AP - Resurgent Rick Santorum said his sweep of three GOP contests earned his shoestring campaign $250,000 overnight, cash he needs to take his upstart bid for the Republican presidential nomination to Mitt Romney's turf.

AP - House Speaker John Boehner accused the Obama administration Wednesday of an "unambiguous attack on religious freedom," promising that Congress will reverse a new policy requiring religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with free birth control if the president doesn't.

AP - After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years — a pristine body of water that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets.

AP - A Missouri teenager who had described the slaying of a young neighbor girl as an "ahmazing" thrill made an emotional apology Wednesday to the girl's family and was sentenced to a potential lifetime in prison.

AP - Washington state authorities say they're not happy with the performance of a 911 dispatcher during last weekend's murder-suicide involving the husband of a missing Utah woman.

AP - Officials at an elementary school rocked by teacher sex abuse claims are investigating yet another allegation of misconduct, this one involving a teacher's aide accused of sending love letters to an 11-year-old boy.

AP - Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday to proceed with plans to transfer thousands of U.S. troops out of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, leaving behind the stalled discussion about closing a major U.S. Marine base there.

AP - The Republican-controlled House sought Wednesday to give President Barack Obama and his successors the line-item veto, a constitutionally questionable power over the purse that has been sought by Republican and Democrats alike.

AP - Move over, coffee and Red Bull. A Harvard professor thinks the next big thing will be people inhaling their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube. Critics say the novel product is not without its risks.

AP - Court records show Gary Busey has filed for bankruptcy and is listing more than $500,000 in estimated personal debts.

Reuters - Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum claimed a surge of momentum and fundraising on Wednesday, a day after his shocking sweep of nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri that dealt a blow to front-runner Mitt Romney.

Reuters - Prospects of a deal on a second international bailout for Greece rose on Wednesday when euro zone finance ministers were summoned to talks in Brussels while Greek political leaders met to approve a tough reform and austerity program.

Reuters - More evidence emerged of the crippling impact of new sanctions on Iran, with international traders saying Tehran is having trouble buying rice, cooking oil and other staples to feed its 74 million people weeks before an election.

Reuters - Syria's army pounded the rebel city of Homs on Wednesday as Turkey sought international action to protect civilians from former ally President Bashar al-Assad, a move that risks the wrath of Russia and China.

Reuters - Stocks fluctuated around break-even on Wednesday as investors waited for Greece to accept tough reforms in exchange for a new bailout, but underlying confidence kept the Dow near its almost four-year high notched on Tuesday.

Reuters - The Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity defines its mission as finding a cure for breast cancer. In recent years, however, it has cut by nearly half the proportion of fund-raising dollars it spends on grants to scientists working to understand the causes and develop effective new treatments for the disease.

Reuters - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday denounced President Barack Obama's new rule on contraceptives as an assault on "religious freedom" and vowed to stop it.

Reuters - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered that a 500-page special report detailing federal prosecutors' misconduct in the 2008 corruption trial of the late Senator Ted Stevens be released next month, despite objections by some of the subjects of the report.

The Christian Science Monitor - The federal court ruling Tuesday that Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage, is unconstitutional will not lead to an immediate rush for marriage licenses across California, say legal analysts as well as same-sex couples who have been waiting for the court’s decision.

The Christian Science Monitor - President Obama’s flip-flop toward embrace of the "super PAC" formed to support his reelection campaign should come as no surprise.