When Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman started dating, they were both middle-aged and divorced. Neither was having any luck with work, so in 2004, they took matters into their own hands.

"You had lost your job. You drank to excess, and you were stoned all the time," Colleen recalls at a visit to StoryCorps in Denver with Shaun. "And it was like, what are we gonna do?"

So Colleen, now 61, threw out the idea of starting a private investigation agency. Shaun, who has a law degree, had trained several PIs in the past. Within a week, she was out on a surveillance job.

Some number of years from now, the technology may exist for cars to drive themselves. This could save thousands of lives a year (90 percent of fatal car accidents involve human error).

But getting the technology right won't be enough. Governments and courts will have to figure out lots of new legal and regulatory issues. One key question: If a driverless car crashes, who's liable?

The educational division of the media conglomerate News Corp., called Amplify, unveiled a new digital tablet this week at the SXSW tech conference in Austin, Texas, intended to serve millions of schoolchildren and their teachers across the country.

Amplify promises the tablet will simplify administrative chores for teachers, enable shy children to participate more readily in discussions, and allow students to complete coursework at their own pace while drawing upon carefully selected online research resources.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has announced final approval of its so-called ``Pinnacle Plan'' to improve the care of children in state custody.

DHS announced Wednesday that child welfare experts who've been monitoring the plan have given their approval.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Animal lovers from across Oklahoma are visiting with their legislators and urging them to oppose a measure that would pave the way for a horse slaughtering facility in Oklahoma.

Officials with several animal rights groups sponsored Humane Lobby Day on Thursday and briefed about 50 participants on how to lobby their elected officials.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - Tribal courts will have the authority to prosecute non-Indians in domestic violence cases under a bill signed into law Thursday by President Barack Obama.

The measure is seen as a huge step forward by many who live on reservations and decry the high rates of domestic violence with no prosecution there. But some say it could take years to make a difference.

Indian women suffer incidents of domestic violence at rates more than double the national averages.

Caught between the gritty political realities of needing cash and being linked to a political leader who has repeatedly denounced money's influence in Washington while raising record sums, former campaign aides to President Obama appeared to side with the money.

That had opened officials now heading Organizing for Action — which was formed from the Obama for America campaign committee to promote the president's second-term agenda — to charges of hypocrisy.

When the stage lights go up at Chicago's Goodman Theatre on Monday evening, more than 20 high school students will each have a moment to step into the spotlight and perform a monologue from one of the plays written by the late August Wilson. Chicago's contest is one of several regional finals that strives to introduce students to the Pulitzer Prize winner's work. It's also a lead-up to the national August Wilson Monologue Competition that will be held on Broadway later this spring.