A special spirit day at Oral Roberts University took a tragicomical turn last week when a bald eagle released into the school's Christ Chapel by a professional handler crashed into a window just as students began chanting "USA! USA!"

Newark Mayor and U.S. Senate hopeful Cory Booker is once again parrying questions about whether he likes dudes. Is he gay? Bisexual? Completely straight? (Asexual?) The only person who knows for sure — Booker himself — refused to specify twice yesterday, first in a Washington Post profile and, in a follow-up interview, to the New Jersey Star-Ledger. It’s a weird contrast: Booker presents himself as the most open, accessible mayor in America, and an ally of gay rights, yet repeatedly dances around the question of his own sexuality, preferring to play a rope-a-dope game with anyone who would like to know.

Since the Great Recession, America has become a harder place to live for people with kids. And for the kids themselves.

The shot above comes from photographer Michael Nichols' photoessay on the New York Times' Lens blog, "Documenting Elephants’ Compassion, and Their Slaughter." Nichols spent 20 years in the Central African Republic documenting the lives of elephants. Many of his photos appeared in National Geographic, and they're collected in the new book Earth to Sky: Among Africa’s Elephants, a Species in Crisis.

Augustus Bear, or Gus, the ursine face of Central Park Zoo, passed away on Tuesday after medical professionals found an inoperable tumor. He was 27 years old, and resided primarily at the Central Park Zoo.

A controversial plastic surgeon previously best known for pioneering postpartum vaginal reconstruction and for appearing on the popular reality TV show Dr. 90210 is in the headlines again this week after revealing that he used his medical license and a scalpel to transform a patient into the "perfect wife" for himself.

In order to comply with a court order to reduce unconstitutional overcrowding in state prisons, California's governor wants to spend $315 million next year transferring thousands of prisoners to "privately owned prisons and other facilities."

Welcome to Next Question With Michael Musto, a regular feature in which Musto uses his time-honed skills to interrogate big celebrities, former celebrities, and wannabe celebrities. Musto is a pop culture icon, regular TV presence, and the author of four books.

Word on the street is that the Oxford dictionary (well, Oxford Dictionaries Online, but still) has added "twerking" to its ever growing list of the darndest things the kids these days are saying.

Financial markets fluctuate. Investors have good and bad years. Cities and states see their fortunes rise and fall. Banks soar, crash, and are bailed out by taxpayers. The only people who always come out ahead: the consultants.

Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity won raves after its Venice Film Festival premiere last night. Be excited. Be very excited. In space, no one can hear you get excited. Etc.

A Brooklyn man accused of punching a woman in the face and then making off with her cellphone was caught just a short distance form the crime scene because his sagging pants made it impossible for him to run away.

It's gonna take a lot for a headline to come along today that's more incendiary than "Miley Cyrus and Kanye West Reportedly Team for 'Black Skinhead' Remix," but hey, it's still early.

An elderly widow from San Juan Capistrano who is hoping her pet parrot comes back to her says the lost bird was a living link to her late husband because it still spoke using the deceased man's voice.

Remember Martin Luther King, Jr., the oppressed Southern black man, the freedom fighter, the peacenik, who called for radical progressive civil rights and economic justice legislation, and who was smeared as a Communist? Today, pundits would like to remind you that he was, of course, a "conservative."

Some people are good at what they do; others are tremendously talented and always know exactly how to handle a PC LOAD LETTER message.

Russian authorities seized this painting, showing Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in ladies' lingerie, from a St. Petersburg art gallery.

A nation breathes a sigh of relief as missile porn returns to the news cycle.