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A veteran paramedic struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as he described finding the shrunken, emaciated body of 18-month-old James Fredrickson lying on the floor of the Streamwood condominium where the child starved to death. "It looked like somebody had taken tissue paper and put it over a skeleton," said Streamwood Fire Department paramedic Steve Beach, recalling how malnourished the boy appeared when rescue workers entered the family's home on Dec. 14, 2001, after receiving a 911 call. Beach's emotional testimony came as the murder trial of James' mother, 27-year-old Amanda Fredrickson, opened at the Cook County Courthouse in Rolling...

"Too Late To Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life," by Harriet McBryde Johnson. About two years ago, Harriet Johnson appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. If you saw her portrait, you probably haven't forgotten it. A thin woman in a wheelchair leans forward, a purple shawl draping one shoulder. Johnson describes it this way in her new memoir: "The portrait has been described as beautifully disturbing, and most nondisabled people seem to see it that way. I'd prefer to call it disturbingly beautiful, but I'll take it the other way around if I must."...

MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA-Novosti) - According to Nikolai Bordyuzha, the secretary general of the Collective Security Council Organization (CSTO) including Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), CSTO leaders had the necessary levers to influence the situation in Kyrgyzstan ahead of the revolution, Izvestia reported. Bordyuzha personally offered ousted President Askar Akayev consultations with CSTO representatives to prevent pillage and lawlessness in the country. The CSTO had no plans to keep Akayev in power to push a revolution. However, Akayev said that the situation was still within the norm and thought it premature to engage the CSTO. "We can see...

9. Her beard is heavier than yours. 8. You're the first person she's dated who isn't an extended family members. 5. She kind of resembles Janet Reno... without makeup.

MIDDLEBURY -- Most people probably don't know what the word necromancy means, let alone how to spell it. But that's the word that's sending home-schooled eighth-grader Nicholas Marcucci to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., for the second year in row. For the record, as television personality John Edwards probably knows, necromancy means to claim to tell the future through alleged communication with the dead. Marcucci, 14, is headed to the 78th Scripps bee after winning, also for the second year in a row, the New Haven Register Spelling Bee. This being the last year he can compete...

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) 3.29.05, 9:40a -- Arraignment is set today for a security guard suspected of stealing designer duds while working at a Manhattan Beach television studio. Police say Debra Michelle Oliver stole more than $63,000 worth of clothes and purses worn in "The Practice," "Ally McBeal" and "Boston Legal." Oliver worked the midnight shift at Raleigh Studios where shows produced by David E. Kelly were being filmed. Studio workers suspected Oliver of stealing from the wardrobe room and reported to police. They served a search warrant at her Long Beach home last week and found the goods. She...

San Francisco would become the first city in the nation to charge drivers just for driving in its chronically congested downtown under a sure-to-be controversial proposal being aired today. Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, chair of the San Francisco Transportation Authority, will ask the agency to study a downtown toll zone -- whereby drivers would need to purchase a daily pass to drive in The City's most congested streets -- as a potential solution to the Municipal Transportation Agency's woeful budget problems. "The key issue here is if we can kill three birds with one stone -- relieve congestion, clean up the...

 Driving in congested downtown Boston would cost commuters more than time under a City Council plan that would use cameras to snap license plates and assess tolls.      Councilor Paul Scapicchio wants to create a downtown toll zone where cars would be electronically charged for passing through Boston's busiest thoroughfares in neighborhoods such as the North End, Chinatown, and Charlestown. ``It's meant to alleviate congestion on downtown streets,'' said Joseph Arangio, an aide to Scapicchio, who will file an order today calling for hearings on the proposal.      Arangio said it would also combat pollution, encourage use of public transportation, and give the...

A Tuesday L.A. Times article that appears replete with errors, omissions and unnamed sources has left Chico State University officials cringing. The 1,450-word, in-depth piece on Chico's Greek system was a huge disappointment, said university President Paul Zingg Tuesday afternoon. "I thought it was a poor piece of writing and research," he said of the article that appeared on the front of the California section of the newspaper. Zingg is updated on articles related to Chico State, but was blindsided by the story and found it particularly odd that he was quoted. That's because he was never contacted by its...

Scientists identify key factor in switch from birds to humans British scientists have solved a secret of an avian flu virus which killed up to 40 million people worldwide 86 years ago. They now know more about how a disease of birds switched to humans to trigger the most lethal outbreak in history. A team from the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, north London, used pathological samples taken from victims of the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 to recreate the structure of a haemagglutinin protein vital in the leap between species. "This tells us more about the...

Activists in Mongolia are calling for fresh elections and have demanded an end to official corruption. They held protests outside parliament in the capital Ulan Bator on Friday, and say they have more planned. The action appears to have been inspired by the situation in nearby Kyrgyzstan, where the government has been ousted by a popular uprising. Mongolian Prime Minister Tsakhilganiin Elbegdorj has appeared on national television to appeal for calm. One protester said another demonstration was planned for 7 April, the day parliament is due to open its Spring session. "We will gather more people and we will hold...

PORTLAND -- FBI agents used provisions of the USA Patriot Act during their investigation last year of a Portland attorney who was wrongly jailed for two weeks on suspicion of involvement in the Madrid train bombings, according to a Justice Department letter. The Patriot Act allows for covert searches of homes, without conventional search warrants. Brandon Mayfield (pictured) was jailed last May after his fingerprint was incorrectly matched to one found on a bag of detonators near the scene of the Madrid attack, which killed 191 people. He was released after the FBI admitted its mistake....... Michael Greenberger, a former...

The Jewish property left in Poland on the eve of World War II is today worth more than $30 billion, according to a comprehensive report drawn up at the request of the Israeli government. The estimate does not include communal buildings and facilities held by the various Jewish communities in different parts of Poland. The report was drawn up by experts from the government, the business sector and non-profit and non-governmental organizations. Some 10 percent of Poland's population was Jewish before the Holocaust. The report relates not only to the value of the property but also to its legal status,...

The budget showdown this month, in which fiscal hawks forced House GOP leaders to support an anti-spending measure, made Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) a contender for Speaker, Capitol Hill insiders say. Pence’s chances of becoming the next Speaker are a long shot, but the fact that some are mentioning his name suggest that Pence’s political star is on the rise. A senior House Republican aide said Pence, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) chairman who is in his third term in Congress, “is a guy who knows how to maximize media exposure. His abilities [at the RSC] clearly have strengthened his...

CSPAN's ongoing interviews with wounded IRAQ war soldiers is outstanding. Today, a young Special Forces soldier, Michael Oreskovic, just finished a very long interview. All the while, almost his entire left arm is plastic and motorized. This 23 year old man is absolutely nailing it on the head about why naked soldiers dragged around in Somalia, and Clinton then having us leave, made the USA look like 'wusses'. It was the turning point that made him join the military. Folks this fellow made the US Army look so good it was unreal. Furthermore, and more to the point, he was...

College classes taught mostly by liberals, study confirms March 30, 2005 UPDA0330 • Latest: College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says. • Within those ivy-covered halls: By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms: 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identified themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans. The...

1981 March 30 President Reagan Shot John Hinkley shoots President Ronald Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. just after the President had addressed the Building and Construction Workers Union of the AFL-CIO. Hinkley was armed with a .22 revolver with exploding bullets and was only ten feet away from Reagan when he began shooting. Fortunately, he was a poor shot and most of the bullets did not explode as they were supposed to. Hinkley's first shot hit press secretary James Brady and other shots wounded a police officer and a Secret Service agent. The final shot hit Reagan's...

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up' Tim Radford, science editor Wednesday March 30, 2005 The Guardian The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure. The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being...

Montgomery County schools require a doctor's note for children to use sunscreen. Howard County requires a note from parents, and the lotion must be stored in the nurse's office. Anne Arundel students, by contrast, may carry and apply sunscreen with impunity. A bill pending in the Maryland legislature, however, would require school health officers to make sure students are allowed to wear sunscreen when they go outdoors on sunny days, a right that is not universally recognized in schools, according to cancer prevention advocates. ...Snip....Four school systems require a doctor's order for students to apply sunscreen. Eleven require at least...

Yes, it appears that the current cycle of global cooling is making the Earth much less hot than it should be. Read it here.