iNPLACENEWS

A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday. The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years [...]

Charles Barkley was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol early Wednesday. An officer with a task force that targets drunken driving saw the former NBA star run a stop sign about 1:30 a.m., Gilbert police Lt. Eric Shuhandler said. Barkley was in Scottsdale’s Old Town area, a trendy spot in the [...]

Rep. Bobby Rush says he doesn’t think any U.S. senator would be caught turning a black man away from serving alongside them.
He thought wrong.
No Senate Democrat responded to his racial challenge. And they got support from President-elect Barack Obama, who ignored Rush and restored the framework of the dispute: alleged corruption of Illinois Gov. Rod [...]

Investigators may get a clue Wednesday into how much money might be available for victims in the Bernard Madoff scandal.
The fallen investment guru is scheduled to submit a list of his personal assets to the Securities and Exchange Commission by the end of the year, including property that could be tapped to make restitution to [...]

A federal judge on Tuesday awarded more than $65 million to several men who were captured and tortured by North Korea after the communist country seized the U.S. spy ship USS Pueblo during the Cold War. North Korea never responded to the lawsuit filed by William Thomas Massie, Donald Raymond McClarren, Dunnie Richard Tuck and [...]

In Oregon, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said an 88-year-old woman fended off a naked intruder by grabbing the man’s crotch and squeezing. Deputy Paul McRedmond said the man got into the house Tuesday through a sliding door. He backed the woman into her living room and pushed her face down onto a chair.
That’s when [...]

The father of an 11-year-old girl who died, likely of hypothermia, after trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day has been charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child.
Robert Aragon, 55, of Jerome, made an initial appearance Monday in 5th District Court, where Judge Mark Ingram appointed a public [...]

Sit back, relax and let your car parallel park itself - without a single scratch or ding to your bumper.
That’s what Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday about its new self-parking technology, which it announced will debut as an option on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and the new seven-passenger Lincoln MKT luxury crossover vehicle.
The technology [...]

To get around the city, Yutaka Makino hops on his skateboard or rides commuter trains. Does he dream of the day when he has his own car? Not a chance.
Like many Japanese of his generation, the 28-year-old musician and part-time maintenance worker says owning a car is more trouble than it’s worth, especially in a [...]

Looking to reduce its carbon footprint and cut its fuel bill, Air New Zealand on Tuesday tested a passenger jet that was powered partially with oil from a plum-sized fruit known as jatropha.
The airline is the latest carrier to experiment with alternative fuels, partly due to the threat of rising oil prices but also to [...]