Student catches test error

Student catches test error

WICHITA, Kan. — A high school student’s keen eye has caught a state test error that managed to slip past teachers, test coordinators and other students for almost a year.

Geoffrey Stanford, 17, discovered during a Kansas writing test last week that an essay question concerning greenhouse gases incorrectly used the word “omission” for the word “emission,” prompting the Wichita East High School junior to point out the error.

The state Department of Education has e-mailed a corrected version of the essay question to test coordinators around the state, but the incident already has caused a lot of red faces at the department, which used a committee of more than 30 state teachers to develop the test almost two years ago.

Octuplet mom loses PR rep

LOS ANGELES — The public relations group that has represented octuplets mother Nadya Suleman is stepping down because of death threats, its president said Saturday.

Joann Killeen also said the mother now has an agent: Wes Yoder, the same man who arranged book and music deals for the McCaughey septuplets a decade ago and publicity for controversial pastor Rick Warren.

The Killeen Furtney Group was ending its free representation after receiving at least 100 graphic e-mailed threats and swarms of nasty voice mails that went to the Los Angeles agency and even to some of its other clients, Killeen said.

Word that the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother is receiving public assistance to care for the 14 children she conceived through in vitro fertilization has stoked furor among many people.

Police are investigating the threats.

Ike can’t stop Mardi Gras

GALVESTON, Texas — Hundreds of revelers gathered Saturday to celebrate an annual Mardi Gras tradition in a show of support for this island ravaged by Hurricane Ike’s powerful storm surge just five months ago.

“I see this as a hopeful sign,” said Sue Orta, a reveler from Houston who has a home on Galveston Island. “The city will recover.”

About 75 percent of the homes in Galveston sustained damage from Ike’s 110-mph winds, rain and 12-foot storm surge when the hurricane came ashore just outside the city Sept. 13. Revelers and some of the floats in Saturday’s parade, the first of three in the celebration, paid homage to the storm.

One float was decorated with the blue tarp material that still covers hundreds of roofs in the area. Phrases such as “No lights” and “No phone” and the word “Ike” with a line drawn through it were written on the float.

Lawsuit filed in wildfire

WHITTLESEA, Australia — Australians mourned the victims of deadly wildfires at Sunday church services across the country, as news emerged of a class action lawsuit against a power company over the cause of one of the blazes.

More than 180 people were killed and 1,800 homes destroyed when some 400 blazes tore across Victoria state Feb. 7 in Australia’s worst-ever wildfire disaster. Police have arrested one man on arson charges connected to one fire and suspect foul play in at least one other.

A law firm lodged a suit in Victoria’s Supreme Court against power supplier SP Ausnet alleging negligence for allowing an overhead power line to fall, starting a wildfire, The Age newspaper reported.

Wal-Mart sued over bite

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Wal-Mart is full of signs highlighting low prices, but there should be another warning customers they might be attacked by snakes on the premises, a bitten Hollywood, Fla., shopper says.

Jay Richitelli filed suit against the megaretailer because a venomous pygmy rattlesnake bit him in the lawn and garden section of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pembroke Pines, Fla. He is seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages in the Broward County Circuit Court case. His attorneys said his medical bills for the attack last July 6 could top $100,000.

Obamas’ Valentine’s Day

CHICAGO — President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, spent Valentine’s Day at an upscale restaurant in their hometown.

The Obamas are spending a long weekend in Chicago for their first real break since he became president Jan. 20. Aides say they have no public events.

The couple left their Hyde Park home on Chicago’s south side Saturday evening for a quiet dinner at Table 52, a restaurant owned by Oprah Winfey’s former chef, Art Smith. The menu features traditional Southern fare such as grits and sausage and catfish jambalaya.

Earlier in the day, Obama began his weekend with a trip to a gym in a friend’s apartment building.

Obama didn’t speak with reporters.

Combined dispatches