$500 for a catcher’s mask stuffed with cotton

Here’s the latest on the swine flu front. Pope Benedict is asking other religious leaders to join him in allowing their church members to ask for blessings from more than one God if someone sneezes.

Because of the potential swine flu pandemic, there’s an acute shortage of surgical masks. It’s so bad, a seller on eBay got $500 for a catcher’s mask stuffed with cotton.

The swine flu is causing problems on Wall Street. Today the Federal government received a request for bailout money from the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 along ideological lines that federal law allows the banning of the F-word and the S-word in live broadcasts. Words beginning with the other 24 letters are safe, although the judges are keeping a close eye on Q when preceded by the number 4.

England's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. The pope cleared his schedule for the entire day, but at the last minute Charles changed his mind about going to confession.

A Pittsburgh elementary school suspended five fourth-graders on weapons charges for making slingshots out of pencils, rubber bands and paper clips. The kids’ legal fees will be paid by the junior branch of the NRA, the National Rubber-Band-on-the-Finger-Gun Association.

A man in Italy received an eight-month suspended jail sentence for rolling a half million colored balls down Rome's famed Spanish Steps in a political protest. Now he’s being sued for psychological damages by a group of jugglers who happened to be walking by.

A Los Angeles court granted Lakers star Derek Fisher's request for a temporary restraining order against a woman Fisher says has stalked him for years. He’s tried to avoid her, but she figured out how to get around his pick-and-roll with Kobe Bryant.

A Chicago man’s attempt to open a hotdog stand manned by former convicts is being blocked by a Chicago alderman who objects to its name: Felony Franks. Also, the Republican Party claims it registered that name in case Barney Frank ever gets arrested.

Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter announced he’s switching parties and becoming a Democrat. Republicans are so upset, they’re spreading a false rumor that he’s only doing it to get a presidential pardon for his brother, Phil Spector.