The results of a much-awaited study could hardly be worse for Merck's big-selling cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin.

A small 208-person trial that used ultrasound to examine arteries found that Zetia was clearly inferior to a version of the old drug niacin in preventing clogged arteries. Moreover, in a surprise finding, patients on niacin appeared to have fewer heart attacks and were less likely to die from heart disease than those who got Zetia. It is unusual for such a small trial to show a difference in heart attack rates.

While the results are hardly definitive, top cardiologists said the findings provide yet another hint that Zetia--and its sister drug Vytorin--may do little or nothing to prevent clogged arteries and heart attacks above and beyond what cholesterol lowering "statins" like Lipitor can do alone. Cardiologists also say it provides evidence that niacin is not being used aggressively enough.

A body tentatively identified as Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education, was found in the Chicago River near the Merchandise Mart this morning, police sources said.

A blue Cadillac registered to Scott, 60, was found parked next to a trash bin yards away from the river.

A police spokesman said the identification was preliminary. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not yet positively identified the body.

Scott’s family, concerned about his whereabouts, had contacted police Sunday night, reporting he was missing.

After learning that he suffers from the fictional Groat's disease (last mentioned in Season 2 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Michael Richards once again finds himself in the line of fire for a racially fueled attack on an African American ... who just happens to be Larry's house guest Leon (the always hysterical J.B. Smoove), who posed as Groat's disease sufferer Danny Duberstein but who looked more like Louis Farrakhan from the Nation of Islam than a Jewish CPA.

Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said Bill Belichick's doomed decision to go for it on fourth down against the Colts on Sunday night was "the worst decision" in his coaching career.

Belichick said he "tried to win the game on that play."

"I thought we could make the yard," he said. "We had a good play, we completed it. I don't know how we could not get a yard on that completion, but I guess we didn't."

The secret life of Dr Brooke Magnanti, an obscure research scientist, is revealed today as she unmasks herself as the writer behind the pseudonym Belle de Jour.

Her identity has been one of the great literary mysteries of the decade after the publication of bestselling books about her secret life as a prostitute.
Magnanti is a respected specialist in developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology in a hospital research group in Bristol. Six years ago, in the final stages of her PhD thesis, she ran out of money and turned to prostitution through a London escort agency, charging £300 an hour. Already an experienced science blogger, she began writing about her experiences in a web diary that was adapted into books and a television drama starring Billie Piper.

There has been huge speculation about Belle’s real identity, including a theory that she was a well-known author because of the quality of her writing. The blog and books were also criticised for suggesting prostitution could be glamorous. Last week Magnanti contacted one of Belle’s sternest critics, India Knight, the Sunday Times columnist, saying she wanted to reveal her identity.

Having spent her teens bouncing between tours and continents, Wie, 20, had finally found some stability this season as a full-fledged LPGA rookie. Even before her victory at the penultimate tournament of the year it had been a successful campaign defined by solid results, new friendships and a starring role at the Solheim Cup, during which Wie was overcome by a fist-pumping passion that was utterly foreign for a player who has always worn an icy gameface. The only thing missing was an individual victory, a familiar story for a player, who until Sunday had not won a tournament of any kind since the 2003 U.S. Publinks Amatuer, when she was a 13 year-old with a impossibly perfect swing and endless future.

Back then no one could have imaged another victory would be such a long time coming. But Wie used the many blown chances and missed opportunities as a journey of self-discovery, and along the way the giggly, goofy tween phenom grew into a self-possessed young woman. A few weeks before leaving for Mexico a reflective Wie told me in an exclusive interview, "I feel like I have talent. I know how to play this game. There's just one last huge hurdle to overcome. I've been trying my best to figure it out and I think what it comes down to is I needed to believe in myself a little more. So now when I play I'm putting myself out there more and really putting myself on the line. The stakes are higher for me but I'm okay with that. I'm so focused on winning and to get that victory I have to give it everything I have. There's no holding back anymore."

The studio said it regretted causing offence and has abandoned plans to use the revised poster in other countries... A Universal spokesman said the revised advert aimed 'to simplify the poster to actors who are most recognisable in international markets'.

Williams tested his knee on the field during pregame warmups and things went well enough that he'll be in the lineup, according to John Clayton and Adam Schefter of ESPN. Williams missed practice on Friday and was limited earlier in the week.

Williams has run for 768 yards and seven touchdowns this season. The Falcons have given up 123.5 yards per game on the ground so far this season. His running mate, Jonathan Stewart, is also listed as questionable and there's no word yet on his status for Sunday's game.

James "Jamey" Clement Jr. is a sixth-generation descendant of Capt. King, and now chairman of the board of King Ranch, said he didn't realize the specialness of the place where he grew up until he left:

"Well, having grown up here, it was like not knowing anything different. I went away to school at an early age. And so I started to appreciate that. And everybody always knew of King Ranch at the time.

"I made a mistake when we had our 150th anniversary. Somebody quoted me as saying the ranch [was] never for sale in my lifetime. And one of my cousins called me and said, 'You're mistaken: it's never for sale."

One big reason the ranch has prospered is because of what was discovered beneath the old desert of the dead. Water for one thing. And then, more importantly, oil:

"Well, the King Ranch wasn't just about ranching. It was one of the big oil fields in Texas," said Gwynne. "They eventually drilled 3,700 wells. The oil revenues to Exxon in the '80s, when the price went up, were $600 million, of which the King Ranch got $100 million of that."

And it was Bob Kleberg, Richard King's grandson, a big-living, bigger-than-life character himself who turned the oil deal:

"It's really hard to know where to begin with him," Gwynne said. "He negotiated the largest private oil lease in history. He would hold court sometimes at the main ranchhouse where he would have, you know, potentates from the Middle East, Bing Crosby and Will Rogers. And this was the life."

The story is on display in the nearby company town named - what else - Kingsville, where archivists at the King Ranch Museum carefully preserve reminders of the past . . . how Bob Kleberg - Mr. Bob - made it on the cover of Time Magazine in 1947 . . . how he expanded the enterprise worldwide to 15 million acres, with holdings in Argentina, Australia and Brazil.