hHe's doggone lucky to get on the right track

hHe's doggone luckyto get on the right track
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. -- He's missing a lot of hair, but a Siberian husky has a new name and a new life, thanks to a construction worker and police officer who rescued him from a railroad track minutes before a train arrived. Jeremy Majorowicz thought it was a little strange that the dog had been sitting on the track for an hour and a half in the cold, and stranger still that he wouldn't accept a bite of muffin. "I have two dogs myself, so I didn't want to leave the dog if there was something wrong," Majorowicz said, so he called police. Officer Tim Strand said the dog was "shivering unmercifully" when he arrived earlier this week and would not come to him, so he called animal control officer Al Heyde, who also couldn't get the dog to budge. "I lifted his tail and hind quarters, and saw he was literally frozen to the tracks," Strand said. Strand pulled hard on the dog's tail and was able to release him, but the dog lost a lot of hair. Just 10 minutes later, a train came down the track. "If the dog would have seen that train I'm afraid it would have been the end of the pupster," Strand said. The dog was taken to the Chippewa County Humane Association, where workers named him "Ice Train."
Crowds come for Masssaid by Pope Benedict XVI
VATICAN CITY -- Pilgrims, tourists and Romans flocked to St. Peter's Square on Saturday for Pope Benedict XVI's first Christmas service since becoming pontiff, the start of his busy holiday celebrations. In a brief appearance hours before the Midnight Mass, Benedict lighted a candle in his studio window overlooking the square. He was keeping up the tradition of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, by delivering a silent Christmas Eve blessing to the faithful below. Cardinal Edmond Szoka, who administers the Vatican city-state, said the creche scene was larger than in the past so people could better appreciate the poor conditions in which Jesus was born. "It's important to remember that Jesus came to us as a child, but that this child is God," he told the crowd.
Washington Ballet plansto cancel, postpone shows
WASHINGTON -- The Washington Ballet says it will cancel or postpone several shows scheduled for 2006, the latest move in a labor dispute with the dancers' union. Several of the ballet's profitable "Nutcracker" performances also were canceled this month. The union responded to Friday's announcement by filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board to keep the schedule intact, because dancers stand to lose about three months' pay. Before canceling more performances, the ballet must discuss work schedule changes with its dancers, said Alan Gordon, executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Judge OKs settlementin Hilton hotel mold
HONOLULU -- A judge has approved a $1.8 million class action settlement between Hilton Corp. and guests who stayed in a mold-infested Waikiki hotel tower, lawyers for the plaintiffs said. Experts said the mold was a variety that can trigger asthma and also irritate the eyes, nose and throat, but no serious health problems were reported. Hilton denied liability but agreed to the settlement, said a statement from the law firm of Davis, Levin, Livingston and Grande.
Drug company says FDAOK'd new arthritis drug
WASHINGTON -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said the FDA has approved a new drug to treat moderate to severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease that afflicts more than 2 million Americans. The drug, abatacept, is to be marketed as Orencia and is designed to be given intravenously. The company, based in New York, intends to start selling it by the end of February. The drug acts by suppressing part of the immune system to treat rheumatoid arthritis, which is marked by swelling, stiffness and pain in the linings of the joints. The linings become inflamed after the body's immune system acts against them. Treatments for rheumatoid arthritis typically involve immunosuppressants. Abatacept uses a new mechanism, blocking the activation of T-cells. When T-cells proliferate, they play a role in the body's immune response.
Associated Press