NEW YORK (AP) – Less than two months after leaving “Nightline,” Ted Koppel agreed to a three-year deal Wednesday to make documentaries for the Discovery Channel, bringing nine of his former ABC News producers with him.Koppel agreed to do at least six programs a year for Discovery, and said he expected the first to come […]

For several years the combination of tire makers, which is not a trust, by the way, but a problem, has been almost as absolute in its field as the Standard Oil Company has been in its sphere. The next year, however, will witness some determined efforts to break the pool.There is no truth in the […]

By Dru Sefton,Newhouse News Service It’s true, the movie “Brokeback Mountain” does provoke what one researcher calls “a very strong ick factor” in some straight men.What is it in this story of two cowboy pals in 1960s Wyoming who find themselves in lifelong love – yet go on to marry women – that elicits this […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Although it was the No. 2 prime-time show last week, ABC’s “Monday Night Football” didn’t end its 36-year run with a particularly crowded party.An estimated 14.4 million people tuned in to watch the New England Patriots whip the New York Jets, a game that wound up secondary to a celebration of […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards, who seemed to have reconciled, have filed legal papers asking a private arbitrator to handle their divorce.Lawyers for the couple filed the papers Wednesday in Los Angeles, said Sheen’s publicist, Stan Rosenfield. “They asked the court to go to a private arbitrator. They want to keep […]

NEW YORK (AP) – The music industry can boast sales of more than 1 billion units in 2005, but only digital sales were a bright spot in an otherwise down year, according to year-end figures released Wednesday by Nielsen SoundScan.Continuing the trend away from retail stores and toward iPods and mp3 players, only 620 million […]

MIAMI (AP) – Lindsay Lohan was being treated at a Miami hospital for an asthma attack, her publicist said.“She is resting comfortably,” spokeswoman Leslie Sloane Zelnick said Tuesday. The 19-year-old actress-pop star was in Miami to celebrate New Year’s Eve. She reportedly was admitted to the hospital Monday night, according to People magazine.Dina Lohan, her […]

Today Jan. 4: NAPLES, a karaoke and dance will be held at 8 p.m. at Oh Ryan’s Pub and Club, Routes 11 and 302. 753-0100Jan. 4: AUBURN, L/A Arts presents “Touching the Void,” at 7 p.m. at Central Maine Community College Kirk Auditorium, 1250 Turner St. $7 782-7228Jan. 4: PORTLAND, ballroom dancing will be held […]

Chicago Tribune In Africa, South and Central America, where plantains show up on menus for every meal, plantains are sometimes called “potatoes of the air,” reports the Kitchen Dictionary at Recipezaar.com. That nickname helps clarify their role in the diet of people who eat them: nutritious, carbohydrate-packed alternatives to rice and other starches. They provide […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Nellie McKay has been dropped by Columbia Records after a dispute over her sophomore album, “Pretty Little Head,” turned ugly.The singer-songwriter, whose 2004 album, “Get Away From Me,” was a breakout hit, said Columbia decided not to distribute her new album, which had been set for release Tuesday. McKay had pressed […]