News In Brief
CAN YOU HEAR THEM OK NOW?
Because the bells of St. Stefano di Pizzoli Church didn't peal the way they used to, the Rev. Paolo Piccoli is out $200. No, the Roman Catholic priest in L'Aquila, Italy, isn't paying for repair work. That's how much he was fined by a local court. A fine for ringing church bells? Well, not just ringing. It seems he'd hooked them up to an electronic amplifier. The ear-splitting racket annoyed so many people that the police placed the amplifier under seal and charged the clergyman with disturbing the peace.
WILL THAT BE CASH? YEAH
There are easy arrests, and then there's the one police in Hampton, Va., made late last month. A woman robbed Peebles Department Store of an undisclosed sum of money and fled ... leaving behind a completed credit card application. Within 1-1/2 hours, officers visited her employer, where they obtained the suspect's photograph, then her residence. She was at home, as was the unspent loot.
Late-night TV comics find Clinton, Bush easy targets
Last week, presidential hopefuls George W. Bush and John McCain made what have become almost required stumps on late-night TV shows. But it's hardly the first time their names have come up there, given the hosts' penchant for joking about politicians. In fact, among current office seekers, Bush holds the distinction of being the butt of the most late-night jokes. The Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs has tabulated how often current, former, or potential candidates were in cracks by Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill Maher, and Conan O'Brien over the past year, The list:
President Clinton 1,189
Hillary Rodham Clinton 329
George W. Bush 293
Al Gore 275
Dan Quayle 162
Pat Buchanan 63
Steve Forbes 61
Donald Trump 59
Rudolph Giuliani 30
John McCain 29
Bill Bradley 28
- Associated Press
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