Update on the latest news, sports, business and entertainment:

(Stations: Please substitute the following for V4725, slugged Right Now, which moved at 7:53 p.m. Eastern time. The new version CORRECTS last story. Should read "bases-loaded walk" sted "bases loaded")


SWINE Flu Swine flu vaccine scarcer than expected for now

Washington (AP) The government is warning that swine flu vaccine supplies will be even more scarce than expected through this month.

Manufacturer delays mean 28 million to 30 million doses, at most, will be divided around the country by the end of the month, not the 40 million-plus that states had been expecting. The new count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention means anxiously awaited flu-shot clinics in some parts of the country may have to be postponed.

Swine flu is causing unprecedented illness for so early in the fall. Especially worrisome is the number of child deaths.

The CDC says 86 children have died of swine flu in the U.S. 43 of those deaths reported in September and early October alone.

Overall, what the CDC calls the 2009 H1N1 flu is causing widespread disease in 41 states, and about 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illness. Those levels are not normally seen until much later in the fall.

BOY IN BALLOON Sheriff says no indication that balloon ordeal was a hoax

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) The Larimer County sheriff in Colorado says there's no indication a family was carrying out a hoax when they reported their 6-year-old son was in a helium balloon that floated away from their home.

The boy was found hiding in the home's garage Thursday afternoon, hours after the balloon launched and traveled more than 50 miles.

Sheriff Jim Alderden said Friday the suggestion that the boy, Falcon Heene, was coached to hide seems inconceivable. He says the boy thought he was responsible for the balloon coming untied and hid because he was afraid he'd be in trouble.

Questions were raised about the incident after the boy said "we did this for a show" in a live interview with CNN. The boys' parents are storm chasers who appeared in the ABC reality show "Wife Swap."


OBAMA-COMMUNITY SERVICE Obama urges people to serve their communities

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) President Barack Obama is urging the public to step up and serve their communities.

Speaking at a community service forum in Texas, Obama said there is a lot government can't and shouldn't do and that's where active, engaged citizens including young people have a role to play.

He says government can build the best schools but can't run the PTA.

Obama signed legislation in April tripling the size of the AmeriCorps community service program. He also launched a "United We Serve" campaign that ended with a national day of service on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Obama appeared with former President George H.W. Bush, who 20 years ago launched the "thousand points of light" volunteer service movement.

health care-SILENCING INSURERS Medicare backs off on order about lobbying seniors

WASHINGTON (AP) The Obama administration is backing away from a ban on insurance company mailings to seniors warning of dire Medicare cuts if health care overhaul legislation is approved.

Medicare said Friday it's OK for insurance companies to lobby seniors, provided the Medicare beneficiaries have given advance approval and no federal funds or data are used. Last month, Medicare had ordered a halt to such mailings after a Democratic lawmaker complained about a misleading flyer.

Republicans were calling the ban a "gag order" that violated free speech rights.

MADOFF'S BEACH HOUSE NEW: Madoff's Long Island beach home sells for $9.41M

NEW YORK (AP) Federal marshals say Bernard Madoff's Long Island beach house has sold for $9.41 million.

The U.S. Marshals Service put the 3,000-square-foot house on the market Sept. 1 to help repay victims of Madoff's massive fraud. The four-bedroom house is set amid the dunes in Montauk, N.Y., a beach community east of the Hamptons.

The home sold on Sept. 18. The Corcoran Group the broker that sold the home said at the time that the property sold for above the $8.75 million asking price.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme.

Madoff's Manhattan penthouse and waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., remain on the market for $9.9 million and $8.5 million respectively.

SC STUDENT DIES SC teen shot dead after stabbing officer at school

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) A coroner says a South Carolina police officer shot and killed a 16-year-old student who stabbed him at a high school.

Horry County Coroner Robert Edge says Trevor Varinecz (VAIR-ih-nez) died of multiple gun shot wounds Friday.

Authorities said Varinecz pulled a knife and fought briefly with an officer as school started Friday morning at Carolina Forest High School in Conway.

Horry County schools spokeswoman Teal Britton said the boy asked to speak to the officer. She says the teen stabbed the officer after the two went into an office.

A hospital spokeswoman said the officer was treated for his wounds and released.

The officer has not been identified. A woman who answered the phone at the teen's house said the family had no comment.

Iraq CONTRACTOR-ASSAULT Ex-contractor pleads guilty to sex assault in Iraq

HOUSTON (AP) A former civilian defense contractor accused of sexually assaulting a female co-worker at an air base in Iraq has pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact.

David Charles Breda Jr. of Pearland, Texas, was ordered Friday to remain in federal custody pending sentencing Jan. 15.

Prosecutors say Breda jumped and fondled the woman in October 2008 at Camp Al Asad, Iraq, where he worked for a subsidiary of Houston-based KBR Inc.

The 34-year-old's guilty plea could mean up to two years in prison and lifetime status as a registered sexual offender.

The indictment didn't identify the woman in the case, and it's not known whether she also worked for the contractor.

REDNECK VIDEO-LAWMAKER Kan. lawmaker reposts revised anti-Obama `RedNeck Rap'

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas legislator has reposted his "RedNeck Rap" video criticizing President Barack Obama on YouTube.

The video drew criticism because it shows Republican state Rep.

Bill Otto wearing a hat describing opossum as "the other dark meat." A national civil rights group assailed the video as racist.

Otto's reposted version contains a 3-minute introduction in which he explains the coming video and says the criticism is unfair. He explains the hat is a reference to his own "Ozark-American" heritage, not Obama.

Otto posted the video last month, but it was taken down Thursday evening. He said Friday that his two adult daughters had removed it because they didn't like him being labeled a racist.

TRAIN STATION SHOOTING NEW: Judge grants change of venue in BART shooting case

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) A judge has agreed to move the trial for a former transit officer charged in the killing of an unarmed man.

In Friday's ruling, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson says the murder trial of Johannes Mehserle will be moved out of Oakland.

The 27-year-old man is charged with the shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station on New Year's Day.

Mehserle's attorney, Michael Rains, had argued for a change of venue in the case because of what he described as excessive media coverage and racial tensions.

FATHER-PRIEST NEW: Catholic priest who fathered child is suspended

ST. LOUIS (AP) A Wisconsin diocese has suspended a Catholic priest who fathered a child during a five-year relationship.

The Diocese of Superior said late Friday that the Rev. Henry Willenborg had been suspended with pay.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests had urged the move Friday in St. Louis. SNAP also wants church officials to help the mother and their now 22-year-old son, who has cancer.

The demands were in response to a New York Times story Friday about the Ashland, Wis., pastor.

Pat Bond, now of O'Fallon, Mo., has received about $100,000 in financial support from the Franciscans, Willenborg's religious order.

She seeks more, and says the church has made her and her son beggars. The Franciscans say they went beyond what the law required.

BBNNLCS NEW: Dodgers rally, beat Phils and tie NLCS at 1-all

LOS ANGELES (AP) Andre Ethier drew a bases-loaded walk from J.A. Happ that capped a two-run rally in the eighth inning and sent the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 Friday to even the NL championship series at one game each.

Shut out on two hits for seven innings by Pedro Martinez, the Dodgers came back against Philadelphia's bullpen. They did it with second baseman Chase Utley's throwing error, a bunt, a single by pinch-hitter Jim Thome and two walks.

Game 3 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 10-16-09 1940CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list