Alternative Cancer Prostate Treatment

Shares in QLT Inc. shot up almost 25 per cent Wednesday after the company put itself on the auction block with the announcement it is exploring strategic alternatives that could include the sale of some or all of its assets.

The Vancouver biotechnology pioneer and University of B.C. spinoff, which rocketed to success with its anti-blindness treatment Visudyne, has been struggling as competition for the drug eroded revenues and new initiatives in its pipeline have failed to fill the gap. It has also faced costly court challenges related to Visudyne and to its prostate cancer drug Eligard.

Tomah physician assistant’s play tells story behind breast cancer

Nancy Heerens-Knudson says she is a paranoid health-care provider.When the physician assistant suspects breast cancer in a patient, Heerens-Knudson will make sure she goes the distance to find it or rule it out.
"If there is a lump, I'll want to look at it again and again," she said. "I think too many doctors tend to pass it off as nothing, but I'm very extra careful for good reasons."At age 58, Heerens-Knudson is a 22-year breast cancer survivor. She believes physicians should give women a breast exam every time they are seen."The breast check should be a routine check," she said. "Women should insist on it."She dishes out warnings to patients and physicians alike. "The No. 1 most grievous error that medical folks make is to minimize someone's concern about a breast lump," Heerens-Knudson said.

Retirees skip tube, see drama firsthand

OAKLAND — An 8-year-old boy with a Russian accent testifies in a courtroom as his ashen father — accused of killing the boy's mother — looks on.

With dark hair and serious eyes, the boy steps off the stand, sits on the floor, and curls into a fetal position.

This, he says, is the shape he saw his father carrying down the stairs the night his mother disappeared.

The scene is straight out of the television show "Law & Order," full of drama, mystery and heartbreak.

But on a recent Tuesday, it unfolds in Department 9 on the fifth floor of the Rene C. Davidson building of the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland.

And, like its television counterpart, it too has followers.

"We wanted to see the real thing," says Juanita Hornage, who has been retired for nine years, but nonetheless dresses smartly for court in a golden blouse and a necklace of carved wooden savannah animals.

Internet EarthLink Ready to Bail on Municipal WiFi

EarthLink decides that municipal WiFi isn't adding value to its shareholders and throws a $40 million USD price tag on its operations. Municipal WiFi continues to struggle in the United States. EarthLink, one of the biggest proponents of municipal WiFi services, announced plans to eliminate nearly half of its workforce in late August. The company stands to lose 900 employees and four offices before the close of 2007 as a result of the cuts.

Richard Roberts issues rebuttal to 35 allegations

Read the latest stories about the ORU lawsuit, examine the lawsuit and other documents and watch slide shows and video.



Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts issued a point-by-point rebuttal Friday to 35 allegations contained in a lawsuit alleging a variety of wrongdoing.

Roberts and his attorney, Frank Hagedorn, released the document to the Tulsa World. It contains responses to allegations contained in two versions of a document allegedly prepared by Stephanie Cantees, the sister of Roberts' wife, Lindsay. The versions were attached to a lawsuit filed by three former professors against Roberts, ORU and other defendants.

Roberts told the World on Friday that he saw some of the Cantees memo about three years ago but other parts of it were not written by her.

Fed rate is cut 0.25%

At the heart of today's economic problems is a severe housing slump, and the packaging of shaky mortgages into bonds of dubious value. Banks holding those suspect notes fear that they'll have to write down their asset values, and rather than take on more risks with new loans, some are hoarding their cash reserves.

That has spawned mounting concerns that credit markets, where banks make short-term loans to corporations for financing day-to-day operations, may cease functioning.

That's why some economists want the Fed to slash the discount rate more aggressively. The rate at the Fed's discount window is more expensive than in private markets, thereby earning the federal government a premium when banks borrow.

But if the Fed were to lower that discount rate, perhaps even below the federal funds rate, it would remove the stigma of borrowing from the government, spur borrowing and enliven credit markets.