Field Museum librarian, veteran

If William Peyton Fawcett could not find something in the Field Museum's library collection, it simply wasn't there.

The head librarian for 27 years, nearly every item in the library had passed through his hands at one point or another, his friend and predecessor Benjamin Williams said.

Mr. Fawcett's intimate knowledge of the collections came from reclassifying the entire library when they switched from the Dewey Decimal to the Library of Congress Classification that begin in the 1940s.

"Nobody will ever know as much about the collection as he did," Benjamin Williams said.

But an item that had belonged to Nathan Leopold, an avid bird watcher and collector …

China issues missile export controls

THE LONG-AWAITED missile export controls that Beijing committed to publishing almost two years ago were released by China's official Xinhua News Agency on August 25.

Following months of nonproliferation talks with the United States, China had agreed on November 21, 2000, not to help states develop "ballistic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear weapons." It defined such missiles as those capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload at least 300 kilometers, guidelines that mirror those in the Missile Technology Control Regime, of which China is not a member. To make its pledge more concrete, China said it would issue "at an early date" a "comprehensive" list of …

Bush wants tax cuts to be made permanent

President Bush is campaigning to make tax cuts permanent, saying that allowing them to expire in 2010 would be harmful to an already limp economy.

Bush said Monday that extending the tax cuts would bring "certainty during uncertain times" in the economy. He said question is what the Congress will do about it.

The remarks came on the …

Backstreet Boys' fourth album nearly complete

NEW YORK -- As U.S. pop radio stations begin to embrace theBackstreet Boys single "Incomplete," Jive Records has set June 14 asthe release date for the vocal group's fourth studio album, "NeverGone."

The new album features the writing and production talents of Fivefor Fighting's John Ondrasik, Savage Garden's Darren Hayes, MaxMartin, Billy Mann, Dan Muckala and John Fields, as well as JohnShanks, who won the Grammy Award for producer of the year for hiswork with Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson, Hilary Duff and AshleeSimpson.

The title track was co-written by Backstreet member KevinRichardson as a tribute to his father. The cut was produced by MarkTaylor, who also …

Cicero apartment owners charged with race discrimination

Cicero apartment owners charged with race discrimination

CICERO -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials announced last weekend that the federal housing agency has charged three owners of a Cicero apartment building with race discrimination for refusing to rent to an African American woman.

HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo said one of the building owners, Alice Calek, spoke by telephone with Samaria Wright, the prospective tenant and asked her if she were Black.

When Wright told Calek she was, Calek refused to rent an apartment to her.

The federal charges filed last week resulted from complaints made by Wright, a resident of Lyons, Ill., to the Leadership …

Oracle: HP refusing to let new CEO testify

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hewlett-Packard's new CEO started work this week, but there's one important thing he probably won't be doing: testifying live in a corporate-espionage trial involving his former employer.

Apotheker was formerly CEO of SAP AG, the business software maker now on trial over millions of customer support documents stolen from SAP's archrival, Oracle Corp.

A trial …

Bridges TV survives crime of NY founder's death

Bridges TV was created because of Muslim stereotypes. It could have been done in by one.

The man who created the station with his wife to counter negative Muslim images was charged with decapitating her last year. Both were from Pakistan.

The English-language channel headquartered near Buffalo, New York, faded to black. But not for long.

Bridges has settled …