Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, leaves the Senate on Saturday in the snow following an early morning vote on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senators have been working odd hours lately, but the job has its perks.

Harry Hamburg/AP Photo

Workers and police investigators sift through debris surrounding the cracked fuselage of American Airlines flight AA331, which crash landed overnight Wednesday on a flight from Miami to Jamaica, just beyond the runway of Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. More than 40 people were injured, at least 4 seriously, and there were no fatalities, according to officials, after the plane overshot the runway when it landed in heavy rain.

Lloyd Robinson/AP Photo

An Indonesian man rides a three-wheeled pedicab Wednesday with a fiberglass statue of U.S. President Barack Obama flashing a peace sign, on a street during an art festival in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The statue, created by local artist Wildan Syahnur, was meant as criticism to Obama for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan despite receiving a Nobel Peace Prize. Syahnur added bandages after the statue sustained some damage after falling from the pedicab in a similar event last week.

Slamet Riyadi/AP Photo

Members of Girl Scout Troop 7745 attend “A Day on the Train” badge workshop at the Midland Railroad Depot in Baldwin City. Kim Taylor, Lawrence, submitted the picture.

Kim Taylor

Tania Ramirez, 34, of Gaithersburg, Md., helps her children Sarah, left, Esteban and Cynthia wrap a present for their father. The couple is struggling to make payments on mortgage loans. Still, as Christmas approaches, the mother of five focuses on the family’s traditions.

Sarah L. Voisin/Washington Post photo

The Perry family, from left, Nolan, 1, Jake, Gavyn, 3, and Julie, were pleasantly surprised when an anonymous woman who called herself Santa dropped off gifts at their home Saturday. Julie and Jake, a Marine veteran of the war in Iraq, said they were very grateful to the woman and her friends for making their Christmas more merry.

Photo by Estuardo Garcia

Clarissa Atkins, Lawrence, covers her daughter Jaila, 1, with a plastic shopping bag and pushes her groceries to her car in the Hillcrest Shopping Center trying to avoid the heavy rain. December's wacky weather made a lot of people do a double take on Wednesday morning as hail and heavy rain fell.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Roger Bonner is senior investigator with the Kansas Department of Corrections. When he joined the department in 1983, he inherited the case of Priscilla Ann Frey, who escaped from the Lansing Correctional Facility 35 years ago on Christmas Eve. Bonner says the department continues to follow leads today.

Photo by Kevin Anderson

Kansas guard Tyrel Reed looks to pass out to the wing as he moves past Radford center Artsiom Parakhouski during the second half, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Photo by Nick Krug

Lawrence high sophomore K.J. Pritchard (23) drives the lane in this Dec. 10 file photo against Sumner Academy from the Blue Valley Tournament in Overland Park. Pritchard is one of a handful of sophomores on Lawrence High and Free State who are making immediate impacts on their basketball teams this winter.

Photo by Kevin Anderson