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March 19, 2010

FBI Arrests Mafia Suspects In Miami, NY, & Italy The US Attorney’s Office and the FBI held a joint news conference in South Florida to announce the arrests of several Mafia suspects who were taken into custody in raids in Sicily, New York and Miami.

˚˚˚˚˚˚˚ NYC: Taxi Drivers Overcharged Riders By $8.3M-Plus More Than 3,500 Taxi Drivers Overcharged Passengers On Approximately 1.8 Million Trips Over The Last 2 Years

˚˚˚˚˚˚˚ The 4 Biggest Lies in Real Estate When Scouring the Housing Market, Watch out for these All-Too-Common Lies, Tricks and Exaggerations

˚˚˚˚˚˚˚ New Treatment Removes Cancerous Tumors From Colon

RAPE IN AMERICA

Colon cancer is the second deadliest cancer with 150,000 new cases each year.

Now, there is a procedure helping certain patients remove tumors in a less invasive and much more comfortable way.

˚˚˚˚˚˚˚ Roethlisberger: A ‘Criminal’ Or An ‘Idiot’ Police in Georgia are still checking out a woman’s claim that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger assaulted her a week ago.

˚˚˚˚˚˚˚ Confusion Reigns At All Levels Over Toyota Recall The controversy surrounding Toyota’s recall of millions of the automaker’s top selling cars continues to grow

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I-Team: Rothstein Scams Alleged Mafia Player Reporting Jim DeFede Rothstein Hired Security Firm For $18K/Day MIAMI (CBS4 I-TEAM) — In South Florida, where hucksters and cheats are an everyday fact of life, Scott Rothstein may be remembered as the greatest con man of them all. A lawyer who rose from obscurity to build one of the most politically powerful law firms in the state, Rothstein now stands convicted of bilking friends and strangers alike. The $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme he orchestrated is the largest in South Florida history. He lied, tricked and deceived nearly everyone he met. And the damage he caused may never be repaired.

But Rothstein’s biggest con may actually be the one he has done on behalf of the federal government.

The CBS4 I-Team has learned from multiple sources that Rothstein was the key figure in bringing down a suspected Mafia figure who the FBI had been trying to catch for years.

Last week, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman announced the arrests of three individuals, including Roberto Settineri, who the prosecutor described as the go between for the Gambino crime organization in Brooklyn and La Cosa Nostra in Palermo, Sicily.

“These arrests were part of a joint US and Italian law enforcement action,” Sloman said during Wednesday’s press conference.

At the same time Settineri was arrested by an FBI SWAT Team at his home on Miami Beach, three alleged members of the Gambino crime family were arrested in Brooklyn and twenty members of the Sicilian mafia organization, Santa Maria de Gesu, were taken into custody in Palermo.

Taken into custody in South Florida along with Settineri was Daniel Dromerhauser. A third individual, Enrique Ros of Pembroke Pines was charged but was out of the country when the raids took place.

Settineri, Dromerhauser and Ros were charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and two counts of obstruction and attempting to obstruct federal proceedings, one count of conspiracy to launder money and five counts of substantive money laundering. If convicted of all nine counts the men could each be sentenced to 180 years in prison.

Although Rothstein’s name never appears in the indictment, nor was it mentioned during Wednesday’s press conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, CBS4 News has learned that the man at the center of the case is none other than Scott Rothstein.

When Rothstein returned from Morocco on November 3, he immediately began cooperating with prosecutors.

Hunkered down in a hotel room, teams of federal agents questioned Rothstein for days about everyone he has ever done business with. One name, however, quickly stood out -- Roberto Settineri.

Prosecutors describe Dromerhauser and Ros as “associates” of Settineri. They operated a private security firm called Five Star Executive Protection & Investigation. According to the attorney for Dromerhauser, Five Star did extensive work for Rothstein, providing security for Rothstein’s home and his businesses. They were first hired by Rothstein several years ago to provide security for Casa Casaurina -- the former Versace Mansion -after Rothstein bought the property.

John Gillies, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, said Settineri is someone the feds have been interested in for years.

“This operation code named Paisan Blues began in 2006 when Italian National Police provided the FBI with information about Settineri,” Gillies said.

But in all those years, the FBI had been unable to build any sort of criminal case against Settineri. That is, until Rothstein came along.

Based on sources familiar with the investigation, as well as details contained in the indictments, on November 8, five days after returning from Morocco, Rothstein was directed by federal agents to contact Settineri and the others. He pretended he need the men to help him destroy incriminating financial records before federal agents could find them.

He also allegedly asked them to help move some of his Ponzi scheme money to off shore bank accounts.

Rothstein, however, was front page news and reports were already surfacing he was cooperating with the FBI.

So in order to make the undercover operation work, Rothstein had to publicly convey the impression he was not cooperating with the FBI. On November 9th, in a move carefully orchestrated by federal agents, Rothstein showed up at the Capital Grille for a martini. This video was even posted by Broward New Times.

Continuing the charade, Rothstein that same day granted an interview with Channel 7. Once again, he stressed he was not cooperating with federal authorities.

After years conning others to make himself rich, Rothstein was now using those skills on behalf of the federal government. And the feds say he was successful.

“As alleged in the indictment Settineri, Dromerhauser and Ros were part of a conspiracy to launder 10 million in illicit funds,” Gillies said during Wednesday’s press conference.

In January, as federal agents in Miami continued to build a case against Settineri, a high level meeting took place in Italy.

Agents and prosecutors from Miami and Brooklyn, as well as Justice Department officials from Washington, flew across the Atlantic to meet with their Italian counterparts.

Italian prosecutors were working on a massive indictment against twenty suspected members of the Palermo-based crime organization, Santa Maria de Gesu. And in New York, prosecutors were building a separate case against three alleged members of the Gambino crime family.

The Miami case involving Settineri had finally given them the link they had been waiting for.

The group agreed they would coordinate their cases and make the arrests simultaneously.

Raffaele Grassi, a vice director in the Italian National Police, arrived in South Florida last week with a handful of agents to monitor the Settineri operation.

“The important intermediary in the US was Roberto Settineri, a man from Palermo who has been living in Miami for a long time,” Grassi said. “He has important ties to the American Mafia families of

Gambino and Colombo. Through Roberto Settineri, La Cosa Nostra was trying to open new connections in the US and his connections would enable the Italian organization to infiltrate new markets.”

“Today is a very important day in the fight against the criminal organization of La Cosa Nostra,” Grassi said. “Today’s results are the fruit of a very complicated investigation carried out by the Italian State Police together with the FBI both in Italy and the United States.”

Just how complicated was the investigation? Not wanting to reveal Rothstein’s role in the case, US Attorney Sloman only offered this cryptic response when asked what brought the Italians and the Americans together.

“We had mutual interests that overlapped with one another,” he said. “That is all I will say about that.”

In advance of these arrests, Rothstein was moved out of the federal detention center for his own protection.

Sources tell CBS4 News that because of his cooperation in this case, Rothstein will be entering the federal witness protection program -- meaning he will serve his prison time for the Ponzi scheme under a different name and in a prison outside of Florida.

Ultimately, Rothstein is hoping his cooperation in the Settineri case will shave years from his prison sentence. He is facing up to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of money laundering and wire fraud. Similar Ponzi cases around the United States, however, have yielded sentences of around 40 years in prison. Rothstein is scheduled to be sentenced in May. In addition to the Settineri case, Rothstein is also helping federal authorities identify the other players in the Ponzi scheme. And he is providing information on how campaign finance laws were routinely violated. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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County Hands Tied On Returning Dogs To Suspects He understands it may seem difficult to understand how animals can placed back in the care of someone accused of being careless with their pets.

“To me, if one’s abused, they’re abusing one animal, would it be nice to take them all and seize them permanently?

Absolutely, I think that would be great but unfortunately that’s not the way it works,” Vadnal said.

Reporting Carey Codd FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4 I-TEAM) — Earlier this week, the CBS4 News ITeam exposed a case of eight dogs left abandoned in a foreclosed home with no food. The floors were covered with urine and feces and the dogs apparently tried to chew their way out of the house. Three of the dogs were euthanized.

Even more surprising, Broward County Animal Care and Regulation returned three of the dogs to the owner who left them.

The I-Team has learned of a similar case and also found that investigators’ hands are tied when it comes to returning the dogs to animal cruelty suspects.

On February 25, Broward County Sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant at the home of Jayon Fable. They say they found a pit bull tied up to a 30-pound chain. The dog’s ribs were protruding from its’ side, its coat was filthy, and it had cuts all over its body. An animal care officer euthanized the dog on the spot.

Officials removed 6 other dogs from the house but later returned them to Fable, even though he was charged with a felony count of animal cruelty.

“The rest of the animals were in fairly good condition, so they were returned to the owner,” said BSO Det. Michael Vadnal. “At the time when we seize them, we have to be able to justify that something is criminally wrong with these animals for us to keep possession of them.”

Vadnal has been certified as an expert in animal cruelty cases after spending 18 years investigating these types of cases.

That is the same thing the I-Team learned on Tuesday. That’s when CBS4 News uncovered the dogs left behind at a Plantation foreclosed home.

Police told CBS4 News they charged the former owners of the home, Eduardo and Karen Chong, with a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty.

The police report says the animals were subjected to “unnecessary pain and suffering for an extended period of time.”

Two of the dogs found outside were “severely neglected and in extremely poor health.” Their ribs were showing, they had teeth missing and were suffering from eye problems.

The dogs were “malnourished and emaciated,” according to Plantation Police Detective Robert Rettig.

Six more dogs were found inside. Some of them apparently tried to chew their way out of the home by ripping holes in the walls. A large section of the floor was covered with urine and feces. Two dog cages also overflowed with urine and feces.

Rettig said the dogs were in bad shape.

“The dogs were found to be aggressive towards one another, and when the handlers trying to capture these dogs, to be brought to Animal Control, they were having a hard time with the dogs,” he told CBS4’s Carey Codd.

Broward County Animal Care and Regulation removed the dogs from the home and cited Karen Chong for animal cruelty. Animal Care officials said Chong agree to euthanize three of the dogs because they were too aggressive for adoption. Two other dogs were placed in a rescue facility.

time.

But despite the conditions in which the dogs were found, Animal Care and Regulation returned three of the dogs to Chong.

Animal Care officials say once the Plantation Police Department released their hold on the dogs, the owner had a right to them.

“Once they release the hold, she pays her fine, she gets the dogs back but we do have the right to investigate,” Lisa Mendheim, Public Education Coordinator for Animal Care and Regulation said.

“Our county ordinance doesn’t allow for us to keep the dogs indefinitely or to confiscate the dogs permanently.”

Animal Care officials have the right to do two surprise home inspections. They did one earlier this week at the Chong’s new home and determined the animals were healthy but in need of tags and rabies shots.

Broward County Commissioner Lois Wexler said Animal Care is doing all it can to protect the animals but she feels two home inspections is not enough.

“After that, there’s nothing,” she told CBS 4’s Carey Codd. “Nothing. I’m going to request that in this instance there is more.”

Wexler said her gut reaction to giving animals back to people charged with animal cruelty is “absolutely not.”

However, she said there is an analogy to be made with child abuse cases.

“You look at children that are abused by parents that are subjected to situations that all of us would absolutely frown upon and with case management, with supervision, with classes that parents are sometimes required to attend, they do transition back to their parents,” Wexler said. “And so, I’m happy to know that the county’s protocol would be that there will be spot visits to make sure that these pets are not being abused that they’re not abandoned and that they’re being properly cared for.

And that does give me some comfort.”

The CBS 4 News I-Team tried to reach Jayon Fable at his home on two occasions this week but he was not at home either

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FBI Arrests Mafia Suspects In Miami, NY, & Italy Reporting Lisa Cilli MIAMI (CBS4) — The US Attorney’s Office and the FBI held a joint news conference in South Florida to announce the arrests of several Mafia suspects who were taken into custody in raids in Sicily, New York and Miami.

The FBI arrested a reputed U.S. mobster Wednesday on charges he provided protection for a Sicilian counterpart mapping out criminal turf in Florida -- part of an international sweep aimed at further crippling the storied Gambino organized crime family and disrupting its ties to the Italian mob.

Wiretaps and surveillance revealed that suspected Gambino soldier Gaetano Napoli Sr. had a “close relationship” and “communicated extensively” with Roberto Settineri, a suspected member of the Sicilian Mafia facing charges in Florida and Italy, according to court papers charging Napoli and two sons. They said Napoli helped settle a dispute last year between Settineri and members of the Colombo crime family during a “sit down” at a social club in Pompano Beach.

Settineri, 41, an Italian citizen living in Miami Beach, was caught on tape telling Napoli he wanted his participation to “show everybody good manners” -- what authorities say was a reference to the La Cosa Nostra custom that only people officially sworn into the family and holding ranks known as soldiers, captains and bosses can handle such negotiations.

Like the other four major Italian crime families in New York, the Gambinos have been decimated by a steady stream of indictments and prosecutions since notorious boss John Gotti, the so-called Dapper Don, was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. He died in 2002.

The government offensive, aided by a crop of cooperators, has largely stemmed the headline-grabbing bloodshed caused by mobsters settling scores and put most of the families’ top echelon behind bars. But the families have survived into the 21st century with new members continuing to commit still lucrative but less conspicuous crimes such as gambling and extortion and embracing the once-forbidden drug trade.

At a news conference in Miami on Wednesday announcing three more arrests there, U.S. and Italian authorities told

reporters the Sicilian mob had dispatched Settineri to the United States to generate more business with American gangsters.

“He had the important ties to the American crime families of Gambino and Colombo,” a top Italian National Police officer, Raffaele Grassi, said through an interpreter.

Napoli, 71, and a son, 44-year-old Gaetano Napoli Jr., were arrested Wednesday in North Carolina on extortion, bankruptcy fraud and other charges contained in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn. They were to be arraigned in Raleigh on Thursday.

The indictment alleges the father was overheard admitting he had “schooled” a grand jury witness. He also was charged with threatening someone who owed him a $30,000 gambling debt.

“I’m giving you an extension which I shouldn’t even give,” court papers say he warned in one recorded message. “Don’t make me come around and look for you.”

A second son named in the indictment, Thomas Napoli, 31, pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn to concealing assets in a bankruptcy of a family business. He was released on $100,000 bond.

FBI agents arrested Settineri on Wednesday hours before he was to fly from Miami to Italy, authorities said. He and 39-year-old Daniel Dromberhauser were indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiring to launder $10 million in crime proceeds.

Another Settineri associate, 37-year-old Italian citizen Antonio Tricamo, was indicted separately on charges of attempting to sell some 250,000 cigarettes without paying Florida taxes, laundering $1 million in ill-gotten gains and arranging a fake marriage in an attempt to gain legal status in the U.S. Simultaneously, authorities in Italy executed about 20 arrest warrants targeting a Palermo-based Mafia crime family suspected of running extortion, money laundering and drug trafficking operations.

Police there released video of the Palermo raids showing Italian officers and FBI agents discovering weapons, including guns stashed away in the rear compressor space of a refrigerator.

and the Sicilian Mafia is international,” U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said in a statement. “But both countries’ efforts to push back the tide of international organized crime have achieved success.”

It wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday if the Napolis being held in Raleigh and the Florida defendants -- in custody pending bail hearings next week -- had defense lawyers.

In 2008, the Gambinos were the target of one of the largest Mafia takedowns in recent memory, with federal agents rounding up 62 reputed members and associates and charging them with gangland crimes spanning three decades -- including the brutal slaying of a court officer and extortion at a failed NASCAR track.

That case also coincided with a series of raids in Italy targeting alleged members of Mafia families who control drug trafficking between the two sides of the Atlantic. Authorities said at the time that the investigations, though technically unconnected, signaled an international attempt to sever Gambino ties to Sicily. (© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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“The criminal dominion of La Cosa Nostra

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I-Team: South Miami Rocked By Multiple Scandals “We will get to the bottom of all of this; we’ll take the necessary personnel actions to cleanup what needs to be cleaned up,” said Carlton.

mentioned are on administrative leave pending the outcome of that investigation.”

Miami Dade police are investigating.

Part of that cleanup according to Carlton is Parks and Recreation Director Ceasar Garcia. The CBS4 I-team has learned there are questions about his credentials.

“Mr. Garcia is making up his mind over the weekend whether or not he wishes to resign or be terminated,” says Carlton.

Reporting Gwen Belton SOUTH MIAMI (CBS4) — City hall in South Miami has been rocked by more than one scandal. In the four months since taking the job as South Miami’s acting city manager, Roger Carlton says he has had to fire some department heads and employees, and several others have resigned.

Allegations of a sexual assault and a stabbing are among the serious accusations. Carlton told CBS4’s Gwen Belton he has hired an independent investigator.

Carlton would only say he’s lost confidence in Garcia’s ability to lead.

Also under investigation is an alleged sexual assault, involving a supervisor and an employee.

“I’ve been doing this 35 years, and I can say that I have never seen a more complicated, difficult set of circumstances,” he says.

The problems aren’t just administrative, they’re criminal too.

They are circumstances that have city officials looking to fill key positions quickly, and circumstances that concern some residents like George Altrio.

A secretary in Carlton’s office, Doris Hernandez, is on administrative leave.

“That does not sound very good, not very impressive news,” he says.

She’s charged with aggravated battery for allegedly stabbing a male city employee.

The two where reportedly living together, carrying on a secret relationship.

“There is a lot of things they can fix, a lot of things to fix,” says David Rafuls.

Carlton says it is “a great tragedy for everybody, both employees you

“I want to assure the citizens that while this is a difficult thing -- nothing to be proud of -- that our city is still running and functioning,” said Carlton. “We’re all

hanging in there and working harder to get through this.”

Carlton says he’s got a tough job ahead, but one he’s committed to doing, cleaning up city hall and restoring the public’s trust. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Update: Rape in America strike again.”

RAPE IN AMERICA

Federal and Local Officials React to CBS News Investigation into the Testing of Rape Kits (CBS) Sarah Fitzpatrick is an intern for the CBS News Investigative unit in New York In November 2009, a five-month CBS News investigation revealed that more than 20,000 rape kits at police departments around the country were never sent to crime labs for testing. The two-part series titled Rape in America: Justice Denied also found that kits that are submitted may not be tested for months, or even years, due to lengthy backlogs at forensic testing facilities. CBS News found kits waiting to be tested for up to a year in Kentucky, three years in Alaska and eight years in Louisiana.

The testing of rape kits is crucial for prosecuting rapists and preventing future assaults, as research suggests that 71 percent of rapists are repeat offenders.

Following the CBS News investigation, federal and local authorities around the country are taking steps to ensure the timely testing of rape kits.

On Nov. 18, 2009 Attorney General Eric Holder was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee about how the Justice Department would ensure that evidence collected in rape cases is ultimately tested by crime labs.

Holder responded, “Mr. Chairman, I not only pledge that we should, we have to work on this. For every crime that remains unsolved, there is a rapist who is potentially still out there and ready to

New federal legislation aimed at reducing the rape kit backlog was introduced at the end of November in the House.

Resolution 4114: Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009 would require states that receive federal justice assistance grants to have all rape kits sent to crime labs for analysis, eliminate rape kit repayment requirements for sexual assault victims and authorize additional funding for rape kit testing. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The move in the House was followed up by a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the topic in December where advocates, policy experts and representatives from police departments across the country testified about the importance of testing rape kits.

A closer look finds rape kit policies shifting nation-wide: - The San Antonio Police Department changed its policy in response to the CBS News report and will now test all rape kits from cases where the victim did not know the attacker. The department also confirmed to CBS it will begin testing 178 kits from stranger rapes that it had not tested in the past.

- In Santa Monica, all rape kits now are sent to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for processing. Previously, it was left up to detectives which kits would be sent or placed in storage. The department reported that they have already begun testing their backlog.

- The Houston city council announced that it had authorized funding to test 4,000 kits that remain in backlog at the Houston Police Department crime lab.

- The state of Michigan received a $650,000 grant to test 400 of the estimated 12,000 untested rape kits currently in storage at the Detroit Police crime lab.

- The Illinois Attorney General introduced

new legislation that would make Illinois the first state in the nation to mandate the submission of sexual assault evidence for testing. The bill passed in the Illinois house and is currently awaiting state senate approval.

- In February, CBS affiliate WREG-TV in Memphis conducted a similar investigation, and found that only 6% of all rape kits collected in Memphis was being sent to the local crime lab. In response the Memphis Police Department announced it had changed the policy and would send all of their rape kits from now on to the state lab.

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Tide May Be Turning On Beach Keeping a check on city Renourishment Plans Sun-Sentinel. plans, some environmental groups not only monitor federal reports on renourishment projects but also send out divers to monitor the corals as projects get underway.

Reporting Kimberley Chapin FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) —It used to be as regular as the changing tides, storms would erode sections of South Florida beaches and city officials would spend millions and millions of dollars to replace the sand that had washed into the sea.

But in recent years a decline in federal funds and tougher environmental regulations has made these types of renourishment projects more difficult to get approved.

In 2006, the federal government declared two species of coral reef off Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties “threatened”. In doing so it created another hurdle for cities wanting to replenish their beaches because they had to ensure that the project would not choke the corals with sand, according to The

Currently proposed renourishment plans in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood have run into opposition from the environmental group Cry of the Water which claims any sand used in the project will just wash back into the ocean and smother the corals. Under the plan a quarter million cubic yards of sand, which would be brought in by truck, would be used to shore up a $41 million beach renourishment project completed four years ago.

Cry of the Water contacted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the cities’ latest proposal. In their initial assessment, agency said two protected species of corals and sea turtles ‘may’ be affected by the proposal.

City officials insist the project is necessary because the beach not only act as a buffer for billions of dollars of beachside condos, hotels and restaurants it also is the primary draw for tourists who visit the area.

Source: The Sun-Sentinel (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Forecasters Predict Active Hurricane Season MIAMI (CBS4) — Hurricane season is not something many of us want to think about right now, it’s still more than two months away, but meteorologists are predicting an active 2010 hurricane season with above-normal threats on the U.S. coastline.

Hurricane Forecaster Joe Bastardi, with the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center, said Wednesday that he predicts seven landfalls. Five will be hurricanes and two or three of the hurricanes will be major landfalls for the U.S. Bastardi forecasts 16 to 18 tropical storms in total, 15 of which will likely be in the western Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico.

In a typical season, there are about 11 named storms, with only two or three impacting the coast of the United States.

The rapidly weakening El Nino, warmer ocean temperatures, weakening trade winds and higher humidity levels will all contribute to greater storm activity. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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NYC: Taxi Drivers Overcharged Riders By $8.3M-Plus double the rate within city limits, the commission said.

The city has about 48,300 licensed cabbies, and data shows that 35,558 have illegally charged a rider at least once, the city said. A smaller group of drivers is responsible for the majority of overcharged trips — 3,000 cabbies were found to have doubled the meter rate more than 100 times.

More Than 3,500 Taxi Drivers Overcharged Passengers On Approximately 1.8 Million Trips Over The Last 2 Years NEW YORK (CBS) —Thousands of New York City taxi drivers overcharged passengers by more than $8.3 million over the past two years by setting their meters at a rate that was supposed to be used for trips to the suburbs, the Taxi and Limousine Commission said Friday.

At least 1.8 million trips were wrongly charged at the suburban rate, which is

The commission has referred its findings to the Department of Investigation.

“Some of these people could face serious charges,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “Now, how we would ever recoup the money and get it back to the individual payers, no, but we can stop the practice and we can make sure there’s penalties.”

The scammed passengers overpaid by an average of $4.45 per trip, the commission found.

Officials discovered the discrepancy by

scouring data from global-positioning devices that are required in the city’s yellow cabs. The data goes back 26 months because GPS was first required in 2007.

A passenger complaint last year led the commission to find one driver engaging in the scam hundreds of times in one month, they said.

The city said that while 1.8 million overcharged trips is a significant number, there were 361 million taxi trips in the past two years, so the illegal fare was charged in half of one percent of all rides.

A taxi driver advocacy group cautioned that the scam appears so widespread that it might actually be the fault of problems with the technology, not deliberately dishonest drivers.

“There should be a thorough investigation before judgment is cast on an entire work force,” said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

In a few weeks, taxi riders will see an alert on the television screen in the back seat when the higher rate code has been activated.

A driver showed CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City how it is done with the push of a button, switching the meter to a higher out-of-city rate.

What brought this scam out of the shadows was cabbie Wasim Cheema, who allegedly charged the higher rates repeatedly. (© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Job Seekers Hurt By Credit Checks Jim Tovrea has been unemployed for six months after a debilitating car accident.

He said late payment of his numerous medical bills caused his credit rating to suffer, and that cost him a security job last week.

laws to ban credit checks by non-financial employers. A similar bill was introduced last year in Congress. That bill is still stuck in committee. But until further action is taken, job seekers will continue to be haunted by their past credit history.

“Employers who are using credit ratings as a way to disqualify people across the board, it’s very unfair in particular in this day and age,” Hudson said. “You can’t get another job because your credit rating has taken a hit while you’re unemployed … and now employers take a look at that credit rating and won’t hire you.”

“I asked if it had anything to do with the credit report, some eyes lit up,” Tovrea said. “You really can’t push them and say now I want the job. You’re just going to push yourself into a bigger hole.”

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Hudson said the tough job market has forced otherwise qualified employees into bad credit situations. He believes unless the job calls for specific financial skills, the credit report should not be a factor.

Hudson said job seekers like Tovrea should watch their credit scores and be prepared to dispute any findings. He says when it comes to interviews, honesty is the best policy.

“If you’re applying for a job as a truck driver or a clerk, it’s very questionable if a credit report is applicable to your position.”

“Be as transparent as possible and make sure folks understand your circumstances,” he said.

Hudson runs Jobslist.com -- a metro-area job finding Web site that gets about 200,000 hits per month. He disagrees with the practice of using credit reports as a hiring tool.

DENVER (CBS) — Finding a job these days is tough enough in this economy.

Now job seekers are facing another hurdle, CBS station KCNC-TV reports. A new survey says 60 percent of employers run credit checks on potential hires, as opposed to 42 percent in 2006.

Companies say credit checks provide insight into a person’s character and work ethic. Many job applicants disagree.

“I’m really kind of on the front lines of what people are going through,” said jobseeking expert Andrew Hudson.

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Tovrea said he later confirmed that his credit rating was the deciding factor.

Meanwhile, several states are proposing

Are Rebates Worth Your Time And Effort? just give you a discount,” said one woman.

Reporting Al Sunshine MIAMI (CBS4) — From refrigerators to phones, computers to printers, consumer rebate deals are out there, but getting your money isn’t always easy. That’s because the process for getting that rebate check can be cumbersome including filling out the forms, sending in the original receipt, cutting out the barcode and tracking the rebate. Some consumers don’t want any part of it, “I hate rebates, why can’t they

manufacturers stay up all night trying to figure out little ways to make it difficult, that’s how they make money.”

Even if you go to the trouble, following the rules doesn’t always pay off. Fred Padula found that out the hard way when he was supposed to get a $200 rebate if he signed up for television, phone and internet service.

And now a new twist: Many companies, instead of sending you cash, give rebate cards, “A prepaid debit card you can’t take to the bank and you have to use it for other merchandise,” explains Dworsky.

“They said 16 weeks, you’ll be hearing and getting your $200 rebate,” Fred was told. That was back in June, and he still hasn’t gotten a check despite making many, many calls. “Each time they made up an excuse, I had an answer for them so they went on to something else. So it’s just a matter of who is going to give up first.”

So are you cut out for rebates? Dworsky says if you can’t deal with the complicated process, look for the best instore sale price, but remember, “Prices at the store without the rebate tend not to be as good as the after-rebate price, so you have to shop around.” And you need to decide if the money you get back is worth the effort you put in.

Edgar Dworsky of ConsumerWorld.org isn’t surprised that about half of all rebates aren’t redeemed. He says companies count on people forgetting to send them in, or just giving up, “I think

There’s one more thing to watch out for.

Rebate checks often come in the form of a postcard, not in an envelope. It’s easy for them to get stuck inside a magazine or for you to accidentally toss into the trash.

Some stores, like Best Buy, have eliminated rebates. Others offer instant rebates that you claim at the time of purchase in the store or online. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Banking On Smart-Phones: Easy To Use, Easy To Lose digital assistants.

Reporting Al Sunshine KENDALL (CBS4) — There’s a technological revolution taking place, and it’s changing the way we deal with our home finances. It started with home computers. Now, even our cell phones are making it easy to manage family funds.

Unfortunately, it’s also becoming easier for us to potentially get ripped off.

So-called smart-phones are changing the way we live. They’re not just for quick phone calls anymore. There are now thousands of applications available to turn our smart phones into very personal

them the opportunity to slowly to dig into their budget in a fun easy manner.”

Kendall resident Miriam Vazquez uses her smart phone to check her finances and keep up with her monthly expenses. “I pay my bills. I pay my Chase, Bank of America, because I have it locked.”

But while smart-phones and programs can be helpful, don’t forget you’re trusting personal financial information to a small device that can be misplaced or stolen.

She described what she likes so much about it. “I don’t have to wait to get home or work to pay my bills; I can just do it easily wherever I’m at.”

Bank account numbers, passwords and critical private data are conveniently all in one place, making them easy to use, but just as easy to lose.

But are smart-phones smart enough to trust with our family finances?

Applications balance check books, pay bills, track investments and even help get your taxes done. Most cost just a few bucks and many are free.

Matt McGrath with Evensky & Katz has a few suggestions for users.

Consolidated Credit Counseling Services just created a family budgeting program – it’s free.

“The new generation of consumers are tech-savvy,” Howard Dworkin of Consolidated Credit told CBS4’s Al Sunshine. “We built this application in mind with their users and it will allow

“First thing to think of: what are you doing with your personal information?

Who are you divulging it to? Security is going to be the most critical factor to keep in mind, especially with smart phones with Wi-Fi networks. You don’t want to be at a local coffee shop doing your online banking using a Wi-Fi network.”

That’s because most public Wi-Fi networks offer limited network security; if you’re not careful, cyber-thieves can steal your information.

“I think it’s great if you know how to use them,” Gloria Suarez told Sunshine. “It would take me so long to know how to use them.”

That’s why Suarez does her personal financing the old-fashioned way. “I do things the old fashion way. I still pay my bills with checks. I do use a check cash card at the grocery store, but I’m not technologically advanced.”

Make sure you know the financial app’s privacy policies, and keep back-ups of your financial programs and all your data in case the phone breaks or is lost or stolen.

And if the phone offers password protection, use it! (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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YouTube: The Next Big Money-Maker? trying to figure out what my next move was going to be,” Will explained.

That’s when the college graduate realized that his hobby could also be his job. Now, Will is a YouTube partner, which means that Google, which owns You Tube, runs ads on his videos. Every time a viewer clicks on his video, he gets paid a tiny piece of the ad revenue.

Reporting Al Sunshine MIAMI (CBS) — A new way to make some extra cash involves your home movies, YouTube, and advertisers.

Every day, Will prepares for his close-up.

If the set doesn’t look glamorous, it’s because he’s shooting from his bachelor pad - dirty socks and all. But hey, it’s a living.

“I was unemployed for 8 or 9 months

Some partners pull in a six-figure paycheck. Will isn’t there yet. But his product, a round up of You Tube greatest news hits, draws in more than 100thousand subscribers. He figures he needs twice that number to make it a full-time living.

To get started on YouTube, all you really need is a computer, an internet connection and a way to film yourself. Then, your video needs to catch on and spread like a virus. If it does, you can apply to be a partner through the YouTube web site.

If you’re lucky, they might notice you first and invite you in. That’s what happened to Lance Ulanoff. So far, his animated pumpkin video brings in just pennies a day.

“You really have to struggle; you have to work hard to get your video noticed. And that always means going outside of YouTube to promote what you’ve done,” Ulanoff said.

Partners do that through sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Will does all that as well, but still needs a second job until his studio hits the big time. “I aim to absolutely to use YouTube money to buy a house, you know, to live the American dream online.”

For now, this kind of internet video with partnered advertising is still in its infancy.

But like so many other commercial online

applications, nobody’s really sure how popular it will get, or how much money is out there to be made in the future. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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The Adtimes Newspaper - REAL ESTATE

March 19, 2010

24

Weatherization Stimulus Report: Fail General’s report today has the cold reality: an alarming lack of progress.

Despite good intentions, bureaucratic red tape has ruled the day.

Some of the states that got the most money didn’t even weatherize two percent of their target homes.

New York has $394 million available and planned to weatherize 45,400 units. But only did 280.

Alarming Lack of Progress in Plan to Weatherize Homes for nearly 600,000 Low-Income Residents Reporting Sharyl Attkisson (CBS) The promise was $5 billion in stimulus funds to weatherize homes become more energy efficient by upgrading insulation, heating and cooling systems, air filters and windows - for 590,000 low income residents - creating jobs in all 50 states along the way.

CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports a new Inspector

Believe it or not that’s better than a lot of states. Cold states like Alaska ($18.1 million available) and Wyoming ($10.2 million available) didn’t weatherize a single home. Same with Texas ($326 million available), Rhode Island ($20 million available), Hawaii ($4 million avail), and Washington D.C ($8 million available) Congress’ home town really could’ve used the help for their snowiest winter ever.

In all, only $368.2 million - less than 8 percent of the money available - has been spent on weatherization. Not surprising,

the Inspector General found the jobs impact “has not materialized.”

In a statement, the Energy Department (overseeing the program) said: “We appreciate the work of the Inspector General as we continue to work with states to ramp up their programs. During January, states significantly increased their spending and the number of homes weatherized under the Recovery Act, but additional progress is needed to help states reach their targets and deliver the benefits of energy efficiency to families across the country. As a result of the Department’s efforts to address challenges in the program’s implementation - including resolving Davis-Bacon wage determinations in all 50 states and clarifying how states should handle historic preservation - states weatherized more than 125,000 homes by the end of 2009 and are on pace to do at least 250,000 homes this year. In fact, since September 2009, we have tripled the pace of Recovery Act-funded home weatherization.

President Biden and Secretary Chu have been discussing additional steps that can be taken to continue strengthening the program, and agreed this morning to move forward with additional new measures that should increase our pace of weatherization. This will require additional reporting, the redeployment of personnel from other agencies to expand federal project oversight, and direct follow up by Secretary Chu and senior Department officials with states that are lagging behind. The Department will remain focused on providing each of the states and local agencies with the resources they need to quickly and effectively implement this program.”

The single biggest expenditure in the stimulus weatherization program to date is a lump sum of $270 million. Not to weatherize homes, but given to the Department of Energy to administer the grants. ©MMX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

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Still, our goal is to improve further. Vice

Contractors Step In To Help Scammed Woman They never happened. Hudson says she has only some framing and electrical work for the money she paid her contractor. “I’ve suffered through this nightmare for a long time,” said Hudson.

Reporting Peter D’Oench CUTLER BAY (CBS4) — A wheelchairbound, paraplegic 42-year-old Cutler Bay woman is hopeful that her horrible ordeal is over after a fake contractor left her house in an unlivable condition.

Dotty Hudson had lost hope that she could ever rebuild her home. In 2007, she gave a contractor all the money she had, nearly $139,000, for extensive renovations.

“It’s totally a mess,” said Daniel Sriro.

He’s an investigator for Miami-Dade building code and compliance.

“Everything that was done has to be torn out.” Sriro has been working on this case ever since it came to his attention a few years ago. “She’s going to have a home now thanks to this new contractor, Venetian Builders.”

Hudson’s contractor Ignacio Aquino junior has been arrested and charged in this case with Grand Theft, Contracting without a License and Exploitation of the handicapped. Hudson is broke. After seeing Hudson’s exclusive interview with CBS4’s Peter D’Oench, Venetian Builders will now rebuild Hudson’s home for free.

“It’s a great opportunity to get in here and make a wrong a right. I feel real good

about it,” contractor Christopher Noe explained. “We spend all of our time renovating some of the nicest homes in South Florida. What we’d like to do is step up and give something back to the community and get this project done.”

“I’m very pleased about it. I’m happy and I thank god that he sets their hearts to be able to help me with this nightmare. It has been a total nightmare,” said Hudson But transforming that nightmare is a challenge.

“I would say the simplest thing is to thoroughly gut the property, draw up architectural plans and start from scratch,” said Noe, the owner of Venetian Builders.

Venetian Builders will be working with Neighbors for Neighbors on this project.

Neighbors for Neighbors received a number of calls after D’Oench’s first story aired January 28th about Dotty Hudson.

Venetian builders could also use some volunteers. “We’re going to need help with framing, interior framing. We’ll need help with dry wall, and help with architectural plans sets.”

“It’s going to mean the world to me. And I’m going to be forever in their debt,” Hudson said. “I feel renewed in mankind.

Because of what happened, I kind of lost hope, you know. And now I feel renewed in mankind that they’d have the heart to do this. I can’t wait to get back to my home.”

Once permits are obtained, work could start in May. Dotty Hudson should be able to return home for good in August. And that brought tears to her eyes, as Hudson embraced Investigator Sriro and representatives of Venetian Builders. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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March 19, 2010

25

I-Team: Families Wait Years For Promised Homes Brownsville resident Carlton Dixon tells Zea he wishes he had a house at all. He points out where his house used to stand.

His family lived there for decades.

“If anyone wants to find the Dixons, they come right here,” he said pointing to the empty lot where he stood. “This is where the Dixons was raised, that’s why I’ll never leave Brownsville Subs.”

Reporting Natalia Zea MIAMI (CBS4) — When a tornado tore through two of the most low-income neighborhoods in South Florida in 2003, dozens of families were left with nothing.

Most couldn’t afford homeowners insurance. Miami-Dade County officials promised to help, by rebuilding 12 families’ homes. Seven years later those families are still waiting, some in dangerous conditions, and they called the CBS4 I-Team for help.

Every day, Liberty City resident Theresa Durand prays for a cloudless sky. “It collapsed because of the rain, a lot of rain,” she showed CBS4’s Natalia Zea, pointing to a gaping hole in her ceiling.

Huge chunks are missing, and the plaster that remains bulges menacingly. Zea asked Theresa, “Do you ever get afraid that it’s going to fall on you?” Theresa said, “Yeah, when I hear the rain and the wind.”

Theresa’s home has been in shambles since 2003 when a deadly tornado blew through Liberty City and Brownsville.

“All of a sudden doors came open, we had to hold them, and the roof started flying,” Theresa remembers.

What keeps a 68-year-old woman living in that dangerous mess? Miami-Dade County has been promising to build her a new house on her modest lot for the last seven years as part of their “Project Rebuild” program, established after the tornado.

“My house is bad, it leaks, it’s getting worse. But they keep on promising, saying they will do it…I’m still waiting,” Theresa sighed.

After the tornado, the County promised to build him a new home, and bulldozed his.

“They put the whole house in a garbage can.”

Now, Carlton and his wife Karen care for their orphaned granddaughters and pay rent in a tiny duplex next door. They also pay taxes on the empty lot. Carlton was laid off last year, and he’s afraid he’ll lose the lot too.

“It’s been hard, it’s been hard,” he said.

With tears streaming down her face, Karen explained to Zea that having a home again would mean the world to her.

“It wasn’t the best home, it wasn’t the best house but we were working on it and were trying to make it ours, before they came in with these promises that never came.”

Brownsville Pastor, Larrie Lovett’s community organization, runs the Brownsville Affordable Housing Development Corporation; the Countyfunded program that was supposed to rebuild homes for 12 families including Theresa’s and the Dixons. Two homeowners have already died waiting.

Zea asked Lovett, “Who is at fault here?

Because it’s been more than six years and they still don’t have the houses they were promised.”

Lovett blames the County. “We’re saying the County bears the bulk of the burden because they have not fully funded this project,” Lovett said.

The CBS4 I-Team dug through county documents and found that Reverend Lovett did apply for funding from the county, every year since the tornado hit.

He says the County denied most of his

requests because there was no county system in place to correctly distribute the money for this type of home building project.

Over the past 7 years, Reverend Lovett did receive some County money though.

He got nearly $400,000 for the project, but none of it went to actually building houses. He says he spent it on legal fees, consultants, and design work.

Money wasn’t the only issue though; Lovett says red tape slowed down the process.

something for my family.”

After so many years, he can’t help but think these new promises are as empty as the place he used to call home.

The CBS4 I-Team will stay on top of this and follow up to see if the County begins construction of the 4 homes they’ve promised to begin to build in the next 90 days. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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“I’ve been reduced almost to tears going down to the County in these meetings, year after year, month after month,” he said.

We went to Shalley Jones Horn for answers. She’s the Director of Housing and Community Development. She was hired last year and is in charge of the failed program.

Zea asked her, “Do you believe seven years was too long for all of this red tape?” Jones Horn responded, “Yes, yes, no question, yes. But I can’t unwind those seven years.”

She says the County Commission may not have known how difficult this project would be when they agreed to take it on back in 2003.

“The project was not fully funded in the beginning,” she said.

The CBS4 I-Team has learned it will cost nearly $200,000 to rebuild each home.

Jones Horn says the County has now secured more than a million dollars and promises to bulldoze and rebuild four dilapidated, standing homes, like Theresa’s, within the next 90 days.

But she’s still looking for funding for Carlton and Karen, and seven other families left with barren lots because the County bulldozed their homes years ago.

Carlton worries he won’t live long enough to see a new home.

“I would like to be able to see this house be built and know that if something happened to me, I have done, to leave

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27

The 4 Biggest Lies in Real Estate have their own YouTube sites.

3. Mortgage Rates You Can’t Get Problem is, it’s easy to Photoshop photos and edit video to make a house and its neighborhood seem far more attractive than they are. Some sellers post photos of kitchens and gardens you won’t find in the actual property. Videos get colorcorrected so the grass, flowers and trees seem fresh and alive. A house may seem newly painted, even though the photo was taken five years ago.

MoneyWatch.com: When Scouring the Housing Market, Watch out for these All-Too-Common Lies, Tricks and Exaggerations (MoneyWatch.com) This story, by Ilyce Glink, originally appeared on CBS’ Moneywatch.com A funny thing about the digital age - the more information we have access to, the more misinformation we get hit with. In the not-so-long ago days when the Internet was mainly for e-mail and facebooks were made of paper, homes were mostly advertised through newspaper ads. As long as you understood that TLC meant you needed to be handy with a hammer and an “efficiency kitchen” meant you’d better like take-out, you could avoid getting suckered.

Anyone gearing up to buy or sell a house this spring, however, has to bring a bit more skepticism to the process. Sure, the Internet has transformed the process of buying and selling a home in wonderful ways, but it has also increased the opportunities for mischief. Fall for bogus listings and lousy home price “data” and you could wind up overpaying for a home or finding yourself stuck, unable to unload the one you have. Don’t get taken by these big lies: 1. Phony Photos and Videos Digital photos and video have been a godsend for real estate agents, homebuyers and sellers, enticing prospects to drool over images of Viking ranges, sparkling pools and lush lawns.

Lately, agents have been posting interactive photos and floor plans, letting buyers view rooms and exteriors from different vantage points. Some houses

Get the Truth: Go to Google Street View or Microsoft Live Search Maps for a reliable third-party look at a neighborhood or home exterior. They won’t show the inside of a house, though, so you’ll need to drive to the property and see it for yourself.

2. Valuations Lacking Value Knowing how much a house is truly worth is vitally important whether you’re a buyer or seller. With home values down an average of 30 to 40 percent since 2005 in major metro areas, every penny counts.

But you can’t always trust the numbers on home valuation sites such as Zillow, CyberHomes and Realtor.com.

Visit a mortgage aggregating site such as Bankrate.com and you’ll naturally want to apply for the lowest rate shown. But that rate may not really exist - at least not for every applicant.

Mortgage lenders often advertise fake low rates online without explaining that you can’t get them if your down payment or credit score is too low or you’re not willing to pay extra-high closing costs. At worst, the rate may be a “bait and switch” and wholly unavailable.

Get the Truth: Start your mortgage shopping by identifying a well-known national or regional bank, a small local lender, a well-regarded mortgage broker, a credit union (if you belong to one or can join one), and an Internet mortgage aggregator such as Priceline. Then go to AnnualCreditReport.com to pull a copy of your credit history and to pay to get your credit score. Next, find out what each lender on your list would really charge for your loan. Use the quotes to negotiate the best deal.

4. Unreal Property Descriptions

When I plugged in a particular 5bedroom/4-bath house on these sites, I received vastly different valuations and sometimes incorrect information about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms it had. I’d estimate the house is worth between $1.2 and $1.4 million. Zillow’s “Zestimate” (a calculation also used by RealEstateABC.com) was $943,000; CyberHomes suggested a range of $960,000 to $1.2 million and Realtor.com went with $788,036.

Get the Truth: It’s fine to start with online valuation sites for ballpark estimates. But to get a reliable valuation, get out of the virtual world and into the real world. If you’re selling, invite several real estate agents to walk through your home and analyze its value based on recent comparable sales. You might also hire an independent appraiser (cost: around $350 and up). If you’re buying, hire an agent who has worked the area for years, if not decades. It’s generally a waste of money for a buyer to hire an appraiser, since the lender will require its own appraisal before granting a mortgage.

The old saw, “You can’t believe everything you read” is often true about online listings. A property advertised as having a “water view” might feature a glimpse of the ocean if you open the window, stick your head out, and look left.£ A “light, bright” apartment implies loads of sunshine, but may instead describe the wattage from overhead lighting. A condo’s listing sheet promoting “Southern exposure” might leave out a key fact: The front rooms look south, but the rest of the place faces a warehouse 10 feet away. A mention of an “in-law” or “rentable” apartment over the garage won’t say whether renting out that room is illegal, subjecting you to a future showdown with local zoning officials.

Get the Truth: To weed out unreal estate, do some fact-checking. If the beachfront condo supposedly has a water view, tell the broker to e-mail you a floor plan for the entire building. When a listing sheet says the house had a substantial renovation, check it out before you get too excited. And if you get serious about

the property, you can always ask the town building department to confirm a renovation; there may be blueprints on file. If you’re counting on renting out a room above the garage, ask the building department if it’s allowed.

Bonus: Euphemism Alert One thing that the digital revolution hasn’t changed at all - the extraordinary ability of real estate agents to put lipstick on a pig. Here’s a guide to words and catchphrases you’re likely to encounter and what they really mean: The Listing Says... The Listing May Mean...

Cozy/Dollhouse: The house is tiny, cramped and everyone over 6 feet tall will bump their head on the ceiling.

Handyman’s Special: You’ll need to do a gut remodel if you want to make the home livable.

Great View: You might have to crane your neck out the window to see the water.

Rentable In-law Apartment: This might be a separate room, a half-finished basement, or completely illegal.

Ilyce R. Glink is the author of several books, including 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask and the upcoming Buy, Close, Move In!. She blogs about money and real estate on MoneyWatch and at ThinkGlink.com. © MMX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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29

New Treatment Removes Cancerous Tumors From Colon and I said, ‘why?’ and he said, ‘because you have a large tumor in your colon,’” she said.

Colorectal surgeon Dr. Roger Pons with Hialeah Hospital suggested she try something called “TEM,” a type of endoscopic micro-surgery.

“It’s a procedure basically done for certain tumors of the rectum both malignant and benign,” said Pons.

Reporting Cynthia Demos MIAMI (CBS4) — Colon cancer is the second deadliest cancer with 150,000 new cases each year. Now, there is a procedure helping certain patients remove tumors in a less invasive and much more comfortable way.

Kimberly Stebbins, 49, thought she had hemorrhoids when she noticed a little bleeding. But when she went in for a procedure the doctor told her she had something else.

Dr. Pons said not everyone is a candidate, because the polyps have to be a certain shape like a stalk in order to be cut out easily. Those that are flat wouldn’t be removed easily. The tumors are removed using a small camera and specialized instruments.

Dr. Pons said that like Stebbins, many patients think they have hemorrhoids because symptoms include bleeding, pain and cramps.

“There have been some studies that suggest beer drinking increases the risk of rectal cancer. Not colon cancer, but rectal,” added Pons.

Stebbins said her recovery was quick and the procedure even cost less than traditional surgery. She hopes others will look into this option.

“I highly recommend this. It’s so easy.

It’s not painful and it’s really accurate,” she exclaimed.

According to Dr. Pons, if you catch polyps early you can often avoid cancer.

He urges everyone to get an exam each year and have a colonoscopy after the age of 50 and as recommended by your doctor if you have a family history. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Risk factors include a family history and one you may not have heard of: drinking beer.

“He couldn’t do the hemorrhoidectomy

Women Hospitalized After Fake Silicone Injections into the body,” Dr. Steven Marcus of NJ Poison Control told CBS station WCBSTV. Health officials believe chaulk may have been used in the injections. It’s made from silicone and used to seal cracks in tubs and tiles in bathrooms.

6 Individuals Thought They Were Improving Their Curves But Ended Up Getting Tumor-Like Infections Instead NEW YORK (CBS) — J-Lo and Kim Kardashian have curves women would kill for. This may have been the shapely image six New Jersey women were trying to achieve when they got injections from bogus medical providers to enhance their behinds, but instead ended up in hospitals with severe tumor-like infections.

“The product used was, first of all, not manufactured with the intention to inject

Poison control officials said the women were lucky to be alive. “You could inject this into a vein, and then that substance floating in your bloodstream could damage your heart, your brain, you could have a stroke from it,” Marcus said.

The women, five of them from Essex County, apparently got the injections in motel and hotel rooms. The Board of Medical Examiners was investigating to see if they all got it from the same unlicensed provider.

“I was thinking about doing that,” for a more plump buttocks, said Joan Sorbino of Newark, but she’s thankful she didn’t.

“Very scary,” she said.

“If you have somebody whose entire

buttock is injected with this material, you occasionally will need to do a fairly radical incision as if it were a cancer,” said Dr. Mark Granick, chief plastic surgeon at University Hospital. “Plastic surgeons don’t inject large volumes of anything in anybody. It’s just not safe. You can have a buttock implant put in. Some doctors will do that, and buttock implants are also welltested and relatively safe, although they do have a separate set of complications,”

Granick said.

With any kind of procedure, you should always check with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to make sure your surgeon is legit (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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New Bandage And Light Help Cure Skin Cancer needles, and no scars.

“Normal surgery would scar me,” cancer patient Muriel Lowe said. “I have a skin condition that would scar pretty badly.

The doctor suggested it would be better to have this treatment.

British researchers tested the device, called Ambulight, on 50 patients with non-melanoma cancer. Millions of people around the world suffer from this form of cancer.

DUNDEE, SCOTLAND (CBS4) —BandAids help with scrapes, cuts and needlepricks, but cancer? It could be the next step. Researchers in Britain have unveiled the world’s first small bandage that can help cure cancer.

The cream is absorbed by only cancer cells, not the healthy cells. A few hours later the bandage with the special light is applied, converting the cream into a cancer-killing drug.

The bandage uses light treatment, a technology that’s been in use for decades.

But inventors say what makes this different is how small and easy-to-use it is.

Professor of Dermatology James Ferguson said, “We’re look at 80 to 90 percent complete cure with it, and we’re hoping to optimize that further by looking at various new ways of delivering the light.”

A special cream and a simple bandage with a light on top have the power to kill skin cancer. The results? No scalpel, no

Light therapy has been around for years but it took heavy equipment and meant patients spent hours in the hospital. Now

researchers say patients can simply go home with the new device and get on with their daily routines.

The treatment is not available in the U.S., but doctors here say is an interesting development. But they urge caution.

Dr. Vincent Deleo is the Chairman of Dermatology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital and Beth Israel Medical Center.

“If this is done at home, then there would be some safety issues to look into that may be involved,” he explained, “but certainly if it’s less painful, it would be an advantage.”

Another advantage: it could be potentially much cheaper, with less time for the patient at the medical facility. Developers hope to take the Ambulight to the United States after distributing it to hospitals across the U.K. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Study Looks At Sex Life After 55 of sexual activity. But women of the same age can expect less than 11 more years of sexual activity.

Jill Wiggins and her husband Gary Payne were surprised by the findings. “I would think women would not fizzle out as quickly,” Payne said. “I think it’s really sad if it’s true and I certainly don’t believe it for myself,” Wiggins said.

NORTH TEXAS (CBS) — The speed limit on some highways may be 55, but it’s not the age limit when it comes to sex, CBS station KTVT-TV reports. A new study, published by the British Medical Journal, shows men and women can have healthy sexual relationships well past the age of 55.

The study, by researchers from the University of Chicago, also says that one gender enjoys sex for more years than the other. Researchers say once men reach age 55, they can expect another 15 years

Wiggins, who was sporting a wrist tattoo, said she works out, eats healthy and has a partner who’s interested in her.

Researchers found these were some of the keys to long-lasting sexual relationships.

The study also found that men have longer sex lives when they have a partner.

Danny Stuckler is in his mid-50’s. He said, “I know for myself. I really enjoy a sex life and enjoy having a partner and it would be harder for me to be alone than it would be for my wife.”

Margit Stuckler is Danny’s wife and is

also in her mid-50’s. She said she understood why older women, who’ve had children and a previously good sex life, might want to give it all up at age 65.

“I guess they’re tired. And they’re comfortable being alone and not having a sex life at all because they’re alone.”

Dr. Philip Roos is a therapist who also provides counseling in sexual relationships. Dr. Roos said the study revealed a key factor to having many years of healthy sex. “The study showed people who are healthy tend to have a better sex life,” he explained. “The medical establishment has sort of assumed that people sexuality vanished in their mid 50’s well obviously that’s not true.” (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Analysis: Health Reform Would Not Fund Abortion leaders try to find enough votes to pass health care: Q: Obama said he wouldn’t tamper with the status quo on abortion, so what’s the problem?

A: That’s what he said, but it’s not exactly what happened.

Current law - known as the Hyde amendment - prohibits federal funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

WASHINGTON (CBS News) —President Obama’s health care bill would change federal policy on abortion, but not open the spigot of taxpayer dollars that some abortion opponents fear.

Abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America say the House and Senate versions of the bill represent the biggest expansion of abortion restrictions in years, yet they’re not trying to defeat the measures. Instead, a bitter dispute among abortion opponents over which version is stricter could derail Mr. Obama’s quest to remake the health insurance system.

President Obama appealed to the public Monday for help pushing lawmakers to vote for his proposal.

“They need to hear your voices because right now the Washington echo chamber is in full throttle,” Mr. Obama said at a town hall at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. “The time for talk is over. We need to see where people stand.”

Major anti-abortion groups such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Right to Life Committee say the Senate provisions expected to come before the House shortly are a backdoor taxpayer subsidy for abortion. Other abortion opponents disagree.

“I actually think the Senate bill will more effectively prohibit federal funds from going to abortion,” said Stephen Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at Catholic University of America in Washington.

“That legislation will actually reduce the demand for abortion in the United States.”

Here’s a look in question and answer form at a simmering conflict that is vexing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., as she and other Democratic

The first drafts of the Democratic health care bills, written by abortion rights supporters in Congress, would have allowed health insurance plans receiving federal subsidies to cover abortion as a legal medical procedure. They couldn’t get the votes to advance, so eventually Democratic abortion foes took over writing the language. But any trust abortion opponents might have had in the administration was gone.

The House and Senate ended up passing different provisions.

Q: OK, what are some of the differences?

A: Both bills would set up a new health insurance marketplace for small businesses and people buying coverage on their own, with government subsidies to help keep premiums affordable. That’s the similarity.

Here’s the key difference: The House provision, written by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., would prohibit health plans receiving subsidies from covering abortions, except as allowed by the Hyde amendment. Women who want coverage for abortion would have to buy a separate policy.

The Senate language, written by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., would allow the plans to cover abortion with private funds collected directly from policyholders.

People who want the coverage would have to write two checks to their health insurance plan, and the plans would keep the money in a separate account from taxpayer funds.

With the Senate bill going back to the House, Obama is asking Democrats to unite behind it.

Q: Would the Senate bill change the status quo?

A: Yes. The federal employee health

benefits program is seen as the model for the new insurance marketplace, and none of the plans available to government workers may cover abortion, except as allowed by Hyde.

“It would be a pretty significant change,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America. Stupak and Nelson, both longtime abortion foes, serve on the group’s advisory board. Day said Stupak’s approach is preferable, because it closely follows existing law.

But the Senate rejected it, forcing Nelson to develop his plan as a fallback.

Q: Does that mean the Senate bill allows taxpayer money for abortions?

A: Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, says money is fungible, and the separation between taxpayer funds and private premiums is only a fig leaf.

“The Senate bill departs from longstanding federal policy by authorizing tax subsidies to help tens of millions of Americans buy private health plans that could cover abortion on demand,” said Johnson. “Anyone enrolling in such plan would be required to make separate payments into an abortion fund.”

But Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, analyzed the two bills and concluded the only difference is an administrative technicality.

“What Stupak says is you have to buy a separate policy, and what Nelson says is you have to write two checks,” said Jost.

“There’s no public funding of abortion.”

And people who don’t want to pay for other people’s abortions wouldn’t be forced to do so, Jost added. They could simply pick a plan that doesn’t cover it.

Q: What are the odds that health plans which don’t cover abortion would be available?

A: There would definitely be a demand for them, and not just from people with moral objections. Single men and older women would have no reason to pay an extra premium for abortion coverage.

“Because this is such a hot political issue, my expectation is that insurance companies would definitely offer it both ways,” said Robert Laszewski, a former health insurance executive turned consultant.

Abortion coverage is now widely available through workplace health plans, but many women who have abortions pay out of pocket instead of using their insurance.

Q: Don’t abortion opponents have other concerns about the bill?

A: A major one has to do with $11 billion that Obama wants to pump into community health centers serving lowincome people and the uninsured. As the bill is currently written, those funds are not explicitly covered by the Hyde amendment.

White House health overhaul spokeswoman Linda Douglass says Obama is willing to clarify the language.

Q: What are the odds that these disputes can be worked out?

A: Stupak sounded optimistic Monday.

“The president says he doesn’t want to expand or restrict current law (on abortion). Neither do I,” Stupak said. “I think we can get there.”

Abortion opponent Rev. Derrick Harkins, pastor of the Nineteenth St. Baptist Church in Washington, said he believes it ultimately could hurt the anti-abortion cause if the health care bill collapses because of the divisive issue.

“You can’t be blanket pro-life and not address those things that encourage women to make the choice of having an abortion,” said Harkins, a board member of World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“If you are really looking to reduce the number of abortions in America, one of the things that will make that happen is to have comprehensive health care coverage.” (© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Inside “Green Zone” But not for former Marine Reserve Corporal Abdul Henderson.

“They gave us free rein with being able to prepare our personal gear and how we would have had it when we were overseas, so it feels real, looks real, smells real,” Henderson said.

Filmmakers Recounting the Search for WMDs in Iraq Sought Authenticity by Bringing Iraq War Vets on Board (CBS) The new film “Green Zone” starring Matt Damen portrays the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

And while the film’s point of view is being debated, the credentials of some of its actors would seem beyond question.

Allen Pizzey visited the cast on location in Morocco: Whatever the polls may show, there are schools of thought that say support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is directly related to how much the public knows about what it is really like to be there.

“Green Zone” may help change the equation, because - apart from the main stars - the movie’s principal actors are soldiers who have, as one put it, “done their time in the sand box.” They’re all Iraq veterans.

Corporal Sean Huze, who joined the Marines the day after 9/11, said as he was being made up, “You never get this much attention in the military.”

That kind of realism is a trademark of director Paul Greengrass: “Only people who’ve been there, only people who’ve served as soldiers there, only by using them I think can you really get to the, you know, the real sense of authenticity.”

Sometimes it was almost too authentic.

Soldiers playing roles they actually lived through may make for great cinema, but it comes at a price that cannot be measured in box office terms.

Thirteen months in Iraq weren’t easy for Specialist Ed Gluck to re-live.

“No, it’s not fun,” he told Pizzey. “The experience is fun but when you’re here it’s not fun. No. Not at all.”

The scene takes over the psyche . . . and acting and reality blur.

“You remember that it’s cinema but it’s not, at the same time,” said Gluck. “It’s a sort of fantasy that’s replicating a reality that all of us know. You find your heart racing. Your hands are trembling. It takes a lot out of you psychologically.”

The film is based on soldiers who went into Iraq in 2003 to look for weapons of mass destruction . . . and didn’t find them.

Huze, “ and I don’t think there’s anything more patriotic than finding the truth about why nearly 4,000 U.S. troops have been killed and tens of thousands of Iraqis.”

The level of realism is so high that it actually blurs the line between information and entertainment, which is one reason why the soldiers who are helping to make it that way agreed to be in the movie in the first place.

“It may look bad, but it’s an accurate representation of what we did over there, and the things that we experienced,” said Cpl. Brian Siefkes.

Corporal Siefkes should know . . . he served on a team looking for WMD. For him, going on location in Morocco was like stepping back in time.

“You walk down to the Medina where they have the big markets and everything and it’s real crowded and you just, the nerves come right back and you just, you don’t feel safe. It took about two or three days for a lot of us to get over that,” he said.

For Damon, being around soldiers who both knew what they were doing and at the same time are learning to cope with what they went through helped him fit into his role.

“It’s really a process of osmosis,” Damon said. “It’s like this osmotic process where you’re surrounded by the real thing and it’s, you just kind of fall into it, I think, a lot easier.”

However grim, a learning experience.

He and other Iraq vets, some of whom were still in the military when they went on set, were cast because of the expertise and authenticity they provide simply by being what they were trained to be . . . soldiers.

In one scene, during a military briefing Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) questions the intel behind their search. “It’s solid, good to go,” he’s told.

Whether audiences choose to relive this particular chapter of recent history will be perhaps best be determined by this weekend’s box office.

Star Matt Damon found it somewhat daunting.

“There’s a disconnect between what’s in the packets and what we are seeing on the ground,” says Damon’s character. “There is a problem with the intelligence.”

© MMX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

“In terms of doing kind of all of my scenes with, this is the most over-loaded film I’ve ever been in with people who are the real thing,” he said. “It was definitely intimidating.”

The soldier-actors insist the film is not anti-war.

“I think it’s a movie about the truth,” said

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Tallulah, The Original Hollywood Bad Girl He wrote a show about her that opens on Broadway tonight!

Speaker of the House, and he was almost running mate with FDR.”

Recording Assistant: “No . . . ‘has in literal effect’!

“Now then, I’ll take a bourbon and water . . . without water.”

To prepare for the roll, Harper studied everything she could find, even a cartoon character Bankhead is said to have inspired: Cruella de Vil in “101 Dalmations.”

Bankhead: “What?”

And if you are thinking that actress playing Tallulah in “Looped” looks kind of familiar . . .

“I know people are usually running up to you and going ‘Rhoda!’ Rhoda!’ right?” asked Braver The Actress Remembered For Sultry Appearances and Outrageous Antics Is Brought Back to Life on Broadway (CBS) Tallulah Bankhead stole the show in the 1944 movie “Lifeboat,” as she invariably did on stage, screen or radio.

Now, 42 years after her death, Bankhead is back on Broadway, seemingly channeled by an accomplished actress of today. Rita Braver shows us Tallulah then and now: “Hello, dahling . . . “ Her voice, her wit and her face were captivating.

You can’t take your eyes off Tallulah Bankhead in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 “lifeboat,” where she plays a reporter who survives a German U-boat attack.

But it was Tallulah’s real-life behavior that really got people’s attention.

“I’m as pure as the driven slush,” she said.

“She was very promiscuous, a selfproclaimed bisexual,” said playwright Matthew Lombardo. “Long before there was Brittany Spears, long before Lindsey Lohan, Tallulah Bankhead was doing things in the ‘30s and ‘40s that most actresses wouldn’t dream of doing now.”

Lombardo became fascinated Bankhead’s outrageous antics.

by

“There were stories that she turned cartwheels in front of people without wearing the proper underclothes?” asked Braver.

“Yes, she did a lot of things like that,” he said. “She smoked 100 cigarettes a day.

She drank bourbon and gin like it was water.”

“Yes, it’s true, yeah, and more and more they say ‘Valerie!,” said Valerie Harper.

“But they’ll say, ‘Valerie! I loved “Rhoda!”‘ But in the early days it was ‘Rhoda, Rhoda, Rhoda,’ completely.”

Yes, Valerie Harper, or Rhoda from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and later her own spin-off series.

Yes, that Valerie Harper is now transforming herself each night into Tallulah.

“I’ve looked at pictures of her. I do my own makeup, and I replicate the shape of her eye,” she said. “She’s so extravagant a personality, so specific, her affectation became who she really was.”

And of course there was her language.

“New York, that is a great city. You know why it’s a great city? Because it was built for [bleep] morons. Everything is numbered. You get lost in Manhattan, you don’t deserve to be found.”

“The F-bomb is there,” Harper said. “We say, kids over 12 and don’t bring them to see Rhoda. Mom and dad will be mad at me.”

Harper, is in fact, a veteran Broadway actress.

“It’s thrilling,” she said. “You know, to be on the marquee is great.”

She loves the fact that the theater where the new show is playing is just a block from the Algonquin Hotel , where Bankhead who was born in 1902, lived when she first came to New York at age 15 to break into the theater . . . fresh from Jasper, Alabama, the descendant of a prominent political family: “There was an Alabama Bankhead in Congress for 60 years straight,” Harper said. “Grandpa was a Senator. Uncle John was a Senator. Her father, Will, was

Bankhead was such a celebrity that newsman Edward R. Murrow interviewed her on “Person to Person in 1953.

“Why do you call everyone ‘darling,’” he asked her.

“Because I can’t remember their names,” she replied.

Recording Assistant: “Closed the church to me.”

Bankhead: “You’ve kept me for nine hours. My head is aching.”

“And at first I thought it was hysterical, because she’s drunk and she’s belligerent,” said Lombardo. “But then the more I listened to it, there was a sadness in her voice.”

Which you can hear in the play as well:

Bankhead was an accomplished actress a star of stage and of screens large and small, even appearing as herself, the new neighbor on the “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”

Harper as Bankhead: “And so Patricia, as I was telling you that, that . . . oh balls, who is it again?”

In later years, her wild lifestyle seemed to catch up with Tallulah. The new play “Looped,” is based on a real event.

Harper as Bankhead: “Deluded rector, right, right . . . “

Danny: “It’s that deluded rector.”

By 1968, Bankhead was dead at 66.

“The title sands for the fact that he had to do a looping session, or re-recording a line, from her final film, ‘Die, Die, My Darling,’” said Lombardo, “but it has to do with the fact that she showed up drunk during the recording session.”

“Her body had gone through about as much, I suppose, as a body could stand with alcohol and drugs - just an overindulgence in life,” said Powers.

In the 1965 film, Bankhead plays the villain, a religious fanatic who takes Stephanie Powers hostage.

But when you study that life, you come to understand that this is really a person of substance, that there was a reason that she was so famous:

“She was not only a perfomer, but she was a bit of an exhibitionist,” Powers laughed. She vividly remembers being summoned to Bankhead’s dressing room during the shoot . . .

“There was a fearlessness to her, along with this ravenous hunger, this void that couldn’t be filled apparently,” said Harper. “And what a ride she had . . . and what a ride she gave us.”

“And frequently she might be sitting naked on the toilet,” Powers said. “This was not necessarily an attractive sight, but it was her way. She loved shock value!”

And then there was how she replied when asked by Murrow to describe herself:

When Bankhead showed up to re-record this line from the film…

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“As I was telling you, even thought that deluded recor in literal effect closed the door to me… . . . someone made an audio tape of the marathon session, where Bankhead kept stumbling.

Bankhead: “As I was telling you Patricia, that deluded rector, has literally closed . . . “

“Deliciously impossible.”

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Roethlisberger: A ‘Criminal’ Or An ‘Idiot’ Ben Roethlisberger assaulted her a week ago.

Roethlisberger denies any wrongdoing.

But as CBS News correspondent Manuel Gallegus reported, his name is now on a long list of athletes accused of sexual misconduct.

While the Super Bowl champion quarterback may, in fact, be innocent of sexual assault, Gallegus remarked, there’s little doubt his judgment could be called into question.

2nd Woman Accuses Pittsburgh Steelers’ ‘Big Ben’ Roethlisberger Of Sex Assault Super Bowl Champion Joins Long List Of Athletes Accused Of Sexual Misconduct

Bill Plaschke, a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, told CBS News, “At the worst he’s a criminal and the very least he’s an idiot, whose conviction should be a bad judgment.”

PITTSBURGH (CBS News) — Police in Georgia are still checking out a woman’s claim that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback

Sources say Roethlisberger has told police he had sexual contact with the 20-year-old

woman who is accusing him of assault in a Georgia nightclub. He denies having intercourse or assaulting her.

Ed Garland, Roethlisberger’s defense attorney, has said, “Our position, as we have stated, is that there was no crime committed by Ben and we expect the facts will show that and clearly prove that.”

Plenty of high profile athletes manage to keep their reputations squeaky clean, like Derek Jeter and LeBron James, but there are also those who find themselves in trouble.

In 1992, Mike Tyson was convicted of rape and served three years in prison.

In 2003, Kobe Bryant was accused of raping a hotel employee in Colorado. He admitted having sex with the woman, but denied any criminal activity.

Plashcke says athletes have to always be on guard both on and off the field.

He said, “If you’re an athlete, you have to assume you are a target. If you’re a target on the football field you’re a target off the field, you have to assume people are coming after you, you have to be smarter than that, your life is no longer your own.”

Gallegus added it may be months before it’s known if Roethlisberger committed a crime -- or is just another athlete with a tarnished reputation. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Elling: Tiger’s Comeback Plan Masterful missed in his 13-year career.

Augusta National officials indicated Thursday that they had not heard anything definitive from Woods.

Messages left with Woods’ spokesman, Palmer Invitational and Tavistock Cup tournament officials were not immediately returned.

(CBS) Written by CBSSports.com Senior Writer Steve Elling The where-and-when part continues to evolve.

Daily, if not hourly.

An Associated Press report on Thursday cited two unnamed sources in the Tiger Woods camp who claimed the exiled world No. 1 will make his competitive return at the Masters, which begins April 8.

True enough, with Woods practicing at home for the past 10 days, all signs pointed toward an earlier return, perhaps in two weeks at Arnold Palmer’s tournament in Orlando, where Woods has won six times. In fact, it’s the only regular PGA Tour event that he has never

Don’t hold your breath for confirmation of his commitment - the Masters doesn’t have a Friday deadline like the PGA Tour.

He can essentially just show up and play during tournament week.

All this week at the CA Championship outside Miami, with his comeback set for sometime soon, players have been peppered with queries about the reception Woods will receive when he returns from the most damaging scandal in modern sports history. In theory, the blowback will be lessened at Augusta National, which uses a legion of private security and can claim many longtime, respectful attendees among its ticketholders.

“I think we all look forward to seeing him back,” Jim Furyk said shortly before the latest Woods report surfaced. “I think we’re probably more than anything looking forward to getting business back as usual, which is not going to be the case for awhile.

“No one is looking forward to that first week because it’s chaos and it’s going to be chaos.”

There are multiple layers to the feelings among the players, to be sure. Several are saying the right things publicly, but seething about what Woods did to the reputation of the game and the tour - and because he has forced them to field questions about his behavior because he’s been in hiding for three months.

One Florida-based player, when asked last week about whether he had seen Woods working on his game and prepping for a comeback, said: “You want my honest answer? I could give a f---.”

Plenty of others feel similarly, but many nonetheless believe the damage to his reputation won’t manifest itself in such a coarse fashion on the course.

“I think he’s going to be more popular than ever,” Robert Allenby said.

“Everybody will want to see him play, at least for the next couple of months. He’s been in the news more than anybody not in Iraq.”

If there’s a general sentiment among players, fans and everybody who has been following the ridiculously sordid ebb and flow of the case, it’s that they want Woods to start cleaning up the toxic mess he created.

The messy asides, accusations and snide remarks at his expense never seem to end, do they? So as news circulated that Howard Stern’s website blew up Wednesday because millions were following the shock jock’s R-rated beauty pageant for some of Woods’ alleged former mistresses online, the best way Woods can begin rebuilding his rep is by playing golf.

“All of us would like to see him playing because he’s the best player in the world,” Furyk said Thursday afternoon. “The fans would like to see him playing. He’ll do it on his time when he deems it ready.

“No one is looking forward to the first few weeks. I don’t even think the media is looking forward to the first few weeks.

[But] everyone wants to get back to business as usual.” ©MMX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

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Confusion Reigns At All Levels Over Toyota Recall At the same time, Congress began questioning when top U.S. safety officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) first knew about Toyota’s problems and if it acted fast enough.

While all of this continues to unfold, consumers are left in the middle of the dispute, wondering whether their Toyota is safe to drive. Toyota insists it’s trying to fix the accelerator defect and offers free loaner vehicles and pick-up services to entice owners to bring their cars in for repairs.

Reporting Al Sunshine MIAMI (CBS4) — The controversy surrounding Toyota’s recall of millions of the automaker’s top selling cars continues to grow; and for owners, the recall is generating lots of confusion. Congress, NHTSA, and independent researchers are all weighing in on “the fix” to the problematic accelerator pedals in the vehicles.

Congressional investigators continue to question when Toyota first knew about the problems in its cars, trucks, and SUV’s. In addition, Congress wants to know if the Japanese auto giant acted quickly enough to prevent accidents, injuries, and deaths to U.S. consumers.

But consumers are beginning to report that their recently repaired Toyota’s still suffer from sudden acceleration issues. This prompted NHTSA’s head, David Strickland, to send out the following statement to Toyota owners.

“NHTSA has already started contacting consumers about these complaints to get to the bottom of the problem and to make sure Toyota is doing everything possible to make its vehicles safe. If Toyota owners are still experiencing sudden acceleration incidents after taking their cars to the dealership, we want to know about it.”

Safety Strategies and Research recently published a new report titled, “The Cracks in

Toyota’s Recall are Showing Again,” that questions the success of the sudden acceleration fix. The report by Sean Kane gave anecdotal evidence from several consumers saying “the fix” didn’t work.

CBS4’s Al Sunshine reached out to NHTSA about the problems appearing in the repaired Toyotas. NHTSA hasn’t responded to Sunshine’s questions. But, the question of whether the fix works has even the Secretary of Transportation weighing in on it.

Secretary Ray LaHood said he is concerned

that NHTSA may lack the engineering and computer skills to test and understand how Toyota’s “Fly by Wire” electronic acceleration system works. Automotive accelerators today resemble the electronic systems in airplanes more than the traditional accelerators of yesteryear. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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Horoscopes provided by www.astrology-online.com

THE ADTIMES

NEWSPAPER NEWS POWERED BY

Pisces

Aries

(Feb. 19-Mar. 20)

(Mar. 21-Apr. 20)

Look into events that you might find interesting, and compromise by doing a few things that you both like to do. Old friends may not like your choices. You may want to make plans to take a vacation together.

Overindulgence could cause problems for you with your loved ones. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Wednesday.

Taurus (Apr. 21-May 21)

Get involved in creative projects that could turn into moneymaking ventures. You may be tired of working for someone else.

Partnerships could be tense. Don’t push your luck. You will expand your circle of friends if you join groups. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Monday.

Arguments with children or friends may leave you steaming. You may have a rather hectic day due to events that children are involved in. Catch up on your correspondence and reading. Tone down and put some of that hard earned cash into a safe, long-term investment. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Sunday.

PUBLISHER Tony Gambirazio ART DIRECTOR Tammy Kukic DIRECTOR OF SALES Cesar Rodriguez ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES Oscar Alvarado Ines Collado Henry Pinto Cleo Saenz INSIDE SALES Ileana Patuto Sarah White OFFICE MANAGER Montserrat Surroca

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

(May 22-June 21)

(June 22-July 22)

(July 23-Aug. 23)

Disappointments are likely if your mate embarrasses you in front of friends. You may be overreacting to a situation at hand. Physical limitations are possible if you aren’t careful.

Be supportive in order to avoid confrontations. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Tuesday.

Organize all the responsibilities that have to be attended to and make sure everyone knows what to do. Don’t hesitate to look for alternatives that will enable you to raise the kind of donations you need to do the job right. You may be sensitive concerning friends and their situations. Be very careful while in transit or while traveling in foreign countries.

Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Saturday.

Virgo

Libra

(Aug. 24-Sept. 22)

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

You can make new friends and get involved in new hobbies successfully. Plan a nice evening for two. Don’t make large purchases unless you have discussed your choices with your mate. Financial limitations will not be as adverse as they appear. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Thursday.

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

Romantic opportunities are evident.You may have ignored or neglected your mate lately. There’s lots to be done and if you meet your deadline you’ll be in your boss’s good books. Don’t let someone you work with put words in your mouth.Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Friday.

If you join intellectual or cultural groups, you should meet individuals who stimulate you. You have the ability to motivate others. Lowered vitality could affect your work. Catch up on overdue phone calls and correspondence. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Thursday.

Sagittarius

Capricorn

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

(Dec. 22-Jan. 20)

Joining organizations will provide you with stimulating romantic contacts. Money can be made if you use your ingenuity. You will drive your emotional partner crazy this month.

Older relatives may be a burden. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Tuesday.

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Lighten up your serious attitude Your mind is on moneymaking ventures. You can’t help everyone. You don’t owe anyone an explanation. Do your own thing, you need time to yourself. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Monday.

2 4 7 5 1 8 3 9 6

(Jan. 21-Feb. 18)

A little volleyball or other outdoor sports should be on your agenda. You are best to avoid confrontations. You will be entertained and intrigued by the logic foreigners possess.

Tell it like it is. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Sunday.

Attend to things that you should have done yesterday. Someone envious of your popularity may challenge you to a debate. Travel will be fun and entertaining. You may have difficulties at an emotional level with mates. Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Wednesday.

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3x3 box Iin black borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

March 5th Solution

1 9 8 3 7 6 4 5 2

Aquarius

3 6 5 9 2 4 1 8 7

4 7 2 8 9 3 6 1 5

9 5 1 2 6 7 8 4 3

6 8 3 1 4 5 7 2 9

8 1 9 6 3 2 5 7 4

7 2 6 4 5 1 9 3 8

5 3 4 7 8 9 2 6 1

7 2 5 9 6

9 4 6 3 1 5 2 6 3 9 8 6 4 2 8 4 6 9 1 7 8

Look For Our Next Edition: APRIL 2, 2010

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