Maine becomes 5th state to allow same-sex marriage

By GLENN ADAMS
Associated Press Writer

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Maine's governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.

New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn't indicated whether he'll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region's sole holdout.

The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn't previously indicated how he would handle the bill, signed it shortly afterward. In the past, he said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions, which provide many benefits of marriage.

Debate was brief. Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, turned the gavel over to an openly gay member, Sen. Lawrence Bliss, D-South Portland, to preside over the final vote.

Republican Sen. Debra Plowman of Hampden argued that the bill was being passed "at the expense of the people of faith."

"You are making a decision that is not well-founded," warned Plowman.

But Senate Majority Leader Philip Bartlett II said the bill does not compel religious institutions to recognize gay marriage.

"We respect religious liberties. ... This is long overdue," said Bartlett, D-Gorham.

Maine is now the fourth state in New England, to allow same-sex marriages. Connecticut enacted a bill after being ordered to allow gay marriages by the courts, and Vermont passed a bill over the governor's veto.

New Hampshire's House was also expected to vote on a bill Wednesday and send it to Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

Massachusetts' high court has ordered the state to recognize gay marriages. In Rhode Island, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage has been introduced but is not expected to pass this year.

Outside New England, Iowa is recognizing gay marriages on court orders. The practice was briefly legal in California before voters banned it.

WHO, experts to discuss making swine flu vaccine

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

The World Health Organization on Wednesday said it will meet with flu experts next week to discuss whether drug companies should switch from making regular flu vaccines to ramping up for an H1N1 vaccine.

WHO on Wednesday confirmed 1,658 cases of the H1N1 influenza in 23 countries, including 30 deaths, as the virus continued to spread.

Marie-Paula Kieny, WHO's Director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research, said the group will hold a teleconference May 14 of its vaccine advisory committee, vaccine producers and country regulators to discuss whether there is enough evidence to recommend that manufacturers should start large scale manufacturing of the H1N1 vaccine, and make "a recommendation towards stopping seasonal production for vaccine."

Seasonal flu kills up to 500,000 people a year, giving WHO a strong reason to hesitate. Experts are still unsure how deadly the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, strain is, but because production takes months, a decision needs to be made soon.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon have called for a meeting May 19 in Geneva with the heads of all the companies worldwide who make influenza vaccine.

The meeting would address production of the new vaccine and how it would be distributed around the world.

"This will be a high-level discussion with the manufacturer appealing to corporate responsibility and to working together toward increased equitable access" to ensure developing countries can acquire vaccines too, Kieny said.

Kieny said the world's vaccine producers could make about 1 to 2 billion doses of the H1N1 vaccine a year.

She said it would take between 4 to 6 months to go from having a culture of the flu virus to having shots ready for the public.

Currently, WHO is recommending "all manufacturers to put everything in place to be able to start manufacturing a vaccine," Kieny said.

WHO reported Wednesday that Mexico still has the most cases of the virus with 946 people infected throughout the country. Cases are continuing to increases in some countries, including Canada, France, Guatemala, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday there are 642 confirmed cases of the flu in 41 states.

Two people have died in the United States and 35 people have been hospitalized.

Contributing: Associated Press

Topless Photos of Miss California Could Cost Her Crown

Carrie Prejean's Work Opposing Gay Marriage May Also Violate her Contract

By LUCHINA FISHER and SHEILA MARIKAR

Miss California Carrie Prejean stands to lose her title by working for a group that opposes gay marriage and posing semi-nude for pictures when she was a teenager.

The directors of the Miss California USA pageant are currently looking into whether Prejean violated the 12-page contract all contestants are required to sign before the November state contest.

The document prohibits whoever holds the title of Miss California from making personal appearances, granting interviews or making commercials without permission from pageant officials and gives the pageant's directors the right to revoke her crown for breaching any of the document's provisions.

Since being chosen runner-up at the Miss USA pageant, Prejean has made televised appearances at her San Diego church and on behalf of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that is opposed to same-sex marriage.

An advertisement the group created based on Prejean's controversial answer at the Miss USA pageant about whether she supported gay marriage remains on the NOM Web site, despite a written request from the Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss USA pageant, to remove it.

Last week when Prejean was in Washington to announce her support for the new ad, Keith Lewis, co-director of the California contest, expressed concern to The Associated Press.

"There is a contract that all participants sign that is very involved and very intricate and limits a lot of their activities," Lewis told the news agency.

Also of concern are semi-nude photos of Prejean that surfaced on the Internet earlier this week.

A racy photo of Prejean wearing only pink panties was posted on gossip blog TheDirty.com on Monday.

Prejean's contract contains a clause that asks participants whether they have conducted themselves "in accordance with the highest ethical and moral standards." For example, it asks if they have ever been photographed nude or partially nude.

"As you can see from the contract, she violated multiple items," Miss California pageant spokesman Roger Neal said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Prejean's spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the possible breach of contract.

On Tuesday, Prejean said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press that the Web site which posted the photo and claims to have others is trying to belittle her religion.

She says the photos, which were taken of her as a teenager, had been released "surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith."
In the statement, Prejean also says the attacks on her and others who "speak in defense of traditional marriage" are intolerant and offensive.

She also defended the photos: "I am a Christian, and I am a model. Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos."

NOM President Maggie Gallagher also defended Prejean and said the picture did not disqualify her as a traditional marriage advocate.

"Of course Carrie is not perfect," Gallagher said in a statement Tuesday to AP. "On a personal note, as a former unwed mother, I want to say to Americans: You don't have to be a perfect person to have the right to stand up for marriage."

Also coming to Prejean's defense was Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA pageant. Appearing on ABC's "The View" on Tuesday, he said her answer to the question of gay marriage posed during the televised pageant was not so far off base.

"That's the belief of 70 percent of the people, so it wasn't a horrible answer," he told the women on "The View." "That was her belief and she's taken hard hits. She's more famous because of it. No one is talking about the young woman who won. Nobody knows who she is."

Trump also said, contrary to popular belief, Prejean's answer did not cost her the title. "We went back and added up the scores," he said, "and she would not have won anyway. So that makes me feel better because it was a tough question."

Miss California's New Role

Last week, Prejean told NBC's "Today" show that she was going to Washington to work with the National Organization for Marriage, saying the union between a man and a woman is "something that is very dear to my heart."

While Prejean was talking about her values, others were dropping bombshells about her body.

Shanna Moakler, co-executive director of the Miss California Organization, confirmed to "Access Hollywood" Wednesday that the group paid for Prejean's breast implants weeks before she competed in the 2009 Miss USA pageant.

"It was something that we all spoke about together," Moakler said referring to herself, Carrie Prejean and Keith Lewis, who also serves as co-executive director for the organization. "It was an option and she wanted it. And we supported that decision."

The beauty queen's family is also voicing their support for her. More than a week after Carrie Prejean spoke out against "opposite marriage" at the Miss USA pageant, her "gay activist" sister came to her defense and lashed out at Perez Hilton, the judge who questioned Prejean about gay marriage during the competition and subsequently bashed her on his blog.

"Considering what she was going through, the circumstances of being put on the spot, given such a short amount of time to think and respond … she said what she felt in her heart would be the best answer," Christina Prejean told ABCNews.com. "She and I have talked about this subject; we both respect each other's views. I support civil unions that would give same sex couples equal, legal rights and privileges."

At the pageant, Prejean seemed initially tongue-tied answering to Hilton's question before saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman, drawing a mixed reaction from the audience and a look of thinly veiled disgust from Hilton.

In the days afterward, Prejean attempted to quell criticism of her marriage views by saying that her sister is a gay activist.

"My sister is a second lieutenant in the Air Force and she is a gay rights activist," Prejean told "Access Hollywood" last week, adding that Christina is not gay. "She supports gay people, she supports gay marriage. My beliefs have nothing to do with my sister or my mom, or whatever."

Christina Prejean, 22, admitted she was surprised to hear the beauty queen, 21, call her a gay activist.

"I have never even given myself that title. I was kind of surprised that she mentioned it, but I think she wanted to get the point across that our family is tolerant," Christina Prejean said, adding that she only recently got involved in gay rights activism.

"A couple weeks back, I attended a public forum in Idaho about protecting the LGBT community against discrimination," she continued. "That was the very first thing I attended, and I told her about it on the night of the pageant, after she said she felt bad that people might be offended by her response. … But that's obviously such a hot topic that either way, someone was going to be offended."

Miss California's Sister 'Appalled' by Perez Hilton

Christina Prejean said she is offended by Hilton's (real name: Mario Lavandeira) treatment of her sister after the pageant, whom he called a dumb b**** in a video posted on his blog. (Hilton later apologized on his blog, offering to take Prejean out for coffee and a "talk.")

"I was disappointed and appalled by his unprofessional behavior. He used language that's offensive not only to my sister but to all women," she said. "It showed his own hypocrisy because he speaks out about how people should be more tolerant, but at the same time he puts down people who don't share his own opinion."

Asked to respond, Hilton said simply, "I am praying for both her and her sister."

Since the fallout from the Miss USA pageant, Carrie Prejean, who finished as first runner-up, has defended her stance on gay marriage through the media and in church appearances, notably at San Diego's The Rock Church, which was active in the campaign to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriages in California last year. She was the guest of honor at morning services Sunday, where she recounted her side of the story to the congregation.

She said pageant officials counseled her to apologize, saying, "'You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith. This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand,'" she recalled. "I was representing California. I was representing the majority of people in California." Lewis, co-executive director of the Miss California Organization, responded with the following statement:

"Given the fact that Carrie Prejean's first act upon returning to California was to headline five services at a church that promotes homosexuality as both unnatural and abnormal, we stand by our concern for her individual image and look forward to a time in the near future when she can put down her personal agenda and assume the responsibilities associated with being Miss California USA."

Some, including "The View's" Elisabeth Hasselbeck, have suggested Carrie Prejean might make the prefect poster child for conservative values.

Prejean's sister agrees.

"She wants to be a role model," Christina Prejean said. "Before the pageant, she said she wanted to explore modeling or be a teacher for children with special needs, but she is open to political opportunities. I know she doesn't want to close the door to anything."

And with her new role with the National Organization for Marriage, it looks like Carrie Prejean won't shy away from Washington.

Phone home and call likely answered on the cell

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a high-tech shift accelerated by the recession, the number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones has for the first time surpassed those that just have traditional landlines.

It is the freshest evidence of the growing appeal of wireless phones.

Twenty percent of households had only cells during the last half of 2008, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Wednesday. That was an increase of nearly 3 percentage points over the first half of the year, the largest six-month increase since the government started gathering such data in 2003.

The 20 percent of homes with only cell phones compared with 17 percent with landlines but no cells.

That ratio has changed starkly in recent years: In the first six months of 2003, just 3 percent of households were wireless only, while 43 percent stuck with only landlines.

Stephen Blumberg, senior scientist at the CDC and an author of the report, attributed the growing number of cell-only households in part to a recession that has forced many families to scour their budgets for savings. People who live in homes that have only wireless service tend to be disproportionately low-income, young, renters and Hispanics.

"We do expect that with the recession, we'd see an increase in the prevalence of wireless only households, above what we might have expected had there been no recession," Blumberg said.

Six in 10 households have both landlines and cell phones. Even so, industry analysts emphasized the public's growing love affair with the versatility of cell phones, which can perform functions like receiving text messages and are also mobile.

"The end game is consumers are paying two bills for the same service," said John Fletcher, an analyst for the market research firm SNL Kagan, referring to cell and landline phones. "Which are they going to choose? They'll choose the one they can take with them in their car."

In one illustration of the impact these changes are having, Verizon Communications Inc. had 39 million landline telephone customers in March 2008 but 35 million a year later. Over the same period, its wireless customers grew from 67 million to 87 million, though 13 million of the added lines came from the firm's acquisition of Alltell Corp., according to figures provided by Verizon spokesman Bill Kula.

Another Verizon spokesman, Eric Rabe, said he wasn't sure the overall drop in landlines was directly related to the stalled economy, although he said the company has lost some landline business customers because companies are closing some of their locations.

"For somebody who's mobile and not planning to be in the same apartment for more than a year, it's very appealing to go with a cell," Rabe said.

Further underscoring the public's diminishing reliance on landline phones, the federal survey found that 15 percent of households have both landlines and cells but take few or no calls on their landlines, often because they are wired into computers. Combined with wireless only homes, that means that 35 percent of households — more than one in three — are basically reachable only on cells.

The changes are important for pollsters, who for years relied on reaching people on their landline telephones. Growing numbers of surveys now include calls to people on their cells, which is more expensive partly because federal laws prohibit pollsters from using computers to place calls to wireless phones.

About a third of people age 18 to 24 live in households with only cell phones, the federal figures showed, making them far likelier than older people to rely exclusively on cells. The same is true of four in 10 people age 25 to 29.

About three in 10 living in poverty are from wireless-only households, nearly double the proportion of those who are not poor. Also living in homes with only cell phones are one in four Hispanics, four in 10 renters and six in 10 people living with unrelated adults such as roommates or unmarried couples.

One in 50 households has no phones at all.

The data is compiled by the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the CDC. The latest survey involved in-person interviews with members of 12,597 households conducted from last July through December.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Windows 7's "XP Mode" Won't Run on Some CPUs

Ian Paul

Hoping to use Windows 7's XP Mode on your new laptop? Better check your specs, because many big-name, Intel-powered notebooks including Asus, Dell Studio, HP Pavilion, Sony Vaio, and Toshiba Satellite models may not have what it takes to run Windows 7's XP mode. Featured in the recent Windows 7 release candidate, XP mode allows XP-specific applications to run inside Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7. Microsoft included XP mode to entice business customers to upgrade to Windows 7 even if they're using custom-made programs that run only on XP.

To run XP Mode, your Intel-powered computer must support Intel Virtualization Technology. Problem is, many Intel laptops found on retail shelves aren't packing Intel VT. Affected chips include Intel Celeron, Pentium Dual-Core, Pentium M, and Atom 270 and 280 processors. If you've got a Pentium D, Core, or Core 2 Duo chip you'll need to check your model number because P7350/7450, T1350, T2050/2250, T2300E/2350/2450, T5200/5250/5270/5300/5450/5470/5550/5670/5750/5800/5850/5870/5900 and T6400/6570 do not support VT, according to ZDNet. AMD-powered computers may also find difficulties running XP mode since Sempron processors and some Athlon 64 chips don't support virtualization.

That's a pretty big list of processors that can't support virtualization, so it's no surprise that many laptops will be frozen out of Windows 7's XP mode. However, for the everyday user this may not be as big an issue since XP Mode is targeted at a small segment of the market anyway -- gamers take note that XP mode was not built to support video games.

If you are a part of the XP-specific minority running a custom application or another XP-specific program, you'd better make sure your processor supports virtualization before making the switch to Windows 7.

Can't find your processor's model number? Run GRC's Securable a free app that can tell you if your processor supports virtualization.

Connect with Ian Paul on Twitter (@ianpaul).

British man Ben Southall Wins "Best Job In The World"

SYDNEY — A bungee jumping, ostrich-riding British charity worker was named the winner Wednesday of what's been dubbed the "Best Job in the World" _ a six-month contract to serve as caretaker of a tropical Australian island. Ben Southall, 34, of Petersfield, beat out nearly 35,000 applicants from around the world for the dream assignment to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef for while writing a blog to promote the area.

He was selected for the 150,000 Australian dollar ($111,000) gig by officials from the tourism department of Queensland state.

Southall and 15 other finalists spent the past four days on the island for an extended interview process, which required applicants to snorkel through crystalline waters, gorge themselves at a beachside barbecue and relax at a spa. The finalists also had to demonstrate their blogging abilities, take swimming tests and sit through in-person interviews.

The job is part of a AU$1.7 million tourism campaign to publicize the charms of northeastern Queensland, and officials say it has already generated more than AU$110 million worth of publicity for the region. It quickly became a viral marketing hit, spreading quickly across the world via YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook.

"I hope I can sell the reef as much as everybody is expecting," Southall said after he was crowned the winner at a ceremony on Hamilton Island. "My swimming hopefully is up to standard."

Southall once worked as a tour guide in Africa, but most recently has worked as a charity fundraiser. In his application video, he expressed a love for adventure, and featured photographs of himself riding an ostrich, running a marathon, scuba diving and kissing a giraffe.

"From the time he was announced in the Top 50, and then the Top 16, Ben has excelled in showing a true passion for Queensland," Queensland Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said in a statement. "His ideas for how he will make the role his own ... plus his initiative and ability to rise to a challenge impressed the selection panel and secured his place in the top job."

Although unquestionably a publicity smash success, the contest also attracted a fair bit of scandal since it was unveiled in January.

First, the job's Web site crashed due to a deluge of visitors, angering many hopefuls who couldn't access the site to lodge their video applications. Later, the tourism department was forced to admit it had created a popular video "application" showing a woman apparently getting a tattoo expressing her love of the Great Barrier Reef.

Then one finalist was ousted after it was revealed she had connections to the adult entertainment industry. And a prankster identifying himself as terror mastermind Osama bin Laden posted a video of himself on YouTube reciting reasons why he was the best pick for the job.

Southall will live for free in an airy, three-bedroom oceanfront villa with a private pool and sweeping views of the surrounding islands. He plans to bring his Canadian girlfriend with him to the island for the duration of the job.

Southall starts "work" on July 1.

Face-transplant patient reveals herself

Connie Culp, who underwent the groundbreaking procedure in December after her husband shot her four years earlier, praises the medical staff that made her new face possible.

Associated Press

Connie Culp, after an injury to her face, left, and then as she appears today.

Cleveland -- Five years ago, a shotgun blast left a ghastly hole where the middle of her face had been. Five months ago, she received a new face from a dead woman.

Connie Culp stepped forward Tuesday to show off the results of the nation's first face transplant, and her new look was a far cry from the puckered, noseless sight that made children run away in horror.

• 

  Before her injury

Culp's expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. Her speech is at times a little tough to understand. Her face is bloated and squarish, and her skin droops in big folds that doctors plan to pare away as her circulation improves and her nerves grow, animating her new muscles.

But Culp, a 46-year-old from Unionport, Ohio, had nothing but praise for those who made her new face possible.

"I guess I'm the one you came to see today," she said at a news conference at the Cleveland Clinic, where the groundbreaking operation was performed. But "I think it's more important that you focus on the donor family that made it so I could have this person's face."

Until Tuesday, Culp's identity and how she came to be disfigured were a secret.

Culp's husband, Thomas, shot her in 2004, then turned the gun on himself. He survived, and was sent to prison for seven years. His wife was left clinging to life. The blast shattered her nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and an eye. Hundreds of fragments of shotgun pellet and bone splinters were embedded in her face. She needed a tube into her windpipe to breathe. Only her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin were left.

A plastic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Risal Djohan, got a look at her injuries two months later. "He told me he didn't think, he wasn't sure, if he could fix me, but he'd try," Culp recalled.

She endured 30 operations to try to repair her face. Doctors took parts of her ribs to make cheekbones and fashioned an upper jaw from one of her leg bones. She had countless skin grafts from her thighs. Still, she was left unable to eat solid food, breathe on her own, or smell.

Then, on Dec. 10, in a 22-hour operation, Dr. Maria Siemionow led a team of doctors who replaced 80% of Culp's face with bone, muscles, nerves, skin and blood vessels from a woman who had just died. It was the fourth face transplant in the world, though the others were not as extensive.

"Here I am, five years later. He did what he said -- I got me my nose," Culp said of Djohan, laughing.

In January, she was able to eat pizza, chicken and hamburgers for the first time in years. She loves to have cookies with a cup of coffee, Siemionow said.

No information has been released about the donor or how she died, but her family members were moved when they saw before-and-after pictures of Culp, Siemionow said.

Culp said she wanted to help foster acceptance of those who have suffered burns and other disfiguring injuries.

"When somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them," she said. "Don't judge people who don't look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it might be all taken away."

It's a role she has already practiced, said Dr. Kathy Coffman, the clinic psychiatrist.

Once while shopping, "she heard a little kid say, 'You said there were no real monsters, Mommy, and there's one right there,' " Coffman said. Culp stopped and said, "I'm not a monster. I'm a person who was shot," and pulled out her driver's license to show the child what she used to look like, the psychiatrist said.

Culp told her doctors she just wanted to blend back into society in Unionport, a small town near the Pennsylvania line. She has a son and a daughter who live near her, and two preschool grandsons.

The clinic expects to absorb the cost of the transplant because it was experimental, doctors said. Siemionow estimated it to be $250,000 to $300,000. That is relatively inexpensive, considering that other surgeons estimate it costs them $1 million to treat severely disfigured people with dozens of separate operations, she said.

First 100 days of first lady fashion

With looks from J.Crew to Jason Wu, Michelle Obama is worth watching

BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH

aburch@MiamiHerald.com

In her first 100 days in the White House, Michelle Obama has stylistically transformed what it means to be a first lady, with a cultivated, accessible look, from basic J.Crew tees to designer Jason Wu's dreamy inauguration ball gown.

In just a couple short fashion seasons, Obama has already inspired the I-word -- iconic -- gracing the covers of magazines from Vogue to People, and becoming the subject of at least two style books due out this year; the first, Michelle Style by Mandi Norwood, debuted Tuesday. A comic book biography and a website devoted to tracking her daily ensembles have already been launched.

And she has drawn the obvious, if not clichéd, comparisons to Jacqueline Kennedy. Not since Kennedy has a first lady's fashion sense been so widely deconstructed.

''Michelle Obama will be one of history's most vibrant first ladies. She has a distinctive style that every American woman can aspire to whether the consumer is a Target shopper or someone more likely to be found on Miracle Mile,'' said Carrie Feron, vice president of Avon, which plans to release a Michelle Obama style guide this year.

From the campaign trail to the inauguration to her first few months of being first lady, Obama's fashion sensibilities demonstrate a unique understanding of the force of imagery. She has carefully constructed hers as that of an independent, contemporary woman, wife, mother -- like her or not.

Perhaps, most powerfully, she comes across as human, subject to good and bad days. Sometimes her hair is wind-swept and her outfits are remarkably ordinary. Other days, she is camera ready, from flawlessly applied makeup to tailored dresses that flatter her body type.

Obama -- who passionately supports organic diets and assisting military families -- has shunned traditional White House costumes, opting for a modern cocktail of off-the-rack staples and couture wear. She has made a signature of sleeveless sheaths, even showing her toned arms in the official White House portrait -- generating a national discourse, however irreverent, on the first lady's right to bear arms.

She has embraced obscure, emerging designers and American designers such as Wu, and Isabel Toledo, who designed the memorable lemongrass dress she wore at her husband's swearing-in. But she has also fearlessly worn ready-to-wear basics that a recession-worn nation can appreciate.

So after her first 100 days, we give Obama's fashion policy a great approval rating.