Midday Roundup: Malaysian jetliner vanishes without a trace

Without a trace. The search continues today for a Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished Friday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed in waters near Vietnam with 239 people on board. The search operation, involving 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries, has found not one piece of wreckage. A promising oil slick found in the South China Sea did not come from an aircraft, officials said. On land, investigators are focusing on two passengers who bought one-way tickets and boarded the plane with stolen passports. A terrorist attack is just one of multiple possible causes being considered, including an explosion, catastrophic engine failure, extreme turbulence, pilot error, or even suicide.

Speaking out. The father of Adam Lanza, the teen responsible for killing 26 teachers and students at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., is speaking out after avoiding media attention in the 15 months since the shooting. In an upcoming issue of The New Yorker, Peter Lanza tells the families of his son’s victims, “I would trade places with them in a heartbeat if that could help.” Lanza said he told his story to writer Andrew Solomon to try to “get some good from this.” The article tells Adam Lanza’s life story through his father’s eyes and gives frightening insight into the teen’s relationship with his mother, whose indulgence, the article speculates, might have contributed to his anti-social and ultimately deadly behavior.

Separated, permanently. The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to review a ruling that separated an Episcopal congregation from its historic home in Falls Church, Va. In 2012, about 4,000 members of The Falls Church, the parish that gave the town its name, voted to break away from The Episcopal Church (TEC) and join the more conservative Anglican Church in North America. In a characteristic move, TEC forced the congregation to leave its building, which was built in 1732. The new congregation, called The Falls Church Anglican, worships in nearby schools and a Baptist church. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled the property belonged to TEC, but nearly $3 million in church funds belonged to The Falls Church Anglican. The U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand without giving a reason why.

Illicit apparel. The court also rejected an appeal from a Pennsylvania school district that wants to prevent students from wearing “I (heart) Boobies!” bracelets to promote breast cancer awareness. The Supreme Court today left in place a federal appeals court ruling striking down a ban on the bracelets. Easton Area School District instituted the ban, saying the breast-cancer awareness bracelets are lewd in their use of sexual innuendo. The lower court sided with two students who sued the district in 2010 with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. Easton is one of several school districts around the country to ban the bracelets, which are distributed by the nonprofit Keep A Breast Foundation of Carlsbad, Calif.