ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A woman who was reported trampled by Wal-Mart shoppers during a holiday sale on DVD players has filed numerous injury claims against stores since 1987, including nine against the world's largest retailer.

Patricia VanLester, a 41-year-old former Wal-Mart employee, has received thousands of dollars in injury and workers' compensation settlements from Wal-Mart, records show.

Paramedics reported finding VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player Nov. 28 amid of frenzy of shoppers during an early bird holiday sale. She was airlifted to a hospital, where she spent two days.

Orange City police Cmdr. Peter Thomas said Friday his department found no evidence of a crime and has closed its investigation.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said he had no details about the past settlements, including one filed by VanLester's sister.

"We're going to investigate this claim as thoroughly as we have investigated the other 10 claims that this woman and her sister have brought against us in the past," he said.

VanLester's sister, Linda Ellzey, said the woman suffered a seizure and other injuries caused by shoppers who trampled her "like a herd of elephants."

A case manager for VanLester's attorney said Friday that VanLester has not filed a formal injury claim against Wal-Mart from last week's incident.

Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for the ambulance company that treated VanLester at the store and took her to the hospital, said VanLester was admitted to the hospital's trauma center.

VanLester collected more than $1,800 in workers' compensation claims for slip-and-fall incidents at a Publix supermarket and another Wal-Mart in 1995 and 1996.

In another claim, she said she slipped on a puddle of hand lotion in 1991 while shopping at an Orange City Walgreen's pharmacy, causing "permanent injury, disability, disfigurement (and) mental anguish." The case was thrown out.

'Joe Candidate' as next reality show? Mock presidential race may be coming

WASHINGTON -- Reality television has made stars of barely dressed people competing for $1 million, singers competing for recording contracts, bachelors and bachelorettes competing for love. So why not political candidates stumping for viewer votes?

More than three years after CBS began airing the reality TV phenomenon "Survivor," Showtime Networks Inc. wants to launch a simulated presidential campaign, to be shown when the actual presidential campaign is heating up next summer. Showtime and CBS are owned by Viacom Inc.

"American Candidate" would feature regular citizens competing in campaign events until one emerges the winner.

Bryan Byrd, vice president of publicity at Showtime, stressed the program still is in the planning stages. "It's something that is being explored," he said. "It isn't a done deal."

As it considers whether to proceed with the idea, Viacom is awaiting an answer from the Federal Election Commission on whether the program could violate election laws.

Showtime said the show would offer a look at the decision-making processes and strains of political campaigns. Each week the candidates would plot campaign strategy, campaign for support, respond to e-mails from viewers and make statements aimed at getting public support.

Contestants would make speeches and participate in debates and press conferences, some authentic, some staged. They'd also devise campaign strategies, produce TV ads, consult with advisers, choose policy positions and try to build public support. Candidates could solicit contributions but would have to give the money to charity.

At the end of each episode, viewers could vote for their favorite candidate by phone or the Internet. The 10- to 12-week series would end with one winner, based on weekly popular votes, polling samples and program judges.

R.J. Cutler, director of "The War Room," a documentary about Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, would produce the project with Jay Roach, director of the "Austin Powers" movies.

Among the concerns the election commission may address: What if the winner becomes so popular he or she runs for real public office? What if the winner endorses an actual candidate? What if the contestants use their platform to promote or disparage President Bush or his Democratic opponent?

"I don't know what it says about the state of American politics that you might have to get people interested through a reality series," said Larry Noble, head of the Center for Responsive Politics and former FEC general counsel. "But if it gets more people interested in the real campaign, it's not a bad thing."

Noble said the show might pose some troubling issues for the FEC, but he predicted the commission would probably say the series is clear of election laws. He said the FEC probably would only warn Showtime to tell the faux candidates not to endorse real candidates.

Viacom said it is not the show's intent to advance or defeat any real candidate. But the program is unscripted and real candidates might be invited on, so the real presidential campaign could be a subject of discussion.

Viacom said a contestant would be removed from the show if he or she became a candidate in a federal, state or local election during the series. But the company said it could not control what happened after the series ends.

"This FEC is more deregulation-oriented, so I expect they have less problems with this," Noble said.

Showtime has also asked if its investment in the show could be judged a campaign contribution to the winner if that person decided to use his or her fame to bid for public office down the road. And it wants to make sure that commentary by contestants would not be seen as improper advocacy for or against real candidates.

A bipartisan advisory board for "American Candidate" would include former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey; Elaine Kamarck, who advised Democrat Al Gore's presidential campaign; former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson; and Ron Nessen, who was press secretary to Republican President Ford.

The FX cable network said in September 2002 it would air the show, but later bailed out, citing cost concerns.

Accused ATM thief charged

WIXOM, Mich. -- A man accused of skimming $3.5 million by installing ATMs across the country and stealing customers' account numbers was charged with conspiracy and bank fraud.

Iljmija Frljuckic, who is from Eastern Europe and is not a U.S. citizen, was arraigned this week in U.S. District court in Detroit and waived his right to extradition. He will be returned to New York City to face the indictment, issued in May.

Frljuckic and an unidentified man were arrested at a hotel in Wixom, just west of Detroit. Secret Service agents began looking for his car after being alerted that one of Frljuckic's credit cards had been used at a restaurant, Detective Sgt. Jim Osborne said.

The indictment accuses the men of defrauding more than 1,400 U.S. banks by installing ATM machines in California, Florida and New York. Individuals can buy ATMs, set them up in gas stations, malls and elsewhere, and make money on each transaction.

The men acquired at least 21,000 bank account numbers and stole at least $3.5 million from those accounts, the indictment said.

Judge allows indies to send Oscar screeners

NEW YORK - A federal judge Friday freed movie distributors to send copies of films to awards voters -- a decision seen as a victory for independent film producers as awards season approaches.

U.S. District Judge Michael B. Mukasey lifted a rule imposed by the Motion Picture Association of America that blocked studios from sending the videotape copies, or "screeners," to voters.

The MPAA had argued that the ban, issued in September, was a means of slowing the explosion of movie piracy. Digital copies of many films turn up on the Internet long before they're released to video stores.

But independent film producers, who lack the huge advertising budgets of major studios, said screeners dramatically raised their chances of receiving critical buzz, winning awards -- and making more money.

Mukasey decided the independent film producers had shown sufficient evidence that withholding screeners violates antitrust law and hurts competition.

"The screener ban will significantly harm independent films, thereby reducing the competition these films pose to major studio releases," Mukasey said in Manhattan federal court.

Screeners allow awards voters to view movies on their own time, in their homes. Banning them, small film producers argued, means voters must attend one-time-only premieres or see the films in a limited number of theaters.

The ban was modified in October to allow the 5,600 voters who decide the Academy Awards, the industry's most influential, to receive the videotapes.

But voters for smaller awards that precede the Oscars weren't allowed to receive screeners. Nominations for two such awards already have come and gone, and Golden Globe award contenders will be decided soon.

The MPAA, a trade group composed of most major studios in America, said it would appeal the decision within two weeks to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We know, without dispute, that in the past screeners have been sources for pirated goods both domestically and overseas," MPAA chief Jack Valenti said. "We will appeal because the impact and growing threat of piracy is real and must be addressed wherever it appears."

Independent film producers said they were elated. They called the ruling a victory for movie fans and said it would allow quality small films to get the acclaim they deserve.

"I feel that for specialized films, it's much clearer the need for screeners to get attention," said Ted Hope, a producer whose independent films include this year's "American Splendor."

Hope said he left the courtroom as soon as he heard the judge's ruling to call distributors and urge them to send out screener copies as quickly as possible.

Miramax Films spokesman Paul Pflug said the company, now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., credits the influence of screeners with the awards and audiences for its films including "My Left Foot," "sex, lies, and videotape," and "Sling Blade."

Although the formerly independent Miramax is now regarded as a powerhouse during awards season, Pflug said the company "can now use our resources and position in the industry to help the next generation of Miramaxes get recognition and attention for great independent films."

Peter Jackson -- director of the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the third part of which comes out Dec. 17 -- also was happy to hear about the ruling.

Although Jackson's film could benefit by limiting awards voters' exposure to other films, the New Zealand-based director said he feels great sympathy toward smaller movies. He's directed some himself, including 1994's "Heavenly Creatures."

"I just think the whole thing was rushed, ill-informed, and didn't allow the industry to debate it," Jackson told The Associated Press Friday. "Now's the time to talk about it. Don't do the ban this year. Let everybody talk about it in a civilized way and look at what can be done next year."

Under the modified ban, Academy Awards voters must agree not to distribute their copies of films or risk expulsion from the academy. Their videotapes also have tracking devices to trace piracy.

Mukasey said he saw no reason why other awards voters couldn't be subjected to the same rules.

The judge was also unswayed by the MPAA's argument that screeners pose a serious threat of piracy. He said a much bigger threat comes from home-video distribution, which allows computer-savvy people to make copies of the DVDs or videotapes they rent and post them on the Internet.

Inmates ferried to safety from flooded prison in southeast France

ARLES, France -- Masked elite police officers ferried nearly 200 high-risk inmates, including convicted terrorists, to safety Friday from a flooded prison in southeastern France.

The dramatic evacuation forced after torrential rains this week swamped the region, killed five people, broke dikes and halted train and road traffic.

While flooding receded elsewhere Friday, much of the town of Arles was under three feet of water after a dike holding back the swollen Rhone River gave way in places, forcing the evacuation of 800 people overnight, officials said.

The floodwater encircled Arles prison, inundating it and forcing guards to move ground-floor inmates to the second floor on Thursday.

Friday morning, nearly 200 law enforcement officers -- including members of an elite SWAT team -- began ferrying small groups of inmates in orange rubber boats across a half-mile stretch of water to trucks that took them to other prisons in the region.

The 193 inmates, handcuffed and wearing life vests, included Jean-Marc Rouillan, head of the dismantled left-wing terror group Direct Action, and its top bomb maker, Max Frerot. He serves as the prison librarian.

Also being transferred were about 10 Corsican separatists, including one serving a 28-year term for killing a SWAT team officer. Most of Arles prison's inmates are serving long sentences.

"It's a delicate, exceptional operation," said Christian Fremont, the region's top local official. The transfer started at 8:30 a.m, with the most dangerous prisoners moved first.

The evacuation came on orders of Justice Minister Dominique Perben, who briefly visited the prison Friday afternoon.

Flooding had knocked out the electrical, telephone and alarm systems, according to a statement from the prison workers' union.

Some 400 German technicians with pumping equipment were called in to dredge Arles, 60 miles north of Marseille. Four hundred more were expected, said Nicolas Hefner of the German government's disaster relief agency, Technical Aid Service.

The Bouche-du-Rhone region around Marseille was hardest hit by the floods, with the city declared a disaster area.

Boston zoo's gorilla exhibit to reopen without twice-escaped Little Joe

BOSTON -- Little Joe may one day be reintroduced to the public. But for now, the gorilla with a bad case of wanderlust is spending his days watching "SpongeBob SquarePants" cartoons and "Barney."

The Franklin Park Zoo took all six of its gorillas off public display after Little Joe broke out in September and injured two people.

The gorilla exhibit will reopen by the end of January, but without the 11-year-old escape artist and another young male, Okie, also deemed unpredictable.

The apes have been spending their time in a holding pen watching cartoons, banging on plastic drums, listening to classical music and rock n' roll, and dangling from rope swings.

Zoo officials are installing new surveillance cameras, more powerful shock wires and slippery rocks around the exhibit to ensure that none of the gorillas escape.

In August, Little Joe got a brief taste of freedom but returned on his own 10 minutes later. On Sept. 28, he crossed a moat and scaled a 12-foot wall lined with electric wires -- either avoiding or ignoring the shocks -- and broke through two sets of doors to win his freedom.

The 325-pound gorilla roamed the city's Roxbury neighborhood for two hours, picking at trash cans and drinking from soda bottles. He attacked an 18-year-old zoo volunteer and a 2-year-old girl, both of whom had minor injuries and a major fright.

Joe absorbed four tranquilizer darts before zoo officials finally brought him down.

"He's a highly intelligent individual, curious and self-confident," said John Linehan, chief executive of Zoo New England, which runs the Franklin Park Zoo. "He was testing his environment just like they do in the wild."

Roller coaster derails at Tokyo Disneyland

TOKYO -- A roller coaster derailed Friday at Tokyo Disneyland, but none of the 12 riders on board were injured, the park's operator said.

The rear car of the 12-car roller coaster popped off the tracks near the end of the popular "Space Mountain" ride, said Keiko Namikoshi, a spokeswoman for operator Oriental Land Co., adding that the train came to a halt and all aboard were safely guided out of the cars.

It was the first accident on Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983, Namikoshi said.

Tokyo Disneyland suspended operation of the ride after a September accident in California on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster that killed one person and injured 10 others. Officials then conducted safety checks and confirmed the Tokyo ride was safe to operate.

Limbaugh pokes fun at pain-killer probe, and his lawyer calls it political

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Rush Limbaugh on Friday poked fun at the investigation into whether he bought painkillers illegally, hours after his attorney accused investigators of political motives.

The conservative radio host compared search warrants for his medical records to calls for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean to release political records from his years as Vermont governor.

"I bet you what, if I had been treated by Dr. Dean, I bet you Democrats in certain parts of this country would be demanding his records," Limbaugh said from his South Florida studio.

Palm Beach investigators recently obtained search warrants for the offices of Limbaugh's doctors and alleged Thursday that Limbaugh engaged in illegal drug use and went "doctor shopping" for prescription painkillers.

His brief reference to the investigation came during his three-hour broadcast, which he has used over past weeks to defend himself.

Earlier Friday, Limbaugh attorney Roy Black accused the Palm Beach state attorney of investigating Limbaugh only for political reasons. Black said Limbaugh was not a target of State Attorney Barry Krischer's investigation until the National Enquirer quoted Limbaugh's maid in October saying she had unlawfully sold Limbaugh such medications.

"Suddenly an elected public official could not ignore the name Rush Limbaugh," Black said on NBC's "Today" show. Black is also a paid NBC commentator. "They are looking to publicly embarrass him and affect his radio program. … Why is Rush Limbaugh the only person treated like this in America?"

Black did not immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press.

Krischer's spokesman Mike Edmondson said Friday that the prosecutor stands by an earlier statement that Limbaugh's rights have been scrupulously protected.

Krischer said Thursday, "Whether Mr. Limbaugh is subject to prosecution for any crimes is still under investigation. Mr. Limbaugh is presumed innocent."

Krischer's office began investigating Limbaugh 10 months before the Enquirer story, after prosecutors met with the former maid, Wilma Cline. She told them she sold Limbaugh "large quantities of hydrocodone, Oxycontin and other pharmaceutical drugs in Palm Beach County over the course of many years."

Cline provided investigators with e-mails and answering machine recordings to support her claims. Investigators then examined records from Palm Beach pharmacies near Limbaugh's $24 million oceanfront mansion that they say support the doctor-shopping allegations.

The warrants list prescriptions for more than 2,000 pills from March 24 through Sept. 26. from four doctors. The medications include the powerful painkillers Oxycontin, Lorcet, Norco, hydrocodone and Kadian. In addition, Limbaugh received prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and Clonodine, used to treat high blood pressure.

Pop duo detained in Mexico

MONTERREY, Mexico -- The duet Air Supply was detained in the border city of Nuevo Laredo by Mexican migration officials after failing to provide documents to legally work in Mexico, officials said Friday.

Air Supply had just finished a Thursday night concert as part of the city's annual carnival when eight agents from the National Migration Institute asked to see their work visas.

The agents, who were present throughout the group's appearance, escorted the 13 members of the Air Supply staff, including the vocalists Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, to the Migration Institute offices. The musicians were released and allowed to return to their hotel after leaving their passports as guarantee.

"We routinely verify the documents of all foreigners who enter the country," said Antonio Sanchez, a spokesman with the Migration Institute in Nuevo Laredo. "At this time, we're verifying whether or not they have the pertinent visa."

Air Supply is set to return Friday to the Migration Institute offices to legalize its stay in Mexico, Sanchez said.

The group, which rose to popularity in the 1980s with its song "All Out of Love," started off its eight-city tour of Mexico in Nuevo Laredo and is set to perform Friday night in Reynosa, just across from Hidalgo, Texas.

Prosecutors drop objection to opening files in case of missing student

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Prosecutors said Friday they were dropping their objection to unsealing their evidence against a man accused in the disappearance of a University of North Dakota student, saying they wanted to clear up "misinformation."

It wasn't immediately clear when court files would be available in the state's case against Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, who has been charged with kidnapping Dru Sjodin, 22, last month from a mall parking lot.

Rodriguez's public defender, David Dusek, has 10 days to respond to a motion to unseal the papers.

"The most important thing is to preserve Mr. Rodriguez's constitutional rights," Dusek said in an interview with The Associated Press. Dusek still hasn't seen police reports, he said.

Media organizations had filed motions to force prosecutors to open the case file, but Grand Forks County State's Attorney Peter Welte also said some inaccurate media reports prompted the move to unseal evidence. He didn't single out any reports.

"There's a lot of information and misinformation out there right now," he said.

The St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported Friday that blood matching Sjodin's type was found in Rodriguez's car. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported that a knife sheath was found in the mall parking lot. Both cited unidentified sources in law enforcement or close to the investigation.

At a news conference, Sjodin's father, Allan, said family and friends haven't given up on finding Dru Sjodin alive.

Sjodin was last heard from Nov. 22, as she spoke to her boyfriend on a cell phone from the mall parking lot. Bail was set at $5 million for Rodriguez, who had said he wanted to stay in jail out of concern for his own safety.

Law enforcement officials searched for Sjodin on Friday in an area north of East Grand Forks, Minn.

A day earlier, prosecutors said there was little chance they would offer to cut a deal with Rodriguez in exchange for information on Sjodin's whereabouts.

Police Sgt. Michael Hedlund said the odds of finding Sjodin alive fade with each passing day.

"You hate to sit there and look at statistics, but national statistics aren't in favor of us in this point and time," he said. "But we're still hoping for a positive outcome."

Rodriguez, who had previously pleaded guilty to rape, was released from prison this spring after serving 23 years for attempted kidnapping and assault.

Ardi Whalen, the victim of that 1980 attack, told NBC's "Today" from Los Angeles that she felt "sick in my stomach" when authorities notified her in April that Rodriguez was about to be released from prison.

"I was glad that we no longer lived in Crookston, because I knew that he was coming back to Crookston," Whalen said.

Rodriguez faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 4, and an arraignment Feb. 6.

Sharpton to be blacked out in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton will host this weekend's broadcast of "Saturday Night Live," but viewers in Iowa won't see it.

All four NBC television affiliates in the state announced they won't carry the show because Sharpton is one of nine candidates seeking the Democratic nomination. The selection process begins with the Iowa caucuses Jan. 19.

Tim Gardner, director of creative services at WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa, said station lawyers decided that airing the 90-minute show would trigger federal "equal time" provisions -- meaning the stations would have to offer an equal amount of air time to each of the other presidential candidates.

WHO and two other stations instead will air a previous episode of the 90-minute show. KWWL viewers in the Waterloo, Iowa, area will get to watch three infomercials pitching the Miracle Blade, Total Trolley and something titled "Attacking Anxiety."

Sharpton campaign manager Charles Halloran was puzzled by the decision.

"Their lawyers must not have finished law school because NBC went through all sorts of research to make sure that it was appropriate," Halloran said.

Investigators: Federal prosecutor fought for his life, drowned in creek

BALTIMORE -- Federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna was stabbed 36 times in a furious fight for his life before drowning in a Pennsylvania creek, investigators said Friday as they worked to reconstruct his final hours.

A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities have not established a motive for the slaying - the first killing of a federal prosecutor in three years.

Investigators are interviewing people connected with cases Luna prosecuted, as well as friends and associates, but no immediate promising leads have come up, the official said.

Luna apparently was attacked after leaving his office in Baltimore around midnight Wednesday, the source said. His body was discovered six hours later and 70 miles away, near his blood-smeared, idling car, according to a police affidavit.

Lancaster County, Pa., coroner Dr. Barry Walp said the 38-year-old assistant U.S. attorney was "brutalized with multiple stab wounds" that could have been caused by a penknife, and then drowned in the creek.

"They were defensive wounds," a second federal law enforcement source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Walp said Luna was dressed in a suit and overcoat, and had his wallet with identification and cash, but it was unclear whether he had been robbed.

Money and cell phone equipment also were found inside his car, which had blood on the driver's side door and fender and a large pool of blood on the floor, according to a police search warrant application. The affidavit said Luna also had a "traumatic wound" on the right side of his head.

The FBI worked to create a timeline of what Luna did in his last hours.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, Luna and defense attorneys had reached a plea bargain in the case of rap musician Deon L. Smith and Walter O. Poindexter, who were on trial on charges of running a violent heroin ring from their studio, according to the judge presiding over the case.

Poindexter's attorney, Arcangelo Tuminelli, said he got a call from Luna at 9:06 p.m. in which the prosecutor said he was still drawing up the paperwork for the plea and making sure it was all correct.

Tuminelli said he did not where Luna was at that point. But he said Luna told him he had to go home and would be back in his office in the federal courthouse in Baltimore later.

"I assumed there would be a fax at my house of the agreement by about midnight," Tuminelli said. The fax never came.

One federal law enforcement official said authorities had determined Luna left his home early in the evening and went back to his office to work on papers in the plea bargain. He was there until around midnight, the source said.

Another source who spoke on condition of anonymity said there were personal items in Luna's office that one "would have expected him to be taking home had he been leaving to go home for the evening." The source declined to describe the items.

Authorities have not said whether the rapper's case had anything to do with the slaying. Smith and Poindexter were behind bars at the time.

Tuminelli said the FBI interviewed Poindexter on Thursday night.

"He had absolutely no information that would be of help to them," he said. "I believe that this has nothing to do with my client or Mr. Smith."

Tuminelli said Smith also consented to be interviewed by authorities.

Retired cop who killed granddaughter gets 30 years

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- A retired police officer who killed his granddaughter and three others in an unprovoked shooting rampage through his neighborhood was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison without parole.

John W. Mabie, 72, said nothing and sat without expression through the sentencing.

In February 2002, Mabie locked his wife in the basement of their Dover Township home and walked down the street to his mother-in-law's house, where he used a pistol to kill 22-year-old Natalie Gingerelli, his favorite granddaughter.

Then he walked to a nearby home and fatally shot Sue Kerian, 42, before going to another home to shoot Thomas Luyster, 27, and his fiancee, Suzanne Lavecchia, 27.

Acquaintances have said Mabie, who retired from the Newark police on disability in 1976, never got over a 1971 accident in which he struck and killed an 11-year-old boy in a go-cart.

But defense attorney John S. Furlong said the accident had little or nothing to do with Mabie's mental illness, which he said started decades ago.

Tropical Storm Odette strengthens in Caribbean, bears down on Haiti's southern coast

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Tropical Storm Odette bore down on Haiti's south coast Friday, threatening to unleash mudslides and flash floods that often prove fatal in the impoverished country.

Odette, the first recorded tropical storm to brew in the Caribbean Sea in December, is expected to carry torrential rain to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Odette could reach Hispaniola early Saturday and drop up to 10 inches of rain that could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in Haiti's deforested mountains, the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned.

In 1994, Tropical Storm Gordon caused mudslides that buried at least 829 Haitians. More recently, nearly 30 died in September during floods caused by heavy rain in St. Marc, about 45 miles northwest of the capital.

"We're used to this sort of thing. We all hope and trust we'll be spared," said Erick Danies, a government official in the southern coastal town of Jacmel. "There's no panic in town."

At 4 p.m. EST, the storm was packing 50 mph winds with higher gusts and was expected to strengthen a bit before it reaches the mountains of Haiti, the hurricane center reported. Tropical storm force winds extended up to 145 miles.

Odette was located about 225 miles southwest of the Dominican Republic's south coast, and churning northeast at about 12 mph.

"This is the first time ever that we've had a named storm in the Caribbean during December," said Dave Roberts, a meteorologist at the hurricane center in Miami. "It is extremely unusual but the conditions have been favorable with light winds and warm temperatures." Hurricane season ended Nov. 30.

Roberts said Odette was likely to gain strength but would not become a hurricane. Storms become hurricanes when their winds reach 74 mph.

Radio broadcasts warned Haitians to evacuate low-lying areas on the south coast and to stock up on food and other supplies.

"We're ready. We've done what is necessary to prepare," said Jean Raymond, 30, an elementary school teacher in Jacmel. "My students are calm because they know what to do."

Odette formed Thursday in the western Caribbean Sea, kicking up heavy rain and strong gusts.

A tropical storm warning was posted for Haiti, and the Dominican Republic extended its storm warning eastward to Isla Saona, an outlying island on the southeastern coast.

Miguel Campusano, a forecaster from the National Weather Office in the Dominican Republic, said he expected the central-western part of the country to be hardest hit.

Jamaica's government discontinued a storm warning Friday, while a storm watch was in effect for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hungry circus tiger attacks trainer

KIEV, Ukraine -- A hungry circus tiger attacked and killed an animal trainer during a rehearsal in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa, circus officials said Friday.

Snezhana Dautova, 23, was mauled after she ignored instructions to stay away from the animals, the ITAR-Tass agency quoted the circus director as saying.

The circus had canceled a performance earlier that evening because the cats were hungry and tired from traveling, according to the director, Gariy Butvinik.

Circus employees shot the tiger to get Dautova free but she was already dead, ITAR-Tass reported.

Floods in western Venezuela force evacuation of at least 4,000 people

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Flooding caused by torrential rain forced the evacuation of at least 4,000 people in northwest Venezuela, most of them residents of indigenous towns, rescue officials said Friday.

Three days of heavy downfall caused the Limon River in the state of Zulia to swell by nearly 26 feet and overflow its banks, inundating several villages, said German Bracho, director of Zulia's Civil Protection agency.

Roads became rivers and houses were left standing in water three feet deep, forcing residents to take shelter in churches and schools. Many are small farmers who lost their crops and animals.

The rain stopped on Friday, and river levels were descending, Bracho said. About 1,200 soldiers, police, doctors and rescue officials were involved in the cleanup, and victims were starting to go home.

"We haven't declared an emergency because we're taking care of it, and we have the capacity for an effective response," he said. Zulia is about 300 miles west of Caracas.

Carlos Montiel Garcia, director of the Zulia chapter of the Red Cross, said half those affected were children with chronic diarrhea and other conditions stemming from lack of potable water.

Flooding in some communities started three weeks ago when another river, the Paraguachon, overflowed, Montiel Garcia said. One village of 300 people has been without electricity and potable water for three weeks, he said.

Residents have moved refrigerators, washing machines and ovens out of their homes to save them from floodwaters, Montiel Garcia said.

Man arrested after charging toward cockpit on Honolulu-to-Seattle flight, officials say

WASHINGTON -- A former prison inmate on a Honolulu-to-Seattle flight charged toward the cockpit, shouting that he wanted to see the pilot, and was subdued by undercover air marshals who were on board to monitor him, officials said.

The incident involved 29-year-old Reno U. Maiava and occurred about 2.5 hours into Thursday's Northwest Airlines Flight 924, according to Dave Adams, spokesman for the federal air marshal service. Maiava, who spent 10 years in prison on two assault convictions, is on active supervision, according to the Washington state Department of Corrections.

Maiava was being monitored and had to have permission to leave the state of Washington, said Veltry Johnson, corrections department spokesman.

Maiava, who was being arraigned Friday in Seattle on a charge of interfering with a flight crew, was disruptive before getting on the plane, Adams said.

He later got up during the flight and knocked into an elderly woman, Adams said. He also screamed "Where's my shirt?" at one point, then charged toward the cockpit shouting that he wanted to see the captain, the spokesman said.

Adams said a federal air marshal identified himself and told the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Maiava to put his hands behind his head. He refused, and the other two marshals then identified themselves and, after a brief altercation, handcuffed him, Adams said.

Maiava was released from the Washington state Department of Corrections' Special Needs Unit in May 2001. State officials contacted air marshals and encouraged them to place agents aboard a Seattle-to-Honolulu flight that he took Nov. 19, Adams said.

Due to concerns Maiava could endanger people on his return flight, three marshals were assigned to it, he said.

Northwest Airlines spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the airline is cooperating with authorities.

Odds and ends

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man convicted of providing illegal cable television hookups will become a spokesman for the cable company from which he stole.

Dennis Cheatem, of Indianapolis, has agreed to appear in infomercials for Bright House Networks to discuss the consequences of stealing cable, said Al Aldridge, a spokesman for the company.

Cheatem, 47, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one felony count of theft and was fined $10,000. The fine could be cut in half if he successfully completes one year in a minimum-security prison and performs community service, said Roger Rayl, a spokesman for the Marion County prosecutor's office.

Authorities said Cheatem, a licensed plumber, bought a used cable company repair van last year and posed as a Bright House employee. Prosecutors say Cheatem claimed to provide cable to needy families but instead pocketed the money in at least one case.

Cheatem was arrested in April after he approached an undercover officer with an offer of free cable.

FOND DU LAC, Wis. -- A love song about duct tape may never crack the pop charts, but it did make a Waukesha band $2,500 richer.

The ska band Something to Do's jingle "When I'm Stuck I Turn to Duck Tape" beat out 154 other entries in Duck brand duct tape's Rock About the Roll contest.

"When we first heard it, everyone in the office was humming it and singing it afterward," said Michelle Heffner, contest administrator for Henkel Consumer Adhesives, Duck brand duct tape's parent company.

Band member Nate Tredinnick said the band wanted to spend the $2,500 on beer and ice cream, but will invest it instead in making CDs and promotional shirts.

Ska is a Jamaican form of music started in the 1950s. Something to Do plays a combination of horn-driven rock and ska.

Duck tape has the right to use the band's song in advertising and other promotions.

The winning lyrics include: "I never had much luck with nails. So, I turn to Duck tape. Staples always seem to fail. So, I turn to Duck tape. Wood glue can't help but go stale. So, I turn to Duck tape."

MIAMI -- Busloads of school children who paid for a field trip celebrating the Christmas holidays got the Grinch instead.

Thousands of youngsters had paid between $10 and $20 each to attend a show called "Christmas From Around the World." But when their school buses arrived Wednesday morning, the children found a shuttered playhouse and a promoter gone missing with their money.

"The Grinch raised his ugly head today," said Mary Ross Agosta, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami, which sent students from seven Roman Catholic schools to the show.

Miami police said the 50-year-old promoter, David Lee Ellisor, is wanted for questioning on possible fraud and grand theft charges.

"The fact that he's not showing up is making us very suspicious," police spokesman Lt. Bill Schwartz said Thursday. Police estimate Ellisor received at least $2,000 for the field trip and said he failed to pay a $1,600 bill at a local hotel last month.

The show was scheduled to run through Friday and listed as sponsors the city's police and fire departments and the Doubletree Hotel. Schwartz said none of them were involved.

Ellisor could not be located, but he left an apologetic recording at the phone number on his flier: "I'm so, so sorry to inform you the field trip has been postponed because we didn't have enough money to buy the presents. The city of Miami would not accept the school checks, and we've been fighting and we're sorry about this last-moment delay, but the field trip has been postponed until a couple of weeks from now."

BOONVILLE, Mo. -- Christine Chase and her siblings learned how to salute, run, climb and use ropes to overcome obstacles a long time ago.

Now, the trio will use those skills in the Air Force.

Chase, 21, her sister Ricki Alleman, 25, and brother Michael Chase, 19, recently decided to join the military together -- a rare family phenomenon in military recruiting, Air Force recruiter Sgt. Jonas Patterson said.

"I've had couples sign up together, but this is the first time that I've had three siblings from the same family sign up," Patterson said.

All three are scheduled to leave within two weeks for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Christine Chase remembers drills by her uncle, a 33-year veteran of the Marines, when she was a child.

"It was just a good way to wear out a little kid," she said.

Their father, Ricky Chase, served in the Air Force for six years, she said.

"We're people who put Air Force stickers automatically on all our cars," Christine Chase said. "It's what we know."

Names in the news

EDMONTON, Alberta -- The jersey Wayne Gretzky wore in last month's outdoors old-timers hockey game sold for $26,600 in an Internet auction.

The autographed Edmonton Oilers sweater, one of three Gretzky wore during the Nov. 22 game, went Thursday to a buyer on eBay who asked only to be identified as Dale. He also spent $9,600 on Mark Messier's jersey.

Dale told CFRN News he was "pretty nervous" about buying the jersey. "More overwhelmed with the publicity. I probably wouldn't have bid on it if I had known this would happen."

He said he'd planned to buy only Messier's jersey because he thought Gretzky's would be too expensive.

"But then I started bidding on Gretzky and the more I thought about it, I thought it would be nice to keep them together," he said.

Proceeds from the sale will go to a charity of the NHL Players Association's choice, according Doug Goss, the hockey event's chairman.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- "Cold Mountain," starring Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Jude Law, will be screened here nearly two weeks before its national release.

The Dec. 13 showing will benefit the Virginia Film Festival.

While most of the film was shot in Romania, the opening sequence and other scenes were shot in Virginia. Miramax, which is releasing the film, was keen on having an early screening in Virginia, said Richard Herskowitz, artistic director of the film festival.

"Also, we have friends at Miramax," he said.

"Cold Mountain," directed by Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient"), is based on Charles Frazier's acclaimed Civil War novel. It's scheduled for national release on Christmas Day.

ATLANTA -- Peabo Bryson's Grammy Awards for "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Whole New World" were being auctioned Friday and Saturday to help pay his $1.2 million tax debt.

The auction also includes a grand piano, keys to the city of Miami, several gold records, a sound board and mixer, African art, hundreds of shoes, a large old-fashioned wood bed and a yellow-and-black spotted Italian jacket.

The 52-year-old singer won a Grammy in 1992 for his recording of "Beauty and the Beast" with Celine Dion and another in 1993 for "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)" with Regina Belle.

The Internal Revenue Service wouldn't say what the starting bids would be.

"We would like for the items that will be auctioned off to satisfy the debt that is owed the federal government. Will they? We don't know yet," IRS spokesman Mark Green said Thursday.

All of Bryson's property was seized from his Atlanta home Aug. 21 for back taxes owed since 1984, Green said.

Neither Bryson nor his lawyer was available for comment Thursday.

"This is the last resort with any taxpayer," said Eric Erickson of the IRS.

NEW YORK -- "Joe Millionaire" star Evan Marriott will host the Game Show Network's new relationship show, "Fake-a-Date," which will premiere in March.

On "Fake-a-Date," a contestant will date two singles, one looking for love and the other who's hoping to win a luxury trip with his or her significant other, the cable channel said Wednesday. The contestant must decide who is sincere.

Marriott will offer advice and act as a confidante to participants. He'll also interview the contestant about the decision.

"I am thrilled to be hosting 'Fake-a-Date,' which takes a completely fresh approach to dating shows," Marriott said in a statement. "I can certainly empathize with what the contestants are feeling."

BANGOR, Maine -- The pneumonia that kept Stephen King hospitalized for 10 days has "pretty much resolved itself," his spokesman said.

But King's Bangor lawyer, Warren Silver, said Wednesday that "since he's in the hospital, the doctors want to work on his general health and leg issues to see if they can alleviate some of the pain that he's had."

King, 56, continues to experience pain in his right leg after being hit by a van as he walked along the shoulder of a road in North Lovell in 1999.

He's being treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

The best-selling author was diagnosed with pneumonia before his trip last month to New York to receive the National Book Foundation's 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

His condition worsened when he returned to Bangor, and doctors diagnosed him with an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the membrane surrounding one of his lungs. King then underwent surgery to remove the fluid.

He was taken off oxygen over the weekend and the tube that had been inserted in his chest to help eliminate fluid and scar tissue was removed Tuesday.

"The chest line was a real comfort issue because basically, it really inhibited him lying down," Silver said. "He's feeling physically much better (and) he's able to walk."

King's books include "Carrie," "The Shining" and "The Stand."

PHILADELPHIA -- The publication date of Pete Rose's new autobiography has been moved up two months to January.

"My Prison Without Bars," written with Rick Hill, will go on sale Jan. 8, Rodale Inc. said Wednesday.

The publication date is two days after the announcement of 2004 Hall of Fame inductees. Rose is ineligible for the Hall of Fame ballot because of the lifetime ban from baseball he agreed to in 1989 following an investigation of his gambling.

His first autobiography, "Pete Rose: My Story," was issued by Macmillan Publishing Co. in 1989, 2 1/2 months after Rose agreed to the ban. That book, written with Roger Kahn, maintained Rose's position that baseball's investigation was tainted and he never bet on baseball games.

NEW YORK - At 21, LeAnn Rimes has already been in the music business for nine years - and only now does she feel in control of her career.

"I'm just now, after suing people and all that stuff, I'm just now coming into my own and really taking control of my life. I'm really finally understanding it," she told AP Radio recently.

Rimes sued her father in 2000, alleging that he and former co-manager, Lyle Walker, had bilked her company out of more than $7 million over five years. Wilbur Rimes filed a countersuit against LeAnn Rimes Entertainment Inc. They settled the dispute in 2002.

The Grammy-winning singer and Curb Records ended a yearlong legal standoff in 2001. Rimes had claimed she didn't understand the original contract she signed when she was 12. In 1996, at 13, she scored the hit "Blue" and became a star.

Rimes, who is married to Dean Sheremet, said she hopes to have children, but won't encourage them to have music careers as early as she did. But she will help develop their talents if that's what they want to do.

"I've gone through a lot of pain and different things that I would never wish on a family or on a child," she said. "At 13, I had no clue except that I wanted to sing."

Original wire story (a0600):

LOS ANGELES -- Wedding bells may soon be ringing for actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her musician boyfriend Chris Martin.

The couple applied for a marriage license in Santa Barbara County, "Entertainment Tonight" reported Friday. Two days earlier, Paltrow announced she was expecting their first child next summer.

A call to Paltrow's publicist, Stephen Huvane, was not immediately returned.

Mary Rose Bryson, a supervisor in the county recorder division, told The Associated Press the couple hadn't requested a public marriage license. She said some licenses are granted confidentially and must be used in Santa Barbara County within 90 days.

The actress has been dating Martin, frontman for the British band Coldplay, for the past year. Both have been reticent about publicly discussing their relationship.

In a recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Paltrow said she hopes to marry but wouldn't reveal whether that aspiration extended to Martin.

Paltrow stars as poet Sylvia Plath in the film "Sylvia."

LONG BEACH --- Rapper Tray Deee, a member of the hip-hop group Tha Eastsidaz, was charged with assault in connection with a shooting last month, prosecutors said.

No one was injured in the Nov. 7 attack on two people outside a business.

The 37-year-old rapper, whose real name is Tracy Lamar Davis and is known as Tracy Muhammad, was charged Thursday with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm along with shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and possession of a firearm.

He was ordered held in lieu of $710,000 bail, with arraignment set for Monday.

No further information was available about the shooting.

Davis formed Tha Eastsidaz with rappers Snoop Dogg and Goldie Loc. The group has released two albums.