Wednesday's New York Times reports that three aides to House majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, were indicted in Texas Tuesday on charges that included raising illegal corporate contributions funneled to 2002 state candidates, protestors sprayed with pepper spray by police get their day in court in California, asserting that a county policy that allows the authorities to use pepper spray constitutes an unnecessary and excessive use of force, the Justice Department's racketeering lawsuit against the nation's biggest tobacco companies opened Tuesday, and student loan companies have been exploiting a loophole in federal law to receive big subsidies.

The Washington Post highlights an anti-prostitution rule that has been drafted for US troops in hopes of diminishing human trafficking of women forced into prostitution overseas, a lawsuit brought by parents of an autistic child banned from a playground in Falmouth, ME, a man executed Tuesday in Texas for fatally shooting a San Antonio convenience store clerk during a robbery 11 years ago that netted $45, courts denying creditors' request to force MCI to cover the costs of gathering documents demanded by the SEC, and a path-breaking Pennsylvania law designed to prevent Internet users from seeing Web sites that contain child pornography being struck down as unconstitutional by a federal court.

USA Today includes articles on the makers of Twinkies filing for bankruptcy, and new anti-terror measures passed by the Russian parliament that include stricter penalties for people who help terrorists and for officials whose negligence aids attacks.