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The 2006 MTV Video Music Awards are tonight at 8 PM eastern. Look forward to host Jack Black, an endless parade of shameless self-congratulations and drunken F-bombs, and maybe some cretins trying to out-gross past appearances. Scheduled performances: Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera. Mayor Bloomberg announced that Shakira will win (no, I'm not kidding). To commemorate the show's return to New York City, MTV has produced VMANYC2006, which will be "the site that never sleeps," with a map showing favorite celebrity places in NY.

Indiana Canning Plant Baffled By Illinois Woman'sEATON, Ind. -- The manager of an Indiana canning plant said Monday that he did not know how it could have produced a can of pinto beans with a bird's head inside as claimed by an Illinois woman. Chicago-based La Preferida Inc. announced a voluntary recall on Friday of a limited number of its cans as it investigated how the head ended up in the 15-ounce can. David Morrow, general manager of Eaton-based Meridian Foods, said he was eager for answers about the discovery last week by a DeKalb woman who reported buying the...

CHICAGO - A northern Illinois resident reported finding a bird’s head in a can of pinto beans, prompting a Chicago-based food company to announce a voluntary recall on Friday.. La Preferida Inc. said in a statement that it was recalling a limited number of its cans as a precaution. The company says the beans were canned by New Meridian Inc. in Eaton, Ind. “There are still many unanswered questions, but we have decided to err on the side of safety,” said David Brand, La Preferida’s director of quality assurance. The company is investigating to determine how the bird head got...

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office initially labeled the attack on Professor Paul Mirecki a hate crime. But the office removed the title today, calling the labeling a mistake. Lt. Kari Wempe said that the error occurred Monday morning when the attack was reported. Officers wrongly transmitted the information over the police radio, she said. It is not classified as an aggravated battery. Capt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office said the office met with Mirecki yesterday and told him to give them a call if anything happened on campus. The safety office is not involved in the investigation...

Key facts about the reported attack remained unclear Tuesday, including exactly where it happened. A report released by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the location was “unknown” and listed it as south of 31st Street on either East 1400 Road or East 1500 Road. Louisiana Street turns into East 1400 Road outside the city limits. Haskell Avenue becomes East 1500 Road. Also, there was conflicting information about whether Mirecki reported it at the scene or at the hospital. In an interview Monday with the Journal-World, he said he called police from the side of the road, but sheriff’s officials...

Mirecki hospitalized after beating By Ron Knox, Eric Weslander (Contact) Originally published 05:37 p.m., December 5, 2005 Updated 06:31 p.m., December 5, 2005 Douglas County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the reported beating of a Kansas University professor who gained recent notoriety for his Internet tirades against Christian fundamentalists. Kansas University religious studies professor Paul Mirecki reported he was beaten by two men about 6:40 a.m. today on a roadside in rural Douglas County. In a series of interviews late this afternoon, Mirecki said the men who beat him were making references to the controversy that has propelled him into the...

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A college professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives said he was beaten by two men along a rural road early Monday. University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said the men referred to the class when they beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. "I didn't know them," Mirecki said of his assailants, "but I'm sure they knew me." Messages left by the Associated Press on Mirecki's cell phone were not immediately returned....