Employing a wireless technology developed by the military to hide radio signals, New York State's Department of Transportation is bringing traffic light synchronization to several upstate cities-- particularly to streets where the infrastructure for traditional traffic-data transmission is unavailable. Along Troy's Hoosick Street, for instance, cables that would ordinarily be used to connect signals along the road with central computers are inaccessible to engineers.

Cleveland and its neighboring town of Brook Park are about to finalize a land swap that guarantees construction of new runways at Cleveland's international airport.

The police department in Lewiston, Maine, believes that to err is human. So it's being pretty divine about forgiving parking tickets-- but only for first-time violators whose meters have run out.

Strange things have been happening at governors' mansions all around the country. Last year, South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges fired the state's prison chief following a widely publicized guards-and-sex scandal that included inmates having sex at the governor's residence while he was away. In the aftermath of that episode, a pair of former South Carolina governors recalled other embarrassing incidents involving trusties and alcohol.

Most states require photo developers to report any suspected child pornography they encounter to police. Now, South Carolina has become the first state to expand this mandate to include "computer technicians."