The Good: Coach Luma Mufleh and her soccer team, The Fugees (short for refugees) in Clarkston, Georgia. Check out the Jan. 21 NY Times article by Warren St. John here.

The Bad:

Cost of the War in Iraq

The Ugly: The trial of Colton Pitonyak, accused of killing his best friend, Jennifer Cave, in his West Campus apt. in Austin, Texas in August 2005 began today. KXAN is providing live coverage of the trial. It's sad ... the guy seems like he was probably a pretty good kid, made good grades in high school, but started getting into heavy drinking and drugs in college. On the night in question he was so drunk and high he has absolutely no memory (or claims to have no memory) of what happened nor how she got shot. When he found her body in his bathtub the next morning, the first thing he did was call another friend, who then came over. Together they tried to figure out what to do. Rather than calling the police or an ambulance, they tried ineffectively to get rid of the body and then ran off to another town, where they hid out in a hotel room until picked up by Federal Marshals.

On the day she was killed, Jennifer had just started a new job she was excited about. They'd gone out to dinner to celebrate. What happened after that is a mystery, except that she was somehow shot with his gun. On the stand his answers are unemotional and straight-forward, but he seems to feel some remorse. When asked why he didn't call the police or his dad, he just says that he panicked.

It's just such a shame. They were at the beginning of their lives. Hers is now gone, and his is a mess, all because of his poor choices.