Ford Posts Record Loss

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Ford Motor Co. posted a $12.7 billion loss in 2006, the largest annual loss in the automaker's 103-year history. The company lost $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter alone due to slumping sales and huge restructuring costs. It lost just less than $7 billion in the first three quarters of the year.

The annual loss surpassed the previous record annual net loss of $7.39 billion in 1992. The Dearborn-based automaker expects continued losses for the remainder of the year.

29 Year-old Sex Offender Posed as 7th Grader, Twice

from CNN

A convicted sex offender attended at least two Arizona middle schools, sat through seventh-grade courses and turned in homework as he moved around the state pretending to be 12 years old. Authorities in Yavapai County have accused Neil Havens Rodreick II, who is really 29, of assaulting a girl. They are not releasing details. Rodreick was arrested last week after spending a day at the Mingus Springs Charter School in Chino Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix.

School officials there called police after they checked what they called a phony birth certificate and other admissions documents. He has been charged with misdemeanor assault, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit forgery, failing to register as a sex offender, and possession of a forgery device. He remains in the Yavapai County jail.

GM Recalls 98,000 Cars

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

General Motors Corp. is recalling about 100,000 Chevrolet Cobalt small sedans to upgrade head impact protection. The recall affects 98,707 vehicles from the 2005-2006 model years that are not equipped with optional roof-mounted side impact air bags. The issue was discovered during compliance testing.

There have been no injuries related to the recall and the head impact protection would only be an issue for motorists not wearing a seat belt. Belted motorists would not be affected. To correct the defect dealers will install energy absorbing plastic to the area. Owners can contact Chevrolet at 800-630-2438.

Rare Primitive Shark Captured on Film

from the Daily Mail (UK)

A species of shark rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is 2,000 ft or more under the sea was captured on film by staff at a Japanese marine park this week. A marine park just south of Tokyo was alerted by a fisherman who spotted an odd-looking eel-like creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth. Park staff caught the 5 ft long creature, which they identified as a female frilled shark, sometimes referred to as a "living fossil" because it is a primitive species that has changed little since prehistoric times.

Anna Nicole Paternity Test Blocked

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

The judge in Anna Nicole Smith's baby dispute has temporarily blocked an order forcing her daughter to undergo paternity testing. A Tuesday deadline had been set for the test sought by Larry Birkhead, who has claimed that he's the father of Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, who was born Sept. 7 in the Bahamas.

But the former Playboy playmate's attorney questioned the legality of the test, and said Bahamas authorities needed to grant work permits before an American doctor could conduct the test. The judge granted a stay pending a February 7 hearing.

Smith's longtime personal lawyer, Howard K. Stern, maintains he is the baby's father.

Pfizer to Cut 2,400 Michigan Jobs

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Pfizer Chairman and CEO Jeffery B. Kindler announced plans to make major cuts to improve the company's future. Pfizer Inc. will close its human health research and development facilities in Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, affecting about 2,400 jobs. The Ann Arbor facility has about 2,100 employees. Also affected are approximately 250 workers in downtown Kalamazoo and another 60 in western Wayne County's Plymouth Township.

But the world's largest drugmaker will continue to maintain manufacturing and animal-health research operations in the Kalamazoo area, preserving about 3,800 jobs. Pfizer announced in March 2005 that it was closing a Holland manufacturing plant with 328 employees. About 60 people continue to work at the facility as it is being decommissioned.

New York-based Pfizer will also close manufacturing plants in New York and Nebraska as part of a plan to cut costs by up to $2 billion per year. About 10,000 jobs will be lost total. The restructuring is part of an effort by Pfizer to cut costs by up to $2 billion a year amid fierce competition from generic drugs.

Customer Seizes Bank Computers in UK Collections Case

from the Evening Standard (London)

A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine. When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund more than $6,700 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs.

Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash. The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell. Only when the manager gave an undertaking that the debt would be paid did the bailiffs leave.

The move, which will raise a cheer from millions of other bank customers, is part of a consumer fightback against bank charges, which net an estimated $9 billion every year in the UK. Every time a current account customer goes overdrawn by as little as $2 most banks will charge around $55, even though the administration cost is only about $9. Then every cheque, direct debit, or card transaction that goes through or is bounced incurs another charge of up to $75.

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether banks have implemented these charges unlawfully.

NAIAS 2007 Editor's Choice

Saab Aero X Concept Car

As the current Saab ad campaign tells us, the Swedish car maker got its start designing fighter jets for the Swedish military and with the Aero X concept, Saab's "born from jets" tagline is finally true. Nowhere is the jet influence more prevalent than in the cockpit of the Aero X concept. Instead of traditional doors, the Aero X boasts a jet-like canopy that rises up to allow passengers in and out of the car.

Carbon composite materials are used extensively in the manufacture of fighter jets, and true to its jet heritage, the Aero X sports a lot of carbon material as well and there is also a bit of jet influence in the wheels. Sized 22 inches in the front and 23 inches in the rear, these massive rims have a bit of a turbine fan shape to them.

The Aero X is also a green machine. It's not a hybrid/electric car, but instead it runs on 100 percent ethanol fuel made from corn. The Aero X sports twin turbo 2.8 liter V6 that makes 400 horsepower at the flywheel. Though it hasn't been officially tested, Saab says the Aero X can go from zero to sixty in 4.9 seconds.

The interior of the Aero X resembls the cockpit of a real fighter jet with a high-tech dash and gauges. All of the gauges are made from acrylic material and designed to display information on a 3-dimensional plane with the guages clustered together with similar ones in a wrap-around jet cockpit-like dash illuminated by blue LED light.

Cause of Death: Sloppy Handwriting

from Time

Doctors' sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually. It's a shocking statistic, and, according to a July 2006 report from the National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine, preventable medication mistakes also injure more than 1.5 million Americans annually. Many such errors result from unclear abbreviations and dosage indications and illegible writing on some of the 3.2 billion prescriptions written in the U.S. every year.

To address the problem—and give the push for electronic medical records a shove—a coalition of health care companies and technology firms will launch a program Tuesday to enable all doctors in the U.S. to write electronic prescriptions for free.

Although some doctors have been prescribing electronically for years, many still use pen and paper. This is the first national effort to make a Web-based tool free for all doctors. Even though 90% of the country's approximately 550,000 doctors have access to the Internet, fewer than 10% of them have invested the time and money required to begin using electronic medical records or e-prescriptions. Automation should eliminate many of the errors that occur when pharmacists misunderstand or misrecord medication names or dosages conveyed messily on paper or hurriedly by phone.

MI Court of Appeals Defines Adultery as 1st Degree CSC

from the Detroit Free Press

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.

We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion." Technically," he added, "any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I," the most serious sexual assault charge in Michigan's criminal code.

No one expects prosecutors to declare open season on cheating spouses. The ruling grows out of a case in which a Charlevoix man accused of trading Oxycontin pills for the sexual favors of a cocktail waitress was charged under an obscure provision of Michigan's criminal law. The provision decrees that a person is guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct whenever "sexual penetration occurs under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony."

ABC Eyes End Date for 'Lost'

from TV Week

In a highly unusual move for a broadcast series, ABC and the producers of "Lost" are in discussions to determine an end date for the show. The date will set a limit to the number of "Lost" seasons to come and will be announced to fans. The show's producers, speaking at ABC's Television Critics Association press tour session, said having a conclusion date will bolster fan confidence in the series' narrative. A timeline for making the decision was not announced.

Thought the series ratings have dipped this fall, the show remains one of ABC's top-rated programs. During the first season, Executive Producer Damon Lindelof said the show could run nine seasons if necessary, noting the island has plenty of mysteries. Recently, fans and critics have grown frustrated, however, with the show's continually expanding mythology that keeps piling on new mysteries and characters.

After the panel, Mr. Lindelof suggested the series might cap at 100 episodes, which would only result in two more seasons.

Alpha Dog - 2 Scoops

Movie Review (2 out of 4)

You watch "Alpha Dog" in the conflicted grip of fascination, horror and, to be honest, depression. Writer-director Nick Cassavetes takes a viewer into a heart of darkness that exists right in Southern California's San Fernando Valley among mostly white, suburban young people adrift in a sea of drugs, sex, booze and violence. Parents are either "cool" with this or clueless. Traditional social structure has broken down, replaced by a hedonistic youth culture and "gangsta" lifestyle utterly lacking in any moral sensibility or control. What's worse, this is a true story.

This is a well-made ensemble movie in which actors take chances with uncomfortably repulsive characters or roles unlike any previous performances. Make no mistake though: This will be a hard sell for New Line. The gangsta element and hip-hop soundtrack might be selling points, but is that really the right crowd for this movie? Critical acclaim will help, but the film's dispassionate point of view might cause mixed reactions.

Interviews with several characters are seen throughout the movie as if a documentary about this story were in the works. But the film itself is no docudrama. Despite such stylistic devises as split screens and shifting frame sizes, "Alpha Dog" is pretty conventional. Cassavetes simply plunges you into an unhealthy environment of social disintegration and never eases up. The movie is based on a news story of a few years ago about Jesse James Hollywood, a middle-level drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to land on the FBI's most-wanted list. Here, he is known as Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), whose father (Bruce Willis) helps supply the merchandise and whose posse is completely loyal, especially the slavishly devoted Elvis (Shawn Hatosy).

But he is more insecure and paranoid than he lets on. When he has a falling out with a competitor, Jake Marzursky (Ben Foster), who cheats him out of $1,200, he recognizes that Jake is a maniacal and ruthless adversary. So payback presents a problem. Johnny solves this with a truly stupid idea. He kidnaps Jake's 15-year-old half brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin). The youngster, who has grown restless with his normal life of doting parents and homework, admires his brother's on-the-edge lifestyle, so he is up for a few days of partying and boozing with this seemingly hip crew. But as Jake vows revenge, and others point out the legal repercussions of kidnapping, Johnny and his loyal lieutenant, Frankie (an almost unrecognizable Justin Timberlake), grow increasingly antsy. Meanwhile, Zack remains oblivious to his pending fate.

Most of the characters share the dual afflictions of poor education and a serious lack of smarts. Hirsch's ringleader moves in often jerky and hyperkinetic movements, but his mental processes are slow. Although he does less drugs than others, he can't seem to think through any problem. Timberlake's Frankie has much more brains and sensitivity, but male loyalty trumps common sense. Foster presents an astonishing portrait of lethal rage. Willis as the bad father and Sharon Stone as Zack's emotionally overwrought mother deliver outstanding performances.

BREAKING NEWS

Rocket Fired at US Embassy in Athens

from CNN

The U.S. Embassy in Athens has been hit by a rocket in an attack that anonymous callers claimed was staged by militant left-wing group. Nno one was injured in the explosion. Damage was minimal but it was still being treated as a very serious attack.

It is believed to be a symbolic act as an attempt to disrupt the country's international relations. Police are checking the authenticity of phone calls made to a private security firm claiming responsibility of behalf of the Revolutionary Struggle. The guerilla group claimed to have carried out an unsuccessful 2006 assassination attempt on Greece's culture minister and has become the most serious domestic threat since the dismantling of the deadly November 17 group in 2002.

Police sealed all entrances and exits to the embassy and cordoned off the block around the compound, causing an almost complete standstill of traffic during the morning rush hour. Chaos erupted inside the embassy after the explosion. However, the only damage visible from outside the embassy was a window blown out on an upper floor.

Teen Dies Trying to Save Cats from Fire

from My Way News

An Illinois teenager is being hailed as a hero for saving his aunt from a fire at their house, but he lost his own life when he went back into the burning building to search for the family's two cats. Seth DeShane, 14, was pronounced dead late Thursday at the family home, which was destroyed in the fire.

When Seth's aunt realized the boy had gone back inside, she tried to get back in herself, but by then the smoke was so thick and the fire so intense, she had to leave the house. The fire is being blamed on malfunctioning lights on the Christmas tree on the first floor. The front half of the two-story home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

2006 TOP TEN Number 1

In February, twenty one people were injured, eight of them seriously, when a van pursued by US police near the Mexican border crashed head-on with a truck. A total of four vans suspected of carrying illegal immigrants from Mexico were fleeing US border patrol officers when one of them lost control and swerved into the oncoming truck. And to make matters worse for the US officers patroling the border, Mexican criminal syndicates began stepping up their attacks on American agents patrolling the border as officials of the Homeland Security Department intensify efforts to stem the flow of immigrants and drugs into the United States.

President Bush then asked Congress to increase the Homeland Security Department's budget by nearly 6 percent. The Border Patrol received an extra $459 million to hire 1,500 new agents, bringing the total force to about 14,000. An additional $410 million was allocated to add 6,700 beds for detainees so fewer illegal immigrants would have to be released before being deported. Another $100 million was spent on cameras, sensors and other detection technology. Mexico also increased its commitment by sending an additional 300 Federalis to patrol their side of the border.

In May, President Bush began calling for 6,000 National Guard troops in a supporting role along the border. And in a controversial move that conservatives are still complaining about, the President endorsed a controversial proposal to give illegal immigrants already in the United States a path to work toward eventual citizenship. Bush made the argument that a guest-worker program is necessary to gain control of the border and relieve pressure from the border. Bush has long championed a guest-worker program that would allow people to enter the United States to fill jobs for which employers can't find enough American workers. In response, a private company called VeriChip, offered to provide radio frequency identification tags that would be implanted beneath the skin of guest workers. These RFID tags would provide the government with the guest workers' location at all times. These tags have been used to keep track of animals, but have not been widely used in humans. This proposal died in its infancy and was never implented.

The increased security along the border forced human traffickers to develop new ways of getting illegals into the US. In August, CA border patrol agents arrested a U.S. man after he tried to smuggle three migrants into the country hidden in the seats of his vehicle. Officers discovered three undocumented migrants sewn into three seats of the conversion van, including the driver’s seat.

In a blitz that began May 26, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested nearly 2,100 illegal immigrants across the country. Officials said the raids are aimed at child molesters, gang members and other violent criminals, as well as people who sneaked back into the country after a judge threw them out. The crackdown was called Operation Return to Senderand was also carried out in Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit arresting 154 undocumented immigrants. The agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices came heavily armed and loaded with files and warrants for deportation.

To further document those entering the US, beginning January 23, nearly all air travelers entering the will be required to show passports including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere. Currently, U.S. citizens returning from other countries in the hemisphere are not required to present passports but must show other proof of citizenship such as driver's licenses or birth certificates.

In defiance of the many Mexican-pride rallies throughout the US this past year, a Nevada town passed a law this week making it illegal to fly a foreign nation's flag by itself. The town council of Pahrump, which lies in the Mojave Desert west of Las Vegas, voted 3-2 to make flying any foreign flag above the U.S. flag or alone an offense punishable by a $50 fine and 30 hours' community service. Hispanic groups slammed the flag ordinance as a blow to first-amendment rights to free speech but thought it unlikely that the community would enforce it. In passing the bylaw, the town joined several other communities from California to Pennsylvania that have passed laws curbing illegal immigrants in recent months. Among them are Escondido, in southern California, and Hazleton in Pennsylvania, where councilors barred landlords from renting to undocumented aliens and denied them access to services. In Texas, where a third of the citizens are Hispanic, the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch enacted laws fining landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and making English the official language.

2006 TOP TEN Number 2

In January, General Motors Corp. posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $4.8 billion, a sea of red ink deeper than the most pessimistic Wall Street estimate, as costs for layoffs and plant closures soared. It was the fifth straight quarterly loss for the world's largest automaker -- amid high labor and raw materials costs, shrinking market share and sluggish sales of sport utility vehicles -- and brought its losses for all of 2005 to $8.6 billion. It was GM's first annual loss since 1992. Just days later, Ford announced a restructuring plan with preliminary reports indicating a loss of as many as 25,000 job cuts.

To soften the blow, The Michigan House voted to raise the state's minimum wage by $1.80. The bill was ratified, and the wage increase took effect this past October. By this coming July, the wage will automatically increase to $7.15.

Spring came with more job losses and hits to the automakers. Toledo based auto-parts maker Dana Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection for its U.S. operations joining a growing list of suppliers forced to make major restructuring moves because of the slumping industry. Dana supplies brakes, axles and other parts to both GM and Ford.

Rising labor costs, much of which the Big 3 attributes to health care costs for its employees, fueled Ford to expand its Restructuring plan. Closing plans were implemented for two plants in Virginia and Minnesota. The plants are set to shut down by 2008. By Fall rumors began to emerge from the Dearborn World Headquarters, when shares of Ford Motor Co. surged more than 4 percent, following a report that Ford Chairman and CEO had approached Nissan-Renault about joining a global alliance. Then amazingly just later, according to the trade journal Automotive News, executives of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. had discussed a possible alliance. Both companies declined to comment on the matter.

Taking a rule from GM's playbook, Ford announced a plan to offer buyouts to all of its hourly workers, cut 10,000 more salaried jobs and shut down two more plants in an effort to restore it to profitability. By the end of the year Ford had eliminated nearly one-third of its salaried positions. Up to 30,000 manufacturing jobs are expected to be cut throughout the coming year. Two additional plants were also added to the closing list. This time Ohio and Ontario, Canada will shut down boosting the plant closings from seven to nine.

By November, the cloud of demise could be seen from Detroit to Washington. President Bush decided to meet with executives from the Big 3 in the nation's capitol. They discussed a number of issues with the president, namely health care, trade and energy concerns. The Bush administration has contended that the U.S. economy, including manufacturing, was firing on all cylinders, and the president has said that Detroit's automakers needed to build more relevant vehicles, placing the blame on them.

2006 TOP TEN Number 3

At the beginning of the year, Men' s Fitness released its annual list of the nation's fattest cities. Chicago and Houston ranked one and two, respectively while Detroit came in third. Soon after, the war on obesity began. At first members of the American Medical Association called for a 'fat tax' on soda. There calls were not unjustified; Americans have sipped and slurped their way to fatness by drinking far more soda and other sugary drinks over the last four decades, a new scientific review concludes. An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a single year.

The war on obesity was not confined by borders. Several towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom called for bans on shirtless men. The proposal was inspired by the least attractive side effect of the summer heatwave - the tendency of a number of often middle-aged men to go about in nothing more than shorts. There was a wave revulsion among most of the public at the summer's least welcome fashion trend.

But back in the states, more and more obese people are unable to get full medical care because they are either too big to fit into scanners, or their fat is too dense for X-rays or sound waves to penetrate. With 64 percent of the U.S. population either overweight or obese, the problem is worsening, but it represents a business opportunity for equipment makers and hospitals.Radiologists have their own term for it when writing up reports: "These images are limited due to body habitus."

Then the war on obesity shifted fronts and trans fats became a direct target. Three years after the city banned smoking in restaurants, health officials in New York unveiled a proposal that would bar cooks at any of the city's 24,600 food service establishments from using ingredients that contain the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil. Artificial trans fats are found in some shortenings, margarine and frying oils and turn up in foods from pie crusts to french fries to doughnuts. But before the ban was raitifed earlier this month, KFC said it would phase out trans fats in all of its products. This would mean a total reinvention of their cooking oil used to fry almost everything on their menu from Original Recipe to potato wedges. In NY restaurants will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July '07 and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of their foods by July 2008.

But bans and outcries did not stop some restaraunts from producing ultimate, fat-laden dishes. For a limited time only, Denny's Restaraunts featured a new grand slam breakfast called the Extreme Grand Slam. This breakfast has twice the amount of food as the Original Grand Slam containing 1,475 calories, 85 grams of fat, and 23 grams of saturated fat. And the debut of Burger King's BK Stackers were no better. The line included a Quad Stacker option of four slabs of beef, four slices of cheese and up to eight slices of bacon -- "smothered," as the company puts it, in a creamy sauce. The behemoth sandwich contains 1,000 calories and a whopping 68 grams of fat, including 30 grams of saturated fat.

2006 TOP TEN Number 4

Product safety concerns began back in April, when Walgreen Co., the No. 1 U.S. drugstore chain, told its stores to pull all ReNu products from its shelves, along with WalMart and most other major retailers and drug stores. Just days later Bausch & Lomb Inc. said it would stop shipping its ReNu MoistureLoc contact lens solution after some users were diagnosed with serious eye infections. And just two months ago, a major manufacturer of store-brand acetaminophen recalled 11 million bottles of the pain-relieving pills after discovering some were contaminated with metal fragments.

Even illegal drugs were not spared from the controversy. Forty-eight people died after using a dangerous combination of heroin or cocaine that was unkowingly spiked with the painkiller fentanyl (a pain killer with about 80 times the potency of morphine).

The Fall began with an E. Coli scare. The FDA imposed a ban on fresh spinach after Natural Selection's recalled more than 34 different brands of packaged spinach once people fell ill across 20 states after eating the green leafy vegetable. Then, less than a week after the FDA lifted its warning on fresh spinach grown in California's Salinas Valley, a popular brand of lettuce grown there was recalled over concerns about E. coli contamination. The lettuce did not however cause any illnesses.

And no one can forget Taco Bell; where dozens of people across several states were affected by an E. coli outbreak that was first reported in central New Jersey. Eight Taco Bells across the New York-New Jersey area were temporarily closed down for investigation. It took only days to discover that all the Taco Bells implicated were using the same food distributor, but narrowing it down to a precise product became a challenge. At first the fod chain removed all green onions from its menu. But a later report stated that lettuce was the most likely source of an outbreak of E. coli. In the end there were 71 confirmed cases of poisoning linked to Taco Bell and poll done by USA Today indicated that about 1 in 3 frequent fast-food customers say they plan to eat less often at Taco Bell — or not at all — as a result of the chain's recent E. coli outbreak.

2006 TOP TEN Number 5

2006 was a rooler coaster ride of terror threat ups and downs. It all began when seven people were taken into custody after a sweep by law enforcement authorities in connection with an alleged plot against targets that may have included the Sears Tower. No weapons or bomb-making materials were ever found in the searches in the Miami area by FBI and state and local law enforcement officials. The city of Chicago was adamant in assuring its citizens that there was no eminent threat.

In the summer, the US finally got its ground-based interceptor missile defense system operational. And Canadian police halted a real and serious terror threat in and around Toronto. Twelve men and five youths said to have been inspired by al Qaeda were arrested in the operation involving hundreds of officers. The group was planning to commit a series of terrorist attacks against solely Canadian targets in southern Ontario. The group took steps to acquire three tons of ammonium nitrate and other components necessary to create explosive devices.

But the biggest terror threats came in August, when terrorists were in the final stages of planning to blow up planes heading to the United States from Britain. The plans were suggestive of an al Qaeda plot. British police apprehended 21 suspects involved in the plot. The U.S. raised the terror threat level to "severe" for all flights leaving Britain for the United States. Britain raised its alert level to "critical" and involved hiding liquid explosives in carry-on luggage and targeted Continental, United, British Airways and American Airlines flights to New York, Washington and California. Six to 10 flights were targeted. Flights were canceled or delayed at airports across Europe and the United States as the new security measures produced massive lines at airports.

The threats hit home when three men purchased cell phones from the Wal-Mart store on M-81 near the corner of M-24 in Caro. The three men allegedly bought 80 by purchasing them three at time so that an alert wouldn't be triggered by the cash register. They also paid cash. Once apprehended, the suspects had 1000 other cell phones in the van. There was also a bag of receipts showing that someone was in Wisconsin the day before. The Michigan State Police bomb squad says this has all the tell tale signs of using cell phones to detonate bombs. Federal authorities helped with the investigation into the possible terror threat assuming the suspected tarted to be the Mackinac Bridge. The bridge security had already been increased for several months due to elevated terror alert levels. Cameras on the bridge are monitored so that any suspicious packages or activity will be responded to by authorities. One theory is that the men weren't targeting solely the bridge itself but the people on it. The Annual Labor Day Bridge Walk has drawn over 60,000 people in the past few years. When the dust finally cleared, the three Dallas-area men arrested turned out to be well-known to cell phone resalers in the Dallas area. All charges were eventually dropped and the men were free to go.

2006 TOP TEN Number 6

The year in gay started out with controversy. In January, Brokeback Mountain was getting its second string release throughout the country but not some cities. Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller cancelled the movie's release the theaters that he owns. But this didn't stop the film from gaining momentum. In fact, "at the arthouse in Salt Lake City, the Broadway, the movie broke box-office records (and was one of the movie's top 12 locations nationwide). And the Utah Film Critics Association named "Brokeback Mountain" the best movie of 2005, before Mr. Miller took his unilateral action." (Sean Means, film critic: Salt Lake Tribune). The movie also went into the Golden Globes and came out with the coveted award for Best Motion Picture. The Globes proved to be a great night for LGBT films. Felicity Huffman won the award for Best Actress - Drama for her performance in Transamerica and Ang Lee won the award for Best Director - Motion Picture for Brokeback Mountain. Also, Philip Seymour Hoffman on winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Drama for Capote. After Brokeback Mountain's stellar win at the Golden Globes, there was a noticeable boost in ticket sales. For the following week, the movie nudged itself into the number one spot. In April, Brokeback was released on DVD, and despite massive letter-writing campaign by the American Family Association Wal-Mart released the film on its shelves.

And in a not-so-proud movie launch, Army officials began investigating allegations that members of the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division appear on a gay pornography Web site "Active Duty" by Dink Flamingo. Months later, two Army paratroopers pleaded guilty to charges for appearing on a military-themed pornographic Web site. In all seven members of the 82nd Airborne Division charged with appearing on the site, pleaded to charges of conduct detrimental to the Army and use of marijuana.

Coming Outs
2006 saw it share of come-outs. In July, Lance Bass announced he was gay by appearing on the cover of People magazine. But his newly-revealed relationship with Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl came to an end earlier this month. Also coming out in People: Neil Patrick Harris. DC Comics also announced that Batwoman would return as as a "lipstick lesbian". But coming out can also happen without permission. A Lafayette High School graduate has been kicked out of the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg because he wrote on a personal Web page that he is gay. And despite the rumors; Oprah Winfrey continued to make public statements throughout the year denying that her and bestfriend Gayle were lesbian lovers. The daytime talk show diva endured an onslaught of accusations claming Oprah and Gayle were undercover lesbians.

Gay Marriage

2006 was also a prominent year for gay marriage. The midterm election was the perfect arena to showcase the debate. Many states once again put the question to the voters. But this didn't stop lawmakers and courts from enacting legislation both for an against gay marriage. NJ Supreme Court opened the door to gay marriage, ruling that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, and just weeks later NJ state legislature voted to make it the third state to allow civil unions. And in Mexico, Mexico City also approved homosexual civil unions, legalizing gay partnerships for the first time in the world's second-largest Roman Catholic nation.

But these positive reports were over shadowed by a gaggle of states forbidding gays from marrying. Five other states had voters approve constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage. They were Idaho, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. Similar amendments have passed previously in all 20 states to consider them.

2006 TOP TEN Number 7

The winter season of 2006 began with Japan was bracing for more snow after some of the heaviest snowfall on record that has left 57 people dead and paralysed transport. Almost 13 feet of snow has piled up in the worst-hit areas of the Japan sea coast. And in February, the US saw it's record books changed. A record-breaking storm buried sections of the Northeast under more than 2 feet of snow.

Weeks later it was reported that Antarctica was losing about 36 cubic miles of ice every year. For comparison, Los Angeles consumes roughly 1 cubic mile of fresh water a year. The south polar region holds 90 percent of Earth’s ice and 70 percent of the total fresh water on the planet, so any significant pace of melting there is important and could contribute to an already rising sea.

By summer, global warming became one of the hottest topics discussed. Scientists reported that the earth was hotter than it had been in nearly 2,000 years and that the earth was continuing to heat up. Other new research showed that global warming produced about half of the extra hurricane-fueled warmth in the North Atlantic in 2005, and natural cycles were a minor factor. Throughout the coming months, record high temperartures were reported across the country with the continental United States suffered through its second-hottest July on record because of a blistering heat wave from California to Washington, D.C. The heat wave broke more than 2,300 daily temperature records for the month and eclipsed more than 50 records for the highest temperatures in any July. Also, heavy rain and flooding were reported throughout El Paso, Texas.

More recently, NASA scientisits reported that the vast sheet of ice that covers Greenland is shrinking fast, but still not as fast as previous research indicated. The Greenland ice sheet is considered an early indicator of the consequences of global warming, so even a slower ice melt there raises concerns.

2006 TOP TEN Number 8

The last time the Detroit Tigers made it to the playoffs was 1987. Between then and September, the Tigers have lost the most games of any major-league club. After their spectacular performance through the summer, the Tigers roared through the fall with the best record of the of the league. In the coming weeks, the Tigers entered the playoffs and faced trouble from the start. They faced the Yankees and lost the first game of the series but quickly tied it up by winning the second game. This is the were Curtis Granderson tripled home the winning run in the seventh, one inning after Carlos Guillen tied it with a solo homer. Stellar performances by ptichers Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman helped advance the Tigers to face the A's in the ALCS.

The Tigers won Game 1 against the A's and then in the second game of the series, Alexis Gomez hit a two-run single and a two-run homer foreshadowing his anticipated appearance in the World Series. Magglio Ordonez secured his place in history by sending the Tigers to the World Series with his show-stopping walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth in the fourth and

final game of the ALCS.

The Tigers faced the Cardinals in the World Series. They lost Game 1, but Kenny Rogers delivered eight scoreless innings to capture victory for the Tigers. But the celebration was soon brought to a halt by several errors throughout the remaining games. The St. Louis Cardinals won Game 5 tonight over the Detroit Tigers, to clench the 2006 World Series championship title.

Despite the anticipated buzz, The Cardinals' victory over the Tigers averaged a record-low ratings score. And just days after the World Series, their hometowns find themselves atop a list no one wants to lead: the most dangerous cities in the United States.

2006 TOP TEN Number 9

Back in January, ExxonMobil posted record profits. No other company in US history had ever reported profits as high as the largest publicly traded oil company's more than $36 million take-home. This coming only days after Chevron reported a more than $4 billion dollar fourth quarter profit -- a company record!

Then in April, the CEO of ExxonMobil retired only after accepting a pension/compensation package of $168 million for forty-three years of service. In the coming weeks gasoline prices soared to twenty-one cents to a season high of $2.70 a gallon. These profits helped ExxonMobil achieve the prestiguos Fortune 1 spot dethroning WalMart as the nation's highest ranked, publicly traded company.

In July, it was reported that the company earned more than $1,300 per second! Gas prices soared to $3.15 per gallon.

2006 TOP TEN Number 10

Back in February, we reported that astrophysicists discovered an object farther from Pluto was actually larger than the ninth planet. This discovery caused an uproar in the astronomy community. Many scientists began disputing Pluto "planetary" status.

Then in August, thousands of astronomers from all over the world gathered for a twelve day meeting in Prague to decide what constituted "planetary" status and properly define the term. Upon completion of their conference, the group approved new guidelines that downsized our solar system from nine planets to eight.

Pluto was re-classified as a "dwarf planet".