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Bill Cheng's debut novel, Southern Cross the Dog, is full of mythical characters who feel like they rose right out of the Mississippi Swamp, and narratives that churn and swirl like the river itself. Cheng calls the novel "a love note to those old blues players."

Writer-director Derek Cianfrance could watch Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas a million times. "It was just a perfect movie, and I returned to see it about 30 times in the theater that year," he says.

Secretary of State John Kerry sets off for what he calls "a long overdue" trip to Russia on Monday, and Syria is likely to top the agenda. But U.S.-Russian relations are frosty these days. The U.S. is imposing targeted sanctions on Russian human rights violators, while Moscow is preventing American families from adopting Russian children.

In elementary school, girls often outperform boys on reading and math tests. Many factors shape academic performance, but two economists say one reason for the disparity might be that parents spend more time reading with girls and teaching them the alphabet and numbers.

The city of Cambridge has asked Tamerlan Tsarnaev's family not to request that he be buried in a city-owned graveyard, and four privately owned cemeteries have said they won't take the body.

Being the first person to set foot on the moon would make anyone's heart skip a beat, but not apparently Neil Armstrong. The printout of the Apollo 11 astronaut's heart rate as he first stepped onto the surface of the moon in 1969 shows some fairly steady beats.

When thieves in a Belgian town tried to shake the cops, they dumped a safe out of the getaway car. The safe popped open, spilling $1.3 million worth of cash. People scrambled to pick it up. One woman even brought out a broom. Two weeks later, police are asking for the money to be returned.

Also: New bride, four other women die in California limo fire; jury resumes deliberations in murder trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor; cooler weather helps in fight against California wildfires; and the Senate is expected to OK internet sales tax legislation.

Courts are handing down lesser punishments to those who hide money offshore than they are to more mundane tax evaders. In many cases, sentences were shorter than what federal sentencing guidelines provide for.

The Pennsylvania Dutch didn't invent the whoopie pie and other dubious tourist fare. Instead, they developed a complex, largely unknown cuisine that reflects the pressures and possibilities of becoming American.