"The notes said they weren't suffering, they were just going to sleep."

Peggy Cohen, daughter of Fred Ware Jr., 59, one of 12 who died from carbon monoxide poisoning after explosions trapped them in a Sago, W.Va., mine on Jan. 2. Several of the miners wrote notes to loved ones before they died.

"$150,000"

Opening price in an auction for a 4-foot-long, two-headed albino rat snake, put on sale by the World Aquarium in St. Louis. The aquarium paid $15,000 for the snake after its birth more than six years ago.

"I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked in."

Associated Press editor Patrick Quinn on his reaction when 16-year-old American Farris Hassan arrived unaccompanied at his office in Baghdad last month, saying he wanted to do research and humanitarian work. The Florida teenager, who does not speak Arabic, went to the Middle East without telling anyone, including his parents.

"It would take a miracle to win."

Italian atheist Luigi Cascioli, acknowledging the unlikelihood of victory in his lawsuit charging that the Roman Catholic Church violates an Italian law against "Abuse of Popular Belief" by teaching that Jesus Christ existed. Mr. Cascioli has successfully appealed attempts from the presiding judge to dismiss the case.