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PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A pit bull enthusiast who sold videos of dogfights and dogs attacking a pig became the first person on Thursday to be convicted under a federal law banning depictions of cruelty to animals, prosecutors said. Robert Stevens, 64, of Pittsville, Virginia, was found guilty in a Pittsburgh court of selling three videos a jury decided violated the ban on depicting the intentional maiming, mutilation or torture of animals or any wounding or killing. Under the law, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999, prosecutors must also prove such videos have no serious educational, historical or scientific value....

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amid a chorus of protests from child-adoption advocates and sneers from critics, the general reaction of viewers to the controversial Fox special "Who's Your Daddy?" seemed to be "Who Cares?" The tear-soaked 90-minute special, featuring an attractive young woman picking her biological father from a lineup filled out with impostors, proved to be a ratings flop, according to preliminary figures on Tuesday from Nielsen Media Research. The Fox show drew a mere 6.3 million viewers, ranking fourth in its Monday night time slot against competing broadcasts on CBS, ABC and NBC. "Daddy" also trailed its Big...

Rohnert Park -- Police have identified a woman who was apparently wearing a live boa constrictor as a fashion accessory when she was killed in a single-car crash early New Year's Day. Rohnert Park police Sgt. Art Sweeney said Margaret Ann Walters, 29, of Cotati, died when her Saab slammed broadside into a grove of redwood trees in the center divide of the Rohnert Park Expressway near Rancho Verde Mobile Home Park. Sweeney said an open container of alcohol was found in the vehicle and toxicology tests to determine if Walters was intoxicated are pending. He said Walters was returning...

Milwaukee, Wis. (12/30/2004) - 15-year-old Jeanna Giese garnered worldwide media attention in November when doctors at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin announced the teen had cleared the rabies virus from her system and was on the road to recovery, making her the first person in the world to survive the disease without receiving a vaccination after infection. The Fond du Lac, Wis., teen's journey will enter the final phase Saturday, Jan. 1, when she is discharged from Children's Hospital and returns home for the first time since Oct. 16. In recent weeks, Jeanna has worked to regain weight, strength and coordination....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Year's Eve revelers will be able to celebrate a little longer this year thanks to a resealable champagne bottle that keeps sparkling wine bubbling for days. Andre Champagne Cellars is introducing a new improved screwcap bottle for champagne that allows drinkers to re-cork the bottle, which will allow them to have just one glass and keep the rest fresh. The Andre cap twists on and off a set of grooves on the neck of the bottle. The closely held Andre test marketed the new bottles on its $4 Andre champagne in November 2003 and is...

Is it political payback or a case of bah-humbug? Or an example of a guy who refuses to follow the rules? Ron Beilke, who is running for City Council in Pico Rivera, says he is being unfairly targeted by the city, which has asked him to remove six, 6-foot-tall Christmas trees from the roof of his restaurant, a Weinerschnitzel on Rosemead Boulevard. "It's definitely the Grinch that stole Christmas," he said. He said he received a letter this week from city prosecutor William Holt. The letter said Beilke failed to get a permit from the city to put up his...

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A routine traffic stop turned into a drug bust when Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers found 610 pounds of marijuana stashed in four coffins.Authorities say Timothy Hynd and Robert Dean Harper were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute before being released on Monday.The arrest occurred on Sunday, highway patrol spokesman Lt. Brandon Kopepasah said, after troopers stopped a truck traveling slightly above the speed limit near the rural city of Salisaw.The men consented to a search, and trained dogs "hit" on the cargo section of the truck, he said."They unloaded 22 caskets," Kopepasah said....

BANGOR - An Old Town man filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court Monday alleging that Dunkin' Donuts in Old Town refused him service because of his race. Anthony Watkins, 51, is seeking $50,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages from Lovley Development Inc., the Newport firm that owns the Old Town Dunkin' Donuts franchise. He also is seeking a jury trial and a $10,000 fine under the Maine Civil Rights Act. Greg Lovley, owner of the coffee shop, said Tuesday that he had not received a copy of the lawsuit. He said that Watkins had not been...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nurses get top marks when it comes to honesty and ethics, and car salesmen are the least trusted people, according to Gallup's annual U.S. survey of professions released on Tuesday.Nurses were given a "very high" or "high rating" by 79 percent of those surveyed nationwide in telephone interviews with 1,015 adults, aged 18 or older, conducted Nov. 19-21.Grade school teachers were next highest on the chart of 21 professions at 73 percent, one point higher than pharmacists and military officers.Car salesmen brought up the rear with only 9 percent rating their honesty and ethics as high....

PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- Show-and-tell became more exciting than usual Thursday, when a first-grade student who wanted to share his family's vacation souvenir with his classmates brought a hand grenade to the Eastlake School, officials said. When he showed his teacher what he had, she alerted the school's principal, who then evacuated the school for 30 minutes. Parsippany police and other emergency personnel responded along with the Morris County Sheriff's bomb squad. The grenade was soon determined to be inert and was seized for disposal. The boy's parents had told him not to bring the grenade to school, but he defied...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The computer term "master/slave," which was banned as racially offensive by a Los Angeles County purchasing department, was named the most politically incorrect term of the year on Thursday.Among other terms on the top 10 list of politically charged words and phrases, issued by the word usage group Global Language Monitor, were "non-same sex marriage" to describe heterosexual unions, "waitron" for waiter or waitress and "higher being" for God, a term some people found too religious."We found 'master/slave' to be the most egregious example of political correctness in 2004," said Paul JJ Payack, president of The...

West Middle School administrator says he is on leave for taking students' ADD drugs Thursday, December 2, 2004 BY CATHERINE O'DONNELL News Staff Reporter An assistant principal at West Middle School in Ypsilanti was placed on paid leave Wednesday while authorities investigate allegations that could lead to criminal charges, school officials said. Marcus Burlingame, 33, of Ypsilanti Township, who has worked for the Ypsilanti district seven years, said Wednesday night that he is on leave for taking attention deficit disorder drugs intended for students at the school. In an interview at his home, he apologized and said he plans to...

San Francisco's Commission on the Environment delayed Tuesday a decision on a groundbreaking proposal to levy a 17-cent fee on grocery bags provided to shoppers in the city, saying the plan needed more time to be strengthened and improved. On a 4-3 vote, the commission continued the issue to its Jan. 25 meeting. The commission is weighing whether to urge Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors to pass the bag tax into law, which would be the first of its kind in the United States. The fee, which would be charged against grocery stores and ultimately passed on...

An unrepentant Sly explained why he called the nominee to be secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, an "Aunt Jemima" and outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell an "Uncle Tom" on the radio Wednesday. Sly, the on-air name for John Sylvester, told WTDY-AM (1670) morning show listeners that Rice, who is black, bought her way into the White House with obedience to President Bush."I'm not apologizing for what I said," Sylvester said Thursday in an interview. "I stand by it."I was aiming that directly at a black person that is letting himself (and herself) be used by an administration that has...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. soldiers, stormed one of the major Sunni Muslim mosques in Baghdad after Friday prayers, opening fire and killing at least three people, witnesses said. Another raid overnight at a hospital allegedly used by insurgents in Mosul led to three arrests, the military said. About 40 people were arrested at the Abu Hanifa mosque in the capital's northwestern Azamiyah neighborhood, according to the witnesses, who were members of the congregation. Another five people were wounded. It appeared the raid at Abu Hanifa mosque, long associated with anti-American activity, was part of the...

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) - The Chicago Bears gave scarce flu vaccines to two players who have asthmatic conditions that placed them at high risk of developing influenza, the team said Friday. Healthy players who asked whether they should receive the vaccinations were told no, Bears spokesman Scott Hagel said. "The players that received the shots were the ones that were in the high risk category," Hagel said. "Nothing was offered categorically across our players. This is part of our standard procedure every year." The team returned its unused flu vaccine to the distributor, Hagel said. "We received our order...

In an upstairs room at the U of M's Coffman Union, plans for a counterrevolution are being hatched. Tom Meyer, a 19-year-old neuroscience student, has an idea for a John Kerry Olympics. "It would be a good way to piss people off and get our name out there," he says. Meyer is tall and boxy, and wears a T-shirt with a cartoon elephant flashing a middle digit. The words, "Kerry this, Hippie! This is Bush-Cheney Country, Biiiaaatch!" are inscribed in chunky lettering across the front. The Kerry Olympics, to be held sometime soon on campus, consist of participants running a...

Water moccasins can be tricky. Shards of glass may pierce his waders. Stones are murder on the knees. And it's no picnic diving through inky, chemical-clouded water with people taking aim at you. But that's not the worst part of the job. "It's the turtles -- they'll take your finger right off," says Michael Aux Tinee, Golf Ball Diver. Clad in waist-high waders, a 70-pound feedbag girdling his waist and his ball-retrieving invention, "Mr. Lucky," in hand, Aux Tinee wastes little time before plunging into one of the many amoeba-shape ponds that dot this Illinois course. "I can't tell you...

A Cook County judge who twice used the "F" word in court last week will be removed from the bench -- at least for now -- and has agreed to take anger management counseling. Announcing his decision to pull Judge Stanley J. Sacks from hearing cases, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans called the judge's profanity-laced outburst "an egregious lapse of decorum and dignity." "In reading the court transcript, I was exceedingly troubled by Judge Sacks' lack of respect for the high office which he holds and for those individuals present for the proceedings," Evans said in a written statement. "Judges,...