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BALDWIN, Pa. (UPI) – A Baldwin, Pa., man says his house caught fire after it was struck by lightning for the second time in its history.

The home, which was built by the man’s father, was previously struck by lightning when he lived there as a child, WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh reported.

The homeowner said a neighbor helped him escape the house after the most recent lightning strike Wednesday night. Firefighters put out the blaze.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

Hillsborough County deputies lead suspended teacher Stephanie Ragusa to a vehicle Monday. Authorities say she had sex Monday with a former student while out on bail on charges that she had sex with two middle school students.

TAMPA - Prosecutors are trying to keep teacher Stephanie Ragusa behind bars until she stands trial on charges including unlawful sexual activity with minors.

Ragusa, 29, appeared in court this morning for a hearing on whether she should be released on bail. The hearing was delayed until Friday so her attorney has time to prepare.

She was arrested Monday for the third time in six weeks in connection with allegations she had sex with two high school boys. This time, a sheriff’s detective spotted her coming out of a student’s house and learned they had just had sex again, according to an arrest report.

Ragusa was arrested a second time April 15 and a third time about 1 p.m. Monday after sheriff’s Detective Travis Valles saw her walking out of the student’s house.

After Ragusa noticed the investigator’s vehicle parked outside, she ran to the student’s front door. Valles ordered her not to go inside.

The teen later told the investigator that Ragusa had come to his home about noon and started talking about the criminal case and that he and Ragusa later went to his bedroom.

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A million dollars is being offered to the first person to develop and sell chicken without the chicken itself having to die – in other words, meat that has been grown in a laboratory.

So-called ‘in-vitro meat’ would be grown from stem cells of chickens and thus produce real flesh without the need to farm live birds.

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) says it will give the prize money to anyone who grows the meat and sells it commercially in at least 10 US states by 30 June 2012. The meat will have to pass a taste test after being cooked to a fried chicken recipe and given to a panel of 10 judges.

The move has created controversy in some vegetarian circles for seeming to sanction the idea of eating meat. But Peta insists that its strategy would have huge animal welfare benefits. ‘As many people refuse to kick their meat addictions, Peta is willing to help them gain access to flesh that doesn’t cause suffering and death,’ a spokesman said.

Though it sounds like science fiction, the concepts behind growing meat in a laboratory are sound. Artificial animal organs, such as hearts, have already been grown. Stem cells from chickens – or sheep or cows – would have to be seeded in a nutrient-rich mixture and then grown on a solid framework. That framework would have to stretch and bend in order to flex the meat and cause it to develop into muscle. That muscle can then eventually be harvested as meat.

Some very small quantities of such meat have already been grown. The first edible in-vitro flesh was developed from a goldfish in 2000. Numerous companies and scientific research groups are already exploring the field.

However, the largest obstacle remains the expense of developing artificial meat. One estimate was that current technology could produce 250g of beef but at a cost of $1m.

However, Peta is hoping that the offer of a prize will spur research that could bring down costs dramatically. A similar process happened in space research, when the publicity surrounding the offer of cash to developers of private space vehicles led to a boom in the industry.

Fowl facts

• Chickens are the most common birds in the world.
• Chickens bred for meat are broilers.
• The forecast for worldwide broiler consumption this year is 71 million tonnes – this includes a 10 per cent increase in China alone.
• Around 30 billion chickens are eaten each year, more than 1,000 a second.
• There are more than 150 varieties of domestic chicken, all of which can be genetically traced to Gallus gallus, the red jungle fowl. The common domestic chicken is known as gallus domesticus
• Alektorophobia is a fear of chickens
• The Romans considered chickens to be sacred to Mars, the god of war.
• In Zambia, it is a mark of respect to offer guests chicken for their first meal.
• The chicken is the closest living relative of T. rex.
• Chickens dream.
• Nine is the largest number of yolks found in an egg.
• A lifetime’s waste from one chicken can power a 100-watt bulb for five hours.

Richard Rogers