Air time crucial for WVU, Mountaineers have to play themselves into TV exposure

ONE page in the West Virginia men's basketball media guideincludes glowing tributes to Mountaineer Coach John Beilein and hisWVU construction job from the ESPN trio of Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas andAndy Katz.

Too bad the network doesn't put its airtime where its mouths are.

WVU (7-3) opens its Big East Conference schedule on Wednesdaynight at Notre Dame. Don't look for the Mountaineers on national TVthen - or anytime this season, unless they reach the Big Easttournament.

The folks at WVU aren't too happy with the massive Big East TVschedule this season.

The Big East has 65 team appearances on ESPN/ESPN2, CBS and ABC in2003-04. WVU has zip.

Eleven …

Japanese suicides topped 30,000 for 9th straight year in 2006

The number of suicides in Japan stayed above 30,000 for the ninth straight year, and employers should help tackle the problem by providing mental health care for their staff, the government said Friday.

In its first annual report on suicide and suicide prevention measures, the Cabinet Office said 32,155 people killed themselves in 2006, according to police statistics.

While the figure was down by 397 people from the previous year, Japan's suicide rate remains the ninth highest among all countries, the report said, citing World Health Organization data. Lithuania had the highest rate, followed by Belarus and Russia, while the U.S. ranked number 43 in the …

TV station covers Ohio bribery trial with puppets

CLEVELAND (AP) — It's "Sesame Street" meets the unseemly side of politics.

With cameras barred from a high-profile corruption trial, a television station has puppets acting out the sometimes-steamy testimony about hookers, gambling and sexually transmitted diseases. In one scene, a furry hand stuffs cash down the shirt of a puppet prostitute.

"I'm horrified," a laughing anchorwoman said after a segment shown this week on WOIO, a CBS affiliate in Cleveland, where the trial of longtime Democratic power broker Jimmy Dimora is the talk of the town.

The station's news director brought up the idea of using the puppets to lampoon the trial and give a glimpse of what's happening …

Gay activists arrested at McCain's offices

Activists from a group called Human Equal Rights Organizers, or HERO, were arrested at U.S. Sen. John McCain's office in Phoenix on April 26.

Meg Sneed, Jimmy Gmender, Lee Walters, Luisa Valdez and Lonnie Alien Howard-Stidham had refused to leave the office until McCain spoke with them about Howard-Stidham's 2007 discharge from the Coast Guard under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The group had vowed, "We will not leave McCain's office until the senator meets with his constituents and stands behind his 2006 quote that 'The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, "Senator, we ought to change the policy," then I think we ought to consider seriously changing …

Alexander Leads Seahawks Over Bucs

SEATTLE - Beware, the Seahawks' stars are well again. And so is a remade, hard-hitting defense. Shaun Alexander, playing pain-free for the first time since he broke his foot 12 months ago, ran for 105 yards and one touchdown Sunday in a 20-6 victory over Tampa Bay.

Matt Hasselbeck was sharp in his first game following a mediocre season that included two broken fingers.

Hasselbeck went 17-for-24 for 222 yards and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Morris to clinch the win. Alexander's backup ran free down the left sideline past Derrick Brooks, the Bucs' defensive leader, to make it 20-6 with 7:55 left.

The Buccaneers, who scored 10 points or less in eight …

Wet spring slowing farmers, raising corn prices

In an average year, southwestern Illinois farmer Richard Borgsmiller would have his 300-acre corn crop in the ground. This isn't an average year.

Like many farmers across the eastern Corn Belt, Borgsmiller has not even started planting because of a wet spring. He's stuck waiting for a rain-free window long enough to dry out his land near Murphysboro _ about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis _ and to make it worth cranking up his tons of planting equipment.

"We've got a 50 percent chance of rain tonight and tomorrow," Borgsmiller shrugged Tuesday, hoping he might get some planting in next week.

Farmers from …

Lefebvre planning to start May; Wilkins sent to Iowa

Outfielder Derrick May was recalled from Class AAA Iowa after theCubs' 7-5 loss Tuesday to the Phillies and might be in the startinglineup today. Catcher Rick Wilkins was optioned to Iowa.

May, who was hitting .367 (11-for-30) with two home runs andeight RBI in eight games, might fill the team's need for anotherleft-handed bat.

"Right now, I don't plan on platooning him," said manager JimLefebvre, who plans to bat May fifth or sixth. "A left-hander (TerryMulholland) will be pitching (today), and that will be a call on mypart. But we expect to use him.

"He had a great spring (.261, one home run, seven RBI) andplayed good enough to make this ballclub. …