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Sunday, July 31, 2005
· 'Wedding Crashers' Takes Box-Office Cake. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn caught the box-office bouquet as their comedy "Wedding Crashers" pulled a switch with a $20.5 million weekend, becoming the No. 1 movie after two weekends in second place. Johnny Depp's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the top movie the previous two weekends, slipped to No. 2 with $16.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. 
· Little Caesars sets up injured soldier with franchise. When Little Caesars pizza owner Mike Ilitch read about soldier Robbie Doughty's struggle after losing two legs in Iraq, it reminded him of an injury that curtailed his baseball career. Ilitch, who owns the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings, had a Little Caesars executive track down the injured soldier and offer him a chance to open a franchise in Paducah. "This is the first time I've done this," Ilitch said. "It was an impulse type thing."
· Texas municipal worker ordered stray dogs drowned. City officials in Jourdanton, Texas are outraged that a public works supervisor ordered employees to drown six stray dogs at the city sewer plant, rather than having the dogs properly euthanized. City councilman D. Richter said the workers took the dogs from the pound to the sewer plant and dropped their cages into the water.
· County to begin using alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet. Luzerne County, Pennsylvania will soon begin outfitting repeat drunken driving offenders with an ankle bracelet that detects alcohol in perspiration. The 8-ounce device samples the wearer's perspiration at least every hour and collects, stores and sends data to a monitoring agency. It also detects and reports attempts to tamper with the device, such as trying to insert something to block the sweat.
· Deputy shoots man throwing baseballs. Sheriff Harold Grice says a deputy shot a man twice in the legs after he would not stop throwing baseballs at cars and people. Grice says the man in a baseball uniform was throwing baseballs outside the Dillon Video Store on state Highway 34 Saturday morning. The sheriff says when Corporal Charles Hester arrived, Thomas Gaeta kept throwing baseballs and bats, so the officer shot him twice in the legs.
· Fla. Gymnastics Instructor Charged With Molesting Girls. A Florida Panhandle man who taught gymnastics from the back of his box truck is charged with sexually molesting two 8-year-old students.
· Missing teen's mother leaves Aruba. After spending two months on Aruba following the disappearance of her daughter, the mother of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway has returned home to Birmingham indefinitely. Beth Holloway Twitty will return to the island if there are any developments in Holloway's case.
· Al Gore's TV Network to Make Debut Tomorrow. Much of the talk around Al Gore's new Current TV network has been broadly philosophical, like the former vice president's statement that "we want to be the television home page for the Internet generation." With its debut Monday, Current TV will be judged by the same mundane standards as other networks - on whether its programming can hold a viewer's interest.
· Illegal immigrants caught working at Air Force base. Six illegal immigrants who were working at the Homestead Air Force Base have been arrested. The men all had counterfeit documentation, according to authorities.
· 'Tonight Show' Comic Pat McCormick Dies. Pat McCormick, a walrus-mustachioed comedy writer for Phyllis Diller, Red Skelton and others who also appeared on "The Tonight Show" and had a role in three "Smokey and the Bandit" movies, has died. He was 78.
· Moore Says Doc Already Has HMOs Spooked. Michael Moore says his next documentary already has HMOs quaking in their boots. Moore has not yet begun shooting the film, "Sicko," but his planned critique of the nation's health care system, he says, is making "freaked-out" HMOs warn employees what to do if approached by the filmmaker.
· Man Admits Role in Failed London Attack. A suspect in the failed London transit bombings admitted Saturday to a role in the attack but said it was only intended to be an attention-grabbing strike, not a deadly one, a legal expert familiar with the investigation said. Osman Hussain told interrogators he wasn't carrying enough explosives even to "harm people nearby."
· Astronauts take out the trash. Astronauts on Sunday exchanged supplies for trash that has accumulated on the International Space Station since shuttles were grounded after the 2003 Columbia tragedy. They also prepared for a second spacewalk set for Monday.
· Virginia Millionaire Buys Himself a Ghost Town. The millionaire who bought a town likes to save a buck. He breakfasts at McDonald's, flies economy class and asks for a doggie bag when he doesn't finish his meal at cheap motel restaurants.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
· Outback loses appeal in DUI crash. The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a $39 million judgment against Outback Steakhouse Inc. in an Indiana couple’s lawsuit alleging that they were severely injured in a crash caused by a motorist who got drunk at an Outback restaurant’s grand opening.
· Doctor who had sex in waiting room punished. The license of a Clifton Park, NY obstetrician/gynecologist who had sex in a hospital waiting room and who induced another woman's labor early so he wouldn't have to change his vacation plans has been revoked by state health officials.
· Update: De Niro maid also cleaned up at Lauer's. Robert De Niro's sticky-fingered maid cleaned up at Matt Lauer's home, too - swiping $10,000 worth of valuables from the popular NBC morning show host, law enforcement sources said yesterday.
· Aniston's Ex Cancels eBay Auction Plans If you wanted a makeshift birthday card supposedly written on a piece of toilet paper by Jennifer Aniston, you'll have to look elsewhere. Aniston's former fling Michael Baroni, a California lawyer, has canceled his eBay auction — originally set to begin Friday — of keepsakes from the pair's teenage romance.
· Rocket launcher prompts shutdown in Mexico. The United States is closing its consulate in the violence-wracked border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for a week following a shootout in which assailants used machine guns, grenades and even a rocket launcher to attack a home, the U.S. Ambassador said Friday evening.
· Bob Hope's Remains Moved to New Garden. Bob Hope's family is saying thanks for the memories with a garden celebrating the late entertainer's life. Hope's remains were moved from a mausoleum at the San Fernando Mission's cemetery this week to the mission's new Bob Hope Memorial Garden.
· How American Airlines turned a profit. Two American Airlines mechanics didn't like having to toss out $200 drill bits once they got dull. So they rigged up some old machine parts - a vacuum-cleaner belt and a motor from a science project - and built "Thumping Ralph." It's essentially a drill-bit sharpener that allows them to get more use out of each bit. The savings, according to the company: as much as $300,000 a year. And it was a group of pilots who realized that they could taxi just as safely with one engine as with two.
· Lachlan Murdoch quits News Corp post. Lachlan Murdoch, who was a front-runner to succeed his 74-year-old father Rupert as News Corp's chief, abruptly resigned from the global media conglomerate on Friday without explanation.
· America's favorite ice cream. Americans annually consume about 6 gallons of ice cream per person - roughly 19,200 calories, for those who are counting. In every part of the country, regional dairies compete with the multinationals for shelf space and customers. In fact, about 500 companies make and distribute ice cream in the United States.
· Giant 'Bra Fence' Sparks Controversy. A New Zealand man is resisting demands to take down hundreds of women's bras strung on his farm's fence. For years, women returning from a pub in the nearby town of Wanaka have stopped at the fence and removed their bras.
· Cities where car ownership will cost extra. It costs more to own a car in Detroit, an amazing $11,844 a year for a mid-sized sedan, than in any other city in the country, according to a new report comparing the cost of car ownership in various a U.S. cities.
· Julia Roberts to Make Her Broadway Debut. Julia Roberts, movie star, is heading to Broadway next spring. The 37-year-old actress will make her Broadway debut in a revival of Richard Greenberg's "Three Days of Rain."
· Children Stranded in Ark. Immigration Raid. When immigration authorities raided a poultry plant and took away more than 100 employees to face deportation, some workers were able to call home and arrange care for their children. But about 30 children, some as young as 3 months old, were left behind with no parents after the arrests, officials said. A spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Orleans, said Friday that each person arrested was asked whether they had children and they all said they did not.
· Italian creates wooden Ferrari. Livio de Marchi has created wooden replicas of his favorite cars so that he can move around in the water canals of Italy, Venice. Some of his creations include a wooden Ferrari, a Mercedes and a Jaguar.
· All July 21 London bombers now captured. suspected member of the July 21 suicide bombing team was under arrest last night after an extraordinary day of police operations stretching from a West London housing estate to the backstreets of Rome. While police are jubilant following a series of successful armed raids across London they believe that the masterminds behind the London terror campaign are still at large.
· B.C. pot activist arrested in extradition bid. Police raided a marijuana seed store run by the B.C. Marijuana Party leader in Vancouver Friday, at the request of U.S. authorities in Seattle. U.S. officials are accusing three Canadians of growing marijuana, distributing marijuana seeds and conspiring to engage in money laundering.
· 60 Hurt in Disney Roller Coaster Collision. Two cars on a roller coaster at Disney's California Adventure theme park collided Friday evening, injuring 60 people, authorities said. The mishap sent a fleet of ambulances to the park adjacent to Disneyland.
· Gadgets Can Keep People From New Friends. The amount of technology helping college students stay in touch with family and friends back home can be a blessing and a curse, a Purdue University media expert says. Glenn Sparks says people used to leave home to establish new friends and contacts. Today, computers and cell phones keep them in touch with the old gang.
Friday, July 29, 2005
· Astronomers Find Another Planet in Solar System. Astronomers announced today that they had found a lump of rock and ice that is larger than Pluto and the farthest known object in the solar system. The discovery will likely rekindle debate over the definition of "planet" and whether Pluto should still be regarded as one. The astronomers say the unnamed planet's brightness and distance tell them that it is at least as large as Pluto.
· Umpire reprimanded by Little League. An umpire who ordered a Little League baseball team to stop speaking Spanish during a game this week was barred from officiating any more games this year, league officials said on Friday. The incident occurred when a bilingual assistant coach shouted out instructions in Spanish to the team's 14-year-old pitcher and catcher, who are immigrants from the Dominican Republic and speak little English.
· Extreme house cleaning after foreclosure. Police think a 46-year-old woman and her boyfriend more than cleaned out their former home in Osceola, Indiana after it was foreclosed. They apparently took $60,000 worth of cabinets, toilets and light fixtures, the central air unit, landscape shrubbery, sprinkler system, plus kitchen and bathroom sinks.
· Cameron Diaz Settles Libel Case. Actress Cameron Diaz accepted "substantial" damages Friday from a British tabloid that reported she had an affair with a married man, her lawyer said.
· The news everybody has been waiting for. Fox has renewed another season of "The Simple Life." Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are stuck together for another season of "The Simple Life" - even if they're not speaking to each other.
· Jimmy Hendrix 'pretended to be gay' to get out of army. Rock legend Jimi Hendrix pretended he was gay to get out of the US Army, a new biography reveals. Hendrix was discharged from the 101st Airborne division in 1962, after Capt John Halbert recommended him for discharge, citing his “homosexual tendencies.”
· Woman Accused Of Slamming Girl At Putt-Putt Course. A 40-year-old woman in Daytona Beach, Fla., was arrested on child abuse charges for allegedly body slamming a 5-year-old girl as both played putt-putt golf. The incident apparently happened as a result of the little girl not getting out of the way of an oncoming golf ball.
· Prosecutor loses DNA battle; man set free. Almost 20 years after being convicted of rape, a Pennsylvania man will be set free because DNA testing proved he did not commit the crime. DNA tests, which the prosecutor had fought against, excluded Thomas Doswell, now 44, from the rape of a 48-year-old woman in 1987.
· Lightning strike kills another Scout leader. Deadly lightning struck a group of Boy Scouts who had gathered under tarps to escape a summer storm at Sequoia National Park, a ranger said Friday. One man was killed and seven other people were hurt in the strike.
· Pastor charged with secretly taping girls in bathroom. A North Carolina pastor is accused of sexual exploitation and peeping after investigators found videos of women and girls at his church undressing and using the bathroom. The 54-year-old minister, Leon Harris, has been released on bond. Detectives said at least eight females were videotaped on June ninth, including four girls under the age of ten.
· Armstrong loses court joust with British newspaper. American Lance Armstrong suffered defeat in London's Court of Appeal on Friday, just five days after his record seventh victory in the Tour de France.
· Wrong Place, Wrong Time. A crook made a big mistake when he tried to rob a coffee shop in the same building as the FBI.
· Tasered grandmother gets probation. A 67-year-old grandmother who was shocked with a Taser stun gun after she honked her car horn at a police cruiser has been given a year's probation for sparking a quarrel with officers.
· Thousands Of Beer Cans Snarl Traffic. About 30,000 cans of beer blocked an Arizona interstate Wednesday after a tractor-trailer flipped. Thousands of cans of Bud Light spilled on the highway, snarling traffic for hours.
· Small plane enters shuttle no-fly zone. The pilot of a small plane that penetrated the no-fly zone around Kennedy Space Center shortly before the space shuttle's launch Tuesday disappeared after being forced to land, Air Force officials said.
· Carnegie Hall benefactor commits suicide. Arthur Zankel, the financier who gave $10 million for the Carnegie Hall recital space that bears his name, plunged to his death from his ninth floor apartment in an apparent suicide, police said Friday. He was 73.
· Update: Prom limo driver charged with DUI loses license. A limousine driver busted for drunken driving by her own passengers on the way to their high school prom has been stripped of her driving privileges for 18 months by a state agency.
· DNA on duct tape not missing teen's. DNA taken from strands of blond hair stuck to duct tape found on a beach in Aruba does not match the DNA of missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, an FBI spokeswoman said Thursday.
· Lennon lyric sheet sells for $1 million. A handwritten lyric sheet for "All You Need is Love" used by John Lennon in 1967 was sold for $1.04 million at an auction in London on Thursday, organizers said.
· Man Allegedly Makes False Abduction Report. A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly making a false police report that his niece was in his car when it was stolen in hopes that the vehicle would be found quickly.
· Helen Thomas: 'If Cheney runs, I'll kill myself.' Veteran reporter Helen Thomas, the "dean of the White House press corps," says she would not be able to live if Vice President Cheney were to run for the highest office. "The day I see Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told The Hill newspaper.
· Pryor Bustin' Loose with Lawsuit. Richard Pryor wants his movie back. The iconic comedian has filed a lawsuit against director Penelope Spheeris over the first film that Pryor ever starred in, which he claims Spheeris has, or had, in her possession.
· Counsel to Probe Alleged 'Idol' Affair. Taking a page from Washington, the producers of "American Idol" and Fox TV hired an independent counsel to determine whether judge Paula Abdul had an affair with a contestant on the hit talent show. "Any allegations against this show we take quite seriously," Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori said Thursday, calling the competition's credibility "extraordinarily important to us."
· Rice Tops Forbes' Most Powerful Women List. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has beaten 99 female heads of state, chief executives and celebrities to top Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful women for the second year in a row. Daytime talk show giant Oprah Winfrey was ninth on the list and the magazine's choice for most powerful female celebrity.
· How to keep kids in class. When students return to Chelsea High School near Boston next month, they'll get more than an impeccable attendance record if they make it to class each day: They'll get cash. Under a new plan, a student who misses not a single day per quarter will receive $25 in an account - redeemable upon graduation.
· Ex-Microsoft Exec Barred From Google Job. A judge has temporarily barred a former Microsoft executive from performing his job at Google, saying Microsoft has a well-grounded fear that leaked trade secrets could hurt its business.
· Prosecutors: CIA agents left trail. It wasn't their lavish spending in luxury hotels, their use of credit cards or even frequent-flier miles that drew attention. Instead it was a trail of casual cellphone use that tripped up the 19 purported CIA operatives wanted by Italian authorities in the alleged kidnapping of a radical Muslim cleric.
· Hatfill's Suit Against NY Times Reinstated. A federal appeals court has reinstated a libel suit against the New York Times filed by a former Army scientist who claims one of the paper's columnists unfairly linked him to the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001. Steven Hatfill sued the Times for a series of columns written by Nicholas Kristof that faulted the FBI for failing to thoroughly investigate Hatfill for the anthrax mailings that left five people dead.
· Physicist throws time-travel theories a curve. What do you get when you join a 1981 DeLorean, a "flux capacitor" and a digital dial set to Nov. 5, 1955? If you're the character of Dr. Emmett Brown in the 1985 movie Back to the Future, you've created a time machine. The possibility of time travel has occupied the fantasies of philosophers, authors, children and directors. But to some physicists, it's more than pure fancy.
· Florida State University Unveils World's Largest Magnet. A new $16.5 million super magnet unveiled at Florida State University Thursday could lead to major scientific breakthroughs. The new super magnet weighs more than 15 tons and has a magnetic field 420,000 times that of the Earth's - strong enough to pull a metal object out of a person's hand and send it flying - if people were allowed to get close enough.
· Frist to Back Stem Cell Research. Breaking with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Friday he will support legislation to remove some of the administration's limitations on embryonic stem cell research. Frist, who last month said he did not support expanded federal financing of such research, said his decision was consistent with both his experience as a physician and his opposition to abortion.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
· NBC Universal in DreamWorks Talks. NBC Universal is in talks to buy the privately held live-action film studio DreamWorks SKG, according to news reports Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reported Universal may acquire the studio founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Judge Hanson
· Brooke Burke and Husband Split. TV personality Brooke Burke and her husband, Garth Fisher, have called it quits. The co-host of CBS's "Rock Star: INXS" and Fisher announced their separation in a statement issued to People magazine Wednesday. The couple, who have been married since 2001, have two children. Burke, 33, formerly hosted E!'s "Wild On" series. Fisher, a plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, has appeared on ABC's "Extreme Makeover."
· UK 'blocked bomb plotter' arrest. A month before the London bombings, British authorities denied a request by their counterparts in the United States to apprehend a man now believed to have ties to the July 7 bombers. U.S. officials had Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, under surveillance in South Africa weeks before the July 7 attacks that killed 52 commuters and the four bombers. U.S. authorities had asked Britain if they could take Aswat into custody but they refused because he was a UK citizen, the sources said. Later British authorities said they suspected Aswat lent support to the July 7 bombers.
· Convicted sex offender on parole exposes himself to girls at Walmart. Police said they arrested a man this week on public indecency and parole violation charges after he tried to lure girls, including an 11-year-old, inside a Wal-Mart store. "I walked around the corner and there was this guy standing there, looking at me, and the next thing I know he exposed himself," said the girl.
· Coke to launch new calorie-burning soda. Coca-Cola is planning to launch Enviga, a soda that is said to burn 50 to 100 calories just by drinking a 12-oz. serving. Enviga, a green tea-based, caffeinated, carbonated drink, is in clinical testing and is said to speed up the user's metabolism.
· The elusive Bigfoot turns out to be a bison. Perhaps he is still stomping around somewhere, but a DNA test has confirmed that it was not Bigfoot that was sighted in Canada — it was just a bison. Bigfoot's presence was refuted after a geneticist from the University of Alberta did tests on a hair sample, and said the DNA match for a bison was 100 per cent.
· The story that won't die. Eight years after Princess Diana died, the car she was riding in when she was killed has been sent from France to Britain for forensic examination, police said Thursday. Forensic experts are expected to examine the car, which is on loan, for clues to understand what happened when it crashed into a pillar inside a Paris tunnel.
· Lindsay in divorce hell. Lindsay Lohan is missing her own movie's premiere because her parents are getting divorced. She was meant to join her co-star Michael Keaton at the Leicester Square showing of the Disney film Herbie: Fully Loaded on Thursday night. The Hollywood star has had a fraught relationship with her father Michael Lohan who is currently serving four years in prison on various charges including assault and drink-driving.
· A dying dad's message in WWII reaches his son after 6 decades. John Marsh Jr. was 2 weeks old when his father was killed by shrapnel from a mortar attack on July 10, 1944, near Normandy, France. Six decades passed before Marsh learned his father's dying words: "They may get me, but they won't get my boy."
· Behind the scenes look at 'Jeopardy!' Walking on the 'Jeopardy!' set, it looked much the same as on television. During commercial breaks, Alex takes questions from the audience. He's goofier and more relaxed than he appears on the show, and he cultivates what fellow contestant Doug Meyer termed a "lounge lizard" persona. "What do you do when you're not hosting 'Jeopardy!'?" a spectator asked. "Drink!" said Alex, only half-joking. He loves California wine and has a clear affection for the "Potent Potables" category, which came up during one show that day.
· There's just no pleasing some singles. It was heartening to see Denver named "Best City for Singles" by Forbes magazine. Some may have suspected Denver would win this honor again (Denver was tops last year) after a triumphant emergence as "America's Drunkest City" according to Men's Health magazine. It's incontrovertible science: Success rates for singles are clinically proven to skyrocket when most of the population is inebriated.
· Former Miami commissioner kills self in newspaper lobby. A former city commissioner recently indicted on corruption charges fatally shot himself in the lobby of The Miami Herald building the same day another newspaper published lurid accusations against him. Arthur E. Teele Jr. shot himself in the head Wednesday after asking a security guard if he could deliver a message to a columnist.
· R&B Singer Pleads Guilty to Assault Charge. R&B singer Gerald Levert has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts stemming from a confrontation with police during a traffic stop five months ago.
· List of Chicago City Hall whistleblowers "accidentally" given to Mayor Daley. The names of dozens of current and former city employees who are confidentially aiding federal investigators in their probe of patronage and corruption in Mayor Daley's administration have wound up in the hands of City Hall.
· Pond Drained in Aruba Search. Investigators trying to determine what happened to Natalee Holloway focused their search efforts Wednesday on a pond near where the U.S. teen was last seen nearly two months ago. Authorities used a large pump to drain the pond across from the Marriott Hotel while investigators await the results of DNA analysis.
· Heat makes hundreds of Jamboree Scouts ill. More than 300 Boy Scouts were sickened by the heat Wednesday while waiting for President Bush to arrive at a memorial service for four Scout leaders who were killed while pitching a tent beneath a power line. The president's visit to the Scout Jamboree was postponed because of the threat of severe thunderstorms and strong winds.
· John Lennon Memorabilia to Be Auctioned. Money can't buy you love. But a few hundred thousand can get you a piece of Beatles history. A collection of John Lennon memorabilia valued by auctioneers at more than $2 million is being sold in London Thursday.
· Grandma of accused cop-killer could lose reward. Whether or not the grandmother of accused cop-killer Raul Gomez-Garcia qualifies for the $100,000 reward that was offered for his capture is a "gray area," say Crime Stoppers officials.
· Woman Can Keep Gay License Plates. In an unusual gay rights case, a judge said Utah can't keep a woman from using her license plate to tell the world "GAYSROK."
· Carson Donates Another $5 Million to Alma Mater. Johnny Carson's donations to his alma mater now total more than $11 million. A $5 million endowment to support theater, film and broadcasting programs was announced Tuesday by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
· North Dakota man wins bad writing trophy. A North Dakotan man who compared fondling a woman's breasts to repairing carburetors won an annual contest Wednesday that celebrates the poorest writing in the English language. "As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire," wrote winner Dan McKay, "highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual."
· DaimlerChrysler CEO Schrempp to step down. DaimlerChrysler CEO Juergen Schrempp, the architect of the 1998 merger that married Daimler-Benz to Chrysler, will leave the company by the end of the year and turn over the reins to Dieter Zetsche, now head of the U.S.-based Chrysler Group.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
· 2 McDonald's Employees Kidnapped, Terrorized. A man attempted to rob a northeast Houston McDonald's Wednesday morning before kidnapping two female employees and sexually assaulting one of them, police said.
· Trial To Begin For Principal Accused Of Soliciting Sex. The trial for an Orange County assistant principal accused of soliciting sex from an undercover deputy begins today. Deputies said Megan Caldwell and Randolph Ray, an assistant principal at University High School, told an undercover officer that they were willing to pay for sex. Orange County Sheriff's Office said Ray pulled up to an undercover officer and offered $10 for oral sex and Caldwell allegedly offered $20 to watch.
· Japanese develop 'female' android. Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1. She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.
· NASA Grounds Future Shuttle Flights Over Foam Debris. NASA officials said Wednesday it would ground future space shuttle flights because foam debris that brought down Columbia is still a risk. A sizable chunk of foam insulation that came flying off Shuttle Discovery's fuel tank during Tuesday's liftoff did not hit the orbiter and is not expected to pose a risk to the seven astronauts. But it is a problem NASA thought had been fixed, and represents a tremendous setback to a space program.
· City to pay $75,000 for man driving illegally. The Buffalo, New York City Council has approved a settlement to pay $75,000 for injuries Richard Adam suffered in an automobile accident. Police say Adam's alcohol level was double the legal limit at the time of the crash, and was driving with a suspended license in connection with an earlier drunken driving incident.
· Schwarzenegger signs new used car law. Californians who buy a used car on a dealer's lot will be able to return it within two days if they pay a fee in advance for the right under a new law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday.
· Massage Workers Sore Over Prostitution Crackdown. Police in Providence have begun cracking down on prostitution houses disguised as massage parlors, but some spa owners say they are being unfairly targeted.
· Iraq Wants Quick Pullout of U.S. Troops. Iraq - Iraq's prime minister said Wednesday he wants U.S. troops "on their way out" as soon as his government can protect its new democracy. The top American general in the country said he hopes to begin significant withdrawal by next spring. At the same time, in an unannounced visit, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Iraqi security forces should take on more tasks now performed by U.S. troops.
· Beer Company To Take Down Billboard Ads. A weekend boating accident has prompted a beer maker to take down some controversial billboards. The advertisements show jet skiers and boaters enjoying the water with a huge beer bottle in the background. The controversy over the billboards comes after a man in his 20s drowned Sunday in a boating accident on the Columbia River.
· Website encourages hunt for schoolgirl killer. A website created after schoolgirl killer Karla Homolka was released from a Quebec jail has declared it its mission to find her and publish her address. "We have the right to know where all the dangerous offenders live, where they work, how they're living their lives after incarceration," the site www.whereiskarla.com states.
· Illinois Republicans Offer Reward on Daley. The Cook County Republican Party is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an indictment and conviction of Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose administration has been buffeted by scandal. There is an ongoing federal investigation of bribes being given in return for jobs in a $38 million program in which the city outsourced hauling work. Twenty-one people have pleaded guilty so far.
· Hollywood Money Man Steals $1.36 Million. Robert Cataldo has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for stealing $1.36 million from the health and retirement fund of the union that covers TV and radio performers, including people such as Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa, Howard Stern and Susan Lucci.
· 2 teachers charged with growing pot. Two high school teachers have been arrested for growing marijuana in their home. Stephen V. Caswell, 36, and Mary L. Coverdale, 37, were both charged with manufacturing marijuana, maintaining a dwelling, second degree conspiracy, five counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, endangering the welfare of a child and possession of marijuana.
· Only one pitcher alive who remembers pitching to Babe. Seventy-one years ago, Elden Auker made baseball history and never had a clue. He was a 24-year-old pitcher in his second season with the Detroit Tigers, and the dreaded New York Yankees were in town. Auker, now 94, is the last man alive who knows what it was like to pitch to Babe Ruth in the major leagues. Nobody in baseball made a big deal about 701 home runs. "We didn't pay too much attention to statistics," Auker said. "We didn't even know how many home runs he had until we read about it in the papers a while later."
· A sad way to get in the newspaper. A La Crosse Tribune press operator died Sunday as a result of injuries sustained on the job. Police said that Larry R. Humfeld, 24, of Stoddard, Wis., was fatally injured when he was struck by a roll of newsprint.
· NASA Not Fazed By Chipped Shuttle Tile. NASA said Wednesday that a chipped thermal tile on space shuttle Discovery's belly does not appear to be a serious problem, based on what engineers have seen so far.
· Sales of New Homes Hit Record Level in June. Sales of new homes soared to an all-time high in June as the red hot housing market kept sizzling. The Commerce Department reported that single-family home sales jumped to a record annual pace of 1.37 million units in June, up 4 percent from May.
· Rodman Ticketed Twice During Charity Race. Even when he's doing good, Dennis Rodman comes across as bad, bad, bad. The former NBA star was pulled over for speeding twice Tuesday while driving his gold-and-black Lamborghini in a charity rally race, according to the Colorado State Patrol. In between, Rodman was involved in a minor crash and later accused of stealing a hat in what he says is a "misunderstanding" at a gas station in Glenwood Springs.
· Update: DJs Placed On "Indefinite Suspension" After Discussing Ways To Disarm Police. Two local radio DJs, suspended for hosting a discussion on how to harm or disarm police officers, are on "indefinite suspension."
· Would-be airport bomber gets 22 years. The man convicted of plotting to blow up the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison.
· McCready Apparently Attempted Suicide. Mindy McCready apparently attempted suicide, and a man charged last spring with trying to kill her was with the country singer when police found her unconscious in a Florida hotel lobby, authorities said Tuesday.
· Suit filed over courtroom oaths using the Bible. The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina filed a lawsuit Tuesday, challenging the practice by state courts to deny people the right to take a religious oath on anything other than the Christian Bible. The lawsuit comes after Muslims in Greensboro tried to donate copies of the Quran to Guilford County courtrooms last month. The county's two top judges turned down the gift after determining that an oath on the Quran is not a legal oath.
· OJ Simpson Told to Pay DirecTV $25,000. A federal judge has ordered former football star O.J. Simpson to pay $25,000 in damages for pirating satellite television signals from DirecTV.
· Teen who threw up on teacher sentenced. A high school student convicted of battery for vomiting on his teacher has been ordered to spend the next four months cleaning up after people who throw up in police cars.
· Firefighter who married captain's daughter fired. A firefighter who married a fire captain's daughter was fired Tuesday after a judge ruled against a request to let him keep his job while he sues the city over its anti-nepotism policy.
· The Dell Dude Goes Off-Broadway. Ben Curtis, that slacker computer spokesman who was busted on pot charges and fired by Dell Computer in 2003, will appear as a good-time party boy in "Joy," a comedy by John Fisher about seven friends and their romantic entanglements.
· Flags ripped out of lawn of dead GI's family. Vandals tore American flags out of the yard of a dead soldier's family the day after his funeral, then set a car on fire, authorities said.
· Microsoft Vista may face trademark trouble. There's a line of sewing machines, an elevator monitoring system, even detergent for dairy equipment — all bearing the brand name Vista. There are plenty of computer products that claim the Vista trademark, too. So Microsoft Corp.'s choice of Vista as the name for the next version of its Windows operating system has some intellectual property experts wondering if a company that has been fiercely protective of its own trademarks will get hauled into court.
· New York pastor charged with looting $800,000 from parish. A Manhattan Monsignor with a weakness for Rolex watches, fine dining, expensive clothes and golfing vacations in sunny Spain was charged yesterday with looting more than $800,000 from his upper East Side parish.
· Turning Wheat Into Dough. When he was 24 years old, Jeff Riggs wanted something extraordinary: $1.1 million. That's the amount of money the Bozeman, Mont., resident hoped to borrow to buy an empty plot of land, construct a building and open the first restaurant franchise of Wheat Montana, a locally known farm that also operates a deli and a bakery.
· Aruba pond drained in hunt for missing teen. Firefighters in Aruba are draining a lake in connection with the search for missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. Joran van der Sloot, 17, has said he was with Holloway near the lake the night she disappeared. She hasn't been seen since May 30. The draining is expected to take up to 24 hours. Police may be getting new information from two new witnesses who have come forward, Holloway's stepfather, George Twitty, said.
· GM running out of cars to sell. General Motors will end its successful “employee discounts for everyone” promotion on Aug 1. The automaker will then begin a new pricing strategy for 2006 models, focusing on permanently lower sticker prices instead of big rebates. A GM spokesman said the employee-discount plan, which began on June 1, has been so successful that the company doesn’t have enough vehicles in stock to continue the program.
· Danny Glover: Latin station won't demonize U.S. American actor Danny Glover on Tuesday defended a new TV station financed by Venezuela's government as a way to bring Latin America together, denying claims by critics that it will be used to demonize the United States.
· Couple Cleared Of Child Sex Charges. Parents who were charged with child abuse last August have been exonerated and reunited with their children. Charbel Hamaty was charged with sexually assaulting his newborn son, and Teresa Hamaty was arrested for taking sexually explicit pictures. The couple describe the ordeal as a "nightmare" that started over a roll of film that Charbel Hamaty dropped off at a north Raleigh Eckerd. The photo that raised alarms shows a naked Kristoff, now 16-months-old, getting a kiss from his father on the belly button, Teresa Hamaty said.
· While reporter sits in jail, hubby sets sail. Famed editor Jason Epstein, husband of jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller, has lately been making himself scarce at the federal facility in Virginia where his wife has been incarcerated for the past three weeks.
· Amish Teen Charged With Stealing Numbers. Callers complaining about loud music coming from a buggy led deputies to charge a 19-year-old Amish man with stealing house numbers and flower pots. David Byler was charged with theft and underage consumption of alcohol, both misdemeanors.
· Jerry Lewis to Receive TV Academy Award. Comic legend Jerry Lewis is getting the television academy's prestigious Governors Award in recognition for his more than half-century of work on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy.
· Supermodel Moss wins 'cocaine coma' libel case. British supermodel Kate Moss won substantial libel damages on Wednesday over a Sunday newspaper's claims that she had collapsed in a cocaine-fueled coma.
· BTK's Wife Granted Emergency Divorce. A judge waived the usual 60-day waiting period and granted an immediate divorce Tuesday to the wife of BTK serial killer Dennis Rader, agreeing that her mental health was in danger. Rader didn't contest the filing or appear for the hearing. He signed over the couple's property and all his retirement benefits to Paula Rader, who had been married to him for 34 years.
· Senate Changes Line of Succession. The Senate approved a bill Tuesday to raise the homeland security secretary from last to eighth place in the presidential line of succession, just after the attorney general.
· Superman's stuntman injured after fall on set. Things went terribly wrong for a high-profile stuntman during a Superman stunt at a film set yesterday. Christopher Sayour, the stunt double for actor Tom Welling, who plays Clark Kent on the TV series Smallville, was badly injured in a 25-30 foot fall from a structure.
· Garner to Become Pregnant Spy on 'Alias.' Jennifer Garner is expecting a baby, so her "Alias" character will be too, even though she's a globe-trotting spy. "We are going to embrace the fact that she's pregnant," ABC programming chief Stephen McPherson said, referring to the character, Sydney Bristow.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
· Neb. Charges Man For Having Sex With 14-Year-Old Wife. A 22-year-old man faces criminal charges in Nebraska for having sex with an underage then 13-year-old girl, although he legally married her in Kansas after she became pregnant. The man's lawyer said the couple, with their families' support, "made a responsible decision to try to cope with the problem." Matthew Koso, 22, was charged Monday with first-degree sexual assault, punishable by up to 50 years in prison. Kansas law sets no minimum marriage age, although case law sets the minimum age at 14 for boys and 12 for girls.
· Authorities Arrest Men With NYC Maps, Video. Five Egyptian men with maps of the New York City subway system and video of New York landmarks have been arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, N.J. the five men — four illegal immigrants and one fugitive — were arrested Sunday night, police said today.
· Bogus military suppliers sentenced. Two Florida men who bid on hundreds of military supply contracts were sentenced Monday to federal prison for providing the military with at least $4 million in fraudulent electronic parts. They admitted shipping thousands of non-working parts for various military equipment to the Defense Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio.
· Women pushing broken car get DUI. Two women who took turns steering a broken-down vehicle face drunk driving charges after their slow-moving car crashed into a parked car. Authorities said the women were operating the vehicle while intoxicated — even though the car’s engine wasn’t working. A prosecutor acknowledged the charges could be difficult to prosecute in court.
· U.S. can't afford to deport millions of illegals. The United States may have to spend $40 billion a year deporting undocumented people, a new report says. The costs of deporting every undocumented person would be at least $206 billion over five years according to a new report released Tuesday by the Center for American Progress.
· Elizabeth Smart kidnapper incompetent to stand trial. A judge this afternoon declared Brian David Mitchell incompetent to stand trial in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case. Judge Judith Atherton issued her decision today in a 60-page report. The judge says Mitchell has some understanding of right and wrong, but is under religious delusions that make him incompetent to stand trial.
· What do you suppose he thought would happen? A Texas man was arrested on Monday after calling police to complain about the theft of his marijuana, authorities said. Stephen Knight, 17, said three men broke into his apartment and hogtied him with Christmas lights. Police arrested Knight after finding several marijuana plants growing under heat lamps in the apartment.
· Possible Debris Spotted Falling From Shuttle. NASA officials are analyzing video of a portion of Tuesday's shuttle launch "frame-by-frame" after one of several cameras aboard the craft captured pieces of debris separating from Discovery.
· Michael Jackson hospitalized after trial. Michael Jackson went to a hospital suffering from dehydration and weight loss after jurors acquitted the singer of child molestation last month, his lawyer said today. "Michael Jackson was ill from time to time. In fact, people didn't realize he actually entered the hospital after the verdict," Jackson's lawyer Tom Mesereau told BBC radio in an interview.
· Woman faces prison after run-in with airport screener. 62-year-old retired school teacher Phyllis Dintenfass of Appleton, Wisc. faces one federal count of assault of a federal employee for allegedly shoving a Transportation Security Administration supervisor before grabbing the female agent’s breasts to protest what Dintenfass felt was an invasive search.
· Amnesty International: Terrorist scumbags Armed groups show utter disdain for basic principles of humanity. Armed groups opposed to the US-led multinational force and Iraq's government are showing utter disdain for the lives of Iraqi civilians and others, continuing a pattern of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.
· Some Papers Pull, Edit 'Doonesbury' Strip. About a dozen newspapers have objected to use of toilet humor in Tuesday's and Wednesday's "Doonesbury" comic strip, and some either pulled or edited the strip. Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes the strip to around 1,400 newspapers, said it had received some complaints from editors about a reference to presidential aide Karl Rove. In the strip, a caricature of President Bush refers to Rove as "turd blossom."
· Declining membership forces Boy Scouts to include girls. Sierra White, 17, is part of Venturing, a coed Boy Scouts program for ages 14 to 20 that focuses on outdoor adventure. It's part of the organization's larger attempt to boost its sagging numbers.
· A Cadillac on just two wheels? Detroit News reports that General Motors Corp. has started licensing its luxury car brand and logo to Kent International Inc., which has created a Cadillac Bicycles unit and is producing a line of mid- to high-end bikes. The bikes will cost $500 to $1,900, according to the report.
· Mindy McCready Hospitalized After Overdose. Troubled country singer Mindy McCready has been hospitalized in Florida after an overdose. McCready, 28, was found unconscious in a hotel lobby, according to authorities in Pinellas County, Fla.
· Harrison 'aided' Paul McCartney song. Sir Paul McCartney has suggested late Beatles bandmate George Harrison helped him write a song for his latest album from beyond the grave. Sir Paul said he wrote Waiting For Your Friends To Go with help from Harrison, who died in 2001. "It just wrote itself very easily because it wasn't even me writing it."
· Anti-Muslim Sign Draws Strong Reaction. The sign in front of the First Conservative Baptist Church near Jacksonville, Florida has an eye-catching - and some say inflammatory - message. "Islam is evil and believes in murder," it reads. "Jesus teaches peace."
· Planned tower would be tallest in U.S. At 115 stories, the tower would be 1,458 feet to its roof, taller by eight feet than the roof of Sears Tower. But the Calatrava building would include a spire that, depending on structural details, would bring the building to around 2,000 feet.