четверг, 15 марта 2012 г.

Alaska sled dogs in need get helping hand from Pets.com

ANCHORAGE - In a final act of corporate kindness, Pets.com tosseda lifeline to Alaska dog mushers faced with the harsh choice ofkilling their dogs or watching them starve. The San Francisco-based online retailer, which pulled the plug Nov. 7 after failing tofind a financial …

WEB SITES TEACH THE TEACHERS

Today's teachers and parents who help with homework or instruct children at home can take advantage of new and rapid advances in technology, including Web sites with resources for lesson planning.

DISCOVERYSCHOOL.COM (www.school.discovery.com) is a free online destination for teachers, parents and students. According to Kimberly Smith, director of Digital Products and Services, using this site for lesson planning is a unique experience. "DiscoverySchool.com has a library of more than 400 video clips teachers can preview and use," Smith says. "With teaching tools and lesson plan tools, teachers can create their own lesson plans and save them on the site. In their lesson plan, they …

UBS bank listed among Holder ex-clients

Newly released documents list Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder's past clients, including a major Swiss bank under U.S. investigation.

Holder's financial disclosure forms offer few surprises, though, and his work for Swiss bank UBS AG has been known. The bank is the subject of a Justice Department probe. Holder represented the firm in a separate discrimination case.

The government has already …

Judge postpones fire battalion chief exams

A federal judge Friday postponed today's Chicago Fire Departmentbattalion chief's exam so that about 35 black and Hispaniclieutenants can prepare for it.

Senior District Judge James B. Parsons told attorneys on bothsides of a class-action lawsuit that the exam must be rescheduledsometime in the next 60 days.

This will permit the minority lieutenants, all of whom passedthe captain's test but have not been …

среда, 14 марта 2012 г.

Pathologist: Drug Combo Killed Smith Son

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son died from a lethal combination of methadone and two antidepressant drugs, a U.S.-based pathologist who conducted a private autopsy said Wednesday.

Toxicology tests showed Daniel Smith had methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro in his system when he died Sept. 10 in a hospital room in the Bahamas where his former Playboy playmate mother was recuperating from giving birth to a daughter, according to Cyril Wecht.

"The fact that we have these drugs and the levels of the drugs overwhelmingly and most logically point to this being a tragic, accidental, drug-related death," Wecht told The Associated Press from his home in the …

Jury begins deliberations in Sears Tower terror plot case

Jurors began deliberations Monday on the fate of seven men charged with conspiring to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and blow up FBI offices in an attempt to start an anti-government insurrection.

The U.S. charges that 33-year-old Narseal Batiste led a homegrown terrorist cell hoping to get help from a man claiming to be an al-Qaida operative _ in reality an FBI informant.

"This is the fanatic, ladies and gentlemen, and the soldiers who follow his word," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie.

Batiste said he was only trying to cheat the informant out of money, and defense attorneys have said little evidence ties the six other …

No extra days off for rotation's top 3

The Cubs will bring Carlos Zambrano back Saturday for his second start of the season, one day ahead of his natural slot in the rotation -- a move that assures Zambrano a start in next week's home series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Manager Lou Piniella said he wants to keep his top three starters -- Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells -- on every-fifth-day schedules despite days off in each of the first two weeks of the season. All three are lined up for Milwaukee.

That means left-hander Tom Gorzelanny's season debut will get pushed to Sunday, and tonight's starter, Carlos Silva, will get at least a week between his first and second starts.

It also puts a …