NOWCAST: PRODUCTS

WS-GPI COMPACT WEATHER STATION

The WS-GP1 Weather Station by Dynamax, Inc., is designed for research, agricultural, or environmental applications. Sensors for wind speed and direction, light, temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall are all packaged together into a small compact weather kit that is touted as "ready-to-use." Software for easy programming …

World Short Track Championships

Results Saturday for the second day of the International Skating Union's World Short Track Speedskating Championships in Gangneung, South Korea:

Men

500 meters final

1. Apolo Anton Ohno, United States, 42.568 seconds

2. Charles Hamelin, Canada, 42.625

3. …

TV presenter barrymore released without charge Entertainer Michael Barrymore has denied any involvement in the death of a butcher found dead in his swimming pool six years ago.

Entertainer Michael Barrymore has denied any involvement in thedeath of a butcher found dead in his swimming pool six years ago.

He and two other men were arrested on suspicion of seriouslysexually assaulting and murdering 31-year-old Stuart Lubbock.

Mr Lubbock's body was found at Barrymore's home in Roydon, Essex,in March 2001.

The TV presenter, 55, who lives in London, was released on policebail without charge pending further inquiry last night, after beingheld by detectives for nearly 36 hours.

He was driven out of the back of a police station at South WoodhamFerrers, Essex, and made no comment to waiting journalists.

His lawyer, Henri Brandman, …

Sammy Spider's First Rosh Hashanah

Pre-schoolers already love Sammy Spider and they are sure to delight in hearing about his first New Year, in Sammy Spider's First Rosh Hashanah, written by Sylvia A. Rouss and illustrated by Katherine Janus Kahn (1996, $5.95 paperback).

In the previous two books in the series Sammy celebrated his first Chanukah and his first Passover, and now it's his first Rosh Hashanah.

Still living on the ceiling in the Shapiro family's home, Sammy has an aerial view of the holiday preparations and wants to celebrate, too.

"Silly little Sammy," the …

UN to pull out from Sri Lanka rebel-held territory

The United Nations said Tuesday it would begin withdrawing its staff from rebel-held areas this week after a government decision banning foreign aid workers from the area.

Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the government decided to order all foreign aid workers from the territory under rebel control for their own protection.

"We can't assure the security of these people," Rajapaksa told The Associated Press on Monday. "We are taking precautions."

Rajapaksa said that while U.N. workers would be forced to move out of Tamil Tiger-controlled areas, they would be allowed to return briefly to accompany aid shipments.

…

PLUS NEWS

Hurricane Felix Warnings Lifted Hurricane warnings and evacuation orders were dropped today alongthe North Carolina and Virginia coast as a shrinking Felix dawdled atsea for a second day. The hurricane's stall befuddled forecastersand frustrated many people who had been in the storm's path. Thestorm slowed from 14 m.p.h. Wednesday and was nearly at a standstillthis morning. At 1 p.m., it was about 190 miles east-northeast ofCape Hatteras in the long, skinny Outer Banks islands. The unusuallywide storm also shrank overnight. Hurricane-force winds, which hadextended 115 miles from the center, were reduced to a 90-mile radius.The storm's sustained winds were at 75 m.p.h., just above the minimumneeded for it to be classified as a hurricane. Although hurricanewarnings were discontinued in North Carolina and Virginia, much ofthe coast from North Carolina to Delaware was under a tropical stormwarning and forecasters noted that the storm wasn't going away soon. Lawyers Debate Crime Scene Visit Heated arguments gave way to bickering over potted plants and streetlamps in the O.J. Simpson trial today, as attorneys debated whetherconditions at the crime scene are similar enough to the murder nightmore than a year ago to allow an after-dark jury visit. SuperiorCourt Judge Lance Ito tentatively agreed to allow a Sunday nightexcursion as long as conditions can be substantially duplicated. Thejudge said he would accompany attorneys to the crime scene andSimpson's house Friday or Saturday for a "dry-run." "If the court issatisfied (with the conditions) at that time, we'll go forward. Ifnot, we'll cancel," Ito said. Bradley Hints at Presidential Bid Casting himself as a champion of the disaffected, Democrat BillBradley said today his decision to retire from the U.S. Senate couldlead to an independent bid for the presidency in 1996. He also saidhe had spoken with Gen. Colin Powell, the former chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff who is considered a possible presidentialcontender. Bradley would not give specifics of their conversation."I have not ruled out an independent route," the New Jersey senatorsaid. "My objective is to get the political process to focus on thelives of people who are now disconnected from it." He repeated thathe would not challenge President Clinton in the Democratic primaryand said he still considers himself a Democrat. Bomb Explodes Near Arc de Triomphe A bomb packed with nails and bolts exploded in a garbage can nearthe Arc de Triomphe today, injuring at least 16 people. Officialssaid the bomb was similar to one that killed seven people in a Parissubway three weeks ago, heightening fears that Paris had beentargeted for a new wave of bombings at the height of the touristseason. Three people were believed to be seriously hurt in thisafternoon's blast at the busy tourist site, which was immediatelyblocked off by more than 100 police officers. News reports said twopeople were detained near the blast site and questioned, but therewere no further details. Today's bomb consisted of a butane canisterpacked with nails and bolts, much like the one in the July 25 subwayblast, said a fire department spokesman on condition of anonymity.

Utah governor a bad choice for EPA If Leavitt manages the U.S. environment like he manages Utah's state park environment, we all better buy gas masks!

FEATURED LETTER

I am opposed to the nomination of Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah as thehead of the Environmental Protection Agency.

I was in southern Utah this summer and visited Zion and BryceCanyon National Parks and Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The twonational parks were beautiful and protected by the National ParkService, despite recent cuts in funding. The rangers were helpful andthe parks were kept up well. Much attention was paid to preservingthese great lands for future generations.

Near Kanab, Utah, is Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, which iscontrolled by the state of Utah. Litter in the form of beer and popcans and other garbage is strewn all over the road going into thepark, and the road signs are full of gunshot holes. The park has avery small area fenced off that preserves the attributes of the parkfor all to see. In the vast majority of the park, off-road vehiclesare allowed to race up and down the sand dunes, destroying anythingin their way. Guide books advise visitors to arrive early before thedune buggy yahoos destroy the quiet and beautiful surroundings of thepark.

If Leavitt manages the U.S environment like he manages this statepark environment, we all better buy gas masks!

Robert Larson, Oak Park

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Don't believe the hype

Great job, Sun-Times, for your Aug. 8 front-page headline, "Loopis target of high CTA crime." Great job, indeed, for creating aperception of crime vastly out of proportion to reality.

Citing Chicago Police Department figures, you state that a groupof four L stations in the Lake/State street area had 36 reportedcrimes in 2003's first half. One doesn't have to be a statistician tosuspect that 36 crimes--an average of six a month--doesn't sound likemuch, considering the thousands of people who use those stationsdaily.

But not until the third column of the story did you note that the10 busiest stations on the system so far this year have handledbetween 1.25 million and 2.15 million riders each. Some of the topfour Loop stations for crimes are among the system's busiest.

Let's assume those four "high-crime" stations had a total of 5million riders--1.25 million times four. That means your chance ofbeing a crime victim in these stations is a whopping 0.00072 percent,or about seven ten-thousandths of 1 percent. Run for cover!

Crime often is underreported. Let's further assume that the realcrime rate at the four allegedly dangerous stations is 100 timesgreater than the 36 incidents reported. Even then, your chance ofbeing a victim is still less than one-tenth of 1 percent.

Of course, numbers are a poor antidote to fear--especially if it'slate at night and there are some menacing-looking characters down theplatform. But your headline and sensationalistic story did adisservice to your readers and CTA riders.

Jim Daly, Mount Prospect

They know it's an inside job

In response to the [Aug. 7] article: "New deadline attracts only6 more police chief applicants": Police Board President DemetriusCarney's credibility suffers when he says he was hard-pressed toexplain why this year's field has been cut in half. Chicago has neverbeen viewed by police professionals as a city that gives seriousconsideration to outsiders applying for police superintendent.Chicago will not even give serious consideration to a former PoliceDepartment manager. Two very capable former members of the CPDmanagement ranks--Chuck Ramsey of D.C. and Terry Gainer of the U.S.Capitol Police--will not be among the applicants. They are too smartto allow themselves to be used to "legitimize" the claim that anational search was conducted.

Mayor Daley's overvalued need for expressed loyalty will impedehis selection of the best candidate for the job. To paraphrase OscarWilde, what some view as loyalty is really just a lack of initiativeor innovation. Saying yes to your boss is easy but not always in thebest interest of your boss, the department or the community. TerryHillard, who is the best superintendent Chicago has had in more than15 years, somehow managed to succeed in spite of the mayor's need fora yes man.

The candidates mentioned in the article, Phil Cline and JimMaurer, are capable police leaders. Another capable insider and awild card candidate is Barbara McDonald. I doubt any of them will getthe job. They are handicapped because they can think for themselves.

Dennis E. Nowicki,

St. Charles

Start the charity at home

I often marvel at how this great country of ours continues to findbillions upon billions of tax dollars to come to the rescue offoreign nations that are threatened by communism or brutal dictators.More astonishing is that we argue for years within our governingbodies when it comes to building schools for our own children. Wehave to resort to referendums to build new schools, renovatecrumbling buildings or hire additional teachers.

If we had spent a small portion of what we have given away to somany countries in the name of democracy, we could have wonderfulschools with well-paid and motivated educators. Instead, we havehundreds of dilapidated schools and a cockeyed system that draws thebrightest and most innovative educators into the wealthiestcommunities to educate the most fortunate children, while leaving theless fortunate to fend for educators willing to enter into theircommunities.

Our grandparents had the foresight to provide the money to buildschools and hire teachers to meet the needs of their generation.These facilities are now falling apart, and the population has growntremendously since the early 1900s. Many more teachers are needed tocompete in this new world, but so many of us see no urgency toprovide for our own children's futures. Did we learn nothing from ourgrandparents? Where along the way did our priorities get so screwedup?

Michael D. Turay, Crete

Deja vu all over again

It seems I'm living so long that I visualize our nation's historyrepeating itself.

In the 1930s, America came out of a devastating depression. Theimportation of cheap, inferior consumer products from Japan waseverywhere, while Japan imported all the scrap steel that we couldsend them. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan sent the results of this scenariowith war.

In the 1930s and for decades later, America was a thrivingindustrialized nation. We could build and manufacture anything.Today, we can produce hardly anything without components from othernations. In these last few years, America has formed a worrisomecourtship with China. As in the 1930s with Japan, China today isflooding America with cheap, poor-quality consumer products. Chinaenjoys a multibillion dollar trade advantage with America.

America looks to Iraq or Iran for weapons of mass destruction. Thereal weapons of mass destruction are coming to America "incognito,"and we are buying them for our own demise!

Consider that China has more than doubled its military budget toup to $60 billion. No big deal here, but it's only the beginning, andthe crap Americans are buying from China is paying for it. Unless wehave our heads in the clouds, you know that Taiwan, for the present,is the "apple" of China's eye. Today China has 350 ballisticmissiles, and its arsenal is growing at the rate of 50 per year. WillAmerica watch when Taiwan is taken?

From an industrialized nation, America is becoming a "service"nation. Our fat population is growing in leaps and bounds, and toomany people are lazy and unconcerned. A service nation is no matchfor a 200-million-member standing military like China's. Trust me!

I love the Chinese people, but not communism!

Florian Kochanny,

Oak Lawn

Sluggo's got issues

Every day I read about him, and every day I get more worried. Ibelieve that it is time to call a spade a spade, so to speak. I'mgoing to just come right out and say it: I believe Sluggo [of thecomic strip "Nancy"] is clinically depressed.

It's just not right for a guy--a young guy at that--to drop off tosleep anytime and everywhere. I'd considered narcolepsy, butdismissed that, seeing as Sluggo seems to drop off for a good,lengthy snooze whenever the opportunity is there (and sometimes, evenwhen it's not there).

It's honestly not even funny anymore; now I am just plain worried.

Patrick D. Edwards,

Grand Crossing

MY TWO CENTS

"Mayor Daley's overvalued need for expressed loyalty will impedehis selection of the best candidate for the job. Terry Hillard, thebest superintendent Chicago has had in more than 15 years, somehowmanaged to succeed in spite of the mayor's need for a yes man." --dennis e. nowicki