(STNG) SUGAR GROVE A Volkswagen Jetta "virtually vaporized" and split in half when its driver lost control and flew over one vehicle and crashed head-on into another, killing himself and another motorist Thursday in far west suburban Sugar Grove. According to witnesses, the Jetta was traveling at nearly 100 mph, police said.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- A nude sunbather is suing for the right to bask in the buff with his rat terrier, Cheekies, at his side. New Yorker Mark DelCore said he needs full sun exposure for a skin condition he links to World Trade Center toxins. And he said he needs Cheekies with him because he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. DelCore likes to do his sunbathing on a clothing-optional beach on Fire Island. [Chicago NBC5.com]

The current shuttle mission is carrying the refrigerator-size OGS [oxygen generation system], but it won't be put into use until a urine-water recovery system is launched on a future shuttle mission. That system will use a vacuum-distillation system to remove the dissolved solids in urine so the resulting water is pure enough to put into the OGS. A prototype of the vacuum-distillation system was tested on the space shuttle Columbia's last mission in January 2003.

The devices could hold the key to a major hurdle for extended space travel and off-planet colonization. The topic has been in the spotlight recently following remarks from physicist Stephen Hawking and ex-astronaut John Young suggesting that mankind must plot an escape from Earth in order to fend off extinction by environmental catastrophe.

Illinois topped many critics' lists -- as evidenced by its top position on Metacritic's poll for Best Album of 2005 -- and won the inaugural New Pantheon Music Prize. He had it all: critical adulation, awards, devoted fans. It seemed that if you like any kind of indie pop or folk -- or modern music at all -- you would like Sufjan Stevens and wonder at the scope and ambition of Illinois.

But for me, Illinois was a breaking point, the place where I could no longer take Stevens and his music seriously. True, he doesn't make my skin crawl the way that Conor Oberst does, but oddly that's part of the problem. [keep reading]