In a community that shuns technology and conflict, the intrusion of gas wells shatters tranquility and brings unexpected schisms

A bleak December sky hangs low over rural Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Here, in areas populated by large Amish families, open fields roll toward the horizon uninterrupted by electrical wires and telephone poles. Stepping from a car that seems grossly out of place in this 19th century landscape, Carrie Hahn, a newcomer to the area, takes a deep breath of mud and cow outside an Amish farmhouse. Suddenly, like an apparition, Andy Miller appears on a flagstone path, his face hidden beneath beard and broad-brimmed hat. He quickly ushers us inside a large, unfurnished mudroom to escape the wind.

Miller, who is in his late 40s and has nine children, is a leading member of the Old Order Amish, who eschew all modern conveniences. (Like all the Amish names in this story, Miller's has been changed at his request, to respect Amish traditions and preserve his anonymity.) Standing against a western window, a silhouette of felt hat, bushy sideburns, and stiff cotton work clothes, he explains how he came to be in the uncomfortable position in which he finds himself today: dealing with multibillion-dollar energy companies that use high-tech methods to shatter the earth and release mile-deep pockets of natural gas.

Decades ago, Miller says, oil and gas companies began prowling around western Pennsylvania, locking residents into leases for conventional gas wells, which are relatively shallow and unobtrusive. Many landowners, Miller included, had no idea that once they had assigned their mineral rights, often for a thousand times less than the going rate, the leaseholders could return and burrow deeper into the same piece of property.

Conservative host Glenn Beck and "historian" David Barton on Tuesday debuted a new show called "Foundations of Freedom" and suggested that history proved that school shootings could be prevented if all elementary school children were armed.

After pointing out that some areas of the United States required every household to own a gun in the late 1800s, Beck told Barton that "everybody grew up with a gun" and it was "part of school."

Barton noted that guns were only fired in schools at the time to stop criminal activity.

Detroit police arrested two men on Tuesday for allegedly stealing their father's corpse and hiding the body in a freezer in the hopes of resurrecting him.

According to WJBK-TV, 93-year-old Clarence Bright's body was found in the home of one of the unidentified siblings, a 48-year-old man, following tips from family members. His 38-year-old brother was also taken into custody.

Bright's body was allegedly taken from a mausoleum at a local cemetery, where it was stored because weather conditions forced his Jan. 12 funeral to be canceled. When cemetery workers attempted to bury him on Monday, they said, they found a van driving away with the body still inside the casket.

For the second time in just two months, law enforcement officers in Colorado have been accused of wrongfully killing a man's best friend.

Business owner Jeff Fisher told KUSA that his 8-year-old dog, Ziggy, was shot and killed when Adams County deputies ended up at the wrong address while responding to a security alarm.

"That's my son," Fisher said, weeping. "I've had him for eight years. That's my son."

Fisher recalled that Ziggy ran outside to check things out after deputies reportedly forced their way into his business. Seconds later, the dog was dead.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a $1.5 million settlement in a case involving a gay police officer who alleged he was the victim of harassment and retaliation by a supervisor.

Sgt. Ronald Crump, who will resign from the department as part of the settlement, filed the complaint in 2009 after he was ordered transferred from the media relations section and after he said his supervisor, Lt. John Romero, made derogatory remarks about his sexuality.

Crump worked in the media relations section from December 2008 through July 2009, when he was transferred to Skid Row.

Animal disease officials in Taiwan have confiscated more than 400 dried dog penises, testicles and various internal organs in a raid on an illegal slaughterhouse.

A total of 435 penises were discovered in a fridge along with the other body parts, while 12 fresh dog corpses were also found in the raid at the slaughterhouse in western Yunlin county on Tuesday, the Animal Disease Control Centre said.

It was not immediately clear why the owner of the abattoir kept the body parts, a spokeswoman said. But local media suggested the man could have used the penises as an ingredient in herbal wine due to the belief they could help boost male potency.

Authorities say they've charged four teenage boys and a 20-year-old man with sexual misconduct after a teenage girl was assaulted during a party in central New York.

Utica-area media outlets report that officials with the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center say the five male suspects, who range in age from 17 to 20, continually sexually assaulted the girl during a Dec. 4 house party in the town of Westmoreland.

One of Russia's most notorious criminal masterminds, Mafia godfather Aslan Usoyan, also known as 'Grandpa Hassan,' was shot dead by a sniper rifle in central Moscow on Wednesday, police said.

A sniper armed with a suppressed Spetsnaz rifle fired at Usoyan from the roof of a nearby house as the 75-year-old was walking out of a restaurant in Moscow's Arbat district.

His bodyguards failed to cover him in time, and the crime boss died from his injuries soon after he was taken to hospital.

"Usoyan was taken to Botkin Hospital in deep coma, unconscious, but was still breathing, and his heart was beating," a hospital source told Interfax. Ten minutes later, he failed to regain consciousness and died in the hospital's emergency surgery room, the source added.

A woman walking out of the restaurant at the same time as Usoyan was taken to the hospital with serious chest and hip injuries. She is currently in intensive care undergoing surgery, RIA Novosti quoted a public healthcare official as saying. The woman turned out to be "just a passerby" and according to Interfax worked for the restaurant in Povarskaya Street.

The FBI says an investigation into extortion and other crimes in the garbage-hauling industry has led to dozens of arrests in New York and New Jersey.

They say the case involves the mob.

An eight-story apartment building collapsed Wednesday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, killing at least 22 people in the second deadly accident to hit the country in as many days.

The MENA state news agency said 11 people were also injured and that rescue teams were searching for survivors under the rubble. Military police from a nearby naval base had cordoned off the area to help the rescue operation. The collapse came a day after 19 police conscripts were killed when the last car of the train they were riding in jumped the tracks and smashed into another train just outside Cairo.

It was not immediately clear what caused the building to collapse in a poor district of the Mediterranean port city, but violations of building specifications have been blamed for similar accidents in the past. The governor of Alexandria, Mohammed Abbas Atta, told Egypt's official news agency that the building was constructed without a permit.

Abul Ezz el-Hariri, an opposition lawmaker from Alexandria, warned that hundreds of buildings in the city face the same fate, but that lax law enforcement following the ouster two years ago of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak means that no action is being taken against building violations.