Officials say at least 10 people are missing and about a half-dozen more are injured after a gas line exploded in rural north Texas.
Cleburne city manager Chester Nolen tells the Dallas-Fort Worth television station WFAA that Monday's explosion left at least 10 people missing.
Johnson County Emergency Management Coordinator Jack Snow tells …
DEAR ABBY: I am so confused. Three months ago, I met and begandating a wonderful guy I'll call Jason. I hadn't been in arelationship in more than two years because my ex-husband molested my6-year-old daughter, and it caused me to distrust men.
When Jason and I are together, he makes me feel not onlybeautiful, but special and important. Even though I've known him onlya few months, my feelings for him are stronger than they've been foranyone.
The reason I'm mixed up is because when Jason and I are together,we have so much fun. But when he leaves, it's sometimes a week oreven two weeks before I hear from him again.
When I call him, I get no answer. I always leave …
The newborn son of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassin was circumcised Sunday inside this heavily guarded prison, exactly 12 years after the Israeli leader was gunned down at a Tel Aviv peace rally, as rival protesters screamed insults at each other outside the facility.
The ceremony, a Jewish ritual in which boys are named, capped a saga that has caused turmoil in Israel since the baby was born last week. Rabin's family, and much of the public, opposed a court decision allowing Yigal Amir to attend the circumcision of his son, while a vocal group of Israeli ultranationalists voiced solidarity with Amir.
Several dozen dovish protesters, some holding …
1950-2009
William J. Dugal was determined that nothing would stop him from becoming a priest, not even an illness that he endured for most of his adult life.
"He was extraordinary despite the handicap and illnesses," said Candace Kane, a friend since college days. "Once you got to know him, you didn't notice anymore."
As a young man he was diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia, a disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system as the person ages.
Rev. Dugal died April 4 at St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet. He was 59.
"He never complained despite all he had been through in his life," said his sister Kathleen …
LANCASTER COUNTY
Immigrant population helps to drive economy
A corner of Amish country in Lancaster County has quietly become home for more than 400 Russian immigrants. In the past two decades, a steady flow of Russians from the former Soviet Union have settled near Ephrata, starting businesses and finding work with local employers.
The influx of Russian refugees to Pennsylvania began in the late 1980s, after the fall of the former Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, said Sheila McGeehan of Elkhart, Ind.-based Church World Service. She's the director of the agency's Lancaster office, which serves the refugee and immigrant communities of Pennsylvania. The U.S. …
LONDON - A Hindu monastery in a quiet corner of Wales seems an unlikely locale for dissent. But the seizure of Shambo the bull from Skanda Vale and his subsequent slaughter underlined the difficulties Britain faces in accommodating its wide array of religions.
Hindus, Muslims and Christians have seized on the Shambo case to complain that the government is interfering in their spiritual lives.
Shambo was taken away from the monastery on Thursday at the end of a long and public battle between Hindus who revere bulls and authorities who said he must be killed because he had tested positive for tuberculosis.
Officials said they had to prevent the disease's spread. …
Divers have begun removing fuel from a boat that sank in Alaska's Cook Inlet five months ago, but the work has halted while crews try to stabilize a staging vessel in the inlet's extreme tides.
The Monarch, a 166-foot oil supply boat, sank Jan. 15 when making a delivery to an oil rig platform.
On Sunday, divers pumped out 1,000 gallons of an estimated 30,000 gallons of …
NEW YORK Stock prices were higher by early afternoon today afterthe government reported an uptick in industrial production andinventory figures for July.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which fell 7.56 pointsin the previous session, was up 10.00 points at 3,323.27 with an hourleft in trading.
Advancing issues outnumbered declines on the New York StockExchange, with 962 up, 654 down and 650 unchanged. Big Board volumetotaled 131.7 million shares.
The stock market has been in a cautious mood throughout theweek, with concerns about the domestic and global economies anduncertainty about the November presidential election making tradersunwilling to …
PORT ORFORD, Oregon (AP) — First waves from …
A rabbi who lives next door to the New Jersey mansion where Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi sought to stay during his first U.S. visit wants to buy the site and turn it into a Jewish learning center.
Libya has owned the 4-acre (1.6-hectare) Englewood property since 1983, and Gadhafi wanted to stay there while visiting the United Nations last September.
But that plan was scrapped when it drew widespread outrage and legal challenges in New Jersey, which lost dozens of residents in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that was widely believed to have been the work of Libyan intelligence.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach told The Record of …
Bill Zwecker, the Sun-Times columnist who's among the nation'spremier celebrity chroniclers, is changing channels.
After seven years as a regular contributor to WMAQ-Channel 5,Zwecker is jumping to WFLD-Channel 32 to report on entertainment andcelebrity news five days a week.
Starting Monday, he will turn up at 8:40 a.m. Monday throughFriday on "Fox Thing in the Morning." He also will be seen on Channel32's noon newscast on Fridays, as of Aug. 11. His role on the noonshow will increase to five days a week when the broadcast expands toone hour in September.
Zwecker will continue his daily column for the Sun-Times as wellas his Friday appearances on Eric Ferguson …
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he would consider cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security if they were part of a "grand bargain' that includes tax increases.
Reid defined a "grand bargain" as a plan that reduces future deficits by $4 trillion, the number used by President Barack Obama. Republican leaders oppose tax increases, so negotiators are focusing on more modest proposals.
Reid has resisted cuts to the major benefit programs, and previously …
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Welcome to that delirious mode of civic debateknown as the quarterback controversy. No matter what the coach says,the Bears have one. Dave Wannstedt can stand there under ArrowheadStadium late in the night and say with conviction, "We don't have aquarterback controversy." Doesn't matter one bit. You see, he can'tcontrol such things. Fans do.
And right now, after a Monday evening when Erik Kramer showedsymptoms of Harbaughitis and Steve Walsh again looked like the morepoised passer, fans in Chicago are buzzing about who's more fit torun the offense. Never mind it's the last issue the Bears need, withso many new players trying to mesh without commotion. Never mindthat Kramer was playing against Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith andWalsh was playing against Arnie Ale and Pellom McDaniels. Never mindthat Kramer will remain the starter Saturday night against the NewYork Giants and Walsh will remain the backup.
The pecking order, to some, is all backward. Personally, itdoesn't make much sense to create a ruckus at present. The wayKramer has thrown the ball and shown jitters the last two games, thesmart observer wouldn't want to fill his head with job-securityquestions. But the Bear masses, growing impatient as it is with lifein mediocre transition, need something to titillate them.
Regardless of what the depth chart says, creative tensionexists. It has been there all three games of the exhibition season,all victories. At home and on the road, Kramer and Walsh haveadjoining lockers. First Kramer comes out of the shower, talks tothe media. Then Walsh comes out of the shower, talks to the media.After the first game, when Kramer was sharp in his Soldier Fielddebut, Walsh seemed miffed that two dozen reporters surrounded Kramerand no one wanted to talk to him. But lately, after three impressiveshowings, it is Walsh who is being surrounded by cameras andnotepads. He is the one who will make or break this situation. Atthe moment, Walsh is classy.
"I'm dealing with it fine," he said after throwing two latetouchdown passes and leading the Bears to a come-from-behind 21-18victory. "I'm sure the numbers will create talk (of a controversy),but I've been in this game long enough to know I should be playingwell against the second team. Erik is playing against the best. I'mnot."
That isn't to say Walsh will be happy wearing a cap on thesideline. He has been victimized by politics throughout six NFLseasons and refuses to be pigeonholed as a career backup. In Dallas,he had the misfortune of battling for No. 1 against Troy Aikman, thegolden boy from Day One. In New Orleans, he lost out to a systemthat favored the local Cajun son, Bobby Hebert. Now, he joinsWannstedt, one of his former coaches at the University of Miami, as aquarterback who is less-paid and less-ballyhooed than Kramer. Withclass, he will keep the pressure on with his intelligent style ofpassing.
"I think this system is perfect for me," he said of theso-called San Francisco offense, which emphasizes crisp, short,precise passing. "In fact, I was telling Joe Montana I'm happy to beplaying in a system that allows me to use my brain instead of justdropping back."
Kramer doesn't fear losing his starting role. But he was a bitshaken by his first-half performance, when he woefully missed awide-open Tom Waddle in the end zone and threw a bad interceptionthat Mark Collins returned for a touchdown. If he's battlingpersonal demons, what we have here is Kramer vs. Kramer. "Reportcard? I'd have to give myself a B- or C," he said. "It was alearning experience."
Otherwise, the night was inconclusive. Speaking strictly bestagainst best, the Bears basically were reminded about their status inNFL society. That place continues to be somewhere between good andaverage, as so many sources were willing to reveal. First they weredissed by Neon Deion Sanders, who said they aren't his kind of team.Then the Wannstedt defense was singed by Montana. Then Kramerstruggled. The first half showed just how far the Bears mustprogress before dreaming of glory.
Surely, Neon Deion wasn't impressed. Time was when aflamboyant hypepuss would have loved to play for the Bears, dance andparty and do TV shows and make commercials. But now, with theMcCaskeys locked in a rebuilding plan that seems to intentionallyavoid fun, Sanders looks for employment in exciting places likeKansas City. He only wants to play for glamor teams. The Bearsaren't one of them. "I don't like teams to say they want to win. Ilike them to talk about winning Super Bowls," he explained, rulingout Chicago, where he could be a much-needed receiver as well as acornerback and kick returner.
But, then, it could be said the Bears don't need any morecontroversy. They have a sassy one brewing as we speak.
Former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport sped into the Cellular South Cup semifinals when she defeated sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-2 in 53 minutes on Thursday.
Davenport, seeded fourth in her Memphis debut, took just 17 minutes to wrap up the first set in which Danish teenager Wozniacki won only eight points.
"When I'm playing well, I'm hitting the ball hard, making the person run," Davenport said. "I felt like I was in control of most of the points, and that's how I'm going to be the most successful."
With Davenport leading 2-1 in the second set, the match was stopped for trainers to work on Wozniacki's abdomen.
"I know she is a good, up-and-coming player, so it was important for me to get off to a good start, which I was able to do," said Davenport, back at full strength after giving birth to her first child in June. "I felt like I would be able to overpower her, and I was successful doing that and managed to keep the momentum all the way through."
Next up for Davenport will be New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic, who reached her second career semifinals _ the other was last month at home _ in beating Russian Ally Kudryavtseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Erakovic, who won the last three games of the second set with two breaks to turn the match around.
Third-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel rallied to beat former champion Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Peer, the highest remaining seed in the draw, will meet fifth-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus for the chance to reach the final for a second straight year.
Govortsova defeated German wild card Julia Goerges 7-6 (5), 6-2 to reach her first tour semifinals of the year.
Peer notched her 200th career win on the WTA Tour in defeating seventh-seeded Arvidsson, who won her one and only tour title here in 2006.
In the men's Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, top-seeded Andy Roddick disposed of fellow American Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-2.
Roddick, coming off a win last week in San Jose, beat Fish for the sixth straight time to set up a match on Friday against eighth-seeded Robin Soderling.
Roddick, the 2002 champion, had 14 aces and only lost seven points on serve in the match, three of those points coming in the second game of the second set.
"Soderling's been playing very well, and he's crushing guys here so far," Roddick said. "If I had to choose, the two of us are probably playing the best of anyone in the tournament right now."
Soderling routed Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-1 in 44 minutes to make it into his third quarterfinals in three tournaments this year. The Swede is coming off a runner-up finish in Rotterdam on Sunday.
Chris Guccione of Australia served impressively in ousting sixth-seeded Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-4. Guccione fired 15 aces, lost only seven points on serve, and gave the former Australian Open champion no break points.
Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman withstood 26 aces from fifth-seeded Sam Querrey to win 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) and reach the last eight in his first ATP event of the season. Bjorkman missed January to be at the birth of his second child.
"I felt good the whole match and he hit a lot of bombs," Bjorkman said. "It would be nice to borrow his serve for a week."
Bjorkman plays another American next, Donald Young, who beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.
In the other quarterfinals, Steve Darcis of Belgium meets Benjamin Becker of Germany, and Guccione meets fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek.
In Uganda, where more than 60 percent of wood production is used for fuel (leading to indiscriminate tree cutting), biogas is seen as a good alternative at the household level. It is also a way to make use of animal manure, by providing fertilizer. In the Kulika region, six biogas plants have been established, and have become focal points for training farmers interested in biogas.
According to a report in LEISA, the magazine which reports Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture progress (Vol. 21, No. 1), about 50 to 60 percent of the farmers who established biogas plants have been successful and "... are happy with the technology, especially in highly populated districts where fuel wood is a major problem. They save the money that would otherwise have been used to buy fertilizer and they save the time used to make compost, as the slurry needs no treatment before use." Website for LEISA is www.leisa.info.
Jesse Jr.: I'm the real deal -- let courts settle fight
"We don't have to steal. Jesse Jackson Jr. is the real deal," said Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-2nd) who Sunday said he has proof that a 68-year-old Robbins candidate, bearing his namesake, doesn't exist and will be booted off the ballot. He said he will pursue civil and criminal sanctions for voter fraud.
Jackson lawyers, led by attorney Burt Odelson, today is filing an objection to the "impostor," Jesse L. Jackson, who lives in Robbins, Ill., with the State Boards of Election.
Odelson, who last November went to Florida to help now President Bush win that ballot confusion race, said "Jesse Jackson Sr. registered to vote in 1983 as Jesse Jackson Sr. Jesse Jackson Sr. changed his registration in February 2000 signed as Jesse Jackson Sr."
Odelson said the Robbins candidate running against Rep. Jackson was born in Mississippi in 1933 as Jesse Jackson. "And, for the first time in Mr. Jackson's life when he signed his statement of candidacy, he signed as Jesse L. Jackson.
"There is no such person Jesse L. Jackson that signed this statement of candidacy and is registered to vote in the state of Illinois. It is a fraud. It's a fraud on the people, and it will be proved in the objectors case."
During his Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.'s weekly radio/TV broadcast held at Dr. King's Workshop, the congressman said: "I'm running on my record. Since 1995, I've gone to work every day on your behalf. I've only missed one vote in six years," he said ticking off a list of his accomplishments.
Rev. Jackson said he believes his son is under attack because someone fears he'll run for mayor.
The congressman said: "I'd rather win my race right rather than lose it wrong. I'd rather lose a race for congress fighting a good fight than to lose trying to deceive or confuse voters."
During Sunday's press conference held at the Federal Building, 219 S. Dearborn, Jackson was flanked by his wife, Sandi, a lawyer, several witnesses and his legal team which included attorneys Burt Odelson, Mark Huddle, Leroy Martin, the son of former Police Supt. LeRoy Martin Jr., Larry Rogers Sr., Marilyn Posley, a witness, Vickie Pasley, Jackson said he was surprised to learn that someone filed more petitions than he did.
Pasley said she has filed a petition in court as a precursor to a civil action against several defendants who have been served, with some already being deposed.
Martin said he is seeking criminal actions against those who intentionally mislead voters to sign petitions of the Robbins candidate, believing it was for the congressman.
Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.
Photo (Jesse Jackson, Jr.)
The tenderloin is the tenderest cut of pork, suitable forgrilling because its large surface area allows it to acquire a goodamount of exterior char.
Its subtle flavor combines well with the mellow but distincttaste of the relish whose recipe is given below.
There are many ways to grill corn on the cob, the mainconsideration being the degree of grilled/charred flavor you want.Here we want a lot, so we encourage it by glazing the ear of cornwith maple syrup while it's on the grill. GRILLED PORK TENDERLOIN WITH ROASTED CORN-BACON RELISH
3 ears of corn, shucked 4 tablespoons maple syrup 5 slices bacon, diced small 1 large yellow onion, dicedsmall 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage Salt andfreshly cracked black pepper to taste 3 pork tenderloins (10to 12 ounces each) Cook the corn in boiling water for 4 minutes. Remove it and letcool to room temperature.
Over a medium fire, grill corn 2 to 3 minutes, or until lightlybrown. Brush on the maple syrup and continue to grill another 2 to 3minutes, or until syrup begins to caramelize (it will turn goldenbrown). Remove corn from the grill and cool.
With a sharp knife, remove kernels from the cob. In a sautepan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Addonion and cook 4 to 5 minutes longer, or until onion is transparent.Add corn and cook 2 minutes more.
Remove corn mixture from heat. Add sage and season to tastewith salt and pepper. Stir well and set aside.
Rub tenderloins with salt and pepper to taste and grill overmedium heat for 12 to 15 minutes, rolling them every 3 to 4 minutesto ensure even cooking.
(I prefer to eat this slightly pink, but if you like yourscooked completely, leave it on another 4 to 5 minutes.)
Remove tenderloins from the grill, let stand for 5 minutes, thencarve each into 1/2-inch slices.
Spoon some relish over each portion of the sliced pork andserve to 4 as an entree. From The Thrill of the Grill by Chris Schlesinger and JohnWilloughby. Copyright (c) by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby.Reprinted with permission of William Morrow and Co.
Jesse seeks to `wake up' lost generation of Blacks
With all roads leading soon to Kokomo, Miss., for an historic two-day, 29-mile march to protest the hanging death of 17-year-old Raynard Johnson, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. said he's determined to "wake up" a lost generation of Blacks who don't know the pains of their forefathers.
In preparation for Saturday and Sunday's march that'll begin from the tree where Johnson was hung, Jackson said his aim is to keep the spotlight on the "murder" of Johnson, an honor student who ranked in the upper five percentile of Mississippi.
Jackson said that light has been expanded to a number of similar deaths of Black men in that area, murders he says remain unsolved and virtually unreported.
The march, he said, will be symbolic of "hope and healing" and a conduit in making America hear the masses who are against the death penalty, racism, anti-worker, and injustices in America.
It will also give him the opportunity to "wake up" an entire generation he says does not know about the violence of going to Rainbow Beach in Chicago, not knowing the segregated barriers that divided Blacks and whites and the restrictive covenants in Hyde Park that banned renting or selling to Blacks, except in the old slave quarters in back of those mansions.
"We won those battles, so there is a generation that is at ease in so many ways taking for granted the battles of the past," Jackson said, vowing to awaken what he called the sleeping and uninformed generation.
With 45 members of the Black caucus in Mississippi, Jackson said they are all disconn???ted. He's met with them in an effort to unify their unprecedented numbers.
Jackson also referred to the execution of Gary Graham, known as Shaka Sankofa, and how Black elected officials and ministers were "disconnected" from the issue and how in Texas there are 1,250,000 Blacks are eligible to vote there. Jackson said of that number, 300,000 are not registered.
"In the last election, 950,000 were registered, of whom only 180,000 voted in the general and 50,000 in the primary. The whole range of protections come through the vote.
"It's amazing how even through religion, we have put politics in the margin, in our entertainment frenzy. We dance. We shout and somehow we put political emancipation in the margins, a kind of sidebar of our lives. That is what we must change," Jackson said.
With the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department, and U.S. Attorney Janet Reno investigating and Jackson posting a $10,000 reward for the killer of Johnson, Jackson, who has rejected the coroner's ruling of suicide that was made before Johnson's body was examined, said the march will end in Columbia, Miss., at a courthouse where there will be a call for justice and an end to racism.
"All of those who are from Mississippi should contact your relatives and be a part of this, because hate lynchings suggest very strongly that there's no basis for complacency."
Jackson made his remarks during the WVON's Cliff Kelley show guest hosted by Dr. George Smith.
Mississippi, Jackson said is one of the poorest states in the U.S. "It is number 50 in public education, 50th in teacher pay and number one in poverty, the poorest state with the richest soil in the country.
"There are a lot of alienated working-class white people who feel threatened and alienated by the system of using Blacks as scapegoats. You have a lot of that going on.
"But, in this march for hope, healing, moratorium on the death penalty, a march to organize workers, we intend to have a major action."
Jackson's trying to get more than 10,000 new memberships before his "Bridging the Gap: Moving From Margin to Mainstream," July 26-29 convention at the Hyatt Regency, 151 E. Wacker.
Cook County Comm. Bobbie Steele has promised to come up with 500 memberships through her church, Unity Baptist Church.
Jackson challenged everyone to call the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition at 773-373-3366.
Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.
SAN MARTIN, California (AP) — Tiger Woods offered Joe LaCava the job as his caddie, and it wasn't a difficult decision for him.
"Why? Because he's Tiger Woods," LaCava said Wednesday, offering very little by way of elaboration. "Enough said. It's a no-brainer, isn't it? That's my thought. It's Tiger Woods."
LaCava is among the top caddies on the PGA Tour, having spent most of his 25 years with Fred Couples, a former Masters champion and No. 1 player in the world who was the biggest draw during the peak of his career.
So big crowds will be nothing new for LaCava.
He just never imagined working for three players this year, the last one Woods.
Couples was playing less and urged LaCava to work for Dustin Johnson, regarded as the top young American talent. Johnson, who already has five wins and played in the final group at three majors, was runner-up at the British Open and won The Barclays. By then, however, Woods had fired Steve Williams and was looking for a replacement.
LaCava told him he was interested.
"When you say was it a hard decision, it was hard in the fact Dustin was great to me," LaCava said after his first official day of work for Woods. "Was it hard to tell him I was leaving to go to work for Tiger? Yes. Was it hard to go to work for Tiger? No."
But the timing made some people question the move.
Johnson already has proven to be a cash machine, with more than $12 million in earnings after four years on the tour, and headed for another top-10 finish on the money list.
Woods is winless over the last two years, and has managed to play a full schedule only once in the last four years because of injuries or chaos in his personal life.
LaCava was asked if he was betting that Woods still had great golf ahead of him. This brought a smile of confidence.
"Of course, no question," LaCava said. "I know he does. I'm not betting on it."
LaCava has been around Woods often over the last 15 years, starting with practice rounds that Woods played with Couples at the Masters and U.S. Open as an amateur. LaCava was prepared to work for Woods at the 2005 Presidents Cup when Williams went home to New Zealand for the birth of his son. Couples, however, made the U.S. team and Woods hired Billy Foster for the week.
LaCava broke the news to Johnson after the Tour Championship, then came out to CordeValle for a tournament that was never on his schedule. For Woods, the Frys.com Open is his first tournament in seven weeks, and his last PGA Tour appearance this year.
There will be some adjustments, as always, but not that many.
"He's trying to envision how far I hit the golf ball and what I would like to hear for certain numbers through bunkers or carries," Woods said. "So he kind of got all that. And he basically said, 'OK, just let me know what you want on each hole.' And that's how we kind of did it. So he got a feel for what I liked, or would like to think or see, and he's got a good understanding of it."
Woods is longer off the tee than Couples, shorter than Johnson.
Then again, caddies go through these adjustments all the time. Jon Yarbrough, for example, went from caddying for Morgan Pressel on the LPGA Tour to working for Gary Woodland on the PGA Tour (with one stop in between).
The attention around Woods will not be that much different for LaCava, either.
"Back in the day, Fred had the biggest crowd," LaCava said. "Obviously, it's bigger today because golf is bigger. But back in the day, Fred had just as big a crowd in relation to how many people were out there."
Woods' pro-am group had some 300 people at CordeValle. No other group had more than a dozen.
LaCava doesn't typically stop to give interviews, either, although he understood why all the attention on his first day at work. He is only the third full-time caddie Woods has employed in his 15 years.
"I understand it's the first week," LaCava said. "I don't want to not talk to people anymore just because I work for Tiger. But at the same time, I want to fly under the radar. He's the one hitting the golf ball. I'm just caddying for him."
Thai police arrested a Belgian man on pedophilia charges and a Thai national accused of supplying him with underage children in an illegal trafficking ring, an officer said Thursday.
Philippe Francois, 41, was arrested Wednesday evening at his apartment in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where he had allegedly engaged in sexual acts with at least three teenagers, two of whom were minors, said police Lt. Col. Chaichan Penchaiya.
Police also arrested Suchai Beowtoo, a 21-year-old Thai man who allegedly procured boys for the Belgian for a fee of 1,000 baht (about $30) each. He faces charges of luring minors for sexual exploitation, Chaichan said.
The two men would allegedly meet at bars in Chiang Mai where Francois would choose boys from pictures brought by Suchai.
The case was brought to police attention in April when a 13-year-old filed a complaint against Francois. An arrest warrant was issued for the Belgian in May. He is also accused of sexual relations with a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old, who is not a minor but could be part of an eventual human trafficking case, Chaichan said.
"We believe that his agent Suchai is part of a larger network of human trafficking groups," Chaichan said. Police arrested a British national and two Thais in April that were part of the group Suchai allegedly works with.
"They were caught providing boys mostly to tourists," Chaichan said.
An organization called the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Unit Northern Thailand says there are at least a half dozen known child trafficking units in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and neighboring Chiang Rai.
"These agents lure homeless children to their homes and sometimes violate them themselves," said Duen Wongsa, of the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Unit. "Then they look for Thai and foreign buyers."
Zaineb S. Chaudhary, 16, was last seen March 11 at Niles North. Chaudhary, from Pakistan, had last contacted friends March 12 by phone and text message, police said. But since then, she had not been heard from, and family members had publicly asked for her safe return.
Illinois State Police had reported that Chaudhary might have run away from home to avoid a marriage that was arranged by her father last October, but Skokie Police said they could not say for sure that she ran away for that reason.
On Wednesday, Skokie Police said they were still interviewing Chaudhary and shed no more light on why she disappeared.
Police said they did not anticipate any criminal charges related to the incident.
Police said they were working with local social service agencies to assist Chaudhary and ensure that her family issues, along with her mental and physical well-being, were addressed appropriately.
Zaineb Chaudhary
The breakup of the Florida Marlins has been a boon to the KaneCounty Cougars.
When the 1997 world-champion Marlins traded away theirhigh-priced players, they acquired some of the best prospects inbaseball.
"We're pretty loaded," Cougars spokesman Martin Cusack said.The Marlins' Class A affiliate that has been a model of successboth in player development and marketing since it joined the MidwestLeague in 1991.Kane County opens its 1999 season today with a roster thatfeatures two of the organization's top pitching prospects and twohighly regarded position players. Left-hander Geoff Goetz, 20, wasthe New York Mets' first-round pick in 1997 and was acquired as partof the Mike Piazza trade. Right-hander Wes Anderson, 19, was aMarlins' 14th-round pick last year and posted a 5-2 record and 1.39ERA in the Gulf Coast League in his first pro season.First baseman Dave Callahan, a left-handed hitter, was athird-round pick last year who hit .371 in the Gulf Coast League.Shortstop Derek Wathan, the son of former Kansas City Royals catcherand manager John Wathan, is a switch-hitter who was selected in thesecond round last year out of the University of Oklahoma.They will play under first-year manager Rick Renteria for a teamthat has sent 43 players to the majors and won legions of fans. Lastseason, the Cougars draw a franchise-best 481,352 fans, an average of7,079 per game. The total was the second-highest in Class A and 11thhighest in the minor leagues overall.The Cougars' success has spawned a minor-league baseball boom insuburban Chicago, with the Cook County Cheetahs beginning their thirdseason next month in a new stadium in Crestwood and the SchaumburgFlyers scheduled to debut in a new stadium as well.Unlike the Cougars, those organizations will not be affiliatedwith a major-league team. The Cheetahs play in the independent ClassA Frontier League and the Flyers will be in the independent Class ANorthern League."Obviously, it will affect our attendance a little," Cusacksaid. "But they're two different types of teams. Our guys are onthe track for the major leagues. Their players are guys who weren'tsigned in the minors or drafted."The Cougars will open at Rockford, which became a CincinnatiReds affiliate after the Cubs switched their Midwest League farm teamto Lansing, Mich. The home opener is Monday in Elfstrom Stadium inGeneva against South Bend, an Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate.
ABSTRACT The x-ray crystal structure of the serpin-proteinase complex is yet to be determined. In this study we have investigated the conformational changes that take place within antitrypsin during complex formation with catalytically inactive (thrombin^sub 195A^ and active thrombin. Three variants of antitrypsin Pittsburgh (an effective thrombin inhibitor), each containing a unique cysteine residue (Cys232, Cys^sub 232^, Cys^sub P3^ and Cys^sub 313^) were covalently modified with the fluorescence probe N,N'-dimethylN-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)ethylenediamine. The presence of the fluorescent label did not affect the structure or inhibitory activity of the serpin. We monitored the changes in the fluorescence emission spectra of each labeled serpin in the native and cleaved state, and in complex with active and inactive thrombin. These data show that the serpin undergoes conformational change upon forming a complex with either active or inactive proteinase. Steady-state fluorescence quenching measurements using potassium iodide were used to further probe the nature and extent of this conformational change. A pronounced conformational change is observed upon locking with an active proteinase; however, our data reveal that docking with the inactive proteinase thrombin^sub S195A^ is also able to induce a conformational change in the serpin.
INTRODUCTION
Serpins are a unique family of proteinase inhibitors (Potempa et al., 1994) that in contrast to the standard-mechanism inhibitors, such as the small Kunitz and Kazal inhibitors (Bode and Huber, 1992), achieve inhibition of their target proteinase via a mobile reactive center loop (RCL). Although the conformation of the RCL during the inhibitory process is not known, its ability to assume different conformations is important in inhibition (Hopkins and Stone, 1995). In native serpins (Fig. 1 a) the RCL is poised at the top of the molecule ready to interact with the target proteinase. Upon proteolytic cleavage within the RCL region, the molecule opens up and the RCL is incorporated as the fourth strand of the large central A beta-sheet (Fig. 1 b). This conformational change, termed the stressed to relaxed transition (S to R) is accompanied by a dramatic increase in heat stability and resistance to denaturants such as urea or guanidine hydrochloride (Mast et al., 1992). The x-ray crystal structures of two structural intermediates involved in this transition have been determined in which the RCL is partially inserted. In native antithrombin two residues are inserted into the top of the A beta-sheet (Fig. 2 a) (Schreuder et al., 1994; Carrell et al., 1994; Skinner et al., 1997). The recently determined structure of antichymotrypsin Leu55Pro adopted an unusual conformation (termed (), in which four residues of the RCL occupy the top half of the A beta-sheet and the F-helix unwinds to occupy the bottom half of the sheet (Fig. 2 b) (Gooptu et al., 2000). The identification of these intermediates is critical, because it provides direct crystallographic evidence that it is possible for the serpin to adopt transitional states along the pathway of conformational change.
Lawrence and colleagues (1995) elegantly demonstrated that RCL cleavage at the scissile bond is critical for the formation of the final locked complex between serpin and proteinase. Furthermore, they proposed that the conformational change within the serpin is essential for trapping the proteinase at the acyl-enzyme step in the proteinase cleavage pathway. Several studies have shown that serpin conformational mobility and RCL insertion are crucial for efficient proteinase inhibition (Hopkins and Stone, 1995; Picard et al., 1999; Shore et al., 1995; Stratikos and Gettins, 1997, 1999; Wilczynska et al., 1997). For example, numerous mutations within the RCL have been shown to result in substrate-like behavior (for review see Stein and Carrell, 1995). It is proposed that such mutations disrupt efficient loop insertion and thus allow the proteinase to escape inhibition (Hopkins et al., 1993; Hopkins and Stone, 1995). Recent biophysical studies have played a major role in elucidating the structure of the serpin-proteinase complex (Wilczynska et al., 1997; Stratikos and Gettins, 1997, 1998, 1999), with a consensus emerging that the proteinase is translocated to the bottom of the serpin (Wright, 1996) (Fig. 2 c). Although it is clear that RCL insertion into the A beta-sheet is a requirement for successful inhibition, the mechanism by which loop insertion is triggered remains unclear (Stone and Le Bonniec, 1997).
In this study we use a combination of site-directed mutagenesis, fluorescence labeling and fluorescence quenching techniques to probe the structure of the complex further. Specifically we investigated the interaction between antitrypsin Pittsburgh (denoted a,PI in this study) which possesses a P1 = Arg and thrombin. This serpin was used because it has high affinity for both thrombin and inactive thrombin (thrombin^sub S195A^), therefore providing us with the opportunity to examine both the Michaelis-complex (E*I) and final covalent complex (ElI). Using both these thrombin forms allows us to gain insight into the structure of the initial docking complex (Cooperman et al., 1993; O'Malley et al., 1997; Stone and Le Bonniec, 1997) formed between the serpin and proteinase and then the conformational changes involved in final inhibition.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
N,N'-dimethyl-N-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa- 1,3-diazol-4-yl)ethylenediamine (IANBD) were purchased from Molecular Probes (Eugene, OR). Thrombin was purified from human plasma and characterized as previously described (Stone and Hofsteenge, 1986), and thrombin(sl,5A) was purified and characterized as previously described (Le Bonniec et al., 1993; Stone and Le Bonniec, 1997). Spectroscopic methods
Fluorescence emission spectra were recorded on a Perkin-Elmer LS50B spectrofluorimeter, using a thermostatted cuvette holder at 37'C in a 1-cm-path-length quartz cell. Excitation and emission slits were set at 2.5 nm for all spectra and a scan speed of 10 nm/min was used. The absorbance at the excitation wavelengths was monitored in all experiments and remained below 0.05 units.
Steady-state fluorescence quenching
Fluorescence quenching measurements were performed in 50 rum Tris, pH 8.0, at 37C. Aliquots of KI (2 M stock) containing 1 mM Na,S203 were added to protein solutions (200 nM) and the change in fluorescence emission intensity of the covalently bound IANBD (A., = 480 rim) was measured. All fluorescence data were corrected for sample dilution. The quenching data were analyzed by the Stern-Volmer equation as previously described by Lehrer (1971). All data were corrected for inner filter effects where necessary.
Coordinates and model building
The coordinates of wild-type native (Elliott et al., 1996) (pdb identifier 1QLP) and cleaved (Loebermann et al., 1984) (protein data bank (PDB) identifier 7API) antitrypsin, native antithrombin (Schreuder et al., 1994; Carrell et al., 1994; Skinner et al., 1997) (PDB; identifier 2ANT), and thrombin (Qiu et al., 1992) (PDB identifier 1ABJ) were obtained from the protein data bank (www.rcsb.org). Previous studies by Elliott et al. (1996) have demonstrated that the RCL of antitrypsin adopts a canonical conformation (Hubbard et al., 1991) and can be docked into the active site of chymotrypsin with relatively few steric clashes. We used similar superposition and modeling techniques to that described previously (Elliott et al., 1996; Whisstock et al., 1996) to dock antitrypsin into the active site of thrombin. Briefly, the Pl methionine residue was changed to an arginine using the mutate facility in Quanta (MSI, San Diego, CA). The PI of the proteinase inhibitor D-Phe-Pro-Arg chloromethylketone (PPACK) in the active site of thrombin was used as a template to position the Pl arginine residue of antitrypsin into the St subsite of thrombin. The PPACK molecule was then removed to leave a model of antitrypsin P1 = Arg docked to thrombin. Several side-chain clashes were observed between the proteinase and the body of the serpin, and these were resolved by subjecting the model to rounds of CHARMm minimization until convergence was reached. The stereochemistry of the model was checked and all residues found to be in allowed conformations.
To build E-I we used the x-ray crystal structure of native antithrombin as a template in the program MODELLER (Sali and Blundell, 1993) to construct a model of antitrypsin in which the RCL is partially inserted to P14. The RCL of antithrombin is three residues longer that that of antitrypsin and in a noncanonical conformation. To maintain a canonical loop in our model of partially inserted antitrypsin, the RCL was rebuilt, using the structure of native antitrypsin as a template. A similar superposition procedure to that previously described was used to generate a model between thrombin and antitrypsin Pittsburgh in which the RCL is partially inserted to P14. We observed few steric clashes between the proteinase and inhibitor, and these were resolved by rounds of CHARMm minimization. The stereochemistry of the model of E-1 was checked and all residues were in allowed conformations
RESULTS
Previous kinetic studies have identified a number of intermediates involved in the serpin-proteinase inhibitory pathway (Fig. 3) (O'Malley et al., 1997; Stone et al., 1997;
DISCUSSION
The minimal kinetic scheme presented in Fig. 3 illustrates the complexity of the serpin inhibitory pathway. Using the combination of a,PI with both active and inactive proteinase, we have been able to form specific conformations along the pathway for study. The conformations of intact a,PI (I) and RCL cleaved a,PI (I*) have been crystallographically characterized (Fig. 1) and are easily studied. The I and I* states represent the extremes of RCL insertion, i.e., no insertion (I) and full insertion (I*). The final covalent complex (El) is formed between a,PI and active thrombin, and the initial Michaelis complex (E*I) is formed with thrombin^sub S195A^. In this study we have used a combination of protein engineering and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques to examine the structure of alpha^sub 1^PI in these four states.
Analysis of the native and cleaved states of a,Pl
The fluorescence approach used here shows that upon the S to R transformation a considerable conformational change takes place. There is no structural change around CYS2321 and this is supported by structural analysis of both I and P. CYS232 is located on the B P-sheet, a region not associated with any structural reorganization during formation of the stable complex. Indeed, a structural comparison between native and cleaved antitrypsin revealed that this region forms part of the rigid scaffold upon which most serpin conformational changes occur (Stein and Chothia, 1991; James et al., 1999; Whisstock et al., 2000). The Cys residue Of alPl-CYS13', situated at the C-terminal end of the RCL, shows a small blue shift (2 mn) in km.,a, upon RCL cleavage and an increase in K, indicating increased accessibility to the quenching agent iodide. The most significant changes observed, however, were around CYS313, which is situated at the base of the serpin molecule on a loop connecting strands 5A and 6A of the A P-sheet. Upon RCL insertion there was a large red shift in the Amk.. (6 nm) of a, PI-CYS313 and an increase in K, These data suggest significant movement in this region that increases the exposure of the IANBD label to solvent and subsequently enhances its accessibility to the iodide quenching agent. A structural comparison between native and cleaved alpha^sub 1^PI revealed that the loop containing residue 313 is part of a rigid fragment that shifts significantly during the S to R transition (Whisstock et al., 2000). Thus, the fluorescent changes we observe between the native and cleaved form of the alPI-Cys313 are entirely consistent with RCL insertion and the S to R transition.
Analysis of El^
Our data describe a covalent complex in which the proteinase has moved from the top of the serpin to some position on the A beta-sheet of the molecule. Our data are not sufficient to place the proteinase in a specific position, although we are able to narrow down its location with respect to the serpin. The lambda^sub max^ of alPI-CysP3, in complex with thrombin is similar to the native state, suggesting a similar solvent environment for the probe in both states (i.e., not covered by the proteinase in the complex). The Kv value of the ElI form is the same as the cleaved state, suggesting that the C-terminal residues of the scissile bond are in a similar environment. Therefore, the proteinase has moved significantly from its initial docking position. Our data with the CPI-Cys313 indicate that thrombin is not situated directly over this residue at the base of the serpin. This is due to the increased solvent exposure of the label on alPI-Cys313 in the presence of thrombin. This is in contrast to recent results from experiments that placed a probe at Cys314 and found it covered by trypsin. Trypsin is a much smaller proteinase than thrombin and this may go some way toward explaining the difference (Stratikos and Gettins, 1999).
In conclusion, the data presented here using alpha^sub 1^]PI and thrombin clearly demonstrate that proteinase docking is enough to trigger RCL insertion into the A beta-sheet, which has allowed us to present a model of the initial docking complex. However, although we are not able to precisely map the position of the proteinase in the final covalent complex it is clear that it has significantly moved from its initial position at the top of the serpin.
We gratefully acknowledge the Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Foundation for the purchase of the spectrofluorimeter. J.C.W. thanks the NHMRC, and S.P.B. thanks the NHMRC and the ARC for their generous support. J.P.L. and J.C.W. contributed equally to the work.
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[Author Affiliation]
Justin P. Ludeman,* James C. Whisstock,* Paul C.R. Hopkins,^ Bernard F. Le Bonniec,^^ and Stephen P. Bottomley*
*Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia; ^Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, San Francisco, California 94141 USA; ^^INSERM, Unite 428, Univeriste Paris V, 75270 Paris, France
[Author Affiliation]
Received for publication 6 June 2000 and in final form 3 October 2000.
Address reprint requests to Dr. Stephen Bottomley, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Tel.: 61-3-9905-3703; Fax: 61-3-9905-4699; E-mail: steve.bottomley@med.monash.edu.au.
SYDNEY (AP) — Triple Olympic swimming gold medalist Stephanie Rice made a tearful apology Wednesday for a homophobic slur she posted Saturday on Twitter.
Rice twice broke down in tears at a news conference she called in Sydney where she asked for forgiveness for her "thoughtless and careless" comment.
The 22-year-old Rice tweeted the derogatory remark after Australia's last-minute win over South Africa in a rugby union test match at Bloemfontein.
Rice, who reportedly is dating Australia flyhalf Quade Cooper, later deleted the tweet and apologized, saying she didn't mean to cause offense. She said she called Wednesday's news conference because she felt a public apology was also necessary.
"I owe it to those who I have offended to publicly say, I am sorry. It is not me to give offense to other people no matter who they are," Rice said. "I am not a person who judges others or speaks in a way that hurts others.
"My comments were thoughtless and careless but I can assure you when I made those comments on Twitter I never intended to offend anybody."
Saturday's tweet cost Rice an endorsement contract with luxury carmaker Jaguar.
"I've learned a lot in the last couple of days," she said Wednesday. "I've learned I must think before I speak and this has been a very important lesson.
"I've also learned that some things you say can mean more to others than they do to you."
Rice said she hoped her apology would help her regain the public's trust.
"I felt I've let a lot of people down," she said. "I just want people to know how sorry I am.
Adam Dunn strokes a two-run homer Friday in the Sox' big win in Cleveland. | Jared Wickerham~Getty ImagesJohn J. KimAdam Dunn strokes a two-run homer Friday in the Sox' big win in Cleveland. | Jared Wickerham~Getty ImagesJared WickerhamLEFT: Robert Redford prepares to throw the first pitch at Wrigley. RIGHT: A fan's rally cap wasn't enough. | john J. Kim~sun-times photosJohn J. Kim
TOKYO - The Tokyo Stock Exchange's chief executive is considering various capital alliances with overseas exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, to gain more listings, profits and status.
Taizo Nishimuro, the exchange's head, said Tuesday that the alliances aren't limited to taking stakes in each other but also could include 50-50 joint ventures.
Japanese government and company officials have worried that investors and companies looking to list their shares are deserting Japan for more lucrative financial centers, including Hong Kong, Singapore and London.
The number of foreign companies listed in Tokyo fell to 28 in 2005 from 125 in 1990, according to the Japanese government. During that same period, 350 multinationals listed in New York.
The consolidation of bourses around the world is also adding to the urgency. Last month, NYSE and Euronext completed their merger, creating the world's largest stock exchange group.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange has also come under public criticism as antiquated compared to the bourses of other industrialized nations. It has been plagued by capacity problems, which became prominent when the bourse had to shorten trading hours, for fears of possible crashing amid frenzied trading when a scandal surfaced at a popular Internet startup last year.
Nishimuro, who is set to become TSE chairman next month, said his exchange and the NYSE will release an interim report in July on the progress of their discussions on a partnership agreement.
They hope to list NYSE products on the Tokyo exchange, including those related to commodities and real estate, and speed up the listing process for firms wanting to go public on both bourses or already listed on one exchange and looking to list on the other, he said.
Nishimuro's successor as president, Atsushi Saito, recently served as the head of a state-run corporate-rehabilitation body that nursed some of Japan's sickest companies back to health and was an executive at Nomura Securities Co.
BEIJING - Envoys to North Korean disarmament talks extended their negotiations through Friday, amid signs they were struggling to secure Pyongyang's firm commitment to disabling its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.
Officials from six nations - China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas - are meeting in Beijing to set the next target date in the North's disarmament following the recent shutdown of the country's sole operating nuclear reactor.
Washington wants the North to give U.N. inspectors a full list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities this year, steps that would make it hard for North Korea to resume making nuclear bombs.
But South Korea's nuclear envoy said after Thursday's talks that getting Pyongyang to commit to a specific deadline would be "difficult" at the current round. Chun Yung-woo declined to elaborate but said China was preparing a statement to be issued at the end of the talks.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the session was being prolonged so the sides could meet again Friday. "I don't know why," he added.
Chun said North Korea started off the talks Wednesday with an offer to disable its nuclear programs this year. Hill has declined to discuss details of the disarmament talks but said before they opened Thursday that there had been consensus on a "target timeframe."
"We missed just about every deadline and we don't want to do that anymore," he said, referring to the frequent hiccups in the negotiating process since the standoff began in late 2002. "We have to be careful about deadlines, but if you don't have deadlines you'll never get stuff done."
The North twice boycotted talks for more than a year, and missed a deadline for shutting down its reactor by more than three months due to a separate bank dispute. Pyongyang shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor Saturday - the first step it has taken to scale back its nuclear ambitions since the crisis began.
By eventually disabling its nuclear facilities, North Korea would lose its ability to easily make more atomic bombs - going beyond achievements at any previous arms negotiations with Pyongyang. The North conducted an underground nuclear test in October, confirming it could build a weapon.
North Korea has begun receiving 50,000 tons of oil from South Korea as a reward for the shutdown, and is to eventually receive the equivalent of a total of 1 million tons for disabling its nuclear facilities under a February agreement among the six countries.
Because the North can only receive about 50,000 tons of oil a month, Hill said other types of aid could be offered such as helping refurbish factories or storage facilities.
Hill said the U.S. also was interested in providing humanitarian aid to the North. Washington previously had been a large donor to the impoverished country, mainly through the U.N., but scaled back its contributions as the nuclear crisis sank into a deadlock.
"We're very concerned about the plight of the North Korean people and would like to see what can be done," he said Thursday.
The nuclear detente also has fostered improved relations between the two Koreas, who have taken unprecedented steps to lay aside decades of hostility since a 2000 summit.
South Korea said Thursday it had proposed another round of high-level talks with the North for early next month, where the countries typically discuss aid and economic cooperation. The North has yet to respond to the offer, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Nam-sik said in Seoul.
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Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
Lawrence R. Melnick, an engineer who designed such items ascooking kettles, photocopiers and laminating machines, died Friday inhis Skokie home. He was 57.
A design engineer for 35 years at Groen, a manufacturing firm inElk Grove Village, Mr. Melnick's latest invention was a cart forovens. He graduated from Senn High School in 1952 and the ITT Schoolof Design in 1957.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a son, Marcus; a daughter,Jeanne; his stepfather, Bernard Kaplan; a half brother, DennisKaplan, and a half sister, Lynn Pearlstein.
Services will be held at 3 p.m. Monday in the Piser WeinsteinMenorah Chapel, 9200 N. Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Burial will be inMemorial Park Cemetery, 9900 Gross Point Road, Skokie.
The Chicago Police bomb and arson division is investigating theearly morning bombing of the West Side office of Ald. Danny Solis(25th), which he shared with state Sen. Antonio Munoz (D-Chicago) andstate Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago). No one was in the office atthe time. Solis said a 1-foot-long pipe bomb about 3 inches indiameter was thrown through the window of his office at 2441 S.Oakley. The blast, which happened between 2:30 and 3 a.m. Mondayripped a small hole in the front floor and shattered several frontwindows and a door of the two-story brick building. Preliminaryestimates put the damage between $25,000 and $40,000, Solis said.
14-year-old accidentally kills …
Hot Springs National Park will be the first site featured in a line of "America the Beautiful" quarters starting next year that will feature a national park from each state and U.S. territory.
Hot Springs was the first park to receive a federal designation. The quarters will be issued in the order that the various parks and sites were established as national sites.
The "heads" side of the coin will still feature George Washington.
The U.S. Mint will issue five new quarters per year. After Hot Springs, the Mint will next feature Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Yosemite National Park in California and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, then Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon.
Cher has sued Universal Music Group, claiming the company owes her and Sonny Bono's heirs more than $5 million.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Santa Monica claims Cher and Bono's widow and children are owed royalties on songs that were included in recent greatest-hits compilations. The suit also states UMG has failed to provide key records that would show how much is actually owed.
UMG spokesman Peter LoFrumento (Lo-FROO'-men-toe) says the lawsuit is "without merit" and the company expects to win in court.
Bono and Cher were married for nearly 10 years before divorcing; their daughter Chastity stands to receive some of the royalties if the suit prevails. Bono later became a U.S. congressman and died in a skiing accident in 1998.
Ryan Padgett can't forget, especially not this week.
Even after three years, the Northwestern offensive guard hasbitter feelings toward Notre Dame and its coach, Lou Holtz.
Those feelings will boil over Saturday, when the Wildcats andIrish collide at Soldier Field in the season opener for both teams (7p.m., Ch. 7).
Padgett does not paint a pretty picture of Holtz in describinghis recruitment.
"I was recruited by 70 schools," said Padgett, who grew up inSeattle. "I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to go, and Igot sick of the recruiting process. I wanted to decide."
He asked for a commitment from Notre Dame - which was one ofthe …
BYLINE: JASON WARNER and AZIZ HARTLEY
SA's under-18 ice hockey players had to dive for cover when their team bus "landed in the middle" of a fierce gun battle between Mexican police and gunmen belonging to a drug cartel, but the driver managed to get them away.
The team, with 10 players from the Western Cape, had been in Mexico's second largest city Monterrey to play against Israel and New Zealand in the 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation U18 World Championship Division III at the Monterrey Ice Complex.
After leaving a practice session by bus at noon on Friday, the team encountered a barricade of two abandoned buses blocking the road. Moments …
Byline: CONSUMER REPORTS
Online banking has seen a rise in popularity in recent months, due perhaps to last fall's anthrax scare and the concerns it raised about cross-contaminated mail and delays that could result in late mortgage and credit-card payments. Researchers note that some banks reported a 20 percent increase in enrollments between September and November 2001.
To be sure, online banking is a tempting convenience, sparing customers the drudgery of mailing checks and balancing checkbooks. But, as we discovered after consulting industry experts and examining several large online banks, it has some potential drawbacks as well.
Online banking …
Byline: Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Nov. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Sports violence is a research interest of both Edward R. Hirt, an associate professor of psychology at Indiana University Bloomington, and Lynn Jamieson, professor and chair of the Department of Recreation and Park Administration in IUB's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Their expertise and perspectives could be useful in followup coverage of the Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons brawl and future issues of sports violence.
What message is the NBA sending to fans? The outrage felt by the home fans when the Indiana Pacers' Ron Artest fouled the Detroit Pistons' Ben …
WASHINGTON - The House's investigation of a page sex scandal has only one certainty: Former Rep. Mark Foley will escape punishment by his peers.
It is the Florida Republican's sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage former male pages that have ignited what has become a pre-election firestorm.
Congress only can punish current members, officers and employees. Foley resigned on Sept. 29, but is under investigation by federal and Florida authorities.
If the House ethics committee finds evidence of a Republican cover-up, many people could be in jeopardy, facing consequences that range from a mild rebuke in a committee report to a House vote of censure or …
NEW YORK -- MTV will take its irreverent Video Music Awards toMiami this year.
The live event, in its 21st year, will be held Aug. 29 at theAmerican Airlines Arena.
"The VMAs are always the biggest, craziest party of the year, andMiami is a beautiful backdrop for this summer's show," MTV PresidentVan Toffler said Friday.
The awards show is usually held …
