News In Brief

HELP WANTED: SPELL-CHECKER

If Britain's Department of Education had been graded on its poster campaign for schools, it probably would have flunked. With good intentions, the department printed 48,000 signs trumpeting the virtues of literacy. Alas, there were two misspellings that teachers wasted no time finding: "vocabluary" and "though" instead of "through." The department issued replacements, blamed "proofreading errors," and said it was "pleased that the teachers are reading the posters."

FANS SPEEDING FOR TICKETS

Picture this: ordinary motorists chasing police cars instead of the other way around. That's what happened last week in Nashville, Tenn., after a radio station announced one of the city's finest was carrying two Super Bowl tickets - free for the asking. But to fans' disappointment, the chaos forced cancellation of the promotion an hour later, before anyone could score the passes.

Bank failures: a billion-dollar problem in the US last year

The first US bank failure of the new century, Hartford-Carlisle Savings of Carlisle, Iowa, was announced Jan. 14 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). According to the agency, it could be joined by as many as 19 more before the year is over. Last year, nine failures, including one carried over from late 1998, cost the FDIC slightly more than $1 billion. Last year's failures and the amount (in millions) that each cost the FDIC in 1999:

Golden City Commercial Bank, New York no cost to fund

Victory State Bank, Columbia, S.C. no cost to fund

Zia New Mexico Bank, Tucumcari, N.M. $1.6

Peoples National Bank of Commerce, Miami $2.2

Oceanmark Bank, North Miami Beach, Fla. $4.4

East Texas National Bank, Marshall, Texas $6.2

Pacific Thrift & Loan Co., Woodland Hills, Calif. $50

BestBank, Boulder, Colo. (estimate) $232

First National Bank of Keystone, Keystone, W.Va. (estimate) $750

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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