The food-stamp economy
On the last day of every month, shoppers at Walmart load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. Is this the new normal in America? Full Article
Actor Dennis Farina gets probation on gun charge
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Dennis Farina was sentenced to two years probation on Thursday after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors for carrying a loaded handgun into Los Angeles International Airport in May.
Farina, 64, a former cop who played a New York detective on the television crime series "Law & Order," was also ordered to pay $1,991 in fines and penalties, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.
The actor pleaded no contest, which is roughly equivalent to a guilty plea, to carrying a weapon into a secure area of an airport. Other charges of possessing a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded weapon in a public place were dismissed.
Security guards stopped Farina at the airport on May 11 after they discovered he was carrying a .22 caliber, semi-automatic pistol in his briefcase.
Farina was scheduled to catch a flight home to Chicago. He told police that he brought the gun with him on a drive from Arizona to Los Angeles and forgot he had it.
The next day he issued a statement blaming the incident on his "own stupidity."
Farina entered the plea through his attorney, and was not required to attend the court hearing, Mateljan said.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
