■ UNITED STATES
Benefits of chocolate found
Chocoholics were given further reason to rejoice on Saturday when a small clinical study showed that dark chocolate improves the function of blood vessels. While the researchers cautioned against bingeing on bon bons, they said the findings of the trial were clear and called for larger such studies to confirm the results. The results, presented at the annual American College of Cardiology scientific meeting in New Orleans, add to mounting evidence of the health benefits of dark chocolate.
■ UNITED STATES
Man sentenced for sex pact
A Muskegon, Michigan, man who pleaded no contest to entering into a sex pact with his girlfriend and her 15-year-old daughter and to having had sex with a 12-year-old relative was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Michael Fitzgibbon, 37, was sentenced on Friday to up to 15 years for each of four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct after prosecutors said he, his girlfriend and her daughter signed a contract allowing the teen to be his sex partner for two months. The case arose after Fitzgibbon's girlfriend, afraid of losing him while she was recuperating from surgery, allegedly arranged for the Fitzgibbon, herself and her daughter to sign a contract in June.
■ UNITED STATES
Photographer sues stars
Two freelance photographers are suing Denise Richards and Pamela Anderson, charging Richards physically and verbally assaulted them when they tried to take her picture and that she and Anderson lied to authorities, the media and others about the confrontation. According to the lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Richards and Anderson were at the River Rock Casino Resort in British Columbia, Canada, on Nov. 9 of last year to work on the forthcoming film Blonde and Blonder. When Richards saw Scott Cosman and Rik Fedyck taking her picture, according to the suit, she became enraged, called them "paparazzi scum," assaulted them, seized their laptop computers and threw the laptops over a hotel balcony.
■ UNITED STATES
Psychic-using fireman fired
A Middleton, Wisconsin, fire marshal who admitted consulting online psychics at work did not need a crystal ball to tell him it was time to resign. Tom Weber, a 22-year fire veteran, was put on administrative leave nine months ago after he was accused of asking an online psychic on a department computer whether he and others would be successful in getting rid of Middleton's fire chief. Fire Chief Aaron Harris discovered the query, and said Weber had exchanged e-mails with other people seeking to remove the chief. Weber denied working against Harris, but he does not dispute contacting psychics on department computers. "Everyone is entitled to their spiritual guidance," Weber said.
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