AM news: news, crime and critters

fair and balanced? The new White House press secretary will be Tony Snow, direct from Fox News. What next, Bill O'Reilly for Secretary of State?

getting in Eric McCarty, a 25-year old San Diego man has been charged with hacking into USC's admissions database last year; the database contained 270,000 applications that included personal information and Social Security numbers. In an e-mail to a reporter where he took credit for the hack, McCarty wrote, "All they had to do was admit me to their school, but noooooo … they had to make it all complicated …"

black widow? A Lawndale high school teacher was recently killed while on a trip to the Phillipines, widowing Sonia Rios (Bourdeau) Risken. Investigators have noticed that this is Sonia's second husband to be killed while in the Phillipines. Both men were rumored to be seeking divorce upon their return, both were shot, and both were with Sonia's relatives at the time they were murdered.

frogs gone The yellow-legged mountain frog once hopped around California but is now endangered; 7 were resecued from a shallow San Bernardino pool after the 2003 wildflowers. But none of the frogs survived, quelching hopes that they might start a new frong colony.

no rescue in LA LA Observed takes a look at the immensely sad Los Angeles Magazine story on LA's animal services and the pets we kill.