PTI: Advertisement Catches Eyes

What is the number one thing they teach you in Marketing class? I think I recall it being get noticed and get your name out. Well Ford Motor Company has done just that.

The January 18, 2008 Winnipeg Free Press had a ford advertisement in it that caught the eyes of many people. This full Page advertisement shows the rear of a vehicle with a bumper sticker reading, "Drive it like you stole it."

The vehicle appears over a banner with the caption, "Built for life in Manitoba."

Congratulations Ford!! You are winning the Marketing game.

Like come on. These Winnipegger's have time to call Ford and complain about their news paper advertisements which caught their eyes. Ford is in the business of selling, even in a business with little growth.

It is known that Winnipeg has a high stolen auto rate. Over 20 cars are stolen each day in the city. Last I checked this was a public statistic and even some poor old man in Timbuktu can look to see these up-to-date statistics.

So grow up Winnipeg. This is the reason why people move away, because everyone in this city is so worried about our cities image as opposed to fixing the problem.

So to sum it all up: Ford is advertising to sell new cars which are harder to steal. This would lower the Auto Theft in the city of Winnipeg, and therefore would make our city more attractive to outside markets and tourists.

Let the market fix Winnipeg, don’t sit and bitch because you’re doing nothing and your unemployment checks are already spent.

Random violence kills a man who saved lives

The day he died, Christopher O'Leary, 34, awoke as usual, prepared to save lives.

It is difficult to find meaning in death, particularly when the victim is young and responsible, as O'Leary was, cut down in the middle of the day at the height of a selfless career. Since his death, O'Leary's loved ones and colleagues have been retracing his final hours, compelled to look for an explanation, a pattern.

Even Thursday, after police announced the arrest of a 17-year-old in connection with the killing, little seems to add up. Los Angeles Police Det. P.J. Morris said police were still investigating what appears to have been a random killing.

The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, had moved to Highland Park from Henderson, Nev., a week ago and did not know O'Leary.

It was O'Leary's job to track and help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among some of the area's most at-risk people, including Spanish-speaking immigrants, low-income black women and gay men.

O'Leary was a rising star in his field and an idol to his younger sister and brother. The Sacramento native had won a full scholarship to UCLA, where he graduated summa cum laude, and another full scholarship to the University of Michigan, where he earned a doctorate in anthropology.

The day he died, Jan. 20, O'Leary rose at his northeast L.A. home about 9 a.m. full of nervous energy. A behavioral scientist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, he had been scheduled to leave the next day for a conference at UC San Francisco. He would have been a featured speaker. A lean 6 feet tall with blond hair and bright green eyes, O'Leary was a runner who exercised daily. So to relax that morning, he put on some Bobby Darin swing music and grabbed his wife, Michele Rose O'Leary, to dance.

O'Leary met Michele Rose, 35, a petite brunet psychotherapist, during graduate school. She compared herself to former "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson -- very girl-next-door. But O'Leary saw her as a glamour girl, his own Charlize Theron.

As Darin crooned, O'Leary spun his wife across the floor:

L.A. to mandate pet sterilization

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10 to 1 today to approve mandatory sterilization of most pets at the age of 4 months or older - a decision greeted by cheers and applause from the crowded room at the Van Nuys City Hall - where the council meets the first Friday of every month.

The bill must get a second reading in a week, but it is expected to pass. A parade of supporters and opponents of the bill spoke passionately to the council, but in the end, the measure passed, with the sole dissenter being Councilman Bill Rosendahl. He told the council that he was an animal lover, but he professed outrage at the thought of animal control officers knocking on the doors of people's homes, calling it a "fascist-like" move.
The city has said enforcement of the measure, which affects dogs and cats, will be very low key.

"Compassion rules the day!" exclaimed Judy Mancuso, who runs the campaign to pass a similar law on the state level and was one of more than 100 people at today's meeting.

"I'm deeply disappointed," said Cathie Turner, the executive director of Concerned Dog Owners of California. "We have to think about what to do next. The mission of our organization is to protect the health of our dogs. The City Council has passed a bill that will force 95% of Angelinos to live with impaired dogs - not because they're spayed and neutered, but because they're spayed and neutered at the wrong age."

The organization believes the decision on when to spay or neuter, if at all, should be left to owners.

"Mandatory spay-neuter is a necessity," said former game show host Bob Barker, who has donated millions to subsidize the sterilization procedure. "For decades I closed every 'Price Is Right' urging viewers to have their pets spayed. . . . I'd like to think all of us working together would be enough. But it's not enough. We need legislation."

His remarks were greeted with applause and hoots of approval. The parade of speakers supporting the legislation included INXS band member Garry Beers, who told the council that his wife works with a rescue organization.

"I have seen the hopeless cause these people face trying to find homes for these animals," Beers said.

Other rescuers echoed his remarks, emphasizing the overwhelming nature of the task of finding homes for unwanted pets.

"I would like my guest house not to be a permanent foster facility," said Elizabeth Oreck, who works with a private rescue group. "I would like my taxes to be spent on something other than the housing and killing of animals."

Former officers convicted in home-invasion robbery trial

Two brothers who worked as police officers were convicted Wednesday of participating in home invasion-style robberies staged to look like legitimate law enforcement raids, prompting the judge to say that the case underscored the need for aggressive outside oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department.

"I've never heard testimony like I've heard in this case," said U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess, who has practiced law since 1974 and was appointed to the federal bench 12 years ago.

Feess then disclosed to jurors that he is also the judge who oversees the federal consent decree imposed on the LAPD in the wake of the 1999 Rampart corruption scandal.

"People may now have an understanding of why we have that decree," he said.

Feess also reiterated his commitment to the police reforms "to see that this sort of thing never happens again."

The convictions of William and Joseph Ferguson capped a six-year probe by the FBI and LAPD and represented a major victory for prosecutors.

William Ferguson, 35, a former LAPD officer, showed little emotion as Feess read aloud the verdict. Prosecutors say he faces a minimum of 87 years in federal prison.

His younger brother, who had appeared confident and jovial only minutes earlier, seemed stunned at the verdict. He sat with his hands folded in front of him and looked toward his wife, who had begun sobbing in the front row of the courtroom gallery. Joseph Ferguson, 33, who is suspended from the Long Beach Police Department, played a lesser role in the ring and faces a minimum of five years in prison but could be sentenced to more than 50 years, prosecutors said.

"The judge said on the record that he takes this case very seriously," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Doug Miller, who prosecuted the case along with two civil rights lawyers from the U.S. Justice Department. "Whatever sentence he imposes is likely to reflect that."

The brothers were disappointed with the verdicts, according to their attorneys, who are considering filing appeals.

William Ferguson's attorney, Philip Deitch, said he had not yet determined how many years his client would face under the mandatory minimum dictated by federal sentencing guidelines.

"I've got to sit down and do the math," he said. "It's not going to be fun."

The Ferguson brothers were found guilty of conspiring to deprive people of their constitutional rights under color of law and possessing narcotics with the intent to distribute.

William Ferguson was found guilty of 17 counts of the government's 34-count indictment. Joseph Ferguson was found guilty of three of the nine counts with which he was charged. Jurors could not reach a decision on some counts and found the pair not guilty of others.

The verdict followed a three-week trial during which prosecutors produced a parade of witnesses who described being robbed at gunpoint by people claiming to be police officers conducting narcotics raids. Authorities allege the ring committed as many as 40 robberies, attempted robberies or burglaries between 1999 and 2001, netting about $1 million in drugs and cash.

Many of the victims made only tentative identifications of the suspects or could not identify them at all. But prosecutors buttressed their claims with the testimony of several cohorts who had pleaded guilty and were cooperating with the government in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence.

"This case exposed a dark world of corrupt law enforcement officers who defiled their badges and compromised the good work of their colleagues," U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien said in a statement.

The government's key witness was disgraced LAPD Officer Ruben Palomares, the admitted ringleader.

During two days of testimony, Palomares described how, while working as a police officer, he began plotting with an old friend who was a drug dealer to rip off rival drug dealers in exchange for a cut of the seized drugs or money. He said he recruited friends, family and fellow officers, including the Ferguson brothers, to assist in the bogus raids.

Palomares testified that he and William Ferguson stole patrol cars from the LAPD academy to use as props during the robberies to help convince their victims that they were really police officers.
He described William Ferguson, whom he met while the two worked together in the Rampart Division, as his primary partner in the robberies. Palomares said the two would use their police training to control their victims and search for drugs and money.

He told the jury that he used to refer to William Ferguson as "a bloodhound" because he was so adept at sniffing out the cash and narcotics.

Joseph Ferguson drove his older brother and him to the police academy to steal cars for the robberies and also conducted surveillance on several of the "jobs," Palomares said.

He also implicated the younger Ferguson in placing a fake 911 call that resulted in the arrest and eventual imprisonment of a ring member who had fallen out of favor with Palomares.

William Ferguson sat impassively throughout the trial and did not take the witnesses stand in his own defense.

Joseph Ferguson testified that he drove his brother and Palomares to the LAPD academy to get police cruisers on several occasions, but that he believed the officer used the cars to make "collections as part of legitimate off-duty jobs.

He denied involvement in any of the crimes Palomares described.

He admitted placing the bogus 911 call but said he had done so because he had been told the man was beating his wife and needed to be jailed.

Prior to the verdicts being read, Joseph Ferguson was upbeat as he strode down the hall to the courtroom with his wife early Wednesday, quipping to a reporter, "You know, when I walk out of this thing [a free man], I'm going to give you an exclusive."

When he walked out of the courtroom a short time later, he approached the reporter again.

"I'm walking out, but not the way I wanted to," he said.

The brothers are scheduled to be sentenced April 21.

Pedestrian killed on 605 Freeway near Whittier

One pedestrian died and another was severely injured in two Los Angeles-area freeway accidents overnight, authorities said today.

A 72-year-old man pushing a shopping cart on a 605 Freeway onramp near Whittier was struck head-on and killed about 9 p.m. Thursday by a motorist believed to be intoxicated, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The pedestrian was pushing the cart on the southbound ramp from Peck Road in an unincorporated area of Whittier when he was struck by the motorist, authorities said. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.

Wilbur Lafayette Hall Jr., of Norwalk, was arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, said CHP Officer Joe Zizi.

In another freeway crash, a 45-year-old man was seriously injured late Thursday in a hit-and-run accident on the side of the 710 Freeway, authorities said.

Ruben Monarrez of South Pasadena was standing on the shoulder of the northbound 710 north of Miller Way in South Gate when he apparently was struck. Monarrez was waiting behind a tow truck that was securing his pickup truck, stalled with a flat tire. The tow-truck driver found Monarrez lying in the slow lane with serious injuries. Evidence at the scene indicates that a car likely struck him after he walked into the slow lane to examine the flat tire on his Toyota truck, said CHP Officer Luis Mendoza. The driver that struck the man fled the scene, according to CHP officials.

"We really have very few things to go on," Mendoza said.

Monarrez is in critical condition at St. Francis Medical Center, having sustained a broken leg and fractured skull. Authorities have not been able to locate Monarrez's family; officials ask anyone with information about him, or the accident, to call the CHP at (323) 980-4600.

Spears' 12-officer police escort prompts call for paparazzi limits

After aggressive paparazzi prompted police to escort Britney Spears to the hospital this week, Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine announced Friday that he plans to push for an ordinance that would create a minimum "personal safety zone" around individuals targeted by the media.

Zine said the estimated $25,000 it cost for police to escort Spears to the hospital was necessary to protect the public from dangers posed by the horde of celebrity photographers pursuing the pop star. He said paparazzi wereincreasingly endangering celebrities and bystanders with their aggressive behavior and car pursuits.
"I don't want a repeat of what happened to Princess Diana with a celebrity in Los Angeles," he said. "We had to have 12 officers escort [Spears] to the hospital that if not for paparazzi would have been used to prevent crime somewhere else."

Zine said he plans to introduce a motion that calls for the city attorney and LAPD to draft new restrictions on paparazzi, including an ordinance that would create a zone of clear space in order to protect public safety on streets, sidewalks and at access points to emergency care facilities and private businesses and homes.

"It is a major issue we have to address. We are in a celebrity town," he said. "Celebrities have a right to live in peace and freedom."

But Police Chief William J. Bratton said existing laws can deal with the paparazzi.

"Councilman Zine is responding to frustration we all have with the paparazzi," Bratton said. "We already have appropriate laws within the constitutional guidelines and we intend to do that whether it is erratic driving, trespassing on private property or any action that goes beyond the constitutional rights to cover a story."

Bratton strongly defended the LAPD decision to deploy a dozen officers to escort Spears, saying she is a resident of the city and is "certainly in great need of assistance."

He said the public should blame the paparazzi for this week's events.

"They are the ones making a spectacle of themselves," Bratton said. "We will do what we need to do to protect the public from this cast of characters."

Representatives for Spears told Los Angeles police officials Monday that they believed she needed a psychiatric evaluation because of continuing erratic behavior. After extensive discussions about alternatives, the LAPD mapped a strategy for getting her to UCLA Medical Center amid an anticipated swarm of paparazzi.

The next morning the plan was executed with about two dozen police officers, a helicopter and a special team that took Spears out through a gate in an ambulance with covered windows to shield her from photographers.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles County court commissioner Friday granted Spears' father, James, and a court-appointed attorney temporary conservatorship over her affairs and estate, said Allan Parachini, a court spokesman.

The decision gives James Spears the ability to make decisions involving his daughter's assets, property and medical care, restrict visitors to her home, change locks at her residence and hire security. It also allows him to seek civil restraining orders, which the court issued against Spears' manager and friend, Sam Lutfi.

Parachini said another hearing will be held Monday in which the commissioner will decide whether to extend the orders.

"In essence, her parents got what they wanted," Parachini said.

Driver arrested after deadly downtown L.A. crash

A 20-year-old woman is in custody for causing the fiery, multi-car accident in downtown Los Angeles that left one person dead and three hospitalized Thursday night.

Nicole Jiyoung Park of Los Angeles was arrested and charged with murder after she crashed her Audi into a parked car and killed its driver, then careened into two other cars. Park had consumed narcotics earlier in the day, said Los Angeles Police Officer Elizabeth Felix.

Park was driving south on San Pedro Street near 7th Street about 7 p.m. when she crashed into a car parked near the northwest curb. The parked car skidded out of control, knocking over a fire hydrant and smashing into a traffic signal, when it became engulfed in flames, said Felix, who works with the Central traffic division.

The parked car's male occupant, Isau Deleon, 42, died at the scene.

"It was completely ablaze," said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. "It was clear that [the driver] was beyond our help."

Firefighters worked to douse the burning car with water, but couldn't approach the vehicle because electricity from the damaged signal was coursing through the drenched car. By the time they could approach, it was impossible to tell if the driver was male or female, Humphrey said.

Park's 2008 Audi S4 also smashed into two more vehicles stopped at a traffic light at San Pedro.

Park and a male passenger were both transported to County-USC Medical Center for injuries: She was treated for face and shoulder abrasions, and he sustained a laceration to his pelvic area.

A bystander struck by flying debris was also hospitalized.

Americans go to Mexico for a cheaper perfect smile

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - It was fear of the hefty bill as much as fear of the drill that kept American musician Don Clay away from U.S. dental clinics for 30 years.

When a sorely infected tooth eventually drove him to the dentist last month, it was to a clinic in a Mexican border city better known for violent crime and drug cartels.

Shrugging off concerns about hygiene and Mexico's brutal drug war, thousands of Americans are heading to Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican border cities for cheap dental treatment.

"I had to get my teeth fixed. I need a perfect smile to make a successful career in music. Treatment in the United States is so pricey," said Clay, a Texan trying to get a record deal as a hip-hop artist.

U.S. dental treatment costs up to four times as much as in Mexico, making it tough for uninsured Americans to treat common problems such as abscessed teeth or pay for dentures.

A dental crown in the United States costs upward of $600 per tooth, compared to $190 or less in Mexico.

Aspiring Mexican dentists are moving to border cities in droves and are luring American patients away from farther flung discount destinations such as Hungary and Thailand.

Americans have long crossed the border for cheap medicines, flu vaccines, eye surgery or specialist doctors, but dentists are now in highest demand.

Dental clinics are on almost every block in central Ciudad Juarez, ranging from dingy dives to clinics that look more like posh hair salons. Getting there involves dodging prostitutes, drug pushers and cowboy-boot sellers.

BARGAIN-HUNTING

"We've gone from a handful of patients when we started 2-1/2 years ago to 150 new patients a month," said Joe Andel, an American who owns the Rio Dental clinic in Ciudad Juarez with his Mexican dentist wife, Jessica.

Rio Dental, which uses U.S. labs to make its crowns, picks patients up at the airport in El Paso, Texas, across the border and has treated people from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii.

"The Internet makes this possible. It allows patients to find us and research us and shows we can do dental work of equal or superior quality to the United States," Andel said.

Internet bloggers swap stories and compare notes about Mexican dentists, but it always comes down to money.

Dentistry in the United States has become prohibitively expensive for some patients, with bills that can run to tens of thousands of dollars. Malpractice insurance premiums, operating costs that are much higher than in Mexico and dentists seeking to claw back the rising cost of their tuition all weigh.

Even among Americans who have medical insurance, many find they are not covered for treatment other than the basics, and paying on credit means high interest payments.

"I did $4,000 of dental work in the United States and put it on my credit card. Because of the interest, I only paid off $400 in three years," said a U.S. teacher from New Mexico getting treatment in Ciudad Juarez who gave his name as Bill.

Cosmetic dentistry, which insurers do not cover and which can be paid in dollars in many Mexican border clinics, is also popular, Ciudad Juarez dentist Luis Garza said.

"If you want a perfect smile, you have to pay for it, and we can do it cheaper, that's all," he grinned.

US state weighing gun lessons for schoolchildren

WASHINGTON (AFP) - West Virginia is considering a bill to teach schoolchildren how to handle a gun and hunt safely its proponent hopes will increase state revenues from hunting licenses, a state lawmaker said Thursday.

"We will teach a hunting safety course during their physical education class," state senator and bill sponsor Billy Wayne Bailey told AFP. The courses would be imparted in secondary schools, from the eighth to 10th grade (13-16 years of age).

"They will learn gun safety, the proper use of fire arms. All the weapons will be disabled so there is no chance of discharging," he said, adding that the state Senate was expected to take up the bill next week.

"Hunting is an economic and cultural thing and we have seen a decline of hunting licenses over the past years," said the lawmaker, explaining that his bill would boost interest in hunting in West Virginia.

Children 10 years and older can already apply for a hunting license in West Virginia, which makes 1.5 billion dollars a year from hunting-related activities, the senator said.

Pamela Anderson to perform at nude revue

PARIS (Reuters) - Former "Baywatch" star and Playboy model Pamela Anderson takes to the stage in one of France's most famous nude revues this month, when she performs for two nights at the Crazy Horse in Paris.

Anderson, who has recently been performing in a magic show in Las Vegas, follows Arielle Dombasle, an actress and wife of one of France's leading intellectuals, in appearing at the Crazy Horse, a fixture in Paris night life for half a century.

"A special number will be created for Pamela Anderson, a striptease on a Harley Davidson," the Crazy Horse said.

Anderson will perform four shows on February 13-14.

Wis. cable customer whose home was destroyed by tornado billed for damages

WHEATLAND, Wis. - Having a tornado demolish her home was bad enough.

But weeks later when Ann Beam received a $2,000 cable bill for destroyed equipment, she was floored.

"I just couldn't believe it," Beam said. "I was like: 'What are they thinking?"' Time Warner Cable billed a number of Wheatland residents for equipment damaged in the Jan. 7 twister. Beam's bill covered five cable boxes and five remote controls.

She immediately called the cable company but a man who identified himself as a manager said there was nothing the company could do.

"They said I would have to take the bill and turn it in to my insurance company," Beam told the Kenosha News for a story on the newspaper's website Thursday.

But her cable equipment was nine years old and the insurance company would pay only a depreciated value, she said.

Beam's case was a misunderstanding, Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Celeste Flynn said. Some customers were charged for unreturned equipment but only because they cancelled or transferred their service without mentioning the tornado, she said.

"We understand this is an unusual situation," Flynn said.

"All they will need to do is call and we will take the equipment off their account."

The rare winter tornadoes destroyed more than two-dozen homes and damaged nearly 80 others in Kenosha County.

Wis. man on verge of putting millionth mile on his '91 Chevy Silverado truck

MEDFORD, Wis. - A Wisconsin man says his trusty pickup is on the verge of making history.

Frank Oresnik says his 1991 Chevy Silverado is about to pass the one million mile mark. He says the truck is 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometres) from a million. He plans to retire the vehicle once it hits the milestone.

Oresnik credits proper maintenance and luck for allowing the truck to roll up so many miles.

He bought the Silverado in June 1996 after the original owner put 41,000 miles ( 66,000 kilometres) on it.

General Motors and Shell are said to be interested in examining the engine.

Legally blind, 92-year-old golfer scores hole-in-one at country club in Florida

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A hole-in-one is rare on the golf course, but what are the odds of a blind golfer sinking one?

Leo Fiyalko couldn't see it, but his golf buddies did - a hole-in-one on the fifth hole at the Cove Cay Country Club. Fiyalko is 92 and has macular degeneration.

He's been golfing for 60 years, but his 110-yard shot with a five iron on Jan. 10 was his first hole-in-one.

Fiyalko tees off every Thursday with a group of golfers ranging in age from 70 to 90-plus. He used to have a seven handicap, but now he needs help lining up his shots and finding his golf balls because he only has peripheral vision in his right eye.

Jean Gehring was playing in his foursome and watched Fiyalko's swing.

"I could tell it went on the green, (but) when we got up there I didn't see it. I looked in the hole and there it was," Gehring said.

Gehring said Fiyalko brushed off the feat, and had to be prodded to tell his wife about it at the end of the round.

Fiyalko's friends at the country club presented him with a plaque last week to commemorate the feat.

P.E.I. libraries give lenders a fine reprieve in light of power outages

CHARLOTTETOWN - The power's been out for days. Your pipes have burst and your kids are having TV withdrawal.

At least you won't have to worry about 15 cents a day in overdue library book fines.

Libraries in Prince Edward Island have given lenders a seven-day grace period for all overdue items in light of an ice storm that knocked out power across the province this week.

The Provincial Library Service says people have until Tuesday to return overdue books and items without being fined.

Freezing rain brought down trees and power lines across the province this week, knocking out power to thousands of Islanders.

Testing confirms Seinfeld phobia: Double dippers turn dip into bacterial soup

TORONTO - All you double-dippers, back away from the chip dip bowl.

Seems the famous Seinfeld episode was right - double-dipping does transfer mouth microbes from bitten chips or vegetables into the dip. After multiple double-dippers, what might look like an enticing snack may actually be a microbial soup, a new study suggests.

The research, by food science students at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., found that for every time a bitten cracker went back into the bowl, hundreds, even thousands of bacterial cells went in with it.

"In the real world, if you have a dip there, you're probably going to have more than one person dipping into that dip bowl," says Paul Dawson, the food sciences professor who oversaw the project.

"It could be a big party. You have a lot of people dipping. So every time someone dips they're inoculating that many cells into the dip."

The research was done under Clemson's creative inquiry program, which teaches undergraduates how to conduct research while encouraging outside-the-box thinking.

Teams made up of students at various points in an undergraduate degree set out to explore interesting ideas, often producing scientific journal-worthy results in the process.

(An earlier effort by Dawson's students tested the five-second theory - the notion that no significant transfer of germs occurs if dropped food is retrieved immediately. Their conclusion? You may move fast, but microbes move faster.)

This latest project was inspired by the famous Seinfeld double-dipping episode, where George blithely turns a chip dip into a Petri dish, to the revulsion of a fellow party-goer.

"Did you just double-dip that chip? You double-dipped the chip!" the disgusted character, Timmy, declared.

"That's like putting your whole mouth right in the dip."

Not quite, maybe, but the research Dawson's students performed suggests a dip bowl will acquire much more than salsa chip crumbs as a social event progresses.

The average human mouth is teeming with bacteria, though to be honest that's not as nasty as it sounds.

"Most of the bacteria - 99 per cent of bacteria - are good. It is normal flora," says Dawson, who noted these useful bacteria help keep the mouth healthy and defend against bad bugs.

"The normal bacteria are not going to make somebody sick. It's just kind of the yuck factor."

Still, that doesn't mean there aren't unpleasant germs you might pick up from fellow dippers who break party etiquette and go back for seconds with a bitten chip.

"It's not going to cause the plague probably, but the fact of the matter is ... if there was somebody in the room had that (a contagious disease) who was double-dipping, it's a pretty high risk that it's going to be transferred to other people if they're going to be eating out of that bowl," he says.

Dawson's students tested dips of different pH levels - a cheese dip, a chocolate dipping sauce and salsa.

"The two factors that affect the amount of bacteria in two words are the consistency of the dip and the acidity of the dip," Dawson notes.

While it might seem that the more acidic salsa would harbour fewer bacteria, in actual fact it contained more in the double-dipping experiment the Clemson students conducted.

However, when the students let inoculated dips sit at room temperature for a couple of hours to see whether passage of time influenced concentration of microbes, they found the salsa's bacterial count declined, putting it on about a par with the chocolate and cheese.

The double-dipped dips contained about 400 to 500 bacterial cells per millilitre - which is a tiny amount of dip, far less than would coat the average dipped chip. The team did not type the bacteria, so they don't know what dippers were leaving behind.

The students also didn't test heated dips. But Dawson suggests hot dips might provide ideal conditions for microbial growth. And he notes that as a party goes on and the amount of dip in a bowl declines, the microbe content of what remains would be expected to rise.

All this new-found knowledge has made Dawson approach the practice of dipping with a new level of caution. He might share a dip in a restaurant, where he can keep an eye on the people he's eating with. But at a party? That's another matter.

"I probably would avoid the dip bowl. I would pass on that."

Britney is again property of mom

What a dramatic Friday in the world of Britney!

While the mentally unstable Spears continues to recuperate at the UCLA psych ward, her parents sought an emergency court hearing - and won.

Jamie Spears and a lawyer have been named conservators of Britney's estate. What they say goes.

Osama Lutfi is out of the picture. Legally! Britney's parents got a restraining order against him and he can not get anywhere near Spears.

Popps Jamie and the attorney have temporary power over Spears's finances, in addition to securing her residence, changing its locks, and vacating any persons living there. They also are allowed to restrict and limit visitors to Britney, as well as employ security guards to protect her.

For Bronx Native, Stadium is Dream Come True

Joe Byrne is all energy. His hands move as quickly as his mouth and his rapid-fire speech is enough to make you dizzy. But you almost can't blame the guy for his excitement and enthusiasm. As the Project Executive for Turner Construction=Sports, Byrne oversees the construction of the new Yankee Stadium. And for a self-described "30 to 40 game-a-year" New York Yankees fan from Throggs Neck, this is the job of dreams.

Byrne is no stranger to big projects. A graduate of Lehman High School, he earned an engineering degree from SUNY Maritime and his previous work for Turner Construction included the state-of-the-art Hearst Building on West 57th Street in Manhattan and the Bear Stearns building on Madison Avenue. Yet, overseeing the construction of a stadium-especially one for the New York Yankees-is a once in a lifetime project. It is also a project that comes with a set of opportunities and responsibilities that aren't common in the building business in New York.

First and foremost is the New York Yankees Community Benefits Agreement with its benchmarks for hiring local vendors and workers. "The CBA allowed this project to start," Byrne said of the contract. He said that the New York Yankees have worked with the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation and local chambers of commerce to identify vendors from the area who could help with the construction. "Sometimes, all these guys need is a chance" to break into the business, said Byrne. He adds that the work of local contractors has been on par with some of the bigger players in the industry. As proof of his commitment to local vendors he points out that the wiring for the complex of administrative offices at the construction site-including his own-was done by a local vendor. "Diana Electric did a great job," Byrne said.

When asked what has been one of biggest challenges associated with building the new Yankee Stadium, Byrne said that finding skilled workers at a time when all of New York City is going through a building boom has been difficult but not impossible. "We've really had to search for the best specialized workers," he said, "but we've always found them."

According to Byrne an even greater challenge has been meeting the high expectations for the Stadium. "The daily challenge of being on the highest profile job in the five boroughs is tough," he said. But Byrne likes the challenge. "I really feel like we are expected to succeed off the field in the same way the Yankees are supposed to succeed on it." Besides, he adds, "how often do you get to say that you built a stadium?"

Office Tower to Rise in Harlem for Baseball TV Network

Major League Baseball plans to build a home on 125th Street, Harlem’s premier boulevard, for its cable network, which is scheduled to make its debut early next year with some 50 million subscribers, real estate and baseball executives said on Wednesday.

The planned building, to be developed by Vornado Realty Trust, would rise 21 stories in an interlocking set of luminescent glass cubes at 125th Street and Park Avenue and would be the first prime office tower to be built in Harlem in more than three decades.

Vornado is also negotiating with Inner City Broadcasting, the second-largest radio broadcasting company aimed at black listeners, to move to the planned tower from its Midtown offices, according to real estate executives and local officials.

The Vornado project is an expression of how sky-high rents in Midtown Manhattan have contributed to Harlem’s renaissance, pushing residential developers in particular to build in the once economically struggling community. The Vornado project, to be called Harlem Park, would be the first major office tower in the area since the construction of the State Office Building, also on 125th Street, in the early 1970s.

But Vornado still has hurdles to cross, and if the project advances, it would not be the first to hold a groundbreaking at the site. Three years ago, Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg held a press conference there in anticipation of a $236 million hotel and retail project that never materialized.

Vornado is seeking an exception to proposed rezoning that would impose height restrictions on buildings along 125th Street before it starts construction in the spring, and Major League Baseball is negotiating with the city for an incentive package. Some elected officials are also seeking assurances that the project will provide jobs for local residents and will not displace small businesses in the area.

“We want to know about jobs and we want to protect indigenous businesses,” said city Councilwoman Inez E. Dickens, whose district includes the site, now a vacant lot.

Still, city officials are optimistic that a national developer like Vornado and a major tenant like Major League Baseball will propel the project forward.

“Harlem Park will be the area’s first Class-A office tower in decades and will attract major tenants, showcasing the economic growth under way in Harlem,” said Robert C. Lieber, the deputy mayor for economic development. “We’re still negotiating with Vornado and Major League Baseball, and if we are able to get it done, it will be a home run for the entire area.”

Real estate executives said that Major League Baseball was completing negotiations to lease about one-fifth of the planned 630,000-square-foot building. That would include the second and third floors for broadcast studios and editing, as well as the top two floors of the tower for the network’s executive and sales offices.

The area around Park Avenue is still frayed and has not seen as much development as other stretches of 125th Street. But Harlem has changed dramatically.

The average price for new apartments in Harlem has hit $895,000. The historic Apollo Theater on 125th Street is in the midst of a $96 million restoration and expansion. Two hotels are under development nearby, and national retailers like Old Navy, Starbucks and Sony Theaters have moved onto the boulevard. Columbia University has plans for a new $7 billion campus on 17 acres to the west.

Vornado took over the site at Park Avenue last year, after the hotel project died. The company said then that it viewed the spot as ideal for a commercial tower because it sits close to a subway stop, a Metro-North train stop and what will be the northern terminus of the Second Avenue subway. It has nearby highway access to the airports and has nostalgic appeal because it is also less than two miles south of 155th Street and the former site of the Polo Grounds, where the New York Giants played, and Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx.

Vornado hired Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. But it still needed a blue-chip anchor tenant for the project in order to begin construction. And Major League Baseball, which wanted to enter the lucrative world of cable television, needed space.

The league’s new network, like the channels already operated by the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and the National Hockey League, will offer a mix of live games, studio-based shows and archival, fantasy and reality programming. League-owned networks are vehicles to appeal to fans who want the type of concentrated fix on a single sport that they cannot get from ESPN or the local channels that carry teams’ games.

Unlike the N.F.L., baseball chose not to wage a protracted fight against cable operators to extend its subscriber rolls; it ensured major distribution by giving Comcast, Time Warner and Cox shares in the network that total 16.67 percent, the same stake that had already been provided to DirecTV for being the first to agree to carry the channel. Because of that deal, the baseball network is expected to be one of the most successful start-ups in television history.

After searching for space in Manhattan, Queens and New Jersey, the league’s broker, CB Richard Ellis, brought it to the Vornado project on 125th Street, where proposed rents are half those of similar buildings in Midtown. Tenants could also get tax breaks. Since Vornado does not expect to complete the tower until 2010, Major League Baseball has found temporary space in Secaucus, N.J.

The city is set to rezone 125th Street and restrict building heights in such a way that the tower would be about 40 feet too tall. The company is hoping for an exemption.

But local officials are also concerned that the current wave of gentrification is displacing not only longtime residents, but also small businesses on 125th Street that had stuck it out through the bad times in Harlem.

Major League Baseball’s decision “is an exciting way that they can deepen their relationship with the African and Hispanic communities,” said Robert J. Rodriguez, chairman of Community Board 11. “We’re interested in seeing how that develops. As a community, we recognize how an office development could add vibrancy to the surrounding community. But we remain concerned about how this development proceeds and about jobs for local residents.”

Arrest made after 3 girls allege sex assault in Waianae

Police yesterday arrested a 37-year-old man for investigation of sexual-assault complaints filed by three juvenile females.

The complaints allege numerous sex assaults at different Wai'anae locations on Nov. 19, 2006. Two girls are 17 years old and the other 14.

The man was booked for two counts of first-degree sex assault and four counts of third-degree sex assault.

Drowning victim's family pushes for new law

The family of a 5-year-old who drowned in a detention pond in a Navy housing facility in 2004 spoke out today in support of a bill they hope would prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

The measure, scheduled to be heard on Feb. 11, would require annual inspections of detention and retention ponds and water catchment areas and several safety measures, such as surrounding the ponds with chain-link fences.

Charlotte Paige Schaefers, known to her friends as "Sharkey," drowned in a rain-swollen drainage ditch in a Navy housing facility when she jumped into the murky water after a younger friend.

The Navy has since erected permanent barriers around the pond -- which was about 50-yards long at the time of Schaefers' death and can get as deep as 8-feet. In addition, the Schaefers family won a $2 million settlement from the Navy and Hunt Building Co., the subcontractor that built the Pearl City Peninsula housing complex.

Waimea Valley Audubon Center closes temporarily

The Waimea Valley Audubon Center will be closed to the public from tomorrow through Feb. 7 to facilitate the transition of the valley's operations from the National Audubon Society to Hiipaka LCC. The center will reopen on Feb. 8. The center is at 59-864 Kamehameha Highway in Hale'iwa. For more information, call 638-9199.

Waimea school chooses new CEO after yearlong search

John R. Colson will become Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School's new chief education and executive officer, the school announced.

Colson's selection concludes a yearlong search by the school and its not-for-profit local school board, Ho'okako'o Corporation. Colson will start in his new position in the 2008-2009 school year.

Colson is middle school principal at Kamehameha Schools-Hawai'i Campus in Kea'au. He served in many roles at Hawai'i Preparatory Academy in Waimea for 25 years, including headmaster, middle and upper school principal, teacher, counselor and coach.

Waimea Middle PCCS has about 475 students in sixth through eighth grade, and has about 80 teachers, counselors and staff. It is in its fifth year as the state's first public conversion charter school.

New day spa, Gialuchi, opens in Kapolei

Gloria Sterman has opened a new day spa in the Kapolei Shopping Center, with facials, massages and other services.

Lingerie and swimwear are also on sale.

The spa is named Gialuchi. It sells Cosabella lingerie, swimwear and day wear from Italy, as well as the youth-oriented line Free People, from L.A.

Accessories include Brazilian handbags made of lambskin, goatskin and suede, as well as Brazilian bracelets. She also carries jewelry by localite Noelani, from the North Shore; 674-4424 or www.gialuchidayspa.com.

Irvine students face iPod theft charges

IRVINE – Police arrested five Sierra Vista Middle School students on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of being in possession of stolen property. The officers released the juveniles to their school or their parents.

Six juveniles had five iPods and $350 cash, police say. Police believe the students came into possession of the stolen property last week, between Tuesday and Friday. Five were arrested at around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30.

The value of the items recovered is estimated at $1,500.

Starbucks blames smell for scrapping breakfast sandwiches

Battered by a downfall in the economy, Starbucks said Wednesday that it would slow store growth, review pricing strategies and eliminate serving warm breakfast sandwiches in 2008.

The latter was an experiment that expanded to Orange and Los Angeles counties last year.

On Thursday, Starbucks said cafe drinkers didn’t like the smell of the sandwiches, which resembled Egg McMuffins. Here’s a statement from spokeswoman Bridget Baker:

“We have heard from our customers that the aroma of the sandwiches was interfering in their enjoyment of the coffeehouse experience. Customers will continue to enjoy warmed baked goods as our food team continues to add to our breakfast assortment. The highest priority for our food team is to develop the right offerings to complement our superior coffee and espresso beverages.”

The sandwiches will be out of stores by the end of the year. It’s unclear when they will be phased out in Orange County, and Southern California, she added.

Starbucks also cut its forecast for new U.S. store openings to 1,175 for fiscal 2008, from 1,600. Chief executive Howard Schultz also said the company is looking closely at how Starbucks can appeal to budget-conscious consumers.

“The fact is the consumer is in a recession,” Schultz said in a Wall Street Journal article.

Last week, the chain said it was testing a $1 drips in Seattle, as well as free refills. The company said there are no plans to expand that strategy to Southern California.

To read more about Starbucks’ financial earnings, click here.

Tell us: What should Starbucks do to increase foot traffic?

Also, are you disappointed that the warm breakfast sandwiches are going away?

Soldier found dead in Arizona barracks ID'd as O.C. man

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – An Army soldier found dead earlier this week has been identified as a Foothill Ranch man assigned to a unit that provides medical and mental health help to other soldiers.

Pfc. Eli Mundt Baker was found in his barracks room at southern Arizona's Fort Huachuca on Monday. Base spokeswoman Tanja Linton said an investigation is under way to find out how he died. She wouldn't say today if foul play is suspected.

Linton said Baker, 22, had recently completed basic training and was still learning his specialty.

U.S. probes Chino slaughterhouse, supplier to school lunch program

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it was investigating a Chino-based supplier of meat to the National School Lunch Program after release of a video showing slaughterhouse workers using inhumane and illegal practices on weak and sick cows.

The video, presented by the Humane Society of the United States at a news conference Wednesday morning, showed workers at Hallmark Meat Packing using forklifts to pick up and roll animals too weak to stand and forcing sick or weak cows to stand by shooting high-pressure water sprays into their nostrils or repeatedly shocking them with electricity.
Federal and California laws prohibit the slaughter of "downer" cattle -- those that cannot stand or walk -- for the human food supply, to prevent both animal cruelty and the consumption of meat from unhealthy animals.

Meat processed at Hallmark is distributed by Westland Meat Co., also of Chino. According to the USDA, Westland sold 27 million pounds of frozen meat last year to federal food and nutrition programs, including those that provide school lunches and meals for the poor and elderly. Nearly 8 million pounds of that meat went to programs in California; of that amount, more than 5.7 million pounds was used in the Los Angeles area.

The Humane Society said the hidden-camera video was taken by a person who worked at the plant for six weeks last year as part of an undercover investigation by the group. Within hours of the video's release, the USDA suspended Westland's participation in the food and nutrition programs and placed a hold on all products destined for the programs.

Steve Mendell, president and chief executive officer of both Westland and Hallmark, was meeting Wednesday afternoon with USDA officials and was not available for comment. The company released a statement in his name saying it had "taken immediate action to terminate the two employees and suspend their supervisor pending his explanation."

The USDA inspects animals ready for slaughter at Hallmark in the morning and afternoon. Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, told the news conference that the abuse took place before the inspector arrived at the slaughterhouse in the morning.

The undercover investigation found workers using "Herculean efforts to get 'downers' into the kill box," Pacelle said.

"The attempt was to make them so distressed and to cause them so much suffering that these animals would get up and walk into the slaughterhouse," he said. "If they could walk past [the inspector] or even just stand, they would pass."

Westland's general manager, Anthony Magidow, said the workers' actions on the video do not reflect the company's standard practices. He said the slaughterhouse was audited monthly by the USDA and a private firm to monitor employee practices.

"We got on this the moment we found out," Magidow said. The company obtained the video Tuesday after the Washington Post reported its existence.

Magidow said the employees shown in the video had worked in the slaughterhouse for many years and "felt they knew how to handle these animals better than we do."

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer issued a news release late Wednesday expressing confidence in the food inspection system, while adding that he was "deeply concerned" about the Humane Society's allegations. But he faulted the society, which he said "did not present this information to us when these alleged violations occurred in the fall of 2007. Had we known at the time the alleged violations occurred, we would have initiated our investigation sooner and taken appropriate actions at that time."

In response, the society said it had turned over the results of its investigation to the "appropriate California law enforcement officials."

Local authorities, the society said, had asked for "extra time" before the information became public.

The USDA banned the use of "downer" cows for slaughter in 1989 after bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, began to spread across the United Kingdom.

Regulations were tightened in 2003 after a cow with BSE was identified in Washington state.

Studies by several universities have shown a correlation between "downer" cows and those with BSE, popularly known as mad cow disease.

Of the 15 cases of mad cow disease found in North America -- most of them in Canada -- 12 have been from "downer" cows. Although it is rare, people can contract a form of the disease by eating meat from cows with BSE.

"By allowing 'downers' in our food supply, we are putting consumers at risk," said Dr. Michael Greger, the Humane Society's director of public health and animal agriculture.

"The American food supply is safe, but it could be safer. We wouldn't be raising the food safety issue if it wasn't an issue."

O.C. man allegedly cut off tongue of girlfriend who bled to death

Prosecutors say a La Palma man cut off his girlfriend's tongue and allowed her to bleed to death before hiding the corpse in his garage for weeks.

Jurors were told today that Frank Robert Malloy tortured and murdered his live-in girlfriend Patrial Dunthorne in June 2005. The Orange County prosecutor says the 50-year-old defendant cut off the woman's tongue and she bled to death in bed. He then hid the body in body in the garage.

The former longshoreman allegedly lied to neighbors, saying Dunthorne had gone to Utah. The body was discovered after the victim's brother arrived at the La Palma home and smelled the decaying body.

Night out in L.A. turns deadly

It's a case that gives entirely new meaning to the phrase "vehicular homicide."

After a night of drinking at a Silver Lake club, police say, Carlos Gutierrez got so angry at his girlfriend and his uncle early Monday morning that he ordered them out of his car and into a pounding rainstorm. Then he threatened to run them over.

Los Angeles Police Department investigators say it's unlikely that either Gutierrez's girlfriend or his uncle thought the 25-year-old would actually run them down, but according to police, that's exactly what happened. As the pair began walking away from the car, Gutierrez allegedly gunned the engine of his Honda Prelude and plowed into them.

Yet it's what Gutierrez allegedly did next that has some veteran homicide investigators scratching their heads.

According to police, Gutierrez piled his mortally wounded girlfriend, Yolanda Martinez, 37, into the vehicle's back seat and propped up his uncle in the passenger seat. Then he drove to a gas station.

The pit stop proved to be the alleged killer's undoing. As Gutierrez reportedly struggled to operate a gas pump in Pacific Palisades, his uncle -- whose leg was shattered -- dragged himself out of the car and began screaming for help, authorities say. That's when people started calling 911.

Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities say. The uncle was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated for a compound leg fracture.

On Tuesday, Gutierrez was being held without bail after being booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

The incident was, even by Los Angeles standards, an odd one, officers said.

Odder still is the fact that investigators have yet to determine exactly where the slaying occurred.

The Silverlake Lounge, in Sunset Junction, where the night apparently began to sour, and the gas station near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Swarthmore Avenue are 21 miles apart. Neither Gutierrez nor the uncle -- whom police have not identified -- seem to be able to remember where the crime occurred.

LAPD Lt. Ray Lombard called the case more a "where- dunnit" than a "whodunit."

Mailings to Scientology sites probed

Mailings of a suspicious white powder to 10 Church of Scientology addresses prompted the evacuation of dozens of people and the closure of a major thoroughfare Wednesday as hazmat teams were called to examine the packages.

The letters were sent via the Postal Service to Scientology properties in Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica, Glendale and Tustin. Police shut part of Glendale's busy Brand Boulevard for two hours before sounding the all-clear, while 60 people were cleared from buildings in Tustin, authorities said.
The incidents appeared to be part of a hoax. Preliminary tests showed the powder to be cornstarch and wheat germ.

"Initial field testing by LAPD indicates the powder is harmless," said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. "However, further testing will be conducted. We will also work to assess what threat, if any, was associated with the mailings and determine whether any federal statutes were violated."

The Church of Scientology had no comment about the incidents. The mailings come after a cyber attack last week on the Church's website. Authorities said there was no evidence that Wednesday's mailings were connected to the hacking.

Schwarzenegger endorses McCain

With his endorsement of John McCain for the presidency this morning, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seized an opportunity to push forward his own policy agenda within the GOP after years of resistance from Washington Republicans.

Schwarzenegger praised the Arizona senator as a "great American hero" who - like himself - is not afraid to buck the Republican establishment. McCain, in turn, promised to crusade for Schwarzenegger's signature style of environmentalism. It incorporates the emissions curbs that Republicans have long been reluctant to embrace, with investment in green technology and - true to Schwarzenegger's jet-setting lifestyle -- limited sacrifice in quality of life.
Schwarzenegger made the much-anticipated announcement on the floor of a Los Angeles factory that produces solar roofing systems. "This is the future," Schwarzenegger said.

McCain "has a great vision to protect the environment and also protect the economy," Schwarzenegger said. "He has shown the action over and over again."

The coveted endorsement from California's popular governor is expected to help McCain cement his status as the Republican frontrunner. And it also gives Schwarzenegger yet another national platform for his own ideas - and the promise for more acceptance of those ideas within his own party, should McCain ultimately win the nomination.

Schwarzenegger's work on global warming, while popular with voters, has long been mocked by much of the GOP establishment. Conservatives routinely criticize the landmark law Schwarzenegger signed to curb greenhouse gas emissions as anti-competitive and unnecessary. Schwarzenegger's administration, meanwhile, is constantly wrangling with the White House over other state environmental policies.

But McCain has embraced the governor's work on the environment - choosing to stand with Schwarzenegger even as it may cost him support among the conservatives in California and elsewhere he needs to win the Republican nomination.

"I am very honored to know this governor has taken the lead in this great state to protect the environment," McCain said. "He knows it is not only important to California but to the world."

Schwarzenegger's endorsement came less than two weeks after he announced he was planning to remain neutral in the race. But the governor said he decided to get involved after another candidate he favored, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, dropped out Wednesday and endorsed McCain.

"Both of them are friends of mine," Schwarzenegger said. "When I saw Mayor Giuliani discontinue campaigning and endorsing Sen. McCain, I felt it was time for me also to come out and endorse Sen. McCain."

Giuliani also appeared alongside the senator at this morning's event.

"This is a man who is moving us into our future," Giuliani said. "He understands how to do it and also understands how to keep us safe in a time of peril."

This is not the first time McCain and Schwarzenegger have campaigned together.

McCain campaigned with Schwarzenegger for the ill-fated ballot measures the governor championed in his 2005 "year of reform." Even as the governor's poll numbers plummeted that year along with support for his ballot measures, McCain boarded a bus with Schwarzenegger and supported him at rallies. The senator also helped the governor with fundraising for his reelection in 2006.

"I think Sen. McCain has proven over and over again that he is reaching across the aisle to get things done," Schwarzenegger said.

Britney Spears taken from her home in ambulance, escorted by police officers

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears was taken from her home by ambulance early Thursday and escorted to the hospital by more than a dozen police officers in cars, on motorcycles and in helicopters.

The 26-year-old pop star was being taken to "get help," said a Los Angeles police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. The Los Angeles Times cited unidentified authorities who said Spears was being placed on a "mental evaluation hold."

Spears was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where her mother, Lynne, was seen leaving its psychiatric hospital at about 5:30 a.m. When asked by a throng of paparazzi and reporters whether Britney was doing all right, Lynne Spears replied, "Yeah," before leaving in a Range Rover.

Hours earlier, shortly after 1 a.m., a motorcade nearly the length of a football field pulled away from Spears' residence. Along with the ambulance, it included police on nearly a dozen motorcycles, in two cruisers, and two helicopters following overhead.

The scene was more controlled than the one earlier this month when Spears also was taken away from her home in an ambulance. On Jan. 3, police were called to her home when she refused to return her two young sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to ex-husband Kevin Federline, who has custody.

Officers had paramedics haul Spears to a hospital for undisclosed reasons. She was released after a day and a half in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Subsequently, the Superior Court commissioner handling the custody case held a closed hearing that included exhibits including a "photocopy of Application for 72-hour Detention for Evaluation and Treatment." All exhibits were sealed.

Police also went to Spears' hilltop residence off Mulholland Drive on Monday night after someone reported a swarm of paparazzi trespassing in the singer's gated community. When officers arrived, they didn't see anyone trespassing, police said, but citations were issued for several illegally parked cars.

Spears has been in a highly public downward spiral since filing for divorce from Federline in November 2006. Her bizarre antics include shaving her head bald, attacking a car with an umbrella and bringing along a paparazzo pal on trips to a courthouse in her child custody case.

Spears's child custody case has become a public spectacle, with her skipping depositions and twice this month arriving at the courthouse but not attending the hearing.

The most recent incident was last week, when Spears showed up at the downtown civil courts building for a chance to persuade a Superior Court commissioner to change his order and allow her to see her sons.

Dressed as if arriving for a cocktail party - wearing bright pink lipstick, sunglasses, shiny gold platform shoes and a very short black dress with a ruffled hem - Spears was driven into an underground garage and then entered the courthouse.

A court spokesman said she got through a security metal detector, then announced, "I want to leave," and returned to her car.

Touching nose to refer to new Thai PM is no joke

BANGKOK, Thailand - Sign-language interpreters in Thailand have run afoul of some governing party supporters by holding their noses to refer to the new prime minister.

Samak Sundaravej, chosen Monday as the first elected prime minister since a Sept. 2006 coup, has been nicknamed "Mr. Rose Apple Nose" because many claim his nose resembles the fruit.

Thai sign-language interpreters often indicate prominent facial features as shorthand for dignitaries and during a live broadcast of Monday's parliamentary session, they held their noses between two fingers numerous times to refer to Samak.

One interpreter, Kanittha Rattanasin, said this gesture has long been used for Samak but is drawing wide notice only now.

"It is not meant as a nose joke," she said.

"We have touched our noses for years to refer to Samak but people noticed this time because we had to repeat the movement over 300 times."

Juthamas Suthonwattanacharoen, another interpreter, said Samak supporters have called the National Association of the Deaf in Thailand to say the sign does not befit the country leader and the Thai daily newspaper Matichon said the gesture angered some members of Samak's party.

Samak, 72, a combative right-wing politician, easily beat Democrat party candidate Abhisit Vejjajiva, 43, to head the country.

"We refer to a person's most unique physical appearance and for Abhisit, it's his good looks," Juthamas said.

"If someone has very long eyelashes, or prominent ears, we use those."

Kanittha said some reference to Samak's popular cooking show might work as a new sign. But for now, there are no plans to change it, Juthamas said.

Briton plans to walk to India without money

LONDON (AFP) - A man is planning to walk to India without using money, relying on the goodwill of people along the way or working for bed and board, he said Wednesday.

Former dotcom businessman Mark Boyle, from Bristol, aims to end up at Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace after the 9,000-mile trek, which he reckons will take him about two and a half years.

"I've got some sunscreen, a good knife, a spoon, a bandage... no Visa card, no travellers' cheques, no bank accounts, zero. I won't actually touch money along the way," the 28-year-old told BBC radio.

Walking between 15 and 45 miles a day, he plans to work his way down through France, Italy, eastern Europe, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before reaching Gandhi's birthplace of Porbandar on India's west coast.

On his blog, Boyle said he was setting off Wednesday.

"I will start writing a new chapter in my life. From this point on I endeavour to never touch money again," he wrote on the blog, at www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog.php.

Describing the trip as a "pilgrimage", he told the BBC he aims to demonstrate what he calls a "harvest philosophy" in which people can live by sharing skills rather than using cash.

"My mum and dad always speak about a time in Ireland when people came together and took in the harvest together, and no money changed hands," he said in his soft Irish accent.

"It was your friend John down the street or Mike round the corner and everyone came together and chipped in. But now my folks tell me back home that they don't even know anybody in the street any more, the door's always locked.

"My message is, we've got to get back to a time where actually we've got to open those doors and get back to a more communal way of living," added Boyle, who describes himself as a "freeconomist".

Having travelled in Asia before he believes he should be alright there, but admits that the initial phase of leaving Britain and travelling through Europe could pose more problems.

"I think it'll be a mixed response... some people will use their nicest French to tell me they're not interested... some people will be going 'this is amazing I can't believe what you're doing'," he said.

A potential obstacle could come early on when he has to cross the Channel to France.

"I'm going to walk up the guy behind the counter and just explain what I'm doing, and say it as passionately as I can to him and show him how much I really care about what I'm doing."

If that doesn't work he will simply try again and again. "If I've got spend two and a half years to show one person the conviction of what I'm doing then it's two and a half years well spent," he said.

Australian retiree wins, loses, then wins $1.8-million lottery prize

SYDNEY, Australia - An Australian retiree won a $1.8-million lottery prize, then lost it and then won it again Wednesday through a court ruling.

Werner Reinhold bought the lottery ticket at a newsstand in Australia's largest city Sydney on Sept. 19, 1995. His original ticket did not print correctly, so he asked for a new one, which turned out to be the winner. But when Reinhold, now 73, went back to claim the $1.8-million jackpot, he discovered the replacement ticket had been cancelled, not the misprinted original and he was unable to claim the prize.

He sued NSW Lotteries, which oversees lottery tickets in New South Wales state, and the newsstand which sold him the ticket.

Supreme Court Judge Reginald Barrett awarded Reinhold $1.8 million in damages, citing negligence and breach of contract by the newsstand and the state lottery company. Barrett had not yet ruled on what portion of the award each party should pay.

Lonely Japanese man calls directory help 2,600 times

TOKYO (AFP) - A lonely Japanese man has been arrested for allegedly calling directory assistance thousands of times because he liked to be scolded by female operators, police and reports said Wednesday.

Takahiro Fujinuma -- who is 37, single and unemployed -- reportedly would whisper "darling" as he tried to start a conversation and then pleaded with operators not to hang up.

He was arrested Tuesday in Tokyo on charges of obstructing the business of service operator NTT Solco, part of telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

He placed 2,600 calls to directory help -- reached in Japan by dialling 104 -- between early June and mid-November, a police spokesman said.

But Japanese media said he is suspected of starting his habit in 2004 and calling 104 more than 10,000 times.

He reportedly told police that he was lonely and grew to enjoy annoying the operators.

"I would go into ecstasy when a lady scolded me," he said, as quoted by Jiji Press.

Telephone operators -- who in Japan are almost always women -- nicknamed him the "don't-hang-up-man."

His calls usually came late and sometimes exceeded 200 times a night, Jiji Press said.

Queen appoints first 'woman in tights' to Britain's parliament

LONDON (AFP) - Upholding law and order in the "Mother of All Parliaments" is now woman's work, after Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday approved the appointment of the House of Commons first female serjeant at arms.

Jill Pay, a former assistant serjeant -- the word comes from the Latin serviens, or servant -- in the lower chamber of parliament, takes over from Major General Peter Grant Peterkin, who retired in December. She is the first woman in the post's 593-year history.

The serjeant at arms, who is the only person in the Commons allowed to carry a sword to symbolise the position's authority, heads up the chamber's 40-strong security team.

The team is often jokingly referred to as "the men in tights" because of members' traditional uniform that includes knee-length breeches, stockings and buckled shoes.

The serjeant also assists the Commons speaker, walking ahead and carrying the ceremonial mace in the daily procession and sitting in the chamber to ensure security. No sitting may proceed until the mace is in its place.

Both the serjeant and the Black Rod, the equivalent post in the upper House of Lords, are advised on security matters by a special co-ordinator.

A mother of two, Pay has worked in parliament since 1994 and was Grant Peterkin's assistant from 2004. She previously worked in business, advertising and education.

Serjeants at arms have long held a place in British history and have their roots in the 13th century as the monarch's personal bodyguard of gentlemen.

King Henry V appointed the first serjeant to the House of Commons in 1415. The post remains a royal appointment and the holder is usually an ex-serviceman.

Russia's new NATO envoy seeks to bury the hatchet

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Russia's new ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, offered alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer an axe as a sign of peace to mark their first meeting, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"The Russian ambassador presented to the secretary general an axe, a tomahawk, with the intention, as he said, that we should find a way to bury the hatchet," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

The idea was that NATO and Russia "should find a shovel and bury the hatchet," he said.

Relations between the old Cold War foes have been testy of late.

Russia has suspended a key arms pact in protest against the refusal of NATO nations to ratify it. US missile defence plans endorsed by the alliance are also complicating ties as are differences over Kosovo.

Appathurai said that Rogozin, 44, "has made it clear that he comes in partnership and wants to find a way to make the NATO-Russia relationship work even better than it has until now."

"He has also not shied away from pointing out that there are areas of monumental difference," the spokesman said, describing the ambassador, a hardline nationalist, as "an eloquent advocate for his country."

No photograph of Russia's gift being handed over was available, as owing to tight security at the world's biggest military alliance, the tomahawk had to be sent as a package and could not be handed over in person.

"You can't just walk into the secretary general's office carrying an axe," one official said.

Official says no drugs for off-duty police

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch interior minister wants police officials to stop using soft drugs when they are off-duty as it tarnishes the image of the force.

The use of some soft drugs is tolerated in the Netherlands and the sale of cannabis in small quantities for recreational use is permitted in government-regulated coffee shops.

"The minister does not want police officials to use soft drugs, such as cannabis, not even during their spare time. It does not fit with the presentation of the police to the public," a spokesman said Thursday.

There are 25 regional police forces in the Netherlands, some of which have implemented a no-drugs policy for off-duty officers while others have not, he said. "We should have one rule for the whole force," he said.

The dumbest ever quiz answers

LONDON (Reuters) - Question: What was Gandhi's first name? Contestant's answer: Goosey Goosey.

Warning to all those know-alls who shout at the television screen when contestants offer dumb answers to blindingly obvious questions -- one day that could be you.

From regional radio shows to "Who Wants To be a Millionaire?" and "University Challenge," people make fools of themselves -- as internet site www.jumpingjacksbar.com found in collating some of the worst howlers.

Here are leading contenders for the "Dumb Down" gold medal:

Presenter: What happened in Dallas on November 22,1963?

Contestant: I don't know, I wasn't watching it then

Presenter: Which American actor is married to Nicole Kidman?

Contestant: Forrest Gump

Presenter: In which country is Mount Everest?

Contestant: Er, it's not in Scotland is it?

Presenter: Name a film starring Bob Hoskins that is also the

name of a famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci

Contestant: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Presenter: In which European city was the first opera house

opened in 1637?

Contestant: Sydney

Presenter: How long did the Six-Day War between Egypt and

Israel last?

Contestant: (after long pause) Fourteen days

Presenter: Where did the D-Day landings take place?

Contestant: (after pause) Pearl Harbor?

Presenter: What is the currency in India

Contestant: Ramadan

Presenter: Johnny Weissmuller died on this day. Which

jungle-swinging character clad only in a loin cloth did he

play?

Contestant: Jesus

Lottery winner's sweet wish...

LONDON (Reuters) - Retired hospital porter Steve Smith, who is suffering from a potentially fatal heart defect, won almost 19 million pounds ($38 million) on Britain's National Lottery -- but said he would give it all up if he could spend a few more years living with his wife Ida.

"I have a one in 10 chance of living. It's like a ticking time bomb," said the 58-year-old Smith, enjoying a bittersweet glass of celebratory champagne with his wife Ida.

Smith, who has an aortic aneurysm, told reporters when collecting his check: "It's Ida I worry for, it's leaving her behind. I would give all that back if I am allowed to still be with her because there are no shops in the cemetery are there?"

Smith landed the giant prize with an extra stroke of luck -- the couple stopped off on the way home from a family visit to buy some lucky dip tickets and it was one of those which hit the jackpot.

300-year-old Chinese shopping list found in vase

LONDON (AFP) - A shopping list written around 300 years ago has been discovered in an 18th-century Chinese vase in Britain, the cleaner who found it said Thursday.

The Chinese list was discovered inside a vase at Fairfax House in York, northern England.

The house, which claims to be the finest Georgian townhouse in England and boasts a wealth of 18th-century furniture, is closed to the public every January for cleaning.

The vase has been in Fairfax House since it first opened nearly 25 years ago.

"In recent years, due to its fragile state, the vase has been kept in the store room," said Peter Musgrove, who coordinates the cleaning programme.

"I took it out to clean and heard a rattling in the bottom of the vase. I gently poked a stick inside and drew up a crumpled up piece of rice paper with black ink Chinese writing."

Fairfax House director Peter Brown showed the fragments to a Chinese student from the University of York, who said it was the remains of a decorator's shopping list, containing the costs of pigments needed to decorate the vase.

The paper, which is very delicate, will be sent out for further analysis.

"Born in a Crowd" baby delivered after China bus ordeal

BEIJING (AFP) - A pregnant Chinese woman trapped on a bus in icy weather in south China for three days has given birth to a baby boy, which she will name Zhongsheng or "Born in a Crowd," state press said Thursday.

Chu Hongling, 24, and her husband were en route to their hometown in Hunan province to give birth over the Lunar New Year holiday when snowstorms left them stranded on a massive traffic jam in Guangdong province.

The New Express newspaper said the couple spent three freezing days on the bus, with the husband walking 3.5 kilometres (two miles) several times a day to buy meals for his wife, the report said.

"We never thought we would be stuck on the highway for three days and three nights. I was so afraid it would harm the baby," Chu, who last year suffered a miscarriage, told the paper.

The plight of the couple, both migrant workers in booming Guangdong, was finally brought to the attention of local police, who managed to bring an ambulance through the snarled traffic.

The two were then evacuated to a nearby village hospital where the baby boy was born Wednesday, it said.

South-central China has nearly come to a standstill as the worst weather in 50 years has cut off power and blocked roads and railways while millions begin the annual Lunar New Year pilgrimage home for family reunions.

Late delivery again in Japan -- card returned 29 years later

TOKYO (AFP) - In Japan, it seems, never give up on your letter reaching its destination. A bottled card released in the sea by children has been returned nearly three decades later, the teacher said Thursday, only a week after Japan was marvelling at another long-lost letter found on a fish.

In the latest incident, a construction worker found a tiny glass bottle on the shore of the northern Shimokita Peninsula.

Inside, he found a card sent in 1979 from middle-school students some 1,200 kilometres (740 miles) away in western Japan as part of a class science project.

The construction worker, Masaaki Kondo, 54, complied with the instructions to return the card and specify his name, the place and time he found it and the current weather.

It arrived on Tuesday at the school in Tottori, where the current class of students aged 13-15 were half the age of the card.

Students of the school released 5,500 bottles into the Tsushima Straits between western Japan and the Korean Peninsula over 11 years from the early 1970s to study sea currents and Japan's relations with the rest of Asia.

Toshio Enjo, a 75-year-old former school teacher who led the project, said the return of the card was "unbelievable."

He said the school got 760 replies from the bottles with the last one coming some 20 years ago.

"I never expected to see the card some 30 years later," he told AFP by telephone.

The story came just a week after a similar surprise delivery charmed Japan.

A letter that a young girl sent into the sky on a balloon some 15 years ago was found on a flatfish hauled from 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below the Pacific.

A fisherman sent the handwritten note back to the sender, who is now a 21-year-old university student.

Enjo, the former teacher, hoped for more surprises in the future.

"The letter on the flatfish was totally a miracle but for our sea current study, I suspect there may be more stranded bottles," he said.

Getting trapped doesn't take its toll

BEIJING (Reuters) - Stuck on snow-clogged highways for days and subsisting on instant noodles, some of the thousands of people stranded in cars and trucks in southern China have one less reason to complain -- they do not have to pay road tolls.

As heavy snows continue to pummel wide swathes of southern and central China, Guangxi's traffic bureau announced it had allowed more than 3,000 cars to enter the region "free" to ease

the strain on a major trunk road, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

It had ordered toll stations along the border with Hunan, one of the most severely hit provinces, not to charge cars coming in from "evacuation routes" starting from Wednesday at noon, Xinhua said.

The amnesty may be short-lived, however, as it was granted to comply with a directive to "work hard to guarantee the complete evacuation of cars trapped on the Beijing-Zhuhai highway within 24 hours," Xinhua quoted the office as saying.

The worst snows in 50 years in southern China have hit as tens of millions of people attempt to return home to celebrate the Lunar New Year with families. More than 60 people have been

killed in snow-related accidents.

In Anhui, Guangxi's compassion had not proven quite so infectious.

Road tolls on snow-clogged roads were also lifted there, but only for cars carrying fuel products, food and "other necessities," the provincial disaster authority said.

Unhealthy enemas put tourists in hospital

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians visiting a health resort received a rude shock when a nurse used hydrogen peroxide instead of water to give them enemas.

Itar-Tass news agency reported Thursday that 17 tourists in the Caucasus spa town of Yessentuki had to be treated in hospital after the mix-up.

Sources at the sanatorium said the mistake was explained by water and hydrogen peroxide looking the same. Hydrogen peroxide, which can be used to bleach hair, is used as a disinfectant but should not be ingested.

Displaced diamonds found by good samaritan and returned.

VANCOUVER - A Vancouver diamond dealer who dropped his gems on a busy street has recovered the jewels - and maybe his faith in humanity.

The dealer lost a wallet full of $100,000-worth of diamonds last week. He put out an appeal through police offering a $10,000 reward for the return of the uninsured jewels.

Police say the diamond merchant called them Wednesday to say he was contacted by a lawyer whose client had found the diamonds.

"He was contacted by a Vancouver lawyer who had a client that returned most of the missing diamonds to him this morning," Vancouver police said in a statement Wednesday.

They say the reward on offer from the merchant was paid out.

Medical marijuana vending machines take root in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - The city that popularized the fast food drive-thru has a new innovation: 24-hour medical marijuana vending machines.

Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience at the Herbal Nutrition Center, where a large machine will dole out the drug around the clock.

inventor and owner Vincent Mehdizadeh says the machines give users convenience, low prices, safety and anonymity.

But federal drug agents say the invention may need unplugging.

Police say the people who own and fill the machines could be breaking laws.

At least three dispensaries in the city have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use.

The computerized machine requires fingerprint identification and a prepaid card with a magnetic stripe. Once the card and fingerprint are verified, a bright green envelope with the pot drops down a slot.

Mehdizadeh said it took seven months to develop and patent the black, armored box, which he calls the "PVM," or prescription vending machine.

Mehdizadeh says any user approved for medical marijuana and registered in a computer database at his dispensaries can pre-purchase the drug and then use the machine to pick up.

The process provides convenience and privacy for users who may otherwise feel uncomfortable about buying marijuana, Mehdizadeh said.

At the Timothy Leary Medical Dispensary in the San Fernando Valley, the vending machine is accessible only during business hours. An employee there said the machine was introduced about five months ago, and provides speedy service.

"It helps a lot of patients who are in a lot of pain and don't want to wait around to get help," Robert Schwartz said. "It's been working out great."

Mehdizadeh said he sought the advice of doctors, and decided to limit the amount of marijuana per user to an ounce per week. Each purchase from the machine yields 1/8th or 2/8ths of an ounce. By eliminating a vendor behind the counter, he said, the machine offers users lower drug prices. The 1/8th ounce packet would cost about US$40 - US$20 lower than the average price at other dispensaries.

A spokesman for a marijuana advocacy group said the machine also benefits dispensary owners.

"It limits the number of workers in the store in the event of a raid, and it'll make it harder for theft," said Nathan Sands, of The Compassionate Coalition.

Marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.

The Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies have been actively shutting down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state over the past two years and charging their operators with felony distribution charges.

Mehdizadeh said the Herbal Nutrition Center was the target of a federal raid in December. He said no arrests were made and no charges have been filed against him.

Kris Hermes, a spokesman for advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, said the machine might benefit those who already know how much and what strain of marijuana they're looking for. But he said others will want to see and smell the drug before they buy it.

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

"You have kids that want to get high and that's not what marijuana is for," Robert Miko said. "It's to medicate."

Reunion in the works between San Diego family and missing dog found in Alta.

PONOKA, Alta. - Wait until all the other pooches in balmy San Diego hear about Jake's journey to the frozen countryside of rural Alberta!

Last summer, a California couple and their two dogs drove up to central Alberta to visit family in Wetaskiwin. However, one of their dogs, Jake, had his own idea of adventure and one evening decided to explore the Alberta prairie with a stroll on a warm August night.

Unfortunately for Jake, his vacation itinerary did not coincide with that of his owners - particularly the departure time.

After a lengthy search, Jake's broken-hearted family had to give up and headed home without their best buddy.

Fast-forward six months later to Wednesday, when Kelly Tebb, the community peace officer in Ponoka, about half an hour's drive south of Wetaskiwin, received a complaint of a squatter that had taken shelter from a nasty cold snap under an abandoned bus near the local Baptist Church.

Tebb bundled up against the -25 C temperatures and heavy snow and headed out to investigate. With a few kind words and some turkey pepperoni sticks, the community peace officer and the wayward dog came to an understanding.

Fortunately, Jake still had his San Diego passport - in the form of dog tags and a microchip - around his neck.

A quick phone call to San Diego left Jake's family relieved to know he is warm and safe in a Ponoka kennel, receiving two square meals a day, while a reunion is in the works.

Oregon boy parks bike inside Goodwill store, which sells it for $6.99

SALEM, Ore. - Cody Young parked his bike in the wrong place at the Goodwill store, where the rule is anything on the floor goes.

He didn't have a lock but friends said they had parked inside the store before. On Sunday, though, the black BMX bike was sold. But the 13-year-old is going to get his bike back, Goodwill officials said, after the buyer saw a newspaper story about the mix-up and called to make things right.

The buyer got the bike for just $6.99 but will get a $100 gift certificate from Goodwill for coming forth.

It's not the first such mix-up in Goodwill's busy stores, Goodwill spokesman Dale Emanuel said. A janitor once left a bucket and mop on a store's sales floor and they were sold the next day.

German robber nabbed after leaving behind telltale DNA on salami chunk

BERLIN - German police have charged a robbery suspect after matching his DNA to that found on a piece of salami spat out at a crime scene.

The bitten-off chunk of the telltale sausage was discovered at a building that had been broken in to in the southern city of Darmstadt in April.

Police say the 37-year-old man was taken into custody in early January after police ran his name through their computers at a highway spot-check and found he was wanted for several other crimes.

Once in custody, he was linked to the Darmstadt break-and-enter through the DNA sample on the salami and charged.

But it seems the rejected meat was not the robber's only slip up: he has been charged with a total of 19 break-ins after other links were found.

The man, whose name was not released, remains in custody while police investigate.

Defective cartridge slows PBC vote counting

A defective voting cartridge slowed down the counting of votes Tuesday, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson said.

Although a backup tape allowed elections staff to recoup the results, Anderson said the problem was so significant it may lead to the elections office having to reprogram all of its voting machines.

There are three municipal elections in February and many more in March.

The supervisor's web site failed to report how many precincts had been tallied in municipal races Tuesday, making it impossible to tell if all the votes had been counted for each local election. The site did have precinct totals for the county as a whole, with 610 out of 780 precincts reporting at 11:15 p.m.

For hours after polls closed Tuesday, the web site said that no precincts had been counted in local races, despite vote totals in the thousands. For the city of Lake Worth ballot questions, for example, the web site showed more than 3400 votes counted but 0 out of 14 precincts reporting at 9:30 p.m.

After questioned about those numbers by the Palm Beach Post, the Supervisor of Elections removed the precinct counts from the web site for local races from the site at 9:45 p.m., leaving only the countywide totals.

Anderson ducked questions from reporters about city elections until 10:42 p.m., when he said said he wanted to move forward with overall tabulations of votes, rather than report precinct-by-precinct, which would have slowed down the gathering of votes.

Yet less than 10 minutes later, precinct-by-precinct results appeared on county government Channel 20. Anderson reappeared and said, "They're in now."

Anderson said he notified the individual municipalities holding elections that their results won't be known until all county votes are in.

"The locals aren't going to come out until the totals for the evening are tabulated," he said.

"My first priority is accuracy, and then after accuracy, timeliness," Anderson added.

County Commissioner Karen Marcus, a member of the canvassing board, said late Tuesday that the lack of information was "real frustrating to the public, to all of us. We'd like to see some results."

Marcus said she would like discussions after this election to "see how we can do this better."

The problem echoes the September 2006 primary election, when the site also lacked information about the numbers of precincts counted. Anderson promised to post the precinct totals in the November 2006 general election, and did. Broward County, which uses the same software as Palm Beach, was reporting precinct totals for every race Tuesday night.