Curfew sirens make a comeback in small towns

It’s a sound that stopped generations of youth across the country in their tracks and marked the conclusion of a night of outdoor fun. The wailing of a curfew siren, usually from the local fire hall, was for many years a tradition in small towns across the USA. “When that siren went off, it was 10 p.m. and curfew. No matter where you were, you were beating feet to get home,” said Rick Olson, who grew up in Montello, Wis., a town about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee. Olson spent his boyhood adhering to the curfew siren. Today, that nightly siren endures, and Olson, 40 — Montello’s police chief — enforces it. In…

Dr. Oz discusses cancer scare in show’s second-season premiere

NEW YORK — Mehmet Oz, the latest wizard of daytime talk TV, is always going on about brains and hearts on The Dr. Oz Show . But Tuesday’s episode, the premiere of Dr. Oz ’s second season, is all about the nerve — his own. In his most personal show to date, Oz, the Oprah Winfrey-anointed cardiothoracic surgeon-cum-modern Marcus Welby with the walnut-rich diet and yoga-toned frame, subjects himself to his own “truth tube” confessional and tells his 200-plus …

Rather than creating ‘death panels,’ new law adds to end-of-life options

About this time last year, voters and politicians were consumed by the rumor, fanned by health-care overhaul opponents, that the legislation would include “death panels” of government bureaucrats who could “pull the plug on Grandma” if she needed costly care. The outcry led legislators to scrap a provision of the House bill that would have paid for voluntary consultations between physicians and Medicare beneficiaries about end-of-life care: living wills, hospice benefits and the like. Since the furor died down, end-of-life care has been mostly out of the spotlight. …

Group gets homeless on feet and running

WASHINGTON — Torrey Brockman is glad to be running for himself instead of running from the police. An alcoholic and drug addict, Brockman, 35, checked into a drug rehabilitation center and found Back on My Feet, a running group for the homeless. For four months, he has been up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:45 a.m. to run with 15 other men on the streets of downtown D.C., past the Washington Monument, the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme…

Wozniacki ousts Sharapova, Djokovic tops Fish at U.S. Open

NEW YORK (AP) — Grit was not going to be enough to get Maria Sharapova past No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on Monday, especially not after the Russian conceded nine double-faults — including three in a row — and a total of 36 unforced errors. Wozniacki, the 2009 runner-up, wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 fourth-round win over Sharapova, who has failed to make it even as far as the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows since winning the 2006 title. Doing “what …

Lawyer: Iranian woman may be stoned to death ‘any moment’

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned on an adultery conviction said Monday that he and her children are worried the delayed execution could be carried out soon with the end of a moratorium on death sentences for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In an unusual turn in the case, the lawyer also confirmed that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was lashed 99 times last week in a separate punishment meted out because a British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her. Under Iran’s clerical rule, women must cover their hair in public. With the end of Ramadan this week, the mother of two could be executed “any moment,” said her lawyer, Javid Houtan…

Pakistan’s flooded farms may also threaten next season’s crops

SHAH JAMAL, Pakistan (AP) — Abid Hussein fears the deep floodwaters that destroyed his cotton crop, rotted his wheat seeds and swept away his farming tools are not done ravaging his life. Just weeks before the wheat planting season is to start, his 1.5-acre farm still lies under 3 feet of water, and he is certain it will not drain in time. “I will not be able to plant,” the 35-year-old father of four said in despair. The floodwaters that already devastated one crop in the fields are threatening the …

Guatemala mudslides kill at least 38; 2 buses hit

NAHUALA, Guatemala (AP) — Torrential rains from a tropical depression caused landslides that have killed at least 38 people in Guatemala — some of them rescuers trying to save people already buried under a wall of mud. In the village of Nahuala, about 200 rescue workers searched through mud and rocks for bodies Sunday after two slides in the same spot killed at least 20 along a highway leading northwest of the capital toward Mexico. Another slide closer to Guatemala City killed at least 12. Suagustino Pascual Tuy, a…

Clijsters rolls past Ivanovic and into quarterfinals at U.S. Open

NEW YORK (AP) — Kim Clijsters put a quick end to Ana Ivanovic’s run at the U.S. Open, winning her 18th consecutive match at Flushing Meadows with a 6-2, 6-1 wipeout of the former No. 1 in their fourth-round match Sunday. Ivanovic, who fell to as low as No. 65 after an injury-plagued couple of years, is back to No. 40 and was trying to move higher. She won three matches at the U.S. Open and was getting her biggest test — and opportunity &#…

Vatican decries stoning in Iran adultery case as ‘brutal’

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican raised the possibility Sunday of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery. In its first public statement on the case, which has attracted worldwide attention, the Vatican decried stoning as a particularly brutal form of capital punishment. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Catholic church opposes the death penalty in general. It is unclear what chances any Vatican bid would have to persuade the Muslim nation to spare the woman’s life. Brazil, which has friendly relations with Iran, was rebuffed when it offered her asylum…

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