AP – The government sent investigators Tuesday to examine a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway, and Toyota said it wanted to interview the driver as the besieged automaker dealt with a high-profile new headache that raised questions about the safety of its beloved hybrid.

Reuters – A television producer pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to extort $2 million from U.S. talk show host David Letterman by threatening to reveal his affairs with women who worked on his late-night program on CBS.

AP – The pope’s brother said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys’ choir in the 1960s. He also said he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir but did nothing about it.

AP – The executive director of the film academy said Tuesday that Farrah Fawcett wasn’t included in the Academy Awards’ In Memoriam segment because the actress was better known as a TV star.

AP – Hundreds of construction workers raised a rallying cry of “Build it now!” on Tuesday, gathering with elected officials at the World Trade Center site to urge a quick rebuilding of the complex.

AP – A former aide to John Edwards narrowly escaped jail time Tuesday over his handling of a videotape purportedly showing the two-time presidential candidate in a sexual encounter.

Reuters – LG Electronics Inc, the world’s No. 3 mobile phone maker, on Wednesday launched a smartphone based on Google’s Android operating system in South Korea, as it seeks to boost its relatively weak smartphone line-ups.

AP – A suburban woman “desperate to do something” to help suffering Muslims has been accused of using the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters and help terrorists overseas, even agreeing to move to Europe to try to kill a Swedish artist, prosecutors said Tuesday.

AP – Former Rep. Eric Massa, who resigned from Congress amid sexual harassment allegations, acknowledged Tuesday groping a staffer but denied it was sexual.

AP – An Ohio State University janitor who was about to lose his job walked into a maintenance building for his early morning shift Tuesday and shot two supervisors, killing one of them and fatally shooting himself. No students were hurt.