Auschwitz note discovered

Auschwitz note discovered

WARSAW, Poland — The note, written in pencil then rolled up and inserted in a bottle, contains the names of seven young people who probably thought they were doomed to die in the notorious Auschwitz death camp.

A construction crew renovating a cellar near the Auschwitz site discovered the bottle hidden in a concrete wall, officials said Monday.

Dated Sept. 9, 1944, the note bears the names, camp numbers and hometowns of the seven prisoners — six from Poland and one from France.

“All of them are between the ages of 18 and 20,” the final sentence reads.

“They were young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them,” said Auschwitz museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt. He said two of the prisoners survived the camp, but he did not have further details.

2,000 to see Leno for free

WILMINGTON, Ohio — Residents rocked by thousands of layoffs at the local airport or otherwise struggling to survive in the shaky economy are hoping that laughter is the best medicine.

More than 2,000 people picked up tickets Monday to next month’s free comedy show by Jay Leno, who is bringing his act to southwest Ohio as a morale booster.

Quake hits central Mexico

MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake struck central Mexico on Monday, swaying tall buildings in the capital and rattling nerves in a city already tense from a swine- flu outbreak suspected of killing as many as 149 people nationwide.

Near the epicenter in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, two women ages 67 and 75 died of heart attacks during or shortly after the earthquake, and four homes and a perimeter wall collapsed in and around the resort of Acapulco, state police reported.

The quake had a magnitude of 5.6 and was centered near Chilpancingo, about 130 miles southwest of Mexico City and 50 miles from Acapulco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Tourists also streamed out of hotels in Acapulco and congregated on sidewalks and medians for several minutes.

Racial income disparities

WASHINGTON — Blacks and Hispanics lag behind whites for higher-paying jobs at the largest rates in about a decade as employment opportunities dwindled during the nation’s economic woes and housing slump.

Census data released Monday show an increasingly educated U.S. work force whose earnings didn’t always seem to match up with its potential.

Among those 25 and older last year, 86.6 percent had graduated from high school, up from 85.7 percent the previous year. It was the biggest increase since 1992, with record percentages of people earning diplomas across all racial and Hispanic categories.

The share of people with at least a bachelor’s degree from college also increased, from 28.7 percent to 29.4 percent, continuing a decades-long rise.

Manhunt continues

ATHENS, Ga. — The manhunt for a University of Georgia professor suspected in the shooting deaths of his wife and two men shifted away from this campus town Monday as the FBI revealed he has a plane ticket for the Netherlands later this week and left behind an empty passport wallet.

George M. Zinkhan has not been seen since the shootings near campus Saturday, and law enforcement agencies nationwide have been enlisted in the search for the marketing professor, authorities said.

As classes resumed Monday on the campus where Zinkhan had taught since the 1990s, the university announced that the marketing professor had been fired.

Changing faiths in U.S.

The U.S. is a nation of religious drifters, with about half of adults switching faith affiliation at least once during their lives, a new survey has found.

And the reasons behind all the swapping depend greatly on whether one grows up kneeling at Roman Catholic Mass, praying in a Protestant pew or occupied with nonreligious pursuits, according to a report issued Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Though Catholics are more likely to leave the church because they stopped believing its teachings, many Protestants are driven to trade one Protestant affiliation for another because of changed life circumstances, the survey found.

The ranks of those unaffiliated with any religion, meanwhile, are growing, not so much because of a lack of religious belief, but because of disenchantment with religious leaders and institutions.

The report estimates that between 47 percent and 59 percent of U.S. adults have changed affiliation at least once. Most described just gradually drifting away from their childhood faith.

Associated Press