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Thursday, August 31, 2006
· Radio staff apologizes for contest. An Alliance radio station has discontinued an on-air "Mongoloid Mike" contest that outraged advocates for the disabled. The contest, run by an evening DJ, asked callers to sing a song as if they were mentally retarded. Listeners would be asked to guess what the "Mongoloid" is singing. 
· Taxi Driver Shoots Man in Bin Laden Mask. Osama bin Laden take note: You wouldn't be safe in Costa Rica. A startled taxi driver shot and wounded a jokester wearing a plastic mask of the al-Qaida leader, police said Tuesday. Leonel Arias, 47, told police he was playing a practical joke by donning the Bin Laden mask, toting his pellet rifle and jumping out to scare drivers on a narrow street in his hometown near San Jose. Arias had already startled several drivers, but when he jumped out in front of taxi driver Juan Pablo Sandoval, the driver reached for a gun and shot him twice in the stomach.
· Report: U.S. Secretly Negotiated with Gaza Kidnappers. The U.S. secretly agreed to the "real demands" set by the group behind the August 14 kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in Gaza, according to a report in the pan-Arab newspaper al Hayat.
· Norwegian police recover 'The Scream.' "The Scream" and another stolen masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch were recovered by police today, two years after gunmen seized the paintings from an Oslo museum. "'The Scream' and 'Madonna' are now in police possession," police chief Iver Stensrud said. "The damage is much less than we could have feared."
· Swiss police stop multitasking motorist. A 34-year-old saleswoman was caught driving down a Swiss motorway while she was using her laptop computer and chatting on a handheld mobile phone, police in northeastern Switzerland said.
· Trump tells Carolyn: 'You're fired!' Carolyn Kepcher, the blonde co-star of Donald Trump's 'The Apprentice,' has been fired. The 36-year old sidekick, who in addition to her role on the show ran the Trump National Golf Club in posh Westchester County north of New York City, was fired earlier this week. Trump's daughter Ivanka has replaced Kepcher in the role, while Trump's son Don Jr. is the successor to the 78-year old real estate lawyer George Ross on the show.
» Sources: Too much 'self-promotion as a star.' Sources say Carolyn Kepcher’s firing was a result of her excessive self-promotion as a star at the expense of her performance at her day job. The person insisted on anonymity because it was a personnel matter.
· One More Year Of Life Costs $20,000. Despite exploding costs, most Americans got sizable life-extending bang for their medical bucks over recent decades, says one of the most sweeping studies ever of health-care value. The federally funded study calculated that Americans of all ages spent an average of $19,900 on medical care for each extra year of life expectancy gained over the last four decades of the 20th century.
· California Bills Target Huge Stores. Bills that would give California's local governments more power to fight Wal-Mart and other huge stores are heading to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, over the objections of the giant retailer, business groups and Republican lawmakers.
· Stereotyping is leading to terror, says first Muslim Miss England. The first Muslim to be crowned Miss England has warned that stereotyping members of her community is leading some towards extremism.
· Burns Says Terrorists Drive Taxis by Day. Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, whose recent comments have stirred controversy, says the United States is up against a faceless enemy of terrorists who ``drive taxi cabs in the daytime and kill at night.''
· Rail spike injures woman. A Sarasota woman is recovering from her injuries today after someone dropped a railroad spike through her windshield. Nathan and Deidra Dempsey were driving north on I-75 Tuesday with their 3-year-old son when an object fell from the overpass and shattered their windshield.
· Man gives kids 40 mm shell to play with; 2 killed, 5 hurt. A military shell given to a group of children by a neighbor exploded while they played with it, killing two children and injuring five others, police and witnesses said. Police were investigating the cause of Tuesday's explosion, which damaged homes and forced neighbors to wrap bloodied and dazed children in blankets.
· Lexington controller had only 2 hours of sleep. The lone air-traffic controller on duty at the time of a jet crash Sunday morning in Lexington, Kentucky, was working on only two hours of sleep, a National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman said Wednesday.
· Bartender Gets $10,000 Tip on $26 Tab. Two weeks ago, one of Cindy Kienow's regular customers left her a $100 tip on a tab that wasn't even half that. This week, he added a couple of zeros. Kienow, a bartender at Applebee's, got a $10,000 tip from the man - for a $26 meal - on Sunday.
· Passenger Asked To Remove Arabic Script T-Shirt. An Arab human rights activist says he was prevented from boarding a JetBlue plane at Kennedy International Airport while wearing a T-shirt that said, "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic.
· Anti-Bush Shirt OK in School, Court Says. A middle school that censored the anti-drug, anti-Bush message on a student's T-shirt violated the boy's right to free speech, an appeals court ruled Wednesday. The shirt bore images of cocaine and a martini glass in addition to messages calling President Bush a lying drunk driver who abused cocaine and marijuana, and the "chicken-hawk-in-chief" who was engaged in a "world domination tour."
· Warren Buffett Marries Longtime Companion on 76th Birthday. Warren Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, in a private ceremony Wednesday, the Omaha World-Herald reported in a copyrighted story in its Thursday editions.
· AFL-CIO to spend $40 million on elections. AFL-CIO announced Wednesday it will spend $40 million on get-out-the-vote operations for the midterm elections in an effort to try to drive congressional Republicans from power as well as win governorships in 21 states across the country.
· School shooting suspect charged with killing father. A 19-year-old who was taken into custody following a school shooting Wednesday afternoon was charged with killing his father earlier in the day, according to the Orange County, North Carolina, sheriff's office. The teen fired eight shots at Orange High School, injuring two students and sending others running for cover, police and parents told local media outlets.
· Actor Glenn Ford dies at age 90. Actor Glenn Ford, who played strong, thoughtful protagonists in films such as "The Blackboard Jungle," "Gilda" and "The Big Heat," died Wednesday.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
· Pilot locked out of cockpit during flight. The pilot of a Canadian airliner who went to the washroom during a flight found himself locked out of the cockpit, forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in, the airline said Wednesday. A report in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper said that for about 10 minutes "passengers described seeing the pilot bang on the door and communicating with the cockpit though an internal telephone but being unable to open the door."
· 13-year-old Accused of Raping 71-year-old Woman. A 13-year-old boy sat patiently waiting to stand before a Duval County Judge on charges of rape and attempted armed robbery. A young boy accused of committing some serious adult crimes, so serious, Judge Henry Davis had to double check his age.
· Lawyers have a heart after all. A personal injury lawfirm has already published its condolences to family members of those who died in the Kentucky airline accident: "Our sympathy goes to the families and friends of the victims of Comair Flight 5191 - a tragedy that should not have happened. While money cannot bring back a loved one, victims' families should be compensated for their senseless loss. Negligent parties should be held accountable, and a cause for the accident should be found, primarily so a similar disaster never happens again."
· Woman who helped husband rape 10-year-old daughter gets 100 years with no possibility of parole. A woman who helped her husband rape her 10-year-old daughter and videotaped the acts received Tuesday what amounts to a life sentence in prison. A judge handed down a term of 100 years behind bars with no possibility of parole to Sherie Ratliff, 36, of Kingsport.
· Sen. Stevens is 'the secret senator.' The identity of the blogosphere's "secret senator" has been revealed. CNN has confirmed that Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has placed a hold on a bill that would require the government to publish online a database of federal spending. "He does have a hold on the bill," Stevens' spokesperson Aaron Saunders told CNN. The bill has become a cause célèbre for both liberal and conservative bloggers as they tried to uncover the "secret senator" who had blocked passage of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.
· Lawyer Charged With Murdering Neighbor. A lawyer climbed through a neighbor's bedroom window and stabbed him to death after being told by a family member that the man had molested his 2-year-old daughter, authorities say. Barry James, 58, was stabbed in the chest nearly a dozen times Monday. The lawyer, Jonathon Edington, 29, was charged with murder and burglary and was released on $1 million bail Wednesday.
· Radio Shack Uses E-Mail to Fire 400 Employees. Radio Shack notified about 400 workers by e-mail that they were being dismissed immediately as part of planned job cuts. Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters got messages Tuesday morning saying: "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately, your position is one that has been eliminated."
· Sex offender guilty of kidnapping, murdering student. A federal jury found a convicted sex offender guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping and murder of college student Dru Sjodin, whose body was found abandoned in Minnesota a ravine. The verdict clears the way for the first death penalty deliberations in North Dakota in more than a century.
· Scientists report baldness breakthrough. In a finding that could help treat an inherited form of baldness, a research team in Manchester claims to have discovered a protein "code" that instructs cells to sprout hair. By sending the code to more cells than usual, the scientists at the University of Manchester say they were able to breed mice with more fur - a feat that could potentially be replicated in humans.
· Judge Tosses 'Grossly Excessive' $50 Million Award in Vioxx Case. The $50 million compensatory damage award in a federal Vioxx case this month was "grossly excessive," and a new trial must be held to decide damages for a retired FBI agent who suffered a heart attack after taking the painkiller, a federal judge ruled.
· Students claim school in 'chaos.' Teachers voted for no confidence in the administration, four students climbed out of high school windows and eight security guards were fired for failing background checks. Yet the administration said schools were running as smoothly as possible in the second day of the Perkins Schools teachers' strike in Ohio.
· CBS Magazine Slims Down Couric in Photo. No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.
· Sold Cell Phones Share Your Secrets. Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be like handing over your diaries. All sorts of sensitive information pile up inside our cell phones, and deleting it may be more difficult than you think. A popular practice among sellers, resetting the phone, often means sensitive information appears to have been erased. But it can be resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the Internet.
· One Dead, 14 Injured After Driver Plows People in San Francisco. The driver in a bloody hit-and-run spree that killed one man and injured more than a dozen people was mentally unstable and feeling stress from a recent arranged marriage, according to relatives. Omeed A. Popal, 29, was taken into custody Tuesday following a rampage that terrorized pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists.
· No welcome wagon for mayor Nagin in New York. Big Easy Mayor Ray Nagin can expect a big chill when he visits the Big Apple. The New Orleans mayor, who took a cheap shot at New York recently, describing Ground Zero as a "hole in the ground," is due here Friday to talk up his city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. But Mayor Bloomberg will skip Nagin's New Orleans Economic Development Tour at Tribeca Cinemas, despite the theater's Web site claim that Hizzoner will offer brief remarks.
· CNN sorry for Bush speech gaffe. CNN apologized Tuesday after an open mike transmitted an anchor's bathroom conversation with another woman live over the network as it was carrying President Bush's speech in New Orleans. "I've got to be protective of him," anchor Kyra Phillips said without being aware that the mic was on. "He's married, three kids, and his wife is just a control freak." CNN anchor Daryn Kagan broke into the telecast immediately afterward updating viewers on what Bush had been saying.
· Former Teacher Had Sex With 6-Year-Old. A former teacher is being held without bail in a Sarasota County jail after being charged with sexual battery on a 6-year-old girl. James Milligan was accused of having sex with a girl, who was vacationing with her family in Siesta Key.
· Air controller had back turned before Ky. crash. The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5181 crashed cleared the jet for takeoff, then turned his back to do some “administrative duties” as the aircraft veered down the wrong runway, a federal investigator said Tuesday.
· Tom Arnold Separates from Wife No. 3. Guess Tom Arnold didn't have the best damn marriage period. The comedian on Monday filed for a legal separation from his wife of four years, political consultant Shelby Roos. There was no immediate mention of the D-word.
· Inquiry Criticizes U.S. Broadcasting Official Over Hiring. State Department investigators have concluded that Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, improperly hired a friend on the public payroll for nearly $250,000 over two and a half years, according to a summary of their report made public this afternoon by Democratic Congressional staff members. They also said that Mr. Tomlinson, whose job puts him in charge of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, used his government office for personal business, including running a “horse racing operation.”
· Inmates shave heads to mop up oil spill. Thousands of prisoners have been shaving their heads and chests to donate hair to help mop up the Philippines' worst oil spill, officials said on Wednesday. The collection was in response to a nationwide drive by the government to amass tonnes of hair and feathers to absorb more than 200,000 liters of industrial fuel that leaked from a tanker when it sank off the central island of Guimaras.
· New Jersey is richest state, but has some of the poorest cities. New Jersey again has the highest household income of any state and one of the lowest poverty rates, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, but two of its biggest cities are among the poorest in the nation.
· Man Kills Self After Minor Fender Bender. A Milton man fatally shot himself in his car after a minor fender bender. Police responded Monday to a minor crash with no injuries on the Scenic Highway. The man, whose identity has not been released, returned to his vehicle, grabbed a handgun and shot himself.
· Bumbling bandit pulls regrettable robbery. Nothing went right for the bumbling gunman wearing a Ronald Reagan mask and a cape who held up a Grantville bank Tuesday morning. The thief walked into the Bank of America on Mission Gorge Road at Friars Road just after 10 a.m. with the mask covering his face and told everyone in the bank to get down, San Diego police Lt. Lawrence McKinney said. His first mistake was wearing a mask that obstructed his view. His second was wearing a cape that got tangled with his gun, causing him to drop the weapon on the ground, McKinney said.
· Long working hours linked to high blood pressure. Workers who clocked more than 51 hours at the office each week were 29 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than those who worked 39 hours or less, a new study has found.
· Google CEO joins Apple board. Apple Computer named Google CEO Eric Schmidt to its board of directors today, creating a high-profile link between two of Silicon Valley's most prized companies as they try to expand their recent successes and topple Microsoft as high technology's kingpin.
· Wallace escapes crash, gives sponsor a plug. Former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace walked away from an accident in which a driver talking on her cell phone ran a stop sign and collided with Wallace's SUV - then used the occasion to tout the safety of his Dodge Durango. "You hear car companies talk about safety a lot," the former driver of the No. 2 Dodge said in a statement Tuesday, "but I can tell you that (wife) Patti and I are both really thankful for the research and development that Dodge puts into the safety of their vehicles."
· Illinois Girl Gets 53 Years in Jail for Killing Schoolmate. A teenager was sentenced to 53 years in prison Tuesday for killing a new schoolmate who showed interest in boys she had dated. Judge James Teros called the killing "a murder over nothing."
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
· Postman suspended for anti-junk mail advice. A London postman who gave people advice on how to stem the rising tide of junk mail into their homes has been suspended and could lose his job. Roger Annies, 48, wrote and delivered leaflets to people on his round explaining how to block letters offering loans, credit cards and other services. While some people welcomed the unofficial advice, Royal Mail bosses took a dim view of the apparent bid to undermine a lucrative and growing part of its business.
· It pays to be sick in Oakland. Thanks to a cushy union contract, Oakland, California police get 60 days of paid sick leave per year. As a result, the Oakland Police Department's patrol division is chronically understaffed. A June grand jury report found, "As many as 20 percent of the officers assigned to work patrol on a given day are absent due to attendance at a school, injury, illness, vacation or other reason." Hence the department's heavy reliance on costly overtime. According to KTVU, some 13 percent of Oakland police used more than 12 sick days last year, but union officials say the average is under 3 days per employee.
· Forgotten stock is woman’s windfall. A woman who invested in a wig-making company during the 1960s but believed it had gone out of business recently learned she was wrong — and that her $800 investment had grown far larger. Carol Lee Woods received a check last week for $116,429 from Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter, whose office’s Unclaimed Property Division received the stock because Woods’ shares had no activity for at least five years.
· Immigration ads prove tricky for candidates. Capturing the immigration debate in political ads this campaign season - without upsetting Hispanic voters - is proving tricky for candidates. An ad criticizing Stephen Laffey, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Lincoln Chafee for the Republican nomination in Rhode Island, set off grumbling in the Latino community. The ad criticized Laffey, mayor of Cranston, for allowing city police to accept ID cards issued by the Mexican government as identification.
· Do you remember this? A 1982 commercial for a "fast, safe, and effective" product to lose weight. Unfortunately for this company, something else came along to ruin the brand. [video]
· Teen was text messaging when cop was hit. A veteran Allen Park cop was released from the hospital Monday after suffering injuries in a car crash police say was caused by a teenager sending text messages - an activity most experts agree is unwise while driving but some claim is on the rise.
· DA: Karr's Words Were the Only Evidence. The prosecutor in the JonBenet Ramsey case acknowledged Tuesday that some people want her "tarred and feathered" for pursuing John Mark Karr's now-debunked claims, but she said separating fact from fantasy was difficult because so much of the evidence is public knowledge. District Attorney Mary Lacy said "We felt we could not ignore this, we had to follow it. We also had ... there was a real public safety concern here directed at a particular child." Lacy added that a forensic psychologist "advised that this person was dangerous, this person was escalating."
· Kids Watch As Clown Is Crushed to Death. A hot-air balloon caught fire during a circus stunt, killing a clown acrobat as dozens of children watched, police said Tuesday. The accident happened Monday night as the Royal Russian Circus was performing in Scariff, County Clare, a village in western Ireland.
· Salt Lake City's mayor organizes protest of president Bush visit. Offended by Rocky Anderson's plans to protest President Bush this week, the Utah Republican Party is waging a public-relations campaign urging Utahns to call the mayor and tell him to "stop embarrassing" the state.
· Sex slave 'pregnant by kidnapper.' The girl held for eight years as a sex slave in a tiny cellar in Vienna, is pregnant by her captor, it was claimed today. Natascha Kampusch, now 18, escaped the clutches of pervert Wolfgang Priklopil last Wednesday, but now according to German newspaper reports, it is feared she is carrying his child.
· 'Most Wanted' polygamist captured. The fugitive leader of a polygamist sect has been arrested in southern Nevada, the FBI said today. Warren Steed Jeffs, 50, was taken into custody after he and two other people were pulled over late Monday by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas, FBI spokesman David Staretz said. Jeffs was wanted on suspicion of sexual misconduct for allegedly arranging marriages between underage girls and older men.
· New Orleans bar stayed open through Katrina and chaos that followed. Johnny White's is a Bourbon Street bar that never closes. Not during the raging wind and rain of Hurricane Katrina. Not during the looting. Or the curfews. Or those long, lonely weeks when New Orleans stagnated under floodwaters that covered 80 percent of the city and officials tried to force the last of its residents to evacuate. Call it madness. Call it anti-authoritarian pigheadedness. Or call it dogged determination not to let a lifestyle die. "You've got to have someplace open, even during the worst of times," said owner JD Landrum.
· Poll Worker Fired For Comments. A New Smyrna Beach voting equipment inspector was fired after she said she didn't like the new touch-screen voting machines being used for the first time in Volusia County. Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall fired 76-year-old Drusilla Synal, a poll worker for more than a decade, for making the derogatory remarks as she cast her ballot during an early voting session last week. McFall said Synal told everyone in the polling place that she disliked the touch-screen voting machines because they don't leave a paper trail.
· Student With Dynamite on Plane Released. A college student who packed a stick of dynamite on a flight to Houston from Argentina was granted bond Monday on a federal charge of carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft. Howard MacFarland Fish had been in federal custody since early Friday when agents found a stick of dynamite — as well as a black powder-based fuse and a blasting cap — in his checked luggage upon his arrival to Houston on a Continental Airlines flight that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
· Pilots Noticed Lack Of Runway Lights. Investigators in Lexington, Ky., say the pilots of a Comair jet that crashed Sunday on takeoff noticed there were no lights on the runway they mistakenly used. It was too short. A National Transportation Safety Board official said the only survivor, the first officer, was piloting the plane. All 49 others on board were killed. The safety official said the cockpit voice recorder shows the pilots were talking about the absence of lights on the runway, but they didn't report it to the control tower. Investigators are looking into whether the runway lights or changes made to a taxiway during a repaving project a week ago confused the commuter jet's pilots.
· Vandalism Suspects Received Rides From Mother. A mother suspected of driving a tagging crew of five - including two of her children - in her sport utility vehicle as they allegedly spray painted graffiti is being held without bond, authorities said Monday.
· Cruise Production Biz Finds New Backers. Tom Cruise's production company, which broke ties with Paramount Pictures last week in an unusually public dispute, has signed a two-year financing deal with an investment partnership headed by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.
· Attack victim wants to know why suspect was free. The 74-year-old woman who was brutally beaten during an attempted rape says that she doesn’t understand why the suspect was out of jail at the time of the attack. Police arrested 32-year-old Gerardo Anaya Castelo and charged him with the crime. They found his wallet at the scene of the attack. Castelo has a history of violence toward women and had been jailed twice in the past three months in connection with a domestic assault. Both times he was released, despite a warning to the court that he had a “high probability” of being violent again.
· Man Charged for Making His Own Gas. A 32-year-old man is in trouble after he illegally made and sold his own brand of privately mixed diesel fuel, state authorities said Monday. Samuel Floyd Bolt, who lives near Willis in Floyd County, said he was unaware that he needed a state license to sell his product.
· Bad Break for Broderick. Ferris Bueller's latest day off was derailed by some inopportune horseplay. Matthew Broderick broke his collarbone Sunday after falling off a horse while vacationing in Ireland with wife Sarah Jessica Parker.
· Foxy Brown Pleads Guilty to Assault. Rapper Foxy Brown pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor assault charges stemming from a fight with salon workers over a manicure. The plea deal, which spares her jail time, requires her to serve three years probation and take anger management classes, said Edison Alban, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Monday, August 28, 2006
· Colorado governor: DA should be held accountable to taxpayers. Governor Bill Owens released a statement late Monday afternoon saying, "I find it incredible that Boulder authorities wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars to bring Karr to Colorado given such a lack of evidence. Mary Lacy should be held accountable for the most extravagant and expensive DNA test in Colorado history."
· Airport's Taxi Route Change Before Crash. The taxi route for commercial jets at Blue Grass Airport was altered a week before Comair Flight 5191 took the wrong runway and crashed, killing all but one of the 50 people aboard, the airport's director said Monday. It wasn't clear if the Comair pilots aboard Flight 5191 had been to the airport since the routing changes.
· Prosecutors Drop Case in JonBenet Slaying. Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case Monday against John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his insistence he strangled the 6-year-old beauty queen. Just a week and a half after Karr's arrest in Thailand was seen as a remarkable break in the sensational, decade-old case, prosecutors suggested in court papers that he was just a man with a twisted fascination with JonBenet who confessed to a crime he didn't commit. The 41-year-old schoolteacher will be kept in jail in Boulder until he can be sent to Sonoma County, Calif., to face child pornography charges dating to 2001, authorities said.
· Ringo Starr's wife hospitalized for broken leg. Barbara Bach, a former Bond girl and wife of ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, was hospitalized with a broken leg after being kicked by a horse, a hospital official said. Bach, who turned 59 on Sunday, married Starr in 1981.
· NBC Expresses Regret for Air-Crash Skit. NBC expressed regret Monday for an Emmy Awards comedy skit that included a mock plane crash and aired on the network the evening of a fatal Kentucky jetliner accident. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday, and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss," NBC said in a statement the day after the ceremony.
· Federal Firefighter Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Arson. A federal firefighter accused of persuading a friend to set a brush fire on the city's outskirts has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson.
· Credit 'holds' trip up travel plans. Hotels, car rental agencies, gas stations and some restaurants request holds — essentially reservations on funds available through credit or debit cards — to make sure card users don't exceed their credit lines or, in the case of debit cards, their bank account balances before checking out or returning a car. They're legal, and no disclosure is required.
· Scots Eye Keith Richards Smoking Onstage. Keith Richards may have violated Scotland's smoking ban by lighting up during a Rolling Stones concert. The Glasgow City Council said Sunday it heard from journalists that the 62-year-old guitarist was smoking during a Friday night performance. "It's been brought to our attention that he was smoking, and we'll be looking into it," a council spokesman said. With a fine of only $95, it is unlikely Richards will be too concerned about it.
· Democrats See Victory in U.S. House Races, Senate Within Reach. Democratic insiders, who months ago thought their chances of winning a majority in the House were no better than even, and that the Senate was a lost cause, have become far more optimistic. Now, they say, winning the House is a lock, and the Senate is within reach. James Carville, who ran Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign said ``If we can't win in this environment, we have to question the whole premise of the party.''
· Jewish veterans, local ACLU latest to sue over cross. The local chapter of The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday to force the Mount Soledad cross to be moved in the latest challenge over the La Jolla landmark's constitutionality. The suit, filed in San Diego federal court on behalf of a national Jewish war veterans organization and three San Diego residents, is the newest development in an increasingly high-profile, 17-year legal battle over the cross. On Aug. 14, President Bush signed a bill that transferred the ownership of the cross and war memorial site to the federal government, specifically the Department of Defense. The bill halted a legal process that seemed destined to lead to the removal of the cross, which has stood on city-owned land for decades.
· Emmy Parodies Plane crash Hours After Kentucky Accident. It was meant to be funny. But a fake plane crash during the opening Emmy awards skit made many cringe on Sunday - the same day 49 people died in a fiery plane crash in Kentucky. The skit, aired live at the start of NBC's Emmy telecast, brought a swift response from the general manager of NBC's Lexington, Ky., affiliate, WLEX. "It was a live telecast. We were completely helpless," Tim Gilbert was quoted as saying on the Lexington Herald-Leader's Web site. "By the time we began to react, it was over. At the station, we were as horrified as they were at home," Gilbert said.
· Detroit's teachers agree to go on strike. The Detroit Federation of Teachers voted Sunday against a two-year contract proposal that included pay and benefit cuts and agreed to a strike that will put teachers on the picket lines in front of schools starting Monday.
· Student Arrested After Airport Bomb Threat. A man attending college in South Florida was arrested after authorities say he called in a bomb threat to the Long Beach Airport because he arrived late for his flight and was prevented from boarding, an FBI spokesman said Sunday.
· Dungeon captor 'part of my life.' An Austrian teenager who spent eight years in a dingy underground cell until her dramatic escape last week issued a statement Monday defending her captor as "part of my life" and insisting she didn't miss anything during her long ordeal. In remarks read to reporters by a psychologist, 18-year-old Natascha Kampusch said she understood the "extreme curiosity" about what she endured and how she is faring since she bolted to freedom last Wednesday, but she pleaded with journalists: "Please leave me alone for a while."
· Sunlight Curbs Afternoon Drowsiness. Letting in a little extra light throughout the day may do more than just lift your spirits. It could make you more alert and help you avoid an afternoon energy slump. The researchers exposed a group of people to 21 minutes of bright white light in the morning while they imaged their brains. Not only were the participants more alert, but responses in certain parts of their brain also got a boost.
· Biden not worried about Southern Dems. Sen. Joseph Biden says he can hold his own in a 2008 presidential primary against Democratic contenders from the South, noting that his home state of Delaware was a "slave state." "You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."
· Many in New Orleans can't afford insurance. Attorney Vallie Schwartz fell in love with the 130-year-old Victorian shotgun in the French Quarter, which like all grand houses in this former Spanish enclave has tall, cathedral ceilings and brightly painted cypress shutters. A successful personal injury lawyer, she could comfortably afford the mortgage on the half-million-dollar house, so she made an offer — one that was soon accepted. That was before she knew how much it would cost to insure the property: The best quote she got from a private insurer was nearly $10,000 per year, or over $800 a month on top of her monthly mortgage — far more than she had budgeted and enough to price her out of the house.
· Dick Clark humbled by Emmys tribute. Too often, it seems, one has to die in order to receive a tribute from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences -- as was the case this year with Aaron Spelling. Fortunately, Dick Clark is here, though still battling the effects of a stroke suffered in late 2004. He was honored Sunday night on the Emmy stage for his vast contributions to the television business, particularly the iconic weekly music series "American Bandstand."
· Late-bloomer '24' collects big Emmy wins. Kiefer Sutherland always comes through in the end on "24." After years of being snubbed, the actor and series were finally victorious at the Emmy Awards, too.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
· Cynics mock stars aiding Africa. Madonna feels responsible for the children of the world and has found herself a "big, big project" to help orphans in Malawi. Gwyneth Paltrow declares "I am African" in a new advertisement for a charity working in Africa. But the latest flood of stars searching for a good cause has prompted a collective groan, as people question their methods and motives. "We are on the verge of farcical at this point," said Michael Wolff, columnist for Vanity Fair, when asked about Africa's popularity among famous performers. "This has become just a part of the public relations play book. Everybody has a PR person and every PR person says 'which country do you want to adopt?'."
· Football coaches paid considerably more than teachers. Football coaches at Texas schools average $31,404 more in salary than teachers. The latest numbers show coaches making an average of $73,804, compared to $42,400 for teachers.
· Lawmakers forgot that new Colts stadium may need electricity. The $675 million Lucas Oil Stadium is expected to be one of the country's premier sporting venues when it opens in 2008, boasting a state-of-the-art retractable roof, swanky suites and fan-friendly amenities. Unfortunately, while lawmakers raised taxes to build the stadium, the financing package they passed last year did not include money for electricity and other maintenance expenses. "We'd be fine for the first game, but we would soon run out of money," said Fred Glass, head of the Capital Improvement Board.
· Karr items already up for bid on eBay. A John Mark Karr doll with leather pants. A red car "pimped out" with Karr's mug. And a 129-page journal written by Wendy Wonda Pearl Hutchens about infamous friends including Karr, the suspect in JonBenet Ramsey's 1996 killing. These are among a growing list of items recently sold or now for sale on eBay.
· Alcohol may have been a factor. A Houston County man going down the railroad tracks on a riding lawn mower was hit and killed by a train early Saturday. Anthony Potts, 38, was traveling southbound on the Norfolk Southern tracks when he was hit by a northbound train at 1:13 a.m.. "Alcohol is a contributing factor," police said.
· Update: Comair Jet Used Wrong Runway. Pilots of the Comair commuter jet that crashed with 50 people aboard near Lexington, Ky., used the wrong runway, CBS News has learned. Forty-nine of the 50 people aboard were killed. The one survivor, a crewmember, was reported in critical condition. Flight controllers gave the pilots clearance to take off from runway 22, but it appears the pilots took off from runway 26, which is only half the size of the 7,000 foot runway 22.
· Teacher's gender affects learning. For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women. That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University.
· Hezbollah Head Didn't Foresee Such a War. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that if he had known the capture of two Israeli soldiers would lead to such a war, he wouldn't have ordered it. "We did not think, even one percent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me, if I had known on July 11 ... that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not," he said.
· Meredith Vieira: The View has become a joke. Meredith Vieira, the soon-to-debut new anchor of NBC's Today Show talks about morning viewers, working moms who want to have it all and how The View has become a joke.
· Plane Crash in Kentucky. A Comair flight carrying 50 people crashed a mile from Lexington's airport Sunday morning shortly after takeoff, the Federal Aviation Administration said. At least one person may have survived the crash.
· Man Reports Seeing Karr In Colo. In 1996. For the first time, there may be a witness who can put John Mark Karr in Boulder when Jonbenet Ramsey was murdered. The Rocky Mountain News today reported that Daniel Pride, now of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, said he saw a man resembling Karr at a bus stop. He said the man was wearing a fleece vest with a "shiny red spot" that Pride took to be a stain.
· Kidnapped Fox journalists released. Two Fox journalists kidnapped two weeks ago in Gaza were released Sunday and appeared to be in good health, video from the Palestinian news service Ramattan TV showed. Fox reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were released shortly after noon and dropped off at the Beach Hotel in Gaza City, where they were greeted by a swarm of people offering hugs, video from Ramattan showed. The hotel is a popular place for journalists.
· Alabama Democrats ban candidate for extremist views. Democratic Party leaders want a former candidate for attorney general who denies the Holocaust occurred to stay out of their future primaries. The party's executive committee passed a resolution Saturday informing Larry Darby that "he is not welcome in the Alabama Democratic Party." Darby, the founder of the Atheist Law Center, denied that millions of Jews died in the Holocaust during World War II. He also called for martial law and the posting of troops on interstates entering Alabama to check for illegal immigrants
· Harris clarifies comments on religion. U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record) told a religious journal that separation of church and state is "a lie" and God and the nation's founding fathers did not intend the country be "a nation of secular laws." The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will "legislate sin," including abortion and gay marriage.
· 128 Students Suspended at Indiana School. Classrooms were a little less crowded at Morton High School on the first day of classes: 128 students were sent home for wearing the wrong clothes. Fed up with inappropriate outfits, the principal suspended the students for one day Wednesday, minutes after doors opened at the school. Those suspended represent more than 10 percent of the 1,200 total students.
· 'Bin brother' fear over England's garbage bin tags. Half a million household wheelie bins have been secretly tagged with hidden electronic "bugs", it has been reported. The tiny devices identify each bin so that records can be kept on the waste disposal habits of its owners, and up to 500,000 bins in council districts across England are thought to have already been fitted.
· Texas Immigration Proposal Draws Protest. Clutching American flags and signs that read "America was formed by immigrants," more than 300 protesters on Saturday denounced a city proposal that would prohibit landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants. About two dozen counter-protesters staged a demonstration nearby. The proposal by City Councilman Tim O'Hare would also make it tougher for illegal immigrants to work in the Dallas suburb, penalize businesses that employ undocumented workers and make English the city's official language.
· N.D. town short squad cars after chase. The city is short on squad cars after a man led police on a destructive chase and crashed his van into 10 cruisers, officials said. By the time officers stopped Jeffrey Bean in Minnesota, eight squad cars from Grand Forks and two from East Grand Forks, Minn., were damaged.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
· DWI Brothers Crash Into Each Other. Brothers David and Michael Murphy ran into each other early Saturday morning. Unfortunately, police said, they were behind the wheels of separate cars and both were drunk.
· Obama gets bribe money back for TV crews. Swamped by thousands of Kenyan fans at the memorial to victims of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing here, Barack Obama also pressured the Kenyan government Friday to refund what he said was shakedown money two Chicago TV crews were forced to pay at the airport to get their equipment out of customs.
· Photo Leads To Suspected Counterfeiter's Capture. A suspected counterfeiter passing counterfeit $20 and $100 bills has been caught at the California State Fair with help from a photo booth. A victim told state fair Police Chief Robert Craft that he remembered the suspect was carrying a photograph with him. When officers went to the fair's photo kiosk to investigate, they said they found a picture taken by state fair staff of the 17-year-old suspect standing with his friends and holding wads of cash.
· Big knife. Wenger, the company that makes the legendary Swiss Army Knives has introduced a 9-inch long, 2-pound "blade" which features every tool Swiss Army makes, 85 instruments in all.
· Woman Sues Actor LeBlanc for Defamation. Matt LeBlanc has been sued for defamation by a woman who claims the former "Friends" actor made sexually charged comments about her that were published in the National Enquirer. Stephanie Stephens claims in a lawsuit she was never sexually aggressive toward LeBlanc, never made sexual requests and never gave a lap dance.
· Long-Awaited FEMA Trailer Explodes. New Orleans couple waited nearly a year for a FEMA trailer, only to have it explode minutes after they got inside. A neighbor said the man appeared to have been burned to the bone on his arms. Fire officials said flammable vapors somehow ignited, causing an explosion and a rolling wave of fire throughout the trailer.
· Taller people are smarter? While researchers have long shown that tall people earn more than their shorter counterparts, it's not only social discrimination that accounts for this inequality - tall people are just smarter than their height-challenged peers, a new study finds.
· Federline Will Appear on 'CSI' This Fall. First dancing, then rapping. What will Kevin Federline do next? Looks like the 28-year-old husband of singer Britney Spears will be shuffling over to the small screen, where he will appear in an episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on CBS this fall.
· Hacker sentenced to 37 months in prison. Christopher Maxwell was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for a global robot virus attack in 2004 and 2005. "I am a 21-year-old boy with a good heart and I made a mistake," Maxwell told the judge. "I never realized how dangerous a computer could be. I thank God no one was hurt."
· Iran Opens Nuclear Reactor, Defying U.N. Iran's hard-line president on Saturday inaugurated a heavy-water production plant, a facility the West fears will be used to develop a nuclear bomb, as Tehran remained defiant ahead of a U.N. deadline that could lead to sanctions. The U.N. has called on Tehran to stop the separate process of uranium enrichment - which also can be used to create nuclear weapons - by Thursday or face economic and political sanctions.
· Nebraska tries to oust trooper linked to KKK. Robert Henderson was not fired as a state trooper because he belonged to the Ku Klux Klan and another white supremacist group, authorities said. Instead, he was ousted because he could not uphold public trust while participating in such groups, they said. An arbitrator disagreed, ordering the State Patrol to reinstate Henderson within 60 days and pay him back wages.
· Karr defender: DNA samples obtained illegally. The public defender for John Mark Karr said Friday that any DNA samples taken from his client in the JonBenet Ramsey slaying investigation could not have been legally obtained — and any more testing will need his approval. "Biological evidence reveals highly private and sensitive information about a person," Deputy Public Defender Seth Temin wrote. "Mr. Karr's right to privacy can only be protected by giving him the opportunity to be heard on this issue prior to collection of a sample."
· Rob Reiner latest to criticize Gibson. Mel Gibson's apology for making drunken anti-Semitic remarks isn't enough to redeem him, actor-producer Rob Reiner said. The actor also must acknowledge that "his work reflects anti-Semitism," particularly the 2004 hit movie "The Passion of the Christ," Reiner said.
· Russian scientist predicts global cooling. A Russian scientist predicts a period of global cooling in coming decades. Khabibullo Abdusamatov expects a repeat of the period known as the Little Ice Age. Abdusamatov and his colleagues at the Russian Academy of Sciences astronomical observatory said the prediction is based on measurement of solar emissions, Novosti reported. They expect the cooling to begin within a few years and to reach its peak between 2055 and 2060.
· Hezbollah launches boy band to stardom. They were struggling in a boy band, working the West Bank wedding circuit and dreaming of stardom. Now the five singers who make up the Northern Band have come a little closer to their goal, with help from an unwitting ally - Hezbollah guerrilla chief Hassan Nasrallah.
· Kidnapped girl kept diary during her eight-year ordeal. Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and held for eight years until she escaped her captor in Vienna this week, kept a diary throughout her ordeal, it was revealed yesterday.
· Tiger over the roof but finishes in the lead. Tiger Woods hit a 9-iron over the clubhouse roof and escaped with a bogey because it was not marked out-of-bounds, making the Bridgestone Invitational nothing short of bizarre on Friday.
· School canceled indefinitely in Gary, Indiana. Officials on Thursday indefinitely canceled classes citywide after teachers, striking for a fourth day, blocked streets and swarmed a car attempting to park at an elementary school. Two picketers were slightly hurt as the car rolled through the crowd.
Friday, August 25, 2006
· Forbes Article: 'Don't Marry Career Women.' A magazine that usually sticks to drumming up lists of the world's richest men, is now stirring up quite a controversy. "To put it bluntly, the more successful she is, the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you," Noer said. "A word of advice - marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career."
· Whistleblowers Say State Farm Cheated Katrina Victims. State Farm Insurance supervisors systematically demanded that Hurricane Katrina damage reports be buried or replaced or changed so that the company would not have to pay policyholders' claims in Mississippi, two State Farm insiders tell ABC News. State Farm supervisors allegedly pressured outside engineers to prepare reports concluding that damage was caused by water, not covered under State Farm policies, rather than by wind.
· Dynamite traces found in bag at Bush airport. A college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina to Houston contained traces of dynamite, authorities said, in one of six security incidents today involving U.S. flights.
· Scam in South Africa uses Oprah's name. Police questioned eight people Friday after discovering an investment scam that used Oprah Winfrey's name days after she interviewed prospective pupils in South Africa for her new all-girls school. Some 500 people crowded into a community center in the eastern city of Grahamstown after being told that they had to make a simple payment of $1.40 with the promise of then receiving $168 per month for 10 years.
· Urgent Fundraiser? Bush Wanted Carpool Lanes Closed. Secret Service officials confirm to The Washington Post they tried to get the Virginia Department of Transportation to close down the carpool lanes on a highway leading out of Washington Wednesday so President George W. Bush could easily get to and from a fundraiser for Republican Sen. George Allen. The request was denied.
· 7-Eleven clerk is killed over $1.16 taco. A Detroit 7-Eleven clerk who was fatally shot by a customer early Thursday morning may have lost his life over a $1.16 taco. Authorities said a videotape shows the suspect leaving the store, then coming back and shooting Utica resident Wajed Baig four times after an argument at 1am.
· Google Seeks Exemption for Cash Hoard. Search-engine giant Google Inc. has piled up so much cash that it is in danger of being mistaken for a mutual fund. The company, which wants to diversify its investment strategy but doesn't want to be regulated as a mutual fund, has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to exempt it from regulations.
· Macy slams Lohan for lateness. Veteran actor William H Macy has blasted co-star Lindsay Lohan for her behaviour while filming the movie Bobby, insisting she "should have her a** kicked." The star shared scenes with the 20-year-old actress in the film and admires her talent, but not her manners. He said, "You can't show up late. It's very, very disrespectful."
· Ohio Supreme Court rules cult leader convicted of killing a family of 5 in 1989 to be executed. A religious cult leader convicted of killing a family of five in 1989 will be executed on Oct. 10, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Jeffrey Lundgren, 56, was convicted of shooting to death a man, his wife and his three daughters who had moved from Missouri in 1987 to follow Lundgren's teachings. He referred to the killings as “pruning the vineyard.”
· NYC Officials Want New 'Survivor' Pulled. As CBS prepares to launch a new season of the hit reality show "Survivor," this time featuring teams divided by race, enraged city officials are saying it promotes divisiveness and are calling for the network to reconsider. "The idea of having a battle of the races is preposterous," City Councilman John Liu said Thursday. "How could anybody be so desperate for ratings?"
· Gay candidate, foe disqualified. A Democratic Party committee Thursday night disqualified an openly gay candidate for the Alabama Legislature and the woman she defeated in the primary runoff because both women violated a party rule that party officials said no other candidate has obeyed since 1988.
· A former press aide to Mayor Rudy Giuliani found naked and strangled. Detectives investigating the grisly slaying of a former press aide to Mayor Rudy Giuliani have discovered that the murderer took the victim's keys, cell phone and laptop computer, law enforcement sources said yesterday. Martín Barreto, 48, a respected public relations guru who lived an opulent lifestyle in both Manhattan and Miami, was found naked and strangled.
· Judge detains five over ringing phones. A judge detained and questioned a row of spectators when a cell phone rang for a third time in her courtroom, later ordering two people to serve community service for contempt of court.
· Puppy purse the ultimate accessory for pooch lovers. It's the ultimate fashion accessory for people who "love their dogs a bit too much."