MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach, this year celebrating the 75th anniversary of its incorporation, is the heart of South Carolina's $16.5 billion tourism industry. Myrtle Beach is in the center of a 60-mile (100-kilometer) reach of beaches that attracts more than 14 million visitors a year to dozens of golf courses, hundreds of restaurants and tens of thousands of hotel, motel and other rental units. There's shopping at hundreds of stores and nine live entertainment theaters with almost 12,000 seats. But there's a lot to do for free. Here are five suggestions:

BOULDER, Colo. — Ethan Welty is thinking ahead to harvest time as he cycles through tidy Boulder streets pointing out apple, plum and mulberry trees on public and private land.

The country’s second “Walmart on Campus” will open Wednesday at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.

If you’ve got at least $50,000 lying around, you can own a piece of American history.

Arizona State University is hoping fans will be happy with the new Sparky mascot design revealed Wednesday afternoon.

NAPA, Calif. — Love the lush and lovely Napa Valley but hate how expensive it can be? You're not the first. In the late 19th century, writer Robert Louis Stevenson moved his honeymoon to the rustic but free setting of an abandoned mining camp when the $10-a-week going rate for Calistoga hotels proved too much for his slender purse.

A toddler is in critical condition after the child got into the family pool while his aunt was sleeping, according to Mesa Fire Department officials.

NEW YORK — At the beginning of each tourist season, the entrepreneurs who pitch the thrill rides, hot dogs, sideshows and souvenirs at gritty Coney Island gather along its famous boardwalk to pray for two things: good weather and large crowds.

The Horizon girls volleyball team only lost one match to an in-state opponent this year, and Nikki Hess could do nothing to stop it.

The Arizona Big Train Operators are not only “big” in terms of the size of model trains they run, but also on holiday spirit as they host the Trains in the Garden Christmas Open House Tours again this year.

If you looked to the skies last weekend, you probably saw the bright colors of the second annual Arizona Balloon Classic, hosted this year in Gilbert.

From elaborately decorated trees to drive-through lighting displays to boat parades and train shows, a variety of holiday spectacles are being staged through the end of December and into early January around the country. Here are a few of them.

A mismatched-friends drama whose overall sensitivity is belied by a couple of clumsily contrived plot points, Sean Baker's "Starlet" pairs story and setting perfectly.

Top-seeded Horizon advanced to the semifinals after a convincing victory over No. 8 Basha in the Division I state quarterfinals on Thursday night with a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-21, 25-10).

McKayla Ferris had 11 kills and six digs helped pace No. 8 Basha to a home victory over No. 9 Rincon 25-15, 25-11, 25-19, in the first round of the Division I girls volleyball state tournament on Tuesday night.

It's amazing that young people can even get auto insurance in the cinematic world of teen comedies. From "Sixteen Candles" to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," the mortality rate of a parent or sibling's prized car has to be about 85 percent.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - By adding Cars Land, Disney California Adventure continues its evolution into Pixar Park. And that's a good thing.

LONDON (AP) — With a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolor pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun.

To tip or not to tip?