(CNN) -- CNN.com, in conjunction with "American Morning," asked survivors of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma to share their stories of thanks for the kind things people have done for them. Here are a few of their many responses, some of which have been edited:I am a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. This would not have been possible but for the grace of God and the people of Texas. I did not really feel safe until I reached Texas because I went through a living hell [in New Orleans]. It was like being in a concentration camp. I have read about them, but this experience was real. I would especially like to thank my e-mail buddy, Charlsie White. We met through a Lupus chat room because we both have the disease. On the Sunday night before the storm she called to ask me if I had made preparations to leave. Her exact words were, "What are you doing still in your house?" I told her my sister and I were going to stay. She said that was not a good idea, and the city could not send anyone out to get the people out of our building. This was before the storm.She got on the phone from Texas and began to call everyone she knew. After some time there was a rescue unit knocking on the doors of everyone in my building, asking us to leave. We were taken to the Superdome. I felt relief but didn't know how bad it was going to get. But we survived the ordeal of being in the dome. Charlsie has gotten together a group of friends in the town of Round Rock, Texas, and has given me a safe and happy place to begin again. I will never go back to New Orleans. All of my family members are well and accounted for. This Thanksgiving will be an extra special one, since I am going to be spending it with my new and extended family. I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I especially want to Thank Ms. Charlsie White, Ms. Katherine Merger, Mr. Bill Bradley and Nicole Bradley and all of the citizens of Round Rock, Texas. Happy Thanksgiving! Diane Ducre, Round Rock, TexasIt was the morning after Katrina, on Tuesday. My family and in-laws were staying in Brandon, Mississippi, at a hotel with a diner nearby. My two daughters and I got something to eat but they were not allowing take-out, so the rest of my family, who was at the hotel, had nothing. We did not bring a lot of food to eat and the power had gone out in the hotel. It was just chaos trying to get gas or even go somewhere to get anything to eat. On the way back into the hotel, a New Orleans evacuee and her family gave me a loaf of bread, lunch meat and pop-tarts for my kids. Just like that, she offered it to me, not even having much herself. They had nothing to go home to. People like this are the heart of America. They give to a total stranger in the same situation with no questions asked. This all happened after I just wanted take-out from a restaurant that I would pay for. This lady was a dear. I never got her name but all of us in the same situation helped each other the best we could. Our community is who we can count on. Pam Beardsley, Gautier, MississippiHi, I'm Fayaz and I am 14 years old. I'm a Katrina survivor and I would like to thank someone very special and dear to me. His name is Dan, and he was the one who helped my family to evacuate the city quickly, showing us quicker routes to get to somewhere else. When we got to Dallas, Texas, he gave us a call to ask if we were OK. We were, and so was he. So, if you could please put this on CNN.com I would love for him to see it. Fayaz Marzook, Harvey, LouisianaI can't even begin to express my gratitude for the blessings I received after having to evacuate from New Orleans for Katrina. Upon arriving in New Roads, Louisiana (and living in a donated house with 18 other people for over a month), the citizens of Livonia, Louisiana, "adopted" our family and gave us food, clothing, and prescriptions (and even offered us jobs). My school-aged family members were given uniforms, books, and even school supplies (not to mention free lunch and a position on the cheerleading squad). The most touching moment was when one of the citizens had learned of our situation and asked four of the adult women staying with us to go to a grocery store with her in Maringouin, because the grocery store owner wanted to give us food for our families. When we got there, each woman was given a basket and they told us simply to "fill them up" with whatever we needed to feed our families. To be treated with such kindness and selflessness in our time of need was beyond comprehension for me. These little cities had such big hearts, and the acceptance they showed our families and children was amazing. Jessica Landry, Terrytown, LouisianaI was in Cancun when Rita hit, and the help we received from the hotel staff and all the Cancun people was amazing. Our staff went with us to the shelters and they were trying to make things easier for us. They gave us the best places to sleep -- while they slept in the restrooms -- and when they got extra water or food they offered it immediately to us, or when the toilets were cleaned they let the foreigners use them first and so on ... All of them tried to show a smiling face to us even though they didn't know if they still would have a job after all this and some of them didn't have news about their families. Richard Boisclair, Montreal, QuebecI'll never be able to thank my ex-sister-in-law for the help and support she has given to me and my mom during Katrina. We have lost our home, cars, clothes and just about everything we ever owned. Also, a local church here has been wonderful to us -- the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, helped with medical needs and clothes, not to mention spiritual support, which has been so greatly needed. The people of Mesa, Arizona, have all been really gracious to us.But back to my sister-in-law, she's the greatest. She and my brother have been divorced for many years and she called him as soon as she heard about our plight and said if he could get us here, she'd keep us as long as it took to get back on our feet. You must understand that she has been a single woman living alone for many years now, with grown kids of her own who come to visit periodically, and also has elderly parents, not in the prime of life.I love her so much and words can never express the thanks to all those who have helped us. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There's been free dental work, and other selfless acts of help from many. Pamela Weber, Mesa, ArizonaI have six family members from New Orleans living with me until they can return home. We are especially grateful for the little things done by friends as well as strangers. One of my neighbors brings a hot breakfast over on Saturday mornings, a church member showed up at my door with a laundry basket full of cleaning products and items like toothpaste and soap. Employees at my husband's office organized a clothes drive and bake sale for our benefit. Friends coordinate donations of clothes and money from friends and neighbors. My beautician did my mother's and aunt's hair and gave them manicures. Another friend gave us his front-row Cardinals tickets for two games. Another neighbor gave us gift certificates so that we could eat out at a local restaurant. These are but a few examples. One of the most precious examples is the little boy in a parking lot who upon finding out my mother was an evacuee, ran into her arms and said, "I just want to give you a hug." We are extremely grateful for all these demonstrations of love and support. They have given us hope and restored our belief in the potential for good within all of us. Tullia Hamilton, St. Louis, LouisianaWe would like to give thanks to the ministers, Red Cross volunteers, and helpful citizens in Little Rock, Arkansas, who embraced us with their extraordinary kindness and welcomed us with heartfelt hospitality. We were fed daily meals, counseled, transported, and clothed.We would also like to offer gratitude to our loving family members and dedicated friends living in California, Washington, D.C. and Dallas, Texas; additionally the wonderful residents of Avalon Park and teachers of Timber Creek High School in Orlando, Florida.All of these wonderful people are God's unsung angels who have spread their wings with sweet love by performing caring acts of kindness. They have touched our lives in a charitable way. My family and I are truly grateful and appreciative for their consideration, assistance, and thoughtfulness during this major crisis in our lives. May God continue to shower all of you with his wonderful blessings. Charlene Tucker and family, New Orleans, LouisianaI want to thank my brother, Clyde Braud. Days after Katrina hit, he delivered supplies and gas to my home. Due to the number of trees down in the long driveway it took him and friends 45 minutes to walk and hand carry a generator to my house. Then, for the next couple of weeks, [he] spent time cutting, hauling, moving huge piles of debris. Cutting trees out of the house, off sheds, all in the name of family. Could not have done it without him! THANK YOU. Nita deBen, Covington, LouisianaOn October 16, 2005, we arrived in Cancun, Mexico, for our honeymoon. We were due to leave on Friday, October 21, but mother nature had other plans for us. We got news of the hurricane on Wednesday and we spent the whole day trying to leave Cancun, trying to get a flight anywhere in the United Sates. We were evacuated from our resort Thursday morning and by the middle of the night, Hurricane Wilma had arrived in full force.We were in an evacuation shelter with 1,500 other people (such a romantic honeymoon). During the middle of the hurricane the roof began to blow off and we were evacuated yet again to another shelter (in the middle of the hurricane). What we didn't realize was that the van and bus drivers who dropped us off at the second shelter didn't tell anyone where they left us. So, for almost 2 days we had no security and no food or water.The local people of Cancun saw this and they brought us food, water and blankets to sleep on. The people who helped us live in homes that were made of nothing to protect them from the elements and they had barely enough of anything to take care of themselves. Instead, they gave it all to us. They offered their homes to us so we can sleep on a dry surface and even offered their clothes to us (they only had about five shirts to start with). We were humbled by this experience and we owe the people of Cancun so much. These people gave us everything they have and they didn't want anything for it. We will always pray for these people and we couldn't be more thankful for the help we received. Bennett and Chrissy Fields, Monroe, North Carolina

BENNINGTON, Vermont (AP) -- A high school teacher is facing questions from administrators after giving a vocabulary quiz that included digs at President Bush and the extreme right.Bret Chenkin, a social studies and English teacher at Mount Anthony Union High School, said he gave the quiz to his students several months ago. The quiz asked students to pick the proper words to complete sentences.One example: "I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes." "Coherent" is the right answer.Principal Sue Maguire said she hoped to speak to whomever complained about the quiz and any students who might be concerned. She said she also would talk with Chenkin. School Superintendent Wesley Knapp said he was taking the situation seriously."It's absolutely unacceptable," Knapp said. "They (teachers) don't have a license to hold forth on a particular standpoint."Chenkin, 36, a teacher for seven years, said he isn't shy about sharing his liberal views with students as a way of prompting debate, but said the quizzes are being taken out of context."The kids know it's hyperbolic, so-to-speak," he said. "They know it's tongue in cheek." But he said he would change his teaching methods if some are concerned."I'll put in both sides," he said. "Especially if it's going to cause a lot of grief."The school is in Bennington, a community of about 16,500 in the southwest corner of the state.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- It's the season of giving, but all your kid seems interested in is taking. When they are bombarded with ads about the year's hot toys, it's natural for kids to want to be on the receiving end of gift-giving. But how do you handle the seasonal outbreak of the "gimmes"?Financial, parenting and education experts offer advice for turning the holiday season into a time that helps kids learn financial responsibility and the importance of giving."Fifty-three percent of parents agree that their child thinks money grows on trees," says Rosetta Jones, vice president of Visa USA, which conducted a survey of parents. She encourages parents to use the holiday season to teach their children good personal finance practices.For young children who expect presents from Santa, it's fine to preserve the magic of the season while taking the time to start very general discussions about money, with questions like "Where does money come from?" and "Why do Mommy and Daddy go to work?"Older children can learn about the family's gift-giving budget and, with help, set similar budgets of their own. Jones suggests that older kids earn their gift-giving funds to further help them develop healthy, realistic perceptions about money.Since kids learn by example, Jones says, parents should take advantage of everyday opportunities to engage them. "Managing money is not rocket science," she says. "It's just a matter of taking the time to use everyday experiences, like holiday shopping, to bring that education home and make it real for the child."Dr. Istar Schwager, founder and president of CreativeParents.com, agrees. She urges parents to help kids become savvy about consuming all through the year, by teaching them to look at packages to determine what's included in them, as well as comparison shop.She suggests that parents take their kids to the store to see if the toy they want is truly as appealing in person as it is in the ads. If a friend's child has the toy, ask if your child can try it to see if he or she really likes it. Sometimes boredom sets in faster than you think.Schwager says that although parents are under a lot of pressure from their kids, they have a responsibility to sift through what their kids are asking for and have a "reality list."If parents object to a toy because it's unsafe, is not age-appropriate or doesn't meet their values, they need to say so.Kids learn from the way parents talk to them, Schwager says, and can be surprisingly realistic if they are included in the loop and spoken to honestly and sensitively. "There are nice ways of saying 'no,' and often kids are more understanding than parents may realize."She's also a big believer in toys that have stood the test of time -- board games, riding toys, dolls and stuffed animals, blocks, puppets and other toys that challenge kids to use their imagination and play with others.Schwager reminds parents that not everything of value has to be bought, and asks them to send the message that there's more to the season than buying things. Handmade gifts, time spent together and helping others in need make the season more meaningful for kids and offer rewards of their own.At Lewis Elementary in Kennesaw, Georgia, the emphasis is on helping others before the holidays even start. Guidance counselors are made aware of families in the community who are going through tough times. The Student Council organizes and leads a canned and dry goods drive, followed by a new clothing drive for essentials, like socks and underwear, to help these families.The school adorns a "Giving Tree" with paper ornaments that bear the names of gifts on the wish lists of children from the families. Students' families buy the items and the school's guidance counselors make sure they are delivered. Many other schools have similar initiatives.Mariann Dolnick, a veteran educator at Lewis Elementary, says that this school-wide initiative is one way students learn about the rewards of giving versus receiving."It helps to take the focus off 'what I want,'" says Dolnick.She's aware of the pressures parents face as they work to earn money to provide their children with material possessions, but says she has seen many students who have lots of "things" with little knowledge of the real world.Dolnick urges parents to take time to talk to and interact with their kids."Give your kids real life experiences and fewer material things. There has to be a balance."

(Coastal Living) -- For years, seasoned travelers have touted the 150 miles of verdant Pacific coast from Puerto Vallarta south to Manzanillo as Mexico's undiscovered treasure.Remarkably, Costa Alegre, or Happy Coast, still is, despite a roster of visitors that includes A-list actors and directors, European aristocrats, Sports Illustrated swimsuit models and globe-trotting polo players.The mystique persists because Costa Alegre has preserved its natural beauty, and because its remoteness keeps the paparazzi and other modern irritants at bay. "It's just isolated enough to discourage the package tourists and spring-break hordes," says Giorgio Brignone, a member of the Italian clan that has smartly developed the stretch known as Costa Careyes. "We've always had a lot of European visitors, but now we're getting more Americans who realize it's not difficult to travel here." Frequent flights connect the United States to Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, and on the well-paved highway between them, traffic flows freely. Except, that is, for the occasional cattle drive (imagine the Pacific Coast Highway doubling as the Chisholm Trail) or party of pint-size banditos (kids blocking the road to solicit donations for school).A trio of alluring resorts -- El Careyes, Las Alamandas, and El Tamarindo -- dots a south-central section of Costa Alegre that takes little more than an hour to drive, making it feasible to stay at any or all on one trip. Each follows the example set by Giorgio's father, Gian Franco Brignone, who arrived in Careyes in the late '60s: Start with hundreds of acres of unspoiled coast; insist on careful, low-density development; and build in a style that harmonizes with nature. All three resorts offer ways to explore the lush tropical environment, spa services, varied menus that draw on fresh fish and other local ingredients, and mucho romantic atmosphere.And all draw design inspiration from the cliff-topping Careyes villas, which blend vibrant walls, patterned concrete floors, and open-sided living areas crowned with soaring thatched roofs. The style is at once contemporary, timeless, and comfortable. Visitors can rent these fabulous villas or simply admire them while staying at El Careyes Beach Resort or in the colorful casitas above neighboring Playa Rosa.El Careyes Beach ResortPainted sunset hues, the resort resembles a whimsical Mediterranean village wrapped around a palm-studded piazza. Beyond its sprawling, amoeba-shape pool lies a crescent of sand and offshore islets so picturesque that "guests sometimes compliment us for their placement," notes a waiter in the open-air dining room. The cosmopolitan crowd that comes here in the fall-to-spring high season circulates at multilingual parties in the villas, at resort restaurants, and at simple eateries along the highway.Las AlamandasTo the north, with 1,500 gloriously empty acres and a maximum capacity of 30 guests, Las Alamandas encourages guests to indulge their whims. Care to canter on a deserted beach? Your horse awaits. Fancy a candlelit dinner for two on a seaside promontory? �No problema! Owner Isabel Goldsmith created this hedonistic hacienda to her own exacting standards and welcomes visitors personally. The comfortable, color-splashed rooms feature private patios, Mexican crafts, and ample soaking tubs. The main dining area overlooks the ocean, beach, whiskery palms, and, at dusk, foraging tejones. Mexico's answer to raccoons, these creatures provide a sort of floor show as they roam to and fro, their long, curving tails gliding through the air like question marks. The bar's signature rum punch shares its name with one of the property's beaches: Soledad. The same word -- Spanish for solitude -- sums up much of the appeal of Las Alamandas, a perfect place to be alone together.El TamarindoMarrying palapa roofs, outdoor lounge areas, plunge pools and obscuring foliage, the 29 villas of 2,040-acre El Tamarindo epitomize the discreet retreat. They echo the resort's dining pavilion and adjacent pool on a personal scale. Guests can bike trails that extend across a golf course woven into the jungle, explore the shore in kayaks or have a massage in a breezy beach hut. Then follow spa director Reto Kade into the beachfront temazcal, a sweat lodge heated with rocks pulled from a bonfire.Pheasantlike birds known as chachalacas mark morning and evening with a riotous racket. Big white butterflies float by like flying handkerchiefs. And sea turtles come ashore, as they have for ages, to lay their eggs. As at the two other resorts, El Tamarindo protects the eggs from animal and human predators. Assisting the hatchlings to the water's edge, guests become part of an ancient cycle. Watching the tiny turtles wobble into the surf, knowing that only a few will make it back to reproduce, makes palpable the pulse of nature.And the desire to return. "When you come to this coast, you always come back," Giorgio declares. "Like a turtle -- only the odds are much better!" Fortunately, much of Costa Alegre will remain undisturbed for years to come, allowing repeat and first-time visitors to enjoy its not-so-secret splendors.

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Scientists monitoring earth movements in Antarctica believe they have found a singing iceberg.Sound waves from the iceberg had a frequency of around 0.5 hertz, too low to be heard by humans, but by playing them at higher speed the iceberg sounded like a swarm of bees or an orchestra warming up, the scientists said.The German Alfred Wegener institute for polar and marine research will publish the results of its study, done in 2002, in Science magazine on Friday.Between July and November 2002 researchers picked up acoustic signals of unprecedented clarity when recording seismic signals to measure earthquakes and tectonic movements on the Ekstroem ice shelf on Antarctica's South Atlantic coast.Tracking the signal, the scientists found a 50 by 20 kilometre iceberg that had collided with an underwater peninsula and was slowly scraping around it."Once the iceberg stuck fast on the seabed it was like a rock in a river," said scientist Vera Schlindwein. "The water pushes through its crevasses and tunnels at high pressure and the iceberg starts singing.""The tune even goes up and down, just like a real song." Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese space probe apparently succeeded in landing Saturday on an asteroid and collecting surface samples in an unprecedented mission to bring the extraterrestrial material back to Earth, but afterwards showed signs of trouble, Japan's space agency said.The probe, now hovering about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the asteroid, appeared to be shaking vertically due to problems with its thruster, according to spokesman Atsushi Akoh of Japan's space agency JAXA. The agency would put the probe into "safety mode" to investigate, Akoh said. The Hayabusa appeared to have touched down for a few seconds on the asteroid -- floating 290 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth -- to collect powder from its surface before lifting off again to transmit data to mission controllers, according to spokesman Kiyotaka Yashiro of Japan's space agency, JAXA. More data confirming the mission's success is expected later in the day after scientists have examined additional transmissions from the probe, Yashiro said. But JAXA will not know for sure if Hayabusa collected surface samples until it returns to Earth. It is expected to land in the Australian Outback in June 2007.If all goes well, it will be the first time a probe returns to Earth with samples from an asteroid, according to JAXA. A NASA probe collected data for two weeks from the asteroid Eros in 2001, but did not return with samples. Saturday's landing on the asteroid was Hayabusa's second, following a faulty touchdown Sunday. JAXA lost contact with the probe during that attempt and did not even realize it had landed until days later -- long after Hayabusa had lifted off into orbit. The space agency hopes that examining asteroid samples will help unlock the secrets of how celestial bodies formed, because their surfaces are believed to have remained relatively unchanged over the eons, unlike larger bodies such the planets or moons. Hayabusa fired a metal projectile shortly before 8 a.m. Japan time (11 p.m. GMT), suggesting that the asteroid had landed and collected the dust that was kicked up. The whole procedure was over in a matter of seconds, as planned. "It is only a very small amount of material, powder really," Yashiro said. The landing could compensate for a series of glitches in Japan's attempt to complete the world's first two-way trip to an asteroid. Two rehearsal touchdowns were botched, one when the spacecraft had trouble finding a landing spot, and one when a small robot rover was lost in space. Hayabusa also had a problem with one of its three gyroscopes. Hayabusa was launched in May 2003 and has until early December before it must begin its journey home. On top of recovering samples from the Itokawa asteroid, the probe is also testing a new type of ion engine that uses an electric field to accelerate positive ions to a high velocity. It swung by Earth for a gravity assist that propelled the probe toward Itokawa, JAXA said on its Web site. JAXA hopes to use the fuel-saving technology in missions further into outer space, the Web site said. The potato-shaped asteroid is named after Hideo Itokawa, the father of rocket science in Japan, and is orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars. It is 690 meters (2,300 feet) long and 300 meters (1,000 feet) wide. Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

EAST FISHKILL, New York (AP) -- Gyms are typically places to sweat, shoot hoops, backflip, benchpress or box. Then there's the Little Gym.The balance beam here has training rails, flips are done in slow-motion with Mommy holding tight, and the instructor cheers athletes who walk down the big cushy pads without falling on their diapered bottoms with a hearty, "Ta Da!"This franchise run by sisters Meredith Rockett and Dariane Mirando in the Hudson Valley suburbs caters to babies, toddlers, preschoolers and elementary kids.It's one of many kid-centric operations cropping up around the country with names like My Gym or Gymboree Play & Music. Industry experts say the gym programs catering to kids are being helped by parents spooked by the rising tide of childhood obesity and the lack of unstructured outlets for play.Mirando says that when she and her sister were growing up, "Mom would say, 'Go out and ride your bikes and I don't want to see you until dinner.' Unfortunately, society doesn't allow that anymore."Gym programs for kids are nothing new. The first Little Gym opened in 1976 and health clubs have been offering programs like "Mommy and Me Swimming" for a while. But the idea is picking up steam. Children under age 18 represent the second-fastest growing health club demographic after the over-55 crowd, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. The group reports that health club memberships for kids age 6 to 11 grew by more than a third from 1999 to 1.8 million last year.Adult chains like Town Sports International have responded with programs like Sports Club for Kids, in which participants can take a spinning class while watching a virtual reality DVD. At the same time, gyms for children are more common. The number of Little Gym franchises nationwide is expected to jump from 189 now to 244 by the end of next year, said president and chief executive officer Robert Bingham.These different gyms offer fitness programs for kids in all shapes and sizes, often with names like "Gym Dandy" or "Mighty Mites."The Fishkill Little Gym, a "Type A" clean space with multicolored mats and gymnastic equipment, focuses on programs for kids age 10 months to 12 years. Classes are designed for different age groups.A recent class run by Rockett for parents and kids age 19 months to 21/2 years centered on basic movement. Instead of full-on cartwheels, four toddling girls were encouraged to do feet-barely-leave-the-ground versions called "monkey jumps." They did donkey kicks instead of handstands. Rockett broke out jingle bells and bubbles.Coaxing and cooing her way through the 45-minute session, Rockett knows that none of the toddlers can flip backward over a parallel bar, at least intentionally. Her goal is "progressive skill building" -- breaking down athletic feats into toddler-sized portions. She cradles kids in her arms as they grab the bar, guiding them though a slow-motion pullover.In a matter of weeks, she said, some of the kids will be swinging from bars.This is a clearly noncompetitive atmosphere. Young students are prone to wandering off and teething on bean bags, and parents guiding their children through class said their main goal was to have fun. Maribeth Karas said she signed up her 1 1/2-year-old daughter for the chance to be with other kids."She likes it," Karas said. "She likes the motion and the singing -- and it makes her sleepy too!"Jane Clark, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland, said these gym programs can fill a void in developing physical skills in children. Clark helped draw up infant-through-preschooler guidelines released a few years ago by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. Those call for regular physical activity from the earliest years."Children don't go out and play like they used to, so unfortunately, we have to create these environments for them," she said.Alarm about children's physical fitness -- about 30 percent of U.S. schoolchildren are estimated to be overweight and about half of those, obese -- probably helps business too. Brooke Correia, a spokeswoman for the health club industry group, said the programs also make more sense in an era when kids' lives are heavily regimented with extracurricular activities like scouts and music. Gym time becomes yet another block on the schedule.Clark warns, though, that parents considering kid gym programs should avoid competitive games. Also, watch out for instructors that tell young kids they're doing things the wrong way."Your child should have fun," Clark said. "They should have a variety of experiences and they should be challenged to do things just a little bit better."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(AP) -- Children who are overweight face more than future health problems. They appear to have broken bones and joint problems more often during childhood than kids of normal weight, research suggests."A lot of people think that if you're an overweight kid ... that later on in life you're going to run into having heart disease or Type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Susan Yanovski, director of the obesity and eating disorders program at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases."But kids and adults who are overweight are already having problems with their mobility, fractures, and joint pain."A study led by her husband, obesity researcher Dr. Jack Yanovski, found that children and teens who were overweight were far more likely to have had a fracture than their ideal-weight peers. They also had more bone and hip joint abnormalities, which can lead to permanent deformities.The research involved 227 overweight children and adolescents and 128 who weren't overweight. The children had an average age of 12. All were enrolled in various federal health studies between 1996 and 2004 and were considered overweight if they were in the 95th percentile of weight and height for their age and sex.A review of their medical history revealed that 13 percent of overweight kids had had at least one broken bone at some point in their lives, compared with less than 4 percent of ideal-weight children.Similar results were found for how many had muscle, bone or joint pain, especially knee pain, and restricted movement."The combination of musculoskeletal pain and poor mobility may possibly lead to less physical activity ... and perpetuate the vicious cycle," said Yanovski, head of the growth and obesity program at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He presented results of the study at a recent meeting of the Obesity Society in Vancouver, British Columbia.Caleb Ezzard knows the problem well.With 362 pounds on his 5-foot-4-inch frame, the 14-year-old from Louisville, Ky., developed Blount's disease, a growth disorder of the shin bone that causes the lower legs to bow inward."I used to play football," but the bone problem put an end to that, he said. "When I would run, my weight would put pressure on my leg and my bones would start moving and it would hurt."Even more common than Blount's is SCFE, or slipped capital femoral epiphysis, caused by improper growth in the ball part of the ball-and-socket joint that forms the hip, said Dr. Junichi Tamai, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati.Children often say their knees hurt, but the real problem is the malformation that's starting to occur in the joint, he said. Being unable to exercise makes the situation worse.Active kids' bones are strong"If a child is very active, chances are the bones are very strong," because weight-bearing exercise promotes bone density, Tamai said."Also, a very active child may be able to fall better," he said. If kids have too many pounds on their frame, "when they fall, there's just more weight behind it" and bones are more likely to snap.Hormones are believed to play a role, too."What we generally see is that lean, muscular young men have the hardest bone, and that goes along with the testosterone," which can be lower in very overweight boys, Tamai said.In Caleb's case, orthopedic surgeries could only partly resolve the leg issues. In October, he had obesity surgery at the Cincinnati children's hospital, hoping to get at the underlying problem."We've tried Weight Watchers, we've tried Slimfast, we tried the fitness centers with not much success," said Caleb's stepfather, Steven Reed.Caleb said that other family members' experiences convinced him to have the gastric bypass operation."I didn't start wanting it until I saw the success it had with my uncle," he said.His weight is starting to drop, but he won't be able to consider much exercise until it falls some more."It's painful to walk," he said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- "Let's do it."With those last words, convicted killer Gary Gilmore ushered in the modern era of capital punishment in the United States, an age of busy death chambers that will likely see its 1,000th execution in the coming days.After a 10-year moratorium, Gilmore in 1977 became the first person executed following a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision that validated state laws to reform the capital punishment system. Since then, 997 prisoners have been executed, and next week, the 998th, 999th and 1,000th are scheduled to die.Robin Lovitt, 41, will likely be the one to earn that macabre distinction next Wednesday. He was convicted of fatally stabbing a man with scissors during a 1998 pool hall robbery in Virginia.Ahead of Lovitt on death row are Eric Nance, scheduled to be executed Monday in Arkansas, and John Hicks, scheduled to be executed Tuesday in Ohio. Both executions appear likely to proceed.Gilmore was executed before a Utah firing squad, after a record of petty crime, killing of a motel manager and suicide attempts in prison. His life was the basis for a TV miniseries and Norman Mailer's book, "The Executioner's Song."While his case was well-known, most people today probably couldn't name even one of the more than 3,400 prisoners -- including 118 foreign nationals -- on death row in the U.S. In the last 28 years, the U.S. has executed on average one person every 10 days.The focus of the debate on capital punishment was once the question of whether it served as a deterrent to crime. Today, the argument is more on whether the government can be trusted not to execute an innocent person.Thomas Hill, an attorney for a death row inmate in Ohio who recently won a second stay of execution, thinks the answer is obvious."We have a criminal system that makes mistakes. If you accept that proposition, that means you have to be prepared for the inevitability that some are sentenced to death for crimes they didn't commit," Hill said.But advocates of the death penalty argue that its opponents are elitist liberals who are ignoring the real victims."Since 1999, we've had 100,000 innocent people murdered in the U.S., but nobody is planning on commemorating all those people killed," said Michael Paranzino, president of Throw Away the Key, a group that supports the death penalty.The race factorRace also is a key question in the debate. Since 1976, 58 percent of those executed in the U.S. were white while 34 percent were black, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But non-Latino whites make up 75 percent of the U.S. population, while non-Latino blacks comprise just over 12 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.Some supporters say ending the death penalty would be harmful to poor minorities, who are disproportionately murder victims."Increasingly violent crime is primarily for the working class folks, poor people and people of color," Paranzino said.Opponents of capital punishment also point to the unfair role of class and race in death penalty cases. "The race of the victims has a lot to do with who winds up getting executed," said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, a legal clinic that seeks to exonerate inmates through DNA testing. "There is tremendous arbitrariness to the death penalty."Death sentences nationwide have dropped by 50 percent since the late 1990s, with actual executions down by 40 percent, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Twelve states do not have the death penalty, and at least two states -- Illinois and New Jersey -- have formal moratoriums on capital punishment, according to the center.An October Gallup poll showed 64 percent of Americans support use of the death penalty. But that is the lowest level in 27 years, down from a high of 80 percent in 1994.Still, some powerful political forces are looking to speed up the trying and executing of prisoners. Both houses of the U.S. Congress are considering bills that would lessen the ability of defendants in capital cases to appeal to federal courts.Proponents of the legislation say such appeals add up to 15 years to the process of executing a prisoner. Detractors say the law will not allow federal courts to review most cases and will result in innocent people being put to death.Executing the innocent?Since 1973, 122 prisoners have been freed from death row. The vast majority of those cases came during the last 15 years, since the use of DNA evidence became widespread. While there is no official proof an innocent person has been executed, opponents of the death penalty say the number of prisoners whose convictions have been reversed should fuel skepticism."I don't think any rational person seriously examining the evidence can have any confidence that an innocent hasn't already been executed," said Scheck.Using post-conviction DNA evidence, the Innocence Project has helped in more than half of the 163 cases vacated -- 14 of which were from death row. "We've demonstrated that there are too many innocent people on death row," Scheck said.But that argument does not impress Charles Rosenthal, district attorney for Harris County, Texas, which has sent more prisoners to the death chamber -- 85 -- than any other U.S. county and all but two states, Texas and Virginia, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice statistics."I don't know about every death penalty case in Texas, but I feel quite sure that no one that this office has had anything to do with was factually innocent," Rosenthal said.Scheck believes Rosenthal's claim is based "more on faith than fact." He noted that the police DNA lab in Houston has been shut down since 2002 because an investigation found problems with poor training and contaminated evidence."What kind of confidence can you have when the jurisdiction that executes more people than any other is fraught with unreliable testing results?" Scheck said.Questions raisedIn at least two cases, questions are being raised about whether an innocent person was put to death. In St. Louis, Missouri, Larry Griffin was convicted for the 1980 fatal shooting of a 19-year-old drug dealer, Quintin Moss. He was executed in 1995. His conviction largely rested on the testimony of a career criminal who was in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Now, a policeman whose testimony backed up the criminal's story says the man was lying, and Moss' own family thinks Griffin was innocent.In Texas, the case of Ruben Cantu, who was executed in 1993, also is receiving attention. Cantu was convicted in 1985 of killing a man and wounding another during a robbery attempt that happened the previous year, when he was 17. A decade after his execution, however, the only witness in the case and Cantu's co-defendant have both come forward to say he was innocent. (Full story)In St. Louis, City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce has led a review of 1,400 cases to see if DNA evidence can prove the guilt or innocence of those convicted. With only 12 cases left to review, evidence led to the exoneration of just three men, none of whom were on death row."Most of the time there is testing, it confirms the guilt of the defendant," Joyce said.Virginia Gov. Mark Warner is examining Lovitt's case, and could decide whether or not to grant clemency over the weekend. It would be the only likely way Lovitt could avoid execution. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reconsider the case.DNA tests on the scissors used in the stabbing were inconclusive, and the scissors were later thrown away because of a lack of storage space. One of his lawyers, former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, said though he supports the death penalty in principle, it should not apply to Lovitt for reasons "including -- above all right now -- the destruction of the DNA evidence."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Got a political perspective? Grab a camera and make a statement. With today's technology, we can all be part of a new cinematic dialogue.When Robert Greenwald made a movie to show how Wal-Mart shortchanges its employees, Ron Galloway whipped together his own response, about how Wal-Mart workers love the mega-chain. Both debuted in mid-November.By the time Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" hit video stores in October, 2004, three rebuttals were competing for shelf space.Through the use of digital technology and Internet distribution it is now easier than ever for filmmakers to push their points of view. Movies can be made quickly and cheaply, then burned onto DVDs and disseminated worldwide on the Web."You couldn't do these films with the old technology," says Greenwald. "It's tremendously exciting for the way it continues to democratize the process, from making the films to distributing them."Greenwald shot "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" with digital video cameras and edited the footage with Final Cut Pro, a Macintosh home editing system. He used the Internet to market the movie and arrange more than 7,000 community screenings.Technology also made it possible to quickly and affordably produce his previous documentaries, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" and "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism."Digital video cameras start at less than $1,000. The latest version of Final Cut Pro sells for $999.Without digital technology, Galloway never could have finished his film, "Why Wal-Mart Works & Why That Makes Some People Crazy," in time to compete with "The High Cost of Low Price." Galloway was preparing a book on the inner workings of Wal-Mart when he learned in June about Greenwald's project. He decided to turn the book into a film and timed its release to coincide with Greenwald's."We did a trailer in about two hours," Galloway said. "We cut it in the car while driving down the New Jersey Turnpike."Galloway certainly isn't the first filmmaker to use technology to rush production of a cinematic rebuttal.When Jeff Hays saw Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in July of 2004, he walked out of the theater determined to craft a response."It needed to be done and if I wasn't going to do it, I was afraid of who might," he recalls.He spent 28 days shooting his film, "Fahrenhype 9/11," which was released the same day as the "Fahrenheit" DVD. He calls it "the free-market answer."Hays' latest work, "On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report," made the initial cut for 2005 Oscar consideration.Politics and "righteous indignation" motivated Michael Wilson to make his movie, "Michael Moore Hates America," out of his apartment with borrowed cameras. Technology allowed him to share footage with an editor through a common server, so shooting and editing could happen simultaneously.It was also technology, and the national response to "Fahrenheit 9/11," that inspired David Bossie to try filmmaking as a political tool. A first-time filmmaker, he made his "Fahrenheit" rebuttal, "Celsius 41.11," in just eight weeks."Digital technology made all the difference in being able to produce and distribute this film in an affordable way," Bossie said.Bossie, whose latest work, "Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60," was released November 11, intends to change minds with his movies."Documentaries that make people think and open people's minds to a conservative political standpoint are going to have a great impact on the political process," he says. "I may not agree with some filmmakers, but the more who do it, the more acceptable and popular it becomes as a way to influence public policy."Actually, nonfiction films that espouse a political perspective are nothing new, says Malcolm Spaull, a film professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. "All documentaries reflect a point of view," he says. "What's different now is the availability of technology to everyone."Also, Spaull adds, the genre has been shaped by technology throughout its history. Portable film cameras inspired the "direct cinema" fly-on-the-wall approach to filmmaking that began in the late 1950s, he notes. Video cameras also had an impact on documentaries, but the quality was lacking."Now the technology is so ubiquitous, and it's good enough quality, that anyone who can pick up a camera and hit the trigger can start filming and making so-called documentaries," he says. "Technology is taking documentaries into the next phase."That's good news for Greenwald, who feels "democracy is not a spectator sport.""Film is the language people use today," he says.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, heavily criticized for his agency's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job."If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses -- because that goes straight to the bottom line -- then I hope I can help the country in some way," Brown told the Rocky Mountain News for its Thursday editions.Brown said officials need to "take inventory" of what's going on in a disaster to be able to answer questions to avoid appearing unaware of how serious a situation is.In the aftermath of the hurricane, critics complained about Brown's lack of formal emergency management experience and e-mails that later surfaced showed him as out of touch with the extent of the devastation. (Watch Brown is chosen as top 'political turkey' of the year -- 2:58)The lawyer admits that while he was head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency mistakes were made in the response to Katrina. He also said he had been planning to quit before the hurricane hit."Hurricane Katrina showed how bad disasters can be, and there's an incredible need for individuals and businesses to understand how important preparedness is," he said.Brown said companies already have expressed interested in his consulting business, Michael D. Brown LLC. He plans to run it from the Boulder area, where he lived before joining the Bush administration in 2001."I'm doing a lot of good work with some great clients," Brown said. "My wife, children and my grandchild still love me. My parents are still proud of me."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- R&B singer Usher makes his big-screen debut as a leading man with the romantic comedy "In the Mix."The 27-year-old Usher plays Darrell, a playboy New York City disc jockey who falls in love.Not only is he the star, he's the executive producer. Usher, whose 2004 album "Confessions" was a huge commercial and critical success, talked with The Associated Press about the movie and why he plans on staying single.Q: Why did you choose "In the Mix" for your first leading role?Usher: I took a look at the type of black films and multicultural films that had come out and I wanted to do something that would cater to the demographic of people that I have been introduced to and my fan base. That's basically 5-year-olds all the way up to 67-year-olds. During this season it would be the type of movie that everybody would be a part of.Q: Do you think "In the Mix" is the type of story that hasn't been told before?Usher: To an extent that there have definitely been films heading in this direction for a black character, for the film to be focused on the black character. To make one comparison, "A Bronx Tale." The fact that the story was based on race and this one is based more on the politics and the logistics as to how the mob really works and what goes on as well as the fact that love is colorless. You have a fly guy 26-year-old playboy. He didn't know what he was getting himself into but it had everything to do with family and his family values and what he felt like he owes the Pacelli family. I think this says a lot about us as black Americans and the views of Italian Americans.Q: Your co-star Chazz Palminteri often plays in mob films. What did he teach you about the mob?Usher: We had a conversation about the elbow talk. You know you're in trouble when a mobster or someone in the family gives you the elbow walk. They grab you by the back of the elbow and they guide you. That was one thing that I never knew, but I has seen before in movies. Now I know exactly what it meant.Q: What message do you want people to walk away with after seeing "In the Mix?"Usher: The moral of this story is: life is what happens when you are making other plans. Two, love is colorless.Q: Are you hesitant to have fans see you on the big screen in an interracial relationship?Usher: First of all, more than anything (the film is about) two people from two different worlds. I don't know anything about an interracial relationship because I don't go in it as a person who's interested in her as a relationship. My character and her character fall in love with each other. It turns into, Can we tell anybody? It doesn't start out like that.Q: You also executive produced "In the Mix." How much creative control did you have?Usher: Well, I didn't put money behind it. That title comes from being involved in the creative process from choosing the people to act opposite, script supervision, selecting people who are a part of the production team. It's pretty easy. The character was pretty much at a place where I could put myself in it. A lot of times we would work on a scene and there was basically improvisation and (we would) create the scene. Most of the glue was already there.Q: Your character is a playboy who falls in love. Is art going to imitate life?Usher: No. I like being a playboy. 2004 and 5 have been definitely a very, very hectic time for me. That's probably the reason why it is better for me to stay single because I am never home. Part of being in a relationship, you've got to have time.Q: You've been in the spotlight for more than a decade. Do you feel that you missed out on anything?Usher: It's all been here. I've been working it out in the process at a young age. I pretty much did what I wanted to do and had a supportive team around me to continue to push me in the right direction. At the age of 14 I basically fulfilled my dream and went on a journey. It's been a long and winding road, but hey, look at what happened. ... it turned out to be beneficial.Q: Who do you want to model your career after?Usher: At a young age, 16 or 17 I was introduced to a different style of entertaining outside out what I had seen on television or what I had studied or heard about. I knew about it, but I didn't really study it. Josephine Baker, Lena Horne, all those actresses and entertainers. I was introduced to Gene Kelly. I was introduced to Fred Astaire. I was introduced to Ben Vereen, Sammy Davis Jr. who were in a sense triple threats. They could sing, dance as well as act. Those people were my motivation to become more involved in the business aspect of it. It makes you a quadruple threat. You've got the singing, acting, the dancing, you get a little business in there and you might have it going on.Q: Are you nervous about "In the Mix" doing well?Usher: I would only hope that everybody could be as supportive as they possibly can. As I said I wanted to put together a piece that I felt everybody could enjoy.Q: What is the best thing about being Usher?Usher: That I am the only one of myself.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MANHATTAN BEACH, California (AP) -- Peter Gallagher's green eyes sparkle as he leans back in his dressing room and hums a tune. He looks excited, nervous and expectant. And he should. The "O.C." dad is putting out his first record ... at age 50."I knew I was going to have to put together an evening of music before I hang it up, because if I didn't do it, it would be a real terrible thing for me," says the actor on the set of his hit show.Gallagher's album "7 Days in Memphis" was released in early November by Epic Records. Bluesy and heartfelt, the collection of mostly Memphis soul covers is a great opportunity -- albeit a daunting one -- for the longtime actor and Broadway singer to showcase his singing chops."What's scary about doing a solo record like this is admitting your own taste," he says. "I don't have a character to hide behind."Not that fans of "The O.C" haven't already heard Gallagher belt out the blues.Last season, Gallagher's TV alter-ego -- jolly attorney and hip father Sandy Cohen -- jumped up on a stage and brought down the house with Solomon Burke's passionate "Don't Give Up on Me."Fans and critics praised Gallagher for his warm, thunderous voice, and record executives came calling. Epic executives urged Gallagher to record a slew of '60s and '70s songs from Memphis' Stax/Volt label in the vein of "Don't Give Up on Me." They gave him a multi-disc set of Memphis music to study.It was a perfect match."I had no idea I listened to Memphis soul as a kid," says Gallagher, who as a 12-year-old loved Stax/Volt artists such as Otis Redding and Booker T. & the MG's. Redding's 1968 hit "(Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay" is still one of his favorite songs."But no one needs to do 'Dock of the Bay' again," he says. "I just don't think you can mess with perfection. Maybe not no one, but not me."Instead, he chose lesser known songs by the likes of Carla and Rufus and Sam and Dave, and tunes such as the horn-infused "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" and the emotive soul ballad "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye." He hopes the selection will attract older baby boomers and curious younger fans akin to his 20-something castmates on "The O.C."Guests on the album include guitarist Steve Cropper of Booker T. & the MG's and soul singer Betty White.Youthfully handsome, with a thick mane of black hair, Gallagher regularly sings to his wife and two children. He's always been "a bit of a stimulation junkie," he says."The first time I sang in public, it was really a result of my music teacher's attempt to humiliate me in class because I was doing something wrong," Gallagher reminisces, grinning.Sent to the back of the class for imitating a standup bass ("dum, dum, dum," he hums), his teacher demanded he sing. "I remember thinking, 'this is sink or swim.' My ears were burning, and the humiliation was rising. I thought to myself, 'I'll show YOU man."'Apparently he did, because Gallagher went on to star in an array of musicals, including "Hair," "Guys and Dolls" and the lead in Pete Townshend's "Psychoderelict." Over 25 years, he's appeared in more than 50 films. In 2003 Gallagher hit the jackpot with "The O.C." -- one of Fox's most popular shows."He's always singing on set," says Efrain Cortes, an "O.C." assistant director. "He's the epitome of class, and his music reflects that. Everyone on the crew loves him."Gallagher says singing is "like being given an unbelievably great monologue, like acting times 10." But his performance anxiety is equally multiplied."I was staring at the ceiling late at night a few weeks before recording in June, thinking, 'I have the greatest day job in the world.' I was terrified to march into that hallowed musical ground of Memphis and record and sing these songs," he says.As for touring, Gallagher's busy acting schedule just won't allow it, at least not until next June. But that won't keep him from jumping up on a stage, and soon."I'm definitely going to perform live, even if it's at a Ramada Inn near you, and I'll be selling records in the back," he says, laughing.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A video game master from Kansas City, Missouri, won a $150,000 prize on Tuesday by besting a rival in the Cyberathlete Professional League World Tour Grand Finals.Johnathan Wendel, 24, who goes by the name "Fatal1ty" in the world of multiplayer games, beat Sander Kaasjager, a player from the Netherlands known as "fnatic.Vo0," for the competition's top prize."It took a lot of practice coming into this tournament, training about eight hours a day for the last two to three weeks," Wendel told AP Television News after the event. "To win $150,000 playing a video game -- that's the best."Wendel has been playing video games since around the age of 5, when his father gave him a Nintendo system and he first played Ikari Warriors. At 15, he started taking home prizes from local competitions. At 18, he entered his first professional tournament in Dallas.Wendel, who is -- for now, at least -- skipping college, has become the leader in titles and prize money in the world of professional gaming.The Cyberathlete Professional League, the first organization of its kind, was founded eight years ago.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) -- Wendy Armstrong won't confess how much money she used to spend on scrapbooking supplies, but she does admit nearly kicking her daughter out of her nursery to make more room for the piles of paper and decorative doodads.The baby kept her room, but "believe me, it was a very hard decision," jokes Armstrong, a stay-at-home mom who lives near Portland, Oregon."This was not so much a scrapbooking hobby as a collecting hobby."Two years later, Armstrong is ready to get rid of her collection altogether.But she hasn't given up on scrapbooking. Rather, she's joining a growing number of scrapbookers who have gone digital.Armstrong, 43, now creates all of her scrapbook pages entirely on her computer. No more physical cutting and pasting, no more agonizing over a layout to the point of paralysis."I had two kids, a backlog of a gazillion photos, and I was just getting to the point where I'd literally have layouts that sat on my desk for months just not quite finished," she said.Switching to digital scrapbooking brought a huge sense of relief."All of a sudden I didn't totally panic about finishing my layouts like I did with paper scrapping because I never really had to finish," said Armstrong, who has completed 240 pages in just more than a year. "It just created so much more freedom than paper scrapping."Digital scrapbooking is a fast-growing offshoot of the $2.5 billion scrapbooking industry.Motivated by the same desire to preserve memories as their traditional peers, digital scrapbookers use photo-editing software and other programs to arrange digital or scanned photographs, text and embellishments on their pages. Finished pages can be printed and inserted in standard scrapbook albums, bound in hardcover coffee table-style books, burned to CDs and DVDs or shared through e-mail.Last winter, Armstrong created a batch of pages covering her family's activities of the previous year and printed two copies, one for herself and one for her parents in Florida."There's no way I would've done a paper scrapbook to send them," she said. "Heck, I couldn't even do it for myself."Some digital scrapbookers strive for realistic pages featuring digitally created ribbons, tags and other embellishments, such as shadows that give an appearance of depth. Others adopt a more artistic style by blending photos together, or they go for the cleaner, graphic style of magazine layouts and advertisements.For many, the main appeal is flexibility: Photos and embellishments can be repositioned, resized or re-colored.And while printing pages can be expensive, digitally created "papers" and decorations can be used over and over, and many coordinated kits can be downloaded for free from dozens of Web sites.One of the most popular sites, Scrapbook Bytes, has grown to nearly 40,000 registered members since it went online in 2003.Its 34-year-old founder, Amy Edwards, said she was looking to create a welcoming place for digital scrappers to find information and inspiration -- after noticing they were getting a cool reception on sites devoted to traditional scrapbooking."I thought it was going to be just a little thing," Edwards said. "It literally flew out from under my feet. The traffic is outrageous."The increase in users has been matched by an explosion in the number of people designing their own papers and elements to share or even sell.Dianne Rigdon of Bakersfield, California, started making her own kits after downloading a few free ones and now spends 20 to 30 hours a week designing."I think scrappers are becoming savvy. They know their programs and they're starting to explore it as an art," she said. "It's not only about preserving memories."Rigdon, 42, estimates only a handful of designers make enough to earn a living."You're just happy getting any money for doing what you love to do," she said. "I enjoy the creative process ... and there's no mess. You can leave it at any moment and come back to it later, and no one's messed with it."Some traditional paper companies now offer digital kits on CD, and computer-generated layouts are making their way into scrapbooking magazines. Simple Scrapbooks magazine just published its fourth edition of Digital Scrapbooking, and about 15 percent of the layouts it publishes in its regular magazine are digital, reflecting the percentage of computer-generated layouts submitted by readers."I think it definitely has broadened the appeal of scrapbooking," said Stacy Julian, the magazine's founding editor. "So many people think scrapbooking is perhaps a kind of kitschy-crafty thing. It's made it much more accessible to people who don't have that inclination for crafts, but maybe they work with a computer all day long and they feel much more comfortable with the technical aspect of it."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- At least 75 people were killed and 53 injured when rising floodwaters reportedly swept two crowded buses away Friday in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to Indian media and authorities.In the first incident, in Tanjavure district, official Veera Shanmugha Moni said Saturday that 49 bodies had been recovered and 36 people were injured.In the second incident, in Ramnathapuram, officials told CNN 27 people were dead and 17 people had been taken to hospitals. At least 73 people were believed to be on board, authorities said, and many are unaccounted for.Heavy rains have plagued Tamil Nadu for days, according to media reports.CNN's Prithvi Banerji contributed to this report

HARBIN, China (AP) -- Authorities were making last-minute preparations Sunday to restore running water to 3.8 million people in this northeastern Chinese city who were spending a fifth day without supplies after a toxic spill in a nearby river.Water service was due to resume at 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) after visiting Premier Wen Jiabao told local leaders on Saturday to see that every resident got running water.Work crews were installing more than 1,000 tonnes of carbon filters at water plants in preparation for treating water from the Songhua River once it is deemed safe, according to state-run media."We cannot allow even a single person not to have water," Wen said at a meeting of local leaders Saturday, according to state television.Wen promised a full investigation of the November 13 explosion at a chemical plant in a neighboring province that spewed 100 tonnes of toxic benzene into the Songhua. State media have criticized local officials for reacting too slowly and failing to tell the public the truth about the disaster until this week.Pictures of Wen visiting a water plant and the home of a Harbin family were on the front pages of local newspapers Sunday in an apparent effort to reassure the public about Beijing's concern for their safety.Also Saturday, the Chinese foreign minister made an unusual public apology to Moscow's ambassador to Beijing for damage caused by the benzene spill, which is flowing toward a city in the Russian Far East."Li Zhaoxing expressed his sincere apology on behalf of the Chinese government for the possible harm that this major environmental pollution incident could bring to the Russian people downstream," state television said on its national evening news.Beijing is eager to repair its damaged standing with both its public and Moscow, a key diplomatic partner.The government said benzene levels in the Songhua near Harbin had dropped below the official safety limit on Saturday. But it said a second toxin, nitrobenzene, was still above acceptable levels.The announcement this week that Harbin would shut down its water supply set off panic-buying of bottled water.On Sunday, residents lined up for another day in freezing wind holding out buckets and teakettles for water provided free of charge and delivered by truck from wells operated by factories and a beer brewery.The explosion at the chemical plant in Jilin, a city about 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Harbin killed 5 people and forced the evacuation of 10,000.But a full week went by before the government announced that the river had been poisoned with benzene.The spill has been an embarrassment to President Hu Jintao's government, which has made a priority of repairing environmental damage from 25 years of sizzling economic growth, and of looking after ordinary Chinese.Chinese officials say the toxins should reach Russia in about two weeks. Officials in the border Russian city of Khabarovsk were preparing an emergency plan including the possible shutdown of the city's water system.Oleg Mitvol, deputy chief of Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, visited the Khabarovsk region Saturday. In remarks broadcast by Russian television, Mitvol said he had arranged for a quick upgrade of the city's water purification facilities.Earlier Saturday, Wen visited the Harbin No. 3 Water Filtration Plant, where 300 paramilitary police were delivering some of the 1,400 tonnes of activated carbon sent to the city for water filtration once the Songhua is deemed safe to use.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- Demonstrators on both sides of the war debate waved signs and argued their causes in President Bush's hometown again Saturday, though their efforts drew much smaller crowds than last summer's dueling rallies.About 200 war protesters joined Cindy Sheehan on a private lot outside Bush's ranch, laughing at a Bush impersonator and crying while listening to relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq.Sheehan, whose 26-day protest in August reinvigorated an anti-war movement, called on supporters to return to the campsite during the president's Thanksgiving holiday. Saturday, she held up a picture of 20 flag-draped coffins on a plane bound for the United States. (Watch as Sheehan rallies supporters -- 1:24)"This is George Bush's exit strategy from Iraq," said Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq last year. "And we want our kids to walk off planes, not be loaded onto the back of a hearse from a loading dock. And that's why we're doing what we do."Several miles away in downtown Crawford, a dozen Bush supporters gathered with their own signs, one reading: "Real America won't wimp out."Throughout the day, dozens of others stopped by the pro-Bush tent to express their support."I'm just a flag-waver, and I disagree with what (the protesters) are saying," said Army veteran William Moore of nearby McGregor. "The fact is, we did go to war. I don't like war, but I don't want us to get out of Iraq before the job is done."The scene was far different from the last weekend in August, when several thousand Bush supporters and war protesters held separate rallies in the one-stoplight town of 700 residents. Both sides attributed Saturday's low turnout to the holiday weekend and rainy, cool weather.Saturday's biggest demonstration in Crawford turned out to be one involving about 500 Americans from Ethiopia, which has experienced political unrest and violence since the disputed May election. Demonstrators called on Bush to pressure the Ethiopian government to release detained opposition party leaders, who accused authorities of rigging the polls that returned the ruling party to power.In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush mourned the growing number of fallen troops in Iraq but vowed to keep fighting for the cause they died for. (Watch as Bush gives thanks for the troops -- 3:24)He thanked U.S. service members and military families "who are making great sacrifices to advance freedom's cause."The anti-war campsite includes small, white crosses with names of some of the more than 2,100 U.S. soldiers who have died since the war began in March 2003.Bush supporter Gary Qualls, whose son Louis died with other Marines in Iraq last fall, said he and other military families see the protest group's use of the names as disrespectful."It is time to put an end to this unwarranted, unethical and un-American protests using our fallen heroes' names," said Qualls, who created a pro-Bush camp in downtown Crawford in August.He said he had already recommended legislation to U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, to ban anyone but the media from using a fallen soldier's name or picture without family permission. Carter could not be reached for comment Saturday.On Saturday, Sheehan's group release nearly 300 blue and white balloons with anti-war messages and pictures and names of fallen soldiers.Bill Mitchell said he was honored that his son Mike was being remembered."I'm very grateful for anyone who sees pictures and reads stories about Mike and to recognize the loss," Mitchell said. "Whatever your beliefs on this war, we've lost some great boys and girls."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Thousands of people, some in tears, streamed into the Audubon Zoo on Friday, the first day it was open since Hurricane Katrina.Members of Audubon Nature Institute, which operates the zoo, were among the first visitors, with general public admission scheduled for Saturday, according to the Audubon Nature Institute. "It's a city without kids and families, and a city without kids and families is a city without soul and heart," said Ron Forman, president of Audubon Nature Institute. "So we just thought it was critical to get the thing open for Thanksgiving weekend." (Watch as families flock to the zoo -- 3:04)The reopening was so emotional for many visitors that the zoo decided to post huggers at the front gates, Forman said."As people walk in, they're crying," he said. "This is a time of sadness in this city."Like much in the city, the zoo has struggled to regain its footing after the hurricane. The zoo laid off about 600 workers.Most of the animals are fine, although two otters and a raccoon did not survive, and about 2,000 trees were destroyed. Audubon also operates the Aquarium of the Americas in the French Quarter, where about 10,000 animals died because of the hurricane. The aquarium and its Entergy IMAX Theater will open next summer at the earliest, Forman said.Another Audubon facility, the Louisiana Nature Center, may never reopen, he said. The opening for a new addition to the institute -- an insectarium -- has been pushed back to 2007.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In Alabama, a man with a history of mental illness killed two police officers with a rifle he bought on Christmas Eve.In suburban New York, a schizophrenic walked into a church during Mass and shot to death a priest and a parishioner.In Texas, a woman taking anti-psychotic medication used a shotgun to kill herself.Not one of their names was in a database that licensed gun dealers must check before making sales -- even though federal law prohibits the mentally ill from purchasing guns.Most states have privacy laws barring such information from being shared with law enforcement. Legislation pending in Congress that has bipartisan support seeks to get more of the disqualifying records in the database.In addition to mandating the sharing of mental health records, the legislation would require that states improve their computerized record-keeping for felony records and domestic violence restraining orders and convictions, which also are supposed to bar people from purchasing guns.Similar measures, opposed by some advocates for the mentally ill and gun-rights groups, did not pass Congress in 2002 and 2004.The FBI, which maintains the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, has not taken a position on the bill, but the bureau is blunt about what adding names to its database would do."The availability of this information will save lives," the FBI said in a recent report.More than 53 million background checks for gun sales have been conducted since 1998, when the NICS replaced a five-day waiting period. More than 850,000 sales have been denied, the FBI reported; in most of those cases, the applicant had a criminal record.Legislation sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York, states millions of records are either missing or incomplete. "The computer is only as good as the information you put in it," McCarthy said.In the Alabama case, police say Farron Barksdale ambushed the officers as they arrived at the home of his mother in Athens, Alabama, on January 2, 2004. Barksdale had been committed involuntarily to mental hospitals on at least two occasions, authorities said.Facing the death penalty, he has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease and defect.The shootings led Alabama lawmakers to share with the FBI the names of people who have been committed involuntarily to mental institutions. But just 20 other states provide NICS at least some names of people with serious mental illnesses, a disqualifier for gun purchases under federal law since 1968.Shayla Stewart had been hospitalized five times in Texas, twice by court order. Yet Stewart was able to buy a shotgun at a Wal-Mart in 2003 because Texas considers mental health records confidential.The same is true in New York, where Peter Troy was twice admitted to mental hospitals but bought a .22-caliber rifle that he used in the shootings inside a Long Island church in March 2002. Troy is serving consecutive life terms for the killings.As a result of the church shootings, McCarthy and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, introduced legislation that year to close the gaps in the background check system. The bill would have required the states to give the FBI their records and provided $250 million in grants to cover their costs.The bill passed the House without opposition but stalled in the Senate. In 2004, the measure again had the support of lawmakers who support gun rights, but it did not pass Congress.McCarthy, whose husband was among six people shot to death on a Long Island Rail Road train in 1993, has introduced it again this year, but it has not yet been taken up by a House Judiciary subcommittee.Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, a National Rifle Association board member, was a sponsor of the bill in the last Congress and continues to support it, spokesman Dan Whiting said. The NRA supports the concept, but it has not taken a position on McCarthy's legislation, spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said.Michael Faenza, president and chief executive of the National Mental Health Association, said forcing states to share information on the mentally ill would violate patient privacy and contribute to the stigma they face."It's just not fair. On the one hand, we want there to be very limited access to guns," Faenza said. "But here you're singling out people because of a medical condition and denying them rights held by everyone else."Several states have determined that they can flag residents who should not be allowed to buy a gun without compromising the privacy of mental health patients, said Matt Bennett, a spokesman for Americans for Gun Safety, which supports the bill.Larry Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America, said adding records to the database is the wrong idea. "Our idea of improving NICS is to abolish it," Pratt said. "There is this continuing assumption that a gun buyer is guilty until proven innocent."The states that provide some or all mental health records are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEWPORT, Kentucky (AP) -- A woman who won a $65.4 million Powerball jackpot with her husband five years ago was found dead at her home overlooking the Ohio River, where she had apparently been for days before anyone found her, police said.Virginia Metcalf Merida's son discovered her body Wednesday. Police were awaiting autopsy and toxicology results before announcing a cause of death.When the woman and her husband, Mack Wayne Metcalf, won the jackpot, they told lottery officials they were going their separate ways to fulfill their dreams. Merida planned to quit her job making corrugated boxes and buy a home. Metcalf, a forklift operator, wanted to start fresh in Australia. He never did.Metcalf died in 2003 at age 45 while living in a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate built in Corbin, Kentucky. His death followed multiple run-ins with the law, including a child-support dispute from a previous marriage and a drunken-driving charge filed before he hit the jackpot.Neighbors said Merida stayed out of public view until last December when a body was found in her 5,000-square-foot, custom-built geodesic dome house. Campbell County Deputy Coroner Al Garnick confirmed that the man died of a drug overdose. Official records of the case were unavailable because of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.Merida used part of her winnings to buy a second home, but when she tried to evict the resident, the renter sued. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.Carol Terrell Lawson, who is still renting the home, said that she never met Merida in person and only learned of the death after reporters began calling her.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - They said they'd back off, but the big automakers just can't help themselves.The incentives war heated up in earlier this month when General Motors lauched the "Red Tag Sale." Ford followed with "Keep it Simple." Chrysler now has "Miles of Freedom."Are the deals really all that great?When evaluating such deals, there is one thing you have to keep in mind. You're buying a car, not a sales gimmick. It the car's not good or if it just isn't right for you, it doesn't matter how good the incentive is.Some car companies almost never put big incentives on their vehicles, and even these "Big 3" programs come with multiple exceptions. In addition, know that car companies generally put rebates and "free gas" deals on cars because they aren't selling well.Finally, always remember that what incentives give they also take away. When the time comes to sell or trade in your car, it will be worth less than it would have been had there been no incentive.The used car market has a very good memory and it won't let you keep that rebate money forever.Where the deals are nowGM "Red Tag Event" -- General Motors says it's offering its cars at the same price employees of its auto-parts suppliers pay. That's two percent over dealer invoice plus $100, said Jesse Toprak, director of pricing for Edmunds.com, which provides data and content for CNNMoney.com and CNN.com.The price reduction is done through a combination of rebates, dealer incentives (like rebates, but the money goes to the car dealer rather than the consumer) and actual vehicle price reductions, Toprak said.In some cases, consumers will save little, if any, more with this incentive package than they could have before by simply negotiating hard or using a buying club or service.There are some cars, though, for which the price consumers actually pay under this program is substantially less than they would have paid before.Ford "Keep it Simple" -- No fancy gimmicks here. No bells, bows or tags. Ford is just offering reduced prices on most of its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars."Most," for the most part, doesn't include cars people are really clamoring to get right now. The Ford Mustang isn't being offered with discounts. Neither are the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan or Lincoln Zephyr. Those cars just came out and they're getting good reviews. Also, the Ford GT supercar is exempt from these offers.Otherwise, the Ford plan offers discounts similar to those GM is offering, said Toprak.Chrysler "Miles of Freedom" -- Is a cash discount too boring for you? How about free gas and free scheduled maintenance and an extended warranty?Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep buyers can get a Visa debit card with about $2,400 on it. The debit card can be used for any purchases you'd like, but Chrysler advertises it as gas money. Buyers will also get two years of free scheduled maintenance and a longer, 5-year, 60,000-mile warranty.Of course, all of this translates to cash in your pocket. It's worth about $3,500, to be somewhat precise, said Toprak.Many Chrysler Group vehicles had $3,500 in cash incentives before this anyway. So, for those vehicles "Miles of Freedom" just means you have less freedom to spend your money as you see fit. You have to use it for gas and maintenance.In a few cases, this incentive represents a real discount.See our gallery for some examples.Feedback

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A small, twin-engine plane carrying White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made an emergency landing in Nashville on Saturday after smoke began pouring into the cockpit, officials said.Card and 12 others on board were not injured when the Gulfstream 4 plane bound for Washington landed at the Nashville International Airport around 4 p.m., said Lynne Lowrance, an airport spokeswoman."They thought they could be having some trouble with the avionics instruments, but they weren't sure what was causing the smoke," Lowrance said.The plane left Texas where Card has been meeting with President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said."They made the decision to be safe rather than sorry," Lisaius said. "I was told it was a fairly routine matter."Lowrance said the 12 other passengers included secret service members.Bush plans to stay in Texas through Monday, when he departs for a two-day trip focusing on border security that includes stops in Arizona and El Paso, Texas.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would consider granting clemency to convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.The governor said Friday he would meet December 8 in a private hearing with Williams' lawyers, Los Angeles County prosecutors and others involved.Schwarzenegger has the authority to commute a death sentence to life without parole, but he is not obligated to hold a hearing. In Schwarzenegger's case, he decides clemency requests on a "case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said.Two other clemency petitions have come before Schwarzenegger. Neither was granted.Williams, 51, faces a lethal injection on December 13 for the 1979 slayings of a Whittier convenience store clerk and three people at a Pico Rivera motel. He has maintained his innocence and has asked the California Supreme Court to reopen his case, alleging shoddy forensics wrongly connected him to three of the murders. The Supreme Court hasn't ruled on the petition.Los Angeles County prosecutors and victims' relatives have demanded his execution.Along with asking Schwarzenegger to commute Williams' death sentence, his lawyers submitted what they said were signatures of 32,000 people supporting his petition for clemency.Supporters, including rapper Snoop Dogg and Ras Baraka, the deputy mayor of Newark, New Jersey, have urged Schwarzenegger to spare Williams' life so he can continue his work with young people as an anti-gang activist.Williams founded the Crips with a childhood friend in 1971 in Los Angeles, where the gang battled rivals for territory and control of the drug trade.In prison, however, Williams gained international acclaim for co-writing children's books about the dangers of gang life. An award-winning television movie starring Jamie Foxx, "Redemption," was based on his life.Schwarzenegger, in dealing with the two previous clemency requests, denied a hearing last year for Kevin Cooper, whose execution was later stayed by a federal appeals court, and held a public hearing this year for Donald Beardslee but declined to spare him.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- Two men remained at large Saturday night, a day after escaping from the Yakima County Jail in Washington state, authorities said.Police said Luis Soto had plans to obtain handguns after the escape and Gianno Alaimo was not a man who would surrender. The two are the last remaining fugitives from a nine-man prison break. Five escapees were captured before they got outside the prison grounds, officers said.Two of the four men who escaped the prison compound, Terry Moser and Santos Luera, were captured after police received a tip Saturday that the were hiding in the attic of Luera's sister's home in downtown Yakima. They were quickly apprehended, said Yakima Police Chief Sam Granato. (Watch as the sheriff talks about the capture -- 3:20)The men escaped using a 40-foot rope fashioned from bedsheets, said Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin. It appears the men had help from other inmates in their cell block, who "supplied blankets, et cetera," Irwin said without elaborating.Authorities released photos showing a hole in the ceiling of a cell through which the men apparently escaped. Irwin would not answer questions about the hole. "We know they were all working together," Granato told CNN. He said Moser and Luera "were the planners of the escape, Moser in particular. He assisted with another escape a few years ago."Moser and Luera were considered the most dangerous escapees, Granato said; Luera, 20, was imprisoned for second-degree murder and Moser for second-degree assault.The two were apprehended without incident. Luera was transported to a local hospital with a broken ankle, Irwin said. The other two escapees, Alaimo -- charged with second-degree assault -- and Soto -- charged with burglary -- also are considered dangerous, Granato said."We have specific information that Soto had plans to obtain two handguns south of here, and he was spotted there around 7:30 p.m. last night," the police chief said. "Alaimo has been known to carry guns in the past. ... He will not surrender willingly."Someone was waiting for the inmates on the outside when they escaped, Granato said, and that person may be driving Alaimo and Soto away from Yakima. "That's what we're trying to nail down right now what kind of vehicle they may be in," Granato said after Luera and Moser were captured.Yakima County Corrections officers learned of the escape as it was in progress, about 5 p.m. Friday. Nine men escaped, but five of them were captured on jail grounds. "It was a pretty quick and dirty job, a little bit easier than it should've been," Irwin said.The Yakima Herald-Republic reported on its Web site that Friday's escape was strikingly similar to a June 1994 jail break in which inmates accessed the jailhouse roof and used a rope made of bedsheets to get down to the ground.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The official holiday shopping season appears to have gotten off to a lukewarm start, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that monitors retail sales. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one bright spot in the crowd, reporting its sales exceeded expectations.According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000 retail outlets, the overall sales on Friday were relatively unchanged compared to a year ago, despite heavier discounting and expanded hours that drew a surge of shoppers to stores in the early morning hours.The Chicago-based research group reported total sales Friday at $8 billion, down 0.9 percent from a year ago."Although the Black Friday number is a bit flat, this may be misleading as we're comparing this to a very strong 2004 performance," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers, in a statement.He added that while Black Friday -- so named because the post-Thanksgiving surge of shoppers supposedly pushes stores into profitability for the year -- is important to merchants, it's not always the best indicator of consumer shopping patterns for the remainder of the season.In 2004, the Friday after Thanksgiving was the second busiest day of the holiday shopping season, according to ShopperTrak; the busiest day was the Saturday before Christmas. (Watch why post-Thanksgiving frenzy isn't busiest shopping day -- 1:38)In a challenging but improving economy, the nation's retailers plied shoppers Friday with heavier discounting and earlier openings than a year ago. There were also a number of newcomers to the early bird special scene, including Disney Stores and Wal-Mart's Sam's Clubs. (Watch scenes from a mall and if promotions worked -- 2:20)At Wal-Mart, the deep discounts and expanded hours appeared to have paid off.The world's largest retailer said Saturday that it expects to post a solid 4.3 percent gain in same-store sales for November, helped by better-than expected sales Friday. That's at the midpoint of its growth forecast of 3 to 5 percent. The sales results cover the four-week period through Friday.Same-store sales are sales at stores opened at least a year and are considered the best indicator of a retailer's health.Wal-Mart and the nation's other major retailers are to report their final November sales results Thursday.Wal-Mart said in a recorded telephone message Saturday that business at its namesake stores and Sam's Clubs during the company's six-hour early bird special event exceeded company projections. The company reported "good steady traffic" throughout the stores even after the deals ended.The best-selling items were computers, dolls, portable DVD players and video games, the company said. (Watch the hot high-tech presents -- 2:34)"We were very pleased. We opened early, and people came to us first," said Gail Lavielle, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. She said about 10 million people jammed the stores during the six-hour special event.After stumbling last holiday season by not offering enough discounts, Wal-Mart made an aggressive push to win over shoppers early this season. It launched a holiday ad campaign on November 1, a few weeks earlier than a year ago. And on the day after Thanksgiving, it offered deeper discounts and threw open its doors at 5 a.m, an hour earlier than a year ago.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

(CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers have been reprimanded for an incident in Afghanistan in which the bodies of two Islamic fighters were burned and a message taunting the Taliban about the cremations was broadcast, a U.S. Central Command official said.The incident became public when Australian TV showed footage of the soldiers burning the corpses, which were facing Mecca. The footage included a message challenging Taliban troops to retrieve their dead and fight.The Muslim faith forbids the burning of bodies.The burning of soldiers killed in combat is permitted under the Geneva Conventions "for hygiene reasons and religious purposes," said Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the operational commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.The soldiers who made the broadcast, working in psychological operations in Afghanistan, will also face non-judicial punishment or something similar, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said Saturday at a news conference. Two U.S. soldiers were shown last month burning the bodies. Two other U.S. soldiers broadcast the message later over loudspeakers.The bodies were burned for hygienic reasons, according to the military, and the soldiers who cremated them already have been issued "general officer memorandums of reprimand" for showing poor judgment. The other two soldiers will face something similar for making an unauthorized broadcast, Fox said.Muslim custom dictates that bodies be buried between 24 and 72 hours after death and that Muslims conduct the burial, according to an executive summary of the investigation.The executive summary states that the actions didn't violate law, but rather "highlighted poor judgment and a lack of Afghan cultural knowledge." The summary adds, "These judgment errors are serious and have been corrected with administrative actions and training."The incidents took place October 1 near Gumbad in Kandahar province, a hotbed of militant activity, after a September 30 firefight that left a U.S. soldier, an Afghan soldier and the two Taliban fighters dead.Speaking at a Saturday news conference in Kandahar, Kamiya said that October 1 in Kandahar was a sweltering day -- about 90 degrees Fahrenheit -- and the remains were heavily damaged by gunfire. They had started to decompose after being exposed to the elements for 24 hours, he said."Our investigation found there was no intent to desecrate the remains, but only to dispose of them for hygienic reasons," Kamiya said.It was the first time the soldiers' military unit had killed an enemy at close range and the first time the unit needed to determine what to do with the remains, the report states. Hours after the soldiers began burning the bodies, "a psychological operations loudspeaker team" broadcast messages toward Gumbad and a mountainous area "where the enemy was suspected to be hiding," according to the report. The two non-commissioned officers "understood that what they were doing in broadcasting the message was wrong and not in accordance with established policies and procedures," Kamiya said.Both were reprimanded -- "the most serious administrative action that the command can impose" -- according to the report. And they, along with the unit commander, will be reassigned to other duties "for rehabilitative reasons," the report states.