This is the archive for December 2006
By William Sherman
New York Daily News (MCT)
NEW YORK — Times Square revelers will greet the new year amid a blizzard of 7,000 pounds of confetti — three times the usual amount, event organizers said Tuesday.
A hundred confetti-tossers will hurl the more than 3 tons of shredded paper from 11 buildings during a five-hour celebration leading up to midnight.
And this year, the party paper will be inscribed with such goodwill messages as "peace," "celebrate" and "dance," according to event coordinator Treb Heining.
The ball that has been dropped 6 times and it is atop One Times Square in New York since 2000.
From www.timessquarealliance.org.
Posted by courier at 05:05 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Dan DeLuca
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
James Brown, circa 1965PHILADELPHIA — James Brown, 73, the dynamic performer and incomparable bandleader who changed the shape of popular music in America and the world, and was known the "Godfather of Soul" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," died Monday.
Brown was admitted to Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta on Saturday to be treated for pneumonia, and he died there in the early hours of Christmas morning of congestive heart failure, according to his agent Frank Copsidas.
Read a Rolling Stone interview with James Brown.
Posted by courier at 09:35 AM. Filed under: News
1 comment • Permalink
Los Angeles-VOANews
Former President Gerald Ford - the longest-living American president - has died at the age of 93. A statement from his wife, Betty, did not cite a cause of death. Mr. Ford took office in the troubled days that followed the Watergate scandal surrounding President Richard Nixon.
Posted by courier at 08:18 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Michelle Caruso
New York Daily News (MCT)
LOS ANGELES — Ousted publisher Judith Regan will likely be sued for fraud over the quashed O.J. Simpson book deal, a lawyer for the family of slain Ron Goldman warned Tuesday.
Posted by courier at 07:40 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Elise Young
The Record (Hackensack N.J.) (MCT)
President George Bush signs a bill
as Laura Bush looks on.HACKENSACK, N.J. — President Bush last week signed into law the Combating Autism Act, authorizing a $1 billion effort to wipe out a devastating neurological condition.
The law calls for screening every child in America, $643 million for research, tens of millions of dollars more for public education and the presentation of an annual report to Congress.
Posted by courier at 05:31 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Robert Berger
Bethlehem, VOANews
Hundreds of Palestinian boy and girl scouts marched through Manger Square in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. They passed the Church of the Nativity, where tradition says Jesus Christ was born. Security was tight -- paramilitary policemen armed with assault rifles stood guard on rooftops and on the cobblestone streets below.
Bethlehem was decked out for the holiday. All the trees were lit up with red, white and yellow lights, and stars and bells illuminated the buildings. Ironically, money for the decorations came from the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas.
Posted by courier at 06:57 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Paula Wolfson
Washington,VOANews
The president rose early for a Christmas ritual - a series of calls to members of the armed services. He spoke with ten servicemen and women in all, including two from each branch of the military. Most are deployed in either Afghanistan or Iraq.
Spokeswoman Dana Perino quotes the president as saying he wanted to let them how much he appreciates their service, and how proud he is of each of them.
Posted by courier at 06:02 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Kim Barker
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
KABUL, Afghanistan — One of the Taliban's top commanders, a financial and logistics expert with ties to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, was killed last week in an air strike in the lawless Afghan desert near the Pakistan border, the U.S. military announced Saturday.
Posted by courier at 10:46 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Joe Swickard
Detroit Free Press (MCT)
FALLUJAH, Iraq — Christmas comes to Bravo Company every few days in a couple of seven-ton Oshkosh trucks.
Twelve feet tall, 26 feet wide and Marine green, the trucks back up to the Fallujah train station, and the men, forming a line of khaki and camo elves, unload a mound of packages that quickly fill a lobby area shoulder-high with goodies from home.
Yet all the tiny twinkling trees, ornaments and tinsel shipped by families, friends and school children _ as welcome as they are to these troops — can't transform the station with a bomb-blasted locomotive into an island of Yuletide joy in the middle of strife-torn Iraq.
U.S. Army Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment provide security for Iraqi army soldiers during a patrol in Adhamiya, Iraq, Dec. 11, 2006. The purpose of the patrol is to decrease sectarian violence and insurgency activity while increasing the Iraqi security force's capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Alexander)
Posted by courier at 08:17 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By George Stalk (MCT)
Economic soothsayers are closely watching 2006 holiday sales figures to gauge the strength of the economy.
But sales are not the only figure experts should be watching. They also should be looking at the amount of goods returned for refunds. This figure has been growing rapidly in recent years and is eating significantly into companies' profits.
Retailing experts are predicting approximately $457 billion in holiday sales this year, a respectable 5 percent to 6 percent increase over 2005. In addition to gift cards, which are expected to account for $24.8 billion in total sales, other popular purchases will include toys and games, consumer electronics, greeting cards, clothing, candy, appliances, home-care products and jewelry. Many of these gifts will be returned.
Posted by courier at 11:48 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Julian Kesner
New York Daily News (MCT)
NEW YORK — Drug abuse by American teenagers has fallen 23 percent over the past five years, according to a federally funded survey released Thursday.
The 32nd annual Monitoring The Future study shows continuing drops in the use of marijuana, alcohol and tobacco.
For more tables and information, visit monitoringthefuture.org
Posted by courier at 07:38 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By David Hinckley
New York Daily News(MCT)
NEW YORK — Ahmet Ertegun, an immigrant fan of American jazz whose Atlantic Records helped shape rock `n' roll with artists like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, died Thursday. He was 83.
Arguably the most important independent music man of the rock `n' roll era, Ertegun had the stature in music that moguls like Louis B. Mayer had in the movies.
Posted by courier at 07:28 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Ann Doss Helms
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Superintendent Peter Gorman and his top lieutenants have ordered a picture book about presumably gay penguins removed from school libraries, the first time Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has banned a book in more than a decade.
Posted by courier at 07:29 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Jenna Garard, Courier Staff Writer
Most students taking American Sign Language at Logan took a walking field trip to both Searles and Guy Emanuele Elementary schools, to perform various holiday songs in Sign Language Thursday.
Posted by courier at 10:44 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Sandy Bauers and Don Sapatkin
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
PHILADELPHIA — A Swedish astronaut kept a Frisbee in the air for 20 seconds Friday, claiming the new world record for "Maximum Time Aloft".
Only thing is, it was floating in zero gravity, aboard the International Space Station. And the astronaut, Christer Fuglesang, kept it from bumping into anything — or going out of range of the camera in a feed to Earth — by blowing on it.
Christer Fuglesang NASA photo
Posted by courier at 09:44 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Kristina Peterson
Palo Alto Daily News (MCT)
PALO ALTO, Calif. — A local invention could fulfill the dreams of every ecologically-minded paralegal.
Scientists at Xerox research centers in Palo Alto and Toronto, Canada, recently announced that they have developed preliminary technology to print pages on which text disappears after 16 hours.
Posted by courier at 09:32 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Kenneth R. Bazinet
New York Daily News (MCT)
WASHINGTON — Americans think President Bush will go down in history as the country's worst leader of his era, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.
President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shake hands following President Bush's remarks honoring outgoing Secretary Rumsfeld during an Armed Forces Full Honor Review at the Pentagon Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace applauds. White House photo by Paul Morse
Posted by courier at 07:12 AM. Filed under: News
1 comment • Permalink
By Nancy Luna
The Orange County Register(MCT)
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Federal authorities are focusing on shredded lettuce as the possible food source responsible for causing severe illnesses of 71 people who ate at Taco Bell restaurants in five several states.
Though the E. coli strain has not been found in lettuce — or any other food samples taken from Taco Bell eateries — health officials said Wednesday that lettuce "was the most likely source of the outbreak."
Posted by courier at 07:08 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Stephen Franklin
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
LINDEN, Mich. — Some send condolences or ask how they can help. Others tell how they too lost someone in a truck crash. And then there are e-mails from truckers, some eager to talk about the dangers they also face.
Ever since Sherry and Rob Durk created a Web site about their 15-year-old daughter's death late one night last July on an Illinois highway, the notes have poured in.
Rob and Sherry Durk of Linden, Michigan, sit in their daughter Janelle's room as she left it last summer, before being killed by a truck driver in Illinois on the way back from a family reunion in Kansas. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune/MCT)
Posted by courier at 09:05 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Lesley Clark
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
WASHINGTON — The exam that immigrants must pass to become U.S. citizens is being redesigned to ensure new Americans are as familiar with the concept of democracy as they are with the number of stars in the flag.
Posted by courier at 01:40 PM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
The following is a press release issued by the New Haven Unified School District today:
Middle school students will have smaller classes and more learning time each day through a cooperative effort between the New Haven Unified School District and the New Haven Teachers Association.
Posted by courier at 10:07 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (MCT)
Palm Beach County, Fla., high school students are taking college-level classes in record numbers, meaning more money for campuses despite a drop in the percentage of exams passed.
Posted by courier at 06:21 PM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Holly K. Hacker
The Dallas Morning News (MCT)
DALLAS — It's been praised for keeping public universities in Texas racially diverse. It's been criticized for hurting talented students with less-than-stellar grades.
Now almost 10 years old, the "top 10 percent law" on college admissions still kindles emotion and debate. After all, where a student attends college can have lifelong consequences.
Posted by courier at 01:11 PM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
James Logan's Interact Club, which collected a carload of coats for the One Warm Coat Project last week, now wants Logan students and staff to donate blankets to fill an urgent use in an East Oakland homeless shelter.
The club hopes to collect 200 blankets in two days, said advisor Julie Curson.
Posted by courier at 01:11 PM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Ericka Montes, Courier Staff Writer
Teachers must distinguish between students who are a little tardy and a lot tardy when they submit attendance records under a new attendance taking policy that the administration announced this month.
Posted by courier at 09:32 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
James Logan Art teacher Julie Curson will take an Explorer-load of donated coats to an East Oakland homeless shelter this afternoon.
Interact Club President Janie Tess Soriano and Art teacher Julie Curson lead the One Warm Coat donation drive that netted a carload of coats. Michelle Morimoto/Courier Photo
Posted by courier at 01:20 PM. Filed under: News
1 comment • Permalink
By Dana Llarena and Jessica Rosales, Courier Staff Writers
A rash of wallet thefts are plaguing students, and the James Logan administration has told students to be more vigilant to keep their valuable possessions safe.
Administrators say they've caught at least one of the culprits.
School officials warned students to watch out for thieves. Jessica Rosales/Courier Photo
Posted by courier at 08:39 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Jasmeen Banwait and Hassina Obaidy, Courier Staff Writers
Many students taking the school's buses to and from school this year are upset with its service, saying that it's too little and too late.
Due to schedule changes in the elementary and middle schools, buses pick up students earlier in the mornings and are a few minutes late after school.
Some students are frustrated by this year's bus service.
Posted by courier at 07:19 AM. Filed under: News
3 comments • Permalink
By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer,
Gertrude Gregorio and Gwen Estes were sworn in Tuesday night as members of the Board of Education - Mrs. Gregorio for her first term and Ms. Estes for her fourth - and the new Board elected Jenn Stringer as President and Kevin Harper as Clerk.
Posted by courier at 01:14 PM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Jessica Rosales, Courier Staff Writer
The Interact Club is organizing the One Warm Coat clothing drive this Thursday. Members of the club will go to students' third period classes to pick up any donated coats, sweaters, and other items of clothing. The donations will go to the East Oakland Emergency Shelter, which supports up to 150 families at any given time.
Julie Curson and Janie Tess Soriano pose with a few of the coats that were already brought in. Jessica Rosales/ Courier photo
Posted by courier at 12:43 PM. Filed under: News
4 comments • Permalink
By Ryan Blitstein
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In the market for a PC with all the bells and whistles?
Think again — you may be able to keep some of that cash in your pocket.
Posted by courier at 07:50 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Thomas Fitzgerald
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
PHILADELPHIA— A minor miracle occurred this month: The "God Gap" in American politics narrowed.
While the most religious voters in recent years have tended to favor Republicans, a slice of them voted Democratic in the Nov. 7 midterm congressional elections.
The shift has raised eyebrows among pollsters and strategists. After all, President Bush's campaign in 2004 perfected the art of rallying evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics with opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Posted by courier at 06:30 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is trying to bring Persian Gulf monarchies and other Sunni Muslim Arab autocrats into a new security alliance to contain Shiite Muslim Iran's growing influence and stem any spillover of violence from Iraq, according to senior U.S. officials, diplomats and private analysts.
Posted by courier at 09:41 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
By Eric Benderoff
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
CHICAGO — 'Tis the season to start receiving greeting cards, and a growing number of them, conveniently, will come via the Internet.
There's only one problem: Some of the e-mails saying that you have an e-greeting card from a friend or family member may instead be from a scam artist intent on obtaining your Social Security number, credit card data or even brokerage account information.
Posted by courier at 08:40 AM. Filed under: News
No comments • Permalink
