2008 Woodie Awards
Nation
Woman dies from stingray attack
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MARATHON, Fla. (AP) - A 75-pound stingray killed a Michigan woman yesterday when it flew out of the water and struck her face as she rode a boat in the Florida Keys, officials said. Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in the front seat of a boat going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Money woes persist for home buyers
Mortgage insurers refuse to insure home loans in some ZIP codes
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WASHINGTON - Just when consumers and the U.S. economy need banks to lend more freely, the mortgage industry is making it harder to borrow - even for those with good credit. Mortgage insurers, whose backing is required for borrowers who can't afford the traditional 20 percent down payment on a home, have already flagged nearly a quarter of the nation's ZIP codes where they refuse to insure some home loans.
New York state capitol sex scandels go beyond Spitzer
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ALBANY, N.Y. - Of all the wisecracks heard in the marble halls of New York's Capitol after Gov. Eliot Spitzer's downfall in a call-girl scandal, one jest enlightened as much as it stung: Spitzer's got to be the only guy in Albany who PAYS for sex. It is an open secret that there is a lot of fooling around going on at the statehouse.
