BREVITAS

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

OUTLYING PRECINCTS

SWITZERLAND'S Green Party got 9.6% of the vote in the recent election.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

NATURE AND ECOLOGY

GM WATCH - Senator John Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson, and Senator
Chris Dodd have all gone on record in favor of mandatory labeling of GM
foods in Iowa as part of their presidential election campaigns. Dennis
Kucinich also supports labelling of GM foods and has led this effort in
Congress for several years. A report funded by the USDA and conducted by
Rutgers University found that 89% of the American public feels the
federal government should require the labeling of GM foods. Only 10%
felt that labeling should not be required.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8376

NY TIMES - Water levels in the Great Lakes are falling; Lake Ontario,
for example, is about seven inches below where it was a year ago. And
for every inch of water that the lakes lose, the ships that ferry bulk
materials across them must lighten their loads by 270 tons — or 540,000
pounds — or risk running aground, according to the Lake Carriers'
Association, a trade group for United States-flag cargo companies. As a
result, more ships are needed, adding millions of dollars to shipping
companies' operating costs, experts in maritime commerce estimate. . .
The International Joint Commission, which advises the United States and
Canada on water resources, is conducting a $17 million, five-year study
to determine whether the shrinking of the Great Lakes is related to the
seasonal rise-and-fall cycles or is a result of climate change, said
Greg McGillis, a spokesman for the commission. A final report is
expected in March 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/nyregion/22oswego.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

HEALTH & SCIENCE

NEWS, AUSTRALIA - A new Australian study . . . found people do not shed
fat simply because they smoked. The research found smokers lost muscle
mass, which gave them the appearance of being thinner, but the fat
instead was stored around their vital organs.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22634355-5003402,00.html


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

BEHIND THE BUSHES

UPI - Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may face criminal
prosecution, fired former U.S. attorney John McKay said in Spokane,
Wash. The U.S. Inspector General is expected to include recommendations
regarding the prosecution of Gonzales and others in a report on its
investigation that could be released as early as next month, McKay said
Friday in a speech to the Federal Bar Association, The Spokane
Spokesman-Review reported. McKay, former U.S. attorney for Western
Washington, said he believes he was fired in 2004 -- possibly on former
presidential adviser Karl Rove's orders -- because he refused to
investigate allegations of voter fraud during the election in which Gov.
Christine Gregoire narrowly edged out Republican Dino Rossi.

http://www.newsdaily.com/TopNews/UPI-1-20071022-00423400-bc-us-usattorneys.xml


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

FURTHERMORE. . .

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD - Tickets to Fenway Park for the first two games
of the Series this week are sold out, except for a small allotment to be
distributed on game days. Thousands of tickets, however, were still
available from broker services that cater to fans willing to pay a steep
markup for seats that normally sell for $50-$225. . . A pair of
grandstand seats down the right field line sold for $1,700 on the online
auction site eBay. The price jumped more than $200 during the final five
minutes of bidding.. . . At online ticket broker StubHub, the average
sale price for this week's games at Fenway, $1,465, is more than double
what fans paid during last year's World Series between the Detroit
Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals, said Joellen Ferrer, a company
spokeswoman. One Boston customer paid more than $21,500 for two box
seats behind home plate for Thursday's game, Ferrer said.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=142410&ac=PHnws

THOUSANDS OF men have responded to Philadelphia Police Chief Sylvester
Johnson's request for volunteer crime fighting help. Some 6,000 have
registered online and 7,000 have shown up in person. Johnson came in for
a lot of criticism, but he says, "Traditional policing is not working"

DALLAS MORNING NEWS - According to federal statistics, juvenile sexual
assault victims know their perpetrator a staggering 93 percent of the
time. Often, it's a family member. Frequently, it's another child.
Rarely is it a stranger. . .
A Dallas Morning News analysis of sentencing in more than 13,000 cases
of aggravated sexual assault of a child since 1991 found that four of
every 10 offenders initially received no prison time at all.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/
texassouthwest/stories/102107dntexsexoffend.c073d8.html


BBC - Firefighters have been banned from using their ladders to take
down festive bunting because it is deemed a health and safety risk. In
previous years, firefighters have helped remove decorations in the
centre of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, after the town's Gala Day in July.
Three months on, the green and white bunting is still there. The
festival committee is now trying to find another way of removing the
bunting before the winter. Bedfordshire deputy chief fire officer Graeme
Smith said: "It sounds like the world has gone mad."

A SENIOR INDIAN OFFICIAL has died after being attacked by a gang of wild
monkeys in New Delhi and falling from a balcony.
TOP31

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||