The Mafia Plot To Kill Dennis Kucinich
By James Renner, ClevelandFree Times
Cleveland, 1977: The city is gripped by a spate of murders as mafia capos, teamsters, and racketeers vie for control of the underground crime syndicate. Enter Dennis Kucinich. The plucky young mayor attempts to untangle the web of corruption that's strangling city hall; in the process he upsets some powerful people and lands on a hit list. In this noir-like report, the Cleveland Free Times' James Renner peers into the darkened alleys of Cleveland's mafia years and retraces the sordid events that fueled the plot to kill Kucinich. -- Chris Gehrke
http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/9/the-mafia-plot-to-kill-dennis-kucinich

Plants Recognize Siblings
By Andrea Thompson, Live Science
Apparently sibling rivalry is less of a problem in the plant world. Susan Dudley, an associate professor of biology at McMaster University in Canada, recently discovered that plants can detect whether they're growing in the same pot with a sibling or a stranger. While plants of the same species typically compete for resources, plant offspring share resources equally. Although altruistic tendencies have been well-documented in the animal kingdom, the study is the first to discover plant sibling-bonding. -- Anna Cynar
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070614_plant_siblings.html

The List: Six Reasons You May Need a New Atlas Soon
By Foreign Policy
Since the fall of the Soviet Union added a host of states to the global scene, mapmakers have had a relatively easy go of it. Foreign Policy takes a look at six autonomous regions whose campaigns for independent status could put cartographers back to work. It seems Kosovo, now nominally under Serbian rule, has the best chance given its strong support from the United States and European Union. Taiwan faces the longest odds as China's international influence continues to grow and intimidate. -- Cara Binder
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3903&page=0

Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet
By Jim Benning and Michael Yessis, World Hum
Not to be out done by the new seven wonders of the world, the folks at the online travel magazine World Hum created their own 'Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet' to recognize the 'evolving and colliding' cultures in today's ever-globalizing world. Making the list were: the world's newest rendition of Las Vegas, in Dubai; the innovative mapping and satellite software of Google Earth; the global warming-induced opening of the Northwest Passage; and the Starbucks that set up shop in China's Forbidden City. -- Natalie Hudson
http://tinyurl.com/2wwqbj