Charles Lane

Suffolk County, on Long Island, is giving enforcement authority to a victims' advocacy group. Lawmakers call it a cost-effective way to keep citizens safe. But a local attorney who often represents sex offenders calls it a "vigilante exercise."

A lab in Chicago can produce particles called muons, but it needs an electromagnetic ring on Long Island to produce them. Since the 50-foot ring can't be taken apart or flown over houses, movers drove it to the shoreline and will sail it down the East Coast on a sea barge and up rivers to the Windy City.

Kids may not like the idea of extending the average six-hour school day, but some educators and politicians do. They are experimenting with ways to increase enrichment classes and make it affordable for school districts.

Communities hit by Hurricane Sandy are waiting for more help from Washington. There's been no agreement on how much air they can expect, but people in the storm zone are concerned that repairs and rebuilding will be delayed, leaving them vulnerable to future storms.

Wine research suggests that people who think they know about wine are excited about hard to pronounce names — so excited, in fact, that they're willing to pay more. Plus, they think it tastes better, too.

The Educational Testing Service admitted Tuesday that attempts at cheating on the SAT are not as uncommon as it had previously claimed. Last month, seven people were charged in a scheme that involved a former student who took the test on behalf of six others. ETS said at the time that cheating is rare, but it acknowledged Tuesday that it is aware of hundreds of instances in which impersonators attempted to take the test on behalf of someone else.

A controversial technique called a gang injunction "safety zone" has been getting the attention of police in at least eight states. The court order lists people police say are gang members, and bans them from meeting or even speaking with each other inside a defined geographic area.