NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) -- Kajuan Cornish didn't know he was such a danger on his bicycle, and now he's facing hefty fees that could have paid for him to have a car.

Cornish, 19, doesn't drive and was convicted of reckless driving in Newport News traffic court for a ticket he received after riding his bike across Warwick Boulevard.

U.S. Airstrikes In Iraq Hit Al Qaeda 'Safe Havens'

It's the Third Infantry Division's assault against al Qaeda targets south of Baghdad, part of a nationwide U.S. offensive that began this week, Strassmann reports. The mighty barrage - recalling the Pentagon's "shock and awe" raids during the 2003 invasion - appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week to try to cripple remaining insurgent strongholds. But it also fits into the endgame strategy of last year's U.S. troop buildup, which seeks to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas as a buffer zone for the capital. U.S. commanders are now attempting to subdue the last insurgent footholds around Baghdad before the Pentagon faces a possible reduction in troop strength. Hours after the massive bombs fell, U.S. soldiers set foot in tough terrain outside Baghdad, an area where they haven't gone in a year.

Obama's women reveal his secret

America is the spirit of creative destruction, selecting immigrants willing to turn their back on the tragedy of their own failing culture in return for a new start. Its creative success is so enormous that its global influence hastens the decline of other cultures. For those on the destruction side of the trade, America is a monster. Between half and nine-tenths of the world's 6,700 spoken languages will become extinct in the next century, and the anguish of dying peoples rises up in a global cry of despair. Some of those who listen to this cry become anthropologists, the curators of soon-to-be extinct cultures; anthropologists who really identify with their subjects marry them. Obama's mother, the University of Hawaii anthropologist Ann Dunham, did so twice.

Obama profiles Americans the way anthropologists interact with primitive peoples.

DVD reviews

The second collection of Joan Crawford films is even better than the first, covering a wider range of her career and unearthing more than the usual suspects. The earliest of the films is the pre-Code "Sadie McKee" (1934), with Crawford climbing up the social ranks and having romances along the way. The latest film in the five-disc collection is "Torch Song" (1953), with Crawford as a bitter Broadway star who comes under the spell of a blind piano player. It's total, crazy camp and irresistible. In between, there are good entries that cover Crawford's prime, such as "A Woman's Face" (1941), about a scarred woman whose life is transformed by plastic surgery, and "Strange Cargo" (1940), a religious allegory co-starring Clark Gable. Finally, there's "Flamingo Road" (1949), with Crawford as a city woman who finds herself stuck in a small Southern town.

TALK ABOUT IT

While the liberal establishment may be conflicted over whether it wants Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee, there's no doubt which Republican it favors.

John McCain is the liberal elite's go-to guy in the GOP. They believe he'll be there for them when they need him.

That was the essential message of last week's New York Times editorial endorsing McCain for the Republican nomination.

"With a record of working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation, he would offer a choice to a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field," said the Times. "We have shuddered at McCain's occasional, tactical pander to the right because he has demonstrated that he has the character to stand on principle."

What the Times is saying here is that it does not take McCain's conservative campaign-season rhetoric seriously.

Crime journal

Lee County deputies arrested Joshua Andrew McKie, 22, on Tuesday evening and recovered some of the stolen money, authorities said. A man claiming to have a gun robbed the SunTrust at about 9:15 Tuesday morning. A nearby school, Forest Ridge Elementary, went on lockdown. Deputies later identified the robber as McKie, who was most recently living in Hernando, and issued a warrant for his arrest. Citrus County investigators also learned that McKie planned to move to the Fort Myers area and tipped off Lee County authorities of where he might be. Deputies found him in that neighborhood, the Sheriff's Office said. Citrus County officials plan to move McKie back to the Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto on the charge of armed bank robbery.

A pretrial hearing for Nick Bollea was delayed Tuesday morning until Feb.