Lawsuit targets W.R. Grace

Trenton, N.J. The former operator of an industrial plant in Hamilton Township falsified documents to state environmental authorities about asbestos-contaminated soil, according to a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday by the state attorney general.

The complaint alleges that upon closing the plant in 1995, W.R. Grace & Co. falsely certified to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that asbestos contamination there had been cleaned up.

But Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said Wednesday that more than 15,000 tons of contaminated soil remained at the site, with some soil samples containing concentrations of 40 percent of the cancer-causing material.

A Grace spokesman did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

W.R. Grace owned the plant, where it processed vermiculite ore shipped from a Montana mine, for about 47 years starting in 1948. The ore from the now-closed mine near Libby, in northwestern Montana, was found to be contaminated with a dangerous form of asbestos, and hundreds of people in the area have been sickened or died as a result of exposure to asbestos in the ore.

Neil Armstrong upset over hair sale

Cincinnati Apollo moon mission astronaut Neil Armstrong has threatened to sue a barbershop owner who sold the spaceman’s hair trimmings for $3,000. The buyer said Wednesday he won’t return the locks but will donate the purchase price to charity.

Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, used to go to Marx’s Barber Shop in Lebanon, Ohio, about once a month for a cut. That stopped when he learned that owner Marx Sizemore had collected his hair clippings from the floor and sold them in May 2004 for $3,000.

The buyer, John Reznikoff of Westport, Conn., is a collector listed by the Guinness World Records as having the largest collection of hair from historical celebrities. His collection, insured for $1 million, purportedly includes hair from Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and Napoleon.

Sizemore, who admits selling the hair, said Armstrong asked him to try to retrieve it. He said he told Armstrong that the buyer did not want to give up the locks. Then, Sizemore said he got a letter from the former astronaut’s attorney contending that the sale violated an Ohio law designed to protect the rights of famous people.

The letter threatens legal action if Sizemore does not return the hair or contribute his profit to charity and asks Sizemore to pay Armstrong’s legal expenses. But Sizemore said he will not pay and has already spent most of the $3,000 on bills.

Jackson jurors receive instructions

Santa Maria, Calif. Jurors in the Michael Jackson trial were given the instructions Wednesday that will govern their deliberations into whether the pop star molested a teenage boy.

Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville told jurors that closing arguments will begin today and they will be given the case sometime Friday.

Jackson sat stone-still for nearly two hours as the judge read lengthy instructions hammered out by attorneys over more than a day. Jackson appeared glum as he left the courthouse, rushing past reporters at the end of the day.

Team’s training video includes porn

San Francisco An in-house video meant to prepare San Francisco 49ers players for dealing with the media backfired on the NFL team Wednesday when it was learned that it featured racist jokes, lesbian soft-porn and topless blondes.

The 15-minute video, a copy of which was sent anonymously to the San Francisco Chronicle, features the team’s public relations director, Kirk Reynolds, impersonating Mayor Gavin Newsom in the mayor’s office and other places around town.

Now the mayor and the city’s gay leaders are outraged, the team’s owners are embarrassed and Reynolds is leaving the organization.

Reynolds called it a “terrible mistake.” He said he made the video to coach players on handling media questions in diverse San Francisco – and never meant it for public consumption.

The video was shown to players last August during training camp in Santa Clara, where it was part of a diversity workshop.