All the usual cliches are being used in the run-up to Wednesday's expected announcement from President Obama about how fast and how soon the 30,000-or-so additional troops who went into Afghanistan during the "surge" will be coming home.

Milestone. Turning point. Critical.

Pick your word.

But this is worth bearing in mind:

Thousands of people swarmed over at the ancient rock formation of Stonehenge on Tuesday to celebrate the dawn of the summer solstice — the longest day of the year.

More than 18,000 neo-pagans, new agers and curious visitors shouted and banged drums and tambourines at the Stonehenge circle, a group of giant bounders in the middle of an English field, even though clouds blocked out the sunrise at 4:52 a.m. local time.

FRANKFORT - The Kentucky Division of Forestry is sending additional personnel and equipment to assist with the current wildfire emergency in the south. Eleven division employees, comprising an engine strike team will report to Waycross, Ga. on Tuesday. The engine strike team consists of five 4-wheel drive pickup trucks with 200-gallon water tanks and foam capabilities, 10 firefighters and a strike team leader. The crews are being sent in addition to 11 Kentucky Division of Forestry firefighters who reported to Florida last week.

I practically drove though the set of The Wire to get to Baltimore's Ottobar to see the band Earth Friday night. Living in Washington, D.C., I've seen my share of seedier streets, but the GPS on my phone put me through miles of Charm City's naughty business when, in hindsight, the venue isn't too far from the city's main drag. I need to start using real maps again.

Based on an advance text of Jon Huntsman's kick off speech for his campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, he plans to take the high road to the White House.

In the first speech of his official presidential campaign, Huntsman declared he would disagree with President Obama, the Democrat in the White House, as well his fellow Republicans competing to oust the president, without demonizing them.

The former Utah governor also offers a dual vision of America — one of a dire future, the other more upbeat.

The 1960s might have ended on Dec. 31, 1969, but it's not as easy to know when "the Sixties" — the era that brought us the Sexual Revolution and the birth of the hippies; a new environmental movement; and strides in civil rights for African Americans and women — came to a close. Did it end in 1968, with the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., or not until 1972, with the Watergate break-in and the re-election of Richard Nixon?

Only in the social media age can this sort of thing happen:

"About to announce my candidacy for president of the United States. Watch live at www.Jon2012.com and please RT #Jon2012," former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman just tweeted.

And his jon2012.com website is now up and running.

So, the Republican has announced that he's about to announce something that we all knew he was going to announce.

Consider the discontented viewer.

We live in this hypothetical person's golden age, when the complaints he used to share with patient friends can now be shared with the entire online world, and they may even make their way to the eyeballs of the creators of the entertainment he's so angry about. Unsatisfying season finale? Terrible third act of a movie? Too much lens flare? Tweet, tweet, tweet!

The part of this story that's getting attention across the nation is that James Verone of Gaston County, N.C., decided that the only way he could get adequate health care and a solid roof over his head would be to get himself arrested for trying to rob a bank of $1.

Verone, 59, says he has several medical problems, including a growth on this chest and two ruptured disks. He also says he's out of work and has no insurance.

Flash flooding in Knox County Monday destroyed 12 homes and caused major damage to another 17. Fourteen received minor damage after 4 inches of rain fell in a brief period. One man died in the deluge. Meanwhile, three miners were trapped in an underground Bell County coal mine after runoff from rainwater flooded part of the mine. The miners were rescued Monday night.