New series shows family hurting financially

AP – In this undated publicity image released by WeTV, Laura Bruce, right, gets a haircut from her daughter …

NEW YORK – Pawnbrokers, hoarders and cake bakers are unlikely subjects for popular reality series. Could families hit hard by the recession be next?

The WE television network on Saturday premieres "Downsized," an eight-episode series about the blended family of Laura and Todd Bruce who are struggling financially following the collapse of Todd's construction business.

Bruce used to take in $1.5 million a year. But in the first episode, he's shown emptying a bottle of change and his kids are shown dumpster-diving and selling a favorite baseball mitt to pay the month's rent.

"It's the face of the economic issue of our times," said John Miller, chief programming executive at the women-centered WE network.

One of WE's competitors, Lifetime, last week began airing "The Fairy Jobmother," about a supernanny-like consultant who tries to shape up jobless families.

Recession TV is a trend that can cut both ways. People with their own financial troubles may appreciate seeing others go through the same things, making them feel less alone or stigmatized. Yet it can be excruciating to watch the wounded pride on Bruce's face as he tells his wife not to borrow money from her father, or the shame of his 17-year-old daughter who tries to buy groceries and is told at the checkout that the family's public benefits had run out.

The Bruces have been married five years and have seven children from previous marriages. They live outside Phoenix. They lived well when construction was booming, frequently eating out, and didn't react quickly when tougher times came. Bruce racked up credit card debt trying to keep up and pay employees when the work went away. Laura Bruce is a schoolteacher, waitressing on the side and about to teach fitness.

They answered an ad from a television show looking for families who wanted to save money.

For the series, Miller said producers wanted a family "that felt like people next door that you would love to hang out with.

"They are a family that is facing a terrifying part of their lives and are united, instead of lashing out at each other," he said. "Instead of saying, `We're doomed,' they say, `We're a family and we're going to make it.'"

The Bruces haven't seen the first episode. They say the cameras weren't intrusive since they're used to having a lot of people around their house. Laura Bruce said she isn't ashamed by any of it, even though she has to make a painful call seeking money from her stepfather.

The frustration of not being a provider is evident on Todd's face. Cameras show him asking for quick payment for work he's done, and being refused.

They said they had a family meeting to decide whether to participate in the show and the children, who range in age from 10 to 17, all gave the go-ahead. The "nominal" payment for being in the series enabled the couple to pay back their children for money borrowed to make the rent, Laura Bruce said.

"It's about giving parents the ability to say that it's OK to talk to your kids about money because it is so taboo," Todd Bruce said. "They say never talk about money, religion or politics at the dinner table. I think the kids feel less pressure when they know what's going on."

The parents say they feel their children are grounded enough to deal with the attention that will come their way.

WE hopes the Bruce's story will strike a chord with other struggling families.

"People are tired of reality characters that are fun to watch because they are proud of being despicable," he said.

Shuttle launch off until end of month to fix leak

Space shuttle Discovery is seen on launch pad 39A after todays launch was scrubbed because of hydrogen …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Discovery's final voyage is off until at least the end of the month because of a large hydrogen gas leak that forced yet another launch delay.

It's the fourth postponement in a week for Discovery's mission to the International Space Station with six veteran astronauts and the first humanoid robot bound for orbit.

NASA tried to launch Discovery on Friday, but a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak cropped up midway through the fueling process and the countdown was halted.

The launch was initially put off until at least Monday. But by early afternoon, it was clear that more time was needed to fix the problem on the fuel tank.

"It's a machine and, every now and then, machines break," said launch director Mike Leinbach. "We're not jinxed at all. We're just dealing with one problem after another. Does it get frustrating? It gets frustrating because we'd rather be launching."

NASA is now targeting Nov. 30 — at the earliest — for Discovery's final liftoff. The space agency has to wait until then because of unacceptable solar angles for most of November. Those sun angles would cause the shuttle to overheat while docked to the station.

But the launch window in December lasts just one week and will jeopardize the amount of science that can be conducted. Only three astronauts will be aboard the space station then, rather than the usual six.

When it does launch, it will be the 39th and final flight of Discovery, NASA's oldest and most traveled shuttle. The shuttle first flew in 1984. NASA is retiring the fleet and closing out its shuttle program next year after three decades.

Friday's fuel leak occurred where a vent line attaches to the external fuel tank. It's the same type of problem that forced delays for two shuttle missions last year, and had not reoccurred since then.

Last year, a minimum of four days was needed to replace the leaky parts. Escaping hydrogen gas is considered serious because of its flammability. Friday's fuel leak was the biggest one yet.

"We thought we had it licked, so we're going to take our time to make sure we do have it licked," said Mike Moses, head of the prelaunch mission management team.

Another potentially big problem was discovered after the countdown was halted: a 7-inch crack in the insulating foam on Discovery's fuel tank. Moses said the damage itself could have resulted in a postponement. NASA has been extra cautious with the foam ever since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

"We have a lot to do before we actually settle in on a new launch date," he told reporters.

Friday was the closest NASA had come to launching Discovery on this mission, and news of the leak came as a huge disappointment. All morning, until the leak, the words "Go Discovery" echoed from the firing room, as well as up at the space station, where the crew eagerly awaited the shuttle's arrival.

A launch attempt Thursday was thwarted by stormy weather. Three previous delays were caused by helium and nitrogen gas leaks and a sluggish circuit breaker. Monday was the original launch date.

Shuttle commander Steven Lindsey and his crew headed back home to Houston on Friday afternoon. As for Robonaut, the humanoid robot, he'll remain packed up aboard Discovery.

"We'll wait awhile, get everything ship-shape and try again. I can stand being Earth-bound a little longer, I guess," read an update on Robonaut's Twitter account.

After Discovery, space shuttle Endeavour is set to lift off at the end of February. But if Discovery's flight ends up slipping into early next year, Endeavour's flight almost certainly would be bumped. Shuttle Atlantis may make one extra flight next summer, but Washington has yet to provide the money.

The White House has instructed NASA to shift its focus from launching astronauts into orbit, to sending them to asteroids and Mars. Given the budget limitations, the space agency can achieve that only by giving up the costly shuttle program.
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Mosque blasts in Pakistan's NW kills at least 71

Pashtun men dig graves for victims of the Waali Mosque suicide bomb attack, in Darra Adam Khel, a tribal …

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Two explosions killed at least 71 people in mosques in Pakistan's northwest on Friday, officials said, after a relative lull in militant violence.

In one attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up as Friday prayers were ending, killing at least 66 people, provincial government officials said. The attack occurred in Darra Adam Khel, a suburb of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province capital Peshawar.

"Now the death toll is 66. It may rise further because several injured are in critical condition," Shahid Ullah, a senior provincial government official, told Reuters. He said 80 people were wounded.

Some 300 people had gathered just after prayers when the bomber walked into the Waali Mosque's main hall and detonated himself, witnesses said.

"I had just finished the prayers when there was a big explosion. It was very terrifying. I don't know what happened later. I just fell down," 15-year-old Mohib Ullah said.

Ullah said guards at the mosque gates tried to stop the bomber, but he managed to get in. Officials at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said two children were among the dead.

In the second attack, hand grenades were thrown into a mosque on the outskirts of Peshawar during evening prayers, killing at least five people and wounding 11, officials said.

Video from outside the hospital where people were treated after the first explosion showed screaming women, white-bearded old men in blood-stained clothes and a child being wheeled into the emergency room.

Officials said the mosque was owned by a pro-government tribal elder who could have been the target of the attack but it was not clear whether he was hit.

It was the biggest attack in Pakistan since a September suicide bomb attack on a procession of Shi'ite Muslims in the southwestern city of Quetta, which killed 54 people.

Pryor fined $7,500 for Favre hit

Team personnel help Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, center, off the field after he was hit …

NEW YORK – The NFL  has fined New England Patriots defensive tackle Myron Pryor $7,500 for his hit on Brett Favre that cut the Minnesota quarterback's chin.

Favre left the Vikings' loss midway through the fourth quarter Sunday and needed 10 stitches in his chin.

Pryor was not penalized on the play, in which his helmet got under Favre's facemask and cut Favre's chin.

The league has cracked down on illegal hits and has promised suspensions for hits to the head or neck area of defenseless players.

AP source: Clubhouse manager admitted baseball bet

New York Mets clubhouse  manager  Charlie Samuels admitted betting on baseball, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Samuels made the admission to an investigator for Major League Baseball in the last few weeks, the person said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

"He admitted betting on baseball on at least one occasion," the person said.

Samuels' bet on baseball first was reported by the New York Daily News.

MLB believes most of Samuels' alleged gambling involved NFL games, the person said.

The team said Thursday that Samuels had been suspended but did not say why. The person said Samuels had become involved in an investigation into illegal gambling by the Queens District Attorney and the New York Police Department.

A second person, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that law enforcement is investigating the possibility that Samuels borrowed money from team accounts for short periods of time without authorization and then paid the money back.

Samuels was hired by the Mets in 1976 and last month completed his 27th season as clubhouse manager. He also has been involved in the team's travel arrangements for many years.

NASA Deep Impact spacecraft flies by small comet

AP – This black-and-white image of the comet Hartley 2 provided by NASA was sent from the NASA EPOXI Mission 

PASADENA, Calif. – A NASA spacecraft sped past a small comet Thursday, beaming pictures back to Earth that gave scientists a rare close-up view of its center. Mission controllers burst into applause upon seeing images from the flyby that revealed a peanut-shaped comet belching jets of poisonous gases.


"It's hyperactive, small and feisty," said mission scientist Don Yeomans of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


The close encounter occurred 13 million miles from Earth when the Deep Impact craft, hurtling through space, flew within 435 miles of comet Hartley 2. It's only the fifth time that a comet's core has been viewed up close.


Scientists are interested in comets because they're icy leftovers from the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Studying them could provide clues to how Earth and the planets formed and evolved.


"The scientific work is just beginning now," principal investigator Michael A'Hearn, of the University of Maryland, said at a post-mission news conference. "The engineers did a fantastic job of getting us data. Now we have to make sense of it."


Thursday's flyby is actually an encore mission for Deep Impact. It set off cosmic fireworks on July 4, 2005, when it fired a copper probe that crashed into comet Tempel 1. The high-speed collision spewed a cloud of debris into space, giving scientists their first peek of the interior.


After the $333 million comet-buster, NASA recycled Deep Impact for a new mission to visit another comet. It was supposed to target comet Boethin in 2008, but it was nowhere to be found. Scientists theorized the comet may have broken up into small pieces.


Deep Impact was then redirected to Hartley 2. Roughly 1 1/2 miles long, Hartley 2 is the smallest comet to be photographed up close. On its way there, the craft spent several months scanning a cluster of nearby stars with known planets circling them.


While its latest task lacks the Hollywood drama of the Tempel 1 crash, researchers still consider it an important mission. Unlike in 2005, viewers could not see Thursday's comet encounter in real time since the craft's antenna was not pointed at Earth as it flew past Hartley 2.


"There are a lot of open questions about comets and their life cycle," said project manager Tim Larson of JPL, which manages the $42 million encore mission. "We have so little data that every time we have an opportunity to go near a comet, it's a chance to expand our knowledge."


Since September, Deep Impact has been stalking Hartley 2 like a paparazzo, taking images every 5 minutes and gathering data. It's the first craft to visit two comets.


Deep Impact will observe Hartley 2 until Thanksgiving and then wait for further instructions from NASA. The space agency has not decided whether to reuse Deep Impact again. The craft does not have enough fuel on board to do another flyby.


The latest images add to scientists' cometary photo album, said astronomer David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles, who had no role in the project.


"We're visual animals and nothing seems wholly real to us until we have a nice picture of it," Jewitt said.


Hartley 2 passed within 11 million miles of Earth on Oct. 20 — the closest it has been to our planet since its discovery in 1986.


British-born astronomer Malcolm Hartley, who discovered the comet, said he never imagined a spacecraft would get so close to his namesake find.


"When I saw the comet, it was millions and millions of kilometers away," he said. "I'm extremely excited and feel very privileged. After all, I only discovered it."


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Nicest Canadian couple in world dole out lottery winnings

A retired Canadian couple who won $11.3 million in the lottery in July have already given it (almost) all away.

"What you've never had, you never miss," 78-year-old Violet Large explained to a local reporter.

She was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer when the couple realized they'd won the jackpot in July.

"That money that we won was nothing," her tearful husband, Allen, told Patricia Brooks Arenburg of the Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald. "We have each other."

Study: CT scans modestly cut lung cancer deaths

WASHINGTON – A major study shows giving heavy smokers special CT scans can detect lung cancer early enough to modestly lower their risk of death — the first clear evidence that a screening test may help fight the nation's top cancer killer.

Now the hurdle is deciding who should get these spiral CT scans and how often, because the tests carry their own risks, including repeated radiation exposure and a lot of false alarms that trigger unnecessary repeat testing and even surgery.

"This finding has important implications for public health, with the potential to save many lives among those at greatest risk for lung cancer," said National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Harold Varmus, who released the study results Thursday. But, "we don't know the ideal way yet to do this screening."

Specialists with the American Cancer Society — which hadn't recommended the screening because of lack of evidence — planned to evaluate the findings when the full data is published in a few months.

Until then, "the best advice we can give is to encourage people to have conversations with their doctors about whether lung cancer screening is right for them," said chief medical officer Dr. Otis Brawley.

Standard chest X-ray screenings haven't proved powerful enough to reduce lung cancer deaths, so researchers turned to spiral CTs, where a rotating scanner views the lungs at various angles to spot growths when they're about half the size that regular X-ray can. But previous small studies have produced mixed results about whether the CTs work.

The massive National Lung Screening Trial enrolled 53,000 current or former heavy smokers with no initial symptoms of cancer to try to settle the debate. It found 20 percent fewer deaths from lung cancer among those screened with spiral CTs than among those given chest X-rays, the NCI said Thursday, a difference significant enough that it ended the study early.

The actual difference: Of those who got a spiral CT, 354 died over the eight-year study period compared with 442 deaths among those who got chest X-rays.

But with about 200,000 new lung cancers diagnosed in the U.S. each year and 159,000 deaths, even a modest reduction could translate into big benefits. Today, lung cancer usually is diagnosed at advanced stages, and the average five-year survival rate is just 15 percent.

Still, the best advice to avoid lung cancer, stressed NCI's Varmus: Stop smoking.

Smokers and former smokers have long sought scans in the hopes of earlier lung cancer detection, even though insurance seldom covers the $300 to $400 test in people who have no symptoms.

"Clearly it saves lives," said Dr. Stephen Swensen of the Mayo Clinic, among the 33 sites that conducted the massive study. But, because it carries the burden of unnecessary tests and treatment, "society has to figure out if we can afford this."

"We want to make sure what we recommend is appropriate rather than everybody going out and asking for it," added Dr. Edward F. Patz Jr. of Duke University, who was on the committee that helped design and oversee the study.

The new trial enrolled people ages 55 to 74 who are or had been very heavy smokers, puffing at least 30 "pack-years," the equivalent of a pack a day for 30 years or two packs a day for 15 years. They had one scan a year — either spiral CT or a standard chest X-ray — for three years, and then had their health tracked.

NCI's Varmus stressed that the study provided no data on whether screening helped lighter or younger smokers.

There were risks. The CTs frequently mistake scar tissue from an old infection or some other benign lump for cancer, giving about 25 percent of the spiral CT recipients a false alarm. In an earlier Mayo Clinic study of spiral CTs, more than 70 percent had a false alarm, because that study monitored even smaller lung nodules that the newer study ignored, Swensen said.

Then there's the radiation question. The new study used low-dose spiral CTs, equivalent to the radiation from a mammogram. That's far lower than the radiation emitted by regular CT scans used to diagnose various medical conditions, but several times more than is emitted by a standard X-ray.

The NCI will analyze whether the radiation exposures from the three scans in this study changed a smoker's lifetime risk of other radiation-related cancers. Doses can be vary widely at different hospitals using different scanners, but any CTs used for screening should be low-dose, Swensen said.

Spider-Man musical delays its opening on Broadway

AP – FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2010 file photo, a building-sized banner covers the front of the Foxwoods Theater …

NEW YORK – Spider-Man is having trouble getting off the ground on Broadway.

Producers of "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark" are delaying by three weeks the opening of the costly and complicated show, meaning it will only be available for previews after the busy Thanksgiving holiday.

Originally scheduled to begin previews on Nov. 14 with an opening four days before Christmas, the show will now begin previews on Nov. 28 and open Jan. 11.

Lead producer Michael Cohl says "getting it right takes time," citing an "unprecedented level of technical artistry" for the delay.

It's the latest blow for the Julie Taymor-led show that features music by U2's Bono and The Edge. Delays have cropped up and producers have come and gone. Two actors have been injured while practicing aerial stunts.

No survivors in Cuba airliner crash with 68 aboard

airliner crash in Cuba

GUASIMAL, Cuba  – A state airliner filled with Cubans and travelers from Europe and Latin America crashed and burst into flames in a mountainous area after declaring an emergency and losing contact with air traffic controllers, the island's worst air disaster in more than 20 years.

All 40 Cubans and 28 foreigners aboard died, authorities announced early Friday.

AeroCaribbean Flight 883 was en route from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba to the capital when it reported an emergency at 5:42 p.m. local time Thursday, then lost contact with air traffic controllers. It went down near Guasimal, a village in Sancti Spiritus province, carrying 61 passengers and a crew of seven.

Cuba's Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement hours later saying there were no survivors. It released a list of passengers that included nine Argentines, seven Mexicans, three Dutch citizens, two Germans, two Austrians, a French citizen, an Italian, a Spaniard, a Venezuelan and a Japanese. The seven member crew were all Cuban, as were 33 passengers.

Emergency vehicles lined a road about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the crash site, and journalists were not permitted to get any closer to the wreckage in a remote and rugged area.

Photos posted on the website of the local newspaper, Escambray, showed a large piece of the plane in flames, with rescue workers in olive-green military uniforms standing around it. Others showed rescue workers using a bulldozer to reach the remote site.

Another picture showed an image of the AeroCaribbean plane in happier times, painted white, yellow and blue, and adorned with images of bending palm trees.

The paper said the local Communist Party chief as well as Interior Ministry and other officials were at the scene helping with the effort.