Wire
Mooooo-mmmy, can I have cheese with my whine?
Angie Wagner For The Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — There’s a new sound in our house, one that resembles some sort of annoying toy but instead is coming from our 5-year-old daughter. Listen. I’m sure you can hear it, or maybe you hear it in your house, too. It’s the whine, and it goes something like this: “But I want to go riiiiii-ght now.” The voice slides upward on “I,” then downward on “right,” then back up again on “now.” The wh...
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New Hasbro games focus on teaching manners to preschool-age children
Eric Tucker Associated Press Writer PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Trouble ensues for Curtis, a bright-eyed tot with a bandana and pirate’s hat, when Pushy Pete elbows him at the amusement park and knocks his tokens down the drain. He’s helped by generous friends in one of a series of new games developed by toymaker Hasbro aimed at helping preschool-age children improve their social skills. The three games focus on a different lesson — sharing,...
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Advisers: Consolidate Air Force nuke command
Lolita C. Baldor Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon advisory group condemned the Air Force for a dramatic deterioration in managing the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and recommended Friday that it consolidate nuclear responsibilities under one command. The decline has eroded international confidence in the United States’ ability to provide a nuclear umbrella of protection, the task force said in rolling out more than 30 reco...
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Celebrities
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cameras flashing and films rolling, a crowd of paparazzi surrounded a police escort, trying to get the perfect shot of Jamie Lynn Spears as she left the Los Angeles International Airport. Just one snag: The woman wasn’t Jamie Lynn Spears. In what appears to be a case of the old switcharoo, airport police on Wednesday duped paparazzi at the crowded terminal by leading an unidentified woman — wearing sunglasses and looking...
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Oddities
Lewd vandal leaves greasy imprint on Nebraska town VALENTINE, Neb. (AP) — Boy, how people here wish their busiest vandal would find another way to make his mark. Beginning more than a year ago, some man has been skipping from one business to another at night, pressing his naked behind — sometimes his groin, sometimes both — on windows. Store owners, church workers and school janitors have had to wash lotion and petroleum jelly off the windows...
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Celebrities
TORONTO (AP) — One clear fan of a new Paris Hilton documentary has a familiar name: Paris Hilton. As she left the theater where “Paris, Not France” premiered Tuesday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hilton gave a few claps of applause after director Adria Petty was announced for a question-and-answer session to discuss the documentary. With close access to Hilton, Petty shot extensive footage of Hilton talking about her im...
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Study says 70,000 may suffer post-9/11 stress disorder
Verena Dobnik Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — New data from a public health registry that tracks the health effects of 9/11 suggest that as many as 70,000 people may have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terrorist attacks. The estimate, released Wednesday by New York City’s Department of Health, is based on an analysis of the health of 71,437 people who enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry....
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Oddities
Mouth to Meow-th: Massachusetts firefighter revives cat NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — A lucky cat owes one of its nine lives to a firefighter who revived it with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Al Machado rescued the cat from a burning apartment Tuesday, telling The Standard Times of New Bedford that he saw immediately that it needed air. Machado began performing mouth to mouth on the animal as he carried it outside. Video shot at the scene sho...
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Bush marks 9/11 with moment of silence
Deb Riechmann Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Thursday that after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 fade from memory, history will look back at America’s response and conclude that “we did not tire, we did not falter and we did not fail.” Bush marked the seventh anniversary of the deadliest attack on U.S. soil, the last time as president, with a moment of silence at the White House at 8:46 a.m. EDT — the e...
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Ask Amy
Dear Amy: As I’ve gotten into my mid-40s and have been involved with family life and raising my three kids, I’ve found that I’m becoming more reclusive and disinclined to entertain out-of-town visitors. I come from a family tradition of “mi casa es su casa,” throwing open our house to any friend or relation who is visiting from out of town. But in the last few years, I’ve found that when I do this, it makes me so stressed out that I end up ...
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Heloise
Dear Heloise: Here are a few more traveling hints: * Make copies of your passport to leave at home, to have with you, to put in each bag or suitcase and to give to a traveling companion. If the original is lost, you have a copy to help when getting a replacement. * Put the customer-service numbers for your credit cards, insurance company and travel agency in your cell phone. You might not be able to call from your phone, but at least you ...
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Lawsuit alleges discrimination against pregnant guards
John Milburn Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — A federal agency sued a New Mexico company Thursday in federal court, alleging the firm discriminated against pregnant employees it had hired as security guards on Army bases. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the victims included two female employees each at forts Riley in Kansas, Stewart in Georgia, Campbell in Kentucky and Hood in Texas. The EEOC also sued on behalf of a...
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Drugs affect more drinking water
Martha Mendoza AP National Writer Testing prompted by an Associated Press story that revealed trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies has shown that more Americans are affected by the problem than previously thought — at least 46 million. That’s up from 41 million people reported by the AP in March as part of an investigation into the presence of pharmaceuticals in the nation’s waterways. The AP stories prompted feder...
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Striking Boeing workers welcome tanker delay
Employees afraid McCain’s election could hurt American aircraft manufacturing jobs Roxana Hegeman Associated Press Writer WICHITA (AP) — Striking Boeing Co. machinists here were heartened as word spread Wednesday of the decision to delay the disputed competition on the military tanker contract until the next administration. But some Boeing workers were still angry with Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s role on the tanker comp...
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World Briefly
Top North Korean officials reportedly deny leader Kim is seriously ill SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea denied Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Il is seriously ill, granting a foreign news outlet rare interviews with top officials who dismissed reports questioning Kim’s health following his absence from a key ceremony. Speculation has intensified that Kim may have taken ill after he missed a parade Tuesday commemorating the communist s...
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Oddities
Airline seeks bald men as walking billboards WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s national airline is offering to pay bald travelers to use their heads — literally — in a new advertising campaign. Air New Zealand said it wants 70 recruits to stand in lines in three airports — while wearing temporary tattoos on the back of their heads so the displays can be seen by people lining up behind them. The airline would pay 1,000 New Zeala...
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State Briefs
Army, Sears partner TOPEKA (AP) — The Army’s oldest division is beginning a new campaign with one of the nation’s oldest retailers. Starting next month, 550 Sears stores nationwide will begin selling the 1st Infantry Division collection, a line of clothing with the insignia and colors of the Army’s Big Red One. Royalties from sales will go to programs for soldiers and their families, but a spokesman for the division acknowledges that some...
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Lottery chief cautious about plan
TOPEKA (AP) — The Kansas Lottery’s executive director is cautious about a proposal to cut the state’s share of slot machine revenues. A law enacted last year allows slots at dog and horse tracks but says the state gets at least 40 percent of the revenues. The Lottery, which would own the new gambling, has been unable to agree on contracts with the operators of The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan., and Camptown Greyhound Park in Frontenac. The t...
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Celebrities
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Most of former professional wrestler Ric Flair’s fights were scripted. But Chapel Hill, N.C., police didn’t find anything fake about the blood and bruises on the Nature Boy after a fight with his daughter’s 22-year-old boyfriend. Neither man was charged, but Flair’s daughter, Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr, was charged for resisting police after the 22-year-old became belligerent and kicked an officer, Chapel Hill police Lt. Kev...
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Businessman pleads guilty to fraud charge
Larry Neumeister Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A smooth-talking Italian businessman who dated actress Anne Hathaway and claimed to have friends in high places at the Vatican has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan real estate fraud case. Raffaello Follieri (foh-lee-AYR’-ee) agreed Wednesday to serve more than four years in prison. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Prosecutors have said the 30-year-old ...
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