Essex Police/Fire (Gloucester Daily Times)

ESSEX and mdash; Police responded to several burglar alarms Friday evening. At 5:47 p.m., police checked Essex Package Store Inc. and the surrounding area and found everything to be secure. They went to a Main Street business at 6:41 p.m. According to the manager, a faulty sensor was to blame.

Wave of Mat-Su burglaries alarms citizens (Anchorage Daily News)

Matanuska-Susitna Borough authorities say they're contending with a growing number of break-ins, a wave that's alarming home and business owners and forcing police and prosecutors to shift priorities.

Wave of Mat-Su burglaries in '08 alarms citizens (Anchorage Daily News)

WASILLA -- Nancy Taylor yanked open the front door one morning last June to holler at the goats she heard tromping on the porch.

Mother, 4 young sons among 8 dead in NY house fire (AP via Yahoo! News)

A fast-moving house fire killed eight people, including four young brothers, despite the homeowner's frantic attempts to save them, authorities and a witness said.

Illegal aerials lit up O'ahu (Honolulu Advertiser)

In 'Ewa Beach, residents say, the illegal fireworks kicked in as far back as October and built to a war-zone crescendo by New Year's Eve, resulting in what one person described as "house-shaking explosions," wailing car alarms, crying babies and cowering pets.