LOCAL Toyota Exceeds GM in Sales

from WDIV Detroit TV 4


General Motors, after more than 75 years as the No. 1 automaker in the U.S. and the world, has been surpassed by Toyota. In the first quarter, Toyota sold 2.35 million vehicles, while GM sold 2.26 million.

This is something analysts had predicted but weren't expecting these changes until later on in the year -- not in the first quarter. Toyota has had the No. 1 selling car for the last several years in the Toyota Camry. And Toyota has built a reputation for quality and for building better fuel efficient vehicles.

GM announced a restructuring plan in November of 2005 that called for closing 12 plants by 2008, slashing its workforce, reducing capacity and cutting costs.

LOCAL HEADLINE STORY

Northwest Pilot on Cocaine
from CNN

An off-duty Northwest Airlines pilot was suspected of driving under the influence of cocaine when he headed the wrong way on an interstate to avoid the U.S.-Canada border and led deputies on a chase. Walter L. Dinalko, a veteran pilot of 20 years, had flown to Detroit Metropolitan Airport Saturday afternoon and then rented a Hummer that he drove about 70 miles to Port Huron.

Dinalko turned around three times on the Blue Water Bridge, apparently changing his mind about heading into Sarnia, Ontario. He then drove on the wrong side of the bridge and Interstate 94. U.S. Customs agents alerted sheriff's deputies, who closed down the expressway and gave chase.

Deputies laid down stop sticks, which flattened the Hummer's tires. Dinalko stopped but refused to surrender to deputies.

Dinalko, 50, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was taken to a hospital for a drug test before he was taken to jail. A user's quantity of a substance suspected to be cocaine was found in the vehicle, including one opened package and one sealed package. Toxicology tests on a sample of the pilot's blood were pending.

Dinalko was arraigned Sunday on charges of cocaine possession, eluding police, resisting officers and operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs. He was released Sunday after posting $10,000 bond.

HEADLINE STORY

Cell Phones May Be Wiping Out Bees

from The Independent (UK)

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other electronics is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast. CCD has since spread throughout Europe.

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left". No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and genetically engineered crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines. Now a limited study has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby.

HEADLINE STORY

Girl Had Suspected 'Boyfriend' That Was a Woman
from ABC News

A 14-year-old girl authorities allege was sexually abused by a 30-year-old woman who posed as a teenage boy said she didn't know about the ruse but eventually suspected it. Lorelei Corpuz posed as a 17-year-old orphan to gain the trust of the girl's family, then beat and molested her. She was charged this week with child rape and child molestation and was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Corpuz, who called herself Mark, met the girl at a mall and moved in with her. It started out as a regular teenage girlfriend-boyfriend thing, like holding hands, hugging, kissing, but over time it developed into something sexual. The suspect, however, never let victim see her private parts and victim always thought that suspect was male until a police officer informed her otherwise.

Corpuz was found out after an officer checked the suspect's vehicle, parked at an Everett gas station, to see whether it was stolen. The officer arrested Corpuz after the check pulled up an outstanding traffic warrant under an alias, Mark Villanueva.

Authorities allege Corpuz had sex with the girl, beat her and bit her twice on the back, leaving a scar. Snohomish County prosecutors have filed charges in District Court against Corpuz, but expected to refile them in Superior Court.