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Dissatisfied with the scope and costs of the biggest fan convention in the country, one fan started a new gathering of her own, and she quickly brought some big names in to help out.

About 2,200 passengers were being flown back to Baltimore after their cruise ship caught fire on its way to the Bahamas. It was the latest black eye for the cruise industry, which is now trying to reassure passengers it's OK for them to sail. An industry group said it has adopted a passenger "bill of rights."

Oil giant BP has agreed to pay $1 billion for coastal restoration along the Gulf of Mexico because of the 2010 oil spill. But the nature of some of the projects, including boat ramps and a beachfront hotel, has some environmental groups raising questions about what counts as coastal restoration.

Nadeem Aslam's The Blind Man's Garden explores the consequences of Sept. 11 through the story of two young brothers who go to Afghanistan in late 2001 to help wounded civilians. Aslam says he wrote the book over four and a half years, part of which was spent in total isolation.

Frank Deford puts aside his gripes this week to pay tribute to the poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, first published in the San Francisco Examiner 125 years ago June 3.

Syria's war has polarized the country. But as in many conflicts, a large portion of the population just wants to keep their heads down and stay out of harm's way. A visit to the Sayida Zeinab shrine offers a look into the complicated nature of the war.

The immigration overhaul proposed by a bipartisan group of senators has been passed out of committee and will soon be brought before the Democratic-led Senate. Less clear, though, is where the issue is headed in the GOP-controlled House, where another bipartisan group is at work on its own bill.

GOP Sen. Charles Grassley has floated legislation that would cut three seats from the important D.C. Circuit appeals court — just as President Obama prepares to announce his nominees for those jobs. The court is now evenly balanced with four appointees each from Republican and Democratic presidents.

Alan Krueger, the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, says he will step down to return to Princeton to resume his post as a professor of economics. Krueger, who has served as CEA chairman for the past two years, will return to Princeton in time for the beginning of the fall term.

Syria's fractious opposition is struggling to reach a consensus on peace talks with the Assad government, ahead of an international conference next month in Geneva engineered by the U.S. and Russia. Members have been arguing over who should hold the reins of power within the coalition.