'Reilly, a large Australian man with graying dreadlocks who serves as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's personal bodyguard.

He alleges that the US is not trying to extradite Assange from the UK as the UK is known for not extraditing in death penalty cases. Assange himself has previously hinted that he was scared of the death penalty in the US.

"The English won't extradite for death penalty offenses and the Swedes will," he said. "So if he went from England they couldn't execute him."

We're not sure if O'Reilly's reading of the event holds up, however. Sweden, as an EU state, is not allowed to extradite in cases where it believes a death penalty will be issued.

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For the second time in about a month, a mosque in Joplin, Missouri caught fire on Monday, but this time it was burned to the ground.

KODE first reported that firefighters responded to a fire at the Islamic Center of Joplin, but the flames quickly spread and engulfed the building. There were no reports of injuries.

The fire marshal has been called to investigate, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said.

The FBI recently announced a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrested of a man is who suspected of arson after a July 4 fire was set on the roof of the same building. Surveillance video captured footage of a man throwing a burning object onto the roof.

“We just take this as a test from God,” Imam Lahmuddin, the mosque’s imam, told The Joplin Globe on Monday. “This is the month of Ramadan. We are fasting we are not supposed to get angry, we are not supposed to say anything bad.”

“But that’s not only for this month, but for every day of our lives. In Ramadan we are more careful in guarding our tongues, not to say anything inappropriate. We come here during the month of Ramadan more often. Last night we left at about 11:20 p.m. when we finished final prayers and we were supposed to get in here about 5 a.m. for the morning prayer. But God has a plan.”

Watch this video from KSN, broadcast Aug. 6, 2012.

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George Zimmerman, the man who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, has been awarded his second request to extend his case.

His motion to continue was granted Tuesday morning, according to documents released by the Florida State Attorney's Office.

Zimmerman is now scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 3.

The former neighborhood watchman claims he shot and killed the teenager in self defense. He's charged with second-degree murder.

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Store owners in Shenyang, a north-eastern city in China's Liaoning province, have shut down their stores to avoid fines by public officials.

The situation has got so severe, that residents of the North-eastern Chinese city have taken to micro-blog Weibo complaining that it's a "dead city" where they can't purchase anything, according to the BBC.

Store owners have reportedly closed shop on concerns that public officials would be imposing exorbitant fines after surprise inspections, and on concerns about a crackdown on fake products.

The Associated Press quoted online commenters saying that grocery store owners would be fined 60,000 yuan ($9,413) if toothpicks are for sale in shops without a forestry license. And that restaurant owners would be fined 10,000 yuan ($1,569) for each fly found in his restaurant.

More anecdotal reports from Tea Leaf Nation quote a Weibo commenter writing that an old woman selling tofu was fined 2,000 yuan ($300) for not wearing a face mask.

These commenters also speculated that the local government crackdown was prompted to cover debts that it amassed for hosting the 12th National Games that will be held in Shenyang next month.

While it is unclear how factual these reports are the official blog of Shenyang's propaganda bureau has denied the rumors. Via the BBC: "Recently some small businesses closed their doors after hearing unfounded rumors. ...Relevant authorities have neither carried out dedicated campaigns nor imposed heavy fines."

The closures meanwhile are spreading to other cities in the province and news reports say as many as 90 percent of stories in the province have already shuttered their storefronts.

See more images at Tea Leaf Nation >

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There's a new twist in a bizarre story of a Long Island man who disappeared while swimming off Jones Beach only to be stopped for speeding in South Carolina.

On Monday, police charged Jonathan Roth, 22, with helping his father, Raymond, fake his own drowning to collect insurance money, The New York Times reports.

The younger Roth faces up to 15 years in prison for allegedly aiding his father's alleged scheme.

The disappearance of Raymond Roth, 47, on July 28 prompted his wife, Evana, to begin making funeral arrangements, the Times reported.

But then, she claims, she discovered through emails between Raymond and her stepson Jonathan that her husband was actually alive.

In one of those emails, Raymond Roth told his son to contact him at an Orlando, Fla. resort a day after he disappeared, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

"There needs to be a way to find out how things are going. Call me Sunday night at the resort," one email stated, according to WSJ. "go to a pay phone or borrow your friends phone. You must call within 15 minutes of the determined time to call in order to be sure i will be available."

Evana Roth says her husband was fired from his job as a telecommunications manager on July 20 after threatening to shoot two supervisors, the Times reported.

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A 73-year-old Italian director is suing his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend because he says she dumped him after he bought her a $775,000 Manhattan apartment. 

Antonio Calenda filed the suit against Natasha Diamond-Walker in Manhattan Supreme Court, Dareh Gregorian at the New York Post reported. 

"She “manipulated [Calenda] into buying her lavish gifts during the course of their relationship,” the suit says.

In May — only three months after they started dating — she asked for “financial assistance” so she could buy an apartment she wanted near Lincoln Center, the filing says."

The loan agreement said she had until 2018 to pay the money back with no interest. 

Perhaps Calenda should have taken notes from George Soros on buying pricey apartments for beautiful young women. The billionaire's exgirlfriend sued him last year for allegedly reneging on a deal to buy her a $1.9 million pad.

We're working on getting a copy of the lawsuit and have contacted Marc Fitapelli, Calenda's attorney. 

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New York's top prosecutor reportedly plans to subpoena Twitter on Tuesday to force it to hand over the user ID of a man who threatened to shoot up a Broadway theater "like Aurora."

A user from Florida posted the tweet last week, but Twitter refused to identify the user after saying in its judgment there didn't appear to be "a threat," the New York Daily News reported.

"They said that in judgment there doesn't appear to be a threat," Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne reportedly said. "We think our police judgment should trump that."

The tweet, aimed at the Longacre Theater hosting Mike Tyson's "Undisputed" show, said "people are gonna die like Aurora," the Daily News reported.

The user allegedly posted a second tweet promising to "kill a lot of people."

Twitter declined Business Insider's request for comment Tuesday but forwarded a link to this policy:

"If we receive information that gives us a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving the death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide information necessary to prevent that harm, if we have it."

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