A boat picks up booms that were placed in the Gulf of Mexico to soak up oil.

Gulf oil spill - A four-story containment vessel is expected to arrive Thursday at the site of the Gulf of Mexico's gushing oil well, where BP will attempt to lower the container onto a ruptured deep-water pipe. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Administrator Jane Lubchenco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plan to travel to the Gulf Coast on Thursday. We'll continue to bring you the latest details on the story as they come in.

Times Square probe - Investigators continued their quest for information Thursday in the case against Faisal Shahzad, who is accused of driving a car bomb into midtown New York. He made a practice run in Manhattan the day before he allegedly tried to blow up an SUV in Times Square, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of his questioning. We'll continue to bring you the latest details on the story as they come in.

Social media kills the movie critic? - Mainstream movie critics are struggling with loss of jobs and the expansion of voices on the internet. At the same time, social media are helping drive word of mouth. Do we even need critics — when everybody’s a critic? CNN's Todd Leopold reports.

Hot-button issue of transracial adoption - When Sandra Bullock posed for the cover of People magazine with her newly adopted black baby, and CNN.com wrote about it, readers responded strongly. CNN's Jessica Ravitz digs deeper into the issue of transracial adoptions, giving voice to commenters, checking in with national experts, and introducing you to a white couple in Baltimore that adopted two sons – one biracial, the other black. You’ll also meet Regina Bush of Grand Blanc, Michigan, who made history in 1998 when, after a lengthy legal battle, she became one of the first black parents to adopt a white child.