The crackdown on protesters in Syria is spreading to the far corners of the country — recently, to a remote town on the border with Iraq in Syria's eastern desert.

This tribal region has long been known as a transit point for fighters and weapons coming into Iraq during the war, and for refugees leaving Iraq for Syria. Now, those routes might be reversing.

Trouble began in the Syrian town of Al-Bukamal this past weekend. Like in so many Syrian cities and towns, people took to the streets in protest against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

With an excessive heat warning in effect for Lexington and all of central Kentucky, residents are taking every opportunity to cool off. Normally, at this time of the year, the Lafayette High School Marching Band practice field would be filled with the sound of snare drums, rustling flags, and metronomes... but not today. Shannon Clark, color guard instructor, says it's hard work staying outdoors.

NASA released a stunning picture of the space shuttle Atlantis making its reentry back to Earth. The picture was taken aboard the International Space Station and shows, as NASA describes it, "Atlantis, appearing like a bean sprout against clouds and city lights, on its way home:"

In the background, you're looking at airglow over Earth.

When Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings published her novel The Yearling in 1938, it was an almost instant success, winning her a legion of readers as well as the Pulitzer Prize. MGM bought the film rights to the movie, and its executives agreed with Rawlings that the movie had to be filmed on location — in a densely wooded and sparsely populated part of Florida known as the "Big Scrub."

A group of 15 citizens in Lexington is moving ahead with a reworking of the cities’ council districts.  The panel has split into three groups. Committee members crowded around computer screens… reviewing numbers.  They’re drawing new district boundaries so they better represent population shifts within Fayette County.

A newly released report says Kentucky has some of the dirtiest air in the nation. You can’t see the particles emitted from coal burning power plants, but they’re thick in Kentucky’s air. That’s according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.  The NRDC says Kentucky has the fourth dirtiest air in the nation. The group analyzed data gathered by the Environmental Protection Agency and ranked states accordingly. John Walke works on clean air policy for the environmental group.

It appears that a three-week hunger strike by prisoners in California has ended. Officials with the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation say inmates have started eating again after some of their demands were met. Chief among those demands was an end to long-term solitary confinement.

Advocates for prisoners say they can't confirm that the strike has actually ended.

Solitary Confinement Criticized

The Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out, once and for all, if popular osteoporosis pills can increase the risk of throat cancer.

For now, the agency said the benefits of the medicines in reducing the risk of bone fractures in people with osteoporosis still outweigh the risks. The drugs belong to a group called bisphosphonates and include such brand names as Fosamax, Boniva and Actonel.

In an interview with Al Arabiya News, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, "Everything is on the table. But we need to get to the table."

A year ago Thursday, jubilant Democratic lawmakers — including then-Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank — joined President Obama on stage as the president signed a new financial reform law.

"The American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes. There will be no more tax-funded bailouts — period," Obama said.

The so-called Dodd-Frank Act will mean no firms are too big to fail, the president said.