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In the news
By Times staff writer Time Person of Year to have Sept. 11 tieTime editors were in a quandary in choosing who should be their Person of the Year. Should they select the biggest newsmaker, Osama bin Laden, and face the consequences? Editors had to weigh several considerations in making their selection last week. Their pick will be announced today. Choosing bin Laden would anger many readers and possibly lead some to cancel their subscriptions. But surely he fits the criteria set by Time founder Henry Luce: "The person or persons who most affected the news of our lives, for good or ill, this year." Time spokeswoman Debra Richman declined to specify the candidates but said the selection would in "some way" reflect the events of Sept. 11. Dealer pleads guilty in 'Antiques Roadshow' caseAn antiques dealer pleaded guilty Friday to staging phony appraisals of Civil War-era artifacts on Antiques Roadshow. Russell Pritchard III, 38, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., also pleaded guilty in Philadelphia to stealing a uniform from a Civil War museum in Harrisburg, Pa., where he worked, and defrauding Civil War collectors by giving them low appraisals on artifacts, then reselling the artifacts at much higher prices. Antiques Roadshow, seen on PBS and produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, has people bring in old or unusual items and get on-the-spot appraisals. In a 1997 segment, Pritchard and his business partner, George Juno, staged an appraisal in which a man who claimed to have found a Civil War sword in his attic was told the weapon was worth $35,000. WGBH said Pritchard and Juno knew the man and had arranged for him to bring the sword onto the show. Prosecutors said Pritchard and Juno staged the appraisal to get publicity and attract customers. Juno pleaded guilty to similar charges in May. There she goes?New Jersey has refused the Miss America Organization's demand for $1-million to keep its pageant in Atlantic City next year. Instead, it asked the pageant to give it one more year to come up with a plan. Miss America Organization CEO Robert Renneisen Jr. said he doubted the organization's board would accept. "It's sort of a no-brainer," he said. "In all honesty, the only real decision here is whether New Jersey and Atlantic City place as much value on the Miss America Pageant as other locations might." Renneisen said Tuesday that the pageant was entertaining offers to move -- including one from an undisclosed site in Florida -- saying it costs too much to stage the annual pageant at Boardwalk Hall. TV notesCourt TV said it will file an application to televise the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, whom federal authorities allege was supposed to be the 20th hijacker Sept. 11. . . . ABC has made a round of programming changes: Once and Again moves to 9 p.m. on Friday beginning Jan. 4. The newsmagazine Downtown returns at 10 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Jan. 16. 20/20 moves to 10 p.m. Friday beginning Jan. 18. And the Denis Leary comedy The Job returns at 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Jan. 16. . . . Agnes Condon of New Port Richey is a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at 9 p.m. Thursday.
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