New England Sun-Times

New York (CNN) -- Robert F. Kennedy's son, Douglas, faces misdemeanor charges over an incident at a New York hospital last month in which he knocked down a nurse while holding his newborn son, attorneys for both sides say. He was arraigned Thursday on harassment and child endangerment charges, both attorneys said. Kennedy -- a Fox News contributor -- was trying to take his newborn son for a walk "to get fresh air" outside Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, when two nurses intervened to prevent him from leaving, they said. Kennedy, who was accompanied by a hospital doctor, allegedly twisted the arm of one nurse to move her away from a door and kicked another after she approached him on January 7, according to Elliot Taub, the attorney for both nurses. The doctor who accompanied Kennedy, Timothy Haydock, was a longtime family friend, who said the nurses had initially agreed to let Kennedy take the baby outside. "The nurses were t...

Gas prices skyrocketed an astonishing 23 cents in a week in California, to $ 4.14 a gallon, and are on a sharp rise across the country, setting off loud grumbling Thursday from motorists and prompting President Barack Obama to fire back at critics who blame him. The current California price is the highest it has been at this time of year, and analysts predict $ 4.50- or even $ 5-a-gallon gas by Memorial Day. Some Bay Area stations raised prices by 15 cents a gallon between Wednesday and Thursday, and more increases are likely in the next few days. While tensions with Iran sent crude oil costs to over $ 107 a barrel — the highest since May — refinery shutdowns on the West Coast are causing a particular problem in California, where the biggest increases have occurred. A massive fire has disabled Washington’s largest refinery since Friday, and a longer-than-expected maintenance closure at the Tesoro refinery in Martinez has slowed the flow of fuel to station...

(CNN) - Even after all of this time, he still looks like young spud. But Mister Potato Head is celebrating a big birthday this month; he's turning 60! The iconic Hasbro toy first hit the shelves back in 1952, and has been a staple in playrooms ever since. Over the past six decades, more than 100 million Mister and Mrs. Potato head toys have been sold. More than 30 licensed Potato head characters have been created, and there are more than 350 Potato Head parts and pieces on the market. That's a lot of ears, lips and feet to get lost in the toy box! Mister Potato Head has appeared in television commercials and even had a star supporting role in the hit "Toy Story" movie series. But those weren't his first brushes with stardom. He actually made history from the beginning, as the first toy in history to be advertised on television. And that's no small potatoes. Happy Birthday, Mister Potato Head! SOURCE: CNN

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The end is nigh for the Snickers bar as we know it. Mars is discontinuing its King Size Snickers bar, and even the traditional 2-ounce version of the chocolate bar is headed for the chopping block, as the venerable candy company pares down its products in the face of America's obesity epidemic. The company has replaced the King Size Snickers with the so-called "2toGo," which is two bars in one package. Each of the bars is 220 calories. The company said the package can be resealed "to save one for later."Mars also said it's putting the kibosh on chocolate bars that exceed 250 calories by the end of 2013. That means the days are numbered for its traditional 2.07 ounce chocolate bar, which weighs in at 280 calories. The candy maker sees reducing portions is a way to help fight obesity in America -- adopting the tone often heard from makers of other products facing health experts' scrutiny such as alcohol and tobac...

Girls (and some boys) as young as 11 are posting videos on YouTube asking the world to rate their looks. “Am I ugly?”  they’ll ask while posing for the camera. “Am I pretty?” is another popular one. Comments range from supportive to downright nasty. One 12-year-old girl tells the camera, “ I think I’m ugly and fat …so I just want to know what you think.” (The girl, by the way, is notably thin.) As creepy as the video itself are some of the comments. Case in point: “Damn, you’re cute. Too young for me though” and “…you are SO FUCKING UGLY…I ALMOST VOMITED SHIT.” (Charming, right?) Another high-school girl wonders why she doesn’t have a boyfriend, asking the camera, “I just wanna know… Am I pretty? Am I ugly? I can take it. You can tell me. ” What’s so disturbing about this trend is not only the fact that tweens and teens are turning to Internet trolls for affirmation, but also the fact that most comments only end up making them feel worse. Even grown men and wome...

Local television station WFLA's report on gas prices was taken to a new level on Wednesday, when two cars collided and spun out of control during a live shot. WFLA-TV's Adrienne Pedersen was reporting live in front of a gas station when the two cars crashed. Though it was audible to viewers, Pedersen seemed to have no idea what had just happened. A stunned Gayle Guyardo who anchored the program in WFLA's studio reacted to the crash. "Spun out right behind you, did you see that Adrienne?" Guyardo noted that those involved in the crash seemed to be ok and were getting out of the car. She later joked that the drivers were probably stunned "by the gas prices." ( H/T TVSpy ) Here's the Video:

For two years, Joanna P. of Gaithersburg, Md., watched her husband Adam try, and fail, to quit smoking—over and over and over. "He tried quitting cold turkey, he tried Commit lozenges, nicotine gum, and the nicotine patch," she says. In November 2007, Adam tried something different: Chantix, a pharmaceutical drug that promised to be the key to sobriety success. According to Joanna, it's worked. Not only has Adam quit smoking, it's no longer pleasurable for him to cheat. "He had a few puffs of a cigarette in January and it was tasteless and did nothing," she says. Introduced to the market in 2006, Chantix itself is still fairly new. The concept of treating addiction with medication, on the other hand, is far older—dating back the late 1940s, and a drug called disulfiram. Although they were testing it to fight intestinal parasites, researchers noticed that disulfiram had the odd, and potentially useful, side effect of making any amount o...

By Eltaf Najafizada Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama apologized for the burning of Korans on a U.S. air base, as Afghans and NATO troops died in a third day of riots over the treatment of the Islamic scripture. At least five deaths raised the riots’ Afghan death toll to 12, according to provincial officials reached by phone from Kabul. An Afghan in army uniform killed two soldiers of the U.S.-led coalition force in Afghanistan, a statement from its headquarters said. Obama wrote to Afghan President Hamid Karzai that “I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident,” in which personnel at the Bagram air base threw copies of the Koran and other books into a burning rubbish pile.  “I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies,” Obama wrote, according to a statement from Karzai’s office. “We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible,” Oba...

FORT MEADE, Md. -- An Army private accused of spilling a mountain of U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks is being asked for the first time to enter a plea to the charges. The arraignment of Pfc. Bradley Manning begins Thursday afternoon at Fort Meade near Baltimore. Officials say Manning also will be asked whether he wants to be tried by a judge or a jury. The 24-year-old native of Crescent, Okla., faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. That charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Manning has been locked up since May 2010. He allegedly gave the anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website more than 700,000 classified documents and video clips while working in Iraq. Defense lawyers say Manning was a troubled soldier who shouldn't have had access to classified material.

  By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times February 23, 2012   A panel of medical experts voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to endorse the controversial weight-loss drug Qnexa, clearing the way for the Food and Drug Adminis...

WASHINGTON -- Affirmative action is heading back to the Supreme Court, and this time its prospects for survival are poorer than ever. The Court announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to hear a challenge to the University of Texas' affirmative action program, which is used in sorting through applications after the automatic admission of all in-state applicants who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The state's top 10 percent law was passed as a race-neutral way of facilitating diversity on campus after a federal appeals court in 1996 banned affirmative action in Texas' public universities. Then in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court -- in a majority opinion written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for herself and the Court's four liberals -- approved of certain types of race-conscious admissions practices in higher education for the purpose of achieving a diverse student body. In response, the University of Texas reinstated affirm...

Mild Parental Alienation: Parents who lose control, make negative comments or exhibit negative behavior towards the other parent in front of the child, but feel bad about it later. Most parents going through a divorce engage in this level of Parental Alienation at some point. But they recognize they are wrong, worry about the effects on the child (or children), and take steps to stop inappropriate actions directed at the other parent. They understand that their child needs to have a healthy and loving relationship with both of their parents, to have the best chance of developing into a healthy adult someday. These parents rarely use the family court system to control or attack the other parent, and are rarely involved in starting a child custody battle. Moderate Parental Alienation: These parents are similar to the first parent in th...

After Jeremy Lin committed nine turnovers during the Knicks' recent loss to the New Orleans Hornets, ESPN promoted an article about the game on mobile platforms with a photo of Lin and the headline "Chink In The Armor." Within hours of publishing the racially offensive headline, ESPN issued a formal apology. Shortly thereafter, ESPN announced the firing of the editor responsible for the headline, Anthony Federico. After the Knicks won their next game against the Dallas Mavericks, Lin told reporters that he accepted the ESPN apology, saying, "[You] have to learn to forgive, and I don't even think that was intentional. Or hopefully not." Federico spoke with The Daily News , apologizing for his actions and claiming that his use of phrase was not intended as a reference to Lin's ethnicity. Expanding on his statements to the News , Federico tweeted a much longer apology on Wednesday. I wrote the headline in reference to the tone of the column an...

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff Governor Deval Patrick, continuing to ramp up his involvement in national politics, will be named today one of 30 national co-chairs of President Obama’s reelection campaign, according to aides to both men. The title, which Patrick also held in Obama’s campaign in 2008, means the governor will advise the president on political strategy, host events on his behalf, and help organize Obama’s supporters in Massachusetts. Patrick and Obama share roots in Chicago and political advisers in David Plouffe and David Axelrod, and consider one another to be friends. They often meet for dinner when the president is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. Patrick has already begun campaigning on the president’s behalf, speaking to Democratic activists in North Carolina, Colorado, and New Hampshire. He has opened a federal political action committee that allows him to finance his travel, and recently signed a deal to publish an e-book about “the ...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Smithsonian Institution officially began construction Wednesday on a new museum dedicated to African-American culture and heritage -- a complex committed to the celebration and study of one of the central components of the American story. Construction of the Smithsonian's 19th museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture -- to be located on the National Mall -- is expected to last three years. The museum is slated to open in 2015. The nation's first black commander in chief, President Barack Obama, delivered remarks highlighting the importance of the museum's location. National Museum of African American History and Culture. "It was on this ground long ago that lives were once traded, where hundreds of thousands once marched for jobs and for freedom. It was here that the pillars of our democracy were built, often by black hands," the president said. "And it is on this spot --- alongs...

BUFFALO, NY (CNN) -- As thousands of teachers face layoffs across the country, teachers in Buffalo, New York are getting lipo? Yep. And nose jobs and whatever else they want. All on the taxpayers' dime. How is this happening? This Buffalo plastic surgeon has a lot of happy patients. Dr. Kulwant S. Bhangoo says, "Let's just suppose I was a woman weighed 300 pounds, and I lost 150-160 pounds." Indeed, that's what happened to Buffalo school teacher Valerie Akauloa, but it's not just the results that make her happy, it's the sweet deal that she gets. The sweet deal that all the 3,400 teachers in Buffalo are eligible to get under one of their insurance plan options, they are billed nothing for any plastic surgery procedure, such as botox, liposuction, tummy tucks, and there is no deductible. Linda Tokarz teaches second grade and says she gets regular treatments. She says, "I think its great for us. I wouldn't want to see it ...

Sean "Diddy" Combs, Magic Johnson and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez are among minorities with new cable networks in an agreement with Comcast, the country's largest cable-TV system operator, as part of a commitment to win approval of its acquisition of NBC Universal last year. Combs plans Revolt, a music network to compete with MTV and Fuse, due next year. "We're building this platform for artists to reach an extraordinary number of people in a completely different way," he says in a statement, adding, "Revolt will be live, like all great moments in television history." Former NBA star Earvin "Magic" Johnson plans Aspire, in tandem with gospel-infused GMC, promising "enlightening, entertaining and positive" programming for African Americans, and will launch this summer. Rodridguez, who directed the Spy Kids film series, will unveil El Rey (The King), an English-language network offering scripted, reality an...

Rihanna and Chris Brown have reunited in the studio to collaborate on two new remixes. The tracks hit the web on Monday (February 20,2012), with Brown singing on a remix of his former girlfriend's track 'Birthday Cake' and Rihanna returning the favor by appearing on a version of Brown's 'Turn up the Music'. The tracks first surfaced after Brown tweeted a link to the new version of his song on Monday, with Rihanna later re-tweeting it and later discussing the remix of Birthday Cake. The reunion may come as a surprise to some fans, given the couple's well-publicized split in 2009 after Brown assaulted the Barbadian singer just hours before the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Pictures of the singer's bloodied and battered face began surfacing online and Brown suddenly became one of the most hated men in the music industry. Since then, he has undergone rehabilitation and completed his comeback with a win at the Grammys last week. Despite...

Unlike most other check printing products, which require you to purchase blank check templates, Check Printer software uses your existing bank checks (from your checkbook) and prints payee, amount, word amount, date, memo, signature and notes onto your preprinted check using your existing printer. The built-in Layout Editor supports a wide range of printers and check layouts and allows you to visually customize the settings, so they match your check format. A sample check layout is included. In addition to the printing, the program automatically keeps a register, and allows you to setup payees, so you can quickly print checks without having to retype the information every time. The program is very user friendly and provides detailed help and interactive dialogs. Additional features include backup options, integration with MS Money and Quicken, scanned signature support and much more. No personal data nor the MICR characters are printed. DOWNLOAD FREE NOW! Relat...

Whitney Houston’s family quietly struck a deal to sell video footage of Whitney’s funeral to benefit Bobbi Kristina, according to a TMZ exclusive report. Apparently, the Associated Press provided a live pool feed of the funeral to media outlets, including TMZ, but requested that all outlets pull the footage 24 hours later. A rep for the Houstons confirms the family has now “agreed to license footage to several media outlets,” reports TMZ.  The rep adds the family is charging “customary fees” to… “help maximize the estate for the benefit of Bobbi Kristina.” Details about Houston’s estate value are unclear, but some have speculated that her estate will be worth $10 to $20 million. On the contrary, Whitney’s camp previously denied any rumors that the singer was broke, according to Forbes.  “Certainly, between the royalties from increased record sales, and with prudent marketing of her name and image, her estate can bring in millions,” Forbes says.  ...

Afghan protesters in front of Bagram Air Base\ during an anti-U.S. demonstration, Feb. 21, 2012. (AP) KABUL, Afghanistan - The commander of international troops in Afghanistan has ordered an investigation into what NATO says was improper disposal of a large number of Islamic religious materials, including Qurans. U.S. Gen. John Allen insists the incident at Bagram Air Field was not intentional. He apologized profusely for it in a statement released Tuesday morning. "We are thoroughly investigating the incident and we are taking steps to ensure this does not ever happen again. I assure you ... I promise you ... this was NOT intentional in any way," read the statement sent to CBS News and other media outlets. "I offer my sincere apologies for any offense this may have caused, to the President of Afghanistan, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and most importantly, to the noble people of Afghanistan." Allen went on...