| Death Valley: Scotty's Castle built with lots of snake oil
Everybody loves an eccentric, especially when the eccentric was rich enough to live a life of comfortable derring-do. Walter Scott and Albert Johnson were just such men. Scott, a former stunt rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, was, by all accounts, a charismatic alpha dog of a character, a teller of tall tales and a gold digger, if not in the literal sense. Folklore has it that, in the first decade of the 20th century, the man swaggered around the country using his entertainment skills to fleece investors in a nonexistent Death Valley gold mine. Who could resist a guy who carried huge wads of cash, produced thumb-size gold nuggets from his pocket and lit his cigars with $100 bills? .
Is public getting too apathetic over avian flu?
Worrying about avian flu isn't just for the birds, medical experts warn. But now that last fall's fears of a pandemic spreading through the U.S. human population haven't panned out, some health officials are fretting about a possible letdown in public preparedness. "I'm concerned. The avian virus isn't getting much attention from the news media this year. But the threat hasn't changed," said Erin DeCarli, a health educator for the Virginia Department of Health in Roanoke. She was hired in July 2006 to get area businesses, schools and households ready to deal with a possible pandemic. "That's still my full-time job," she said. But is her constituency letting down its guard? Maybe, say federal agencies, and they're trying to revive awareness. "The public has become accustomed to news about outbreaks among poultry in Indonesia and other faraway places.
Michael Chabon: Charmed by a Dashing Brigadier
Michael Chabon is the author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union among other books. From 1973 to 1976 he engaged in a quest for an authentic deerstalker cap; the search ended, finally, in a men's hat shop in Toronto, where there were blessedly few witnesses to the humiliation of his success. Courtesy of Michael Chabon .
Crown appeals staying of corruption charges against Toronto police ...
TORONTO The Crown has moved to appeal the staying of corruption charges against six former Toronto drug squad officers. Attorney General Chris Bentley's office confirms the appeal was filed this afternoon. An Ontario Superior Court judge stayed the corruption charges last week because the case had taken too long to get to trial. .
Disintegrating dreams
WEST SPRINGFIELD Where several houses once stood in Precincts 1 and 2 as classic symbols of "The American Dream," each have since transformed into stark examples of how structurally unsound that dream can become.
Almost a dozen homes -- located on Merrick, Union, Bridge, Newbridge, Russell, Elm and Park streets -- in this area have been abandoned for several years, creating health and safety hazards within otherwise well kept neighborhoods
These conditions have prompted the Precinct 1 and 2 Steering Committee to call a neighborhood meeting with town officials next month to explain how the houses might transition back into functioning neighborhood residences.
Jeanne Galloway, director of the Health Department, said she and other town officials have had extensive difficulties locating each property's responsible party.
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