Penmanship purists can relax: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has straightened out his signature.When he was nominated for the post earlier this year, Lew was mocked for his John Hancock — an aimless series of loops that was compared to the white icing atop a Hostess cupcake.The top finance official in the federal government was given the humiliating nickname Loopty Lew. Worse still, the treasury chie...

A stray kitten is recuperating after spending two days stuck in the engine of car that made a 1,000-mile drive from Oregon to Southern California.Julia Di Sieno, who has been rescuing animals for 30 years, answered the driver’s call to rescue the kitten in Santa Barbara, Calif.Di Sieno said that the driver heard the stray's cries when she left Oregon, but she continued with her journey, unsure of ...

Ever since Edward Snowden revealed himself as the leaker of classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs, he has sometimes been called a whistleblower. But is he?Those who believe he has shed light on improper government actions say he deserves to be called one. But there seems little doubt that he cannot claim legal whistleblower protection.For starters, the general whistleblower laws ap...

Retired Boston hitman John "The Executioner" Martorano testified on Tuesday that he and James “Whitey” Bulger were “up to our necks in murder” by the time he committed what he described as his last killing at Bulger’s behest, more than three decades ago.The former underworld killer also described his one-time boss as having a direct hand in a murder, saying Tuesday that Bulger gunned down a Boston...

A former underworld killer testified Tuesday that James "Whitey" Bulger gunned down a Boston bar owner for bragging about his ties to Bulger's "Winter Hill Gang.""They took him out in the phone booth," John "The Executioner" Martorano said of the 1975 murder of Edward Connors, Reuters reported."I heard the shots. They came back and said, 'He's gone.'"Martorano, 72, spent a second day on the witnes...

The National Security Agency surveillance programs made public this month have helped foil more than 50 terrorist plots since Sept. 11, including one to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, top intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.The officials appeared before the House Intelligence Committee and answered mostly friendly questions to defend the programs, which collect phone records insi...