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Living like royalty gets more expensive

Queen Elizabeth II spent more taxpayer money last fiscal year - $67.3-million in all - because of overseas visits and extra security, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday. Overall, the queen and her household spent 4.2 percent more than they did the previous fiscal year, the palace said in its annual expenditures report.

Case will determine if jurist was imprudent

An Oklahoma jury will decide if Judge Donald D. Thompson was using a sex toy pump on, well ... himself, while hearing cases in his courtroom. Jurors have been brought to a lot of giggles and sideways glances while watching lawyers pantomime acts of, well ... self stimulation, and listening to doctors extol the virtues of the, well ... device, and a court reporter and former juror report on sounds they heard coming from behind the bench. Thompson, 59, faces four counts of indecent exposure. He testified that the device was a gag gift from a friend with whom he had joked about erectile dysfunction. He said he kept the pump under the bench but didn't use it. "In 20-20 hindsight, I should have thrown it away," he said.

COLOR OF MONEY

$5 makeover for Abe

The government has reversed course and decided to redesign the $5 bill with a splash of color. You should see the new bills by early 2008. Originally, the plan was to exempt the $5 bill and Abraham Lincoln from the design makeovers introduced over the past three years for the $50, $20 and $10 bills. But officials changed their minds to respond to a new scam in which counterfeiters are bleaching the ink off $5 notes and then printing counterfeit $100 bills on the paper.

THAT'S RUFF

Correctness costs cause potential cash

Spaying animals is a very important cause. But not so important that the animal services department of Los Angeles can accept money from a bikini contest called "Hooters for Neuters." The restaurant chain known for chicken wings - among other things - planned the contest for July 13, but the city bowed out after officials decried it as degrading to women. "We are a city with all kinds of progressive programs that empower women, and now we're being connected with a Hooters bikini contest. It isn't right," said the city controller, whose name is really Laura Chick.

UPDATES

Yates retrial

Seven-year-old Noah Yates struggled so hard as his mother drowned him that his small fists remained stiff and raised over his head hours later, medical examiner Luis Sanchez testified Wednesday on the third day of Andrea Yates' murder retrial in Houston. Prosecutors have said they will rest their case after Sanchez testifies.

Georgia voter IDs

The U.S. Department of Justice approved rules governing Georgia's new photo IDs for voters, clearing the way for the state Election Board to decide whether to require them for the July 18 primary. The rules establish what kinds of documents must be presented to obtain one of the free IDs, as well as where and when they will be distributed.

[Last modified June 29, 2006, 06:29:08]