Community leaders in Lexington are rolling out a campaign they hope will cause a significant drop in cigarette litter. In a recent survey of one block in downtown Lexington, members of the Keep Lexington Beautiful Commission counted more than 600 cigarette butts on the ground. Commission chair woman Patricia Knight says many smokers don’t take the time properly dispose of their cigarettes.

The University of Kentucky has landed a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health. The award is for $20 million over 5 years as part of the Clinical and Translational Science program. “This grant is in fact geared to bring new findings into the clinical environment, taking drugs from the bench to the bedside. But this grant also encourages taking things that have been brought from the bedside and analyzing them through clinical trials in an effective kind of way to see if they really do work,” said UK Vice President for Health Affairs Michael Karpf

"The wedding is off. Crystal has had a change of heart."

And with that message on his Twitter page — the same place where he announced the engagement last December -- Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 85, told the world today that he won't be marrying one-time Playmate Crystal Harris on Saturday.

You blinked, and somehow, the whole first half of 2011 is nearly behind us. Before we get too deep into the summer months and descend rapidly into the final stretch of the year, we'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the great music we've heard so far. Tell us your picks for the best albums from the first half of 2011 by picking up to 10 in the poll below. We'll list the results next week.

Bill Warren makes his living searching for shipwrecks. But, now, the California man has decided to turn his attention to the Arabian Sea, where he will search for the body of Osama bin Laden.

The BBC World Service reports:

... Warren says that he wants to establish once and for all whether the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US forces in May, and then buried out at sea.

Mr Warren, 59, says his search will begin in about four weeks time, and will cost around $400,000 (£245,000).

Tensions are ratcheting up in the South China Sea after a confrontation between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels.

China said Tuesday it would not resort to the use of force. And in a message aimed at the U.S., it warned other countries to stay out of the escalating dispute.

For the first time in more than 30 years, the Food and Drug Administration has revamped its standards for sunscreens. The changes, which take effect in a year, should make it easier for people to find the right sunscreen to protect against sunburn, reduce the risk of skin cancer and prevent premature skin aging.

Adopting someone else's holidays can be an uphill battle. You can smile politely and appreciate from a distance, but deep down you're struggling to understand unfamiliar songs, customs and family traditions. Deep down, it's hard to make a new holiday really feel like your own. Unless that holiday is midsommar.

Off-campus problems involving college students are well documented; rowdy parties, excessive noise and illegal parking. The head of an organization that works to improve relations between universities and their host communities contends their relationships are improving. Kim Griffo of the International Town and Gown Association says it’s in the interest of all parties to talk-out their differences.

Like his predecessors, President Barack Obama sometimes has to shake hands with dictators.

During his speech last month about the Arab Spring protest movements, Obama suggested that America's interests would come to be better aligned with its values.

But Obama has continued to meet with authoritarian leaders from the Middle East and Africa, while the U.S. still gives aid to dictators in other parts of the globe, as well.