The west side of Killeen, Texas is like countless other places in America's heartland, freshly carved out of prairie pastures with wide streets in bucolic neighborhoods like "Sunflower Estates" and "Bridgewood." But on a glorious cloudless fall day, the flags at the home sales center nearby are at half mast in honor of the 13 fallen at Ft. Hood, victims of a gunman whose deadly attack was stopped thanks to a petite, long-haired blonde mom from the neigborhood. ...

Convicted Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection November 10, a Virginia corrections official said Tuesday.

The mother of a Virginia Tech junior who disappeared Saturday night during a Metallica concert says she helped her daughter choose an outfit for the show that same morning. Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old education major, went to the concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville with several girlfriends but disappeared from their sight around 8:40 p.m., according to police, who are calling it a missing person case. "She was excited about the concert and she ...

When the Army flew home the body of Spc. Stephan Mace from Afghanistan, his mother climbed aboard a small jet with the flag-draped coffin for the last leg of his trip. Vanessa Adelson would not let her 21-year-old son make his final journey home alone. "I brought him into this world, and he was my baby," she said. "I thought it was my responsibility as a mother to bring him home." Mace and seven other soldiers were killed ...

Gary McKinnon, the hacker who broke into Pentagon and NASA computers, was at risk of suicide Friday after losing an effort to fight extradition to the United States, his attorney said. "This is the wholesale destruction and bullying of a small individual by the United States and now our own government," attorney Karen Todner said in a statement. McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp described her son as "suicidal." The British government did not respond. McKinnon, a British citizen, has admitted breaking ...

Stephan Mace of the Army's 61st Cavalry Regiment knew the Taliban would be waiting for him when he returned to eastern Afghanistan in September. During a two-week leave in early September, the 21-year-old specialist sat on his father's couch in Winchester, Virginia, and discussed his concerns over Forward Operating Base Keating in Kamdesh District, a region known as a Taliban stronghold. "He talked about the village next to the base, that it had 300 Taliban, and they couldn't do anything ...

Elizabeth Taylor is having a "procedure on her heart," she announced on her Twitter page Tuesday. "It's very new and involves repairing my leaky valve using a clip device, without open heart surgery, so that my heart will function better," the famed actress wrote. "Any prayers you happen to have lying around I would dearly appreciate. I'll let you know when it's all over. Love you, Elizabeth." The 77-year-old Oscar winner did not go into further detail about her heart ...

Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson wants the Virginia Tech shooting survivors to know that their pain and anger and fear are normal. And she wants them to know it will get better.

A November 10 execution date was set Wednesday for John Allen Muhammad, convicted in a series of sniper-style shootings that terrorized the Washington area in 2002. Prince William County, Virginia, Circuit Judge Mary Grace O'Brien set the date at a teleconference hearing Wednesday, according to the Web site of Muhammad's attorney, Jonathan Sheldon. Prosecutors had requested a November 9 execution date. That date is a Monday, Sheldon wrote in an e-mail to CNN. "I pointed out that while I did ...

One of the most unexpected controversies of the Obama administration came to a head Tuesday as the president delivered a hotly debated back-to-school speech to students across the country. Many conservatives over the past week expressed a fear that the president's address would be used to push a partisan political agenda. Obama, however, avoided any mention of political initiatives. He repeatedly urged students to work hard and stay in school. "There is no excuse for not trying," ...