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ALBANY - Five members of a Kansas church known for picketing soldiers' funerals to tout an anti-gay message and nearly 300 of their opponents confronted each other in a noisy - but non-violent - protest at Albany High School this morning.

British heavy rock legends, Iron Maiden, in association with Banger Productions, EMI Records, Universal (USA) and Arts Alliance Media, announce that they will be releasing a feature length documentary film into cinemas worldwide on April 21st 2009.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Babylon 5 producer J. Michael Straczynski is penning a long-in-the-works update of the 1956 sci-fi classic movie Forbidden Planet for Warner Bros. Joel Silver is producing via Silver Pictures.

SPRINGFIELD — Three Illinois counties in the Quad-City area have been declared disaster areas in the wake of Monday’s severe storms.In issuing the declaration for Rock Island, Bureau and Henry counties on Tuesday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said the designation will help communities get assistance needed for the recovery process.The powerful storms downed trees and branches, closed numerous roads and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businessesThe designation brings to 57 the number of Illinois counties that have been declared state disaster areas this year. For some counties, it is the second time since Jan. 1, after having been hit with flooding in June.“It’s been a tough year,” said Patti Thompson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.The declaration makes available state resources such as trucks, heavy equipment and work crews to help with debris removal. It also puts communities in line for assistance with security and other public safety issues.On Tuesday, the state delivered bottled water to Rock Island County in response to a request from local emergency management officials. The state also sent an emergency generator to a nursing home in Milan and has deployed workers to help with damage assessments and debris removal, Thompson said.Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.

The girl, identified by police as Katina Thomas, was on her bicycle in front of a home in the 400 block of First Street with a young sibling. When the family came outside they found her bleeding on the ground, Police Chief James Tuffey said.

A security breach at the Hannaford east coast supermarket chain has lead to the exposure of some 4.2 million credit cards. The company said it was aware of at least 1,800 cases of fraud directly connected to the breach. If you shopped at Hannaford's from Dec. 7 to March 10., when the breach is thought to have occurred, now is a great time to close your current credit and debit cards and get new ones. Side note: when clicking around their official website we found many sub-pages are down, saying they're currently "undergoing site maintenance."

Bacon. Bringin' it home. Makin' it.The very word drips with money, sex, pork fat - three things that spin the world.So when Brooks Reynolds was asked the question Des Moines always asks itself - "What does Des Moines need?" - this is what he said:"A festival for bacon."Thus, the High Life Lounge will hold its first Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival March 1, National Pig Day, attracting bacon lovers from California and Arizona along with a Pittsburgh bacon blogger.

Update: The Senate passed the bill. Seniors and disabled veterans have joined the unemployed on the list of people who won't receive help from Congress under the developing economic stimulus plan. The Senate yesterday rejected an expanded stimulus package by a single vote, meaning that they will most likely approve the House's $146 billion plan that will send a $600 rebate check to most taxpayers. Congress will continue tweaking the package ahead of a self-imposed February 15 deadline. [U.S. Senate]

Washington - The White House said Wednesday that the widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding is legal and that President Bush could authorize the CIA to resume using the simulated-drowning method under extraordinary circumstances.

David Shuster on the Tucker Carlson Show yesterday asked a guest if Chelsea Clinton was being pimped out and Shuster laughs about it.

The 'SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME' World Tour 2008 will be in three sections, starting in February and March 2008 with the first leg encompassing major concerts in 20 selected cities on five continents in seven weeks including India, Japan, North America, Central and South America, and, of course, Australia, opening in Perth on Feb 4 and continuing through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane:

The US is preparing to bring in legal changes giving Attorney General Alberto Gonzales new powers to limit the time inmates spend on appeal on death row.

Our mayor has this crazy plan to build a $300 million dollar convention center in the most uneventful town in America: Albany, New York. It's a colossal waste of money, although I suppose maybe some day people will come from miles around to look at the enormous garbage dump we built in a rare eco system. In an article in today's paper, one of the members of the Albany Common Council has voiced his concerns that they want to build a parking garage under this convention center but it's right on a floodplain. Yes, that's right, they want to spend $300,000,000.00 on a convention center and parking garage to be built on a floodplain. Oh wait, what's that I hear? It's Assemblyman John McEneny with reassurance for us all: "I don't believe we've had a serious flood there since 1928 when we opened up the Sacandaga Reservoir," he said. "I expect we won't go deep enough to be a problem." Oh, we haven't had a flood since 1928, well, that's certainly comforting. 1928 was, like, the stone age, right? It'll never happen again.

If you lurve Michael Palin and have 45 minutes to kill, this is the video for you. Thanks to Dewitte for pointing out the interview and giving me a chance to try the Vox This feature.