Family: Calif. school board member slain in Mexico (AP)

AP - A Southern California school board member was abducted and killed by gunmen while visiting family in Mexico for the holidays, his family said.

OC megachurch pastor asks for urgent donations (AP)

AP - Evangelical pastor Rick Warren appealed to parishioners at his Orange County megachurch Wednesday to help fill a $900,000 deficit by the first of the year.

Raising a Family in France (BusinessWeek)

BusinessWeek - As a young adult, when I heard the acronym "MBA," images of Ivy League campuses and postgraduation yuppiedom came to mind. Now, as the wife of a business school admissions veteran, my thoughts have evolved. The term "business school" does not merely symbolize an edifice filled with ambitious, bright minds, but a journey that begins long before orientation week.

No trial, but Nev gov

AP - Gov. Jim Gibbons smiled when the judge presiding over what promised to be a salacious and sensational four-day divorce trial asked if Gibbons' settlement with the first lady was fair and equitable.

Hawaii univ. president

AP - A letter from the president of the University of Hawaii declaring that labor negotiations are at an "impasse" prompted the union that represents faculty to declare it is ready to go to court.

Religion news in brief (AP)

AP - Students filtered into the pews as church bells rang to mark the start of a Wyoming Catholic College noon mass, a service conducted in Latin on a recent fall day.

Vatican defends move on World War II-era pope (AP)

 
AP - The Vatican sought Wednesday to quell its latest public dispute with Jewish groups, saying the pope's decision to move Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood isn't an act of hostility against those who say he failed to sufficiently denounce the Holocaust.