news briefs...

since i am an editor and work at a newspaper and often refer to myself as a journalist...i thought i might throw some news on this blog of mine.....enjoy....


NEW YORK (AP) — Time magazine has named Bill and Melinda Gates and rock star Bono its ‘‘Persons of the Year,’’ citing their charitable work and activism aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world health.
The magazine said 2005 was a year of extraordinary charity in which people donated record amounts in response to extreme natural disasters, from the tsunami in South Asia to Hurricane Katrina.

NEW YORK (AP) — In the year 2009, on the 25th of April, a man named Greg is supposed to get an e-mail. It will remind him that he is his own best friend and worst enemy, that he once dated a woman named Michelle, and that he planned to major in computer science.
‘‘More importantly,’’ the e-mail says, ‘‘are you wearing women’s clothing?’’
The e-mail was sent by Greg himself — through a Web site called FutureMe.org. It is one of the messages open to public view at the site, and Greg used only his first name.
FutureMe is one of a handful of Web sites that let people send e-mails to themselves and others for delivery years in the future. They are technology’s answer to time capsules, trading on people’s sense of curiosity, accountability and nostalgia.

HA HA!

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, brushing aside bipartisan criticism in Congress, said Monday he approved spying on suspected terrorists without court orders because it was ‘‘a necessary part of my job to protect’’ Americans from attack.
The president said he would continue the program ‘‘for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens,’’ and added it included safeguards to protect civil liberties.
Bush bristled at a year-end news conference when asked whether there are any limits on presidential power in wartime.
‘‘I just described limits on this particular program, and that’s what’s important for the American people to understand,’’ Bush said.

GARY, Ind. (AP) — A cafeteria worker thought it was odd that a fourth-grader would pay for his lunch with a $20 bill.
The cashier at Marquette Elementary School was right. The cashier, who also noticed that the texture of the paper wasn’t right, alerted the school’s police officer, Patrolman Greg Tatum, who asked the 10-year-old about the money.
‘‘He reached into his front pocket and pulled out more,’’ Tatum said.
The discovery Tuesday led to the arrest of three fourth-graders at the Gary school, where police and school officials confiscated $179 in counterfeit money.
All three face juvenile charges of forgery and theft, Cpl. Nelson Otano after the students were brought to the police station.
Police found the bills in a trash can next to a computer when they went to the first boy’s home Tuesday, Gary Police Cpl. Nelson Otano said.
‘‘It looked like they were trying to perfect them,’’ he said.
Police arrested two 10-year-old boys and a 12-year-old girl. In all, police identified seven fake 20s, three 10s, one five and four ones, Otano said.

WHY?

NEW YORK (AP) — Commuters who depend on two private bus lines were forced to find their own transportation after drivers walked off the job early Monday, a predicament that could soon paralyze the entire city if the transit strike widens.
The walkout at the two Queens bus lines, which together serve 50,000 commuters, came as the Transport Workers Union continued to threaten a large-scale strike beginning Tuesday. The city’s buses and subways, the nation’s largest transit system, serve up to 7 million riders per day.