DISCUSSIONS: SOUNDS DELICIOUS; Blackalicious

Tim Johnstone (AKA Record Exchange Guru and DJ) uses his insider knowledge to tell you what the folks are listening to.

SOUNDS DELICIOUS: The band that blew off Boise recently when the Sno-Core Icicle Ball came through town (they canceled at the last minute) debuts in The Record Exchange's top ten this week. We are talking about Blackalicious and their new CD Blazing Arrow which obviously connected with our customers. For those who aren't up to speed: Blackalicious is about the beat and the rhymes and the street stylings and all that but they also about the message. They espouse the positive social agenda that bands like Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy championed. They've got some …

Ramos under pressure as Spurs defend League Cup

Seven months after guiding Tottenham to a memorable League Cup final triumph over Chelsea, Juande Ramos could be in danger of losing his job if Spurs surrender that title on Wednesday.

Last in the Premier League, Ramos and his players were booed off the field after Tottenham was held 0-0 at home by Wigan on Sunday. Spurs now travel to Newcastle in the League Cup third round, hoping to revive their season.

The good news for Ramos: Newcastle is also in trouble at next-to-last in the league standings.

After Tottenham failed to score against Wigan, there was speculation that Ramos _ who left Sevilla last October to replace Martin Jol at Tottenham _ …

Cueto shakes off early home run, shuts down Bucs

PITTSBURGH - Johnny Cueto vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates is quicklybecoming one of baseball's biggest mismatches.

Cueto dominated the Pirates again over six innings, Paul Janishhomered and drove in four runs and the Cincinnati Reds assuredthemselves of staying atop the National League Central with a 9-4victory over Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Rookie Juan Francisco had three hits and drove in a run in hissecond start of the season. NL batting leader Joey Votto doubledtwice to raise his average to .324 after a sore right wrist kept himout of the lineup for two games.

Andrew McCutchen, back in the lineup 17 hours after being struckin the neck by a 90-mph fastball from …

Escaped Colombian Hostage Speaks Out

BOGOTA, Colombia - Three American military contractors held hostage by leftist rebels for more than four years could be killed if government troops attempt to rescue them, an escaped Colombian hostage said during a television interview.

The comments on Friday by police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao, who spent eight years in captivity, came on the same day President Alvaro Uribe ordered his military to intensify efforts to free the hostages.

In a 40-minute interview with state-run television, Pinchao said the three Americans - Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell - arrived 10 months ago at the rebel camp where he, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and …

Princeton U's 1st tenured female professor dies

PRINCETON, New Jersey (AP) — The first woman to hold a tenured faculty position at Princeton University has died. Sociologist Suzanne Keller was 83.

The New Jersey university announced Tuesday that Keller — who moved to the U.S. from Austria as a child — died of a stroke Dec. 9 in Miami.

Keller went to Princeton as a visiting lecturer in 1966. She was appointed to a …

Rivers burst, floods kill at least 28 in Pakistan

Rivers burst their banks during monsoon rains in Pakistan this week, washing away streets, battering a dam and killing at least 28 people in the northwest, officials said Thursday.

In the Peshawar area, two elderly men clung to a fence post and each other as a raging torrent swept over their heads, footage on Pakistan's Dunya TV showed. Two oxen were swept away in the same gusher.

People were forced to trudge through knee-deep water in some streets in the Swat Valley. A newly constructed part of a dam in the Charsadda district …

BUTTS OUT, BREAKFAST IN

F�D NEWS

BUTTS OUT, BREAKFAST IN

Urban legend has it that a cantankerous monster, controlled by the petulant whims of a dining out public, consumes and destroys area restaurants neglected by owners and managers who choose the path of sameness rather than fully embracing the vicissitude that is "the biz." About this time last year, it looked as though O'Michael's Pub and Grill would fall victim to such a destructive plight-until it was rescued by new ownership. Now, change is on the make.

This summer I began a personal Monday-night tradition involving a pint of Guinness and what I like to call Boise's "Best Outta Control Nachos." (And if we could relive the Best Of …