Monday, June 29, 2009
Actress Gale Storm dies
LOS ANGELES — Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early television’s biggest stars on “My Little Margie” and “The Gale Storm Show,” has died at age 87.
Storm, who had been in failing health in recent years, died Saturday at a convalescent hospital in Danville, said her son, Peter Bonnell.
Before landing the starring role in “My Little Margie” in 1952, Storm starred in numerous B movies opposite such stars as Roy Rogers, Eddie Albert and Jackie Cooper. After her last TV series, “The Gale Storm Show,” ended in 1960 she went on to a successful singing career while continuing to make occasional TV appearances.
Beef recall expanded
GREELEY, Colo. — JBS Swift Beef Co. of Greeley, Colo., is voluntarily expanding its beef recall to include about 380,000 pounds of products because of possible E. coli contamination.
A recall earlier this week involved about 41,000 pounds of products.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Sunday that all the beef products in the expanded recall were produced April 21 and are in boxes bearing “EST. 969,” a package date of “042109” and a time stamp ranging from “0618” to “1130.”
The USDA says an investigation by its Food Safety and Inspection Service of 24 illnesses in multiple states prompted the company to re-examine its food safety system.
Capping loan repayments
NEW YORK — Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful.
Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans forgiven after just 10 years.
A calculator at www.ibrinfo.org can help borrowers determine their eligibility for the plan, which becomes available Wednesday.
Pope: Bones are St. Paul’s
ROME — The first scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul “seem to conclude” that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.
Archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome, which for some 2,000 years has been believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul.
Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon-dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.
Lebanese political violence
BEIRUT — Sunni supporters of Lebanon’s prime minister-designate and Shiite rivals from the parliament speaker’s political faction traded gunfire in a Beirut neighborhood Sunday. Security officials said one civilian was killed and two others were wounded in the first outbreak of violence since this month’s elections.
Automatic rifle fire and three explosions were heard in the brief gunbattle that underlined the continued sectarian tensions despite recent pledges by political leaders to work together. Those pledges followed a bruising election campaign.
Hours earlier, the Western-backed billionaire who is to become the country’s next prime minister, Saad Hariri, was holding talks with his predecessors as part of the delicate process of forming a government that can unify the deeply divided country.
Governor’s lover speaks
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A 41-year-old Argentine woman acknowledged having a relationship with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, saying Sunday that widely published e-mail correspondence between the two was obtained from her account without permission.
In a brief statement sent to news network C5n of Buenos Aires, Maria Belen Chapur said she will not talk about her private life, which has already been the focus of intense media scrutiny in the United States and Argentina.
Chapur said someone accessed her Hotmail account without permission late last year and leaked e-mail correspondence that described a relationship with Sanford to the South Carolina newspaper The State.
Associated Press