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Betty Ford is recovering after surgery

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 6, 2007

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. - Former first lady Betty Ford was recovering Thursday from unspecified surgery, the office of the late President Gerald Ford said. The surgery occurred earlier in the week and she was "recovering well" at Eisenhower Medical Center, the statement said. No other information will be released for several days, the statement said. Mrs. Ford is 88. Her birthday is Sunday. After her husband's death on Dec. 26 at age 93, she went on an arduous cross-country trip accompanying his body for services in California, Washington, D.C., and his final resting place in Michigan.

Do Not Call registry grows by 25-million

WASHINGTON - Almost 25-million phone numbers were added to the federal government's Do Not Call list in fiscal 2006. The national registry had 132-million phone numbers as of September 2006, a 23 percent increase from the previous year, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report released Thursday. The report notes that while roughly 1.15-million complaints were received in fiscal 2006 from 374,937 registered phone numbers, that was the equivalent of only about one-quarter of 1 percent of the numbers in the database. The FTC has taken enforcement actions in 28 cases since the program's inception, resulting in $7.6-million in penalties and $8.2-million in redress payments and forfeitures. To put your number on the list, call 1-888-382-1222 or go to donotcall.gov.

Lawmakers issue apology for slavery

RALEIGH, N.C. - The state Senate apologized Thursday for the Legislature's role in promoting slavery and Jim Crow laws that denied basic human rights to the state's black citizens. "This is a way to reflect upon this and express our understanding and our regret for official actions of our state," said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Democrat and the bill's primary sponsor. The North Carolina House would have to approve the measure for it to be formalized. A similar resolution is pending in state House, which adjourned for the Easter holiday weekend on Thursday without taking any action.

Man faces illegal shipping charges

WASHINGTON - A Singapore businessman was held without bail Thursday after a federal prosecutor called him "the ringleader" in shipping closely guarded U.S. computer technology to India for use in missiles and other weapon systems. The official said Parthasarathy Sudarshan led an operation that ordered computer equipment from U.S. manufacturers using falsified documents about their destination. The parts were allegedly shipped to India through Sudarshan's company in South Carolina and Singapore. Sudarshan denies the charges.

New parent apes found dead at zoo

LOUISVILLE, KY. - A pair of tree-dwelling apes at the Louisville Zoo died Wednesday, six weeks after their first offspring was born, zoo officials said. Ziggy, 15, and Sue Ann, 9, both siamang apes, were found dead in their habitat, but what killed them remained a mystery, said Steve Wing, the zoo's general curator.

[Last modified April 6, 2007, 01:15:20]