Girl’s letter to Santa ends her sex abuse by relative

By Calvin Palmer
A nine-year-old girl’s letter to Santa asking a male relative to stop touching her and her sister led to the man’s arrest.
 
Andres Enrique Cantu, 55, was arrested on Friday on a charge of continuous abuse of a child and held on a $100,000 bond.  He was due to be arraigned for second time [...]

Fed cuts base lending to a record near zero rate

By Calvin Palmer
In an unprecedented move, the Federal Reserve reduced its base lending rate from 1.0 percent to virtually zero.
 
Many analysts were expecting a cut to 0.5 percent not a range from zero to 0.25 percent for the target federal funds rate.
 
This historic low is aimed at fighting off deflation and the crippling global credit [...]

Bentley driver shot on freeway dies from his wounds

By Calvin Palmer
The driver of the Bentley Continental GT who was repeatedly shot as he drove along a Los Angeles freeway has died, authorities said yesterday.
 
Jose Luis Macias, 25, died from the wounds he sustained in the early hours last Friday while driving on the southbound 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
 
One or more gunmen [...]

Comic strips to take the hit for the Looney Tunes at the Times-Union

By Calvin Palmer
Sufferin’ succotash!  The Florida Times-Union is planning to axe several of the comic strips it runs in the Life section, as part of a cost-cutting exercise.
 
Readers are being invited to submit a ballot slip, hard copy or online, to vote for eight comic strips to survive from a list of 16 threatened with [...]

Arctic Roll dessert comes back in out of the cold

By Calvin Palmer
The Arctic Roll is being resurrected by frozen food company Birds Eye after production halted in 1997 when sales dropped 50 percent.
 
The ice-cream, jam and sponge cake frozen dessert is being revived as part of a “Make Your Pound Go Further” campaign, a throwback to a similar campaign in the mid 1980s when [...]