NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- In most of America's top conservatories, the world's most promising musicians are often deep in debt and giving music lessons just to cover the rent and close the gap between their scholarships and graduate school tuition.But a $100 million donation is about to change that scenario at The Yale School of Music.The anonymous donation, announced this past week, will make advanced music education free beginning next year. Music scholars hope it will pressure other schools to do the same."Money is a big factor," said Yale master's candidate Clara Yang, 24, who paid for her first year with loans, financial aid and by teaching piano lessons.The current year's tuition at the Yale School of Music is $23,750, and about 200 students are enrolled each year.Half the former art and music students surveyed by college lender Nellie Mae in 1998 had debts bigger than their salaries and most said that, in hindsight, they should have borrowed less."These are incredibly talented people who do wonderful work and enter careers that are not high-paying," said Yale President Richard Levin. "Even members of the great symphony orchestras don't make a lot of money."Joseph W. Polisi, president of the Juilliard School and a graduate of the Yale School of Music, said music graduate students sometimes enter the work force with debts as high as $75,000 and without a guarantee of a job."How do they pay off those loans? Often that high debt forces the artists out of the profession entirely," Polisi said.Five to 10 percent of Juilliard graduate students pay full tuition, Polisi said. The rest receive financial aid that covers most of the costs, he said. Despite that aid, he said, Yale's new policy will give it a recruiting advantage."It will be an important wake-up call to all schools that graduate students, by nature, are poor and need help," said Richard Killmer, an oboe professor at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.Killmer, who for years has also taught classes at Yale, said money concerns frequently force students to take side jobs that can interfere with their studies.By removing the tuition barrier, Thomas Duffy, the acting dean at the Yale School of Music, said he hoped to recruit students who might otherwise not even consider attending music school.The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which is almost exclusively undergraduate, has been free since 1928. Dean Robert Fitzpatrick said going tuition-free keeps schools from lowering their standards, even slightly, to accept those students who can pay their own way."You do that often enough and the quality of the school is diluted," Fitzpatrick said. "The difference between the best and least student at Curtis is very narrow."Fitzpatrick said he doesn't expect a sea change in tuition policy among the nation's conservatories. The best schools already find a way to accept the best musicians, he said."Yale already had this profile: They were a small, elite school that was already giving massive amounts of financial aid," he said. "This is simply the icing on the cake."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- Kansas' long-running war over the teaching of evolution is headed for another showdown this week between science and the advocates of intelligent design.The state Board of Education plans to vote Tuesday on academic standards that will direct the development of student tests used to measure how well Kansas' public schools teach the sciences.Six of the 10 board members have previously endorsed language sought by advocates of intelligent design, a theory that says the universe is so complex it must have been created by a higher force.Advocates of the theory say the state should give students a more balanced view of evolution. President Bush has even weighed in on the issue, saying schools should present both concepts when teaching about the origins of life.Opponents of teaching intelligent design as science argue that it's largely creationism -- a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation -- camouflaged in scientific language.The state's new academic standards won't dictate what classroom teachers actually teach, that will be left to the local school boards.But some educators worry the state standards will encourage evolution opponents to pressure their local boards."At some point, teachers in some districts are going to say it's not worth the hassle," said Ken Bingman, who teaches biology at Blue Valley West High School in the Kansas City area.Others states have also dealt with conflicts over the teaching of evolution and intelligent design. In Pennsylvania, a federal judge is expected to rule soon in a lawsuit against a school district policy that requires students hear about intelligent design.But Kansas' debate over evolution has drawn international attention -- and ridicule -- since it began in 1999.That year, the board struck most references to evolution from the standards. Two years later, a less conservative board rewrote the standards to treat evolution as well-established science that is crucial for students to understand."It's the one area that never gets settled," said Mike Ford, who teaches astronomy and physical sciences at Holton High School, about 30 miles north of Topeka. "It's like a game of pingpong."Intelligent design advocates have found support among some parents and school board members. A recent statewide poll by news organizations suggested a slight majority of Kansans favored teaching intelligent design."I want to you respect my side, and I will respect your side," said Kent Swartz, a banker and creationist who serves on the South Barber County school board southwest of Wichita.Some students also want to discuss evolution and intelligent design in the classroom.Adam Fiedler, a 17-year-old Holton High senior, says a debate would make science more interesting."I think students should hear the information and form their own opinions," said Fiedler, who hopes to teach science and math after college. "We're just in the infancy of evolution. We could spend another thousand years -- or two -- on research."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- The ski slopes that baby boomers used to shred when they were young and reckless are being toned down in a bid to keep them coming back for more."Every destination resort that attracts baby boomers is either expanding grooming or contemplating doing it," said Bill Jensen, chief operating officer at Vail, which plans to flatten and tame a record 1,600 acres this season.Demographics suggest the bottom line is behind the move: The percentage of skiers who are 45 or older climbed from 21 percent in 1997-98 to 31 percent last season, according to a survey done for the National Ski Areas Association.America's seniors are so much fitter than their predecessors -- retirement is more like a permanent vacation -- that some resorts no longer offer free skiing to those over 70. But older skiers generally have slower reflexes, less strength and aching joints, and resorts are trying to respond.Craig Tuber, 60, a Chicago resident who owns a second home near the Beaver Creek resort west of Vail, still occasionally skis bumps and even heliskis. But, he added, "when the grooming is great you get drawn to it so you can make those nice turns and enjoy yourself in a different way.""For people who are a little older it is easier on your body," he said. "Once you turn 60, you say to yourself, 'How long can I do this?'"Every major resort prides itself on a variety of ski runs -- beginner, intermediate and expert, with some also offering "extreme" terrain that is both steep and potentially full of unmarked hazards like tree stumps and rocks.In the past, grooming usually applied largely to beginning and intermediate runs, with snow machines pulling wide metal "drags" that knocked down bumps and smoothed out irregularities in the slope. What's left is often called corduroy because of the distinctive grooves left in the snow.But some resorts now routinely groom half an expert slope, offering the serious stuff on one side and an easy way down on the other. And the easy way down isn't for the kids."We are very aware of the importance of keeping this age group skiing," said Christine Horvath, spokeswoman for Squaw Valley in California. "We have been extremely focused on the quality and quantity of our grooming, especially during the past two seasons."Mammoth Mountain, also in California, has found that after years of bumpy moguls and powder skiing, baby boomers love the corduroy because they can enjoy steeper slopes without putting as much stress on their bodies, said Pam Murphy, senior vice president of the resort.At Vail, nine of its 29 snow machines are being replaced as part of the effort to boost grooming, Jensen said. It's not a small step, since each machine can cost as much as $235,000.Beyond the slopes themselves, the evolution of the shaped ski is a big factor in keeping boomers skiing, Jensen said."Initiating a turn has never been easier -- but the reality is that any ski, straight or shaped, performs best on straight and groomed surfaces," he said.Fitness experts say boomers need to be careful, even on groomed slopes."Many of the severe knee injuries occur on very forgiving, flat terrain that is well-groomed," said Dr. Robert H. Johnson, a professor of musculoskeletal research at the University of Vermont and a specialist in skiing injuries. He also said older women are more likely than younger skiers to suffer leg injuries.Ski areas haven't totally forsaken the boomer who wants to shred. Aspen Mountain, for example, offers a "Bumps for Boomers" program designed to take skiers comfortable on groomed slopes to more difficult terrain using "techniques that both reduce fatigue and stress to aging joints."How will skiers see the difference in grooming this season?Krista Parry of Park City, Utah, says the resort grooms 15 expert runs on a rotating basis to open up more of the mountain to less experienced skiers. Sun Valley, Idaho, has replaced its grooming fleet with 10 new machines to primp its "ego snow."Grooming isn't strictly an overnight affair during the season. Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia hired 10 extra summer trail crew members to harvest the alders, willows and high brush that grow on ski runs -- a safety hazard and a hassle for groomers, spokeswoman Michelle Leroux said."We get people who say we groom too much -- typically they are a younger person," said Chuck English, mountain operations manager at Deer Valley. The Utah resort is perennially ranked as No. 1 in grooming."Some of our guests only get seven days to go skiing and they don't want to get their ass kicked," English said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- The first thing you'll probably notice is the shark. At 17 feet long, it's the biggest ever caught on rod and reel. What's left of its two terrifying tons now hangs preserved above a dull warehouse floor.There are also medieval torture devices, human skull drinking glasses, a Coke bottle-shaped coffin and curious mix of embalmed livestock born with too many heads or limbs. These items and many more are stored in a central Florida warehouse -- all without an audience.But their owner, Ripley Entertainment Inc., is doing its best change that. The Orlando-based company of "Believe it or Not!" fame has announced rapid expansion plans over the next year and a half, including at least four new locations from Spain to New York City -- where those lonely curiosities might soon find homes.Ripley has doubled in size every three years for the past 15, and now boasts annual attendance of more than 12 million. Its more than 50 attractions go beyond the standby "Believe it or Not!" museums to include two aquariums, a handful of Guinness World Record and wax museums, haunted houses, a mini-golf course and a moving theater.And then there is the globally syndicated TV show and rights to a library of bizarre facts licensed for everything from state lotteries to pinball machines. They even do their own wax and costume work out of the company's Florida headquarters.It all started from the curious pen of founder and adventurer Robert Ripley, who began drawing the "Believe it or Not!" cartoon for newspapers in 1918."The difference today from where we were is the magnitude of the projects we're involved in," CEO Bob Masterson said. "We went from doing small attractions -- museum-type attractions, which have been our bread and butter for 50 years -- to building signature inns."The biggest of those is the under-construction Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, Ontario, which will feature 406 all-suite guest rooms when it opens next spring, and a 76,000-square-foot indoor water park with a tree-house fort. (The Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara is owned by Ripley's Niagara Water Park Resort through a license from Great Wolf Resorts, which operates other Great Wolf lodges in the U.S.)"That's so far beyond what we were doing 15 years ago, but it really highlights what's happening in our company," Masterson said. "Life is good for us."Of course, any new attraction wouldn't be Ripley's without the surreal. And they've got it here in spades -- all just waiting for a wall to hang on.The keeper, as it were, of those storied treasures is Edward Meyer, a self-described library science dropout who as vice president of exhibits and archives is Ripley's main shopper.Even his office is weird, with its own collection of oddities including a human scalp, a Mother Teresa figurine made out of chewing gum and a pair of Judy Garland's ruby red Wizard of Oz slippers.His favorite? Twelve pieces of belly button lint retrieved over time and sent in by one man who thought it strange and noteworthy they were all the same color."I get the best mail in the world," Meyer said from behind his cluttered desk. A 17-foot great white shark hangs from the ceiling at Ripley's warehouse in Orlando, Florida.Walking around the warehouse's endless aisles of shrunken heads, antique East Asian furniture and walking canes made into guns, Meyer can explain each one.He has acquired an estimated 95 percent of Ripley's collection, and shares the same endless fascination with otherworldly items that made the well-traveled, real-life Ripley an entertainment baron to begin with."I put myself in his shoes every day. What would Ripley think? What would Ripley do?" he said.A few feet away, Meyer walks past a riding lawn mower that was driven across the country, the world's biggest rocking chair, the world's tallest rideable bike and a 1932 Studebaker once modified into a "jockey hearse" to carry fallen riders off horse tracks.Its neighbors in storage include entire sections of the Berlin Wall and a multimillion- dollar, 1988 Lincoln Town Car covered entirely in gold coins.But Meyer's prize possession is way in the back -- maybe the last thing you'd see on a winding walking tour: A just-acquired 700-pound elephant head with two trunks, both DNA-tested to ensure they're real and belonged to the same animal."He will be THE exhibit," Meyer said in front of the creature, whose skin still prickles to the touch with small hairs.That is, when they determine just where the peculiar pachyderm will go. Maybe New York City, maybe San Antonio, Texas -- or maybe somewhere else.Either way, Meyer's constant acquisitions will ensure it won't be the last item to enter and leave the warehouse purgatory of the weird."There's got to always be stuff in here," Meyer said, "so we can sell it to the next franchise."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Imagine last year's tsunami, last month's earthquake in Pakistan, and Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma all rolled into one -- and then some. If nations can't handle those calamities, what's going to happen when an asteroid collides with Earth?In 30 years, there is a 1-in-5,500 chance that a smallish asteroid will land a bull's eye on our planet. At 360 yards wide, it could take out New York City and much of the surrounding area.Fortunately, experts believe further observations of the asteroid, 99942 Apophis, will almost certainly rule out an impact in 2036. Nevertheless, it's precisely that kind of predictable and preventable threat -- and the thought of being ill-prepared for it -- that alarms the world's normally intrepid spacefarers who are calling for action.They issued an open letter at the Association of Space Explorers' annual congress last month in Salt Lake City, making a rare, united push for strategies and spacecraft to prevent a cosmic pileup.Two of the astronauts -- Apollo 9's Rusty Schweickart and shuttle and space station veteran Ed Lu -- have even helped establish a foundation to spotlight the issue."There are always natural disasters and it always seems as though the preparation is somewhat less than adequate. But we have had a series of quite substantial ones here in the last year," Schweickart said in an interview with The Associated Press.Hollywood's depiction of cosmic collisions -- think "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" -- has heightened public awareness, "but regrettably with the wrong solutions and overdramatization," Schweickart said."You don't want to send up Bruce Willis and others to save us. That's Hollywood silliness," he said, chuckling. Instead, technology is far enough along that an asteroid could be deflected before hitting Earth, he said.For now, the astronauts are being cautious -- some say too cautious -- in their approach."A lot of the folks working in this area are really attuned to not being Chicken Little, saying, 'Hey, this is going to kill us, it's going to kill us,' " Lu said. "That's not what we're saying. We're saying that you need to start thinking about it ahead of time because afterward is way too late."The possible consequences are way worse than your run-of-the-mill natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes. As bad as they may be, this can dwarf them."Astronauts know better than most just how small and fragile and vulnerable the planet is."When you go around it in an hour and a half, again and again and again and again, day after day, in some cases now, month after month after month, the Earth becomes a pretty small place," Schweickart said. "And then, of course ... most astronauts tend to be aware of things like asteroids and their impacts. I mean, we romped around the moon after spending years in preparation by looking at every impact crater and volcano here on the Earth."It's time, the space explorers say, for NASA to step up to the plate.The association wants NASA to expand its Spaceguard Survey, a program that discovers and tracks near-Earth objects -- asteroids and comets -- that are at least two-thirds of a mile across. So far, 807 of an estimated 1,100 of these big rocky asteroids have been discovered in the inner solar system along with 57 comets; California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is plotting their future tracks.An asteroid two-thirds of a mile wide, at impact, would be enough to easily take out a good-sized European country. By comparison, an asteroid or comet believed to be six to seven miles across wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Former astronaut Rusty Schweickart holds a 3-D model of an asteroid near a spot on the globe where it could hit the Earth.The space explorers want the many smaller, but still dangerous asteroids tracked as well. Altogether, 3,611 near-Earth asteroids of all sizes have been discovered, with an estimated 100,000 more capable of setting off a tsunami the size of the one that shook the Indian Ocean last December.Scientists are carefully watching Apophis, which will whiz by Earth in 2029, passing within an unnerving 18,640 miles. That's a few thousand miles closer than many communications satellites and 220,000 miles closer than the moon. In 2036, the concern is that it will move in even closer, leading to the 1-in-5,500 chance it will strike.For a few hundred million dollars, the astronauts say, NASA could launch a scouting mission to Apophis in the next decade or two to place a radio transponder on the surface and thereby plot its course. But Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's near-Earth object program, contends that mostly likely, radar and telescope observations will ultimately rule out any risk of impact.Schweickart agrees that based on the current odds, a deflection mission for Apophis would be a waste of money. "But the question is, do I agree with it when it's 1-in-100, when it's 1-in-50, if it's 1-in-20. That is a policy question. At what probability do you begin to spend hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in order to do something?"That's not the only sticky policy question.Are some places on the planet more dispensable than others? The point of impact, for instance, could be inadvertently shifted from one part of the world to another by an intervening spacecraft, jeopardizing one country instead of another. Who's liable if an asteroid-deflecting mission goes awry? Indeed, who decides if such a mission is needed and how far in advance should that decision be made?Nuclear electric propulsion would be ideal for quickly getting spacecraft to potential killer asteroids and nudging them out of Earth's way, the astronauts say. But the technology for such an "asteroid tugboat" is on hold, a recent casualty of budget cuts.Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, is sympathetic to the astronauts' concerns and has asked NASA to see what might be needed to protect Earth from asteroid impacts.Nuclear-powered spacecraft could either land on the asteroid and apply a small but continuous force over months in order to alter its Earth-smashing course, or hover above the asteroid and use its gravity to push it aside. Forget about any sensational last-minute asteroid crackups, "Armageddon" style; the pieces could wind up on a collision course with Earth.Schweickart and Lu's B612 Foundation -- named after the home asteroid of the Earth-visiting prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "Le Petit Prince" -- is pushing for an orbit-altering demonstration by 2015 on a harmless, way-out-of-the-way asteroid.The European Space Agency also is proposing a practice mission called Don Quixote to alter an asteroid's course, but it's yet to be formally approved. NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft smashed into a comet for scientific reasons in July; by design, it barely altered the comet's path."We're sitting in a shooting gallery, with hundreds of thousands of these things whizzing around in the inner solar system. So it's just a matter of time," said Schweickart, board chairman of the B612 Foundation.Fortunately, the technology to protect us is ready for the task, he said, and that's "the beauty of it."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) -- Two spacewalkers installed a camera on the outside of the international space station Monday and tossed overboard a surplus data-collecting device, sending it spinning off into the void like a spiraling football."How's that for a Hail Mary pass?" American astronaut William McArthur Jr. radioed."That was pretty impressive," Mission Control responded.McArthur and his Russian crewmate aboard the space station, Valery Tokarev, left the orbiting outpost unmanned during the nearly 51/2-hour spacewalk.Normally, one crew member stays aboard while two others venture outside. But the space station crew has been reduced to two since the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, and it has been left empty nine times during spacewalks since then.The new camera will help space station astronauts add new segments onto the orbiting station.The device thrown overboard was once used to collect data on electrical activity around the space station. It was designed to work for only a few months and was no longer needed.Engineers were afraid pieces might break off and damage the space station, so they decided to cut it loose. The device, which weighs about 60 pounds and has solar panels that extend about 2 feet, is expected to burn up in the atmosphere in about three months."It's a good day in space," McArthur said as he and Tokarev wrapped up their work. "I'm happy as a clam."The spacewalking pair helped each other into their spacesuits without the assistance of a third crew member.The spacewalk was delayed by an hour because of trouble with the U.S. airlock, which did not depressurize completely at first. But the pair quickly made up for lost time as they worked outside.It was the first time in two years that spacewalkers exited through the U.S. airlock. The station's Russian airlock and spacesuits had been used in recent years because of cooling and contamination problems with the U.S. airlock and spacesuits.When NASA returned to manned spaceflight with the launch of Discovery in July, the shuttle brought new U.S. spacesuits.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's 10 million cancer survivors require customized follow-up for years that too few now receive, says a major study that calls for oncologists to create a "survivorship plan" to guide every patient's future health care.Half of all men and one-third of women in the United States will develop cancer in their lifetimes. Thanks to advances in early detection and treatment, the number who survive has more than tripled over the past three decades.When active treatment ends, these people's special needs may be just beginning, said the study, released Monday. Yet, the legacy of physical, psychological and social consequences has largely been ignored by doctors, researchers, even patient-advocacy groups, leaving survivors too often unaware of simmering health risks or struggling to manage them on their own, said the report by the Institute of Medicine."Successful cancer care doesn't end when patients walk out the door after completion of their initial treatments," said Dr. Sheldon Greenfield of the University of California, Irvine, who led the study for the institute, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.Yet, "you fall off a cliff when your treatment ends," said report co-author Ellen Stovall, president of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, who speaks from personal experience as a two-time survivor.Busy oncologists' priority is to treat patients and they may have little time for the survivor, while physicians who don't specialize in cancer care may not know what special needs survivors have."Nobody can take custody," said Stovall, who praises her own doctors but said even they lack information about long-term follow-up for the Hodgkin's disease that first struck her 33 years ago."The doctor says you're done" with cancer treatment, she added. "But you're just beginning a whole new phase of your health care. Nobody's got the roadmap for that."Survivors are at risk of their initial cancer returning or a new one forming, and may need not just screening to detect that but also help handling the inevitable fear.Then there are the lingering health effects that various cancer treatments can cause: problems with mobility or memory, nerve damage, sexual dysfunction or infertility and impaired organ function. There may be distress over cosmetic changes. Other hurdles include keeping health insurance after that costly first cancer bout and discrimination from employers.Whether long-lasting effects seem acute or subtle, start to emerge just as treatment ends or not until years later, the report is unequivocal: "Importantly, the survivor's health care is forever altered."There are ways to avoid or ameliorate cancer's late health effects. But survivors, and their future doctors, have to know they're at risk to take those steps, the report stressed.For instance, it said, certain dosages of the chemotherapy doxorubicin can damage the heart, and survivors who know they're at risk can have their heart checked and early signs of failure treated.Some work is beginning to try to provide that kind of survivor care, sparked by the pediatric cancer community. The Children's Oncology Group, a leading research group, developed long-term follow-up guidelines that say every child cancer survivor should be given an explicit treatment record -- complete with physicians' addresses and doses of every drug -- to provide every doctor who treats them in the future.And the Lance Armstrong Foundation has begun funding centers at some leading hospitals to focus on specialized survivor care.Monday's recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, chartered by Congress to advise the government on medical matters, is sure to add momentum to those still-fledgling efforts.Among the recommendations:Every patient completing cancer treatment should be given a customized "survivorship care plan" to guide future health care.That plan should summarize their cancer care down to drug and radiation dosages, cite guidelines for detecting recurrence or new malignancies, and explain long-term consequences of their cancer treatment. It also should discuss prevention of future cancer, and cite the availability of local psychosocial services and legal protections regarding employment and insurance.Specialists and primary care providers should coordinate to ensure survivors' needs are met.Health insurers should pay for this report.Scientists must improve, or in some case create, guidelines on exactly what screenings are needed for different cancers and their therapies.Congress should fund research of survivorship care, to assess their needs and provide evidence for quality care.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- At Atlanta's main trauma hospital, lines of waiting patients clog the hallways -- even on slow days.Doctors say they probably couldn't handle a major plane crash or any other incident with more than 20 or 30 severe injuries."It's a struggle to meet the nightly demand of 911 calls," said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, an ER physician at the hospital, Grady Memorial."But somehow we're supposed to deal with a ... terrorist bombing? Or a new strain of influenza?"Trauma centers and emergency departments similarly are strained in many U.S. cities, experts say."Trauma systems are never more than a couple of minor incidents from being overwhelmed," said Larry Gage, president of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems.Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans' only trauma center. A few years ago, funding problems nearly closed primary trauma centers in Detroit and Los Angeles, and more than a dozen other U.S. hospitals have phased-down or shuttered their trauma units since.That trend, along with a growing U.S. population, is making it harder for many hospitals to quickly and adequately handle severe emergencies."Across the country, the level of crowding at emergency departments has reached levels that are unprecedented in America's history," said Dr. Kathleen Clem, chief of emergency medicine at Duke University Medical Center.Trauma and emergency care is a money loser, serving many patients without health insurance. It's also expensive to maintain a round-the-clock staff of specialized surgeons and trauma-care medical workers.In Atlanta, hospitals often pay subspecialists around $1,000 per day to take calls for trauma care.For those reasons, many hospitals have gotten out of trauma care, increasing the load on those that have stayed in that business, industry experts say.Grady Memorial is Atlanta's primary emergency care center, with about 200,000 visits a year, and it's been getting busier.Patient volumes have been increasing more than 5 percent a year at the 953-bed hospital, driven by a variety of factors including an expanding city population and the closing of trauma centers near Atlanta.As at other hospitals, Grady's 100 intensive care unit beds are often completely filled, meaning dozens of gurneyed patients at a time have to wait in the ER for a bed to open upstairs. That, along with a heavy flow of new cases, doesn't allow much room for dealing with a multi-trauma incident.Grady is expecting a loss of between $9 million and $10 million this year, and would need more government funding to expand its ICU and emergency capabilities, said Dr. Leon Haley Jr., the hospital's chief of emergency medicine.In New Orleans, the situation is unusual in that hurricane flooding -- not scarce funding -- closed the main trauma center. But some ER doctors say that, even before the floods, they expected problems getting the center reaccredited this fall.Charity Hospital, once one of the nation's largest hospitals, was home to New Orleans' only top-level trauma center, with staffing and equipment to handle the most complex emergency injuries. The hospital was getting 160,000 emergency and trauma visits a year.But 650-bed Charity was irreparably damaged by floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina. Since then, most of the city's trauma and emergency cases have been handled in U.S. Navy ships, temporary combat hospital tents, and in four civilian hospitals that have managed to restore at least some of their services.But the ships left weeks ago. And the combat hospital tents, which are currently the city's main trauma center, are scheduled to pack up later this month."It's going to be a major problem," said Helen Ruiz, director of the emergency department at Touro Infirmary, the only downtown hospital ER currently open.Charity's parent organization, the Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, is trying to lease a hospital and re-establish a trauma center. But it's also struggling to cover bills."We are a bus crash away from complete and total disaster," said Donald Smithburg, chief executive of the LSU hospital organization.But the story is different in Detroit. Officials at Detroit Receiving Hospital, the Motor City's long-standing chief trauma center, said their center is on solid footing right now and has been able to handle multiple-trauma incidents pretty well.But it's a turnaround, they say, from the situation two years ago, when budget shortfalls spurred rumors that the trauma center would have to close. An infusion of state money saved the day, said Dr. James Tyburski, the hospital's chief of surgery.In September, emergency physicians from across the country gathered in Washington to rally for additional government support. More than 3,000 physicians attended and spoke in favor of a measure that would increase Medicare payments to emergency doctors and hospitals by 10 percent.But the bill so far has only two sponsors. Emergency physicians say they are amazed that the Bush administration is willing to spend billions to stockpile Tamiflu for a possible super-flu outbreak -- even though it's not clear the medicine would be effective -- while showing disinterest in aiding emergency hospitals that would have to handle flu cases.Emergency departments are the perfect cauldrons for a dangerous strain of flu to spread through large numbers of immune-compromised people, said Kellermann, the Grady physician. Emergency centers should be expanded to have respiratory isolation areas and other services, he argued."We're worried about a flu pandemic and we're parking patients cheek to cheek," he said. "That's just mind-bogglingly stupid."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- A woman who was a scientist for a drug company admitted in court Monday that she conspired with her lover five years ago to fatally poison her husband, a pediatric AIDS researcher.Ann Miller Kontz, 35, was sentenced to 25 to 31 years in prison after her lawyer read a statement saying she felt "a deep sense of remorse and regret" for Eric Miller's death."I will struggle for the rest of my life with how this could have happened," the statement said.Authorities said Kontz, who worked at GlaxoSmithKline, was having an affair with a co-worker when her husband was poisoned by arsenic, a colorless and usually tasteless poison once common in ant and rat killers.Under a plea deal, Kontz admitted conspiring with the co-worker, Derril Willard, and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The two had access to arsenic at their laboratory, police have said.Miller, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, died on December 2, 2000. He was 30.Less than a month before he died, he went bowling with Willard and two others and fell ill about an hour after drinking a beer he complained was bitter, according to authorities.He was hospitalized for a week but doctors failed to diagnose the poisoning, investigators said. Two weeks later, he again became violently ill after eating a meal prepared by his wife, investigators said. This time, doctors detected high levels of arsenic in his system, but they were unable to save him.Willard committed suicide about a month after Miller died.Lawyers discussed a possible plea agreement for several weeks, said District Attorney Colon Willoughby, who declined to give details about the negotiations."We thought that this was in the family's and the community's best interest to resolve the case this way," he said.The plea provided an abrupt end to a complicated case that included a fight over attorney-client privilege that reached the state Supreme Court.That dispute ended with Willard's attorney revealing information implicating Kontz, which led to her indictment a few months later. In the statement, the lawyer revealed that Willard learned from Kontz that she had injected a syringe filled with an unnamed substance into Miller while he was hospitalized.Kontz, who remarried after Miller's death, acknowledged in court Monday that she poisoned her husband at least twice before his death.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A steamy novel by Lewis "Scooter" Libby has become a hot item now that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff is under indictment.An inscribed copy of "The Apprentice: A Novel," which Libby wrote in 1996 when he was a relative unknown outside Washington, was on sale on online bookseller Amazon.com on Monday for $2,400. Unsigned hardcover copies were going for $700.Now out of print, the novel tells the story of an innkeeper apprentice in a bizarre coming-of-age story set in Japan in 1903. It is littered with edgy sexual material and strong language."Wow, who would have thought that clean living, family values man Scooter Libby was capable of writing such filth," said one reviewer on Amazon. Another Amazon reviewer noted its "lavish dollops of voyeurism, bestiality, pedophilia and corpse robbery."Libby was charged last month with perjury in a special prosecutor's probe into how a CIA operative's identity was leaked to journalists.Libby's writing skills also happened to be displayed in a widely published letter to reporter Judith Miller of The New York Times that showed a flair for literary allusion and ambiguity."Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them," he wrote to Miller as she sat in jail earlier this year for refusing to reveal Libby's identity as a source.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) -- President Bush took a detour to Virginia on his way back from Latin America Monday to try to give Republican Jerry Kilgore an election-eve boost in his deadlocked race for governor.Despite his own political woes and declining popularity, Bush hoped to rally Republicans to vote Tuesday in a contest that polls show is too close to call and in which turnout could be crucial for Kilgore and his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine."We're not taking anything for granted. Laura and I are here to ask you to turn out to vote tomorrow for Jerry Kilgore," Bush told a rally in a hangar at Richmond International Airport after a flight from Panama at the end of a Latin America swing that also included Argentina and Brazil.Bush called Kilgore "a man of character and integrity" with a record Virginians can count on. "And equally important, you know he doesn't need to run a poll to tell him what to think," Bush added.Kaine and Kilgore, a former state attorney general, were battling to succeed incumbent governor and potential 2008 Democratic presidential contender, Mark Warner, in the Republican-leaning southern state.Warner is barred by state law from seeking a second term.With Bush's poll numbers plummeting and beset by problems like the war in Iraq, the bungled federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the indictment of a senior White House aide in the CIA leak probe, Democrats hoped the president's 11th-hour appearance for Kilgore would instead motivate their own supporters.Some political analysts have suggested that even Republicans might try to distance themselves from Bush now that his job approval rating is at an all-time low.Kilgore welcomed Bush as "a great leader for our commonwealth and for our country.""We are only hours away of bringing conservative leadership back to Richmond," Kilgore said, as he introduced Bush to hundreds of cheering supporters at the airport rally.Late last month, Kilgore avoided a Bush speech on anti-terrorism in Norfolk, Virginia, a move that was widely regarded as a sign that the president might do more harm than good in a close race.Kilgore, whose early lead in polls has slipped to a statistical tie, has warned voters that Kaine will raise taxes and is too far to the left on social issues such as gun control, immigration, and, most prominently, the death penalty.The governor's race in Virginia and another in New Jersey are the biggest contests in this election season and will be watched closely for evidence of how the mounting political struggles of Bush and national Republicans are influencing voters.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the hottest-selling T-shirts around the country shows a simply drawn snowman with a menacing expression.It's not Frosty's evil twin. The image popularized by drug-dealer-turned-rapper Young Jeezy symbolizes those who sell a white substance known on the street as snow: cocaine.Anti-drug campaigners and education officials are alarmed, saying the T-shirt and others like it are part of sophisticated marketing campaigns using coded symbols for drug culture that parents and teachers are not likely to understand. Some schools are banning kids from wearing the snowman images."The snowman is made of white, grainy stuff like sugar," said 12-year-old seventh-grader Mailik Mason, standing next to his mother in a Manhattan store selling the snowman shirts. "It has to do with a certain drug, crack or coke."Young Jeezy's hit debut album, "Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101," peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard album charts. On one of his songs he raps, "Get it? Jeezy the Snowman / I'm iced out, plus I got that snow, man."The shirt was first produced solely for Jeezy by Miskeen Originals, a hip-hop fashion firm in New Jersey, the company says. The owner, Yaniv Zaken, says his artists produced a handful for the rapper to wear on TV appearances.They then sold a larger batch to retailers, but pulled them when Zaken discovered that his employees had not licensed the T-shirt from Jeezy."I wasn't sure what the snowman meant until the artist explained to me that it was a drug dealer, the man delivering snow," Zaken said. "Now everyone is selling the snowman -- all unlicensed. It's become a street-hood hit worldwide."A spokesman for Young Jeezy's record label, Def Jam Records, confirmed that the rapper held the rights to the snowman image but declined to comment on complaints that it was sending children the wrong message."This is part of a phenomena in which parents have no idea what their children are exposed to. There is a code that children are aware of but not parents," says Sue Rusche, president and CEO of the anti-drug group National Families In Action.Rusche's organization has tried to pressure companies that they believed were targeting children with drug messages, like fashion companies marketing "heroin chic" in the 1990s. She was unaware of the snowman T-shirt.Mason says he'd like to have a snowman T-shirt -- but that his school in Brooklyn has banned it. His mother, Autherine Mason, 34, said she had been unaware of the snowman's meaning and wouldn't buy it for her son now that she knows.Dr. Gilbert Botvin, director of the Institute for Prevention Research at Cornell University Medical College, has been studying what influences children to use drugs and alcohol. He believes that pop culture does play a role."The research tells us that influences coming from the media can have a profound effect on kids and influence them to use drugs," he says. "All of these things help to convey the impression that engaging in these behaviors using drugs is normal and that drugs might help you be successful or sexy or something."Botvin says parents need to educate themselves about the media their kids are consuming and pressure schools to monitor what messages they allow students to advertise.But sometimes it's hard to overcome the buzz on the street.Ali Kourani, a Manhattan wholesale salesman, says the T-shirt is their top seller across the country."It's big money," Kourani said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(AP) -- After stupendous sales for her tales of vampires, witches and lust, novelist Anne Rice has turned to Jesus -- personally and literarily.Her innovative new novel "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" (Knopf) depicts Jesus as a 7-year-old lad, speaking in his own words as the holy family moves from Egyptian exile to Nazareth."What did it feel like to be God and man as a child?" Rice asked herself. Oddly, the question carries an echo of her first supernatural thriller three decades ago, which explored a vampire's first-person perspective.Rice said in a telephone interview that she has no regrets about writing her Gothic novels, which include "Interview with the Vampire," later a movie, and "The Vampire Lestat," theme of an upcoming Elton John musical."I see this as a journey," she said. "They were written with complete commitment."But that's all behind her now, she stressed; her 2003 vampire novel, "Blood Canticle," was her last. Why give it all up?"I wanted to write only for Jesus Christ," she replied, noting that the current novel is intended as part of a series."My hope is to live long enough to finish the life of Christ," the 64-year-old author said. "God is interesting again."'The desire was tremendous'Rice's new burst of creativity stems from her return to Roman Catholicism -- though she seems a most unlikely recruit. Leaving aside those past novels (the more erotic ones appeared under pseudonyms), she quit church as a teen and never looked back for decades. Her late husband was a convinced atheist; her son is a gay activist.But some critics thought her vampires' angst reflected the author's spiritual restlessness.As Rice describes matters, there was "a yearning, a nostalgia, a grief" toward Catholicism but "I had this idea lodged in my head, I could never go back ... the longing was tremendous. The desire was tremendous.""I gradually realized I could return, that I believed again."After years of pondering, the climax occurred in 1998 at her home in New Orleans. Rice asked part-time assistant Amy Troxler, a parochial school religion teacher, to recommend a priest. Troxler immediately took Rice to the Rev. Dennis Hayes of Arabi, Louisiana, who became her spiritual director.The move wasn't easy because "I was tortured by questions I couldn't resolve." She told Hayes: "I'll do my best on the unresolved questions." Among these are her church's ban on women priests and opposition to gay sex. She's convinced both will vanish eventually.Though some popular preachers claim faith produces good fortune, Rice has faced serious problems since rejoining the church: the death of her husband, a diabetic coma and burst appendix (both life-threatening), gastric bypass surgery to counter a dangerous weight gain and surgery for an intestinal blockage.Didn't that shake her newfound faith? "God is as much with the person who drowns in the flood as with the person who's rescued," she asserted. "It has never occurred to me to blame him for anything. Things happen. People are always getting sick and dying."An "author's note" at the end of the novel tells of Rice's religious turn, years of research and hostility toward liberal academics' doubts about the New Testament. "Absurd conclusions were reached on the basis of little or no data," she complains.'Maybe people are hungry' Rice's "Lord" is perhaps the unexpected development at a time when spiritual themes are hot in popular entertainment -- from TV to best-selling novels to Mel Gibson's box-office smash "The Passion of the Christ" to Disney's upcoming film adaptation of C.S. Lewis' Christian allegory "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."By coincidence, Rice's book also appears simultaneously with the artful "Jesus: A Novel" (Zondervan) by National Book Award winner Walter Wangerin Jr."Maybe this is inevitable after years of popular atheism dominating our culture. Maybe people are hungry," Rice mused.Rice says her Jesus novel didn't result from commercial calculations but her return to faith. In fact, she expressed anxiety about how her fans, accustomed to darker themes, will react."I have received no resistance from believers. The only skeptics about this book are skeptics," she said. Her prose is devoutly awe-struck toward its lead character and orthodox in theology.There are odd notes, however, as "Lord" opens. Jesus denounces a neighborhood bully who then dies, after which Jesus resurrects him. Also, Jesus' brother recalls how he magically fashioned clay birds that became alive.The strange tales didn't come from Rice. Rather they originate with the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas," a late apocryphal book the early church rejected. (The bird incident reappears in Islam's Quran.) Bart Ehrman, religion chair at the University of North Carolina, says "nobody takes this seriously as history" but it shows how some ancient Christians speculated about Jesus' childhood.John Wilson, editor of the evangelical journal Books & Culture, said the conjunction of the Jesus novels by Rice and Wangerin isn't surprising -- writers have continually produced fiction about Jesus. Among them: Sholem Asch, Anthony Burgess, Robert Graves, Nikos Kazantzakis, D. H. Lawrence, Norman Mailer, Jose Saramago and Gore Vidal.It's a difficult challenge. None of these novels are masterpieces and "often they just seem absurd," Wilson said. "You don't know whether to laugh or to cry, both with the pious variety and the debunkers."As for Rice, he thinks she simply "had taken this flirtation with evil as far as it would go and returned to the good."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. and TiVo Inc. are teaming up to blend some of their services, a move that further fades the lines between offices and living rooms, TVs and PCs.Under a partnership announced Monday, the two will collaborate to offer Yahoo's Internet-based content and services through TiVo's digital video recording devices.Users of Yahoo's TV page will be able to click on a record-to-TiVo button directly from a television program listing to remotely schedule recordings.And in the coming months, possibly before the end of the year, Yahoo's traffic and weather content, as well as its users' photos will be viewable on televisions via TiVo's broadband service and easy-to-use screen menu.Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Edward Lichty, TiVo's vice president of corporate strategy, said TiVo hopes the collaboration will set the foundation for a long-term relationship.TiVo subscribers already have the ability to remotely schedule recordings from the TiVo Web site, but this will give the DVR pioneer a way to potentially tap Yahoo's large user base and gain some much-needed new customers.The Alviso, Calif.-based company has about 3.6 million subscribers but it accrued fewer new customers in its last fiscal second quarter than it did the previous year, according to the company's financial report released in August. And though the company posted its first profit in its eight-year history during that quarter, some analysts question whether the company can continue to grow as satellite and cable companies develop their own DVR technology that offer lower subscription fees.Meanwhile, Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, the leading destination on the Web, is seeing tremendous growth as more people turn to the Internet for news, entertainment, communication, and other services.But the Internet giant is also under constant pressure from rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to expand its own offerings.For both companies, TiVo in particular, the ability to let its subscribers access Yahoo's content from their televisions marks a significant development in the company's year-old campaign to expand beyond basic digital video recording services to becoming more of an entertainment hub, Lichty said.Bringing Internet access to the TV screen is nothing new. Most previous efforts -- notably WebTV -- were dismal failures. But Lichty thinks the Yahoo-TiVo offering will be different."It's not about having a Web browser on your TV and having a keyboard on your lap. It'll still be focused on the TV experience and navigating with the remote control," Lichty said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Billboard) -- Piper Jaffray analysts say about 30 percent of iPod purchasers are now repeat buyers who are either replacing an existing, earlier-generation iPod or adding to their range of styles (such as an iPod Shuffle and a video iPod).If the average lifespan of an iPod is about 1.5 years, what happens to the older models?Analysts say most users hand down their iPods to friends or family once they purchase a new one. Some simply throw them away.Increasingly, however, consumers are capitalizing on the growing iPod phenomenon by selling their used iPods for cash or as a trade-in toward a new device.And it is not just for bargain hunters, either. With the popular iPod Mini being discontinued, many fans have turned to the refurbished market to track down a favorite color in what is becoming a cult-nostalgia item."There is an emerging market for older iPods," Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says."Apple discontinues successful products that people feel some sort of connection to. They're the retro-cool thing."Internet auction site eBay has literally thousands of iPod and iPod-related products for sale. The site is considered a leading resource for those seeking an inexpensive way to join the iPod revolution. So is Web site Craigslist.With 28 million iPods sold worldwide, the potential for iPod refurbishment and sales has created a cottage industry of sorts.Small Dog Electronics, for instance, is an established Apple reseller that has for years sold refurbished Macintosh computers and other accessories. The company now sells around 500 used and refurbished iPods per month from its Web-based store at significant discounts. A refurbished third-generation, 30GB iPod that cost $400 in 2003 now runs for about $210, for example.The company offers up to $100 off the price of a new iPod to anyone trading in a used one. According to CEO Don Mayer, the pace of such replacements is expected to increase as iPod sales continue to grow."You have a curve that's getting larger every quarter for the installed base of iPods," he says, "so the used and refurbished ones are getting more and more prevalent. All that increases with volume."Another company, PodSwap, takes it a step further by not only offering cash for used iPods but also shipping players loaded with music that has been authorized for such distribution by artists who own the necessary rights.Both companies collect the used devices, determine and classify their condition, make whatever repairs are necessary and then clear the memory of any music files before shipping.It is a bit more loose on Craigslist and eBay. Several iPods up for auction include the sellers' music collection and instructions on how to transfer the music from the iPod to the buyer's computer. Some even take requests for additional songs to be added prior to shipping.One video iPod for sale contains an entire season of TV show "King of Queens" included.Even Apple competitors have tried to use the swap as a promotional tool. Dell offered a $100 mail-in rebate to any customer turning in an old iPod when buying one of its MP3 players.Interestingly, all the deals are better than what Apple itself offers. The company began offering iPod owners a 10 percent discount on new iPods when they trade in an older device. That translates to anywhere from $45 off a 60GB video iPod to $10 off the iPod Shuffle.Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog group said Monday his inspectors are making progress determining the extent of Iran's nuclear program, but not nearly as quickly as he would like.Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there is "a sea change" in understanding "the extent of the nature" of Iran's program.Speaking to a nonproliferation conference sponsored by the nonprofit Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he complimented the Iranians for allowing access to facilities beyond the confines of the IAEA's mandate.Just last week, IAEA inspectors visited the Parchin military complex near Tehran, where environmental samples were taken. Unlike a previous visit, inspectors did not face restrictions on what buildings they could enter.There is, however, one more location the agency wants to visit. ElBaradei said Iran should allow inspectors to tour the Lavizan facility, where high-explosive tests are conducted."We are moving in the right direction," said ElBaradei, but he called on Iran to give the IAEA more legal authority, providing more transparency on the nature of its nuclear program.This weekend Iran indicated it is ready to resume the stalled negotiations with three European nations seeking to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear enrichment program, which could be used to make weapons. The United States has supported the efforts by those nations -- Britain, France and Germany. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator has contacted the three nations to restart talks, Iranian state-run news agency IRNA said Sunday. (Full story)Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote to leaders of Britain, France, and Germany emphasizing "the necessity of conducting negotiations," the report said.Iran broke off talks with the so-called EU-3 earlier this year, saying the demand that it stop its nuclear program altogether was unacceptable.Iran insists its program is purely for energy purposes, but the United States argues Iran is using the program as a guise to try to develop nuclear weapons.U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had planned to visit Iran this month, in a trip largely aimed at restarting the stalled talks.But Annan canceled the trip after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent assertion that Israel should be "wiped off the map." Annan expressed "dismay" last week over the remarks in a rare rebuke of a U.N. member state. (Full story)

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China ordered the closure of all live poultry markets in Beijing and conducted door-to-door searches for chickens and ducks as it toughened its efforts to fight bird flu, and the World Health Organization warned that a global human flu pandemic is inevitable.Beijing also announced that 6 million birds had been slaughtered around the site of China's most recent bird flu outbreak, and WHO said it had been asked to help in the reopened investigation of the country's possible first human cases of the virus.The escalation of anti-bird flu measures in the world's most populous country came as a meeting of hundreds of international experts in Geneva opened Monday with warnings that a global human flu pandemic could cost the global economy at least US$800 billion (euro675 billion). (Full story)Experts fear the bird flu virus that is sweeping through Asia and has entered Europe could mutate into a form that is easily passed between humans, producing a pandemic that could kill millions.The virulent H5N1 strain has killed at least 62 people in Asia since 2003, and resulted in the death or destruction of millions of birds.Beijing on Sunday reopened an investigation into whether bird flu killed a 12-year-old girl and sickened two people last month in cases originally ruled not to be H5N1.Roy Wadia, a WHO spokesman in Beijing, said on Monday discussions were under way with Chinese officials about what role the agency could play in the investigation, and a decision was likely within days.China has had no confirmed human infections. But it has imposed increasingly strict measures following warnings that a human case was inevitable if China can't prevent outbreaks among its 5.2 billion chickens, ducks and other poultry.Experts are especially worried about China because of the vast scale of its poultry industry and because major migration routes for wild birds pass over it.After China's latest outbreak, in Liaoning province, east of Beijing, authorities destroyed 6 million poultry in 15 villages near the site, where the disease killed 8,940 chickens, the Xinhua News Agency said on Monday.Authorities closed all of Beijing's 168 live poultry markets as a precaution against the possible spread of the virus in the city, state television reported.In Shanghai, China's largest city, sales of live ducks, quail and other birds have been banned, officials said.In Vietnam, a leading European health official conceded that the European Union should have acted earlier to help Asian nations fight bird flu and pledged euro30 million (US$35.7 million) to help the region combat the virus.Also Monday, Swiss drug maker Roche said it would increase production of the antiviral Tamiflu to make 300 million treatments by 2007 to try to cope with international demand.At the Geneva meeting, the World Bank's lead economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Milan Brahmbhatt, warned that "panic and disruption" caused by a global human flu pandemic could cause world gross domestic product to drop by 2 percent or more -- amounting to about US$800 billion (euro675 billion) over one year.Meanwhile, authorities in Japan detected signs of a bird flu outbreak at another poultry farm close to a recently affected ranch near Tokyo, the Agricultural Ministry said Monday. Tests showed the chickens had antibodies for a virus from the H5 family -- meaning that they were infected in the past but had survived -- at Moriya Farm in the town of Ogawa in Ibaraki prefecture (state), ministry official Akiko Suzuki said.In Thailand, health authorities on Monday announced increased surveillance of patients with possible cases of bird flu to improve their chances of survival.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Five U.S. soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment have been accused of beating detainees in Iraq, the U.S. military said Monday."The allegations stem from an incident on September 7 in which three detainees were allegedly punched and kicked by the soldiers as they were awaiting movement to a detention facility," according to a news release from the U.S. military.The charges were filed November 5 after an investigation into the alleged abuse, the statement said.The announcement came on a day when President Bush told reporters that the United States does not condone torture."Our country is at war and our government has the obligation to protect the American people," Bush said in Panama City, Panama. "There is an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again. So you bet we'll aggressively pursue them. But we will do so under the law." (Watch: Bush denies U.S. torture -- 1:46 ) Bush was responding to questions about reports of secret U.S. prisons in eastern Europe. The White House's opposition to a Senate measure banning torture has also faced criticism from some in the president's own Republican Party. (Full story)Bombs kill 5 U.S. soldiersFour U.S. soldiers were killed Monday when a suicide car bomber attacked their checkpoint south of Baghdad, the coalition press office said in a written statement.The names of the dead -- part of Task Force Baghdad -- were being withheld pending notification of next of kin, and the incident is under investigation, the statement said.The deaths bring to 2,052 the number of U.S. military who have been killed in the war.Earlier Monday, the U.S. military said a roadside bomb killed a soldier with Task Force Band of Brothers near ad Dawr.The military said two other soldiers and an Iraqi translator were wounded in the late Sunday attack and taken to a military hospital.Also Monday, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into part of a U.S. military convoy in northern Mosul, setting off a blast that wounded six soldiers, a U.S. military spokesman said.Offensive in third dayFor a third day, U.S. forces and Iraqi troops battled insurgents house-to-house in Husayba, a town near the Syrian border, with Iraqi troops killing three insurgents dressed in women's clothing, a U.S. military spokesman said. (Map)The push is the latest in a series of U.S.-led offensives in northwestern Iraq since spring. The country's sprawling Anbar province, which stretches from the outskirts of Baghdad to the Syrian and Jordanian borders, has been a major front in the war.Unlike previous operations, however, an Iraqi garrison is expected to remain behind to prevent insurgents from working their way back into the city. (Watch: Troops hang 'Steel Curtain' -- 2:11 ) "What remains behind is a permanent Iraqi security force presence," said Brig. Gen. Donald Alston. "The Iraqi army is building permanent locations in these areas."In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Iraqi troops were performing "exceedingly well" in the latest assault. Asked whether it would be more successful than previous pushes, he said, "We'll soon see. We'll know."Capt. Conlin Carabine, a U.S. Marine company commander, said one Marine has died during the fighting, which began Saturday.In addition, a U.S. Marines news release said at least 36 suspected enemy fighters have been killed in the assault, which is aimed at rooting out insurgents and stanching the influx of foreign fighters.The military statement from a Marine spokesman in Ramadi said three of the insurgents who were killed were dressed as women and trying to pass a checkpoint into an area for displaced residents.The body of a suspected enemy fighter was found Monday morning rigged with a grenade in a school, according to the news release. About 3,000 U.S. troops and 550 Iraqis are taking part in the offensive. U.S. aircraft also launched Hellfire missiles and dropped 500-pound bombs on homes believed to house insurgents.Military officials said about half the buildings gave off secondary explosions, indicating ammunition was stored inside them.The military also has bombed groups of suspected insurgents as they tried to set up strongholds and ambush positions.Nine Marines have been wounded -- three each on Saturday, Sunday and Monday -- in the operation, one of the largest offensives in Iraq since the storming of Falluja last November. U.S. commanders say Husayba has been taken over by insurgents and used as a command center for operations, including the smuggling of weapons and fighters into Iraq's population centers. The operation comes in the largely Sunni Muslim region in advance of Iraq's parliamentary elections, set for December 15.Other developmentsAn Iraqi army general, Hameed Shafeeq, was wounded Monday afternoon when gunmen attacked him as he was driving in an eastern Baghdad neighborhood.Gunmen killed an inspector for Iraq's Oil Ministry on Monday, Baghdad police said. Zuhayr Hadi Azawi was gunned down in his car as he left the western Baghdad neighborhood of Tobchi.An Iraqi journalist with the newspaper Talla'far al-Yawm -- Tal Afar Today -- Ahmed Hussein Maliki, was shot and killed Monday at an Internet cafe in the city center of Mosul, said Sa'eed Ahmed Jiboori of the city's police press office. An Iraqi soldier was killed and 12 others were wounded Monday when a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi Army battalion responsible for securing oil pipelines and refineries near al-Rafza village, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Kirkuk, Kirkuk's police chief said.Five Iraqi civilians were killed and another six were wounded when a mortar round landed in the eastern Baghdad residential neighborhood of Mustansiriya around 4 p.m., police said.Two Iraqi police officers were killed and another two were wounded when a makeshift bomb exploded as they patrolled in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora around 4:30 p.m., according to police.CNN's Arwa Damon and Enes Dulami contributed to this report.

(CNN) -- U.S. Navy personnel cleared unexploded ordnance from a luxury cruise ship Monday, two days after pirates attacked the vessel off Africa, the U.S. military said.Passengers were allowed off the Seabourn Cruise Lines' Spirit and went back to scheduled events with a sightseeing tour of the Seychelles, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.The 150 passengers had been on board when pirates in two boats armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the Spirit on Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio. (Watch passengers describe attack -- 1:43)The 440-foot ship eventually was able to outrun the pirates off the coast of Somalia, Natansohn said, but not before it was hit. (Hear a witness describing the attack -- 2:34)Members of a Navy explosives ordnance disposal team led by Lt. John Stewart inspected some unexploded munitions and saw where a rocket-propelled grenade round had struck. "We then made sure that the remnants of the RPG were no longer hazardous to the ship or the passengers," Stewart said in a statement that the U.S. military issued. The Navy team removed the remains of the ordnance from the ship.Boarding thwartedPassenger Mike Rogers of Vancouver, British Columbia, said the pirates had fired rockets and guns at the ship."The captain tried to run one of the boats over, but they were small boats, about 25 feet long," he told CNNRadio affiliate CKNW in Vancouver. "Each one had four or five people on it, and [the captain] said he was going to do anything to keep them from getting on board."The captain did not hit the alarm button to alert passengers of the emergency, Rogers said. "He announced it over the speakers, because he was scared people would run up on deck, and he didn't want people on deck because they would have been shot," he said.Natansohn, the cruise line president, said the Spirit's captain immediately instituted emergency-response procedures on the ship, which has a cruising speed of 16 knots. "The occupants of those boats did not succeed in boarding the ship and eventually turned away. ... Our captain and crew did a terrific job taking responsive action," she said. One person suffered minor injuries, she said, but did not elaborate.Passenger Rogers said the ship suffered some minor damage."There's no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine," he said.In addition to its passengers, the ship was carrying a crew of about 160.Route reviewOn Thursday, the U.N. World Food Program warned that hijackings off Somalia were restricting the delivery of food assistance to the country.We're always looking for adventure, but this is probably a little more than we would normally look for. -- Deborah Natansohn, Seabourn Cruise Lines"The southern Somali coastline is one of the most dangerous in the world," the WFP said on its Web site. "In recent months, WFP's operations in Somalia have been sabotaged by the hijackings of two vessels carrying relief food. Ship owners are now demanding armed escorts to travel in these waters."Natansohn said efforts were under way to locate the pirates. "We have notified U.S., Canadian and Australian authorities, because most of our passengers come from those three countries, as well as local authorities in Africa," she said.The company will re-evaluate whether to offer future cruises off Somalia, Natansohn said. "We'll obviously be looking at the incident to determine what to do in the future," she said."We're always looking for adventure, but this is probably a little more than we would normally look for."CNNRadio's Matt Cherry and Amanda Moyer contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church it could lose its tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, church officials say.The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena to support either President Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts.The IRS warned the church in June that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy because such organizations are prohibited from intervening in political campaigns and elections.The church's rector, J. Edwin Bacon, told his congregation about the problem Sunday."It's important for everyone to understand that the IRS concerns are not supported by the facts," Bacon said.Bacon later said he chose Sunday to inform the congregation because Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu was in attendance and because he believes a decision from the IRS is imminent.He called the IRS threat "a direct assault on freedom of speech and freedom of religion."An IRS spokesman in Washington declined to comment Monday, saying he could not discuss particular cases.Some All Saints members said they feared the 3,500-member church was being singled out for its political views.All Saints has long been vocal about its positions. Its Web site mentions the upcoming special election in California and says three Republican-backed propositions would "alter the very fabric of our lives as a democracy by limiting the right to representation and the right to express a political point of view."Regas, who gave the 2004 sermon, retired 10 years ago as the church's rector.Marcus Owens, the church's tax attorney and a former head of the IRS tax-exempt section, said the agency offered to drop the proceedings if the church admitted wrongdoing. The church declined the offer, he said.The IRS has revoked a church's charitable designation at least once.A church in Binghamton, New York, lost its status after running advertisements against Bill Clinton's candidacy before the 1992 presidential election.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(AP) -- A pair of big-spending, notably nasty races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey entered their final hours Monday, as candidates made last-minute blitzes and brought in political heavy-hitters to help campaign.In New Jersey, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine and Republican Doug Forrester spent the day stumping for votes in coffee shops, train stations and senior citizen centers after a week dominated by allegations of infidelity and corruption.A Quinnipiac Poll released Monday gave Corzine a slight edge, 52 percent to 45 percent. The Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers Poll put the two closer, with Corzine leading 43 percent to 37 percent.Asked at a Jersey City rally why people should vote for him, Corzine replied: "I want them to believe I have a vision for the state of New Jersey."Forrester, who swept through diners and coffee shops with New York Gov. George Pataki, described his mood as "pumped.""I was told a year ago if we came into the final week in single digits, we'll win. We are going to do this tomorrow," he said.In Virginia, President Bush appeared in Richmond Monday night for a final rally with Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore. "You know where he stands, and you know he can get the job done," the president said. (Full story)Democrat Tim Kaine campaigned with Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, who is barred by state law from seeking a consecutive term.Recent polls show a deadlocked race between Kaine, the lieutenant governor, and Kilgore, a former attorney general."We're going to win this election -- we're going to sweep it," Kaine told several hundred gathered at the downtown Farmer's Market. "We're at the lead of this race because Virginians are asking themselves this basic question: 'Who can we trust to keep Virginia moving forward?' That's why the momentum is with us."The two gubernatorial races are the most prominent in this year's off-year election. New York; Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; San Diego, California; and Atlanta, Georgia, have mayoral races on Tuesday's ballot. Seven states are considering ballot issues.In New York, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg held onto a clear lead against Democratic underdog Fernando Ferrer. Both were out at dawn, greeting commuters in an effort to boost turnout.Ferrer made appearances with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, while Bloomberg made a final blitz around the city."Let's not take anything for granted," he told seniors at a center near Chinatown, where his speech was also translated into Chinese. "We've got to vote; we've got to keep working."In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a last minute-push for a set of proposals that pollsters indicated were on shaky ground. The initiatives would cap state spending and give Schwarzenegger more power to cut budgets, rein in public employee unions, and take away legislators' power to redistrict. (Watch: Stars battle in California -- 1:46)The gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey both broke state spending records. In New Jersey, the candidates spent more than $70 million combined on the campaign, much of it their own money.Forrester ran a TV ad quoting Corzine's ex-wife, who told The New York times that "Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." Corzine's campaign also aired some controversial spots, including a 19-year-old who lost the use of most his limbs in a wrestling match three years ago. "Doug Forrester doesn't support embryonic stem cell research; therefore, I don't think he supports people like me," said the teen, Carl Riccio.In Virginia, the harshest ad criticized Kaine, saying "Tim Kaine says Adolf Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty," referring to his opposition to capital punishment. Kaine fired back in an ad, pledging to carry out death sentences "because it's the law."Voters in both states expressed frustration."There's a lot of people starving in this country, and we're spending $60 million on ads," said Bill Mirrer, a coffee shop owner in Ridgewood, New Jersey, among the list of Monday's campaign stops.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that followed devastated many homes, buildings and, in some cases, entire neighborhoods, leaving residents and government officials to decide whether -- and how -- to rebuild.CNN.com asked readers how they would like to see New Orleans rebuilt.Here is a sampling of their responses, some of which have been edited:A) Any and all homes rebuilt should have to meet strict guidelines as to construction using mainly steel and concrete. B) 9th Ward sea level area should be raised to at least "sea level." C) Levees should be brought up to date concerning construction. New pump stations capable of pumping water at greater rate. Lee Strange, Shelby, North CarolinaBuild it all on pillars/columns. Raise the entire city structures to 25 feet above sea level. Construct an underground (underwater) subway system and an overhead monorail system. Make it a worldwide center for 21st century electronics and mechanics. Allow international [investors] and philanthropists to donate funds guaranteed by New Orleans reconstruction bonds. Include people-movers, conveyor belt-driven walkways. No roads within the city limits. Transportation to be by water taxis and ferries from the city's borders. Once city is rebuilt, tear down the levees allowing the waters to fill the "bowl." A modern Venice. Steve Martinez, Houston, TexasNobody in their right mind rebuilds a city on the coast below sea level. Find a place and rebuild it farther up the Mississippi somewhere. My tax dollars shouldn't have to go to rebuild the same city over and over again. Nature can reclaim that land and we can use it for a national park. Pam, Burtonsville, MarylandI love the wonderful city of New Orleans. The history and beauty of the area is wonderful. I would like to see it rebuilt just as it was. The low-income areas should get assistance from the state, local and federal governments. I hope that we can put race and income levels aside and just rebuild the city I love as quickly as possible. I am ready to visit again! Alison Williams, San Antonio, TexasFirst reconstruct the Mardi Gras parade routes. New Orleans is Mardi Gras! The Saints must remain in the Crescent City! The Superdome is their home field. The city cannot be itself without these two leading items on the rebuild agenda. The city will rebuild based upon these priorities. Since the French Quarter was largely intact, encourage the Quarter to be the French Quarter that visitors (party veterans) long for. Also, straighten up the NOPD!! James Sinclair, Columbia, MississippiI would love to see a light rail system. I would love to see a brand new school board that is strictly run by either the state government or outside management. I believe that would lead to the return of Fortune 500 companies to New Orleans. I would like to see areas most affected by the flooding rebuilt. But, rebuilt in a fashion as the government subsidized housing near the new Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas. I would like more money to be invested into other enterprise besides hospitality. It makes up [more than] 80 percent of the workforce in NOLA. People need other marketable skills besides dish washing and parking cars. Sallie DuPont, Washington, D.C.New Orleans can never be rebuilt and be the way it was. Its historical beauty is lost forever. I am truly sorry that I never got a chance to visit New Orleans. Thank God for books that have pictures and tell the stories of that beautiful city. Debbie Cooke, Ceres, CaliforniaGeneral Henry M. Robert had the right idea when asked to rebuild Galveston after the 1900 hurricane: Jack up the city and pump sand underneath it. It worked for Galveston, and there's no reason the same approach won't work in New Orleans. Jay Maynard, Fairmont, MinnesotaI think they should fill the entire bowl section at least 9-12 feet -- and then rebuild. Don't waste money on removing the damaged area. Just bury it very deep -- then rebuild with it on an even level. I want to see it come back. New Orleans we do love you! Susan, El Paso, TexasWith much confusion about FEMA plan of action during the aftermath of Katrina, I think more should now be focused on how to get this city back up and running. For instance, what most former NO residents fear is that once NO is rebuilt, will it be affordable for the vast majority of low-income residents? This issue should definitely be addressed: Once NO is rebuilt, make sure it's affordable for the people that truly make up the city. Also another issue is rebuilding the city with a better strategy that reflects the weather and the region. So rebuild using the Army Corps of Engineers on hand, to make sure all of the infrastructures are secure and durable for severe weather. Betty Booker, Birmingham, AlabamaIt would only make sense, since the town is practically destroyed, to move the location before rebuilding. Let the swamp area be that and rebuild the town on land that won't be so devastated in the next hurricane. Nancy Grinnell, Deming, New MexicoNew Orleans should take advantage of its elevation in the rebuilding process to create a new city unique to America that captures the New Orleans Old World charm while securing its place for the future. ... I'm thinking Venetian: canals, gondolas, etc. Perhaps accomplished using the Dutch floating city technology. Gary Moore, Dayton, OhioI think that nothing should be allowed to be built below water level. To invest the amounts of money they are talking about and then to repeat the mistakes of the past is the worst type of waste and idiocy. All of the land below water level should be turned into wetland parks, or be used for some type of aquaculture. Elizabeth Redington, Bellingham, Washington

PEARLINGTON, Mississippi (AP) -- Rows of new, bright blue water pumps sit at Charles B. Murphy Elementary School, ready for delivery.Across the parking lot, the Salvation Army hands out hot food. Signs taped to the school gym doors announce its reopening as the "Super-Duper Pearl-Mart." Inside is everything a well-outfitted Hurricane Katrina survivor needs, from blankets to board games.Help is here. Finally.Pearlington is one example of the tiny communities hidden in the pine forests and bayous along the Mississippi-Louisiana border that Katrina all but erased two months ago. While national attention focused on horror stories coming out of New Orleans, folks in these small towns say they were left to fend for themselves.It's been a slow, painful struggle since then, and some towns are doing better than others.Streets are still lined with smashed homes, cars are stuck in the mud where Katrina deposited them and the woods are jungles of fallen timber. But the roads up and down the state line are open, FEMA trailers are arriving, utility crews are busy, and there is ample food and water."It looks a lot better than it did on August 29th," said Shirley Crawford, 60, of Hickory, Louisiana, a hamlet of several hundred people about 30 miles north of New Orleans, as she watched workers cart off the last of the fallen trees from her yard. Her neighbors cleared her road themselves in the hours after the hurricane, she said.Overwhelming scopeEmergency officials said the scope of Katrina was overwhelming. The hurricane came ashore with 145 mph winds and a storm surge up to 30 feet high that sent Gulf waters surging over homes and businesses more than a mile inland.Eric Gentry, a FEMA operations specialist, said the agency set up a base camp at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, to insure rural communities weren't forgotten.But the storm clogged roads with fallen trees and debris -- sometimes even entire houses -- and slowed response times by days. Once the roads were clear, emergency workers set up supply distribution centers in areas that could serve the most people, Gentry said."The reality of it is it's just an overwhelming disaster," Gentry said. "It was days into the storm until all the roads were passable. That's one of the reasons people were told to evacuate. It takes time to get back in."Katrina destroyed emergency communications and wrecked all but one or two of the eight rescue vehicles the state deployed along the Gulf Coast, said Mike Womack, deputy director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Still, he said the National Guard managed to drop supplies in isolated areas by helicopter.State emergency officials are looking into improving disaster response training for local governments, he said, adding: "It overwhelmed the state of Mississippi without a doubt, and it overwhelmed the federal government for a period of time. Could we have done better? Absolutely. But how much money are you willing to spend to prepare for a hurricane?"Residents in threatened areas should have left before the storm, he said. "It was a mandatory evacuation area out there. Some decided not to leave."In Pearlington, a town of 1,680 people on the Louisiana-Mississippi line, the storm surge pushed houses off their foundations and deposited tugboats in woods.Pearlington doesn't have a mayor or a city council. The closest thing to a government is the volunteer fire department, and most of its members evacuated ahead of the storm. They needed three days to hack their way through the debris and get back into town, said Fire Chief Kim Jones.His firefighters did their best without outside help, Jones said, fighting fires, transforming their station into a makeshift shelter and acting as a surrogate police force. More than two weeks went by before U.S. Department of Forestry firefighters arrived and converted the elementary school into a shelter, which the Red Cross eventually took over, Jones said.Shaun Clark, who ran the Red Cross shelter in Pearlington, blamed the delays on the size of Katrina."Responding to a few families displaced by a fire is one thing. Responding to a disaster that displaced tens of thousands of people is another," Clark said of the initial delays in reaching rural areas. "FEMA just wasn't ready for this. The blueprint ... just wasn't appropriate for the scope of the disaster."Fewer than 10 people were in the shelter one recent night, down from 57 when it first opened, Clark said. Pallets of bottled water and other supplies were stockpiled in the elementary school parking lot. Shelter workers were busy distributing water pumps to local residents courtesy of Water Missions International, with another 300 pumps on their way.'One day at a time'The Rev. Bobby McGill, pastor of Holmes Chapel United Methodist Church in Pearlington, held services for about a dozen people outside the Pearl-Mart, telling them they should rely on God to get them through."As the songwriter said, we can only take it one day at a time," McGill said.But people are still hurting. Their homes are piles of splintered lumber piled in roadside ditches. Clusters of tents have sprouted all over town, and everyone wants to know why they're still waiting for a FEMA trailer when their neighbors got theirs a week ago."It was 41 [degrees] this morning, and the night before, the wind," said Debbie Drum, 40, who's been living in a tent with her husband, Ray, 45, for a month and a half. "I don't know how long we can hang on."The story was the same in Lakeshore, a loose collection of homes in the woods that surround Bay St. Louis in rural Hancock County. The Rev. Don Elbourne Jr., pastor at Lakeshore Baptist Church, said the storm shoved his church off its foundations into the road, along with 20 homes. It was three weeks before relief workers arrived, he said.Now, the roads are clear and the local elementary school is back up and running, Elbourne said. A trip through the woods revealed shiny white FEMA trailers in people's yards, but just as many tents.Over in Pearl River, Louisiana, home to about 2,000, shattered billboards and blue tarps draped across roofs are reminders of the hurricane's powerful winds, even miles inland.But traffic signals are working again, the Family Dollar store has returned to its normal 9 a.m.-8 p.m. hours and "help wanted" signs hang in the windows of the Wishbone chicken restaurant."Everything's getting back to normal now," said 27-year-old Cindy Blanchard of Pearl River.Not according to Don Lee in Pearlington. Green mold caused by flooding covers the walls and ceiling of his house. Lee, 50, who received a FEMA trailer after about a month, looked around at his demolished neighborhood and shook his head."I can't see where it's gotten a whole lot better," he said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The difference between the sexes has long been a rich source of humor. Now it turns out, humor is one of the differences.Women seem more likely than men to enjoy a good joke, mainly because they don't always expect it to be funny."The long trip to Mars or Venus is hardly necessary to see that men and women often perceive the world differently," a research team led by Dr. Allan L. Reiss of the Stanford University School of Medicine reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.But they were surprised when their studies of how the male and female brains react to humor showed that women were more analytical in their response, and felt more pleasure when they decided something really was funny."Women appeared to have less expectation of a reward, which in this case was the punch line of the cartoon," said Reiss. "So when they got to the joke's punch line, they were more pleased about it."Women were subjecting humor to more analysis with the aim of determining if it was indeed funny, Reiss said in a telephone interview.Study may aid understanding of depressionMen are using the same network in the brain, but less so, he said, men are less discriminating."It doesn't take a lot of analytical machinery to think someone getting poked in the eye is funny," he commented when asked about humor like the Three Stooges.While there is a lot of overlap between how men and women process humor, the differences can help account for the fact that men gravitate more to one-liners and slapstick while women tend to use humor more in narrative form and stories, Reiss said.The funnier the cartoon the more the reward center in the women's brain responded, unlike men who seemed to expect the cartoons to be funny from the beginning, the researchers said.The new insight could improve understanding of such conditions as depression, the researchers said."The bottom line is that I think it contributes to the foundation of understanding individual differences in humans," Reiss said. Humor is used by humans to cope with stress and to establish relationships, and it can even help strengthen the immune system.Reiss' team studied the response of 10 women and 10 men to 70 black-and-while cartoons, asking them to rate the jokes for how funny they were. While the volunteers were looking at the cartoons their brains were being studied with an MRI to determine what parts of the brains were responding.In large part, men and women had similar responses to humor, using parts of the brain responsible for the structure and context of language and for understanding juxtaposition.In women, however, some areas were more active than in men. These included the left prefrontal cortex, which the researchers said suggests a greater emphasis on language and executive processing, and the nucleus accumbens, or NAcc, which is part of the reward center.Reiss said he was surprised at the NAcc finding. The researchers theorized that because women were being more analytical they weren't necessarily expecting the cartoons to be as funny as did the men.Then, when they saw the punch line, the reward center lit up, indicating something pleasant and unexpected.Arnie Cann, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, commented: "Given the findings in the current study, that women appear to use more executive functions, it could be that they are more engaged in scrutinizing the humor to decide if it fits their views on what is acceptable humor. Once they decide the humor is OK, they could be experiencing a relief-like response."That would fit in with the finding that women experience more reward from the joke, said Cann, who was not part of Reiss' research team.Reiss' research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Actress Sutton Foster was rehearsing a number called "I'm An Accident Waiting to Happen" earlier this week when she fell and broke her arm."I wasn't even dancing," the Tony-winner said Thursday. "I was just stepping backward, and my feet went forward, and I fell backward and caught myself with my hands."She was rehearsing the musical "The Drowsy Chaperone," which is scheduled to open November 18 at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre.Foster said the show will go on, although she'll have to modify her performance until her arm heals. Such planned stunts as a dive roll through a hoop, cartwheels and complicated lifts are being eliminated.Foster won a Tony in 2002 for the Broadway production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.