Toronto mayor Rob Ford announced Wednesday he would take a leave of absence from his mayoral position and his re-election campaign. Ford left for an alcohol treatment program outside Toronto Thursday, where he will stay for at least 30 days. The length of his absence remains unknown. His announcement came after reports of a video of him allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

Reported sexual assaults of military members jumped 50 percent last year, which is attributed to the Pentagon’s campaign to persuade victims to come forward and report incidents. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the military said more men need to report assaults. He estimated half of sexual-assault victims are men, but only 14 percent of reported assaults involve male victims. (Read full story.)

A CSX train carrying crude oil from North Dakota derailed in Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday. No one was injured, but the crash sent three tanker cars into the James River, emitting flames and black smoke. The incident is the ninth accident this year in the United States and Canada involving trains hauling crude oil. Both the National Transportation Safety Board and Congress are urging the Transportation Department to create new standards that would make oil tanker cars sturdier.

After an Oklahoma inmate died of an apparent heart attack during a botched execution Thursday, executions in the midwestern state are being delayed indefinitely. Officials searched for a vein in Clayton Lockett, 38, for 51 minutes before placing it in a vein at his groin. The vein collapsed, and Lockett did not absorb enough of the fatal drugs. Prisons director Robert Patton halted the execution, but Lockett died 10 minutes later of an apparent heart attack. The incident has led many to question the constitutionality of executions, which some say goes against the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel or unusual punishment. (Read full story.)

Contact Emily Mills at [email protected].