■ UNITED STATES
More poor families: study
Even before the collapse of major US banks and the Dow’s plunge, the rolls of the working poor grew as their piece of the economic pie shrank, the Working Poor Families Project said in a report on Tuesday based on government data collected as part of the American Family Survey. The percentage of working families who were poor rose to 28 percent, or 9.6 million families, in 2006, from 27 percent, or 9.2 million, in 2002, it said. “If we start factoring in what’s happened this year, we know the number will increase,” said Brandon Roberts, the author of Working Hard, Still Falling Short. By 2008 standards, the report defined working poor as a family of four living on less than US$42,400 in the 48 contiguous states, or slightly more in Alaska and Hawaii.
■ UNITED STATES
MySpace revamps KTV
MySpace on Tuesday launched an overhauled karaoke channel that lets amateur crooners post online video of themselves in all their vocal glory. The MySpace Karaoke redesign includes improved recording, upload and Web site navigation capabilities. In the six months since its launch the channel has attracted more than 4 million visitors and amassed a half-million recordings, “making it the largest karaoke venue in the world,” MySpace general manager Nimrod Lev said. MySpace has arranged licensing deals with music publishers to spare users of its karaoke channel from hassles regarding song copyrights. Those licensing restrictions have resulted in MySpace Karaoke only being available in Canada and the US.
■ UNITED STATES
Ill owner pleads for cats
Five veterinary clinics in eastern Alabama received 32 surprises in the last week: Healthy cats in containers and carriers, along with notes from an anonymous donor saying she is dying from cancer. The notes signed by “Miss R” beg the vets to find her pets new homes. “My time is very, very short,” the donor wrote. “There is not enough time to find homes for my children another way. I beg you not to let them die because I have to, please!” Veterinarian Kim Bond said she found three plastic containers poked with holes sitting at her clinic’s front door when she got to work at 7am a week ago. Each cat’s name, age, description and medical summary was written on its container. At least four other clinics received cats in Lee County, about 80km northeast of Montgomery. Most of the cats have found new homes already. The identity and location of the donor is unknown.
■ UNITED STATES
Iraqi puppy finds support
More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let an Iraqi puppy come home with a US soldier, who fears that “Ratchet” could be killed if left behind. “I just want my puppy home,” Sergeant Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis wrote to her mother in an e-mail on Sunday from Iraq, soon after she was separated from the dog following a transfer. Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the US next month. Ratchet’s defenders are ratcheting up their efforts to save him. On Monday, the program coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups, which is run by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International, left for a trip to the Middle East to try to get the puppy to the US. And last week, Beberg’s congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, wrote to the Army urging it to review the case. Beberg and another soldier rescued the puppy from a burning pile of trash back in May.
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