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Showing posts with label In the news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In the news. Show all posts

In the News, September 10, 2008

It's Lipstick Wars

Time photo
With a slip of the lip-shtick, Barak Obama equated the US presidential campaign of rivals John McCain and Sarah Palin as putting "lipstick on a pig" in his most direct attack on the Republican odd couple aiming to keep him out of the White House.
John McCain’s campaign said Tuesday Barack Obama’s reference to “lipstick on a pig” to describe the Republican’s vow to bring change to Washington was offensive language, and a slap at VP nominee Sarah Palin – despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton’s.

Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon.
“John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington,’” Obama said.

“That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”


Within minutes, the McCain campaign announced a conference call focused on the remark, which they said was a deliberate reference to Sarah Palin’s line: “You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

Yahoo! Autos

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Ike to hit Texas
The National Hurricane Center Forecasters say Ike is likely to make landfall around Port O'Connor, Texas late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of between 111-130 mph.
Some Texas residents who have special medical needs in the Corpus Christi area were being told to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Ike as it steams into the Gulf of Mexico.
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So much for an axis of evil...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il missed a public parade yesterday which has everyone speculating. Rumor has it that the one time member of the 'axis of evil' is believed to be recovering from recent surgery according South Korea's spy agency. Naturally, the communist nation of North Korea rejected reports questioning Kim's health as a "conspiracy plot."
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Talk about messing up your luggage....

A man who tried to send his late wife's body to their native Ecuador for burial is suing American Airlines and a funeral home, claiming her remains were sent to the wrong country. The body was to be shipped to Guayaquil, Ecuador, on April 1, but the coffin wasn't at the airport when the shipper went to meet it. He also claims the body was badly decomposed because it wasn't properly embalmed.

"First, they didn't know where her body was. Then, they said maybe it was in Miami, and finally they said it was in Guatemala," the lawyer said Tuesday. "Instead of sending it on the flight to Guayaquil, American sent the body to Guatemala City."

The funeral director is blaming American saying that someone at American punched in the wrong airport code. She said they wrote GUA for Guatemala instead of GYE for Guayaquil.

"It was not our error," adding that the body was properly embalmed and "there was no decomposition." She said it was the first time in her 18 years of dealing with American that such a mistake had happened.





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In the News, August 31 2008

A double dose...
TC Activity
Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook | Active Storms | Marine Forecasts
Atlantic High Seas Forecast Caribbean Offshore Waters Forecast Gulf of Mexico Offshore Waters Forecast Northeast Pacific High Seas Forecast Southeast Pacific High Seas Forecast Default Map of Marine Forecast Areas


Hurricane Gustav is making trouble as it roars into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico as a ferocious Category 4 hurricane. Yesterday Gustav destroyed homes and roads in Cuba. In fear of the storm, the mayor of New Orleans has ordered residents to flee the "storm of the century" by morning. Residents are ordered to flee an only partially rebuilt New Orleans as another monster storm bore down on Louisiana nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina wiped out entire swaths of the city.

Hanna remains a tropical storm....for now.

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Oprah Olympics

In Chicago fans began lining up at 6 a.m. Saturday for a chance to snag free tickets to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" season premiere featuring 150 U.S. Olympic athletes.
The show will air Sept. 8 and include appearances by gold medalists Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin and Kobe Bryant.

Tickets for the Winfrey's tapings are usually available only by phone and nearly impossible to get. Fans were vying for the 2,000 seats available for Wednesday's taping.

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Republican Stars
The nonpartisan Creative Coalition is scheduled to join the festivities for the republican convention this week just as they did last week for the dems. The organization, devoted to arts advocacy as well as issues such as health care and affordable housing, will be sending spokespeople Warren Beatty, Dana Delany, Tim Daly, Giancarlo Esposito and Matthew Modine.

The group is showing a film, "14 Women," about the 14 female senators of the 109th Congress.

Creative Coalition Executive Director Robin Bronk told The Hollywood Reporter


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Congratulations to Lun Lun!


image-Lun Lun holding cub


Lun Lun, one of Zoo Atlanta's pandas, gave birth to a cub Saturday night.
Zoo Atlanta’s Animal Management Team announced today that 11-year-old female giant panda Lun has given birth to a cub. Delivery took place at 10:10 pm in a specially-constructed birthing den in the Zoo’s giant panda holding building. The cub is the only giant panda to be born in the U.S. in 2008.

The birth marks another significant milestone in the fight to save one of the world’s most beloved endangered species. Fewer than 1600 giant pandas are estimated to remain in the wild, with an additional 230 living in zoological situations.

“We are delighted, proud and elated,” said Dennis Kelly, Zoo Atlanta’s President and CEO. “We are just as excited as we were about Mei Lan’s (Lun Lun’s first offspring, born September 6, 2006) birth. This is another great moment for the City of Atlanta our colleagues in China as well as Zoo members, guests and staff.”

Fewer than 1600 giant pandas are estimated to remain in the wild, with an additional 230 living in zoological situations.

Zoobooks Magazine


In the news, August 30th, 2008

They are all lined up...
TC Activity

Hurricane warnings are in effect for Atlantic - Caribbean Sea - Gulf of Mexico, Cayman Islands. Gustav swelled to a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph as it approaches western Cuba on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast three years after Hurricane Katrina.
In New Orleans city officials detailed plans for an evacuation that could be called over the weekend, some residents weren't waiting to be told to leave. Storm warnings are in effect for Monroe county Florida as well.

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Jacko the Big 5-0

Michael Jackson celebrated his 50th birthday.
Jackson says he gets "pretty emotional" when he sees his children having a wonderful time.


"I'll just have a little cake with my children and we'll probably watch some cartoons," the pop star said in an interview with ABC News' "Good Morning America." Jackson talked by phone with ABC on Thursday.

Jackson, a twice-divorced father of three, said he aims to provide a normal life for his children.


Earn your degree anywhere



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Dad gets sentenced for killing cat

First of all...what was he thinking? or was he?
An Indiana man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting he forced his 7-year-old daughter to stab the family cat to death.

During his sentencing he was "extremely sorry" for his actions. The judge in the case told him it wasn't "civilized conduct."

In exchange for a guilty plea on animal cruelty and two counts of neglect, prosecutors dropped three other felony charges against the 39-year-old man.

According to the ASPCA, in an affidavit filed Thursday in Delaware County alleges the man told his 11-year-old son and daughter he wanted them to "learn how to kill" and ordered them to kill the family's pet cat.
The siblings told police their father was drunk when they were dropped off for a visit at his Muncie residence, according to the affidavit. They said he is "a different person" when he's drunk.




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In the news, August 19th, 2008

The Wrath of Fay




The hurricane warnings have been dismissed. All that remains are a number of tropical storm warnings as Fay tracks through Florida. Fay failed to strengthen before making landfall in southwestern Florida which prompted the dropping of the hurricane warning. Fay came ashore at Cape Romano south of Marco Island. The storm made landfall in western Cuba and Monday afternoon in Key West.

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Women are having fewer babies in the US

According to the Census Bureau , more women in their early 40s are childless. Those who are having children are having fewer than ever before.

In the last 30 years, the number of women age 40 to 44 with no children has doubled, from 10 percent to 20 percent. And those who are mothers have an average of 1.9 children each, more than one child fewer than women of the same age in 1976.

The Census Bureau found that in 2006 women with graduate or professional degrees recorded the most births of all educational levels. About 36 percent of women who gave birth in the previous 12 months were separated, divorced, widowed or unmarried.

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Lower the Drinking Age?

There is a new push to lower the drinking age and it's coming from an unlikely source. College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.
The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.

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How much has Britney shelled out in legal fees?

Court documents show legal bills submitted on behalf of two law firms who represented Spears in her child custody hearings total more than $466,000. That's on top of the $250,000 than Britney has agreed to pay Kevin Federline's attorneys.

The largest bill comes from attorney Stacy D. Phillips, who says in court filings that she is owed nearly $407,000 for four months of work. Phillips claims she has written off another $125,000 in fees.

Attorney Laura Wasser, who took over the case in June and negotiated an agreement between Federline and Spears' camp that allows the singer more time with her young sons, is seeking $60,000. She worked on the case nearly two months.

The results?
Spears and Federline were married in 2004 and completed their divorce last July. She pays him $20,000 a month under an agreement finalized in July.Federline retains full custody of the children, but Spears has some overnight visits. And, she has rid herself of what's his name.



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In the News May 27, 2008

11 States now have gas selling for over $4 gallon.
Retail gas prices hit record highs for the 20th day in a row, according to AAA's Web site .The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded rose to $3.937, up slightly from $3.936 the previous day.The climb in gas prices, which have steadily risen over the past three weeks, comes amid the start of the summer driving season, which unofficially kicked off over the past weekend.
And, we are driving less...

The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less -- that's 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT's Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history."

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Aid workers and peacekeepers are sexually abusing young children in war zones and disaster zones but their actions are largely going unpunished. This is according to a Save the Children report.

"Children as young as six are trading sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in exchange for food, money, soap and, in very few cases, luxury items such as mobile phones,"

It also highlighted instances of rape, verbal sexual abuse, child pornography, prostitution and trafficking of youngsters, many of whom are poor, displaced or orphaned by conflict.

The group said the scale of abuse was "significant". Its findings were based on work with hundreds of youngsters from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, said the charity's chief executive Jasmine Whitbread.

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In this May 26, 2006 file photo, director Sydney Pollack arrives for the screening of the film 'Quand J' etais Chanteur,' at the 59th International film festival in Cannes, southern France. Pollack died of cancer Monday, May 26, 2008 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. according to his agent. He was 73. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
AP Photo:

Director and actor Sydney Pollack dies at 73. Pollack was diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago. Sydney Pollack is known directing films such as "Out of Africa," "Tootsie," and "Absence of Malice," not only for his Academy Award-winning direction, but also for his acting talents.
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Ghost in a bottle for sale.
A company in the US is selling what they say are ghosts in a bottle. Ghostbusters capture the ghosts and the company then bottles them and sells them.

According to the company's website,
each Ghost is captured from a reported haunted establishment, (house, hotel, ship, cemetery, etc), by Ghost Hunters.

We seal the ghost in it's own bottle. The bottle is sealed for your protection.

No maintenance required; except occasional dusting.

You may release the Ghost at your own discretion and at your own risk.

The Ghost in the Bottle is contained mysteriously and is therefore sealed with wax shortly after the Ghost is caught. The bottle is sealed for your protection. It comes with very important information . We supply the Ghost, you supply the name. Individual Ghost experiences may vary as "Each Ghost is Unique"!

In the News; May 25, 2008

Aftershock hits China.
The latest aftershock is one of the strongest to hit since the May 12 earthquake. Officials say that at least 400 people have been injured, 70,000 homes have collapsed due to the magnitude 5.8 tremor. The aftershock also caused office towers to sway 800 miles away in Beijing.

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Remember Dick Martin, from the comedy team "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" ?
took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!" has died. He was 86.
art.dickmartin.ap.jpg

He died of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica according to a family spokesman. Martin had lost the use of one of his lungs as a teenager, and needed supplemental oxygen for most of the day in his later years.


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A 747 Splits in half!
The cargo plane crashed at the end of a runway and split in two while trying to take off at Brussels airport, authorities said. It is not known at this time why.
art.jpg


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Robbie "Kaptain" Knievel, continues on.
The son of the late daredevil Evel Knievel, successfully jumped over 24 delivery trucks Saturday night at the site of one of his father's most famous stunts.
Daredevil Robbie 'Kaptain' Knievel jumps over 24 delivery trucks, his longest gap ever of 200 feet, at Kings Island amusement park, Saturday, May 24, 2008 in Mason, Ohio. Thirty-three years agao, on Oct. 25, 1975, Robbie's father, Evel Knievel made history when he successfully jumped 14 buses at Kings Island. A crowd of more than 40,000 people witnessed the jump. (AP Photo/David Kohl)
AP Photo:
Knievel, 46, had said he would need to be going 95 miles per hour at take off for the 200-foot jump, which began from a three-story tall ramp and was completed amid wild cheers, booming explosions and shooting flames at Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati. Robbie's father, Evil Knievel died last year at the age of 69 after suffering from failing health for many years.

In the News; May 23, 2008

It's tornado season and the people in Colorado can tell you all about it. A massive tornado tore into the northern Colorado town of Windsor killing one person and damaging many homes and businesses.
art.tornado.01.kusa.jpg
CNN/KUSA Photo
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Is there no end? The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says that home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with last year. This home-price index is considered by many to be the most comprehensive reading of the U.S. market. They said that this is the sharpest decline in its 17-year history. Analysts say housing has yet to bottom out.
Rapidly falling home prices in California, Florida and Nevada skewed the national results.
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A mother from Jacksonville, Fl was sentenced to 20 years in prison for keeping her 17-year-old adopted son caged in her home. The teen weighed 49 pounds when child welfare workers found him in 2005 in what appeared to be a cage. Two other adopted children, both testified they were kept in similar cages.
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John McCain appears cancer-free. The three-time melanoma survivor , has a strong heart and is in otherwise general good health, according to eight years of medical records reviewed by The Associated Press.
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The main beach at Caladesi Island State Park, a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico, on Florida's West Coast is seen on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 in Dunedin, Fla. The beach at Caladesi Island State Park has been named the number one beach in the continental United States for the last two years, but the number two beach overall. It's in the running for the number one spot overall for 2008. (AP Photo/Craig Litten)
AP Photo:
The beach at Caladesi Island State Park in Florida has been named the best beach according to the 2008 ranking for an annual list made by a Florida International University professor dubbed "Dr. Beach,".

In the news, May 22, 2008

Get use to it.
A car drives past a Marathon gas station where regular gasoline is just under $4 a gallon, Wednesday, May 21, 2008, in Cincinnati. Oil prices went past $130 a barrel for the first time Wednesday. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
AP Photo: A car drives past a Marathon gas station where regular gasoline is just under $4.

The price of a barrel of oil roseabove $135 a barrel for the first time with supply worries, global demand and an ever weakening U.S dollar driving crude futures up. I think it may be a good time to acknowledge the recession.

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Have you seen this?

art.starvation.ap.jpg
AP Photo
Bizunesh is 3 and weighs less than 10 pounds. "There is nothing ... I beg for milk," her mother says. She is one of many children hit by this year's double blow of a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices that has brought famine, once again, to Ethiopia.

The U.N. children's agency said in a statement that an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition -- and called the crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003."

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The 5-year-old daughter of Grammy-winning Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, according to authorities .The five year old was hit in the driveway of the family's home by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother.No charges are expected.

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Another American Idol has been crowned. David Cook claimed the "American Idol" title beating 17-year-old David Archuleta by a margin of 12 million votes. Much to the dismay of Simon Cowell who at one time declared song choices had sunk Cook, and then told Archuleta that he'd scored a "knockout" in the boxing-themed performance finale. Just before the winner was announced, Cowell uncharacteristically backtracked. He offered Cook an apology and said that the competition "wasn't quite so clear cut as we called it" — even letting on that, for the first time, he felt either finalist would have been a worthy winner.

In the news May 21, 2008

Is it over for the Dems?

The latest poll:

Oregon
Obama (W) 58%
Clinton 42%
88% of precincts reporting
Kentucky
Clinton (W) 65%
Obama 30%
100% Reporting

Obama is said to have all but declared victory .He needed just 17 delegates to capture a majority of the 3,253 pledged delegates.
After passing that threshold Tuesday, he now finds himself within eyesight of the magic number of 2,025, the number of delegates and superdelegates needed to clinch the nomination under the rules set by the Democratic National Committee.The Clinton campaign disputes that figure and instead insists on using 2,210 as the key metric--a number predicated on the counting of delegates from Michigan and Florida--but Obama's victory Tuesday left her at the mercy of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which meets May 31 to determine appeals from the two wayward states.
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Oil closed at a record $130/barrel. That is more than a 30% increase so far this year.
$4/gallon will now be looking good to many of us.
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A parrot in Japan flew his coupe, so to say, only to tell police who he belonged to.
Yosuke the parrot rests in his cage at his home in Nagareyama in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, May 21, 2008 after he went missing for two weeks. When the African greay parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
AP Photo: Yosuke the parrot rests in his cage at his home.

Police rescued the African grey parrot near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital.
He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

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The Kristi Yamaguchi was named the new "Dancing" champ on "Dancing With the Stars," season finale. She becomes the first woman to win and she did it with a perfect score .

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a $175 (89 pounds) hamburger.

A $175 Hamburger is shown at The Wall Street Burger Shoppe in New York May 13, 2008. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Reuters Photo: A $175 Hamburger is shown at The Wall Street Burger Shoppe in New York

The Wall Street Burger Shoppe is offering the costliest burger in New York.

The burger, created by chef and co-owner Kevin O'Connell, seeks to justify its price with a Kobe beef patty, lots of black truffles, seared foie gras, aged Gruyere cheese, wild mushrooms and flecks of gold leaf on a brioche bun.
They sell s 20 or 25 per month in the fine dining room upstairs versus hundreds of $4 burgers each day at the diner counter downstairs.



In the News; May 20 2008

Do you "click it?"
More than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes aren't wearing seat belts. This is according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Sixty-eight percent of drivers and passengers between the ages of 16 and 20
who were killed in car crashes at night in 2006 were unbuckled. Ironically, seat belt use actually is rising nationwide.Total belt use rose to 82 percent last year. During daytime, 57 percent of the young motorists and passengers who were killed were not wearing seat belts.

The problem isn't just with teens. The percentage of unbuckled drivers and passengers who died at night is well up in the 60s through the age of 44. It declines to 52 percent for people 55-64 and 41 percent for those older than that.

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China raised the number of dead or missing from a devastating earthquake to more than 70,000.The death toll from last week's earthquake in China has gone up to 40,075, according to state media .
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A Lester No-Hitter.
He beat chemotherapy . Jon Lester has made a remarkable recovery.

Boston Red Sox starter Jon Lester pumps his arms after throwing a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals during their MLB baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday, May 19, 2008. The Red Sox won 7-0. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
AP Photo: Boston Red Sox starter Jon Lester pumps his arms after throwing a no-hitter.


The 24-year-old lefty added another accomplishment to his list when he pitched the first no-hitter in the majors this season. Lester shut down the Kansas City Royals 7-0 in his first career complete game.



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News about women and their heart health.

Women who want to keep their hearts in tip-top shape face the fewest challenges in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, the cities which top the list of the 10 most heart-healthy U.S. metropolitan areas for women.

The list, released by the American Heart Association, also found the 10 metropolitan areas that did not fair so well. They are Nashville, Tenn., St. Louis and Detroit deemed the least friendly major cities for women's heart health.

The most heart-friendly metro areas for women are:

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.
2. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, District of Columbia
3. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif.
4. Denver-Aurora, Colo.
5. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
6. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
7. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.
8. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.
9. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.
10. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Boston and Phoenix have the lowest heart-disease mortality rates for women, while women in San Francisco, Denver and Los Angeles are the thinnest.

Women in San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C., are the healthiest eaters, and those in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco smoke the least.

The least-friendly metropolitan areas for women are:

1. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn.
2. St. Louis, Mo.
3. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
4. Pittsburgh, Pa.
5. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
6. Columbus, Ohio
7. Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio
8. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
9. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio
10. Indianapolis, Ind.

The researchers reported that women in Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, and San Antonio, Texas, are among the most overweight in the country.


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You just can't make this stuff up....

Guests line up at the opening of The Simpsons Ride at Universal ...
Reuters

Guests line up at the opening of The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California May 17, 2008.

Yes, it's true. Krusty the Clown has his own ride at Universal.
He now ranks up there with Jaws and Kong.

In the news May 19, 2008

A paramilitary police rescue crew stands in a collapsed building for three minutes silence as a mark of respect to the victims of a devastating earthquake, in the town of Tashui, in China's southwest Sichuan province Monday May 19, 2008. China stood still and sirens wailed Monday to mourn the country's tens of thousands of earthquake victims, exactly a week after the powerful earthquake hit Sichuan province. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
AP Photo

China stood still in mourning over tens of thousands of earthquake victims.

The Chinese government is appealing for more international aid to cope with the country's deadliest disaster in a generation.
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The National Association for Business Economics says that the worst of the painful housing slump and the credit crunch might come to an end this year.
They also predict that the economy will weaken further and unemployment will rise.

The group says that 56percent of the economists think the economy has started or will enter a recession this year. That's up from 45 percent in a survey in February.

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The U.S. military is holding about 500 juveniles suspected of being "unlawful enemy combatants" in detention centers in Iraq and has about 10 detained in Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations. A total of 2,500 youths under the age of 18 have been detained.

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School officials say they are appalled by altered photos — including heads on different bodies — in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.

Yearbook photos for 583 McKinney High School students were altered by the company.

Some girls' heads ended up on boys' bodies, and vice versa. Some necks were stretched, and some outfits were altered.


Besides the head and body switching, some necks were stretched, one girl's arm was missing, and another girl's head was placed on what appeared to be a nude body, with the chest blurred.

A spokeswoman for Minnesota-based Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. said the alterations were "an unfortunate lapse in judgment" by an employee but didn't believe it was malicious.

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  1. Rodney Atkins arrives at the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday, May 18, 2008, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
    AP - Mon May 19, 12:50 AM ET

    Kenny Chesney won entertainer of the year for a fourth straight time Sunday.He then promptly took issue with the way the Academy of Country music awarded the honor: through fan votes.

In the News; May 18, 2008

In this May 8, 2008, photo, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., listens during a hearing on breast cancer in Washington. Kennedy was hospitalized in Boston, Saturday, May 17, 2008  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

AP Photo
Sen. Edward Kennedy was rushed to the hospital yesterday after suffering from a seizure.

Doctors are still working to determine the cause of a seizure that sent the Senator to the hospital. The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat spent the night at Massachusetts General Hospital, a top aide said.

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As of Saturday, May 17, 2008, at least 4,079 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

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In this image provided by Tony Maddox Photography, actress Loni ...
AP
Sun May 18, 1:03 AM ET

In this image provided by Tony Maddox Photography,

Loni Anderson and Bob Flick are shown at their wedding, Saturday May 17, 2008 in Bel Air Calif. Anderson, famous for her role as Jennifer Marlowe in the TV series 'WKRP in Cincinnati,' wed 'Brothers Four' famed folk singer Bob Flick Saturday at the Bel-Air hotel.

(AP Photo/HO -Tony Maddox)

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An American soldier used a Quran, for target practice.

The use of the Islamic holy book for target practice prompting an apology from the U.S. military. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter.

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China has announced three days of national mourning as the death toll from last week's devastating earthquake. Another strong aftershock hit the region and the death toll has risen to nearly 32,500, with a further 220,000 injured.

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It's 2 out of three in an attempt at the crown.
Big Brown came from third place around the final turn to score a decisive victory.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux sneaked a peak to see if anyone was gaining on Big Brown.

"I looked between my legs, under my arms, and they were eight [lengths] behind me," Desormeaux said. "I stopped pushing. I said, `That's enough."'

His big bay colt ran away with the Preakness on Saturday and now is pointed squarely down the path toward the Triple Crown.

In The News, May 17 2007

Gas Prices on the rise.

President Bush is in the Mid-East on a peace quest and oil quest.
President Bush say that the Saudis' modest increase in oil production is "something but it doesn't solve our problem" of soaring gas prices. No kidding. News that Saudi Arabia had boosted its oil output by 300,000 barrels a day was greeted as a non-event on oil markets as the barrel closed at $128.
Meanwhile, in the US., average gas prices are hovering around $4/gal. That's around $1 more than a year ago.
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Lucky winner.
Check your ticket if you purchased in Ohio.
A lucky lottery player who stopped into a suburban Cincinnati liquor store has a Mega Millions ticket worth $196 million. The ticket was purchased from Main Street Wine & Spirits in Amelia in southwest Ohio. Lottery officials say just one ticket won the jackpot. Seventeen players who matched five numbers but not the Mega Ball number will receive second-place prizes of $250,000 each. Still works for me.
The numbers were 6, 11, 39, 46 and 47. The Mega Ball number was 26.

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Did you ever go to a carnival and wonder how safe the ride your were on actually was?
A carnival ride spinning with people collapsed at a county fair Friday night, injuring all 24 people aboard it. The carnival ride, called the Yo-Yo, has metal arms, each with a seat at the end attached by a chain, that swing outward as the ride picks up speed. The arms rise and fall as they spin around a center pole, putting the seats horizontal to the ground.

The pole apparently collapsed, causing the arms to crash back toward the center.
The riders — mostly children — were hurt when their seats struck the ground or other parts of the machine , according to authorities. Scroll down for video.
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A pear-shaped blue diamond has sold for 5.2 million Swiss francs ($4.93 million), setting a new world record price per carat for any gemstone, according to Sotheby.
In this May 7, 2008 file photo, a Sotheby's employee displays a vivid blue 3.7-carat diamond ring, right, and a claw-set vivid pink oval diamond weighing 5.06 carats, left, during a press preview in Geneva, Switzerland. The vivid blue 3.7-carat diamond ring sold for just under US$5 million (euro3.2 million) at auction, becoming the priciest gemstone per carat ever, Sotheby's said Friday, May 16, 2008.  (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini, file)
AP Photo: In this May 7, 2008 file photo, a Sotheby's employee displays a vivid blue 3.7-carat...


The buyer of the 3.73 carat blue stone was British jeweler Laurence Graff, who also picked up a light pink diamond weighing 6.26 carats for 1.67 million francs, the auction house said. Such a bargain.
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Updates:
In China-
Thousands of Chinese fled to the hills amid fears a lake formed near the epicenter of this week's earthquake would burst its banks.

Myanmar-France criticized Myanmar's military junta on Friday for refusing to allow a French Navy ship with 1,500 tons of aid for victims of Cyclone Nargis to deliver food and medicine with small boats and helicopters. Diplomats witnessed "huge" devastation in the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday and the toll of dead and missing from the cyclone rose above 133,000 people, making it one of the most damaging to hit Asia.

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A protest by pensioners, which disrupted traffic in Melbourne ...
AFP
Fri May 16, 2:20 AM ET (AFP/William West)

A protest by pensioners, which disrupted traffic in Melbourne against the Rudd government's lack of support for seniors. The protesting pensioners brought traffic to a stand still in Australia's second largest city on Friday when some stripped to demand more money from the government.



The scantily-clad seniors braved the autumn weather in a 150-strong protest against this week's federal budget, which offered them little despite a 21.7 billion dollar (20 billion US) surplus.

In the news, May 16, 2008

Double - amputee can compete in the Olympics.
Sprinter Oscar Pistorius won an appeal and can compete for a place in the Beijing Olympics.

Getty Photo

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius competing last July in the men's 400m race during the Athletics IAAF Golden Gala in Rome's Olympic Stadium



The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the South African is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes, overturning a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The sprinter still must reach a qualifying time to run in the individual 400 meters at the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games. However, he can be picked for the South African relay squad without qualifying.

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MORE $ MORE $ MORE $
Oil prices soared more than $3 a barrel, surpassing $127 for the first time .

What's the latest reason ?
Pushing oil prices up were speculation that China's demand for diesel needed to fuel its power plants would rise due to reconstruction efforts after this week's earthquakes.
President Bush is appealing to oil-rich Saudi Arabia to increase production just as oil prices have hit the record high. The average price is $3.75/gal.
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The MySpace mom. A Missouri woman was indicted for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide.
The woman, from
suburban St. Louis, allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince to convince a girls that she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans.

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It's back.
Osama bin Laden said in a new audio recording that al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine.

Not surprisingly to the idea of Mid-East peace, the terrorist leader’s third statement this year came as President Bush was wrapping up his visit to Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.

Bin Laden said the fight for the Palestinian cause (and probably his deviated ego) was the most important factor driving al-Qaida’s war with the West and fueled 19 Muslims to carry out the suicide attacks against the United States on Sept. 11 .


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In this  March 21, 2007 file photo Dennis Rodman poses backstage before the Christian Audigier Fall 2007 fashion show in Culver City, Calif. Prosecutors say they have charged former NBA star Dennis Rodman with domestic violence for allegedly hitting his girlfriend at a hotel in April 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File) AP photo

Denis Rodman is in trouble again. Prosecutors say they have charged former NBA star Dennis Rodman with domestic violence for allegedly hitting his girlfriend at a hotel last month.

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Now that same-sex couples across California begin making plans to tie the knot,
Ellen DeGeneres is putting the California Supreme Court ruling into action . DeGeneres says that she and Portia de Rossi plan to wed.

DeGeneres was taping the episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Thursday, the day the state's high court struck down California laws against gay marriage, and it was to air Friday, a person close to the production said.


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Charles Barkley acknowledged he owes a $400,000 gambling debt to a Las Vegas Strip casino and promisesto repay it after a prosecutor said the retired NBA star faced criminal charges. "My mistake," Barkley said in an interview at a pro-am golf tournament in Hoover, Ala. "I'm not broke, and I'm going to take care of it."


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Joshua Packwood knows what it's like to be a minority.

Joshua Packwood

Joshua Packwood, 22, will be the first white valedictorian at the historically black Morehouse College.

This weekend he'll be the first white valedictorian to graduate from the historically black, all male Morehouse College in the school's 141-year history.

Morehouse, in Atlanta, Georgia, is one the nation's most prestigious universities of its kind.

"Because I'm one of the only white students, it's easy to call me 'the white boy,' I'm naturally going to stand out," says Packwood.

In the news, May 15, 2008

Chinese Death Toll. China says that the death toll from this week's earthquake could be as much as 50,000. The Chinese government issued a public appeal for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster.
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Embryo in her stomach? A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, according to doctors .
Doctors examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo about six centimeters (more than two inches) long. Cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births.

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A Girl Scout with a Business Future. A Girl Scout sold 17,328 boxes of cookies this year. It is not known if she set a national record. Troop 813 raised about $21,000 in cookie sales, paying for its 10-day trip to Europe this winter.
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Gay Gov can't Pay his Ex. The nation's first openly gay governor tried to convince the judge in his divorce case that he's too poor to pay alimony. Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey says he's been financially crippled by his resignation and marital troubles.
He and his wife, have been separated since he left office in November 2004, three months after he said he had an affair with a male staffer and planned to resign. The staffer denies he had an affair with McGreevey and accused him of sexual harassment.

The couple have agreed on custody of their only child, 6-year-old and are fighting over alimony, child support, and how to divide their assets and liabilities.

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Put at risk by global warming, the polar bear is getting a life line as the government officially has declared it a threatened species in need of increased protection.

In this Nov. 7, 2007 file photo, a polar bear mother and her two cubs walk along the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba near Churchill, Canada.  The U.S. Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday, May 14, 2008,  saying it must be protected because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward, File)
AP Photo: In this Nov. 7, 2007 file photo, a polar bear mother and her two cubs...



The Interior Department put the bear under the protective umbrella of the Endangered Species Act. It's just what what biologists have been saying for years: the bear is on the way to extinction because of the rapid disappearance of the Arctic sea ice upon which it depends.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that General Electric Co. is getting out of the aplliance business. They have plans to auction off its appliances business and has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to run an auction for the appliance division, according to the newspaper . The sale could yield between $5 billion and $8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In the news, May 14, 2008

In case you have not heard, Hilary Clinton won big in WV yesterday. Is it still a race, and if so, a tight one? They are in need of 2,025 delegates to nab the nomination. So far, it's Obama 1,881 Clinton 1,721. (NBC) CNN says Obama: Pledged 1599 Superdels.282 Total 1881
Clinton Pledged 1440 Superdels 273 Total 1713.

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Have you used your house phone lately?

Accosding to new federal figures, 3 in 10 households, rarely use a landline phone. They either only have a cell phone or seldom if ever take calls on their traditional phone. These figures show reliance on cells is continuing to rise at the expense of wired telephones. In the second half of last year, 16 percent of households only had cell phones, while 13 percent also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells.

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It seems that more Americans are taking prescription drugs.
Medco Health Solutions Inc., which manages prescription benefits for about one in five Americans says that for the first time, it appears that more than half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems,.

The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol — problems often linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Why? Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. And of course, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on chronic medications can only grow.

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More Foreclosures in April.
More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year. The results contributing to a deepening slide in home values.

Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure, the company said.
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I'm sorry but, DUH.

A family boarded a flight on Monday in Canada, and forgot their tot at the Vancouver international airport, according to local media .

The 23-month-old boy's family had just arrived in Canada from the Philippines, but they were forced to repack their overweight bags before catching a connecting flight to Winnipeg, causing them to run late.

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Check this kid out.
Moshe Kai Cavalin, 10, takes statistics college classes at the East Los Angeles College in Los Angeles, Calif. Friday, May 2, 2008. The ten-year-old East Los Angeles College sophomore has an A-Plus average in his classes. College officials couldn't immediately say whether he is the youngest student in the school's 63-year history. Among child prodigies, Michael Kearney, now 24, is often cited as the world's youngest college graduate, having earned a Bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of South Alabama at age 10. But Cavalin's professors can't recall having a younger student in one of their classes. He hopes to be an astrophysicist in a few years. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
AP Photo: Moshe Kai Cavalin, 10, takes statistics college classes at the East Los Angeles College.

Cavalin is only 10 years old.

"I'm studying statistics," says the alternately precocious and shy Cavalin, his textbook lying open on the living room desk of his parents' apartment in this quiet suburb east of Los Angeles.

Within a year, if he keeps up his grades and completes the rest of his requirements, he hopes to transfer from his two-year program at East Los Angeles College to a prestigious four-year school and study astrophysics.


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Ongoing;

  • New cyclone may hit storm-ravaged Myanmar
  • 26,000 buried under China quake debris
  • Firefighters gain upper hand in Florida


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Journalists test drive a Smart Car ForTwo during a 50-city roadshow to promote the U.S. launch of the car next year in downtown Detroit, Michigan July 10, 2007. Daimler AG will sell its Smart small car in China from next year, head of sales and marketing Klaus Maier said on Saturday. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)
Smart receives top crash scores AP photo
The 2008 Smart fortwo micro car, the smallest car for sale in the U.S. market. Scroll down.
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Manuel Uribe chats with a reporter during an interview at his ...
Reuters
Tue May 13, 2:53 PM ET

Manuel Uribe chats with a reporter during an interview at his home in the suburb of San Nicolas de los Garza, in Monterrey May 9, 2008.

(Tomas Bravo/Reuters)

The 42-year-old Mexican, who lives in a reinforced bed and has been housebound for the last six years, started cutting out junk food in March 2006, opting for a diet of fruit, vegetables, fish, chicken and omelettes. At his peak weight, Uribe was the world’s heaviest living man and one of the largest people ever recorded in medical history tipping the scales at 1,265 lbs, the weight of seven average-sized men. Since 2002, Uribe has been bedridden, relying on his mother and friends to feed and clean him. He drew worldwide attention when he pleaded for help on television in January 2006. With the help of doctors and nutritionists, Uribe embarked on the Zone diet and progressed beyond medical expectations, losing a whopping 460 lbs (40 stones) over the past year. He’s now down to a much-improved 800 lbs (50 stones).

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