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"National Lampoon's Animal House" is one of the most beloved comedies of all time. Now, the roadhouse where one memorable scene from the film was shot is on the offering block again. "Animal House" wouldn't be "Animal House" without the Dexter Lake Club, the venue where Otter, Boon, Flounder and Pinto found their favorite music group, Otis Day and the Knights, singing "Shama Lama Ding Dong." The 1978 film was shot throughout Lane County, but the club near the lake with the neon sign is one of the most recognizable locations. Now the 50-plus-year-old building, which in recent years has...

If you'll recall in December of 2004, when Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned, he was quoted saying "For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do." FLASHBACK: Thompson Resigns From Bush's Cabinet I note it has taken the FDA far longer to rule out any outside tampering, than, say, when the FAA can immediately rule terrorism out of a plane crash. But don't you still wonders whether or not there are other factors in place with this spinach scare?

American and Iraqi forces face a major problem in Baghdad: how to deal with the Mahdi Army, which has been linked to death squads responsible for a string of assassinations and kidnappings. Worse, the Mahdi Army's leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, seems to be losing his grip on the thousands of armed men who once followed his every word. "There are forces that are controlled by Moqtada, but there are commanders that are not controlled by him; there are death squads that are not controlled by him," U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told NEWSWEEK. Under the leadership of Sadr, the Mahdi...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces strike the Baghdad base of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — but his gunmen hold their fire. U.S. soldiers kill 15 of al-Sadr's followers, drawing little more than a few perfunctory complaints. That's a dramatic departure in style for the youthful firebrand, who launched two major uprisings against the American-led coalition two years ago when U.S. authorities closed his newspaper and pushed an Iraqi judge into issuing an arrest warrant against him. If anything, al-Sadr is more powerful today than he was then. But that power is also a restraint: al-Sadr has more...

Entire Class Suspended for Food Fight 2 hours, 48 minutes ago Strange News - AP MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A cafeteria food fight on "meat loaf day" led to the suspension of the entire eighth-grade class at a Memphis school. The students were suspended after refusing to clean up the mess they caused. "Given an opportunity first to apologize for their behavior and help with the cleanup, most of the class refused to cooperate," school spokesman Vince McGaskill said. The food fight broke out Wednesday at Geeter Middle School, which has 637 students in grades six through eight. Meat loaf and...

NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- Efforts to broker a peace agreement with rebel forces loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the embattled city of Najaf have failed, an Iraqi government official said Saturday. A statement issued by Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, suggested that fighting soon would resume in the south-central city.

John Belushi gets Hollywood star From correspondents in Los Angeles 02apr04 US COMIC and actor John Belushi has been immortalised on Hollywood's glamorous Walk of Fame, 22 years after he died of a drug overdose. The Blues Brothers actor's gilt-edged star on the famed walk was unveiled by his emotional brother, Jim Belushi, who asked Hollywood's Chamber of Commerce to honour the late comic. "It's a great, great day today," said the 49-year-old Belushi, whose big brother John would have been 55 if he had survived. "It's great to have this star. Today we are retiring John's jersey. He is...

TELEVISION It's not pretty, but 'Animal House' defines a generation BY GLEN GARVIN ggarvin@herald.com LOS ANGELES -- Dean Wormer: Who dumped a whole truckload of Fizzies into the swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween the trees are filled with underwear; every spring the toilets explode. Marmalard: You're talking about Delta, sir. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. It was rebellious, it was anarchic, it was gross. It had kids getting wasted and puking and being promiscuous, sometimes all at once. Its heroes were drunks and slobs and Peeping Toms; its villains...