A former Wal-Mart executive has been sentenced to only home confinement after stealing half a million dollars from the world's largest retailer. Tom Coughlin, former Vice Chairman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will only serve 27 months of home confinement, despite facing up to 28 years in jail for his crimes.

Instead of hitting the beach for Spring Break, a college student spent his time off at an Iowa Wal-Mart , becoming a celebrity of sorts. Skyler Bartels spent 41 hours earlier this month wandering the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Windsor Heights to test the retail giant's advertising of being able to get anything day or night.

The Secret Service is investigating a Rhode Island seventh-grader who wrote an essay saying his perfect day would include violence to President Bush. The West Warwick student submitted the essay Tuesday, prompting his teacher to notify school officials.

Wal-Mart announces human error was the cause for an offensive link on the company's Web site that recommended a film about Martin Luther King Jr. to potential buyers of a "Planet of the Apes" DVD. Carter Cast, walmart. com president, says the error stemmed from an effort to promote the DVD about the civil rights leader when a business manager grouped "Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream" with three other black-themed movies and assigned the set to the category of DVD boxed sets.

A fugitive is fatally shot by a deputy after trying to escape from custody, breaking through the window of a patrol car and attempting to commandeer a school bus loaded with children. On Friday, Deven Lepierro was accused of stealing from a Wal-Mart store and deputies later discovered he was a parolee wanted on two felony warrants.