Sandra Smith writes: Waiting for the auctioneer is something like being present at a stage musical while the orchestra warms up. My stomach was a little fluttery. Would I understand? How fast would he talk? What if I scratched my nose and he thought I was bidding? I got so caught up in it, I forgot to listen to the amounts of the bids.

In the late eighties, James Leeper was a fast-rising prosecutor known for his fairness and loyalty. Decades later, his alleged misconduct in the Jonathan Fleming case has shocked colleagues and adversaries alike. Fleming, 27, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. It took 24 years, but eventually it became clear that there had been much more to Fleming's alibi defense, and that Leeper had failed to disclose it to the jury.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization has introduced a sculpture of a life-size bronze wolf in a copper canoe which it commissioned from internationally acclaimed Namgis First Nation artist Mary Anne Barkhouse. Now on exhibit: On the foggy night of May 29, 1914, two ships collide in the St. Lawrence River. The Empress of Ireland, with 1,477 souls aboard, sinks in less than 15 minutes. An estimated 1,012 people — passengers and crew — perish.

Pamela Prah writes: Nationwide, US employers reported in 2013 that skilled trades positions were the most difficult to fill, the fourth consecutive year this category has topped the list. A 2011 industry report estimated that as many as 600,000 manufacturing jobs were vacant because employers couldn’t find the skilled workers to fill them, including machinists, distributors, technicians and industrial engineers.  

Significant improvement with the use of a combination drug therapy for recurrent ovarian cancer was reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. This is the first ovarian cancer study to use a combination of drugs that could be taken orally.

Joan L. Cannon writes: Unless memories and tradition count as “things,” these concrete reminders are not just things. They’re emblems. They’re absolute reminders — souvenirs in a literal sense — of what has happened in many lives, not just our own. As such, they serve as records that are apt to endure longer than any on paper.            

The overwhelming majority of the participants in these three experiments were more creative while walking than sitting, the study found. In one of those experiments, participants were tested indoors — first while sitting, then while walking on a treadmill. The creative output increased by an average of 60 percent when the person was walking, according to the study. A fourth experiment evaluated creative output by measuring people's abilities to generate complex analogies to prompt phrases.

The Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution recognizing the importance of providing preventative heart screenings to women through primary care. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) introduced a bill to authorize additional leave for members of the armed forces in connection with the birth of a child. Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) introduced bill to provide for an increase in the amount of monthly dependency and indemnity compensation payable to surviving spouses by the secretary of Veterans Affairs.