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German Catholics are facing a stark choice: Pay a church tax or forget about receiving the sacraments, including baptisms, weddings and funerals. Germany taxes registered Catholics, Protestants and Jews. In 2011, the tax raised $6.5 billion for the Catholic Church alone. Many progressives and conservatives are up in arms over the German bishops' decree.

Those opposed to taxes and big government are putting their money where their mouths are in the state. A food drive there was put together by libertarians and anarchists, and they say they privately funded, voluntary charity is superior to the welfare system.

It was a deadly combination: Winter jet streams collided with warm and moist air. Twisters flattened subdivisions in Washington, Ill., and tore through farming communities. The destruction spread to other states across the upper Midwest. Six deaths have been reported in Illinois, two in Michigan.

The Midwest is home to the largest collection of grottoes, or man-made caves, in the world. And the mother of them all — encrusted in $6 million worth of semiprecious stones — is in West Bend, Iowa, the life's work of a priest after he survived pneumonia. It turns 100 this weekend.

What happens if you slash the price of oil, save Europe and force Congress to make a grand bargain? Not as much as you might think.

Goldman Sachs has invested $9.6 million in a new initiative for juvenile offenders in the New York City prison system. While the Department of Corrections needs the money, some wonder if private investment has a place in government agencies.

Illinois' pension gap is estimated at $83 billion — and it costs $12.6 million more every day the state does nothing to address the crisis. The state can't readily come up with the money, and while politicians say they want to help, they're unlikely to act during an election year.

The eurozone crisis has led to sharp spending cuts and, with an economy based on public sector wages, Sicily is being called Italy's Greece. The central government fears Sicily's debt of more than $6 billion could further endanger Italy's financial stability.

The court's 6-3 decision reverses a lower court ruling on what has been a hotly contested issue. Aereo lets subscribers watch TV programming that it routes onto the Internet.

The GOP will take over both chambers of Congress on Jan. 6, with issues like the Keystone XL pipeline, Obamacare and immigration reform likely to take priority.