EAST BERNSTADT, Ky. (AP) — The stories from tornado survivors across the South and Midwest were remarkable: schoolchildren took cover under desks, people hunkered down in a church basement or hid out in a bank vault. One family even piled on top of one another for protection.

One of the most remarkable survivors was a toddler found alive and alone in a field near her Indiana home. Her four immediate family members were among at least 38 people killed by tornadoes that scarred communities scattered across hundreds of miles of the nation’s midsection from Alabama to Indiana.

A man accused of punishing his 12-year-old daughter by binding her hands and feet with duct tape and sticking her in a dog cage, then threatening to electrify the crate, was just engaging in “some horseplay” that “got out of control,” his lawyer says.

Here’s what happened, according to a report from NBC station WLWT of Cincinnati:

The Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Office said James Tapke restrained his 12-year-old daughter’s hands and feet using duct tape before placing her in a dog cage on Jan. 10. Then, while his daughter was in the cage, investigators said, Tapke dropped small amounts of water on her face.

According to court papers, the victim was in the cage for about 20 minutes before her 13-year-old brother let her out. When she got out, authorities said, the victim poured water on her father’s head and in his ear.

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA – A frustrated mom has given her wayward teenage son the ultimate punishment: public humiliation.

The 14-year-old was forced to stand on a busy street for two hours with a massive sign hanging around his neck, which read, “I lie, I steal, I sell drugs, I don’t follow the law.”

Dynesha Lax, of Fort Wayne, said the punishments handed out to her unruly son weren’t strong enough to get him to stop so she had no choice but to take this drastic action.

“I decided he broke the law and they only gave him a few hours community service so I decided that we were going to wear a sign that says you looking for attention, we’re going to get you attention,” Lax told KLTV.

CLEVELAND — Authorities identified the body of an Ohio man Saturday who could be the third victim of a bogus Craigslist website ad that lured two jobseekers to their deaths.

The body of Ralph H. Geiger, 56, was found in a shallow grave Nov. 25 in the same area another body was found earlier in the month in the heavily wooded area in southeastern Ohio, Noble County Sheriff Steve Hannum said.

Hannum, under a gag order from a judge, did not say whether Geiger answered the same ad promising farmhand work that authorities say led to the deaths of two other men.

“Recent events of an ongoing investigation led authorities to Mr. Geiger’s gravesite,” Hannum said in a statement.

The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the widow and family of a Florida tabloid photo editor killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

A document obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press shows that Maureen Stevens will drop all other claims stemming from the death of Robert Stevens. The document also says the U.S. is not admitting fault.

Stevens’ lawsuit, filed in 2003, claimed the government was negligent because it failed to stop someone at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., from creating weapons-grade anthrax used in letters that killed her husband and four other people. Seventeen more people were sickened.

Violence erupted at Black Friday sales across the U.S. with one bargain-hunter left critically injured after being shot during a robbery and 15 other people injured when an angry shopper used pepper spray.

Several of the incidents took place at Wal-Mart stores as millions of Americans loaded up on holiday purchases.

Update 11:57 a.m. ET: An off-duty police officer used pepper spray on shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Kinston, N.C.

Kinston police Sgt. Roland Davis said an off-duty officer whom the store had hired to help with security used the chemical while trying to make an arrest during a disturbance. Unconfirmed reports said as many as 20 peopl ewer affected.

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson’s doctor was convicted Monday of involuntary manslaughter after a trial that painted him as a reckless caregiver who administered a lethal dose of a powerful anesthetic that killed the pop star.

The verdict against Dr. Conrad Murray marked the latest chapter in one of pop culture’s most shocking tragedies — the death of the King of Pop on the eve of the singer’s heavily promoted comeback concerts.

Members of Jackson’s family, including his sister LaToya, wept quietly after the verdict was read.

President Barack Obama said today that Iran will “pay a price” through sanctions and international pressure for its recent hostile behavior including the alleged Iran-directed plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, D.C.

Echoing previous statements by top U.S. officials, Obama said that when dealing with Iran, “We don’t take any options off the table,” but did not make any mention of possible military action in favor of pushing harsh economic sanctions and corralling international condemnation of Iran’s alleged action.

SEAL BEACH, Calif. — Six people were shot to death and three others wounded at a hair salon on Wednesday in a normally sedate Southern California beach community, Orange County authorities said. One suspect was in custody.

The shooting occurred at Salon Meritage around 1:30 p.m. in the 500
block of the Pacific Coast Highway, Capt. Mark Stone of the Orange
County Fire Authority told NBC LA.

Three victims were rushed to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, reportedly in critical condition.

Victims were believed to be both employees and customers of the salon, KTLA News reported.

Los Angeles (CNN) — A brawl between motorcycle club members at a western Nevada casino devolved into a gunfight that left one person dead and two wounded, police said Saturday.

Around 11:25 p.m. Friday, a fight broke out among members of the Hell’s Angels and Vagos clubs in front of the Trader Dick’s bar inside John Ascuaga’s Nugget, a family-owned casino in Sparks, that city’s deputy police chief Brian Allen told reporters.