A very loud BOOM just shook the house here in Maryville, followed by about three or four follow-up booms. We heard the same thing the other morning. I thought it was a sonic boom, but nobody outside our immediate neighborhood heard it. Then we thought it could have been Vulcan Materials doing blasti...

Five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty yesterday to federal charges that they unleashed an unprovoked salvo of bullets and grenades in a busy Baghdad square in 2007, killing at least 14 Iraqi civilians and injuring 20 others....

Five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty yesterday to federal charges that they unleashed an unprovoked salvo of bullets and grenades in a busy Baghdad square in 2007, killing at least 14 Iraqi civilians and injuring 20 others....

Federal prosecutors yesterday described a blaze of gunfire and grenade explosions unleashed by six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a busy Baghdad square last year, calling it an "unprovoked and illegal attack" on unarmed Iraqi civilians that killed at least 14 and wounded 20....

Federal prosecutors yesterday described a blaze of gunfire and grenade explosions unleashed by six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a busy Baghdad square last year, calling it an "unprovoked and illegal attack" on unarmed Iraqi civilians that killed at least 14 and wounded 20....

Federal prosecutors yesterday described a blaze of gunfire and grenade explosions unleashed by six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a busy Baghdad square last year, calling it an "unprovoked and illegal attack" on unarmed Iraqi civilians that killed at least 14 and wounded 20....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....