Confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change is how a recent PEW Research Center study described the Millennial generation compared to previous American generations.

The Millennial generation refers to those born after 1980, the first generation to become adults in the new millennium.

In an open-ended question, the Millennials responded that technology use, pop culture, tolerance and intelligence separates and makes their generation unique.

Kevin Jenson, a sophomore studying biology, from Bakersfield, Calif., said the generation’s use of technology sets it apart.

“We have really embraced it. … We have stuff that no other generation has had,” Jenson said.

Although the Millennials said intelligence set them apart from other generations, in similar studies, Generation X, the Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation all said their intelligence was superior to the previous generation.

Universities nationwide are in a continuous battle against sexual assault, and a new report suggests many campuses are meeting this fight with a rising level of indifference.

The Center for Public Integrity recently released the second installment of a 12-month investigation which exposed a string of institutional problems related to alleged sexual assaults, specifically how cases are handled by both school and federal administrations.

In a press call Wednesday, the organization discussed the leniency campuses are giving to offenders, the problem of repeat offenders on college campuses and the Department of Education’s history of enforcement. Speakers included directors of the investigation and the mother of a college rape victim.

CAIRO — Al-Qaida's offshoot in North Africa said Friday it released a Spanish woman it had held captive for 100 days in Mauritania because she voluntarily converted to Islam.

In a statement posted on militant Web sites, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it also took into account health reasons in choosing to free aid worker Alicia Gamez, although it did not elaborate.

"The Spanish woman converted to Islam voluntarily after the mujahidin (fighters) exposed her to Islam and its teachings. She took the name of Aicha," the brief message said.

Gamez, 35, and two male colleagues still being held captive by the group worked as volunteers for an aid organization called Barcelona Accion Solidaria. They were kidnapped by gunmen Nov. 29 while delivering relief material to poor villages in Mauritania.

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife was hospitalized with a broken back and neck Thursday after a tractor-trailer truck slammed into the back of the minivan in which she and their daughter were riding on an interstate highway in suburban Virginia, officials said.

Reid's wife, Landra, 69, whose injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, and their daughter, Lana Barringer, 49, were taken by ambulance to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. The daughter was released from the hospital Thursday night, hospital spokesman Tony Raker said.

Mrs. Reid was listed in serious condition, but Reid aides said she was not expected to require surgery. She was being treated in the hospital's trauma intensive care unit, according to a staffer with the hospital's information service, who declined to give his name.

By MARIANGELA MAZZEI

CrimeReports.com has launched a new app for the iPhone which can help everyday citizens become more aware of what’s going on around them.

According to a news release, this new app will allow citizens to map local and national crimes, as well as provide data for nationally registered sex offenders. Only two months after its debut in mid-December of 2009, more than 100,000 people from across the nation had downloaded this free app onto their iPhones.

Glen Lyons, a BYU student from Queretaro, Mexico, said he is happy with the completeness of the CrimeReports app and it brings him peace of mind and a sense of security.

“I’m working, married and will have children soon,” Lyons said. “It’s a big issue with me, family safety.”
Dallin Hatch from Colorado Springs, Colo., said he appreciates how up-to-date the information is.

Immigration leaders met Monday to show their frustration toward the president and his administration about current immigration policies and failure to create a reformation bill.

Just before President Obama was to meet with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to discuss an immigration reform bill that could include a path for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship and ways to improve border control, a news conference was broadcast on C-SPAN, showing immigrants were ready for the president to take action.

“Immigrants have always done the hard work that was asked of them, and we always will,” said Pramila Jayapal, executive director for OneAmerica, in the news conference.

Jayapal said immigrants are tired of a broken immigration system, and she feels elected leaders haven’t had the courage to fix it.

A suburban woman "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims has been accused of using the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters and help terrorists overseas, even agreeing to move to Europe to try to kill a Swedish artist, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Authorities said the case shows how terror groups are looking to recruit Americans to carry out their goals.

A federal indictment charges that Colleen R. LaRose, who called herself JihadJane and Fatima LaRose online, agreed to kill the Swede on orders from the unnamed terrorists and traveled to Europe to carry out the killing. It doesn't say whether the Swede was killed, but LaRose was not charged with murder.

A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman wouldn't confirm the case is related to a group of people arrested in Ireland earlier Tuesday on suspicion of plotting against Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.