How Not To Fly (about)

Woman Sues Half-Sister, Claiming 'Chicken Soup' Tale Defamed Her

[Grand Rapids, MI] There are 31 titles in print, ranging from "Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul" to "Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul." "Chicken Soup for the Sister's Soul" was published in November.

In her short story, "The Seventh Sister," Blackmore writes about seeing Jibson at a family reunion for the first time in more than 30 years.... Other passages describe her as a "wild child" expelled from school for "smoking, drinking and chasing around town after curfew...."

"I tried to toe the line as the perfect daughter who would never disappoint," Blackmore wrote.

Lawsuit: Woman Claims Doctor Branded Her Uterus During Surgery

[Lexington, KY] In the lawsuit, Means claims that University of Kentucky graduate and Lexington doctor James M. Guiler, who performed the [hysterectomy], used a cauterizing instrument to intentionally brand 4-to 5-centimeter letters -- "UK" -- on Means' uterus....

[Her lawyer] said the video was "pretty graphic," and "clearly showed the incident." Guiler allegedly carved the initials on the uterus while Stephanie Means was still under anesthesia.... "They were worried about the surgery beforehand, they placed their faith in their doctor, and then they were disrespected..."

Binge Eating Grounds Kodiak Eagles After Fish-Gut Frenzy

[Kodiak, AK] At least eight eagles had to walk awhile Tuesday after bingeing on fish guts in the back of a seafood processor truck. Burdened down by an estimated 4 pounds of dinner each, their wings wet and oily from fish waste, the eagles could not fly out of the back of a Trident Seafoods Biodry truck. The vehicle contained seafood waste that will be reduced to fertilizer.

Genetic Copy Of Cat Not A Copycat After All

[College Station, TX] Rainbow the cat is a typical calico with splotches of brown, tan and gold on white. Cc, her clone, has a striped gray coat over white. Rainbow is reserved. Cc is curious and playful. Rainbow is chunky. Cc is sleek....

Last February, in the journal Nature, the A&M researchers published details of the project and DNA test results that showed cc was a clone. But people who hope cloning will resurrect a pet will be disappointed.

Backdrop Hides 'Made in China' Labels

[St Louis, MO] Bush delivered his remarks from a warehouse... that provided a visual image for his argument that his proposal carries economy-boosting benefits for small businesses. The audience was flanked on all sides by piles of cardboard boxes...

Each one of the hundreds of boxes had a piece of paper obscuring its "Made in China" label. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan laughingly attributed the clearly gargantuan paper-affixing effort to an "overzealous volunteer" on the president's advance team.

...the boxes on the [president's] backdrop were labeled, "Made in the USA."

Microsoft Loses Showdown In Houston

The people who run this city recently heard a familiar pitch from Microsoft: Sign up for a multiyear, $12 million software licensing plan or face an audit exposing the city's use of software it hadn't paid for.... The nation's fourth-largest city rebuffed the offer and has embraced an obscure competitor called SimDesk....

"It was general knowledge from the department heads on down that Microsoft was putting pressure on the city to try to stop SimDesk [adoption.]" Microsoft's data showed the public works department to be short 252 Office licenses. But the city's check revealed it had 135 more Office licenses than it needed. By Microsoft's count, another big department, the library, looked to be short 450 Office licenses. But Houston rounded up documentation covering all of those copies, including 111 donated by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' charity foundation.

Bush Administration Defends Its Position Against Affirmative Action Policy

The White House is defending its decision to oppose the University of Michigan's admissions policy, which takes race into account when picking applicants.... In a friend-of-the-court brief filed yesterday with the Supreme Court, attorneys for the Bush administration argued that admissions programs that give an edge to minority students are unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Stones Fan Would Not Fade Away Without A Final Concert

"She went up to the runway stage and asked one of the security guards if she could dump her husband's ashes there," said [Massachusetts's] FleetCenter spokesguy Jim Delaney. "The security staff told her that that probably wouldn't be the most appropriate thing to do.... About 10 minutes later, there she was tossing the ashes onto the runway..."

High Court Strikes Sex Law

Since 1833, it has been a crime in Georgia for unmarried people to engage in sex.... "Our opinion simply affirms that... the government may not reach into the bedroom of a private residence and criminalize the private, noncommercial, consensual sexual acts of two persons legally capable of consenting to those acts," Chief Justice Norman Fletcher wrote.

Canada Tires Of Blame For Terrorist Threat To United States

[Senator] Clinton had held a news conference Dec. 31 to say the five [terrorist suspects] were believed to have crossed the border into New York state with false documents.... But on Tuesday, the FBI said the information was false. [Canadian] Immigration Minister Denis Coderre urged Clinton to apologize.

Video: As Family Shrieks, Police Kill Dog

Police video released Wednesday showed a North Carolina family kneeling and handcuffed, who shrieked as officers killed their dog -- which appeared to be playfully wagging its tail -- with a shotgun during a traffic stop. The Smoak family was pulled over the evening of January 1 on Interstate 40 in eastern Tennessee by officers who mistakenly suspected them of a carjacking....

The Smoaks told CNN that as they knelt, handcuffed, they pleaded with officers to close the doors of their car so their two dogs would not escape, but the officers did not heed them. Pamela Smoak is seen on the tape looking up at an officer, telling him slowly, "That dog is not mean. He won't hurt you...."

An officer in a blue uniform [aimed] his shotgun at the dog and [fired] at its head, killing it immediately.

Lesbian Claimed As Mother To Second Cloned Baby

Clonaid vice president Thomas Kaenzig said the baby is a girl whose parents are two Dutch women. "It's a homosexual couple, a lesbian couple from Holland," he told Associated Press Radio, speaking from an undisclosed location in the Dominican Republic.