News In Brief

IT CAN BE YOUR DOWN PAYMENT

A luxury villa is on the market near the medieval town of Todi Italy. Madonna, the pop star, reportedly is offering to buy it, since she's of Italian descent and has been a guest there. And the owners say they'd gladly sell it to her. But there's a catch. Carlo Ripa di Meana and his wife, Marina, also are activists in the environmental Green Party. So they have told news outlets they'll insist on more than just cash. Such as? Well, a charity benefit concert for animal rights. No word from the singer on whether she wants the place that badly.

MAKING A JOYFUL NOISE

Speaking of things medieval, Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, once again was alive with music from the 15th-century Church of St. Mary last week. Sort of, anyway. Firemen called by angry neighbors found a prankster had rigged a radio to the loudspeakers in the tower, which blasted an hour of rock hits into the night before being disconnected.

Milwaukee has NFL's No. 1 fans, sports researcher says

A city doesn't have to have an NFL franchise to be pumped for pro football. A survey by Scarborough Sports Marketing, which measured the proportion of fans in 64 markets, found high concentrations in NFL-less cities Fresno, Calif.; Las Vegas; Sacramento, Calif.; and San Antonio. (For survey purposes, No. 1 Milwaukee, which isn't technically home to an NFL team, included Green Bay, Wis., which is.) Chicago-based Scarborough arrived at the rankings after interviewing more than 85,000 adults. Where the most avid fans are (in percentage terms), based on the responses:

1. Milwaukee 38%

2. Jacksonville, Fla. 37%

3. Kansas City, Mo. 33%

4. Buffalo, N.Y. 32%

(tie) Denver 32%

6. Pittsburgh 30%

(tie) Sacramento, Calif. 30%

(tie) Tampa, Fla. 30%

9. Fresno, Calif. 29%

(tie) Las Vegas 29%

(tie) Minneapolis 29%

(tie) San Antonio 29%

-Business Wire

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