On "Larry King Live," Hilton let us all know that he believes Miss California's answer was the "worst answer ever" from a Miss America contestant, and he has publicly mocked her, calling her names and basically doing his best to slam her at every opportunity.
Shanna Moakler, the director of the Miss California pageant, has …
Martin 00- 15 M Small-Bodied Blues Guitar
Martin Guitar has announced the release of the 00-15M. The guitar was designed to be reminiscent of the small-bodied Martins of the 1930s. The mahogany bodied guitars are designed to prodxice a warm tone and cleai voice.
The 00-15M is further enhanced tonally by Martin's A-frame sitka bracing. A single ring wood rosette is used in keeping with the old '30s tradition. The mahogany 14-frei neck has the classic solid headstock with vintage-style Gotoh tuners. The instrument's fingerboard and "belly" bridge are East Indian rosewood. The nut and compensated saddle are bone. The guitar is finished in satin lacquer over a rich …
A military helicopter carrying 19 people, many of them injured in China's devastating earthquake, crashed in fog and turbulence, and authorities were searching for survivors, state media reported Sunday.
The Russian-designed Mi-171 transport helicopter crashed Saturday afternoon in Wenchuan county in China's southwest, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Xinhua said late Sunday that the aircraft was carrying 5 crew and 14 others, including people with quake injuries.
There was no immediate word on any survivors or casualties. Xinhua said a search and rescue operation was under way.
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 earthquake, China's …
PIERRE, S.D. -- Gasoline pushing $3 gallon? Why worry? Buy a motorscooter like thousands of other Americans and stretch that singlegallon of gas a week or more.
"As people start driving them, they start finding more reasons touse them," said Doug Day, owner of Scooter Centrale and VespaHartford in Plainville, Conn. "They're practical, easy to park andget great gas mileage. I put $5 worth of gas into mine when it'stotally empty, compared to $50 in my SUV."
As gasoline prices soar, the popularity of peppy, fuel-sippingmotor scooters -- most easily get 50 miles per gallon and some of thesmaller ones get up to 80 mpg -- is soaring. Sales, estimated at86,000 last year in …
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A human rights group said Tuesday the U.S. government has refused assistance to Polish prosecutors investigating whether the CIA maintained a secret prison in Poland.
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights posted a letter from prosecutors on its website saying the U.S. Justice Department in October refused to provide legal assistance requested by Polish investigators by citing a bilateral agreement on the protection of state …
Former world champion Tom Boonen of Belgium won the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race and Linus Gerdemann of Germany held onto the overall lead on Thursday.
Boonen, who rides for the Quickstep team, won a mass sprint, completing the 165-kilometer (103-mile) route in and around Montecatini Terme in 4 hours, 14 minutes, 13 seconds.
It was Boonen's fourth stage victory of the season.
Paul Martens of Germany crossed second and Daniele Bennati of Italy was third, both with the same time as Boonen.
Gerdemann and Boonen both have the same overall time, with three riders each four seconds …
RICHMOND, Va. It was here, in a foundry along the banks of theJames River, that black slaves and white workmen forged the heavyartillery that powered the army of the Confederacy during the WarBetween the States.
Now, within the same walls of the old Tredegar Iron Works,Virginia officials are planning a Civil War museum to tell all sidesof the story, including one the ironworkers knew all too well: thatblacks played a significant role on both sides of the conflict.
"Here's an idea whose time has come," says H. Alexander Wise Jr.,director of Virginia's Department of Historic Resources. "The CivilWar is such a huge story, and it needs to be told well."
The $37 …
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov was officially registered as a presidential candidate Wednesday, the only political newcomer allowed to challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the Kremlin job.
The three others on the ballot for the March vote are veteran party leaders who pose little challenge to Putin, who is seen as all but certain to win the election and return to the post he held from 2000 to 2008.
Putin, however, is under heavy pressure to show that he can win a fair election. Evidence that vote rigging boosted the results of his party in the Dec. 4 parliamentary election led to mass protests in Moscow. Another demonstration to demand free …
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) — They got their start playing frat parties at Brown University and doing gigs at school dances and church gatherings in Newport. They covered Beatles songs on Bannister's Wharf, which was fitting enough. They hoped to be the next Fab Four: Bill, Bob, Barry and John.
Later, three more family members, including their mother, would round out the fresh-faced clan — The Cowsills — whose harmonies would climb to the top of the pop music charts.
Surviving members of the group that enjoyed a meteoric rise in the 1960s — the Cowsills would serve as the inspiration for the TV show "The Partridge Family" — are scheduled to perform Wednesday evening in …
Good food at reasonable prices has become a luxury in many neighborhoods throughout the city.
With limited grocery options, some South and West Side residents are often traveling miles outside of their area - or using convenience stores inside of gas stations in their area - as grocery stores.
Such areas are classified as "food deserts" - areas where grocery stores with affordable and healthy options are miles apart.
A former Englewood resident told the Defender that while the Englewood neighborhood is going through extensive redevelopment, quality grocery stores have not been part of the plans for some time now.
"My father praised the accomplishments of the …
NEW YORK (AP) — Police say a New York City jazz musician who hadn't been seen since last week has been found dead inside a storage chest in his home.
Stanley Wright was reported missing by his son early Tuesday. Police checked his home around 3:30 a.m. and found his body. He was last seen alive Thursday.
The 62-year-old Wright once taught …
Stocks fell Friday as investors cashed in some of this month's big gains.
Technology stocks led the decline as did energy shares, which fell along with the price of oil.
A dip in personal incomes and a slowdown in personal spending gave investors little reason to extend the market's recent rally, which has sent the Dow Jones industrial average surging 21 percent over just 13 days.
Major market indicators fell about 1 percent at midday, but that was little cause for worry among analysts given the powerful climb the market has seen this month.
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at the brokerage house Avalon Partners Inc., said that even a serious decline on Friday wouldn't shake his faith in the market's stability.
"Even if we were to drop 3 or 4 percent, it wouldn't worry me," Cardillo said. Cardillo said he has some cash on the sidelines, but considers himself fully invested.
The market looks healthier than it has in a long time. Until this month, the Dow had not risen more than 20 percent from a low since the bear market began in the fall of 2007, and the market hasn't jumped that much in such a short time since 1938.
The past few weeks have brought strong doses of good news about the most downbeat sectors of the economy, banking and housing, leading investors to believe that an end to the frantic selling that marked the beginning of the year might be over.
"Over these past couple of weeks there've been the earliest hints that things could get better in the future," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.
In midday trading, the Dow fell 98.13, or 1.2 percent, to 7,826.43.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.92, or 1.2 percent, to 822.94, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 21.07, or 1.3 percent, to 1,565.93.
Investors now have the task of trying to gauge where the market goes from here, asking themselves if the recent rally is too good to be true, or if it is indeed the beginning of a solid turnaround.
Though the market's recent advance technically puts it in bull market territory _ usually defined as a 20 percent rise from a low _ investors are mindful that rallies within bear markets can last for some time, only to quickly come crashing down.
Many investors are well aware that the economy and the banking system remain troubled. And the next hurdle Wall Street must jump is high: first-quarter earnings.
Next week will bring more tests for the market in the form of a number of important economic reports, most notably the March unemployment report on Friday. All the market really needs, analysts said, is a few more reports showing improving, or at the very least stabilizing, numbers to signal that it is safe to keep buying.
The Commerce Department said Friday personal spending rose 0.2 percent in February, as expected, down from a 1 percent gain in January. Personal incomes fell 0.2 percent.
Disappointing announcements sapped strength from technology companies. Tech stocks had surged Thursday and pushed the Nasdaq into positive territory for the year.
Internet powerhouse Google said it is laying off nearly 200 workers, and technology consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture lowered its outlook for the quarter and the year. Shares fell $3.04 to $350.25.
In other downbeat corporate news, auto parts maker Johnson Controls said it will cut jobs and close 10 manufacturing plants. And although homebuilder KB Home said it narrowed its fiscal first-quarter loss, its CEO warned that the housing market continues to face an oversupply of homes, falling prices, tight lending standards, rising unemployment and weak consumer confidence.
KB Home rose $1.44, or 10 percent, to $15.60, but other homebuilder stocks declined.
Johnson Controls fell 31 cents to $12.59.
Financial companies were mainly weak too, ahead of a meeting at the White House between President Barack Obama and chief executives of the largest U.S. banks. Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are preparing to launch a partnership with private investors to buy banks' toxic assets.
The discussion also comes as Congress works on a bill to curb Wall Street bonuses, and Geithner plans to regulate the hedge fund industry more heavily.
Citigroup Inc. dropped 19 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $2.62, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 30 cents to $28.80.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
PARIS (AP) — When cycling's top rider, Alberto Contador, failed a drug test at the Tour de France last year, he joined a long list of athletes who have blamed positives on something they swallowed — from veal to whiskey to toothpaste.
Whether cycling officials think Contador is lying with his claim that tainted steak caused him to flunk his dope test will soon become clear. Spain's cycling federation says it should announce a decision within days or weeks.
Whatever the ruling, Contador's case highlights a growing concern among anti-doping scientists, coaches and athletes around the world. Even if the story given by the three-time Tour de France winner sounds tired to outsiders, there is a growing body of opinion that the drug Contador tested positive for — clenbuterol — can, in fact, be consumed unwittingly from eating bad meat. Unless anti-doping rules are changed, scientists warn, there's a risk that innocent athletes who did not dope could be unfairly punished.
Among the prominent people to raise questions about clenbuterol testing is Zhao Jian, deputy director-general of China's Anti-Doping Agency.
Clenbuterol burns fat and builds muscle. That makes it attractive for both dopers and farmers, who use it to bulk up livestock. In China, in particular, its illegal use in farming is well documented. The Chinese nickname for the drug — "lean meat powder" — speaks of its muscle-building properties.
To verify whether clenbuterol-contaminated meat can cause flunked tests, China's anti-doping lab in 2009 bought pork, had lab workers eat it, and analyzed their urine. Some failed. Had they been athletes, they would have faced a ban.
"We discovered that if the pork meat or liver is heavily contaminated, then you can test positive from eating it, but not every time," Zhao said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's possible. That's fact, scientifically proven. You can test positive from contaminated meat."
On its website, China's agency advises athletes to avoid eating out, cautioning: "Our country's anti-doping testing lab has done experiments which show that eating pork meat or pork liver containing 'lean meat powder' — clenbuterol — can trigger a positive result."
Part of the problem is that clenbuterol detection has become so good. To be accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, labs must be able to detect very small concentrations. Some, however, can spot concentrations far lower than WADA's required minimum, traces tiny enough to possibly have come from food, not doping.
Contador's urine was analyzed in one such lab, in Cologne, Germany. In a 2009 scientific paper, Cologne scientists said that, with superfine detection, clenbuterol positives "could be due to the consumption of trace amounts present in feed or principally also in the water supply."
"No doubt about it," Detlef Thieme, who heads Germany's other WADA-accredited lab, in Kreischa, says of the possibility of false positives from food. "That's undisputed."
It's "a very pressing problem and the faster it's solved, the better."
But solving this dilemma could be easier said than done.
One answer could be setting a threshold. Only clenbuterol concentrations above that limit would trigger sanctions. For now, WADA has a zero-tolerance policy on clenbuterol.
The downside would be that a threshold could open the door to dopers. They could escape punishment as long as they tested below the limit.
"It could give a green light to those who deliberately use," warns Zhao.
Zhao's lab had 20 clenbuterol positives in the last three years alone. Without proof, he cannot be sure whether any of those may have been caused by meat, or whether cheats are merely using meat as an excuse. Zhao is baffled why, if bad food is a cause, comparatively few athletes fail tests.
"Every year, China does more than 10,000 anti-doping tests. If there was a food contamination situation, you wouldn't have just these few clenbuterol positives — because everyone eats meat. No? Why don't other athletes test positive?"
Still, Zhao favors the introduction of a threshold, because WADA's current rules forbidding even the tiniest traces of clenbuterol run the risk of false positives from food and thus are "not fair."
Another solution, says Thieme in Kreischa, would be loosening the rules temporarily, while scientists pinpoint with greater certainty the degree of risk from food.
"That would be smart," he says.
In new research, Cologne's lab is conducting clenbuterol tests on volunteers — tourists, businesspeople and others — returning from China. The aim, says director Wilhelm Schaenzer, is to get a clearer picture of clenbuterol contamination in China and of how easy it is to ingest unwittingly. There is a need, he said, for "good science and to say, 'Is (food contamination) possible or not?'"
For "two or three years, we have this problem, I think, with the Chinese," he said. "My personal opinion is that there may be a big problem which we have up to now not clearly identified and investigated."
WADA also could leave the rules unchanged, deeming that the need to catch clenbuterol dopers outweighs the risks of punishing innocent athletes.
"That's a very basic trade-off," Thieme says. "Identification and catching cheating athletes on the one hand, and accepting the risk of low-dose contamination on the other."
Because Contador's and other clenbuterol cases are being adjudicated, WADA won't say what solution it favors, if any.
"In order to protect the integrity of the ongoing proceedings, WADA is therefore not in a position to comment," its director general, David Howman, said in an e-mail to the AP.
Gary Wadler, who until Jan. 1 led WADA's committee that considers which substances should be banned in sports, says the onus should be on governments to keep clenbuterol out of the food chain.
"The athletic community alone cannot solve this problem," Wadler told the AP. "Sporting bodies alone and clenbuterol: you've got a problem. Sporting bodies and governments: at least you have the potential of a solution. Until then, athletes, unfortunately, are in a position where they are somewhat at the mercy of how the laws are enforced — because they certainly can inadvertently test positive."
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AN ALIBI THAT HASN'T WORKED
Historically, "it was something I ate" hasn't been very effective for athletes hoping to beat doping charges.
As far back as 1999, Chinese swimmers Wang Wei and Xiong Guoming blamed a dish of stir-fried pig liver for their out-of-competition clenbuterol positives.
They had compelling evidence: Tests on 60 liver samples bought subsequently from the same stall in Shanghai detected clenbuterol in 11 of them, according to the report from the swimmers' disciplinary hearing. FINA, the sport's governing body, provided the report to the AP.
The panel agreed there was "some likelihood" that the swimmers didn't deliberately take clenbuterol but still ruled that if liver was the cause, the swimmers were negligent. They were banned for three years.
A more recent case, however, shows the growing concern about clenbuterol testing.
On the day after his return last August from a meet in China, German table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov tested positive for clenbuterol traces.
The 2008 Olympic silver medalist blamed food eaten at his hotel. Luckily for Ovtcharov, hints of clenbuterol showed up in the urine of four other German players who competed at the same tournament, supporting his claim. Also, Ovtcharov is dark-haired. Clenbuterol sticks at least 20 times better to dark hair than to blonde, Thieme says. So when a hair test for Ovtcharov was clear, it offered additional evidence that he didn't cheat. Had Ovtcharov been blonde, that result would have been "rather vague," says Thieme, whose lab performed the test.
"It was a very lucky and special situation," Thieme says.
Ovtcharov's federation cleared him. WADA, however, is appealing his acquittal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport — which suggests it doesn't want a bad-meat loophole to be opened in its clenbuterol rules.
"I'm very disappointed," says Dutch anti-doping scientist Douwe de Boer, whom Contador has hired to help his defense. "With each passing day, I have the feeling that they (WADA) would rather have some innocent people be found guilty than have one guilty person be released."
The clenbuterol cases of other athletes may well be impacted by the Contador verdict and Li Fuyu could be at the head of the list.
Li, the first Chinese cyclist to break into the top professional ranks of the sport, was fired by the Radio Shack team of Lance Armstrong after he tested positive at a race in Belgium last March.
Like Contador, the clenbuterol traces found in Li's urine were almost infinitesimally small — as low as 0.000000000001 grams per drop, an amount that would be invisible to the eye and not even register on the most sensitive, high-precision scales used by chemists.
Like Contador, Li insists he didn't dope and blames food. "It was some kind of meat," he says.
But the similarities end there.
Under WADA rules, Li was entitled to a hearing. But unlike Contador, he doesn't appear to have had one. Cycling's international governing body, the UCI, says China's cycling federation told it by e-mail on Dec. 3 that Li waived his hearing right and that it banned him for two years.
But that's not quite how Li tells it.
Whether out of fear of angering officials in China, because he doesn't understand the rules or for some other reason, Li refused to say in phone interviews with the AP whether he had a hearing or waived his rights.
He did say his federation hasn't notified him that he is formally banned. Instead, he said Chinese officials told him they "are waiting for Contador's case, to see how his problem is handled and only then will my turn come, apparently."
"If he has no problem, then I'll have no problem," Li said, referring to Contador, "because my situation is the same as his."
With Contador, the UCI and WADA went to considerable lengths to try to determine whether there's any truth to his bad meat story, producing a 600-page dossier of evidence. But there's no indication that Li was similarly treated. Nor, under WADA rules, should Chinese officials be linking the two cases.
Yet a Chinese cycling official confirmed to the AP that they are waiting for the Contador verdict.
"Since his case is the same as that of Contador, so he has to wait for the outcome of Contador. If Contador is acquitted, he (Li) will ask for a hearing and it's possible that an adjustment will be made in his punishment. But if Contador is found guilty and he could not provide favorable evidence, then it's hard for his case to be rehabilitated," said the official, who gave only his surname, Niu.
The UCI is trying to get to the bottom of what happened. It says it wrote back to the Chinese federation asking for formal notification of Li's 2-year ban and a statement from Li confirming that he waived his hearing.
More than one month later, the UCI is still waiting.
___
ANXIOUS ATHLETES
For athletes and coaches, the rash of clenbuterol cases presents a dilemma: Should they travel to places like China or stay home? Even if they do, might they, too, fall victim to bad food?
In Spain, worried athletes have been calling their association, headed by former Grand Slam doubles champion Emilio Sanchez Vicario. In December, in a letter to WADA urging it to change its rules, he said cases like Ovtcharov's are causing "great fear."
Joerg Bitzigeio, head coach of the German women's table tennis team, wrestled with his conscience before sending three players to train this January with China's national squad. Before the trip, he consulted the Cologne lab and it advised that in China, "we cannot eat meat, we cannot eat any kind of milk products, eggs," Bitzigeio says.
His top-ranked player, Chinese-born Wu Jiaduo, refused to make the trip, Bitzigeio says. That was mainly because she suffered severe food poisoning at a previous camp in China last August but also because of "what happened to Ovtcharov," Bitzigeio says.
In the end, he let his players travel, figuring that because they were staying in a Chinese national training center and "don't go outside to eat," the food would be scrutinized and safe.
Gudo Kramer, manager of China's first professional cycling team, faces similar worries. His Marco Polo squad competes mostly in Asian races, including the Tours of Qinghai Lake, Hainan and South China Sea in China. Kramer says he tells his riders to be choosy with their meals, to limit risks of food poisoning and clenbuterol contamination.
"Our team IS afraid when participating in China and other countries with poor food safety. And I know we are not the only ones. There is no protection if we would be confronted with food contamination of forbidden substances," Kramer wrote in an e-mail to the AP.
In a phone interview, he added: "We always tell them (the riders) to look at the buffet like a Russian roulette. If you only pick one sort of meal, it's only one chance you get the bullet."
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Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
What happens to all the oil that flows hundreds of miles through the trans-Alaska pipeline? Is it true that it all gets sold to Japan?
A reader's curiosity about where that oil ends up _ and who profits from its sale _ inspired one of three questions in this edition of "Ask AP," a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers' questions about the news.
If you have your own news-related question that you'd like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with "Ask AP" in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.
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I live in Arizona, and my impression is that the power brokers in the international drug trade have shifted from Colombia to Mexico. Is this true? If so, how has this affected Colombia? Is the country a safer place to visit?
Wallace Vincent Rose
Tucson, Ariz.
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Most of the cocaine in the United States is produced in Colombia and smuggled through Mexico. It has been that way for about two decades. But there has indeed been an important shift of mafia power to Mexico, which is now home to extremely violent and powerful cartels of the type that disappeared from Colombia in the mid-1990s.
While Colombian police, backed by billions of dollars in U.S. aid, have become more professional and less corrupt, Mexico has seen increasing cartel-related violence. Since President Felipe Calderon took office 18 months ago and began a crackdown, nearly 4,200 people have been killed in mafia-related violence, according to Mexico's attorney general.
It's difficult to say whether Colombia is safer for tourists than Mexico. First, the type of crime that befalls tourists is rarely drug-related in either country. Second, Colombia is safer today mostly because its government has succeeded in moving the armed conflict chiefly to remote areas where tourists rarely venture.
Frank Bajak
AP Chief of Andean News
Bogota, Colombia
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With all the pressure on Congress to lift sanctions against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, I'm wondering what happens to all the oil that flows through the trans-Alaska pipeline. How much flows through it every day? I believe I heard on a news program that all that oil is being sold to Japan. Is that really true? Didn't taxpayer dollars pay for the pipeline's construction? And who is reaping the rewards of all that oil?
Wes Hubbart
Albuquerque, N.M.
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Despite the opening of new fields, oil production in Alaska has steadily declined in recent years. The amount flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline has fallen from a high of more than 2 million barrels a day in 1988 to 740,000 barrels a day in 2007, according to the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.
After-tax profits go to the oil companies and royalties go to resource owners _ mainly the state of Alaska, whose budget relies heavily on the money from oil production. About $2 billion in oil royalties went into the state's general fund last year.
Other resource owners include the federal government and private landowners _ parties that generally support drilling in ANWR because it would add to the dwindling supplies of the state's existing oil fields.
The crude oil that flows down the 800-mile pipeline is picked up by tankers in the port of Valdez. According to state officials, the bulk of the crude is transported to West Coast refineries, with a small percentage remaining in Alaska and an unknown amount going overseas.
According to the CIA's World Factbook, the U.S. exported 1.048 million barrels of crude per day in 2004 _ which amounts to about 12 percent of domestic production _ and imported 13.15 million barrels a day that same year. It's unclear how much of the exported oil originated in Alaska.
A group of oil companies paid for the pipeline to be built in the late 1970s at a cost of $8 billion. Interest holdings in the pipeline have changed hands several times and today three companies own much of the pipeline and most of Alaska's oil leases: BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips.
Jeannette J. Lee
AP Business Writer
Anchorage, Alaska
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Can you provide a dollar cost, from start to present, of the war in Iraq?
Mario Garcia
Las Vegas, Nev.
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On Monday, President Bush signed legislation that will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war since 2003. The latest appropriations cover anticipated expenses for the rest of fiscal year 2008 and some of the expected costs in fiscal year 2009.
Economic analysts, however, point out that these appropriations do not cover some costs that have been incurred but haven't yet come due for payment _ particularly the future costs of caring for soldiers already wounded.
Charles J. Hanley
AP Special Correspondent
New York
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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.
DAILY MAIL STAFF
The Kanawha County school board has given its final stamp ofapproval to a budget of nearly $195.3 million for next school year.
That amount represents a decrease of nearly $1.2 million from thecurrent school year, said Harry Reustle, school system treasurer.That includes a $508,000 decrease in excess levy revenue and a$692,000 decrease in state funding, he said.
The budget was approved by a 4-0 vote at a meeting Mondayafternoon. School board member Pete Thaw participated by telephone.Board member Becky Jordon was out of town.
The county is now adopting new math textbooks at a cost of $6.2million with the bulk of that cost coming from the current budget andthe remaining $2.252 million from the 2005-06 budget, Reustle said.
Textbook adoptions are mandated by the state, but not funded bythe state.
A drop in student enrollment of 327 students cost the county $1.6million in state funding for salaries.
Professional and service personnel salaries will decrease nearly$1.7 million next year.
School officials have cut 75 positions for next year, though mostof the cuts will be achieved through attrition, Superintendent RonDuerring said.
However, due to excess levy requirements, the number of artteachers in Kanawha County schools will increase from seven to 12next school year.
WESTEST processing will cost the county an additional $17,000 nextyear for professional and service supplemental wages.
Also, the county will spend $48,000 for closing the achievementgap, a state Department of Education initiative geared to meet NoChild Left Behind requirements.
An additional $25,000 is in next year's budget to cover increasinglegal expenses.
The county also budgeted $75,000 for moving portable classrooms toaccommodate population shifts among schools.
Among costs expected to increase next year are maintenance,gasoline, waste disposal, grass cutting, health insurance andpostage.
In other business, the board approved a 10-year contract withJohnson Controls Inc. for energy management at a cost of $785,000 ayear.
The firm has been providing the service for the last 10 years andguarantees saving the county at least that much in energy costs.
Board member John Luoni asked to see an annual report to show thatthe board is saving as much as it is spending for the service.
A meeting to discuss a timeline for West Side school consolidationwas set for 6 p.m. May 24.
Contact writer Charlotte Ferrell Smith at charlotte@ dailymail.comor 348-1246.
Fifteen U.S. embassies in Europe have received letters containing a suspicious white substance and tests have show 14 of them to be harmless, State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said Wednesday. Test results for the substance in one of the letters have not yet been received, he said.
U.S. authorities also said suspicious packages have been sent to National Guard bureaus and reserve facilities in 36 states.
An internal Dec. 16 report from the Department of Homeland Security said the 51 packages included anti-war compact discs, and one package also had a suspicious powder. It said the powder, sent in a package to Utah's National Guard headquarters, was tested and found not to be toxic.
Civilians who train one month and on weekends make up the National Guard, military units that can be mobilized for domestic emergencies such as floods or activated for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
All the packages were postmarked from the state of Tennessee, according to Homeland Security, and they started arriving at the Guard facilities on Dec. 12.
The FBI is investigating these and similar incidents.
More than 40 governors' offices have also received the letters, which contain an unspecified note, FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said Tuesday.
The FBI said that all of those were postmarked from the state of Texas; the letters began showing up in states last week. They all appear to be from the same source, and have tested negative for any dangerous toxin or other threat, authorities said.
A California radiologist left everything to his alma mater in western Pennsylvania. Absolutely everything.
After the death of Dr. Larry Johnson, 68, from an apparent heart attack last year, Juniata College found itself the owner of possessions including his $1.3 million (euro830,000) condominium overlooking Monterey Bay, extensive music collection, Lexus, .38-caliber handgun, his cat named Princess and other items.
Juniata officials said the donation, valued at $6.5 million (euro4.13 million), is the largest ever for the 1,460-student school located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. It includes all of Johnson's personal property, retirement assets and investment accounts.
Johnson's will left $1.3 million (euro830,000) to be used to establish in perpetuity a four-year scholarship for tuition, room and board for a Juniata student from Somerset Area High School. Another $1.5 million (euro950,000) will endow a scholarship to send a Juniata graduate to the University of Rochester school of medicine and dentistry, where Johnson received his degree.
The will allows Juniata to sell tangible property and use the money as the school sees fit.
A 1961 Juniata graduate, Johnson, who never married, grew up in Somerset and would not have been able to attend college if it wasn't for a scholarship from Juniata.
"That was an important place to Larry," said Juniata president Thomas Kepple Jr. "This was a guy who I think valued the education he got and wanted others to have the same experience."
Johnson's possessions included boxes of pottery, paintings, imitation Navajo blankets and one particularly curious item _ a purse made from dried buffalo scrotum.
His music collection of 1,500 CDs will vastly increase Juniata library's offerings.
"There's more than just classical here," said circulation supervisor Lynn Jones. "There's John Denver, music from TV shows, K.C. and the Sunshine Band. ... The man was quite a collector."
Kim Kitchen, the school's director of planned giving, inventoried Johnson's two-bedroom condo.
"We knew Larry, but he didn't open up his personal side," Kitchen said. "It felt a bit like I was walking into the most personal aspects of his life. Everything had been left as it was the moment he died."
One of Johnson's neighbors agreed to take Princess the cat, said Kitchen, who helped spread Johnson's ashes over San Francisco Bay. His gun, flat-screen TV and most of his household furnishings were sold in California, while his wardrobe and groceries were donated to a homeless shelter there.
"By his gift, Larry was elevating us up to the level of family," she said.
___
On the Net:
Juniata College: http://www.juniata.edu
The Pride of West Virginia is marching its way into Charlestonthis month for a special performance at the Daily Mail Kanawha CountyMajorette and Band Festival.
West Virginia University's 325-member marching band will make anappearance at the 57th annual event, where the county's eight highschool bands compete for top honors in music, twirling, flag corpsand several other categories.
"It's always good to get back to the capital city," said JohnHendricks, marching band director for WVU's award-winning group. "Wehave a great fan base in that area. We like to perform for them."
The band will take the field during the Sept. 23 festival'sintermission and will play for about half an hour, including some ofits more popular arrangements of "Simple Gifts" and "Country Roads."
This marks the full band's first trip to Charleston since 2001,when it performed at the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta Festival.
Festival officials are hoping the band's appearance will bring newcrowds and followers to the event, which once packed Laidley Field.
Area bands have been getting smaller, and so have the crowds, saidAl Frey, who has directed the festival for several years.
"We hope the people who come to see the WVU band will like whatthey see so much, they'll keep coming back to our festival," he said.
Daily Mail Editor Nanya Friend said festival organizers werethrilled when WVU officials asked if the band could appear at theevent.
"We hope lots of people come out to see them and the eightoutstanding Kanawha County high school bands," Friend said. "Thestudents work very hard to get ready for this festival, and it's avery special night for them. I hope the WVU band's presence will bean inspiration for them."
The high school bands perform their signature routines during thefirst half of the event and finish the night with originalityroutines, complete with skits and props.
Schools are judged in 11 different areas: majorette corps, featuretwirler, originality, band marching, band playing, general effect,flag corps, percussion, field commander, band champion and MissKanawha Majorette.
West Virginia University hopes to use the event as a recruitingtool, showing off its skills to attract local students to the band.Currently, 23 members of the marching band are from Kanawha County.
"Wherever we perform, we find that we have a lot more students thenext year from that area," Hendricks said. "It's a win-win situationfor everyone."
West Virginia University's marching band is more than 100 yearsold and has played all over the country, where it has won numerousawards. Its most prestigious recognition came in 1997 when it waspresented with the John Philip Sousa Foundation's "Sudler Trophy,"which honors the nation's most outstanding collegiate marching band.
Tickets to the festival are $6 in advance and can be purchased atthe participating high schools and at Gorby's Music in SouthCharleston and Kerr's Music World in Charleston. Tickets can bepurchased for $7 on the day of the festival at Laidley Field.
All proceeds from the festival support school music programs. Theevent starts at 6:30 p.m.
Writer Carrie Smith can be reached at 348-7918 or by e-mail atcsmith@dailymail.com.
DETROIT (AP) — The Vancouver Canucks beat Detroit 2-1 on Wednesday to build their NHL Western Conference lead over the Red Wings to 10 points with eight games left in the regular season.
Daniel Sedin scored twice and Roberto Luongo made 39 saves for Vancouver, which has won eight of its past nine games.
Sedin, the NHL scoring leader with 95 points, has at least one in nine straight games.
Jiri Hudler's power-play goal off a rebound with 8:22 left pulled the Red Wings within a goal but their winless streak reached three.
| Sharks 6, Flames 3 |
|---|
In San Jose, San Jose closed in on second place in the Western Conference by beating sliding Calgary.
Patrick Marleau and Torrey Mitchell each scored twice, Andrew Desjardins added his first career goal, and Logan Couture also scored for the Pacific Division-leading Sharks, who have won four straight to move a point behind Detroit for second in the conference. San Jose also increased its division lead over Phoenix to three points with a game at hand.
The Sharks dealt another blow to the Flames' playoff hopes. Calgary got goals from Jarome Iginla, Rene Bourque and Cory Sarich, but lost for the sixth time in seven games.
| Ducks 4, Stars 3, OT |
|---|
In Dallas, Teemu Selanne scored the tying goal with 5.4 seconds left in regulation and Cam Fowler netted the winner 1:42 in overtime to give Anaheim a stirring comeback victory over Dallas.
Anaheim appeared headed toward a loss before Selanne and Fowler stepped up and stretched the Ducks' winning streak to four.
The eighth-placed Ducks one point ahead of Dallas in the West.
Defenseman Trevor Daley had put the Stars in front 3-2 with 6:39 left in regulation.
| Blackhawks 4, Panthers 0 |
|---|
In Chicago, Corey Crawford made 23 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, helping Chicago down Florida.
Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane had a goal and assist each, while Viktor Stalberg and Tomas Kopecky also scored for Chicago.
Crawford, who made his 18th straight start, had to block only a few tough chances to post his fifth NHL shutout.
The Blackhawks played their first game without leading goal-scorer Patrick Sharp, who is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks with an injured knee.
Stephen Weiss, who leads the Panthers with 49 points, sat out his second game with an injured leg, with Florida scoreless in both.
Hezbollah and its allies sought to unseat a pro-Western coalition in Lebanese elections Sunday that could present an early test of President Barack Obama's efforts to forge Middle East peace.
A win by the Shiite militant group would boost the influence of its backers Iran and Syria and risk pushing one of the region's most volatile nations into international isolation and possibly into more conflict with Israel.
The race for the 128-member parliament is the first major event in the Middle East since Obama reached out to the Arab and Islamic worlds last week in his speech in Cairo in which he called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims." Obama challenged Muslims to confront violent extremism across the globe and urged Israel and the Palestinians along with Arab states to find common ground on which to forge peace.
Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, has been one of the staunchest opponents of U.S. policy in the Middle East and a sworn enemy of Israel. It fought the Jewish state in southern Lebanon in 2006 in a devastating war and has tried to smuggle weapons to the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza through Egypt.
Some of those voting for Hezbollah and its allies Sunday said they were turning to the group out of a frustration with perceived corruption and other failures among the current governing coalition.
"I voted for reform and change," said Laure Khoury, a 32-year-old schoolteacher, after casting a ballot for Hezbollah's Christian allies in the Byblos district north of Beirut. "We tried the others for four years and we got nothing but promises and corruption. Enough is enough," the Christian woman said.
Teacher Ali Ibrahim, a 23-year-old Shiite schoolteacher, said he also was turning away from the current leadership and voting for Hezbollah to "give the other side a chance to rescue the country."
Obama's speech did not resonate in the election campaign. But warnings by the United States that it could reconsider aid depending on the election's outcome have sparked Hezbollah accusations of U.S. interference. The U.S. has given around $1 billion to Lebanon's pro-Western government since 2006.
In his Cairo speech, Obama said the United States "will welcome elected, peaceful governments, provided they govern with respect for all their people."
Former President Jimmy Carter, in Beirut to monitor the elections, expressed hope that the United States, Iran and other countries will recognize the results "and not try to interfere in the process."
Hezbollah's coalition includes the Shiite movement Amal and a major Christian faction led by former army chief Michel Aoun. Opposing it are the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim supporters of current majority leader Saad Hariri, allied with several Christian and Druse factions.
Hezbollah tried to strike a moderate tone in the election campaign and promised to invite its pro-Western opponents to join a national unity government if it wins.
That proposal shows Hezbollah's concern over a possible punishing international backlash if it tries to govern Lebanon outright _ as happened when the Iranian-backed Hamas won 2006 Palestinian elections. Hezbollah itself is only fielding 11 candidates, and must work with its various political allies.
The group's Christian allies argue that involving Hezbollah more deeply in the political process _ rather than shunning it _ is the only way to bridge the country's sectarian divides.
Their opponents counter that the heavily armed Hezbollah would be driving Lebanon into the arms of Iran, which could use it as a front in the Islamic republic's confrontation with Israel.
In Israel, government officials were closely watching the vote, concerned about gains by Hezbollah.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said last week a victory by Hezbollah would be "very dangerous for the stability of the Middle East, and by that, the stability of the entire world."
Tsilla Herscho, a lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Bar-Ilan University, near Tel Aviv, said Sunday a Hezbollah victory would spell trouble for Israel.
"It will mean a very strong Iranian presence on the border and then Israel will be stuck between Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north," she said.
The race is too close to call.
In the outgoing parliament, the pro-Western bloc had 70 seats and Hezbollah's alliance had 58.
There are some 3.2 million eligible voters out of a population of 4 million, and the interior minister said after polls closed that the turnout nationwide was about 52.3 percent, an increase over the 2005 figure of 45.8 percent. Early unofficial returns were expected late Sunday and official results as early as Monday afternoon.
The voting was largely peaceful, with complaints of long waits at polling stations from voters, many of whom had to travel across the country to cast their ballots. Army troops in armored personnel carriers and trucks took up positions on major highways, part of a 50,000-strong security force deployed for voting day.
President Michel Suleiman, among the early voters, cast his ballot in his hometown of Amchit on the coast north of Beirut. He set the political tone for the post-election period irrespective of who wins, hoping for a national unity government, a prospect both sides have already raised.
___
Associated Press Writer Ian Deitch contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — The world's leading central bankers vowed Monday to keep inflation under control as energy costs surge and food prices touch record highs due to strong demand from fast-growing countries like China and Brazil.
Sharp increases in living expenses and a spike in fuel prices caused by the Middle Eastern uprisings have policymakers worried that inflation could become a drawn-out problem.
But whereas the European Central Bank has signaled a rate hike is due soon, others like the Federal Reserve are worried that economic growth is not yet strong enough to cope with higher borrowing costs.
"There is amongst central bankers what I would say a solid unity of purpose, namely to continue to anchor solidly inflation expectations," said European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet.
He noted, however, that does not mean they will take the same decisions — Trichet last week shocked markets by saying eurozone interest rates could be hiked as soon as April.
It is mostly high-growth countries like China, which escaped the worst of the financial and debt crises, that have been tightening monetary policy in recent months.
"In our view, global growth is confirmed at a relatively robust pace, driven by emerging countries, which are dynamic, and by the confirmation of the recovery in advanced economies," he said.
"The threat of inflation is particularly visible in these emerging economies."
He spoke on behalf of 30 central bankers that meet in Switzerland every other month at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel and represent 82 percent of the global economy. The group includes Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his Chinese counterpart, central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan.
As chairman of the Global Economy Meeting, Trichet noted there was broader concern about rising inflationary pressures than at their gathering in January.
He said central bankers also agreed on the importance of "the progressive reduction of imbalances" — evening out some countries' large trade surpluses with others' deficits and making currency markets flexible. That has been a hot topic of debate in recent years, with the U.S. accusing China of boosting its exports by keeping its currency weak.
Trichet said the recovery from the global financial crisis is helped in large part by the dynamic expansion of emerging economies.
"It is clear that at the level of the global economy we see this positive feature, but uncertainty remains. And we consider it very important that fiscal policies would be sound," Trichet said.
He said the group did not specifically discuss the violence in Libya or the wider Middle East, though it consulted on the price of oil, commodities and food.
Oil prices swung to their highest level in two and half years on Monday as the violence escalated in Libya.
Trichet suggested that incentives to boost food and agricultural supplies could ease price increases, but did not offer specifics.
CIT Group Inc. and the Federal Reserve announced Thursday an agreement which gives the central bank greater oversight of the troubled commercial lender.
The agreement calls for CIT to report to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by Aug. 28 its plans for maintaining sufficient capital and to come up within 75 days with a business plan that includes budgets for the remainder of this year and 2010.
CIT must give the New York Fed a written plan that among other things details the company's current and future capital requirements and how it will meet them. It also must spell out how its capital raising plans will affect its projected earnings.
The agreement also calls for CIT to provide by Aug. 28 a plan for improving the management of its liquidity. This part of the agreement is designed to prevent the cash shortfall that the lender is currently trying to resolve and that has raised the possibility that it will need to file for bankruptcy court protection.
The business plan must spell out how the company will improve its overall financial condition. Besides budgets, it calls for a description of any asset sales or restructuring that CIT may be planning to strengthen its balance sheet.
The agreement also requires the government to provide written approval of any dividends, distributions, stock purchases or taking on of debt by CIT.
The agreement was announced the same day that CIT said it had adopted a shareholder rights plan that discourages any person or group from taking a stake of 5 percent or more in the company. While such plans traditionally are used to thwart hostile takeovers, CIT said it is implementing the plan to preserve its tax benefits, or its ability to use net operating losses to lower its tax bill.
New York-based CIT, one of the largest U.S. lenders to small and midsize businesses, has been facing a worsening liquidity crisis as its customers draw down credit lines in the fear that they might disappear. The company has been working to avoid bankruptcy, and on Tuesday it delayed filing its quarterly report because of ongoing restructuring efforts. That news sent CIT shares down nearly 19 percent.
In July, CIT received an emergency $3 billion loan from some of its largest bondholders. Last week, the company said it had drawn down that loan and suspended preferred dividends.
CIT also reaffirmed last week that it has received enough offers to complete a debt repurchase program that it launched last month. The company said that almost 65 percent of $1 billion in bonds due Aug. 17 had been tendered for repurchase. The company needed 58 percent of the debt to be tendered for repurchase to complete the deal. The tender offer expires Friday.
CIT Group has warned that if it doesn't complete the tender offer it might have to file for bankruptcy protection.
CIT's stock rose 15 cents, or 11.7 percent, to $1.43 in afternoon trading. The stock has ranged from 31 cents to $13 over the past year.
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) — A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit alleging a man convicted of plotting terrorism was tortured at a Navy brig in South Carolina.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel on Thursday ruled Jose Padilla has no right to sue for constitutional violations and that the defendants enjoy qualified immunity.
Gergel's decision said a trial would turn into an "international spectacle" with the nation's present and former leaders summoned to a courtroom to answer Padilla's charges.
The lawsuit named Defense Secretary Robert Gates among others.
It alleged Padilla was illegally detained as an enemy combatant and tortured in the brig by being kept in darkness and isolation, deprived of sleep and religious materials, and kept from family and attorneys.
German investor confidence improved in May, the ZEW index, a leading indicator, showed Tuesday.
The investor confidence level for Germany rose to 31.1 points from just 13 points in April. The May reading puts the outlook in Germany over the historical average of 26.2 points.
Participants cited indicators in the real economy pointing to a turnaround in recent weeks.
VIENNA (AP) — The Austrian anti-doping agency will not fine European short-course 200-meter butterfly champion Dinko Jukic for missing an unannounced doping test in May.
NADA on Monday warned Jukic over breaching international anti-doping regulations but ruled that the 22-year-old swimmer cannot be held responsible for the test not taking place.
"I was and I am not aware of any fault," Jukic told the Austria Press Agency. "It has been confirmed today that I am not guilty."
Anti-doping officials visited Jukic during a training session at the Wiener Stadionbad on May 24. They left without taking blood samples after the swimmer complained about hygiene conditions.
NADA said its officials and Jukic also disagreed about the timing of the test.
"He has violated anti-doping rules, but he cannot be blamed for not cooperating," disciplinary committee chairman Gernot Schaar said.
According to anti-doping regulations, refusing a doping test is tantamount to a positive test. If found guilty, an athlete usually faces a ban of up to two years.
Jukic and Markus Rogan are Austria's main medal hopes for the 2012 London Olympics.
In 2010, Jukic won gold at the European short-course championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, two years after winning the European 400-meter medley title in Reijka, Croatia.
Nigeria will hold presidential elections in either January or April of 2011, an electoral official said Tuesday, although voting laws remain unchanged after a 2007 poll marred by widespread fraud.
Maurice Iwu, chairman of the country's Independent National Electoral Commission, told reporters that the National Assembly would determine when the election will take place. The 2007 poll took place in April, but there has been growing pressure in Africa's most populous nation to hold the 2011 poll earlier in the year, as ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua hasn't been seen publicly since November.
Tuesday's proposal said the country would hold presidential election on either Jan. 22 or April 23, with elections for state legislatures and the National Assembly preceding it. The National Assembly must vote to set the election and has yet to offer a timetable for holding such a vote.
Yar'Adua became president after a 2007 election marred by fraud, intimidation and violence likely orchestrated by the ruling People's Democratic Party. Still, it marked the first time power transferred from one elected civilian to another in the West African country, which gained independence from Britain in 1960.
The 2011 election carries the same importance, especially after Vice President Goodluck Jonathan took over as acting president some three months after Yar'Adua left for a Saudi hospital to seek treatment for what his doctor said was a serious heart condition.
Yar'Adua promised to reform the nation's election laws after assuming power, but never pushed through any sweeping reform. Iwu said Tuesday that Nigeria is "making progress" on ensuring fair and free elections.
"A rash of criticism essentially driven by personal ambitions and a vocal minority has tended in many instances, more so as the election year draws near, to give the impression that there has been no progress," Iwu said. "Of course, nothing can be further from the truth."
Iwu said a February gubernatorial election in Nigeria's Anambra state showed the country was ready for its 150 million residents to vote. However, that poll saw at least one ballot box stolen, faulty voter rolls and long lines stopping some from casting ballots.
To the uninitiated, canine agility might seem like a chaotic jumble of bounding dogs, colorful equipment, and frantic gestures. But to avid participants, it's a year-round activity that demands discipline and builds relationships - among people and pets alike. It also provides opportunities for entrepreneurs, many of whom have cultivated successful businesses by latching onto the rising popularity of this fast-paced sport.
Monica Percival swears she sees dogs smiling as they leave the agility course.
"What a leap of faith they make - going along at top speed, reading every nuance of the handler's body language on the fly, listening for verbal cues at the same time," she …
Today is Monday, July 9, the 190th day of 2007. There are 175 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington's troops in New York.
On this date:
In 1540, England's King Henry VIII had his six-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.
In 1816, Argentina declared independence from Spain.
In 1850, the 12th president of the United States, Zachary Taylor, died after serving only 16 months of his term.
In 1896, William Jennings Bryan delivered his famous "cross of gold" speech at the Democratic National Convention in …
`Supercritical' pills
Polymer coatings on pharmaceuticals protect the active ingredients until the pill is ingested, then they serve to control drug delivery, but the conventional method of hot-coating can harm the active ingredient. Ferro Corp. (Independence, Ohio; ferro.com) has an alternative method that avoids that problem.
Ferro's process, which uses supercritical carbon dioxide to cast drug-polymer particles of tightly controlled diameter, is an adaptation of an existing commercial technique for powder coating. It was described by Ferro project manager Frederick Mandel at the national meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), held in Los Angeles Nov. 12-17. The drug and polymer powders are mixed in a tank of [CO.sub.2] at 200 bars and 31 [degrees] C, then released as a fine spray at 20 bars in an expansion vessel. Pills from the process are being tested in clinical trials.
Cleaning up Bayer liquor
The Bayer process that converts bauxite to …
Byline: Elaine Guregian
Sep. 20--When the movie Network came out in 1976, it pointed toward a scary world that in many ways has come to pass. Remember the story, about a dazzlingly ambitious young network executive (Faye Dunaway) who boosts ratings by exploiting the mental breakdown of a news anchor?
I wonder how Network would go over with a 20-year-old in a world where the boundaries of propriety (now there's a word from ancient history) and integrity are stretched to the breaking point, then stretched some more?
Into an era of un-shockability saunters Eric Coble's nasty little play The Dead Guy, which The Bang and the Clatter will give its Ohio premiere in a run starting tomorrow at Summit Artspace. …
Byline: Los Angeles Times
Opening a major new front in efforts to discourage out-of-wedlock births and increase collection of child support, the administration's welfare reform task force will urge that states be required to identify the fathers of virtually all children born outside of marriage.
The group, on the verge of completing recommendations to present to President Clinton, has decided to make stringent new federal standards on establishing paternity a centerpiece of the task force's proposals for implementing Clinton's campaign promise to crack down on "deadbeat dads" who fail to pay child support.
It also symbolizes the task force's …
The U.S. military says an American soldier has died in a non-combat incident in the west of Iraq.
The military says the soldier died Sunday at Asad Air Base but provides no further details.
In a statement Monday the military said the …
Luigi Stefani was patriarch of a family that founded a group ofChicago family restaurants, instilling values of honesty and hardwork.
"One thing he told me that I value most that is a key until thisday, is that you live by your word. `That is the bond we have ashuman beings,' he said," said his son, restaurateur Phil Stefani.
Mr. Stefani died Dec. 8 at age 79.
Mr. Stefani was born in Calumet, Mich., in May 1920 of Italianparents, who took him back to Italy before he was a year old. He wasdrafted into the Italian Army and fought during World War II.
In 1946, after the war, he went to the U.S. Embassy in Florence,Italy, and got a passport allowing him to …
The Congressional Black Caucus is charging the government's $150 million in annual spending on anti-drug ads is falling woefully short in minority media.
In a letter to Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the caucus is asking for an explanation. This comes as Congress begins to review what should be spent on the program next year.
The group of 34 congressmen claim the anti-drug agency has spent $10.9 million for Hispanic ads but just $3.2 million on African-American marketing and $2.2 million directed toward Asian-Americans.
'WE QUESTION THE AMOUNT'
"While we do not denigrate or de-emphasize …
WASHINGTON - Before killing himself last week, Army scientist Bruce Ivins told friends that government agents had stalked him and his family for months, offered his son $2.5 million to rat him out and tried to turn his hospitalized daughter against him with photographs of dead anthrax victims.
The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation. Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his …
Indulge in the delicious foods and pristine lakes of Italy with CIE Tours "Italian Gourmet & Lake" vacation. The package, priced from $2,933 per person from New York, emphasizes gourmet food and the scenic northern lakes adjacent to the Alps and Switzerland.
The leisurely paced vacation explores northern Italy in depth, with two nights in Milan, three nights in Bologna, one night in Mantua and two nights in Stresa. Activities include a cheese-making tour; balsamic vinegar-making tour; meals at local restaurants; half-day guided walking tours of Milan, Verona, Ravenna and Bologna; two days in the lakes region with a drive around Lake Como and a full-day …
Byline: Ilaina Jonas Staff writer
The lush green pasture, barns and houses that greet travelers off the Northway on Route 67 will be placed on the auction block next month when the Saratoga Standardbreds Inc. horse farm is scheduled to go to the highest bidder.
The 247.8-acre horse farm, which filed for protection from its creditors December 1988, will be up for bid in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albany 2 p.m. Aug. 7, said Joe Gecewicz Jr., vice president of Norstar Bank of Upstate NY. The bank is one of the chief creditors of the bankrupt horse farm, holding an $8.25 million mortgage on it.
Bidding will start at $3.5 million and build upon $25,000 …
Lindsey Vonn made it a perfect five wins from five World Cup downhills this season with another decisive victory Saturday on the Olympia delle Tofane course.
The American also tied Janica Kostelic with her 30th career victory in all disciplines after completing the twisting layout in one minute, 37.70 seconds. Maria Riesch of …
WASHINGTON - Democrats are pressing ahead with long-sought budget hikes for domestic programs but are running into veto threats from President Bush, who's trying to regain his footing on spending.
Total increases for domestic programs now exceed $27 billion after Appropriations Committee Democrats tapped defense and foreign aid accounts to supplement funding hikes included in a Democratic budget outline passed last month.
The developments came as the Appropriations panel approved the first of 12 spending bills for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, a $36.3 billion homeland security measure that boosts such spending by almost 14 percent over figures approved last year.
…
Byline: Associated Press
Red Sox 5-7
Brewers 3-6
BOSTON - Mike Lowell hit a two-run homer and doubled in a pair of runs, and the Boston Red Sox survived a battle of bumbling infielders to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 on Saturday and complete a sweep of their day-night doubleheader.
The teams' infielders combined for seven errors in the nightcap - four by the Brewers - the most in a game this season. None was by Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who had the go-ahead single and played his major league-record 222nd straight game at first without an error.
In the opener, Daisuke Matsuzaka held Milwaukee to a pair of unearned …
Byline: -- Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- More than 600,000 electric screwdrivers are being recalled from stores nationwide because their wiring systems can cause shocks, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday. More than 40 cases of electric shock have been reported, including three injuries, the safety commission said. All of the screwdrivers use electric cords; none are cordless.
The manufacturer, DeWalt Industrial Tool Co. of Hampstead, Md., will repair the …
Sandy Cohen looked up from the deck of a small, amphibious tourist boat stalled in the river to see a barge towering three stories above and approaching fast, clearly not about to stop. Then came the screams.
Over the next few seconds of terror, she and other passengers fumbled to put on life jackets and sought cover as best they could. Next came a crash, the boat flipped over, and 37 people aboard were plunged into the Delaware River.
Cohen came to the surface, clinging to the life jacket she had managed to snag seconds before. A Hungarian teenager on the tour was hanging onto the jacket, too.
A photo obtained by Philadelphia television stations …
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Moviegoers to the film, "Signs," may be fascinated by the mysterious crop circles that appear in "farmer" Mel Gibson's Bucks County corn fields. Much of the movie was filmed at Delaware Valley College (Del Val), which grew the tall lush corn during near drought conditions using treated wastewater from the nearby Chalfont-New Britain treatment …
Katie Holten's exhibition is the sixth installment in "The Golden Bough," a suite of solo shows by different artists at the Hugh Lane that borrows its title from James George Frazer's 1890 study of mythology and religion. Curator Michael Dempsey's statement frames the series as a reflection on the institutional dynamics of the art world, envisaging the museum as a sacred site assailed by generations of artists--referring to myths discussed by Frazer, such as the "King of the Wood," according to which a sacred tree is guarded by a pagan priest who has murdered his predecessor and is doomed to the same fate. Holten's exhibition, which is accompanied by a sister show, "The Golden Bough …
TROY -- Howard Joseph Donnelly, 99, of Troy died Monday, September 11, 2000 at St. Mary's Hospital in Troy. Born and educated in Troy, he was the son of the late Dennis and Mary Flanagan Donnelly. He was the beloved husband of the late Elizabeth M. Dagle Donnelly, who died August 28, 1997. Mr. Donnelly was a lifelong resident of Troy. After World War I, he served in the National Guard for several years. He was employed by the N.Y.S. Department of Labor for many years until his retirement. He was a communicant of Sacred Heart Church in Troy and formerly sang in the choir at St. Mary's Church in Troy. Survivors …
