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PHOENIX, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

Cappie Pondexter scored 23 points, including seven in overtime, to lead Phoenix to a 120-116 win over Indiana in Tuesday’s opener of the WNBA finals.

Penny Taylor also tallied 23 for Phoenix and Diana Taurasi chipped in 22.

Pondexter nearly won it at the buzzer in regulation but her last-second tip-in attempt came up short.

Katie Douglas led the Fever with 30 points, including a three-point bucket with 7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it into overtime. Ebony Hoffman had 27 points and Tammy Sutton-Brown had 19.

The game featured 19 lead changes with the Mercury outscoring the Fever 15-11 in overtime.

See the full post at WNBA: Phoenix 120, Indiana 116 (OT)

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

A Texas heritage group has received $213,000 from the sale of a special license plate but has spent less than 20 percent of it on the Alamo, state records show.

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas received $213,452.30 between early 2005 and August 2008, $22 for each Native Texan plate sold, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday. State records show only $37,000 or about 17 percent went to the upkeep of the Alamo.

The Alamo, originally the Mission San Antonio de Valero, was built as a Catholic mission in the 18th century and was later converted to a fort. In 1836, a small group led by Col. James Bowie tried to hold the Alamo against a much larger Mexican force, with most of the defenders killed in the final battle.

The DRT spent more license plate money, $50,000, on the French Legation Museum, housed in an 1841 building in Austin, than it did on the Alamo.

The group says it plans to create a foundation to raise funds for the Ala…

See the full post at Texas group forgetting the Alamo?

DENVER, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

Chris Iannetta’s 11th-inning two-run homer Tuesday gave Colorado a 7-5 win over Milwaukee and extended the Rockies’ lead over Atlanta in the NL wild-card chase.

Iannetta hit the game-winner off David Weathers (4-6) with one out while pinch-hitting for reliever Matt Belisle (3-1).

Todd Helton had two hits and two RBI for Colorado, which leads the Braves by three games in the wild-card standings. The Rockies are on the brink of elimination in the NL West race, with the Los Angeles Dodgers needing just one win or one Colorado loss to clinch the division title.

The Dodgers fell to the San Diego Padres 3-1 Tuesday.

Jason Kendall had four RBI to lead the Brewers, including a three-run homer in the top of the ninth that tied the score 5-5 and sent the game into extra innings.

See the full post at MLB: Colorado 7, Milwaukee 5 (11 innings)

DUBLIN, Ireland, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

The head of Microsoft Corp. international operations urged Irish voters Tuesday to approve the Lisbon Treaty for the European Union.

Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International, joins a parade of business leaders lobbying for the treaty, The Irish Times reported. Courtois described himself as more a European citizen than French.

We have a shift of power between China, Brazil, the Indias of the world and the US, he said. Europe needs to step up both economically speaking and politically speaking. That treaty has to be clearly embodied and move on with all the citizens in Europe.

The treaty, designed to bring EU member states together politically, was signed in Lisbon in December 2007. Irish voters rejected it in a June 2008 referendum, effectively halting the ratification process.

Two recent polls showed a clear majority of voters in favor of the treaty, The Financial Times reported, while fewer …

See the full post at Lisbon do-over vote this week in Ireland

WASHINGTON (AFP) –

Automaker Toyota has issued a safety warning affecting some 3.8 million vehicles in the United States after a deadly crash in California believed to be the result of a gas pedal that got stuck on a floor mat.

“We’re asking customers to remove their driver’s side mat from their vehicle and… store it somewhere,” said Brian Lyons, safety and quality communications manager for Toyota USA. “We’re looking for a remedy on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis.”

The warning affects seven Toyota brand vehicles, including the ES350 — the vehicle that off-duty California highway policeman Mark Saylor was driving when he crashed in San Diego in an accident that may have been caused by the gas pedal getting stuck on driver’s side mat.

Saylor, his wife, daughter and brother-in-law were killed in the August 28 crash.

“We started taking a look at… potential causes,” in …

See the full post at Toyota issues floor mat warning affecting 3.8 mln cars

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign is paying volunteers to sign up other activists and get voters to the polls, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

The program has been named the Perry Home Headquarters, the newspaper said, and appears to be modeled on Amway and similar sales operations where salespeople are also paid for recruiting.

Perry, a Republican who became governor in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected president, is seeking a third full term. He faces a stiff primary challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

It’s ripe for abuse, said Jason Stanford, a Democratic consultant who served as campaign manager for former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, Perry’s 2006 opponent. It’s the Anglo ACORN. A dishonest Perry supporter could create a huge scam.

Volunteers played a huge part in Bush’s presidential campaign and in President Obama’s run last year. But their rewards were generally intangible — a chance to shake han…

See the full post at Report: Gov. Perry paying volunteers

SEOUL (AFP) –

World leaders will discuss ways to sustain growth and correct global economic imbalances at next year’s G20 economic summit in South Korea, President Lee Myung-Bak said Wednesday.

“At the time when the G20 summit takes place in November next year, the world will clearly be out of the global economic crisis,” Lee told a press conference.

“The G20 will discuss ways to sustain economic development following the global crisis and how to correct imbalances in the world’s economy.”

The latest Group of 20 summit ended in Pittsburgh on Friday after agreeing to meet next year in Canada and South Korea.

Lee said members had agreed it was too soon to start scaling back the multi-trillion dollar stimulus measures that helped stave off further economic misery following last year’s financial meltdown.

South Korea is set to be one of the first countries to recove…

See the full post at Next year\’s G20 to discuss economic imbalances: SKorea

CHICAGO, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

A jury convicted a 37-year-old man Tuesday of the 1993 murders of seven people at a restaurant in suburban Chicago.

James Degorski showed no emotion as the jury announced its verdicts in the slayings at a Brown’s Chicken restaurant in Palatine. Many family members of victims and the defendant sobbed in the courtroom, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The jury of six men and six women returned its verdict after deliberating less than two hours. Jurors are to begin deliberating Wednesday on whether Degorski is eligible for the death penalty.

Degorski’s co-defendant, Juan Luna, 35, was convicted in 2007 and is serving a life term, the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald reported.

Prosecutors said the two men killed the restaurant’s two owners and five of their employees during a robbery. The bodies of Richard and Lynn Ehlenfeldt and their employees were found in a freezer at the restaurant.

The killings had remained unsolved for nearly a d…

See the full post at Guilty verdict in 1993 restaurant massacre

SHANGHAI (AFP) –

New loans by Chinese banks likely exceeded 600 billion yuan (87.8 billion dollars) in September, reports said Wednesday, as lenders continued to pump money into the country’s economic recovery effort.

The four major state-run banks — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, and Agricultural Bank of China — extended new loans worth around 200 billion yuan as of September 25, the China Business News reported, citing unnamed officials.

The remaining 400 billion yuan in new loans came from smaller banks in China, which have accounted for the bulk of this year’s record lending, the report said.

The Chinese economy grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009 after expanding 6.1 percent in the first three months of…

See the full post at China September new loans exceed 600 bln yuan: report

MEMPHIS, Sept. 29 (UPI) –

The so-called July Phenomenon, an increase in hospital mistakes due to an influx of new medical school graduates, is a myth, U.S. researchers say.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, finds no evidence of July Phenomenon.

The results of our study add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the July Phenomenon does not exist in major trauma centers with appropriate guidance and supervision of residents, study researcher Dr. Peter Fischer of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis says in a statement.

Data from a trauma registry were used to compare outcomes by month and quarter among 12,525 blunt trauma patients admitted and discharged during the same month from 2001-2006. The study did not find any statistical evidence any month or quarter of the academic year that was an independent predictor of mortality.

Also, linear regression analysis revealed no monthly variations in…

See the full post at Hospital \’July Phenomenon\’ a myth