Mom working at gas station finds $10, buys winning ticket
NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Kristina Schneider tried to persuade a customer at the BP station where she works to buy the last ticket on a roll of the Magnificent Millions lottery game.
"I always joke that the last ticket is the winning one, but he said he only had enough money for three tickets," Schneider said.
This time, her advice was no joke.
The single mother -- with nine maxed-out credit cards and $8,500 in debt for her associate's degree -- bought what turned out to a $1 million winning ticket with a $10 bill she found in the store Friday.
"I thought someone was playing a trick on me" when she found the sawbuck, she said.
After showing a customer that she did indeed have a winning ticket, she locked the store while she took a moment to be sick in the bathroom.
"I was numb. I still am," she said.
Schneider, 32, opted to take 20 yearly payments of $50,000, or $34,500 after taxes.
"If I'd have taken a lump sum, I'd be broke again within five years," she said.
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Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Mom working at gas station finds $10, buys winning ticket
NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Kristina Schneider tried to persuade a customer at the BP station where she works to buy the last ticket on a roll of the Magnificent Millions lottery game.
"I always joke that the last ticket is the winning one, but he said he only had enough money for three tickets," Schneider said.
This time, her advice was no joke.
The single mother -- with nine maxed-out credit cards and $8,500 in debt for her associate's degree -- bought what turned out to a $1 million winning ticket with a $10 bill she found in the store Friday.
"I thought someone was playing a trick on me" when she found the sawbuck, she said.
After showing a customer that she did indeed have a winning ticket, she locked the store while she took a moment to be sick in the bathroom.
"I was numb. I still am," she said.
Schneider, 32, opted to take 20 yearly payments of $50,000, or $34,500 after taxes.
"If I'd have taken a lump sum, I'd be broke again within five years," she said.
Copyright 2007 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This informations is copied from www.cnn.com
Child in day care dies after being bound with tape
TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) -- A day care worker was being held Saturday in the death of a 2-year-old boy whose hands were bound and his mouth covered with masking tape, police said.
The boy, who had been on life support, died late Thursday, Officer Jason Willingham said.
Vicki Leigh Chiles was being held without bail on a complaint of first-degree murder. She was the only worker at the facility at the time, looking after eight children ages 7 and younger, Willingham said.
Chiles told police the boy would not be quiet for nap time, so she used tape to silence him, an arrest report states.
Chiles told investigators she left the boy unattended for a few minutes and came back to find him lying on the floor unresponsive, the report states. She said she called for an ambulance and tried to perform CPR.
The state agency that oversees child day care operators was investigating Chiles' business, said Mary Leaver, an agency spokeswoman.
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Juveniles' sentences called improper; Texas to free 226
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The agency that runs the Texas state juvenile prison system said it will release 226 inmates after a review found their sentences were improperly extended.
Advocates for Texas Youth Commission inmates and their families have complained that sentences are often extended inconsistently or in retaliation for filing grievances.
Jay Kimbrough, who is heading an investigation into allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the agency's facilities, formed a panel to review the records of nearly all inmates with extended sentences. The six-member panel, which included community activists and prosecutors, reviewed the cases of 1,027 inmates whose sentences were extended.
"For the youth we're releasing, we did not find that the extensions were warranted," agency spokesman Jim Hurley said Friday. "The others will be reviewed on a regular basis."
Hurley said the 226 inmates will be released on parole as soon as guardians can pick them up or they can be transferred to an interim halfway house.
Kimbrough said in March that the panel would review the documentation on each inmate's sentencing extension and discuss whether the decision was just and appropriate, and then refer their recommendation to a retired judge.
The review is one of many ongoing reforms to the state's juvenile system after the disclosure of allegations of sexual abuse of inmates by staff and a possible cover-up by agency officials. The commission incarcerates about 4,700 offenders ages 10 to 21.
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Searchers find shallow grave in missing constable case
CAMERON, South Carolina (AP) -- Crews looking for a state constable last seen making a traffic stop found a shallow, freshly dug grave Saturday, authorities said.
A special team trained to preserve clues was painstakingly digging up the body, which had not been identified, Charleston County Sheriff's Capt. John Clark said.
Robert Lee Bailey, 67, was last seen Monday night in Lincolnville, 50 miles from the grave.
A few minutes later and a few blocks down the road, gunfire was heard. Bailey's hat and gun and a pool of blood were found in a yard, and his burning cruiser was found a few miles away off Interstate 26.
Later, his badge and handcuffs case were found in a wad of burned rags near Harleyville, about 20 miles farther up the interstate.
Authorities moved their search Saturday after talking to the girlfriend of the main suspect in the case, Clark said.
Bailey, a retired deputy, was a constable with Lincolnville for about five years, volunteering his time to the small town which has only one paid officer.
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Al Qaeda Aussie 'happy' to be jailed on home soil
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- David Hicks, the first Guantanamo Bay inmate to face a U.S. military tribunal, was flown back to his hometown of Adelaide on Sunday to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a maximum security prison cell.
The former Outback cowboy and kangaroo skinner pleaded guilty in March to providing material support to al Qaeda, including attending terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
Under a plea deal, he was sentenced to nine months in prison -- a fraction of the life term he faced for his crime -- and allowed to return to Australia to serve out his term.
Accompanied by police and prison officials, Hicks was flown from Cuba in a Gulfstream G550 jet chartered by the Australian government and landed early Sunday at the heavily fortified Edinburgh air force base on the outskirts of Adelaide. (
Watch Hicks emerge from luxury jet )
Hicks, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit, was then taken to the Yatala Labor Prison, where he will serve the final seven months of his sentence in the high security G Division alongside the prison's most dangerous criminals.
Nevertheless, lawyer David McLeod said Hicks was thrilled to be home after more than five years at the U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"He is happy to be back on Australian soil," McLeod told reporters outside Yatala prison. "He visibly was elated when we touched down."
Prison officials have said Hicks will be kept in a 2-meter-wide (6-foot-wide) single-bed cell similar in size to the one he left in Cuba.
The 31-year-old will be barred from having any personal items in his cell, and his visits with family will be strictly limited, with no physical contact allowed.
His telephone calls will be monitored, and he will be allowed little or no contact with other inmates, authorities have said.
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock declined to comment on security arrangements, saying only "public safety is the primary concern."
A high school dropout and Muslim convert, Hicks was captured in December 2001 in Afghanistan by the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance, and became one of the first terrorist suspects to be transferred to the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
He was tried by a military tribunal under a system created by U.S. President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001. The system has come under criticism as a violation of the prisoners' right to challenge their confinement in U.S. courts.
Hicks was accused of attending al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and conducting surveillance on the British and American embassies as part of his training.
He had spent only two hours on the Taliban front line before it collapsed in November 2001 under attack by U.S. Special Forces and the Northern Alliance.
While fleeing, Hicks came across a group of Arab fighters who told him they were heading back to the front to fight to the death. Hicks declined to join them and was captured as he tried to escape into Pakistan, according to the military's charge sheet.
As part of his plea deal, Hicks agreed to a 12-month order prohibiting him from talking to the media and stated he had "never been treated illegally" since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo.
He is due to be released at the end of December, and the Australian attorney general has said he may be free to speak to the media about his ordeal, despite the U.S. gag order.
Ruddock said he did not believe Australia could enforce the media ban. But under local law, Hicks, a convicted criminal, would not be allowed to sell his story.
"We are of the view that he's free -- once he has concluded his penal servitude -- to speak as he wishes, but not to profit," Ruddock told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Sunday.
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Israel pounds militant targets in Gaza
GAZA CITY (AP) -- Israeli warplanes sent missiles slamming into a car carrying Hamas militants and a load of weapons before dawn Sunday, then demolished arms factories belonging to two Palestinian militant groups, the army said, in widening reprisals against Gaza rocket squads.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened tougher action if the intensified rocket fire on Israeli border communities didn't cease.
The sixth straight day of airstrikes came as an uneasy truce between warring Palestinian factions set in. Masked Hamas and Fatah gunmen who had controlled the streets and taken over apartment buildings in the previous week scaled back their presence sharply, and residents who had holed up at home seeking refuge from the gunbattles ventured out to stock up on supplies at busy shops.
Children went back to school in time for final exams, and adults returned to work.
Four previous truces last week quickly collapsed, but Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he expected the cease-fire deal reached Saturday to stick because of Israel's military action.
"No one would accept to fight one another while the Israelis are shelling Gaza," he said.
More than 50 Palestinians have been killed in fighting that broke out after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah stationed thousands of loyalist security forces on the streets of Gaza City without consulting Hamas, its partner in the Palestinian governing alliance.
The infighting has threatened the survival of the fragile national unity government, formed in March to end an earlier round of factional bloodshed.
Israel added an overlapping layer of violence by sending warplanes after Hamas rocket squads whose attacks on Israeli border towns have sown panic and sent thousands fleeing to safer ground.
Israel has carried out 21 airstrikes against Gaza since Tuesday, the army said, and at their weekly meeting on Sunday, Cabinet ministers discussed how to respond to the rocket barrages.
"If the diplomatic and military efforts we have taken do not bring calm, we will have to escalate our response," Olmert said at the start of the session.
He did not elaborate, but on Saturday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said time was not ripe for a broad offensive in Gaza.
One idea that was being floated was the stationing of an international force along Gaza's border with Egypt to curb weapons smuggling to militants, and possibly to disarm them, a Cabinet minister said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the idea was preliminary.
It wasn't clear whether the international community would be willing to assume such responsibilities or whether the idea would enjoy broad support in the Israeli government.
Israeli intelligence says an international force stationed along its northern border hasn't prevented Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas from replenishing stocks depleted during last summer's war with Israel.
"We are concerned that extremists in Gaza have taken Lebanon as an example and are determined to build up a terror military machine that can be an even greater threat to Israel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
Regev said the success of the U.N. force in Lebanon would be a test case influencing Israel's view of possible future international deployments.
Three rockets struck Israel on Sunday, including one that hit an empty home. In all, more than 120 rockets have landed since Tuesday, none of them causing serious casualties.
The rockets and airstrikes have destroyed a 6-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza militants.
Three people, including at least one Hamas militant, died Sunday in the air attack on the car in Gaza City, bringing to 27 the number of Palestinians killed in the strikes. The vehicle burst into a ball of flame, witnesses said, and the army attributed that to the weapons inside.
Mohammed Madhoun said aircraft mistakenly targeted his stereo and video store in the northern town of Beit Lahia for a weapons workshop, destroying it. A storefront next door, empty for the past year, had been a metal workshop, Madhoun said. The army stood by its claim that the site was a Hamas weapons factory.
For the first time since the airstrikes began, Israel targeted weapons operations belonging to Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group that has also been involved in rocket attacks on Israel. The army explained that it would go after all rocket operations, including Islamic Jihad's.
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States seek sex offender data from MySpace
RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Top law enforcement officers from eight states asked MySpace.com on Monday to turn over the names of registered sex offenders who use the social networking Web site.
In a letter, the attorneys general asked MySpace to provide information on how many registered sex offenders are using the site, and where they live. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper signed the letter, along with attorneys general from Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
MySpace did not say whether it would comply with the request.
"We are in the initial stages of cross referencing our membership against (a) registered sex offender database and removing any confirmed matches," Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer, said in a statement.
MySpace and Sentinel would then provide the information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children so the organization could work directly with law enforcement, he said.
Nigam also said legislation requiring sex offenders to register e-mail addresses would expedite the process.
In a statement, Cooper's office said media outlets in 2006 "reported almost 100 criminal incidents across the country involving adults who used MySpace to prey or attempt to prey on children."
In December, MySpace announced it was partnering with Sentinel Tech Holding Corp. to build a database with information on sex offenders in the United States.
"It is our understanding that the data from Sentinel reveals that thousands of known sex offenders have been confirmed as MySpace members," the letter said.
In an interview, Cooper said the information was provided by "absolutely credible" sources, whom he declined to identify.
The attorneys general also asked that MySpace describe the steps it has taken to warn users about sex offenders and remove their profiles. They asked the Web site to respond to their requests by May 29.
"They are by far the largest social networking site," Cooper said. "They certainly should be the standard bearer for changes that need to be made."
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the site a "virtual playground" for predators. "That combination of sex offenders and children is a recipe for tragedy," Blumenthal said.
The site is owned by media conglomerate News Corp. On Monday.
MySpace's policy prevents children under 14 from setting up profiles, but it relies on users to specify their ages.
Cooper said MySpace should confirm ages though services used by online vendors of lottery tickets and alcohol, and also require parental permission for young users.
"MySpace can certainly take its own action to remove those sex offender profiles from their site," Cooper said. "They say they are doing that but we want to know ... exactly what steps they are taking."
Cooper has presented legislation to the North Carolina General Assembly that would make it a felony for registered sex offenders to use social networking sites.
In North Carolina last year, a former sheriff's deputy was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of molesting a 15-year-old boy he met on MySpace, and a Boiling Spring Lakes police officer was charged with the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl he communicated with on the site, Cooper said.
MySpace and other social networking sites allow users to create online profiles with photos, music and personal information, including hometowns and education. Users can send messages to one another and, in many cases, browse other profiles.
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Source: Hilton 'traumatized' over jail sentence
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Paris Hilton is "emotionally distraught and traumatized" over her 45-day jail sentence and is not capable of testifying in a civil lawsuit against her, the socialite-reality TV star's psychiatrist said.
Dr. Charles Sophy has been seeing Hilton, 26, for the past eight months and has talked with her several times since her May 4 hearing for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case, according to court papers.
Sophy said Hilton needs time to recover from the shock of receiving jail time before testifying in a civil case brought against her by actress and diamond heiress Zeta Graff.
Messages left with Hilton's spokesman and lawyer were not immediately returned early Tuesday. (
Watch a Hilton family friend say Paris deserves to do time )
In court papers filed Monday, Sophy said Hilton is "distraught and traumatized as a consequence of the findings at the May 4 hearing ... and her fear of incarceration."
"At this point in time," he continued, "Ms. Hilton cannot effectively respond to examination as a witness or provide any significant input into her defense."
Graff filed a $10 million lawsuit against Hilton in 2005, claiming the reality TV star spread "vicious lies" about her. Hilton has denied that she was behind a report alleging Graff once tried to grab a necklace worth $4 million from her throat.
Superior Court Judge Linda K. Lefkowitz postponed the trial to August. It had been scheduled to begin this month.
Hilton and her pal Nicole Richie star on "The Simple Life," which throws them into everyday situations. After famously feuding and filming their parts separately last season, the celebutantes have reunited as camp counselors for the show's upcoming fifth installment.
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Lindsay Lohan tops Maxim's 'Hot 100'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lindsay Lohan rules.
According to Maxim magazine, at least this month, she's the hottest woman in the world.
The "Georgia Rule" actress-troublemaker tops the magazine's eighth annual "Hot 100" list, a ranking by editors weighing buzz and beauty for women in film, TV, music, sports and fashion. (
Watch how Lohan's "troublemaking" may be hurting her career )
"There is no other star in the world (who) causes more of a stir in the public eye than Lindsay," said Maxim Editor in Chief Jimmy Jellinek in a statement. "Her every move is watched and reported on."
Not surprisingly, Jellinek described his young, male readership as being "obsessed" with the 20-year-old Lohan, a ubiquitous party girl who spent the weekend soaking up the sun (with a new boyfriend) in the Bahamas.
Jessica Alba had to settle with the No. 2 on the list, which is in the magazine hitting stands Saturday. She's followed, in order, by Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Biel, Ali Larter, Eva Mendes, Rihanna, Eva Longoria, Fergie, Sienna Miller, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles and Katherine Heigl. (
Watch clips of some of these stunning women )
Celebrity sisters Ashlee and Jessica Simpson are on the list at No. 16 and No. 41, respectively. Ashley Olsen, half of the mogul acting twins, placed 37th, while sister Mary-Kate didn't make the cut.
The cover of the Hot 100 June issue features a picture of No. 29: Sarah Silverman.
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U.S. academic held in Iran
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- A U.S.-based academic -- and dual American-Iranian citizen -- is being investigated for "crimes against national security" after she was arrested in Tehran last week by the Intelligence Ministry, Iranian judiciary officials said Tuesday.
Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the U.S. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Middle East program, was arrested on May 8 and taken to Tehran's Evin prison, the center and her family said last week.
The arrest took place at a time of rising tension between Washington and Tehran over Iran's disputed nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at making atom bombs, and the conflict in Iraq.
"She is right now under the authority of the Intelligence Ministry," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters.
"Her crime is security issues, investigations over crimes against security are still going on," he said.
Jamshidi did not give details but a judiciary source later told Reuters Esfandiari was suspected of "crimes against national security," a broad legal term covering acts deemed to endanger the stability of the Islamic state.
Terrorism, spying, political unrest and assassination attempts are examples of crimes falling within this category under Iranian law. The charge could carry the death sentence.
The U.S. State Department has condemned the arrest of Esfandiari, who has dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, and said she was among a number of U.S.-Iranians being detained by Tehran.
Last week's statement from the center and her family also said she needed medical attention but did not say why.
Esfandiari flew to Tehran in December to visit her mother. As she drove to the airport to catch a flight back she was robbed of her belongings, including her passports, it said.
She applied for replacement Iranian travel documents and was interviewed by the Intelligence Ministry. There then followed weeks of interrogations focusing on her work for the center, it said.
The center's president, former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, sent a letter in February to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad explaining the work of the organization and seeking his help in securing Esfandiari's return to the United States.
Hamilton was the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group which last year issued recommendations for ending the violence in Iraq, including engaging with longtime U.S. foe Iran.
The center's Middle East program focuses on the political, social and economic developments in the region and examines U.S. interests in the region and the threat of terrorism.
U.S. officials believe Tehran may also be holding former FBI official Robert Levinson, who went missing early in March while on a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. Iran has denied this.
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Poll: Local governments ready for disaster; feds not
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most people say their families and local emergency agencies are ready for the next natural disaster but the federal government is not. Women and minorities are less confident on both counts.
A poll on the subject was released Monday, less than three weeks before the official start of an Atlantic hurricane season that some forecasters say will be an active one.
The USA Today/Gallup poll found that two-thirds of people said their local first responders were prepared for a disaster, while nearly as many said their hospitals and families were ready.
Only three in 10 expressed the same confidence in the federal government, underscoring earlier polls that showed a lingering wariness from the slow response to Hurricane Katrina's 2005 devastation of the Gulf Coast.(Watch why the feds don't have resources to handle domestic crises )
Ten percent more men than women, and 24 percent more whites than minorities, said their families are ready to cope with a disaster. More men and whites also expressed confidence that the federal government was ready.
Studies show that "women tend to be more worried about threats, and they are still the principle person responsible for children or older parents" in times of trouble, said Robert Blendon, a health policy expert at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Katrina, whose victims were disproportionately black, left many minorities wary of relying on the government during disasters.
Minorities were also less likely than whites to think local emergency workers are ready for future disasters, though men and women were split.
Easterners were likelier than people from other regions to say their families are not ready for a disaster. Two of three Southerners -- the highest rate in the U.S. -- said their families are prepared.
Democrats were also less confident than Republicans that their families, local emergency agencies and Washington were ready for a disaster.
The telephone survey of 1,007 adults was conducted from April 13 to 15. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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Survey finds Miami worst road rage city
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- For the second consecutive year, rude Miami drivers have earned the city the title of worst road rage in a survey released Tuesday.
Miami motorists said they saw other drivers slam on their brakes, run red lights and talk on cell phones, according to AutoVantage, a Connecticut-based automobile membership club offering travel services and roadside assistance.
Other cities near the top of the rude drivers list were New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
South Miami resident Erik Pinto told The Associated Press that he has probably seen every bad driving habit on Miami's roads.
"You don't want to know what I've seen," Pinto said. "I've seen everything. I'm from L.A., and we don't see the crazy drivers that you see here."
The most courteous drivers can be found in Portland, Oregon; Pittsburgh; the Seattle-Tacoma area; St. Louis; and Dallas-Fort Worth, the survey found.
Portland drivers were the least likely to see other motorists tailgating on the roadways, and St. Louis motorists were the least likely to swear at another driver, according to the survey.
Minneapolis-St. Paul was rated the most courteous city in 2006 but fell to No. 12 this year.
The most frequent cause of road rage cited in the survey was impatient motorists. Drivers also said road rage can stem from poor driving in fast lanes and driving while stressed, frustrated or angry.
"The best piece of advice is to take a deep breath. Slow down, be aware and be careful," AutoVantage spokesman Todd Smith said, adding the aim of the survey is to increase driver safety across the nation.
More than 2,500 drivers who regularly commute in 25 major metropolitan areas were asked to rate road rage and rude driving in telephone surveys between January and March.
The survey was conducted by Prince Market Research has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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Police 'quiz missing girl suspect'
LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- Police searching for a 4-year-old British girl who disappeared nearly two weeks ago in southern Portugal have placed a man under formal investigation, a news report said Tuesday.
Portugal's national news agency, Lusa, quoted unidentified police sources as saying the man was one of three people questioned Monday after detectives and forensic experts searched a villa near the hotel where Madeleine McCann apparently was abducted.
Police officials at national headquarters would not confirm the report nor identify anyone under investigation.
Under Portuguese law, opening a formal investigation is a first step toward possibly bringing formal charges. The legal measure is designed to safeguard a citizen's constitutional rights, granting access to potential evidence in order to mount a legal defense.
Lusa also reported that police took computers and cell phones from the villa, which is about 100 yards from the Ocean Club holiday village in Praia da Luz where the girl was apparently taken from her hotel room May 3.
Detectives questioned the three in Portimao, the nearest large town to Praia da Luz, Lusa reported.
The girl vanished after her parents left her, and her brother and sister, both aged 2, alone while they went to a nearby restaurant inside their hotel complex. Police called off their ground search last week.
Her parents are still at the hotel.
British media have said that promised contributions to a reward fund total more than $5 million, including reported donations from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, tycoon Sir Richard Branson and "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell. Celebrities including soccer star David Beckham have made public appeals for help in finding Madeleine.
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Falwell reportedly found unconscious, hospitalized
LYNCHBURG, Virginia (AP) -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his office Tuesday and taken to the hospital, a Liberty University executive told a newspaper.
Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of the school, told The News & Advance of Lynchburg that Falwell was found unconscious after missing an appointment Tuesday morning. Falwell arrived at Lynchburg General Hospital around noon, the newspaper reported on its Web site.
When contacted by The Associated Press, Godwin said he couldn't talk at that time.
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NBC cans 'Studio 60,' 'Jordan'
NEW YORK (AP) -- With "Heroes" its only new hit of the season, struggling NBC announced a fall schedule Monday that includes a spinoff and three other dramas also trading on supernatural themes.
The network took a risk by keeping its Thursday night comedy lineup intact. NBC has drawn strong critical praise but few viewers for shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office," leaving the network faltering on a night it once dominated.
NBC, the first of the broadcast networks to unveil a new schedule to advertisers this week, canceled "Crossing Jordan" and the high-profile failure "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Another critical favorite that hasn't found a big audience, "Friday Night Lights," was renewed.
"Law & Order" will be back for its 18th season and "Medium" will return, but not until January, when they take over a Sunday time slot filled by football in the fall.
Fourth-place NBC showed signs of life last fall with critically acclaimed shows. The bottom dropped out this spring when the network had its least-watched week in at least 20 years -- then went even lower the following week.
"We've got the class and next season we're ready to add some mass, with new shows that build on the creative accomplishments of last season and are as broad as they are good," NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly said. (
Blog: What do you think of NBC's choices?)
To stretch the normal 22-episode season of "Heroes," which faltered after its long hiatus this year, NBC will add "Heroes: Origins." The spinoff will introduce a new character each week, and viewers will select which one stays for the following season. The two series will have 30 new episodes combined.
Since it found an audience this season with superpowered stars, NBC will remake "Bionic Woman" with Michelle Ryan in the title role.
New series "Journeyman" is about a San Francisco newspaper reporter who travels through time to alter people's lives, and "Chuck" is a thriller about a computer geek who becomes a government agent after spy secrets are embedded in his brain.
Brooke Shields headlines an hour-long series about three high-powered women friends, a script from "Sex and the City" author Candace Bushnell.
NBC's other new series, "Life," is a drama about a detective given a second chance after spending years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Illustrating the difficulties in introducing new comedies, NBC said it will have only one new sitcom next season -- and it didn't even earn a spot on the fall schedule. "The IT Crowd" is about a group of people who work in technical services at a large corporation.
The successful game "Deal or No Deal," often NBC's most popular program, will air on Monday and Wednesday nights.
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