A white Justice of the Peace in Louisiana who refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple says he has no plans to resign, the Associated Press reports.

Keith Bardwell's comments to reporters follows calls for his ouster by Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu.

"Everybody hates me," he tells reporters. "Really. I don't know why. I treat people, I figure, equal. I have one problem with mixed marriages and that is the offspring."

Asked if he is "racist," Bardwell replies: "Absolutely not.

"My definition of a racist is to hate black people, or treat black people different that anybody else," he says.

The controversy in Hammond, La., erupted after Bardwell refused to issue a marriage license to  a white woman and a black man. They were later married by another official.

Bardwell says his concern is with the impact that an interracial marriage has on children. He says he has married white couples and black couples, but refers interracial couples to another JP.

Watch AP video report below of Bardwell talking to reporters or click here.

Gawker, which acknowledges it paid Thomas for the interview, includes in the long interview details of many hours he spent with Heene working on the proposal.

He says Heene was "driven by ego and fame" after appearing on the ABC reality show Wife Swap.

The posting includes audio of the interview, a link to the reality TV proposal and e-mails Thomas says he exchanged with Heene.

Click here to read Gawker's posting.

(Click here if you are having trouble seeing the video above.)

Update at 11:28 p.m. ET: Baton Rouge's WAFB-TV reports that state Rep. Regina Barrow of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus has has signed off on a formal complaint requesting that the judiciary commission review the actions of the justice of the peace.

Update at 8:59 p.m. ET: The justice of the peace at the center of the controversy tells WAFB TV in an exlcusive interview that he has no regrets over his actions and would do it again.

"It's kind of hard to apologize for something that really and truly down in your heart you don't feel you've done wrong," Keith Bardwell told WAFB's David Spunt on Saturday.

"I don't regret what I did and if it ever came up again, I'd have to do the same thing," Bardwell tells WAFB.

Click here for more on the latest developments.

Update at 8:58 p.m. ET:  U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in a statement Bardwell's practices and comments were deeply disturbing.

"Not only does his decision directly contradict Supreme Court rulings, it is an example of the ugly bigotry that divided our country for too long," she said.

Update at 8:13 p.m. ET:  Louisiana's governor and a U.S. senator today have called for the ouster of the justice of the peace who refused to marry an interracial couple, saying his actions clearly broke the law, the Associated Press reports.

The state's Legislative Black Caucus and constitutional rights groups have also called for an investigation of Bardwell or his resignation.

Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a statement a nine-member commission that reviews lawyers and judges in the state should investigate, the AP reports.

"Disciplinary action should be taken immediately — including the revoking of his license," Jindal said.

Original post:

A Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple last week says he's no racist but has drawn a sharp rebuke from civil rights organizations in the state, The Daily Star reports.

Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend, Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, said they tried to get a marriage license last week but were told the JP will not sign licenses for interracial marriages.

Pat Morris, local NAACP president, says she was shocked to hear that the choice of a spouse is still an issue in the parish.

“I told him if I do, I’ll resign,” Bardwell says. “I have rights too. I’m not obligated to do that just because I’m a justice of the peace.”

Saturday

• Abortion opponents in Spain plan to rally against legislation that would ease the country's strict law on ending pregnancies.

• Indians worldwide celebrate Diwali, the four-day Hundu festival of lights, a national holiday in India. Here are six novel ways to celebrate.

Sunday

• Cheers: In Ohio, restaurant-goers can buy liquor and wine two hours earlier — 11 a.m.

• At Camp Pendleton, opening statements are scheduled in the court-martial of Marine Master Sgt. Reinaldo Pagan, accused of revealing classified material.

Monday

• The American Academy of Pediatrics announces its policies on music lyrics and media violence, and on tobacco.

• Vice President Biden is scheduled to appear with Democratic New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine at a campaign rally at Middlesex County College. President Obama plans to stump with Corzine on Wednesday.

• To help pay a $2.87 billion judgment, authorities will begin auctioning off property belonging to former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, who is serving seven years in federal prison for bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud. His lakeside mansion goes on the block next month.

A 30-foot-wide asteroid discovered just last night will sail past Earth just before midnight ET, NASA reports. Traveling about 18,163 mph, the space rock will pass within 216,000 miles, slightly closer than the orbit of the moon.

Good thing.

"If it's typical density, it would create a 4 kiloton explosion in the Earth's atmosphere if it were to hit, which of course it won't," Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL, tells Space.com. "You'd expect an object of this size to fly within the orbit of the moon every few days or so."

Pigs in Minnesota may have tested positive for the H1N1 virus, the first potential cases in U.S. swine, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced.

In its news release, the USDA says it is running tests to confirm the initial results. Samples were taken from pigs at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1. The animals were apparently healthy and showed no signs of illness.

Results are expected in several days, the USDA says.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reminded people that they cannot get the virus from eating pork.

The news release continues: "An outbreak of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza occurred in a group of children housed in a dormitory at the fair at the same time samples were collected from the pigs, but no direct link to the pigs has been made. Information available at this time would suggest the children were not sickened by contact with the fair pigs."

More here about the H1N1 virus.

The bad news:

The Obama administration has confirmed what the Congressional Budget Office reported last week: The deficit hit a record $1.42 trillion in the previous fiscal year and is expected to reach $9.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

The not-as-bad-as-it-could-have-been news:

The White House and Treasury Department say last year's hole isn't as deep as expected.

"This year's deficit is lower than we had projected earlier this year, in part because we are managing to repair the financial system at a lower cost to taxpayers," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

In August, the White House budget office predicted the fiscal 2009 deficit would be $1.58 trillion; its previous guesstimate was $1.84 trillion.

The U.N. Human Rights Council has endorsed a report accusing Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the 22-day Israeli offensive in Gaza that ended in January. The vote sends the Goldstone Commission report to the Security Council.

Of the council's 47 members, 25 — mostly Arab and African states — voted for the resolution. Six — the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine — voted against it. The remaining 16 either abstained or did not vote.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed; Israel says 1,166. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed.

The hostilities were investigated by international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone. He recommended that within six months soldiers on both sides be prosecuted for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Failing that, the U.N. Security Council should pursue prosecutions.

The rights council's resolution, however, only cites "recent Israeli violations of human rights in occupied east Jerusalem" without directly mentioning Hamas.

Goldstone criticized that bias.

"This draft resolution saddens me as it includes only allegations against Israel. There is not a single phrase condemning Hamas as we have done in the report. I hope that the council can modify the text," Goldstone told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, Agence France-Presse reports.

The BBC summarizes his report:

The 575-page report by the South African judge concluded that Israel had "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" by using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians, using Palestinians as human shields and destroying civilian infrastructure during its offensive in Gaza.

It also found there was also evidence that Palestinian militant groups including Hamas, which controls Gaza, had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated rocket and mortars attacks on southern Israel.

The report demanded that unless the parties to the Gaza war investigated the allegations of war crimes within six months, the cases should be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

The complete report can be found here.

(A Palestinian scavenges materials from a Gaza house destroyed by Israeli forces last winter. Photo by Hatem Moussa, AP.)

Update at 2:18 p.m. ET: The sheriff tells reporters that he realizes there have been calls from the public to "charge them (the family) with something" but that he has no evidence that that is warranted. "We in law enforcement have to operate on what we can prove as a fact, not what people want to be done, or what people speculate should be done."

Update at 2:16 p.m. ET: The sheriff says he finds it difficult to believe that a child as active as Falcon could have remained quiet in the attic as part of some kind of elaborate hoax. "I can't see this particular boy being told to sit up there for five hours. I just don't see that happening as hyperactive as he is."

Update at 2:14 p.m. ET: Sheriff Jim Alderen says the authorities "believe at this time that it's a real event." He tells reporters that officers intend to speak to interview the family, but is waiting until events calm down and they get over their exhaustion.

Update at 1:14 p.m. ET: TMZ has obtained what it says is the 911 call from Falcon's mother reporting the loss of the balloon. Click here to listen.

Original post:

Was the 'balloon boy' ordeal a hoax?

Colorado Sheriff Jim Alderman says his investigators don't believe it was, but will seek a new interview with the family after a CNN report raised questions about the bizarre episode of a runaway balloon that captivated the nation's attention Thursday afternoon.

Falcon Heene, the 6-year-old boy at the center of the saga, was not in the balloon when it landed north of Denver, but was hiding in a box in the family's garage attic.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer was interviewing the family on Larry King Live when the boy's father, Richard Heene, asked his son why he didn't come out from his hiding place if he could hear people calling for him.

The boy's reply: "We did this for the show." That was followed by several awkward moments of silence from the parents, who have been appearing on the ABC reality show Wife Swap.

During another live interview Friday on NBC, Falcon threw up into a container when his father was answering the same question.

But Falcon was nowhere to be found when rescue teams reached the balloon after it drifted into a field. Instead, he turned up two hours later in the garage attic.

"Somebody had asked him if he would show them how he got out for some TV," Heene said. "He told me that was what he was referring to when we were talking about it."

The father vehemently denied there was any hoax in the balloon episode and talked about the wrenching emotions he experienced as the balloon floated thousands of feet in the air across the state.

 He said it was especially difficult when the craft landed and Falcon was not inside.

"All I could think was perhaps he had fallen out," Heene said, his voice choking with emotion.

Update at 11:38 a.m. ET: Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden this morning discusses with KUSA TV his reaction to the boy's comment. He says investigators on scene believed the incident was legitimate and not a hoax even after interviewing Falcon separately from his family.

I don't know, after three hours of dealing with the media I couldn't tell you what he was saying at that time or what he meant. What I can tell you is that our investigators were there from the onset, very experienced investigators. They can do forensic interviews; they're well-trained at looking at body language . . . non-verbal communications to look for deception.

Alderden did say, however, that Falcon's statements to CNN cast some suspicion on the investigation.

"Clearly with the statements that were made last night we hope to re-interview the family and explore that possibility to try and get to the bottom of this and resolve it one way or another," he added.

Alderden says the family could be responsible for covering the cost of the search if the incident is proven to be a hoax and criminal charges are filed.

Richard Heene, Falcon's father, had this to say Thursday night to KUSA:

Today was grueling, OK. The media had asked the sheriff's department these questions about this publicity stunt crap and everything that I went through, everything my wife has gone through, I just find that just disgusting. It's absolutely appalling to me after all the crap that we went through that they would say that.

Watch the initial CNN interview below or click here.

(Photos by Rick Wilking, Reuters)

Security cameras at an Australian train station caught horrifying footage of stroller, with a 6-month-old baby inside, tumbling onto the tracks seconds before a train pulled in.

Miraculously, the baby survived with only minor injuries, The Age newspaper of Melbourne reports.

"It appears that the baby was strapped into his pram which has rolled forward onto the tracks and into the path of an oncoming train," says paramedic Jon Wright, who answered the call.

He said the train was slowing down as it approached the station and pushed the stroller along the tracks for about 30 yards.

"The baby received a bump to his head and was distressed when we arrived. Luckily he was strapped into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life," Wright told the newspaper.

Watch below or click here.

Former secretary of State Colin Powell is out. So is Mother Teresa.

Former senator Phil Gramm, R-Texas, also didn't make the cut.

Nor did Revolutionary war hero Nathan Hale, Florence Nightingale, Sigmund Freud or Carl Sagan.

But Hector P. Garcia is in. So is former secretary of State James A. Baker.

Likewise, Howard Hughes Sr., Thurgood Marshall and Ross Perot.

The list, still a work-in-progress, has been compiled by a Texas school board panel discussing what to include in new social studies textbooks.

The decisions have major implications outside the state because Texas buys a large number of textbooks and publishers are not eager to print different editions for different states.

You can read the full list of ins and outs by clicking here.

It shows that former secretary of State Powell was dropped "with no explanation."  Mother Teresa was removed "to focus on events, not personalities."

Hale was cut because "few age appropriate materials exist." Sagan was "removed by expert reviewer."

Henry Cisneros, former Democratic mayor of San Antonio who was embroiled in a scandalous affair, was dropped because of "questionable character."

Likewise, Republican Sen. John Tower, whose drinking and womanizing cost him a job as secretary of Defense, was removed for "questionable character."

Republican Sen. Phil Gramm was cut to be "replaced with examples of positive leaders."

 Here is a partial list of people removed or not included:

Neil Armstrong, removal suggested by expert reviewer

Louis Daguerre, replaced with creators of new technology

Florence Nightingale, British subject and not an American example

Carl Sagan, removed by expert reviewer

George Patton, no explanation

George Wallace, no explanation

(Photos: From top, Ben Margot, AP; Chris Bacon, AP; Paul J. Richard, AFP/Getty Images)

When the balloon went up, cable networks didn't hesitate to switch from President Obama's town hall meeting in New Orleans to chasing the runaway craft across Colorado.

But, as The Washington Post's Media Notes columnist Howard Kurtz, puts it:

In retrospect, you could say the cable channels went wild covering the flight of an empty balloon. And technically, that is true. But cable doesn't have the ability to say, You know what, folks? We're not sure what's going on here, so we'll check it out and get back to you.

We here at On Deadline also jumped right in to follow this dramatic story, as did most websites, networks and newspapers.

Readers: How do you think the media handled this story? Should they have asked such elementary questions as whether this kind of balloon could even lift a 6-year-old boy before running wall-to-wall coverage? Is it a legitimate story, or is it more like a titillating car chase?  What should media do, skeptical or not, if the Larimer County sheriff and the Colorado National Guard are off and running? Or did the media spur law enforcement on?

Our media spent an hour on this supposed "news story". CNN, Fox News, and the rest of them are a joke! -- Joetheidiot

I called this a hoax 30 seconds after I saw the balloon yesterday on this blog, and many chastised...HAHAHAHAHAHA -- Get Moving

The father built the balloon so he knew that no one could be in it..no box,no basket...he knew it was going to get him back in the TV scene..BIG FAKE..family of nuts just looking for the TV exposure they once had.. I blame the really stupid media and totally dumb law enforcement people who could not see thru this phoney set up right from the start. -- Irisxxxx

I don't understand why we are getting all upset here, this is the kind of media we keep asking for. we keep watching these kind of reality shows and we want the news to show this...please let's leave the hipocrisy to the side and start asking for better entertainment for our kids...I still believe it's a hoax, and the parents deserve some kind of punishment, but so do we. -- eaglemex

Anyone with a HS education would know that there was not enough helium volume there to lift a 6 year old. The media just played the public for a fool. They are the ones at fault here. -- CruzanIron

Four more American troops died in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said today, as a U.N.-backed panel completed most of its investigation into whether the level of fraud in the August presidential election would require a runoff. Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States says he expects a second round vote will be required. In addition to President Hamid Karzai the other candidate would likely be former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, left.

Bank of America Corp. said today it lost more than $2 billion in the third quarter as loan losses kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills. The nation's second-largest bank said its losses for failed loans came to almost $10 billion during the July-September period, up almost $1 billion from the second quarter.

Giving babies Tylenol to prevent fever when they get childhood vaccinations may backfire and make the shots a little less effective, surprising new research suggests. It is the first major study to tie reduced immunity to the use of fever-lowering medicines. Although the effect was small and the vast majority of kids still got enough protection from vaccines, the results make "a compelling case" against routinely giving the medicine right after vaccination, say doctors from the  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They wrote an editorial accompanying the study, published in today's issue of the British medical journal, Lancet.

Trolling the websites: The BBC reports on a study that says copper bracelets and magnetic straps won't ease arthritis pain. The Hollywood Reporter says Ted Turner wants to run CNN again, with less fluffy news and more international reports. Talking Points Memo asks if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is "working the inside game for a public option" in the health care bill.

Then there's the papers: The Times-Picayune, right, of New Orleans, splashes President Obama's visit and says that while the trip was billed as a chance to view the city's post-Katrina progress, most of the questions to him at a town hall were about other issues.The Wall Street Journal says the Treasury department's "pay czar" pushed the outgoing CEO of Bank of America to give up $2.5 million in salary. The Indianapolis Star reports that Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has canceled the state's contract with IBM to deliver welfare services, saying the endeavor "just did not work." The New Haven Register says a black firefighter has filed a suit against the city over the same 2003 promotional exam that prompted a Supreme Court decision.

(Photos: Top, Musadeq Sadeq, AP; JB Reed, Bloomberg; John Moore, Getty Images)

Coming Friday:

• President Obama stops at Texas A&M University to join former president George H.W. Bush and the Points of Light Institute in celebrating 20 years of the "Points of Light" volunteering program.

• It's National Mammography Day.

• Economic reports: The Treasury presents the federal budget figures for September and for fiscal year 2009, along with money flows for August. The Federal Reserve releases industrial production for September.

• Young Americans gather in Washington to seek a better economic future at the National Conference on Youth Economic Concerns.

• Ohio schools will no longer be required to have annual safety inspections. That's because budget-cutting state lawmakers repealed Jarod's Law, named for 6-year-old Jarod Bennett, who was killed after a cafeteria table fell on him in 2003.

Update at 6:05 p.m. ET: In the middle of a news conference, authorities have just announced that Falcon Heene has been found at home and is fine.

Update at 6:09 p.m. ET: Falcon was hiding in a cardboard box in the garage attic, police say. The house had been searched twice before.

Watch live coverage from KUSA.

Update at 6:17 p.m. ET: The authorities theorize the boy hid after the balloon broke loose, afraid that his parents would be angry.

Update at 5:47 p.m. ET: Authorities are trying to determine whether the circled black object is the box that was originally attached to the balloon. Falcon Heene was seen climbing inside it before the balloon broke free. Authorities still do not know whether he was in the box as his father's homemade helium balloon sailed away. Photo by Denver Post from KUSA-TV footage.

Previous updates:

Update at 3:35 p.m. ET: The balloon has slowly spun to a crash-landing in a field, surrounded by rescuers. No word on boy's condition.

Update at 3:51 p.m.ET: Officials say there is no sign of the boy.

Update at 3:57 p.m. ET: The boy has been identified as Falcon Heene (left), the 6-year-old son of Richard and Mayumi Heene of Fort Collins. His family is known as storm chasers and were featured last October on the show Wife Swap, the Fort Collins Coloradoan writes. Here are the episodes.

Larimer County Sheriff's spokeswoman Kathy Messick said the aircraft was kept in the backyard and is "a family project that was never meant to be flown by anybody."

Messick said the device has a box with a small battery compartment. Sheriff's officials and family members had believed the child was located in the compartment, but he was not aboard when the aircraft landed about 1:40 p.m. MT near the town of Hudson.

"The family is very upset right now," Messick said.

Update at 4:05 p.m. ET: On his MySpace page, Richard Heene writes that he hosts "a documentary series and radio show to investigate the mysteries of science, The Science Detectives, and I chase storms. Last year I flew into Hurricane Wilma to take magnetic field measurements. This year I rode a motorcycle into a mesocyclone."

Heene lists his age as 48 and his status as "single." He describes himself as a "Psyience Detective."

People he'd like to meet: "Real Aliens from outer space and conduct a full interview with them. Are there really aliens, like Greys, and Blues?"

Update at 4:53 p.m. ET: A sheriff's official says that the boy climbed into a box attached to balloon but that the basket was not found where the craft landed. A search is continuing.

Update at 4:57 p.m. ET: Officials now say they believe the boy might not have ascended with the balloon and is hiding near his home.

"At this point, we are thinking that he did not fall out of the balloon and is somewhere on the ground," said Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Eloise Campanella. "The basket itself was not breached. It does not look like he fell out of it, but again, this is all conjecture."

"I'm very confident we will find him. I think it's a matter of him being a little scared," she said. "Maybe he's not ready to be found."

Update at 5:14 p.m. ET: The Denver Post writes that in a 2007 interview, Richard Heene described becoming a storm chaser after a tornado ripped off a roof where he was working as a contractor, and said that in 2005 he had flown a plane around the perimeter of Hurricane Wilma.

"Pursuing bad weather was a family activity with the children coming along as the father sought evidence to prove his theory that rotating storms create their own magnetic fields," the Post writes. "Although Richard said he has no specialized training, they had a computer tracking system in their car and a special motorcycle."

Original posts:

Officials north of Denver are scrambling to try to figure out how to rescue a 6-year-old boy who has climbed into a hot-air balloon aircraft and is floating away, the Associated Press reports.

Update at 2:40 p.m. ET: Larimer County sheriff’s spokeswoman Eloise Campanella says the device, shaped like a flying saucer, could rise as high as 10,000 feet.

The balloon was last seen south of Milliken, which is about 40 miles north of Denver, the AP says.

FAA has been notified by it is unclear whether traffic controllers have picked it up on radar, the AP says.

Update at 2:42 p.m. ET: KUSA TV says the craft is an experimental aircraft that has a large helium balloon attached at their home  in Fort Collins. 

Click here to link to KUSA's live webcast of the unfolding incident.

Update at 2:52: p.m. ET: The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that family and officials say the boy got onto the aircraft and detached the rope holding it in place.

Update at 2:58 p.m. ET: USA TODAY's Doyle Rice says current winds around Fort Collins are out of the northwest at 14 mph, gusting to 20 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Update at 3:16 p.m. ET: A Weld County sheriff's spokesman said a sibling saw the boy climb into the basket before the balloon took off. The door on the balloon was unlocked, so it's possible the boy had fallen out, she said.

Erik Nilsson, Larimer County Emergency Manager, told CNN affiliate KMGH, "The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won't withstand any kind of a crash at all."

Update at 3:23 p.m. ET: The Colorado National Guard is sending an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter to try to rescue the boy, the Associated Press says.

(Screen grab from KUSA-TV shows the balloon at the moment it landed. Photo of Falcon Heene from ABC via AP. Richard Heene from his MySpace page. Family portrait shows Mayumi and Richard Heene at home in October 2008. Falcon is on his father's shoulders. The other boys are Ryo, 8, left, and Bradford, 10. Photo by Michael G. Seamans, The Coloradoan. Photos of balloon aloft by KMGH-TV via AP. )

A Minnesota couple allegedly taught their sons and his friends how to make homemade explosives from pipe and gunpowder as a "good educational tool," the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports.

They said later that they had no idea, according to a criminal complaint, that the teens would use their newfound knowledge to blow up mailboxes around rural Scott County, southwest of Minneapolis.

Robert and Roberta Masters of Prior Lake face charges of making explosives and aiding offenders in a felony.

Five teens are under suspicion of taking part in at least six bombings, the newspaper says.
 
One of the teens said the group began blowing up mailboxes at random but later targeted the homes of people they knew, the complaint says.

In one case, the complaint reads, a bomb squad removed a 6- to-8-inch pipe bomb from a mailbox in New Market Township.

The homeowner's son reported receiving a text message from his estranged 16-year-old girlfriend who made it clear that wrapping the house with toilet paper was too mild.

According to the complaint, the newspaper reports, her text message read: "fine, now I will have to do something to you and it won't be TP ... that's for middle schoolers ... I bet you live out on Red Fox Drive, don't you"

The girl told police she accompanied a group of teens as a spectator on three bombing runs, according to the charges.

For two years, a 43-acre cornfield maze in California has been named the biggest in the world, but this week proved no match for a storm that rolled across the region, KXTV reports.

"It just makes you sad. There's a lot of work that went into that, and the people were really enjoying it this year," said Mark Cooley, who along with his brother Matt creates the puzzle each year at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif.

The maze first topped the list in the Guinness World Records book in 2007 and has kept the title ever since. (On the second page of this posting, you can see a video of Cooley building a maze, using a spreadsheet.)

Watch KXTV's report below or click here.

USA TODAY Supreme Court correspondent Joan Biskupic reports that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized briefly overnight after an apparent adverse reaction to a sleeping aid combined with cold medication.

According to a statement from the court, Ginsburg had taken the drugs immediately after boarding an overnight flight bound for London.

Prior to takeoff, she "experienced extreme drowsiness causing her to fall from her seat," the statement says.

In September, Ginsburg spent one night in the hospital after feeling lightheaded in her office after taking medicine for anemia, Biskupic adds.

(Photo by AP)

Our USA TODAY colleagues over at Cruise Log have posted a story this morning about a heterosexual couple suing an Italian cruise line for inadvertently booking them on Italy's first gay cruise last month.

Click here for details.

New jobless claims dropped unexpectedly to 514,000 and continuing claims fell below 6 million, the Labor Department says.

The steady decline in claims indicates that companies are shedding fewer workers, the Associated Press reports. 

The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the sixth straight time to 531,500. That’s the lowest since January and about 105,000 below the peak reached in early April, the AP says.

Catalonia, one of Spain's most popular tourist regions, which includes Barcelona, has banned "Happy Hour" in bars and nightclubs to try to combat binge drinking.

The measure bans promotions such as two drinks for the price of one at certain hours or unlimited drinks at a flat fee.

The regional government of Catalonia says offenders could face fines of up to $9,000, The Press Association of Britain reports. For serious violations, the government can also shut down the bar entirely, the Barcelona Reporter says.

Britain's Daily Telegraph says Barcelona is the third most popular European destination for British stag parties after Prague and Amsterdam and "the top choice for brides-to be celebrating their last weekend of single life abroad."

The newspaper says the bars and restaurants along tree-lined La Rambla Boulevard draw 250,000 visitors a day.

Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez describes the new law as positive and says similar measures will be considered in a new national health bill.

Good morning. Here's what's happening:

Teams of gunmen attacked three law enforcement facilities across the eastern city of Lahore today, paralyzing Pakistan's cultural capital, while a car bomb devastated a northwest police station, killing a total of 38 people in an escalating wave of terror. Another bombing in the northwestern city of Peshawar later in the day wounded five people, further rattling the country. The bloodshed is aimed at scuttling a planned offensive into the militant heartland along the Afghan border and highlights the militants' ability to carry out sophisticated strikes on heavily fortified facilities.

Goldman Sachs' third-quarter earnings rose 73% from the depths of the financial crisis as income from the company's trading operations offset a drop in its investment banking business. Goldman earned $3.03 billion, or $5.25 per share, easily beating analysts' expectations for a profit of $4.24 per share. Goldman also had $5.35 billion in compensation expenses during the July-September period.

President Obama, who accused former president George W. Bush of leading a government "that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns," is visiting New Orleans today on his first presidential trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. About 1,600 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina, which caused $40 billion in damages and displaced 1 million people from their homes.

The Social Security Administration says there will be no cost of living increase for Social Security recipients next year, the first year without one since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. The announcement comes as Obama and key members of Congress call for a second round of $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors, veterans and retired railroad workers.

Trolling the websites: NPR reports that a dispute over ballots could delay Iraqi elections. Slate sees danger signs as private equity firms try to cash out of their investments. MSNBC writes that Teen Vogue pictures a pregnant, unmarried 19-year-old model on its cover.

Then there's the papers: The Boston Globe, right, banners (no doubt with some relief) news that its parent company, The New York Times, has decided not to sell The Globe, citing significant improvement in the paper's financial standing. The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA is considering cutting as much as 20% of its employee costs on the manned space program in hopes of salvaging money for a back-to-the-moon project. The Seattle Times says that with jobs scarce in the northwestern U.S., Canadian police departments are recruiting cops in Seattle. The Washington Post looks at the hidden cost of Medicare Advantage and says the extra benefits are not exactly free; they are subsidized by the government.

(Photos: Top, by Reuters; New Orleans' lower ninth ward by Judi Bottoni, AP)

The Social Security Administration announced today there will be no cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients next year, the first year without one since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975, the Associated Press reports.

In anticipation, President Obama and key members of Congress have called for a second round of $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities.

The payments, which would cost $13 billion, would be equal to about a 2% increase for the average Social Security recipient.

Japanese police have released a Tennessee man accused of trying to snatch his children from his ex-wife who had taken them from the United States in violation of a court order, the Associated Press reports.

The United States, Canada, Britain and France have urged Japan to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction that would honor the decision made by courts in the country of the abducted children's original residence -- and protect rights of access of both parents.

Update at 1:59 p.m. ET: Prosecutors said Savoie has told them he regretted breaking Japanese law and promised them that he would never repeat the mistake, according to the Kyodo News agency. Savoie also told prosecutors that he planned to resolve the custody dispute with his ex-wife through dialogue, it reported, according to the AP.

(Photo from Williamson County Court Clerk and Master's Office via AP)

Coming Thursday:

• President Obama heads to New Orleans to see how it's recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

• Vice President Biden will be in St. Louis, talking up how federal stimulus funds are creating jobs and helping law enforcement.

• The Social Security Administration will announce that no cost-of-living allowances will be paid next year to seniors and the disabled. That has not happened since the automatic adjustments began in 1975.

• Economic numbers: initial weekly unemployment claims, the Consumer Price Index for September and the Philadelphia Fed's October report on the regional economy.

• The government's Climate Prediction Center issues the nation's winter outlook.

• Tax man's last call: It's the final deadline to file your 2008 tax returns.

• At 10:15 a.m. PT, millions of Californians will participate in the largest earthquake drill ever. It comes two days before the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta quake that caused heavy damage in San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and other Northern California communities.

The Social Security Administration is set to announce tomorrow that no cost-of-living allowances will be paid next year, so to offset that, President Obama called on Congress today to approve $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors. The White House estimates the cost at $13 billion.

It will be the first time since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975 that annual increases — pegged to inflation — will not be paid.

The one-time payments would also go to people receiving veterans benefits, disability benefits, railroad retirees and retired public employees who don't receive Social Security. Congress is considering similar plans.

Obama said the payments cannot come from the Social Security trust funds, the Associated Press writes.

A British driver is in the hot seat for deliberately driving through a huge puddle and soaking children headed to school.

Her biggest offense? Videoing the prank and posting it on YouTube.

The 29-year-old motorist is charged with careless and inconsiderate driving.

"Deliberately splashing people by driving through a big puddle could mean that the motorist was driving without reasonable consideration for other road users," a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police told Sky News Online. "There is also the real danger that by driving through standing water this could cause the driver of the vehicle to lose control and could result in a road traffic collision.

"People involved in this practice could find themselves prosecuted and points put on their licence."

Watch the rainy day woman in action, recorded by her chortling passenger:

The BBC is reporting that the Obama administration has told British officials that it will announce a "substantial increase" in U.S. forces for Afghanistan.

The report, attributed to British sources, follows today's announcement that 500 additional British troops would be sent to Afghanistan if certain conditions are met.

According to the BBC's Newsnight program, "the US could next week announce plans to send up to 45,000 extra servicemen and women."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the report, saying President Obama has made no final decision on troop numbers.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged more troops on the condition that Afghan President Hamid Karzai reduce corruption and improve his government's performance, and if they have the necessary equipment, if other NATO allies also bolster their forces and if more Afghan soldiers are trained. About 9,000 U.K. personnel are in Afghanistan now.

The tech site Gizmodo is showing off what it says are the first public photos of a new e-reader from Barnes & Noble.

So what?

The screen is a cross between a Kindle and an iPhone, posing a challenge to Amazon's electronic reader.

"The layout will feature a black and white e-ink screen like the Kindle has — and a multitouch display like an iPhone underneath other," according to the poster, citing a "source from within" B&N.

What's it called?

"The name of the gadget, which I cannot reveal and may have changed anyhow, is freaking terrible," the poster writes. "I hope they change it before it ships."

See it here.