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Nat'l debt clock still keeping track
NEW YORK -- A watched clock never moves -- unless it's the National Debt Clock.
In fact, the digital counter has been moving so much that it recently ran out of digits to display the ballooning figure: $10,150,603,734,720, or roughly $10.2 trillion, as of Saturday afternoon.
The clock was put up by the late real estate mogul Seymour Durst in 1989 when the U.S. government's debt was a mere $2.7 trillion, and was even turned off during the 1990s when the debt decreased.
It will be replaced in 2009 with a new clock, said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the Durst Organization. The new clock will be able to track debt up to a quadrillion dollars, which is a '1' followed by 15 zeros.
In the meantime, the '1' from "$10.2" has been moved left to the LCD square once occupied solely by the digital dollar sign. A non-digital, improvised dollar sign has been pasted next to the '1.'
The current clock had enough digits to measure the amount of money owed by the U.S. government until debt recently hit $10 trillion. Since then, more eyes have been on the fixture near touristy Times Square.
Doctors warn of HPV link to oral cancer
ST. LOUIS -- Ten years ago, most of Dr. Brian Nussenbaum's oral cancer patients were men over 60 who used tobacco and drank heavily.
Today, his patients with oral cancer look different. And so does the risky behavior that seems to be leading to their cancer.
Nussenbaum, an ear nose throat doctor at Washington University, estimates that 70 percent of his cancer patients have tumors on the back of their tongues and tonsils caused by human papillomavirus-16. Most of those patients are between ages 45 and 55. About half are women.
And experts suspect that all of them -- men and women -- got the HPV from oral sex.
"We know now that 98 percent of cervical cancer is caused by HPV, and mostly HPV-16," says Nussenbaum. "But no one talks about how you can also get mouth cancer from it."
Suicide ends case of Japanese businessman accused of murder
LOS ANGELES -- The case of a fatal shooting in Los Angeles in 1981 that had generated public interest for more than a quarter century has ended with the suicide of suspect Kazuyoshi Miura less than 24 hours after his transfer from Saipan to Los Angeles on a murder conspiracy charge.
Miura, 61, a former president of an imported goods company, had been held on Saipan for seven months in connection with the fatal shooting of his wife, Kazumi, 28. He committed suicide Friday night at a Los Angeles Police Department detention facility.
An official of the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles who met with Miura on Friday morning could not hide his shock, saying Miura showed no sign that he intended to commit suicide.
Masaru Dekiba, head of the consulate's consular affairs department, who met with Miura at the LAPD detention facility shortly after 10 a.m. that day, said, "Miura absolutely didn't appear to behave like [he intended to commit suicide]. I can't believe it."
An investigator of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office was at a loss for words due to the unexpected development in the case.
Fire burns 750 acres northeast of L.A.
LOS ANGELES -- Firefighters backed by water-dumping helicopters and planes gained ground Sunday on a wildfire that destroyed two homes and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people in a rugged area 20 miles north of downtown.
The blaze charred up to 750 acres and also burned a garage, several sheds and three motor homes, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Ron Haralson. No one was seriously injured, but a firefighter and one resident reported minor breathing problems.
Haralson said firefighters are "getting a really good handle" on the blaze, which started early Sunday. But powerful Santa Ana winds were expected to arrive in the evening, and gusts could spread embers igniting brush, grass and chaparral in the area.
About 450 homes were evacuated early Sunday when the blaze moved southeast toward city limits, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea.
"It burned right down to a couple of neighborhoods," Florea said.
The fire was 20 percent contained and as it burned south of the Wildlife Waystation, an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation facility set on 160 acres. The nonprofit agency houses more than 400 animals, including lions, bears and deer. Officials were loading up the animals in case the fire switched direction.
Yale celebrates Noah Webster's 250th birthday
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The announcement came in 1800 in the back of a Connecticut newspaper just above a farmer's reward for a stray cow. A man named Noah Webster was proposing the first comprehensive "dictionary of the American language."
Webster was mocked and scorned for challenging the King's English. About 60 percent of the country spoke English at the time, while others spoke German, Swedish and Dutch. Even among English speakers, regional dialects were strong.
A teacher after the Revolutionary War, Webster believed that Americans should have their own textbooks rather than rely on English books. He created a speller that taught students to read, spell and pronounce words and traveled around the country to promote the book.
His dictionary, and earlier spellers and readers widely used in schools, would help a new nation achieve unity and cultural independence at a time when most were focused on political freedom.
"He was the shaper of our language and the shaper of American identity," said Joshua Kendall, who is working on a biography about Webster. "Webster at last bonded us through our language."
Webster is the focus of a commemoration Oct. 16-17 at Yale University to mark his 250th birthday with lectures, an exhibition of memorabilia and a visit to his grave in New Haven.
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