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China on war footing ahead of Olympic Games (U.S., 13 articles)
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The order will include 15 Boeing 777 and 30 Boeing 737 aircraft from the Chicago-based company, Beijing-based Air China said on its Web site. SHANGHAI, China (AP) China's largest city and the host of a dozen Olympic soccer matches started tightening security this past weekend at airports and train stations, according to reports in state-run media Monday. The Chinese government is worried about foreign terrorist plots as well as political protests from domestic critics such as Uighurs in the restive western province of Xinjiang and Tibetans. The National Intelligence Service official also dismissed a news report that China plans to close all bridges into its communist ally during the Olympics and that China has demanded that North Koreans already working in China leave. As in much of Africa, Ncube said, China's reach into Zimbabwe's economy is equally pervasive: The roads are filled with Chinese buses, the markets with Chinese goods, and Chinese-made planes are in the skies. YOU wouldn't think, with all the things on the collective Chinese mind these days - Tibet, the Sichuan earthquake and especially the looming Olympics - that an American animated film about a panda would generate any pained discussion.
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Gerald Ford's Perfect Pitch (U.S., 25 articles)
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The Ford Motor Company, which devoted itself for nearly 20 years to putting millions of Americans into big pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, is about to drastically alter its focus to building more small cars. Some factories, the person said, will be retooled to produce more fuel-efficient four- and six-cylinder engines and more efficient transmissions for the new vehicles. Also, to meet high demand for the current Focus small car, Ford will retool part of the Michigan Truck plant in the Detroit suburb of Wayne to build Focus bodies.
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Lawmakers move to curb Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac pay (U.S., 25 articles)
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The Fed and the comptroller's office began combing the books of the two largest U.S. home loan companies after their declining stock prices caused widespread anxiety in the market, the paper said, quoting Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The administration on July 13 unveiled a plan to provide unlimited government loans to the two mortgage giants and to purchase stock in the two companies if needed. Bush: Troubled financial system is sound WASHINGTON President Bush said Tuesday the nation's troubled financial system is "basically sound" and urged lawmakers to quickly enact legislation to prop up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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Walter Reed Hearing to Put Spotlight on Kiley's Leadership (U.S., 19 articles)
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A Pentagon review board investigating conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center heard testimony yesterday from injured soldiers and their families describing continued bureaucratic missteps and problems with patient treatment more than three weeks after such problems were disclosed in the news media. Over the past week, follow-up reports, news releases and news conferences have focused on Army and Navy efforts to improve the physical conditions at Walter Reed and other military facilities serving outpatients. Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Army hospital in Northwest Washington, Gates also warned that senior military leaders could be disciplined based on the findings of the review group.
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Gov aide ridicules Dems' construction plan :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich and Operation Board Games (U.S., 9 articles)
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Illinois would be a national "laughingstock" if state leaders keep feuding over how to finance a statewide construction program and blow an October deadline to get $9 billion in federal matching funds, Rep. Mark Kirk said Monday. Gov. Blagojevich stopped short Tuesday of instigating a legislative war, saying he's against an outright veto of the unbalanced budget state lawmakers sent him. SPRINGFIELD Gov. Rod Blagojevich laid out an ultimatum for his foes in the Illinois House Tuesday, threatening a staggering $1.5 billion in painful budget cuts unless they step in soon with money to stave off the slashing.
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HIV vaccine trial cancelled (U.S., 11 articles)
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The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has scotched plans for a large clinical trial of a candidate vaccine against HIV. The vaccine regimen was developed by the NIAID's Vaccine Research Center and comprised a DNA vaccine containing HIV genes, with a modified cold virus carrying HIV genes as a booster. A human rights group is calling on Iran to release immediately or charge two doctors renowned for their work on the prevention and treatment of HIV/Aids.
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Daley addresses gang presence at Taste :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics (U.S., 11 articles)
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The Chicago Police Department made major mistakes trying to head off the violence that erupted at last week's Taste of Chicago fireworks show from deploying lieutenants inexperienced in handling gang-bangers or crowds to failing to provide enough squadrols, sources said Tuesday. Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis will be put on the City Council hot seat next week to explain a surge in homicides and violence that bubbled over at last week's Taste of Chicago fireworks show. Police Committee Chairman Isaac Carothers (29th) summoned Weis to appear before his committee one day after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that police made major mistakes trying to head off violence at the Taste.
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Slow Food USA Preps for Its Big Moment (U.S., 7 articles)
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AT the end of the summer, the gastronomic organization called Slow Food USA will host a little party for more than 50,000 people in San Francisco. I. To get things ready, the mayor let the group dig up the lawn in front of City Hall and plant a quarter-acre garden. More than 14 million people in the Horn of Africa need food aid because of drought and rocketing food and fuel prices, the United Nations has warned.
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Teen shot in Grand Boulevard, getaway car crashes :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime (U.S., 8 articles)
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About 7:20 p.m., the four men were walking in the 6800 block of South Indiana Avenue when four men in a newer model silver van began shooting, according to police News Affairs Officer David Banks. Police trying to identify a slain man will be examining his fingerprints after his body was found with multiple gunshot wounds outside a Woodlawn neighborhood house on the South Side early Monday. A man is in police custody after an incident that began with the wounding of a 17-year-old and ended with the apparent shooter's getaway car crashing into a tree in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood on the South Side Sunday night.
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Hundreds honor slain Chicago police officer :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State (U.S., 14 articles)
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The family of the woman suspected of fatally shooting police Officer Richard Francis said Wednesday she had suffered from seizures and mental problems for years and had pulled a knife on her daughter just days before the shooting. REMEMBERING RICHARD FRANCIS 27-yr veteran trying to resolve fight on a bus is shot to death with his gun by woman said to be mentally ill. Robin Johnson was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and disarming a police officer, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin.
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Smithsonian's Small Still Awaits Word on Community Service (U.S., 13 articles)
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Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lawrence M. Small defended the Smithsonian's television development deal with CBS/Showtime Networks yesterday, saying the agreement was not reached in secret and that restrictions in the contract would affect only a very small number of filmmakers. A federal board ordered the Smithsonian Institution yesterday to reinstate a whistle-blower who was fired in retaliation for reporting that ranking officials of the National Air and Space Museum had misused the institution's world-class aeronautical restoration facility in Maryland for personal projects. Angered that the Smithsonian Institution sold a television network access to its treasures without consulting Congress, two influential members of the House have asked for a public airing of the business deal.
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FBI: Man arrested sought killer in '05 :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime (U.S., 8 articles)
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MCHENRY COUNTY Fish poison and a hit man? A McHenry County man arrested this week with puffer fish toxin was looking for a hit man a few years ago, the FBI says. Edward F. Bachner IV nabbed Monday after accepting a package of deadly tetrodotoxin was questioned by the FBI in 2006 about whether he solicited the killing of a Chicago area woman. ROCKFORD A Lake in the Hills man was charged with illegal possession of a toxin after the FBI raided his northwest suburban home Monday.
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Woman struck, killed by Red Line train :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State (U.S., 7 articles)
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CTA CATTLE CARS? With the number of passengers on the rise, CTA considers packing em in by ripping out seats on buses, L cars. CTA L cars could become more like cattle cars if the transit agency goes ahead with plans to remove seats on some L cars in the next few months to squeeze in all the riders leaving their cars home and turning to mass transit. The transit agency which said Wednesday it saw a 6.9 percent increase in passengers last month is considering removing seats on busy bus routes, too.
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Mexico and Texas brace as Hurricane Dolly approaches (U.S., 7 articles)
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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (CNN) Dolly became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday afternoon in the western Gulf of Mexico, prompting a weather official to urge anyone on Texas' barrier islands to consider leaving immediately A satellite image from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows tropical storm Dolly tracking toward the coasts of Mexico and Texas. (NOAA) Parts of Mexico and Texas made emergency preparations Tuesday as Hurricane Dolly, upgraded Tuesday evening from a tropical storm, headed toward landfall along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
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IMF funding 'fuelling TB deaths' (U.S., 6 articles)
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Tuberculosis is a disease caused by a bug called Mycobacterium tuberculosis that has been around for many centuries and can affect any part of the body. The latest TB cases came as some MPs and AMs urged the assembly government to halt plans to cull badgers, which are known to spread TB to cattle. CHICAGO- Tuberculosis cases continue to fall in the United States, but some immigrants have disturbingly high rates of the disease, according to a study released Tuesday that called for more aggressive action.
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Daley rips gun ban double standard :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics (U.S., 12 articles)
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Right-wing gun ruling endangers U.S. More people will die from gunshots due to the decision of five right-wing Supreme Court justices to overturn the District of Columbia law banning handguns in the district. Arguing that a gun "lives forever" but a human being doesn't, Mayor Daley challenged Chicagoans on Tuesday to turn in their guns this weekend in exchange for a $100 bounty. Daley predicted that Chicago's 1982 handgun freeze would be next in the crosshairs of the powerful gun lobby and that gun violence will surge if successful.
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Friend's husband is too obnoxious to remain in loo... (U.S., 11 articles)
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DEAR ELLIE: My boyfriend of nine years and I are living together and talking about buying a house and the future (kids, marriage, etc). Stop talking "ring" and start talking straight about needing a plan, with engagement as step No. 1 and a wedding date to follow. DEAR AGITATED: A manicured lawn, shining windows and well-organized garage are cold comfort when a husband is a workaholic, a womanizer or a control freak.
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Nissan Says Electric Cars Will Be Quickly Profitable (U.S., 6 articles)
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The electric cars that Nissan Motor plans to start selling by 2010 will have varying capabilities depending on a given country's driving patterns, but all will be priced competitively and will generate profits, company executives said Tuesday. One aspect that Mr. Ghosn said would remain constant, however, is that the cars would produce zero tailpipe emissions, unlike some vehicles being developed by rivals that have range-extending gasoline engines to power the car after its battery is depleted. " The entire industry has gone absolutely crazy said Richard Lane of Ottawa's REV consultants, who has been converting vehicles to electric power for more than two decades.
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Super League's new clubs rejoice (U.S., 6 articles)
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Rugby league, for years the poor relation to the more brash and popular union game, on Tuesday launched a bright new era by unveiling the teams that had won licences to play in next year's expanded Super League. The new league dispenses with promotion and relegation, guaranteeing its members a three-year security cushion to build teams, develop talent and stadium facilities and strengthen standards at domestic and international levels. Rugby league's new system resembles the franchise system that governs team sports in the US, such as baseball, basketball and American football, and is the first British professional team sport to switch.
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Federal Subsidies Turn Farms Into Big Business (U.S., 6 articles)
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The cornerstone of the multibillion-dollar system of federal farm subsidies is an iconic image of the struggling family farmer: small, powerless against Mother Nature, tied to the land by blood. Without generous government help, farm-state politicians say, thousands of these hardworking families would fail, threatening the nation's abundant food supply. The Bush administration yesterday proposed ending farm subsidies for an estimated 80,000 wealthy individuals as part of a broad plan that would close loopholes and cut traditional farm programs by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years.
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Hundreds bid sorrowful farewell to Mya Lyons :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State (U.S., 11 articles)
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A "person of interest" is reportedly in police custody Friday afternoon for the slaying of a 9-year-old girl found dead by her father in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side on Tuesday. Little girls who still wear pink and love to play with Barbie dolls are not likely to go willingly into a dark alley at 11 at night. Mya Lyons' body was found Tuesday night by her father , Richard Lyons, in a secluded alley near the family's house in the 8400 block of South Gilbert Court.
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Point of View (U.S., 10 articles)
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UNIONS WIN, YOU LOSE LABOR BOSSES RULE LAWMAKERS - AND CHOKE NY June 13, 2008 - KEY triumphs by New York union bosses this spring offer textbook lessons for how to keep Labor strong. Consider... more BAM 'S LAND OF LOSERS HIS PATHETIC ADVICE TO GRADS May 30, 2008 - FOR all his soaring, hopeful rhetoric, Barack Obama chose an odd message this week to send Wesleyan's graduating seniors. MERRILL PULLOUT IS GOOD NEWS AT GROUND ZERO July 18, 2008 - EMBATTLED Merrill Lynch just took a reality pill and broke off talks with Larry Silverstein about moving its headquarters to Ground Zero.
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Dogs prompted McCanns police move (U.S., 5 articles)
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Kate and Gerry McCann were declared suspects in their daughter Madeleine's disappearance because of the reaction of sniffer dogs, a police report says. The report says police were "obliged" to make Mrs McCann Leics, a suspect on the "merest possibility" she had been in contact with a corpse. Two Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office intended to call off their search for the British girl before July 14, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.
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U.S. Judge Upholds Secrecy of Rosenberg Testimony (U.S., 4 articles)
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Notes for KGB Some scholars have been asking for the release of the secret grand jury testimony - particularly evidence from a key prosecution witness - Ethel's younger brother David Greenglass. In his ruling on Tuesday US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the public's right to know was outweighed by the tradition of grand jury secrecy. A federal judge in Manhattan, weighing the secrecy of the grand jury process against the interests of public accountability, refused on Tuesday to unseal the grand jury testimony of a critical witness in the Rosenberg atomic espionage case.
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Evanston teen charged in death of infant :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime (U.S., 4 articles)
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Police and DCFS are investigating the deaths of newborn twins found in a Southwest Side home Thursday morning after an autopsy Friday ruled the deaths homicides. Paramedics responded to 2400 W. 66th St. about 6:10 a.m. Thursday and found two unresponsive infants, according to police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor. Baby Girl Johnson and Baby Boy Johnson were pronounced dead at the scene at 9:35 a.m. Thursday, according to a Cook County Medical Examiner's office spokesman.
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Doctors facing annual assessments (U.S., 4 articles)
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WASHINGTON - Under pressure from critics in Congress and elsewhere to curb expensive marketing to doctors, the leading drug-industry lobby recommended yesterday that companies stop treating physicians to restaurant meals and other handouts. The industry group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it was revising its voluntary marketing guidelines in order to make sure that sales efforts focus on giving doctors the latest, most accurate information about drugs. However, the new recommendations take aim at practices that are already losing favor and would eliminate only a small fraction of the estimated $20 billion a year the companies spend on marketing to doctors.
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Car of murder suspect found in Northwest Indiana :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime (U.S., 10 articles)
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A Waukegan man being sought for the weekend slaying of his wife also is a suspect in the suspicious fire last May that destroyed the couple's north suburban home, sources said Monday. An arrest warrant has been issued for the estranged husband of a woman fatally stabbed near a north suburban Lincolnshire resort Saturday afternoon. An arrest warrant for first-degree murder has been issued for 58-year-old Clarence John Weber Jr. for the Saturday death of his wife Adelina Weber, police said.
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Beware those who promise to repair debts - (U.S., 6 articles)
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In recent years, as credit card debt has mounted, the number of for-profit companies offering debt settlement has exploded. The Association of Settlement Companies estimates that the number of debt settlers has doubled in the past two years, to as many as 1,000. Marching at the head of the US consumer army that has spent merrily for the last decade were the Centurions - elite spenders armed with American Express's most exclusive titanium cards.
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Second person charged in April quintuple homicide :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime (U.S., 6 articles)
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A second man was charged late Wednesday in a mass killing that left three men and two women dead in a Chatham home in April. Brown and Toloran Williams, charged June 11, both face five counts each of murder and armed robbery and one count of home invasion, police said. A 25-year-old supervisor for UPS has been charged with murder in connection with a robbery that ended in the slayings of five people inside a Chatham home in April.
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Sherman E. Lee, 90; former director of Cleveland art museum gave it international prestige (U.S., 4 articles)
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Children's Museum critics blast propaganda in the park Fans of the city's outdoor Movies in the Parks program are getting what critics say is an "arrogant" promo on the controversial Chicago Children's Museum slated for Grant Park. Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said Tuesday that the museum boost is one of several film trailers highlighting district offerings a practice that started before the museum conflict. William and Harry were on the news the other day, shuffling awkwardly around a soldier in a wheelchair who had lost both of his legs and an arm in Afghanistan.
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Neo-Nazi group offers rent incentive to Calgary recruits (U.S., 4 articles)
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A man was shot four times as he got into his minivan in front of a Beltline apartment Monday, said Calgary police. (CBC) Calgary's police chief is warning the city to brace for more gang violence, one day after a suspected gang member was gunned down in a brazen daytime attack. (David Cooper/Theatre Calgary) War drama The Wars and noirish murder play The Mystery of Edwin Drood each have a leading eight nominations for Betty Mitchell Awards, Calgary's annual theatre awards.
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Bike rental snags on lawyers: Daley :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State (U.S., 5 articles)
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Mayor Daley says the Paris-style bike rental program he's been pushing for nearly a year has not started rolling because of questions about who would be left holding the bag if somebody gets hurt. KOKOMO, Ind. - A pastor brought out a dirt bike during a church service to demonstrate the concept of unity. Jeff Harlow broke his wrist when he lost control of the motorcycle at the start of Sunday's second service, driving off a 5-foot platform and into the vacant first row of seats.
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Sect leader Jeffs charged with child sex assault (U.S., 8 articles)
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The American leader of a polygamous sect that includes about 1,000 followers in Bountiful, B.C., and five of his followers have been indicted by a Texas grand jury. Warren Jeffs and four of his followers were indicted in Eldorado, Texas, on Tuesday on charges of felony sexual assault of a child, while another was indicted for failing to report child abuse. Jeffs - who was convicted by a Utah jury for being accomplice to rape and is currently facing similar charges in Arizona relating to underage marriage - has been accused of assaulting a girl in Texas in January 2005.
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Feds: Cook County Jail has violated inmates' rights :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State (U.S., 7 articles)
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Cook County fail? YOU HAVE A PROBLEM Sheriff rejects findings of U.S. attorney's probe that cites medical negligence, abusive behavior by jail guards. On Thursday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald cited anecdote after anecdote of medical negligence, mismanagement and abusive behavior by guards at the jail. That's the only conclusion you can arrive at after reading a 98-page report from the U.S. Justice Department on conditions at the facility, the largest county jail in the country.
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News for Dallas, Texas (U.S., 7 articles)
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The dream scenario for someone selling his or her home is a long line of prospective buyers shouting at the top of their lungs in a protracted bidding war for the home. Real estate agents generally have a variety of standard forms, including residential purchase agreements that are kept up to date and made available to those who use the services of an agent. Finally, in many states there are disclosure laws a seller must comply with, and real estate agents can make sure that happens as well.
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Salmonella clue points to jalapenos - (U.S., 7 articles)
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Federal food officials have matched a bacterial strain found on fresh jalapenos in a Texas distribution plant with the strain responsible for what has become the nation's largest food-borne outbreak in the past decade. Fresh jalapeno peppers joined tomatoes as possible culprits in the nationwide Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that has sickened thousands of people and killed two since April, the federal government confirmed Monday. Yesterday's discovery doesn't solve the mystery, however, because authorities don't know whether the pepper became tainted on the farm, in the plant in McAllen, Texas, or at a stop in between.
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Losses Mount, and Airlines Plan Steeper Spending Cuts (U.S., 6 articles)
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The chief operating officer, John P. Tague, said United had a " developing overcapacity in the international marketplace. Running on empty? FUEL CRISIS To cut weight, airlines not filling tanks but mix in delays, and flights may come up short. Cathy Pope was on a recent American Airlines flight to Chicago from Las Vegas when the pilot came on with annoying news the plane was unable to land because of bad weather and didn't have enough fuel to keep circling O'Hare.
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Educator recalls Sheley as mix of anger, courtesy :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education (U.S., 6 articles)
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Twenty-eight-year-old Nicholas T. Sheley, who authorities said was last seen in St. Louis, was named as a suspect in all eight killings Tuesday afternoon. Public records show Sheley has multiple convictions for robbery, drugs and weapons charges and has spent three years in prison. On Monday, police discovered the bodies of two men, a woman and a child in an apartment in Rock Falls, a town near Sterling.
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To Starbucks, a Closing; To Newark, a Trauma (U.S., 6 articles)
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The Starbucks at North Avenue and York in Elmhurst and the one at 167th and Crawford in Country Club Hills are slated to close, according to a list posted Friday night on the company's Web site. The company will also close one store in each of Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota and West Virginia. In towns as small as Bloomfield, N.M., and metropolises as large as New York, customers and city officials are starting to write letters, place phone calls, circulate petitions and otherwise plead with the coffee company to change its mind.
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Clinton makes pitch to letter carriers in S. Boston for Obama (U.S., 6 articles)
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Democrats preparing to vote in Tuesday's California primary can mark their ballots with confidence, knowing that eithercandidate would make a strong nominee and, if elected, a groundbreaking leader and capable president. The U.S. senator from Illinois distinguishes himself as an inspiring leader who cuts through typical internecine campaign bickering and appeals to Americans long weary of divisive and destructive politics. Nearly a month ago, the two former rivals held a highly choreographed rally in Unity, N.H., to urge the Democrats to join forces to beat John McCain
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Jackson apologizes for comment about Obama :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Barack Obama (U.S., 6 articles)
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized Wednesday for "regretfully crude" comments he made about Barack Obama's speeches in black churches during what he thought was a private conversation with a reporter. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. Spike Lee says the Rev. Jesse Jackson's crudely phrased criticism of Barack Obama won't affect the Democrat's campaign, which the filmmaker expects to succeed at bringing "seismic" change to the world. The owner of "Obama's Chocolate Nuts" is feeling like "the luckiest person on Earth" in the wake of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's crude remarks about Sen. Barack Obama.
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Will latest sales tax hike be too much? :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics (U.S., 6 articles)
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As town by town fights over Prop 2 1/2 continue in Massachusetts, some states are cutting taxes or resorting to strategies that cut some taxes but raise others, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to this story, New York Gov. David Paterson last week launched a bid to make New York the latest state to roll back property taxes. BOSTON- The Massachusetts Legislature voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in favor of a plan to give consumers a two-day break from the state sales tax next month.
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Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup (U.S., 6 articles)
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Jonathan Pitts Crick, Bristol, UK People with deep cultural beliefs should be supported because so many belief systems have been lost to history.I don't think atheism needs any support. NM, Bristol, UK My my: Arent we humans a confused, pathetic, self contradictory drop of sentience all wrapped up in pink smelly bodies. How can a tiny organic speck, on an irrelevant planet - 1planet of 10, part of 100 billion stars in 100 billion galaxies presume to understand the whole of creation.
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Bridging Dallas' North-South Gap (U.S., 5 articles)
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A new public housing development is about to open in Far North Dallas after being stalled for 12 years by construction delays and a court battle with homeowners who tried to stop the project. The Chicago Teachers Union executive board Monday voted to try union vice president Ted Dallas on charges of lavish spending at high-end restaurants and on liquor, among other purported misdeeds. After the first vote for a trial, originally scheduled for June 11, Dallas sued the union in Cook County court, claiming CTU President Marilyn Stewart was the big spender, wasting money on satellite radio and an Israeli vacation.
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6 new genes linked to autism; some lack 'on-off' switch - (U.S., 5 articles)
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NEW YORK Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with autism as brats, said Monday he was trying to "boldly awaken" parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed. Using his power to rewrite legislation, Gov. Blagojevich proposed Sunday that insurers be required to pay for diagnosis and treatment of autism, a poorly understood disorder in children that can cost families their life savings. The proposal would give Illinois the most comprehensive guarantee of autism coverage of any state, said Mike McRaith
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Government announces radical shake-up of welfare system (U.S., 5 articles)
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Two of the benefit payments that underpin Britain's welfare state are to be abolished as part of a streamlined system that will remove the option of "a life on benefits", the Government said yesterday. The Government today announced that the incapacity benefit system was being abolished in a radical tightening of the welfare system designed to ensure that thousands are taken off "the sick" and back into work. During the Tory years efforts to reduce published unemployment totals led to shifts on to sickness and invalidity benefit (after 1995 incapacity benefit).
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CTA bus supervisors hit streets in hybrid vehicles :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Transportation (U.S., 5 articles)
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Chicago Police have located the car that struck a CTA bus shelter and injured six people in a hit-and-run Tuesday night on the South Side. A car struck a bus shelter at East 79th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue at 8:07 p.m., said Fire Media Affairs spokesman Richard Rosado. Eight adults and three teens riding a CTA bus were hospitalized in good condition after the bus slammed into a pole Friday afternoon on the South Side.
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In Brownstone Brooklyn, Someone Is Stealing Gates (U.S., 5 articles)
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The Chicago Housing Authority has suspended its contract with a clout-heavy property management firm overseeing the public housing rowhouses where a 3-year-old boy was fatally crushed by a gate in late June. The firm is owned by Cullen Davis, whose father, Allison Davis, is a top Mayor Daley ally in the black community. City building inspectors on Monday found code violations at the Chicago Housing Authority property in the 900 block of North Cambridge where a heavy gate broke free of its hinges and fatally crushed 3-year-old Curtis Cooper on Friday.
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North Carolina police release 911 calls in Nancy Cooper death (U.S., 5 articles)
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Cooper's friend , Jessica Adams, made the first call to the Cary 911 communications centre early Saturday afternoon after Cooper failed to return home from a jog. This is the message Adams left with police: "... has been missing since seven o'clock this morning and her husband and her are in the middle of a divorce. This is a partial transcript of the man's conversation with the 911 operator at 7:35 p.m. on Monday, July 14: Man: " Yes, I'd like to report a body I found.
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School test fiasco may result in Educational Testing Service being sacked (U.S., 5 articles)
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The problems with this year's Sats tests in England show no sign of ending, with the latest update showing many schools are still without marks. The markers have to put the marks into a web-based database set up by the test contractor, ETS - otherwise they do not get paid. Ed Balls the Schools Secretary refused to apologise today for the testing fiasco that has delayed the return of millions of children's exam papers.
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Landis: Doping or Just a Dope? (U.S., 5 articles)
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Attorneys for Floyd Landis began trying to paint a picture yesterday of incompetence at the French laboratory where the cyclist's urine was tested. The Landis camp is trying to prove the abnormal testosterone levels found in his urine samples are the result of mishandled tests · FOOTBALL: Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards pledged $1 million to fund scholarships for Cleveland students. While Floyd Landis s former manager prepared to enter rehab yesterday, a witness for Landis testified he had grave concerns about the evidence being used to prove the Tour de France champion's positive doping test.
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Health officials back move away from handwritten doctors' prescriptions (U.S., 5 articles)
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Fewer drugs will be covered under Medicare D insurance plans in 2008 because of changes made by the U.S. government and insurers, according to an analysis by the consulting firm Avalere Health. On average, there will be a 26 percent reduction from this year to next in the number of drugs offered by the 10 insurers with the most Medicare enrollees, USA Todayreported. The software can ensure that all necessary information is filled out and legible and also allows doctors to keep better tabs on their patients.
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Stebic won't be able to keep guns :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime (U.S., 5 articles)
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Police must relinquish 24 guns they seized last year from Craig Stebic, but the Plainfield man won't be getting the weapons back, a Will County judge said Tuesday. Stebic isn't eligible to obtain the guns seized more than a year ago during a search after the disappearance of his estranged wife, Lisa because State Police earlier this year revoked his firearm owner's identification card. Stebic's attorney has pushed for the return of the guns and other property taken by police, including a pickup truck, contending authorities can't hold the items indefinitely especially since Stebic hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing.
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Stabbing deaths of French students shock London :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: World (U.S., 4 articles)
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LONDON Police in London charged an unemployed 33-year-old man Wednesday in the stabbing murders of two French students a frenzied killing that shocked people on both sides of the English Channel. Officers detained a 21-year-old man at about 3:40 a.m. on a street in southeast London near where the murders took place, police said. Police would not say whether the arrested man was the prime suspect in the case, and appealed for witnesses to come forward.
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Italy's Berlusconi wins immunity from prosecution (U.S., 4 articles)
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Despite protests from the weakened centre-left opposition, the senate gave final approval for legislation halting criminal trials against Italy's top four elected officials, including Berlusconi, while they are in office. " Citizens have the right to know if their prime minister is or isn't a criminal said centre-left lawmaker Antonio Di Pietro Anna Finocchiaro said the legislation brought Berlusconi closer to the profile of a sovereign monarch.
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Uprising Against the Ethanol Mandate (U.S., 4 articles)
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The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. Mr. Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel.
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Drew's pals wore wire :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Search for Stacy Peterson (U.S., 4 articles)
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Drew Peterson criticized authorities for calling his 15-year-old son before the grand jury investigating the October disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife and the 2004 death of his third wife. Police also are reviewing the 2004 drowning death of his third wife , Kathleen Savio, which initially was ruled an accident but has since been reclassified as a murder. While declining to comment on grand jury proceedings, a spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said investigators " are under no obligation to conduct an investigation in a way Mr. Peterson sees fit.
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In Africa, One Family's Struggle With the Global Food Crisis (U.S., 4 articles)
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Finally exhausted, with the temperature still over 90 degrees in the dying afternoon light, Bamogo strapped her 4-year-old son onto her back with a bright pink cloth and started the one-mile walk home. Women are suffering disproportionately in the world's worst food crisis in a generation, according to aid workers studying impacts in developing nations. That morning, she treated herself to a cup of weak powdered coffee, which she would not do again for a couple of days.
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Mosquito population boom spurs West Nile worries (U.S., 4 articles)
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Some mosquito surveillance traps in Iowa have up to 20 times more mosquitoes than in recent years, said Lyric Bartholomay, an Iowa State University insect expert. A record number of potentially disease-carrying mosquitoes are descending on parks and picnic areas across Massachusetts this year, and officials fear the abnormally high population could lead to more cases of West Nile virus. The culex pipiens, known commonly as the northern house mosquito, has thrived in puddles of water left by the summer's intermittent rainstorms, said Mary J.R. Gilchrist
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in and out of the boxing ring :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Commentary (U.S., 4 articles)
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As a young woman sobbed and rocked in her seat, Judge Stanley Sacks pronounced her guilty Tuesday of murdering her 3-year-old brother and dumping him in a garbage can. Diaz faces 20 to 60 years in prison after being convicted of killing her brother Ricardo in her family's home in the 2200 block of South Sawyer. Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Diaz testified Tuesday that she was often required to take care of her five siblings while her parents worked.
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Port District accused of focusing on golf :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics (U.S., 4 articles)
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Running a golf course has become the main business of the Illinois International Port District, according to a highly critical Civic Federation report that recommends the city of Chicago take over port operations. " The Illinois Port District has failed to adapt to or harness the changes in the economy of northeastern Illinois said Laurence Msall a nonprofit research organization. Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp. will sign an agreement Wednesday to continue service to Baltimore for 10 years as it eyes an increase in traffic between the East Coast and Asia.
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Edward Gunts (U.S., 4 articles)
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T he recent merger of two Baltimore financial institutions, Brown Advisory and Brown Investment Management, brought up memories of a period 40 years ago when I enjoyed a brief career with the old Alex. A woman pulled up in a Lexus at the farmers' market in Bel Air recently and approached the man who had sold her husband a bag of tomatoes earlier in the day. Israeli-born architect Moshe Safdie hasn't designed a project for Baltimore since he designed Coldspring Newtown in the 1970s, but he's apparently interested in working on the $107 million law school planned by the University of Baltimore.
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The Proper Golf Etiquette (U.S., 4 articles)
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The United States Golf Association considers etiquette such an integral part of the sport that the first four pages of its 2006-07 rulebook are dedicated to the subject. To finally reach this new golf course 70 miles west of Washington, you spent 90 minutes navigating through miserable traffic and 10 minutes pulled over on the side of the highway for speeding. When Blue Ridge Shadows opened in March, architect Tom Clark unveiled a course so enjoyable it justifies the full-day trip required to get there.
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Surgeon deemed a heart 'magician' - (U.S., 4 articles)
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Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, the medical pioneer who was the driving force in developing the field of cardiac surgery, operating on more than 65,000 patients and developing medical technology that saved millions more, died Friday. Dr. DeBakey died of natural causes at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, according to a statement from the Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist Hospital. In his highly influential career, Dr. DeBakey performed the first coronary artery bypass surgery and the first carotid endarterectomy to prevent strokes.
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The Baltimore Sun Executive Profiles - (U.S., 4 articles)
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Under his leadership, the Sun-Times editorial page staff was awarded Peter Lisagor Awards for exemplary journalism in 2004 and 1997 and the Sarah Brown Boyden award for editorials from the Chicago Journalists Association in 2006. That issue consisted of four tabloid-size pages, sold for a penny, and was in marked contrast to the six-cent "literary" dailies then in fashion all along the East Coast. Since that time, The Sun has experienced dramatic growth and change that is not adequately reflected in a chronicle of the mere passage of years.
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Coal carves a place in the future of global energy (U.S., 4 articles)
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" McCain has already called and expressed interest, and we believe Obama will too said the president and chief executive of Baard Energy. The plant, designed to produce fuel that costs just $60 to $70 a barrel with 46 percent fewer emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases than conventional diesel fuels, is an irresistible draw for the 2008 presidential hopefuls. With oil at $130 a barrel and gasoline at $4 a gallon, energy and the economy has vaulted to the top of the political agenda, and McCain and Obama have both sought to portray themselves as proponents of cheaper alternatives.
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Blackwater sounds retreat from private security business (U.S., 4 articles)
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MOYOCK, N.C. - The world over, guns for hire are known as "Blackwater guys" - and that's the reason Blackwater Worldwide wants to move beyond the business of private security contracting. More than a dozen federal agencies have investigated the company for its security contracting work, Blackwater said, a list that includes the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Agriculture. " The experience we have had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk company founder and Chief Executive Erik Prince said.
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Mayor seeks records on firefighters' physicians (U.S., 4 articles)
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Mayor Thomas M. Menino ordered the Boston Fire Department yesterday to dig through its records in a hunt for doctors who have diagnosed large numbers of city firefighters with work-related injuries, increasing scrutiny on the role physicians play in awarding questionable disability pensions. The mayor's office said Menino is seeking to unearth suspicious patterns in which some physicians may have " disproportionately diagnosed disabilities. Menino also called on state retirement officials to reexamine all disability claims from retired Boston firefighters who were diagnosed by Arroyo's neurologist , Dr. John F. Mahoney.
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Beyond the water bond (U.S., 4 articles)
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Such projects would include investment in local, renewable sources, much like the water-supply action plan that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa laid out in May. The state should invest to encourage cities to recycle water for potable and nonpotable reuse; to capture rainwater that today flows to the ocean; and to rebuild hardscapes to minimize runoff pollution and allow water to filter into underground aquifers. California should invest to clean its groundwater in places such as the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, where industrial pollutants threaten wells, and in other parts of the state.
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Questions with Leslie Forrester, tattoo remover :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: This much I know (U.S., 4 articles)
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A tattoo artist at a Northwest Side parlor is being sued for misspelling "tomorrow" on a man's tattoo and later attempting to mask the error with clouds. In the suit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, Alfonse Wingfield claims tattoo artist Mike Edrington improperly spelled "tomorrow" and later attempted to fix the error by placing clouds around the tattoo. Wingfield came into the Jade Dragon Tattoo parlor, 5331 W. Belmont Ave., on July 25, 2006 and was asked to make a drawing of his tattoo, the suit said.
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Olmert lawyers: Corruption accusations are false :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: World (U.S., 4 articles)
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JERUSALEM - Lawyers defending the Israeli prime minister against a web of corruption allegations launched their cross-examination of a key witness yesterday by painting him as a lying, litigious businessman with an unsavory reputation and a faulty memory. New York businessman Morris Talansky did major political, if not legal, damage to Ehud Olmert during his testimony in May by alleging that the Israeli leader accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash over the years. The outrage provoked by Talansky's testimony seriously damaged Olmert's credibility and prompted his Kadima party to set new leadership elections, to be held by Sept. 25
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TSA Nears Decision on Contract for Government ID Cards (U.S., 4 articles)
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Competition is heating up among contractors to supply the government with identity technology as one agency prepares to award a major contract and another readies a request for bids. The field of competitors to provide a new identification card for transportation workers has been narrowing, and the Transportation Security Administration indicated last week that an award would be made early this year. The federal government has decided to reopen the bidding to produce hundreds of thousands of universal government identification cards, stripping the McLean consulting firm BearingPoint Inc. of a potential five-year contract.
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Study Reveals Why Some Houses Burn Down In Wildfire (U.S., 4 articles)
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - With nearly three-dozen wildfires still raging across California, a new study released Tuesday revealed which homes are most at risk during a wildfire. Where people live and how they live are the key factors that decide which houses burn down and which ones remain untouched, NBC's Mike Luery reported. The study, which examined 3,000 homes in the fire zone of San Diego's Witch Creek wildfire last year, revealed that homes near wildland and homes built close together are more at risk.
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Louisiana Asks Court to Revisit Rape Laws (U.S., 4 articles)
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Lawyers for the State of Louisiana asked the United States Supreme Court on Monday to reconsider its decision last month striking down laws that made child rape a capital offense. " Such a clear expression of democratic will, at the very least, calls into question the conclusion that there is a national consensus against the practice. In his opinion for the majority last month, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy counted up the number of jurisdictions that allowed the death penalty for child rape.
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U.S. athletics chief asks Bush not to pardon Jones (U.S., 4 articles)
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" Our country has long turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of our heroes Doug Logan wrote in an open letter to President Bush. Few things are more globally respected than the Olympic Games, and to pardon one of the biggest frauds perpetuated on the Olympic movement would be nothing less than thumbing our collective noses at the world. Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, admitted in federal court last October to lying to prosecutors about her steroid use.
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College students feeling ripped off :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education (U.S., 4 articles)
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A survey out Tuesday found strong support from just 7.8 percent of 1,150 people who were asked if " college students today are getting their money's worth. While more than half agreed "somewhat" with that statement, former University of Illinois president Stanley Ikenberry said the results are worrisome. " The cost of college tuition levels have gone up quite substantially over the last half-dozen years, and the public really does feel the pain of that.
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Guided fund still needs a checkup - (U.S., 4 articles)
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If your portfolio loses money or returns are weak in those years, the chances of your running out of money in retirement go up significantly, Price found. Price also ran the numbers on what happens to people who cut back on spending during bear markets, those who don't, and those who panic and shift all their money from stocks to bonds. T he development of retirement target-date funds has been a blessing to all of us who don't want to make investment decisions or adjust our portfolios on a regular basis.
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Charles Z. Wick, 90; Reagan appointee led U.S. Information Agency (U.S., 4 articles)
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" Charlie Wick was magnificent in letting the world know about Ronald Reagan's America former Secretary of State George P. Shultz said in a statement released Tuesday. LOS ANGELES - Charles Z. Wick, who as director of the U.S. Information Agency under Ronald Reagan expanded American broadcasts to Cuba and Russia but whose agency was accused of blacklisting liberals from a government program, has died. Wick died Sunday of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, according to a statement from Wick's family released Tuesday through the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
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blaster@cs.columbia.edu
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