Wire
Celebrities
NEW YORK (AP) — Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Pete Wentz are the proud parents of a baby boy, and they’re celebrating with some Bronx cheer. Their representative says the pop and rock star couple have named their son Bronx Mowgli. The baby, born Thursday night, weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Bronx is the first child for Simpson-Wentz, best known for the hit “Pieces of Me,” and Wentz, bassist for the platinum rock band Fall Out Boy. They were married...
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Heloise
Dear Readers: The holidays are almost here, which means it is time to think about making a reservation if you will be going out of town and needing to board your pet. Here are some doggone good hints to help you select a boarding facility. In an emergency, will there be a vet on call? Is written proof of vaccination and shot records required of all boarders? Visit in the morning to see the care the staff gives boarders when it is feeding...
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Simpson-Wentz and boyfriend have a boy
NEW YORK (AP) — Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Pete Wentz are the proud parents of a baby boy, and they’re celebrating with some Bronx cheer — this one is a good one. Their representative says the pop and rock star couple have named their son Bronx Mowgli. The baby, born Thursday night, weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Bronx is the first child for Simpson-Wentz, best known for the hit “Pieces of Me,” and Wentz, bassist for the platinum rock band Fal...
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SEK man finds passion helping disabled
PITTSBURG (AP) — If you want to meet a man happy in his work, say hello to Greg Jones of Parsons. “I have the best job in the world,” said Jones, director of advocacy for SKIL (Southeast Kansas Independent Living). “No two days are the same.” Originally from South Dakota, he has been in southeast Kansas for about 16 years. “I had a ladyfriend, and I told her I would move anywhere for her except southeast Kansas,” Jones said. “So here I am.” I...
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Ask Amy
Dear Amy: I have a daughter who is 18 and started college this year. She has started drinking and occasionally doing drugs, but she thinks she has everything under control. She believes it is possible to balance these activities along with studying. Being a typical teenager, she does not take her parents’ advice favorably. How can we talk to her about these things? What kind of logic can we use while talking to her? She is doing well in h...
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Woman explores and documents graveyards
OVERLAND PARK (AP) — Some people knit. Some people bowl. Linda K. Lewis hangs out with the dead. Lewis has spent five years exploring and documenting all of Johnson County’s cemeteries, from Antioch Pioneer Cemetery in Merriam — where many of the town’s settlers rest — to one tiny, forgotten burial ground on private property. Ever noticed the cemetery in the Ranch Mart shopping area parking lot in Leawood? Lewis has. She has been there. ...
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Oddities
Robber apologizes during Vt. general store holdup WEST DANVILLE, Vt. (AP) — A thief who robbed a general store apologized to the owner and left the singles behind so workers on the next shift would have something in the till. The knife-wielding man made off with an undetermined amount of money from Joe’s Pond Country Store on Wednesday after threatening owner Jeff Downs. “I’m very sorry I have do this,” he told Downs. No arrests have bee...
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How to imbibe when kids are around
Melissa Dutton For The Associated Press If you’re planning on having a few cocktails at family gatherings this holiday season, experts say you should keep in mind that children may be watching. “The main message is, if people drink, they should drink responsibly,” said Vivian B. Faden, deputy director of the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Md. “It’s n...
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High Fives
Television 1. “60 Minutes” 2. “NBC Sunday Night Football: Dallas at Washington” 3. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” 4. “NCIS” 5. “Dancing with the Stars” Film 1. “Quantum of Solace” 2. “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” 3. “Role Models” 4. “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” 5. “Changeling” Hot Five 1. “Live Your Life,” T.I. feat. Rihanna 2. “Whatever You Like,” T.I. 3. “If I Were a Boy,” Beyonce 4. “Hot n Cold,” Katy Perry 5...
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Oddities
Fla. man accused of hurling sandwich at girlfriend PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man is accused of tossing a sandwich at his girlfriend as they cruised down an interstate, knocking off her glasses and nearly causing her to lose control of the car. Police say 19-year-old Emmanuelle Rodriguez is charged with domestic battery for Friday’s sandwich-tossing incident. According to police, Rodriguez became angry during an argument as she ...
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Supreme Court referees religious monument dispute
Mark Sherman Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court warily confronted a case last week that mixes limits on free speech with issues of church-state separation. The justices engaged in lively arguments over a small religious group’s efforts to place a monument in a public park that already is home to a Ten Commandments display. The court seemed reluctant to accept the arguments put forth by the religious group known a...
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Commercial loan losses hurting home insurers
Some insurers trying to qualify for some of the bailout money Marcy Gordon AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A new wave of loan defaults, this time tied to commercial mortgages, is starting to hit insurance companies and may be contributing to the stock market’s woes. Industry players say the insurers’ predicament is being worsened by a rule requiring that mortgage assets be valued at current market prices — a mandate that federa...
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Celebrities
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Garner has won a restraining order from a man she says has been stalking her for years. An attorney for Garner appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday morning and won three years of protection for Garner, husband Ben Affleck and their daughter, Violet. As first reported by TMZ, Garner petitioned for protection earlier this month from 36-year-old Steven R. Burky, who she says has been harassing her since 200...
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Man sentenced in ‘Precious Doe’ killing
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man convicted of killing and beheading a 3-year-old girl known as “Precious Doe” was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole. Harrell Johnson was convicted last month of first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and abuse of a child in the 2001 slaying of Erica Green. Life without parole was the only possible sentence that Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence could hand down. Prose...
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Kansas legislators face tough budget choices
Carl Manning Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — Legislators who will be writing the state budget next year are beginning to see just how much of a challenge they face as special interest groups begin pushing for more money. Members of the Legislative Budget Committee and the Joint Committee on Health Policy Oversight heard Thursday from various agencies about what they face. Advocates for the disabled and elderly urged lawmakers during...
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World Briefs
Familiar Democrats fill out fledgling candidate, Daschle to be Obama’s health secretary WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts. Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a well-known Washington personality, seemed more likely than ever to be his sec...
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Hearing on Tiller abortion probe over for now
Roxana Hegeman Associated Press Writer WICHITA (AP) — Dr. George Tiller’s pretrial hearing regarding alleged prosecutorial misconduct abruptly was continued Thursday until next year, winding up four days of tedious testimony without much, if any, word from the major players. The hearing was scheduled to resume Jan. 6, with former Attorney General Phill Kline expected to return to the stand. Kline, who initiated the investigation of the Wichit...
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Army sets date for its first execution since 1961
John Milburn Associated Press Writer TOPEKA (AP) — The Army has set a date for its first execution in nearly 50 years. The military said Thursday that former North Carolina soldier Ronald A. Gray is to be executed Dec. 10 at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. He was convicted of multiple rapes and murders. President Bush approved Gray’s execution in July, and a month later Army Secretary Pete Geren set the execution date and...
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Rhode Island woman loses appeal in Nazi-era art lawsuit Wednesday
Ray Henry Associated Press Writer PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A painting forcibly auctioned by Germany’s Nazi government should remain with the estate of a late Jewish art dealer who lost it when his gallery was liquidated, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston blocks an attempt by German baroness Maria-Luise Bissonnette to recoup the painting “Girl from the Sabine Mountains,” w...
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Fans flock to ‘Twilight’premiere in LA
Derrik J. Lang AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hundreds of shrieking fans — mostly teenage girls — lined the streets outside the Mann Village and Bruin Theatres on Monday for a chance to peek at the stars attending the Los Angeles premiere of “Twilight.” Some enthusiasts of the popular vampire literary series-turned-movie camped out overnight, while many arrived at dawn to secure a place in line. “I’m on basic motor functions r...
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