SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- The hunt across Southern California for rampaging ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner took a dramatic turn Tuesday after the fugitive allegedly shot and wounded two sheriff's deputies during firefight in Big Bear, a mountain resort east of Los Angeles. The incident occurred after Dorner resurfaced from hiding to burglarize an area home, tie up the owners and abscond with their pickup truck. Authorities have canvassed numerous locations throughout the state in search of Dorner, pursuing more than 1,000 leads from witnesses about his possible whereabouts. Not only is Dorner a highly trained police officer, he is also a decorated member of the Armed Forces. Last week, Dorner published an 11,000-word manifesto in which he named members of the LAPD as targets in his plot to seek revenge for being discharged from the force in 2008. Dorner has been unusually successful in evading detection and capture, due in large part to his particular experience with and intimate knowledge of police procedures. As a result, many would-be murderers have said they now plan to enlist in the police force to hone their skills and advance their goals.

WATERLOO, Iowa -- Conservative Republican Michele Bachmann appeared this weekend in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, to kick off her official run at the 2012 presidential race. Bachmann had hoped to reestablish her credentials as a true native of Iowa, a strategically influential state for politicians seeking the nation’s highest office. However, Bachmann set a dark tone for her campaign when she boasted of sharing a kindred spirit with one of the city’s most infamous residents, serial killer John Wayne Gacy: “Well what I want them to know is just, like John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.”