A Boston woman accused of throwing a handful of change in the face of a Boston bus driver faces an assault charge. According to a police report, 23-year-old Chantal Williams boarded an MBTA bus Sunday and told the driver, "I only have this change and you're gonna let me ride this bus."
The driver, according to the report, called dispatch to have Williams removed for refusing to pay …
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Roughly a month after a wild night that left a New York hotel room in tatters and sent Charlie Sheen to the hospital, the drama continues.
Police in New York on Tuesday were investigating a harassment claim made a day earlier by a woman found locked in the bathroom of Sheen's suite during the incident at the swank Plaza Hotel. She told police the actor put his hands around her throat during the raucous evening in late October, but she managed to slip away and hid in a bathroom. She later said in a nationally televised interview Monday that the actor used racial slurs. Within hours, Sheen sued Capri Anderson claiming her version of events was a fabrication and that …
Tampa Bay Rays catcher Dioner Navarro has been injured in a home-plate collision and taken in an ambulance for X-rays.
Navarro was hurt when he tagged out Minnesota's Jacque Jones in Saturday's game.
…
Last year, the state bought 207 old cars at above-market prices -and then junked them.
The idea behind Cash for Clunkers was to make the air cleaner bytaking old polluting cars off the road.
On Thursday, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency officialspronounced the program a "tremendous success" and said they'll seekto expand it next year.
"It worked much better than we expected," said EPA Director MaryGade.
There are more than 200,000 pre-1980 cars in the Chicago area.They represent 10 percent of all cars but belch at least 30 percentof the pollution that contributes to ozone smog.
The agency bought cars from Chicago and south …
Funeral services were held in Houston for Aaron Jackson, a two-sport standout at Southern University in the late 1950s.
Jackson, who will be inducted into Southern's Athletic Hall of Fame on April 15, died recently at the age of 63.
He played football and was a member of the track and field team from 1957-60 at Southern.
He played linebacker, center and end for the Jaguars football team, earning All-America honors in 1959 at center. After making All-America in 1959, he was switched to end the next season.
Jackson was regarded as one of the best linebackers in college football and was a capable receiver. He doubled as a high jumper on the track team and was an …
Chinese stocks fell Monday morning on heavy selling of real estate developers and resource shares.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 3.4 percent, or 68.82 points, by midday to 1,931.75.
Weekend news of a European bank rescue plan failed to stir buying enthusiasm.
China Vanke, a leading property developer, dropped 4.7 percent to 5.63 yuan while Poly Real Estate sank 7.6 percent to 12.45 yuan.
Expectations that slower growth resulting from the deepening financial crisis will hurt demand continued to drag resource shares lower.
…
YOUNGSTERS from a Johnstown school are taking part in an epic 450mile charity cycle ride in aid of charity tomorrow.
Year 10 pupils from Ysgol Rhydygors, supported by staff, will get"on their bikes" to take part in the 450 mile relay ride at theCarmarthen park cycle track.
The ride takes place between 9.30am and 2pm.
The money raised will go to the Ty Hafan children's hospice.
Teacher Roger Owen said the pupils …
As of Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007, at least 3,005 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,407 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is 12 higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST.
The British military has reported 127 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 18; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, six; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, one death …
DePaul missed 14 consecutive shots in one stretch of a 48-40 loss to Georgetown on Saturday, the Blue Demons' school-record 18th consecutive defeat, making them only the third Big East team to go through the conference schedule without a victory.
DaJuan Summers scored 15 points _ 13 after halftime _ and no one else scored more than seven for Georgetown (16-13, 7-11). The Hoyas led by as many as 14 in …
Dear Diane: I am a 31-year-old virgin who has been dating awonderful man for a year. "Wayne" is everything I dreamed of in ahusband. Until I met him, I was resigned that I would never marry,because of my appearance and my disapproval of sex.
Wayne says we have many things going for us, but that sex willbe an important part of his marriage and that he is "afraid to marrya 31-year-old virgin who has never even fantasized about sex."
He knows that I'm not ready for sex and has made no demands, buthe firmly states that he "wants to live with his future wife for sixmonths before getting married." With time he thinks that I willchange my mind.
But I want to …
NEW YORK - Investors will be looking to Washington in the coming week, not for more of the economic numbers that have weighed so heavily on the markets in recent weeks, but to determine whether the winners in Tuesday's midterm elections will pursue an agenda that could affect business interests.
Although professional investors are often viewed as politically conservative, Wall Street likes what many voters hate: gridlock. The Street likes to mitigate as many risks as possible, so a moribund, non-activist government is often seen as one less variable businesses must contend with.
Investors will be waiting to see whether Democrats will make inroads, as polls have repeatedly …
Three partners, including a top money-maker, are resigning fromthe prestigious law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale.
The departure of the three men marks the second time this summerthat a group of lawyers has left Isham, which merged with Reuben &Proctor a little more than a year ago.
Separately, sources said Isham was looking for a new downtownlocation at which all lawyers would reside. Lawyers currently workout of both the Isham and the Reuben & Proctor offices.
The three, all specialists in the company's reinsurancepractice, are Ronald A. Jacks, David Spector and Steven Gilford.Jacks, 52, Spector, 40, and Gilford, 34, plan to practice together,although they did not reveal specific plans. Jacks himselfreportedly brings in at least $2 million in business and isconsidered a major loss for the firm.
William Schopf, a partner in the litigation department who camefrom Reuben & Proctor, left Isham earlier this year with threeassociates to form Schopf & Weiss.
Each of the men said he was leaving for a better opportunity andthere were no hard feelings. "We were presented with a betteropportunity, and we leave with genuine regret," Jacks said. "I havenothing but the highest regards for my friends and colleagues atIsham, Lincoln & Beale."
Paul Hanzlik, a managing partner at Isham, said although thethree men practice in the same area of law, the loss "will not be aproblem for the firm. We have several other attorneys who work inreinsurance. In that respect we are fortunate."
Hanzlik said he did not believe that the departure was relatedto the merger, but he added that "in any merger situation you havepeople who are going to find that the firm has changed. The practiceis not the same. The size of the firm obviously changes. Some mayprefer a certain sized firm."
Reuben & Proctor had about 80 lawyers and Isham had about 120.Gilford had been with Isham since he graduated from law school in1978. Spector spent 15 years there, and Jacks has been there eightyears.
Idaho's musical history began during the Civil War, when the young territory's population was mostly male and largely foreign born. Although there were talented amateur musicians who played at local dances, the chief attraction for the many men far from home and family in the east were itinerant players who went from mining camp to mining camp.
No musician who visited Boise City in the 1860s was better known or more universally admired than an Irish violinist named Johnny Kelly. His ability to move an audience of rough old miners to tears was legendary. "As an artist with the bow he had no equal in that day," recalled former Governor William McConnell in memoirs published 40 years later.
"He could make his pet instrument tell a plaintive tale of home and mother, or of tearful ones who awaited, oft in vain, the return of father, brother, or lover; again, he would arouse the reckless instincts of his hearers by some rollicking tune which told of wine and song."
Kelly's wife, a talented musician herself, usually accompanied him on his travels. In January of 1865, she sang a sentimental ballad of her own composition entitled "My Mother's Grave," and in September that year Kelly introduced "the new and popular song" "Write A Letter to My Mother." Both are examples of the sentimental tear-jerkers McConnell recalled. Wherever the Kellys went they received enthusiastic reviews in local newspapers. Comments like these were commonplace: "As a violinist, Kelly is unrivaled," and, "Mr. Kelly [is] the great violinist of the Pacific Coast."
In 1879 a Lewiston man wrote of a Kelly performance: "The old man has lost none of that fine and delicate touch of the bow that I used to hear the boys talk about when they heard him play in the palmy days of the [Boise] Basin."
As a fellow Irishman Kelly appealed to Idaho's large Irish population-the most numerous national group in the mines until the Chinese arrived in the late 1860s. McConnell called Kelly "a big-hearted son of the Emerald Isle," who often "through untoward circumstances, had to ply his trade in gambling houses and saloons rather than theaters or concert halls." McConnell's description of Kelly in action in an Idaho City gambling hall is typical of the former governor's colorful prose: "He commanded a salary second to none and was engaged in the largest gambling resort in the city. The contract under which he played included the installation of a swinging stage or platform, swung by iron rods from the upper joists, several feet above the heads of those who might stand on the main floor below. This platform was reached by a movable ladder, which, after he ascended, he pulled up out of reach of those below.
"The object was two-fold: First, when located upon his aerie, he was removed from the danger of panics, an almost nightly occurrence, caused from the sporting instincts of some visitor, who, having imbibed too freely of the regulation vest-pocket whiskey, or having suffered some real or imaginary grievance, proceeded to distribute the leaden pellets of a Colt's Navy revolver, not only into the anatomy of the offender, but quite as frequently to the serious, if not fatal injury of some innocent by-stander.
"When it is understood that it was not unusual for 500 men to be present in the room at the time these diversions occurred, it is not difficult to imagine the kind of panic liable to ensue. Hence, the first object of Kelly's lofty perch. His second object was to be above the course of flying missiles and thus preserve his violin, which was a valuable one, from the chance of being perforated by stray bullets."
Popular as he was, Kelly still had to present enough variety in his programs to hold the attention of his boisterous audiences. An Idaho Tri-weekly Statesman item of August 26, 1865, said, "John Kelly, the musician and vocalist, with his wonderful Indian, arrived in this city yesterday, and will give one of his grand parlor entertainments this evening." Kelly's "wonderful Indian" was a boy of about three who performed acrobatic feats that amazed and delighted audiences. "Willy," as he was billed, accompanied the Kellys in their travels throughout the West. It was a tough life of constant travel since there was not enough business in small towns to enable even favorite performers to appear in one place more than a night or two. The esteem the Kellys enjoyed, both in Boise and in Idaho City, is reflected in the number of "farewell concerts" sponsored by leading citizens of those towns each time the Kellys were about to leave. The papers urged everyone who loved good music to turn out and pack the house for the benefit of the performers.
Laudatory reviews from newspapers in other cities often preceded the arrival of traveling musicians, giving local audiences an idea of what to expect. However, not all of them were favorable as this 1873 example shows: "Taken all in all, the concert was well worth listening to, though it cannot be doubted that one or two attempts at singing were excruciatingly execrable."
Early musicians had to perform in very primitive places, as Kelly's experience shows, but in Boise things gradually improved. One of the city's first performing halls was a place run by a furniture maker named J.H. Slocum. In 1871 the Idaho Tri-weekly Statesman ripped him as "the little-souled extortionist who has been in the habit of renting his hall at exorbitant prices for public amusements, and then charging the public twenty-five cents a head for the privilege of sitting in his wooden chairs, the refuse stock from his shoddy shop across the street." Opposite from Slocum Hall, at the corner of Sixth and Main, stood Good Templars Hall, a much larger building that provided superior space for audiences and performers alike; it soon drove the unpopular Slocum out of business. The Good Templars were members of a temperance lodge that rented their hall for public dances as well as musical and theatrical performances.
Sonna's Opera House was Boise's first really fine facility designed for public entertainment. Peter Sonna, a hardware merchant, opened his two-story brick and iron building at the corner of Ninth and Main on January 4, 1889. The theater was on the second floor over the hardware store. Subsequent remodelings of the building have eliminated the opera house and changed its facade, but the Sonna Building is still there. Peter Sonna hired James A. Pinney, operator of a Main Street bookstore and a lifelong enthusiast of the stage and performers, to manage theatrical bookings for him.
In 1892 Pinney, a five-time mayor of the city, opened his own grand Columbia Theatre on Jefferson Street near Eighth. Memorable appearances there included some of the greatest musicians of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Certainly the word "greatest" was freely bandied about, as in May, 1894, when W.H. Sherwood was billed as "America's greatest pianist," and in 1896 when, with perhaps greater justification, Edouard Remenyi was touted as "greatest violinist." He was certainly one of the greats of his day.
Ernestine Schumann-Heink, billed as the "world's greatest contralto," performed at the Columbia Theatre in April 1904. She would visit Boise again in the 1920s, her powerful voice as great as ever. She, like other established divas, was first brought to America by Herman Grau who had begun bringing European opera stars to America 30 years earlier. In February, 1899, Jules Grau, one of the Herman's sons, treated Boiseans to an entire week of grand opera by The Grau Opera Company of New York City. Another brother, Maurice, was manager of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and London's Covent Garden Opera house at the time. Brother Matt Grau, business manager of the traveling company, told a reporter that they could manage to offer top-flight opera in small towns like Boise because they saved money by staying a week in one place rather than doing one-night stands. On the tour that brought them through Boise the Grau company had a repertoire of 27 operas--more than enough to allow them to offer a different performance every night.
In 1908, as his new Pinney Theatre was being built across the street, James Pinney brought a performer to the Columbia who really did qualify as "world's greatest." On February 10 Polish pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski dazzled a standing-room-only Boise audience. A headline proclaimed: "When Paderewski touches the ivories he makes the piano laugh and sob, scream, chatter, shout and roar." Paderewski, who would become the new Polish Republic's first Prime Minister at the end of World War I, was also chosen for the post in his country's exiled government in Britain during World War II.
Other highlights of Boise's memorable musical year of 1908 included the Chicago Symphony on April 4 and the New York Symphony on June 9, with famous director Walter Damrosch. Although Idaho's little capital city was a long way from anywhere else, it was never culturally isolated. Musical "greats" really did come here, and they have continued to come ever since.
Photograph (James A. Pinney's Columbia Theatre opened in 1892.)
Actress Gail O'Grady grew in west suburban Wheaton, far from themythical, gritty police precinct where she portrays sexy DonnaAbandando on the ABC-TV hit series "NYPD Blue." But the woman whoknew "from the time I was 4 years old" that she wanted to be anactress plays the role so convincingly that she just might win anEmmy as best supporting actress in a drama series.
But should she win, O'Grady, who started her career making TVcommercials here, won't put the Emmy statuette on the mantel of herLos Angeles area home. She fears it would fall off in an earthquake."My boyfriend (artist Robert Claypool) has the best idea. We'll turnit into a "Chia Pet" Emmy and stick it on the front porch," jokedO'Grady.
To create Abandando, O'Grady, whose grandmother is Italian,"spent a lot of time watching `Working Girl,' especially the partwhere Melanie Griffith and her girlfriends rode the Staten Islandferry to work in the morning." That's where she got the idea for the"big hair, big earrings and the clothes," adds O'Grady. B.Z.
A newly released court document shows the father of a 7-year-old Portland boy missing for more than a month told a judge he believes the boy's stepmother is involved in the disappearance.
Kaine Horman also said in his request for a restraining order against Terri Moulton Horman that investigators told him that he had been the target of a murder plot by his wife in late 2009.
The decision to obtain a restraining order late last month "was based on a lot of information provided by law enforcement," Kaine Horman said Thursday. He declined to elaborate.
Before little Kyron Horman's disappearance on June 4, Kaine Horman said his relationship with his wife was "a nice clean slate, as far as I can tell."
The court documents released Thursday appeared to confirm a report Sunday by The Oregonian newspaper about allegations that Terri Horman had sought to have someone kill her husband several months before the boy's disappearance.
Kaine Horman said in an interview with The Associated Press that Terri Horman began to suffer from postpartum depression after the birth of their daughter Kiara in 2008. He said his wife didn't tell him she was depressed, but "vented" to friends, including Desiree Young, Kyron's mother.
"I think with the birth of our daughter, she definitely changed emotionally," Kaine Horman said. "She did have some postpartum depression after the pregnancy and she had some very strong difficulties with that."
Kaine Horman said his wife has twice failed a polygraph test during the investigation into Kyron's disappearance. She shared the news of the failed tests with "a room full of people," he said Thursday.
"She would vent about the failure, talk about what she failed on, go into great detail about how she felt about it, and that happened multiple times," he said.
Police have said Terri Horman was the last known person to see the boy. She told police she left him at his school, about two miles away from their home, after an early morning science fair.
Young said Thursday at a news conference that she suspected Terri Horman's involvement soon after the boy was reported missing.
"I've known her a long time," Young said. "I know she's lying."
Young, who lives in Medford with her husband, said Terri Horman's explanation after the boy's disappearance didn't add up.
"There are just some things in there that didn't sit well with me, and it just didn't sound right," Young told The AP. "I'm very familiar with that school and there were just some things that I knew couldn't be correct."
Investigators have not named Terri Horman as a suspect or a person of interest, but in recent weeks they have focused their investigation on her. They distributed fliers asking for information on her whereabouts the day the boy vanished.
A call to Terri Horman's lawyer was not immediately returned Thursday.
A former teacher and ex-bodybuilder, Terri Horman had become increasingly isolated from family members.
Late last month, Kaine Horman moved out of the couple's home in the countryside west of downtown Portland, filed for divorce and got the restraining order against his wife _ including a provision that she not have access to firearms or ammunition.
The restraining order forbids her from coming near her husband or their 19-month-old daughter. Now his lawyer has filed a motion to amend it to force Terri Horman to vacate the family home.
The restraining order was unsealed by a judge on Thursday, following requests by a coalition of news organizations, including The Associated Press, that it be made public.
The order contained the first publicly released suspicion by Kaine Horman that his wife was connected to Kyron Horman's disappearance.
"I believe respondent is involved in the disappearance of my son Kyron who has been missing since June 4, 2010," Kaine Horman's petition reads. "I also recently learned that respondent attempted to hire someone to murder me. The police have provided me with probable cause to believe the above two statements to be true."
His statement contained no details on how Terri Horman might be involved in the boy's disappearance.
The sheriff's office has refused to confirm details of the alleged murder-for-hire plot and did so again Thursday. In a statement following the parents' news conference, the sheriff's office said "the information released during these conferences did NOT come from the Multnomah County sheriff's office."
Kaine and Terri Horman were married in April 2007. Terri Horman also has a teenage son from the first of two previous marriages.
The investigation has become one of the most intense in recent Oregon history, and has attracted national attention.
At the start of the search, Terri Horman organized friends to pass out fliers. She also appeared at two early news conferences with other members of the family.
The boy's parents on Thursday reiterated their contention that Terri Horman isn't cooperating with investigators _ despite assurances from the sheriff that she is _ and continued to call on her to tell investigators the truth.
"She needs to do the right thing, being honest," Young said.
"Whatever that truth is," Kaine Horman added.
At each family-style meal, I couldn't resist double helpings ofLindy Hobson's delicious down-home dishes. Among those that broughtout the Arnold in me were fresh peach cobbler, biscuit-topped turkeypot pie and hearty potato soup with chunks of country bacon.
Bluffdale, a 320-acre farm 70 miles southwest of Springfield,has been a family vacation spot since 1963. It is operated by Lindy,her husband, Bill, and their son, Ken, 28. Russ, a law student atDePaul University, also helps out in the summer. (The Hobsons' twoother sons live elsewhere.)
Bill's family has owned Bluffdale's land since 1820, when hisgreat-great-great-grandfather bought it from the U.S. government.About a third of the current acreage is planted with corn andsoybeans. The remainder is thick forest, much of it coveringdramatic bluffs.
The 25 or so guests work up appetites riding horseback, swimmingin the pool, canoeing on the nearby Illinois River and hiking ontrails that crisscross the bluffs. Guests can also help feed thehorses, geese, chickens and pigs, including the insatiable Arnold.There are also sunset hayrides, cookouts and after-dinner bonfires.
Between outdoor activities, guests congregate in Bluffdale'spicturesque stone farmhouse. Built in 1828, it was expanded severalyears ago to accommodate a big kitchen. From 6:30 a.m. seven days aweek, Lindy usually is found there, frying french toast forbreakfast, kneading a plump ball of dough, frosting a layer cake, ormaking pitchers of iced tea and lemonade.
A native of suburban Oak Park, Lindy was strictly a city girluntil she and Bill moved in at Bluffdale in 1955. "I'd never evenseen a farm," she said.
Lindy knew how to cook for a crowd, however, long beforeBluffdale became a vacation farm. As a student at the University ofIllinois, she lived in a residence where meal preparation was shared.Now she turns out three meals a day for 30 or more, counting thehired help, and bakes breads and desserts daily.
Guests interested in an informal cooking lesson need only ask.Lindy is happy to share recipes and demonstrate techniques, andwelcomes hands-on participation (as long as hands are scrubbedclean). During my stay, another guest and I helped make a deliciousyeast-raised tea ring filled with preserves, and good-looking knotteddinner rolls formed from ropes of dough.
Though I enjoyed every meal at Bluffdale, one of my favoritesfeatured classic country fare: juicy fried chicken, creamy sweet-sourcole slaw, potatoes browned in parsley butter, thick slices ofhomemade bread with Lindy's preserves, and cobbler made with localRed Haven peaches.
For breakfast, there were platters of hotcakes and bacon, frenchtoast with sausage, eggs cooked to order and gooey caramel rolls.One morning, Lindy served an old-time country specialty - sausage incream gravy over biscuits.
At lunchtime, we ate hamburgers and cold roast turkey onhomemade rolls, tasty soups and Lindy's own applesauce, made with asplash of cider. One day she fried delicate morsels of freshbluegill, caught in a nearby lake.
Bluffdale's corn on the cob was the best I've eaten. Billpicked it late it in the afternoon, shucked it at a picnic tableshaded by a couple of tall cottonwoods, then carried it in a big tubto the kitchen where Lindy boiled it for about 10 minutes. The youngwhite kernels were so delectable I nibbled them without butter orsalt.
Here are recipes for Lindy's peach cobbler topped with biscuits,tender knotted dinner rolls and glazed tea ring with preserves. Therolls and tea ring are made from the same sweet dough.
Hobson's Bluffdale offers farm vacations from April throughNovember. Write Hobson's Bluffdale, Eldred, Ill. 62027 or call217-983-2854. LINDY'S PEACH COBBLER
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit) Dashsalt 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 4 to 5cups sliced ripe peaches (see note) 1 teaspoon lemon juiceChunks of butter or margarine Biscuit topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup water (approximately)
In small bowl, mix 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, a dash of salt,cornstarch and cinnamon. Place peaches in saucepan, add lemon juiceand dry ingredients and toss.
Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently, then pour intogreased 8-by-8-inch baking pan. Dot peaches with several smallchunks of butter.
Make biscuit topping: In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt,dry milk and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Addwater. Mixture will be sticky.
Using a tablespoon, drop balls of the mixture on peaches,spacing them evenly, three across. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven20 to 25 minutes. Serves 9.
Note: Choose peaches that are slightly soft and have a "peachy"odor. The fruit will ripen on counter, but rock-hard peaches, eventhose that are gorgeous, are likely to be tasteless. SWEET DOUGH
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups warm water (about 105 to 115 degrees)
2 packages dry yeast
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 to 7 cups flour
In large bowl, mix sugar, salt and dry milk. Add butter andblend. Add water and mix well. Sprinkle yeast over mixture, stir todissolve, and let stand about 10 minutes or until mixture begins tofoam. Add beaten eggs and stir to blend.
Add 6 to 6 1/2 cups flour, a few cups at a time, mixing wellafter each addition. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Kneaddough, adding remaining flour as necessary, until it is smooth andslightly elastic. Place in large, greased bowl, cover with dampcloth and allow to rise in warm spot for 45 minutes to an hour, oruntil doubled in bulk. Use dough in following recipes. KNOTTED DINNER ROLLS
1/2 preceeding sweet dough recipe
Milk (for brushing tops of rolls)
Prepare dough according to recipe above. (Cover half and reservefor tea rings or another use.) Place remaining 1/2 recipe dough onfloured surface and punch down. Cut off pieces of dough about thesize of a plum, roll into cylinders 7 to 8 inches long; tie eachcylinder in knot. Place on greased cookie sheets a few inches apart,and allow to rise again in warm place about 40 to 50 minutes, oruntil about doubled in size. Brush with milk if desired. Bake in375-degree oven 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 20 to 22 rolls. GLAZED TEA RING WITH APRICOT PRESERVES
1/2 preceeding sweet dough recipe
Softened butter or margarine
Apricot preserves (or substitute another variety) Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Prepare dough according to recipe above. (Cover half and reservefor knotted dinner rolls or another use.) Turn remaining 1/2 recipedough onto floured surface; punch dough down. Divide into two equalpieces. Roll each out into rectangle about 6 inches wide, 18 incheslong and 1/8-inch thick. Brush each with softened butter and spreadwith thin layer of preserves.
Roll up long side of each rectangle, jelly roll style.Carefully transfer each roll, seam side down, to greased cookiesheet. Form each into ring; pinch ends together.
Using sharp knife, make 10 to 12 cuts in each ring, 1 1/2 inchesapart, cutting from outside. (Don't cut to center.) Turn cut sectionsunder slightly. Let rise in warm place 40 to 50 minutes or untilabout doubled in size. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven 12 to 15minutes.
Meanwhile, make glaze. Beat butter and sugar together; addmilk and vanilla. Spread on rings just after removing them fromoven. Makes 2 rings. Each serves 8 to 10.
A moderate earthquake rattled parts of Northern California's Silicon Valley on Monday, and there were no immediate reports of damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 4.3, and struck around 10:40 a.m. It was centered 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of the city of Morgan Hill, or about 16 miles (26 kilometers) southeast of San Jose.
A Morgan Hill police dispatcher said there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Bay Area Rapid Transit and San Francisco municipal transit suspended service for several minutes to do a routine after-earthquake check for damages.
Shoppers in North Dakota turned out in force on Black Friday, lending support to a prediction by the head of the state's Retail Association that holiday sales will be up, bucking the national trend.
Association President Mike Rud said he expects holiday sales in North Dakota to be up 1 to 2 percent over last year, compared with a predicted 1 percent drop nationally. North Dakota has not been hit as hard by the economic recession as other parts of the country.
"Consumer confidence is going to drive this thing," Rud said of Christmas sales. "If people are really happy with where the economy is, if that increases their confidence, they're going to be out there spending money. I think in North Dakota ... people are a little more happy with what's happening with the economy."
Will Skees, who began standing outside the Best Buy store in Bismarck at 7 p.m. Thursday so he could snatch up discounted laptops and video games Friday, said he plans to spend more money this Christmas than he did last year.
"This is the only way to get anything," he said early Friday. "It comes down to what (store) you want to stand in front of at this time of the morning _ what's got the most things that you want."
Black Friday gets its name because it traditionally was the day when huge crowds would push stores into "the black," or profitability.
Last year, sales during the holiday shopping season in North Dakota were flat. Rud blamed successive weekend storms during the last month and a half of the year that had many people digging out rather than out shopping.
North Dakota this year is snow-free. Temperatures across the state Friday morning were just slightly below freezing _ balmy weather for this time of year.
Greg Wheeler waited in 25-degree weather outside Bismarck's Target store Friday morning.
"When I met my wife and she did this _ that was 10 years ago _ I thought she was nuts," he said. "Now, 10 years later, here I am. It's kind of turned into a tradition."
North Dakota stores were filled not only with state residents but also some Canadians. Kristy Hurrell traveled from Manitoba to Fargo with her husband and children for a day of shopping.
"I leave them in the hotel, and I shop," she said, juggling several bags full of purchases at a local mall.
Rud said retailers are hopeful they will see many people like Hurrell between now and Christmas. One thing that might help, he said, is "a little snow to get them in the mood."
The dollar sagged in volatile late trading Friday amid a huge sell-off in U.S. bank stocks and talk about further drastic actions the government may take in the financial sector.
The 16-nation euro swung in a big range Friday, trading at $1.2841 late in New York, up from $1.2684 late Thursday. Earlier in the day, the euro fell as low as $1.2555 on continuing fears that financial chaos in Eastern Europe would hurt the broader region.
Meanwhile, the British pound rose to $1.4442 from $1.4302, while the dollar fell to 93.10 Japanese yen from 94.40 yen late Thursday.
Rumors swirled about the possible nationalization of Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., sending their shares plunging more than 20 percent in the early afternoon until White House press secretary Robert Gibbs reinforced that a "privately held banking system is the correct way to go."
Gibbs would not say directly, however, that President Barack Obama would never nationalize banks.
"There's a sudden increase of unknowns," said David Solin of Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Connecticut, with investors abroad concerned about possible actions by the U.S. government in the banking sector this weekend.
Gold benefited from the uncertainty, soaring past $1,000 an ounce as investors sought safety in the precious metal.
Also helping the euro were media reports that Germany was working on possible rescue options for weaker members of the 16-member euro zone, said Ron Leven, currency strategist for Morgan Stanley in New York. German officials, however, have denied this.
And in Europe, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told reporters at the European American Press Club in Paris that there are no countries that are a "weak link" in the euro zone.
"I consider that it is extremely important that each government is fully responsible for its own policies, and of course for its own fiscal policies particularly," Trichet said.
Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit, said that "Central and Eastern Europe has come under heavy fire from investors and commentators, triggering a sharp depreciation of currencies and a flurry of analyses and articles arguing that the region is doomed, set to collapse bringing Western Europe with it _ largely via the euro-zone's banking system."
In Mexico, meanwhile, the dollar hit a record 14.9822 Mexican pesos before closing at 14.7605 Friday from 14.6825 late Thursday.
The Mexican central bank cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 7.5 percent, the second cut this year. The bank auctioned off $121 million in foreign reserves to help support the peso. The country has sold off more than $15 billion in reserves to help prop up its currency, but the peso has lost more than 26 percent of its value in the past year.
In other late trading Friday, the dollar slid to 1.1548 Swiss francs from 1.1733 francs late Thursday, and dropped to 1.2484 Canadian dollars from 1.2555.
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Associated Press Writers Emma Vandore, Patrick McGroarty, Ben Feller and E. Eduardo Castillo contributed to this report.
