The time is right, then, to celebrate the academic year that was. Here are the stupidest, most outrageous and most cringe-worthy high school moments of 2012-13.

Overland High School (Aurora, Colo.): World’s greatest math teacher ever

Carly McKinney (aka Carly Crunk Bear) is the 23-year-old high school math teacher from Aurora, Colorado who took to Twitter in January with half-nude photos of herself, chatter about getting heroically stoned and an admission that she was tweeting instead of working during school hours. She also tweeted to the world that she had marijuana in her car. The Crunk Bear did not face charges for her boasting. Sadly, however, she was ultimately fired for her hijinks.

Chapin High School (Chapin, S.C.): Most bizarre flag-stomping to make some baffling point about symbolism

South Carolina honors English teacher Scott Compton was fired because he threw an American flag on the floor and stomped on it in front of his students during three different class periods. “He proceeds to take down the American flag, and said, ‘This is a symbol, but it’s only a piece of cloth. It doesn’t mean anything,’ and then he throws it down on the floor and then stomps on it, repeatedly,” said the father of a student at Chapin High. Comptonin a settlement with the Lexington-Richland 5 school district.

P.S. 211 (New York, N.Y.): Most embarrassingly stupid sacking of a teacher

A junior-high school Spanish teacher, Petrona Smith, filed a lawsuit alleging that she was fired from P.S. 211 in the Bronx in March 2012 because of a misunderstanding over the word “negro.” The 65-year-old,non-tenured teacher maintains that she was instructing her class about how to say the various basic colors in Spanish. The word “negro” naturally came up because “negro” is the Spanish word for “black.” A seventh-grade student in the class took offense at the term, however, believing the word to be a racial slur. But wait — it gets better. Smith, a native of the West Indies, is herself black.

St. Pius X High School (Lincoln, Neb.): Hottest on-campus porn photo shoot

Teen porn star Valerie Dodds, who goes by the apparently erotic stage name Val Midwest, was charged with trespassing and public nudity after taking naked photos of herself at the Catholic high school she once attended. Sex toys and a crucifix were involved as well as inserted. Dodds, 19, said she chose St. Pius X High for the nighttime photo shoot as a response to students who had criticized her recent career choice. “I decided to go there and show them that I am here to stay,” she said triumphantly. After she was ticketed, Dodds returned to the school and did another photo shoot in broad daylight, this time wearing only panties and pasties over her nipples.

Moanalua High School (Honolulu, Hawaii): Most annoying, spiteful atheist who ruined Christmas

The Hawaii Department of Education canceled a beloved annual Christmas concert by the Moanalua High School orchestra only four days before the event, following legal complaints by Mitch Kahle, founder of the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, because of New Hope Church’s involvement in the concert. New Hope had managed ticket sales and sold tickets to the concert at its services, sending all proceeds to charitable causes. In recent years, the church has raised more than $200,000 through ticket sales for a charity that treats poor people in Africa.

Martin County High School (Stuart, Fla.): Sexiest English teacher

English teacher Olivia Sprauer was fired after Alfred Fabrizio, Martin County High’s principal, learned that she also worked as a professional model under the far sexier name Victoria V. James. Herandfeature numerous photos of her wearing bikinis and occasional see-through lingerie. It was too much skin for school officials. After Sprauer confirmed to Fabrizio that the images were indeed of her, she the principal fired her and she was escorted out of the school.

Sebastian River High School (Sebastian, Fla.): Biggest to-do over a lesbian relationship between two high school students

Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, rejected a deal which would have required her to plead guilty to engaging in sex with her underage girlfriend. Last November, Hunt began a romantic relationship with a 14-year-old female student. Both attended and played on the basketball team at Sebastian River High. Since the age of consent in Florida is 16 years of age, Hunt was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a child. The age difference between the two girls is three and a half years. Under the rejected deal, Hunt would not be incarcerated or listed as a sex offender. Her trial is still ongoing this summer.

Tucson Unified School District (Tucson, Ariz.): Best judicial opinion criticizing a bunch of Chicano racists

In March, federal judge A. Wallace Tashima upheld most of a 2010 Arizona state law that prohibited school districts from offering coursework that endorses the overthrow of the United States government or stokes resentment toward a race or class of people. The ruling stems from the Tucson school district’s intervention to forcibly alter coursework in a controversial Mexican-American studies program. The highly race-conscious program taught history, civics and literature from a pointedly Mexican-American vantage point. The judge agreed with a prior evidentiary finding by an administrative law judge that the program promoted “racial resentment against ‘whites.’”

Eastern University Academy Charter School (Philadelphia, Pa.): Most unseemly book purchased by a teacher for a student

In May, The Daily Caller located the one man in America who claimed to be blissfully unaware that the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” is the tour de porn. That man is a high school math teacher at Philadelphia’s Eastern University Academy Charter School. He requested that students give him a list of books they wanted to read during an independent reading period. Naturally, a ninth-grade boy asked for “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The teacher then ordered it online, with his own money. The student’s mother was very upset when she discovered the smutty romance tale in her son’s book bag, though. School officials called the incident an unfortunate mistake.

Delavan-Darien High School (Delavan, Wisc.): Most radical leftist indoctrination at a podunk high school

At Delavan-Darien High School in Wisconsin, the curriculum on “American Diversity” allegedly teaches students that white skin confers a set of unfair privileges. The ideas presented in the course come from a broader academic movement called critical race theory. “There is not space here to list all the ways in which white privilege plays out in our lives,” reads one paper assigned to students. Another assignment asked students to visit the toy aisle at the local Wal-Mart and count the number of white dolls.

Poston Butte High School (Tan Valley, Ariz.): Worst suspension for the crime of having a picture of a gun

Freshman Daniel McClaine, Jr., made the mistake of setting a picture of an AK-47 lying on a flag as the desktop background on his Poston Butte High-issued computer. He found it on the Internet and liked it, partly because he is interested in serving in the military after graduation. A teacher ratted McClaine out after noticing the Soviet-era rifle on the computer. The boy received a three-day suspension. After his father contacted the local press, though, school district officials suddenly decided that the younger McClaine could return to school.

Middleborough High School (Middleborough, Mass.): Most stunning transgender prom queen

Wearing a silver tiara and a purple sash, and clasping a bouquet of pink flowers, Middleborough High student Cody Tubman became the first transgender prom queen in the whole history of Middleborough, Mass., the cranberry capital of the world. The senior has been dressing as a woman since sophomore year. School officials have happily facilitated the cross-dressing, permitting Tubman to use female bathrooms and locker rooms freely.

Grosse Pointe North High School (Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan): Best example of a teachers union imposing dumb rules

Science teacher Gary Abud, the 2013-14 Michigan Teacher of the Year is “a teacher amongst teachers,” according to his school district’s superintendent, and is an outstanding professional, according to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Thanks to the anti-meritocratic compensation rules governing teachers unions in Michigan, though, Abud took home about $20,000 less than the average teacher in his district.

Ambridge Area School District (Ambridge, Pa.): Best rendition of the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ song that resulted in a school lockdown

A receptionist for a local eye doctor misinterpreted high school student Travis Clawson’s voicemail greeting, triggering a lockdown of several schools in a series of events that led to his arrest. The prerecorded greeting was Clawson’s imitation of part of the rap theme song from the “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” a 1990s sitcom starring a young Will Smith. At one point, the receptionist thought she heard Clawson say, “shooting people outside of the school.” The actual words to the song are: “And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school.”

Camden LEAP Academy University Charter School (Camden, N.J.): Best sloppy joe, hopefully

Michael Pastorello, the executive chef at the Camden LEAP Academy was in the news this year either for his inflated salary or perhaps because he prepares the world’s most delectable sloppy joe — certainly off the bone, perhaps with a cream basil sauce. Pastorello was pulling $95,000 a year to serve meals to approximately 1,000 students. That’s more than twice the average take-home pay of people in the area who do the same basic job. Coincidentally, he was also the live-in boyfriend of the school’s founder.

Mariemont City School District (Mariemont, Ohio): Most ridiculous lawsuit filed by a teacher

High school French and Spanish teacher Maria C. Waltherr-Willard, 61, filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against her suburban Cincinnati school district, claiming a phobia of young children. Problems arose when the district reassigned her from high school to junior high. The suit also claims the district wanted her to resign because of her age. The alleged disability is pedophobia, an irrational fear or dislike of children. “It’s a tough phobia,” observed local professor Caleb Adler.

Linden High School (Linden, Calif.): Best detective work by a high school sophomore

After students kept noticing items disappearing from their bags all year during gym class, crime stopper Justine Betti decided to do some investigating. She wedged herself inside a school locker and waited patiently for the perpetrator to strike. Betti was surprised to find out that a popular gym teacher with some three decades of experience was the backpack bandit. Fearing that no one would believe her, she did what any good gumshoe would do: She returned to the scene of the crime, hid again, and set up a video surveillance operation.

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Robby Soave contributed to this piece.

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The Republican-controlled legislature gave final passage to the measure on Friday and sent it to the Republican governor to sign into law. Perry had called a second special session of the legislature to get the bill passed.

"Most people, I think, in this country - and in Texas, certainly - believe that six months is too late to be deciding whether or not these babies should be aborted or not. And we put the limit at five months in this bill," Perry told the CNN program "State of the Union."

The Texas measure marks the latest effort by Republicans at the state level to impose new restrictions on abortions, which were legalized nationally in a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"This gets back to the issue of should the states be able to make these decisions or should we allow this big, cumbersome federal government to decide for all of us," Perry added. "I happen to be one of the people that believes that the federal government should do a few things and do them well, and then allow the states to make the decisions on these types of issues."

The Texas measure would make Texas the 13th of the 50 U.S. states to pass a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy - a provision based on disputed research suggesting fetuses feel pain at that point. Current limits are 26 weeks in Texas.

The measure also would impose a series of new requirements on abortion clinics and doctors who perform abortions, mandating that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic and creating stricter guidelines for how doctors administer abortion-inducing drugs.

Critics, led by Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis, have said the restrictions could force most of the abortion clinics in Texas to close, prompting Texas women to turn to illegal, unsafe means if they want an abortion.

"Well, I don't agree with her premise and I don't agree with her numbers," Perry said, referring to Davis, who he has criticized in recent weeks in highly personal terms. "And I think history will prove that she is wrong by asserting that."

Perry, who last Monday announced that he would not seek re-election in 2014, sidestepped a question about whether he will run for U.S. president in 2016. He mounted an unsuccessful run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Not quite.

Gadhafi ended up killed by Libyan rebel forces though U.N. and U.S. intervention was key to that and the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi quickly moved to install conservative Islamists into top positions when he became Egypt's president. And Clapper's latest misstep may have dented trust in the chief intelligence officer despite public assurances of support from the White House and key members of Congress.

Clapper acknowledged he misspoke when he told the Senate Intelligence Committee in March that U.S. spies do not gather data on Americans something NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed as false by releasing documents showing the NSA collects millions of Americans' phone records showing who they called and for how long, as well as some Internet traffic.

"Clapper is probably job secure for now because (Capitol) Hill is not calling for his removal," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the Obama White House who heads the Brookings Intelligence Project research group. "But he now has an unfortunate record. Another misstatement, and he will be a liability."

The intelligence director's staying power shows the Obama administration's reluctance to unseat the nation's top spy while the intelligence community is dealing with the fallout of what Snowden, a former NSA systems analyst, has disclosed and what he might still reveal. Asking Clapper to step down would also elevate Snowden by highlighting his claim that senior U.S. officials were lying to Congress about the nature and extent of NSA surveillance programs.

Snowden's revelations have exposed a level of domestic spying that most Americans were unaware of, prompting a national debate over privacy. He is still believed to be stranded at a Moscow airport.

U.S. intelligence officials have said they are trying to determine how Snowden, who had wide access to the NSA's computer networks was able to carry out the classified material he has leaked to the media. No one in the intelligence community has yet been revealed to be disciplined over the possible security lapse that allowed the former government contractor to gather so much material undetected, though a criminal investigation has been launched into the company that did his background check.

"The president has full confidence in Director Clapper and his leadership of the intelligence community," said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden, echoing a statement by White House spokesman Jay Carney in 2011, when the intelligence chief was facing calls for his resignation over comments on Libya.

That time, the call came from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. This time, Graham's office offered no comment, and the only lawmaker spearheading a call for Clapper to step down has been Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. His spokesman, Will Adams, said Amash is gathering signatures for a letter he intends to send to the White House demanding Clapper's departure.

"DNI Clapper explained his response ... and apologized for the misunderstanding," Clapper spokesman Shawn Turner said.

Clapper's predecessor, Dennis Blair, also ended up in trouble over his remarks. He embarrassed the White House by revealing in open testimony that the government's elite interrogation team, the High-Value Interrogation Group, had not been officially deployed to question the 2009 Christmas Day bomber. He also told Congress that the suspected bomber continued to provide helpful information to investigators at a time when authorities had hoped to keep his cooperation a secret.

Blair was also the first Obama administration official to describe the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, as an act of homegrown terrorism, getting ahead of the White House, which had been slow to link the killings publicly to Islamic militancy.

The Bush administration's director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, also made missteps in public, once divulging the cancellation of a highly classified, multibillion-dollar satellite program. And he spilled classified details about how the surveillance act works to a newspaper.

Clapper's apology over his misleading remarks came in a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., dated June 21 but released just before the July Fourth holiday.

Clapper called his comments at a hearing in March "clearly erroneous." He'd been asked by Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, if the NSA gathered "any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans."

At first, Clapper answered definitively: "No."

Pressed by Wyden, Clapper changed his answer. "Not wittingly," he said. "There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly."

Clapper in June called those statements "the least untruthful" thing he could think of to say in an open, unclassified hearing. In his apology letter, he said was thinking about whether the NSA gathered the content of emails, rather than just the record of calls to and from U.S. citizens and the length of those phone calls. In the letter, Clapper said he could now publicly correct the record because the existence of the metadata collection program has been declassified since the deluge of leaks from Snowden.

Wyden, and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said Clapper should have corrected the record sooner, but they stopped well short of asking him to step down.

Feinstein said in a statement last week: "I have received Director Clapper's letter and believe it speaks for itself. I have no further comment at this time." Her office declined requests to comment for this article, as did the vice chair, Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.

The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and the committee's top Democrat, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, also declined to comment.

"This administration views Snowden as the problem, not Gen. Clapper," House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said of Clapper, a retired Air Force lieutenant general. "He is generally a very straight shooter. I think people are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't trying to mislead the Senate."

It's Clapper's bluntness in closed hearings, away from the cameras that will likely be his saving grace, according to former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican.

"I never found him to parse his words or answers," Hoekstra said. "You might not agree with him, and you could have a very spirited argument with him. He wouldn't try to hide it. And that's a good thing."

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Online:

Office of the Director of National Intelligence: http://www.dni.gov

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Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier

The Canadian-born Monteith, who played star quarterback-turned-singer Finn Hudson on the Fox TV series about a high school glee club, was found dead in his room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel on Vancouver's waterfront at about noon Saturday, according to police.

Acting Vancouver Police Chief Doug LePard said there was no indication of foul play.

Vancouver police said Sunday that an autopsy is expected to take place on Monday to determine the cause of death.

Monteith's body was found by hotel staff who entered his room after he missed his check-out time, LePard said. Monteith had checked into the hotel on July 6.

"We do not have a great deal of information as to cause of death," said British Columbia Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe. She said further tests would be needed to determine how Monteith died.

"The exact nature of those examinations will depend on investigative findings within the next day or two as information is gathered from medical records and discussions with family take place," she said.

LePard said Monteith had been out with people earlier and that those people are being interviewed.

Video and electronic records from the hotel indicate Monteith returned to his room by himself early Saturday morning, and he was believed to be alone when he died, LePard said.

Lapointe said he had been dead for several hours by the time his body was found.

Lea Michele, Monteith's "Glee" co-star and real-life girlfriend, was asking for privacy after receiving news of his death, said her representative, Molly Kawachi of ID-PR .

"We ask that everyone kindly respect Lea's privacy during this devastating time," Kawachi said in in an email to The Associated Press.

Other "Glee" cast members took to Twitter to express their feelings after news of Monteith's death broke.

"I have no words! My heart is broken," Dot-Marie Jones, who plays football coach Shannon Beiste on "Glee," said in a post on her Twitter account Saturday night. She called Monteith a "hell of a friend" and an "amazing" man.

Josh Sussman, who plays Jacob on "Glee," tweeted: "I am so saddened to hear about Cory. He was such a great guy/Super-kind &warm."

"What an absolutely tragic loss of a very talented young man," tweeted Zooey Deschanel, star of another Fox show, "New Girl."

Fox and the producers of "Glee," including 20th Century Fox Television, called him an exceptional performer "and an even more exceptional person. He was a true joy to work with and we will all miss him tremendously."

"We are in shock and mourning this tragic loss," his representatives at Viewpoint Public Relations in Los Angeles said in a statement.

In April, Monteith admitted himself to a treatment facility for "substance addiction" and asked for privacy as he took steps toward recovery, a representative said at the time.

Michele told People magazine at the time that she loved and supported him and was proud he was seeking help.

It was not Monteith's first time in rehab. He received treatment when he was 19 and had previously talked about his addiction struggles, saying he had a serious problem and took just "anything and everything."

He told Parade magazine in 2011 that he was "lucky to be alive."

Monteith, who turned 31 on May 11, starred in "Glee" as a high school football player who puts his status and popularity at risk to join the glee club and its outcast members.

The show, with its pop music-based song-and-dance numbers and high-profile guest stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, became an immediate hit and made stars of its relatively unknown cast.

The series, which debuted in 2009, is in its fourth season.

On his Twitter account, Monteith described himself as "tall, awkward, canadian, actor, drummer, person."

In a 2010 interview with The Associated Press, Monteith was upbeat about life. He said that if "Glee" were to be canceled he would be OK.

"I've never been afraid of working," he said. "I've never been afraid of auditioning for jobs. Obviously, I've never been afraid of anonymity. I was happy (before 'Glee'). I'm happy now. I guess I'm well adjusted."

Monteith was among the "Glee" actors who remained series regulars as their characters graduated high school and moved on to other adventures.

According to his biography on Fox's website, Monteith was born in Calgary, Alberta, and moved to Vancouver Island as a child. Before turning to acting, he held a variety of jobs including Wal-Mart greeter, school bus driver, roofer and cab driver.

"Thanks for always being kind Cory. You came a long way from hanging on the beaches in Vancouver with the gang pre-Glee," tweeted Gerard Funk, an actor from Vancouver who joined the "Glee" cast last year.

Monteith's TV credits included roles on the series "Kaya" and "Kyle XY" and guest appearances on "Smallville," ''Supernatural," ''Stargate," ''Flash Gordon" and "Interns." His film credits included "Final Destination 3," ''The Invisible," ''Deck the Halls" and "Whisper."

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Elber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.

Danny Werfel told reporters Monday that after becoming acting IRS chief last month, he discovered inappropriate and wide-ranging criteria in lists screeners use to single out groups for careful examinations. He did not specify what terms were on the lists.

Werfel's comments suggest the IRS may have been targeting groups other than tea party and other conservative organizations for tough examinations to see if they qualify. The agency has been under fire since last month for targeting those groups.

Werfel said he has suspended use of those lists. Investigators have previously said agency officials abolished targeting of conservative groups in those lists in May 2012.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Twenty-five couples who filed a lawsuit challenging Illinois' ban on gay marriage asked a judge on Wednesday to rule quickly in their favor, saying a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down part of a law denying federal benefits to married gay couples creates a new urgency in the state.

Illinois legalized civil unions two years ago, but the recent Supreme Court decision applies only to married gay couples.

Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a motion for summary judgment in Cook County Circuit Court. They said Judge Sophia Hall could rule on the motion as soon as Aug. 6, when oral arguments are scheduled on a defense motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

"We will say that we should win as a matter of law" under the state constitution, said Camilla Taylor, Lambda Legal's marriage project director. "Illinois now is the only thing standing between these families and numerous federal rights."

A lawyer representing five downstate county clerks who are defending the ban after the state attorney general and Cook County prosecutor refused to do so said the request is premature because all the evidence has not yet been presented. He also complained that the plaintiffs took nine months to respond to the motion to dismiss the case.

"For them to come in (now) ... has me wondering if they're particularly confident of their legal position as a matter of law," said Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm that opposes gay marriage.

Wednesday's motion comes a day after civil rights lawyers in Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn that state's 17-year-old ban on same-sex marriage and to force the state to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who wed in other jurisdictions.

Same-sex marriage is legal, or soon will be, in 13 states. Federal courts in California are so far the only ones that have said a state same-sex marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, federal court challenges are emerging in other states, including Nevada, Hawaii and Michigan. In the coming days and weeks, the ACLU plans to lodge same-sex marriage challenges in North Carolina and Virginia.

It also is pursuing same-sex marriage legislation in several other states and referenda in Oregon and Nevada in the coming years, ACLU lawyers said.

Illinois' lawsuit was filed last year against Cook County Clerk David Orr, a supporter of gay marriage whose office is responsible for issuing marriage licenses in Chicago and the rest of the county. All plaintiffs had applied for and been denied marriage licenses in Cook County.

But in an unusual move, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez declined to defend the state's 17-year-old ban, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, saying it violates the state constitution's equal protection clause. The downstate clerks later were granted permission to intervene.

Alvarez said it was her job to represent Orr, and they both agreed with the plaintiffs. Madigan said she would file arguments in support of the plaintiffs.

John Knight, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project of the ACLU of Illinois, said only marriage will ensure that gay couples in Illinois get protections that other married couples enjoy, including family medical leave and veterans and tax benefits.

James Darby, an 81-year-old Korean War veteran, said he wants to be buried in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, along with his partner of 50 years, Patrick Bova, 75. But as of now, that's impossible.

"I gave up four years of my life during the Korean War, I served my country ... and I came back home and expected to have the same rights as everyone else," said Darby. "But I'm considered a second-class citizen in my own state."

Bova said he's "looking forward to the time when our marriage and its practical and emotional aspects will be realized. I think 50 years is a long time to wait."

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Follow Tammy Webber at: www.twitter.com/twebber02

The late-1970's audio recordings, which capture the critical approach and landing tests that preceded 30 years of U.S. space exploration, juxtapose the start of the with its final role located just a few more steps into the new pavilion as a public attraction and educational exhibit.

Retired by NASA in 1985 and previously a part of the Smithsonian's collection, arrived at the Intrepid, a converted World War II aircraft carrier located on Manhattan's west side, in 2012. Enterprise's astronauts the same whose voices are heard inside the pavilion's new "soundscape" entranceway joined NASA, city and museum officials at the Intrepid to celebrate the last July. []

Then, just three months later, Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, flooding the pier where the Intrepid is docked. The museum's original Space Shuttle Pavilion relied on air pressure to maintain its shape, so when the "superstorm" knocked out all the power, the enclosure deflated and was ultimately damaged beyond repair.

Enterprise was damaged, too. Its vertical stabilizer, or tail, was caught by the punctured pavilion and its tip broke off. Fortunately, the piece was recovered and reattached.

Now, eight months later, in an expanded exhibit and new, metal-supported pavilion. []

On and above the flight deck

Wednesday's ribbon cutting for the included only a few local NASA center officials and none of the astronauts who were present for last year's opening. Though the fanfare was diminished, the enthusiasm was not, as the Intrepid's curators welcomed the waiting public inside.

"We are thrilled," Elaine Charnov, Intrepid's vice president of exhibits, told collectSPACE.com in an interview. "[This] establishes ... that we're recovering from Hurricane Sandy, but also continuing the educational venture that Intrepid is all about."

The shuttle pavilion sits on the aircraft carrier's flight deck. Enterprise itself, is mounted 10 feet (3 meters) above the deck, high enough that visitors can walk underneath it to view its deployed landing gear and mock heat shield tiles. Although constructed with an airframe identical to one of its space-flown sister ships, . It was only used for atmospheric flight tests and ground-based trials.

Guests desiring a closer view of the orbiter can ascend to an observation platform offering a nose-to-nose encounter with the test shuttle.

The previous pavilion provided a raised-level view as well, but it quickly became crowded. The new exhibit features a larger platform.

"The expanded viewing platform is to enable the public to get a little bit closer and to accommodate more people at a time," Charnov said.

Enterprise is also no longer the only spacecraft to look at.

"We are super excited that we've now brought Soyuz into the pavilion so we can tell the comparative story about the two different space vehicles, which to some extent shared parallel missions," said Charnov.

Moved up from one of the Intrepid's lower decks, Russia's Soyuz TMA-6 capsule sits nearby the much larger shuttle. The three-seat spacecraft visited the International Space Station in 2005. Its return crew included Greg Olsen, who paid his way to orbit as a so-called "space tourist." Olsen now owns the spacecraft and has loaned it to the Intrepid for display.

Enterprise's sister space shuttles were retired to other museums in 2011. Since then, NASA has relied on Russia's Soyuz to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station. The space agency intends to hire private space companies to resume U.S.-based manned launches as soon as the new commercial spacecraft become available in 2017.

Expanding Enterprise

During the months that Enterprise's pavilion was closed to visitors, the Intrepid set up a temporary exhibit of artifacts and memorabilia aimed at recounting the . Those objects and more have been incorporated into the newly-opened display.

"We had already intended, now that [Enterprise has been here] for a year already, to add new content and stories," Charnov explained, adding that the storm-forced redesign provided the opportunity for that expansion.

"In contrast with the last exhibition, which was really about telling a story through lightboxes and captive frame grabs all along the walls, this gave us the opportunity to pause and recognize that this pavilion is massive it's actually about a 19,000-square-foot stage and people are going to be experiencing it in their own way and their own time," she added.

Rather than have guests follow a single narrative exhibit, the displays are now divided into zones, with each sharing a different aspect about the space shuttle and Enterprise. New exhibit areas inside the pavilion employ artifacts and multimedia to provide a closer look at the interior of the orbiter's interior, examine the space shuttle's influence on pop culture, and illustrate the 30-year program's impact on everyday life.

The exhibit also highlights the team of people who worked behind the astronauts to make sure that each mission was a success, as well as provide visitors an updated look at NASA's current and planned activities.

"We are really trying to celebrate history but also connect the public to what is going on now and what are some of the visions for the future," Charnov said. "Because history should be active."

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is located at Pier 86 (46th Street and 12th Avenue) in Manhattan. Access to the Space Shuttle Pavilion costs $7 for adults and $5 for children ages 3 to 17, in addition to regular admission. The Intrepid is hosting a public SpaceFest, July 25-29, 2013, with NASA astronaut appearances, free movie screenings, hands-on demonstrations and more to celebrate all things space.

Follow collectSPACE.com onand on Twitter at @. Copyright 2013 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's next mission to Mars should look for past microbial life and collect samples to eventually bring back to Earth, a science advisory group said on Tuesday.

The U.S. space agency expects to spend about $1.5 billion, plus launch costs, on a mission to follow the ongoing Mars rover Curiosity, which is scouting an ancient impact crater for habitats that could have supported microbial life.

The so-called Mars 2020 rover would take a more direct approach to learning if life exists beyond Earth, though it would search for past, not present-day, microbes.

"We don't have the clear indications that life is at such an abundance on the planet that we can go there with a simple experiment ... and detect that," said Brown University geologist John "Jack" Mustard, who chaired the Mars 2020 science advisory team.

NASA tried that approach in the 1970s with the Viking landers and found itself at a scientific dead end, but more recent discoveries about the planet's chemistry have cast those results in a new light.

The United States, which has been the only country to successfully land and operate on Mars, did not return to the planet's surface for more than 20 years.

Since then, an increasingly more sophisticated series of orbiters, landers and rovers have turned up evidence that the planet most like Earth in the solar system was once warmer and wetter than the cold, dry desert that exists today.

"To go and look for simple organisms, or not-so-simple organisms, that are living within that toxic, harsh environment, we just think is a foolish investment of the technology at this time," Mustard told reporters on a conference call.

"What you really want to get at is, Was there ever life elsewhere? Was there a second genesis that had the same characteristics as what we had on Earth?' To go after those questions, you want to approach it in a logical, systematic, stepwise fashion so that you can be confident about your results as you move forward," Mustard said.

To that end, the advisory team proposes NASA include a way to collect and store about 31 tubes of crushed rock and soil to be returned to Earth in the future. The panel did not address cost and timing for that part of the endeavor.

The National Academy of Sciences last year ranked a Mars sample return mission as its top priority in planetary science for the next decade.

If the rover found "a dinosaur-type bone, we probably wouldn't need to have to return that sample. We could recognize that from our current capabilities," Mustard said.

"Our understanding is that (life on Mars) is likely to be microbial and that's a darn hard measurement to make and a darn hard measurement to convince the skeptical science community that it is indeed the case," he said.

Unlike Europe's planned ExoMars lander, a life-detection mission that is due to launch in 2018, NASA's rover would not drill deeply into the planet's surface for samples to analyze. Some scientists believe that any organic materials on or near the planet's surface would have been obliterated by the planet's harsh radioactive environment. The advisory panel, however, points out in its report that landing in a relatively recent crater could mitigate those concerns.

The United States had planned to partner with Europe on ExoMars, but backed out of the project last year, citing budget concerns. Since then, Russia has stepped in to fill the gap left by NASA's withdrawal.

NASA had no immediate comment about how the cost of the Mars 2020 mission compares with what it had expected to spend on ExoMars.

In addition to searching for past life, the new rover, which would launch in 2020, also could include tests that would help pave the way for eventual human missions to Mars, a long-term goal of space exploration initiatives.

NASA officials said they will be studying the team's report before issuing a solicitation for science instruments for the new rover.

(Editing by Tom Brown)

Canadian Nestor and Frenchwoman Mladenovic, the eighth seeds who were runners-up at last month's French Open, dropped the first set to the Brazilian and American pairing and saved two match points in the third set before claiming their first grand slam title together.

Wimbledon singles champion Marion Bartoli, a close friend of Mladenovic's, watched the match from the stands before heading off for the champions ball.

It was the 40-year-old Nestor's third grand slam mixed doubles title and he has also won eight major men's doubles crowns, including two at the All England Club, and the 2000 Olympic gold medal.

The 39-year-old Raymond has won four grand slam titles in women's doubles and seven in mixed, including last year's crown at Wimbledon in partnership with compatriot Mike Bryan who won the men's doubles title with his brother Bob on Saturday. (Reporting by Ed Osmond, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

* Born: Glasgow, Scotland, May 15, 1987 (age 26)

* A survivor of the 1996 Dunblane School massacre

* A talented all-round sportsman, he turned down a promising career as a soccer player to focus on tennis, leaving his homeland at age 15 to train in Barcelona.

* Became the first British player since Greg Rusedski in 1997 to make a grand slam final when he played the 2008 championship decider in New York, losing to Roger Federer in straight sets.

* Made the Australian Open final in 2010, losing to Federer, again in straight sets.

* In 2011, he reached the Australian Open final for the second straight year, but lost to Djokovic, also in straight sets.

* In 2012, he hired former world number one Ivan Lendl as his coach.

* He became the first British man to reach the final at Wimbledon since Bunny Austin in 1938. He lost to Federer but won a set.

* A few weeks later, he avenged his loss to Federer when he won the gold medal at the London Olympics.

* In winning the U.S. Open, he became the first British man to win a grand slam singles title since Fred Perry won the U.S. Open in 1936.

* He beat Djokovic in an epic five-set U.S. Open final in 2012 to win his first grand slam title.

* Djokovic got his revenge at this year's Australian Open, coming from behind to beat Murray 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2.

* Murray missed this year's French Open due to injury

* Beats top seed Djokovic 6-4 7-5 6-4 to become first British man to win Wimbledon singles title since 1936.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)