Sunday, 9-17-06: A rock slab found in southern Mexico has the oldest writing ever found in the Western Hemisphere. The writing is Olmec, who lived along the Gulf Coast from 1200 BC to 400 BC. The 26-pound slab was discovered accidently in April by road workers. Space trash is becoming a nightmare. NASA tracks objects bigger than four inches, and there are 9,925 of those. And there are 90,000 pieces smaller than that can be just as dangerous. In the 1960s America launched bunches of copper needles into Earth orbit in an ill-conceived plan for post-nuclear war communication. Many are still there, along with bags of trash thrown overboard by Mir and NASA. The biggest pieces are giant rocket bodies launched as far back as 1958. How fast things come down depends on how high they are. Objects orbiting at 124 miles come down in a few days. Objects at 620 miles take centuries. In local news, an 18-year-old named Lucas Green was smashing car windows with a shoval at 3:00 yesterday morning. He was waving a knife when the police arrived, and holding it to his own throat. They fired beanbag rounds at him, but he wouldn't drop the knife. So they shot him and killed him. The officers were put on paid leave,of course. Luke's mom described him as a happy, funny teen who had been depressed lately. Monday, 8-18-06: A Russian rocket carrying a female space tourist lifted off today on a flight to the international space station. She's named Anousheh Ansari, and she's said to have paid $20 million for the ride. America has a global network of overseas prisons currently keeping 14,000 people beyond the reach of law. Tens of thousands have passed through US detention, mostly in Iraq. Many say they were interrogated around the clock, then released after months or years without apology or explanation. Families don't know where their men are until they're released. Tuesday, 8-19-06: Willie Nelson was on the road in his tour bus in Louisiana when the cops pulled him over for a commercial vehicle inspection. The trooper smelled marijuana and searched the bus. He found a pound and a half of marijuana and a fifth of a pound of psychedelic mushrooms. Willie and four others on the bus received misdemeanor citations. Canadian police told US authorities that an Ottowa man was an Islamic extremist suspected of links to Al Qaida. The Americans used "extraordinary rendition" to send him to Syria where he was tortured in prison. A commission of inquiry cleared Maher Arar of all suspicion and urged to federal government to offer him financial compensation. Maher was travelling on a Canadian passport, returning from a vacation in Tunisia, when he was detained at an airport in New York in September 2002. He was released in 2003. About a third of ADHA cases in America are linked to tobacco smoke and lead exposure, a new study finds. Kids whose moms smoked during pregnancy are 2 and a half times as likely to have ADHD. Kids with more than 2 micrograms of lead per deciliter in their blood are 4 times as likely to have ADHD as children with .8 milligrams per deciliter. The government's acceptable blood level is 10 milligrams per deciliter. Obviously it needs lowered.... Wednesday, 8-20-06: An explosion from a piece of space debris entering the atmosphere above New Zealand was so loud people ran from their homes and workplaces to see it. They saw a bright white trail in the sky with pieces breaking off. This is odd. It's been discovered that molten rock in a volcano forms crystals and thereby heats up. Most other things cool down as they crystallize. A drunken Chinese guy jumped into the Panda enclosure at the Peiking Zoo. He was bitten by the bear on the leg, and retaliated by kicking. The bear bit him on the other leg, and Zhang Xinyan bit the bear on the back. A tussle ensued until a zookeeper sprayed them both with water. Mounted police charged bottle-hurling protestors outside Socialist headquarters in Hungary, in a second night of violence. People are angry because the prime minister was accidently taped commenting that the government had "lied morning, evening and night" about the economy before the elections. Oops.... In local news, a study found that fewer than 20% of Oregon jobs can support a family with 2 kids. Wow! If both adults are working 48% of jobs can do it. In more local news, a man at the OHSU fertility clinic was attempting to father a child with his fiance, but the sperm was accidently used for a woman who was seeking an anonymous donor. And she's pregnant. The manis suing OHSU for $2 million for "worry and emotional distress." In more local news, the Multnomah County Sheriff is asking a state agency to revoke the police certification of the officer who was looking for flower tattoos. He acknowledged this is a back-handed way to get rid of him. It's not easy firing a police officer in this town.... Thursday, 8-21-06: California's attorney general sued the six largest American and Japanese carmakers yesterday. The lawsuit alleges that emissions from their cars have harmed people and the environment. The fossilized skull of a 3-year-old child from 3.3 million years ago was found in Ethiopia. She's an Australopithecus, the same species as Lucy. A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Bush administration acted illegally when it repealed a 2001 Clinton directive banning logging and development on 50 million acres of roadless national forest. The judge called the Bush decision to avoid environmental assessments "a clear error of judgement." In local news, a woman was trapped for 12 hours upside down in her car before she was found and rescued. A morning walker spotted her 25 feet down a wooded embankment. Firefighters used a chain saw to clear trees and reach her, and found her unconscious, strapped in one of the seats. Her dog was huddled nearby. They got her out and flew her to a hospital. At least two witnesses have filed complaints against the city for police officers' use of force against a man who later died in police custody. The witnesses (one of whom is a reverend) said they saw three cops of solid stature run and tackle a slim man to the pavement at the corner of NW 13th and Everett. One officer kicked the man repeatedly in the chest. Another officer put a taser to the man's body and shocked him four times. The man was knocked out. The police stood around for another 5 minutes in "an eerie silence" till a paramedic arrived and brought the man back to consciousness. Then the police trussed him and "carried him like a deer" to a patol care. An hour later the man was dead. Friday, 9-22-06: The White House and rebellious Senate Republicans announced a deal yesterday on rules for interrogation. The House and Senate will vote next week on the legislation. The deal gives President Bush everything he wanted: the CIA can continue to use water-boarding, keep people naked in cold wet cells, deprive them of sleep, and put them in "stress positions" for hours or days. And the deal sets up military tribunals to try suspects without them being able to see "secret evidence." Last June the Supreme Court ruled that the rough interrogation policies adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 were illegal. If this bill passes, those practices will continue undisturbed. Saturday, 9-23-06: An astronaut collapsed twice on Friday after she returned to Earth in the shuttle after 12 days in zero gravity. Heidemarie Stefanson-Piper was speaking at the return home ceremony, and her legs buckled. She stood up again and spoke another half minute, and then appeared confused and wobbly, so her fellow astronauts lowered her to the floor. In local news, an autopsy was done on the guy who died in police custody, James Chasse, Jr. The state medical examiner says he died from blunt force trauma to his chest. His ribs were fractured. There were no drugs in his system. And in related news, it turns out he had a psychotic mental disorder.