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Viviana Sanchez surveyed the long lunch line at Northeast High School last week and pondered her options. And she was glad she had options. Instead of waiting forever in the cafeteria line for a less-than-appetizing meal, the sophomore strolled over to a vending machine and had her lunch within seconds. "I like this better," Sanchez said last Thursday after pulling out a yogurt parfait and chocolate milk from Star Food Healthy Express machine. "This tastes better and it's quicker to get." The Oakland Park school is one of about 40 middle schools and high schools within the Broward County Public...

This is what government is all about. Forget roads, mass murder through warfare, or locking people up for their consumption choices: it's making sure that no one gives out water without a permit.This is from last week but I believe un-noted here: ABC-TV 15 from Phoenix reports that local Christian proselytizer Dana Crow-Smith was ordered by a "Neighborhood Preservation Inspector" to stop giving out free bottled water last month because she lacked a vending permit, though she was not vending.She is threatening to sue the city with help from the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group with a focus...

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(CBS/AP) - Today in "God, could they be more French?" French baker Jean-Louis Hecht has rolled out a 24-hour automated baguette dispenser, promising warm bread for hungry night owls, shift workers or anyone else who doesn't have time to pick one up during their bakery's opening hours.

For travelers, a vending machine can be a welcome sight. Perhaps it’s just for a quick snack when the rest of the airport is closed. Or, overseas, an easy transaction without any language hurdles. But these days, the vending machine is diversifying. Now travelers can find all sorts of things inside these contraptions—items that range from the practical to the absurd...

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. -- A 9-year-old boy was rescued on Saturday morning after climbing into a claw-crane vending machine at a Wal-Mart in Sun Prairie. Firefighters said that somehow the boy crawled through the 1-foot-by-1-foot opening on the front of the machine and was sitting with the stuffed animals inside. The lock was cut and the boy was removed a few minutes after help arrived. Officials said that boy wasn't injured and suffered only a small scratch on his nose. After the entire ordeal, the boy went home with two stuffed animals from the machine. The child's mother said that...

Swipe your driver's license, look into the camera, blow into the breath sensor and - voila! - you have permission to buy a bottle of wine from a vending machine. Pennsylvania, which has some of the most Byzantine liquor laws in the nation, recently introduced the country's first wine "kiosks." If the machines are successful in their test run inside two grocery stores, the state Liquor Control Board could place the high-tech alcohol automats in about 100 others.

The world’s first gold bar vending machine has been unveiled at Emirates Palace. The Gold To Go machine, itself covered in 24-carat gold, dispenses one, five and 10 gram bars as well as one ounce bars of gold, the National reported on Thursday. Six gold coins of varied weights and engraved with symbols of gold-producing nations Canada, Australia and South Africa, are also dispensed by the machine. About AED175 will buy a one gram bar, AED760 a five gram bar and AED4,645 an ounce, the paper reports. “It brings gold to the public,” Thomas Geissler, the chief executive of Ex...

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will ask Congress to improve childhood nutrition by ridding school vending machines of sugary snacks and drinks and giving school lunch and breakfast to more kids. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the administration will seek changes when Congress overhauls the Childhood Nutrition Act. "Our children deserve better nutrition, and our country's better and brighter future depends on it," Vilsack said. "And with the reauthorization of the Childhood Nutrition Act scheduled this year, there won't be a better time than now to act boldly."

A vending machine selling tiny gold bars was launched at the main railway station in Germany’s Frankfurt-am-Main. The ATM machine, the size of a phone-booth and shaped as a gold bar, was installed in the financial metropolis of the European Union, Itar-Tass news agency reports. The new service appeared because of the aspiration of the Germans to rescue their savings during the crisis converting the funds on their bank accounts to gold bars. About 59 tons of gold bars and coins were sold to natural persons during the first quarter of the current year in Germany. The gold sales exceeded...

You won't find cola, cigarettes or packs of gum in the lonely vending machine on the third floor of the capital's central bus station. Instead, you'll find siddurim, machzorim and other religious books on sale for just NIS 10-15. A vending machine at the Central Bus Station offers travelers Judaic books for sale. Photo: Nadia Beidas The vending machine is there because of Meoros HaDaf HaYomi, an organization dedicated to spreading the study of Judaism in general and Gemara in particular. HaDaf HaYomi has more than 500 classes around the country and publishes books, videos and audio clips on the...

There are a few constants in the discussion of American domestic politics: Rising costs, shady politicians and our Puritan ethics. Gas prices are depressing and politicians are repetitive, so that leaves us with the contraband. The 11 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana have their share of grief from opposition groups ranging from scared parents to DEA officials trying to monitor the production of the leafy painkiller. But besides being controversial, the distribution of marijuana for medicinal purposes has now officially become ridiculous. The boundaries between the justifiable purpose of the substance and the not-so-underground culture of recreational use have...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As popularity contests go, vending machines may no longer be part of the "in" crowd in American high schools. At least, that is the hope of some legislators and health advocates. Last month, for example, the largest U.S. school district -- located in New York City -- decided to ban soft drinks, sweet snacks and candy from its vending machines. And more legislation, both state and local, is expected as legislators and educators battle a growing obesity epidemic. "Over the last two years, we've noticed a vast increase in the number of bills introduced that would...