(CNN) -- Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has been designated head coach-in-waiting by the university, expected to take over the Longhorns when coach Mack Brown retires. Muschamp is in his first year with Texas, but athletic director DeLoss Dodds said Tuesday he and Brown know they want to keep him at Texas. To do that, they will more than double his salary from $425,000 to $900,000 in January. He will remain defensive coordinator.
Dodds said he wants the 57-year-old Brown to coach for a long time but said he wanted to line up Muschamp now to avoid the ``trauma'' of a coaching search when the day comes that Brown steps down.

The No. 4 Longhorns (10-1) are preparing for their Thanksgiving night game against rival Texas A&M.

Some people collect sports memorabilia, or rare coins, or sea shells from the beach at Ocean City. Wilson Watson collects sentences.

He taught local community college students for 35 years and has now slipped gently into retirement. But his students’ sentences trail behind him like ship’s anchors, evidence of the sinking of American writing skills.

Or, as one of Watson’s scholars wrote so succinctly: “Some people use bad language and is not even aware of the fact.”

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If you've had an allergic reaction to one of your Victoria's Secret bras, it looks like you're not alone! A number of ladies from several states have filed complaints against the underwear chain for hawking allegedly flawed bras.

In fact, so many women are coming out with complaints that it looks as if Victoria Secret may have a class action lawsuit on its hands.

An attorney for one of the claimants says formaldehyde is making its way into Victoria's Secret bras which could explain the allergic reactions (i.e. welts and rashes) bra wearers have come down with.

Formaldehyde? Really???

 

 

Britain is facing a sperm donor shortage after reversing confidentiality laws and limiting the number of women who can use sperm from one donor, fertility experts warned Wednesday.

Britain in 2005 changed the law protecting anonymous sperm donors and allowed children to learn the identity of donor fathers - one reason, fertility experts say, there are fewer donors now.

"The only countries that seem to have enough sperm are those that pay - like the U.S. and Spain - or the countries that retain anonymity," said Allan Pacey, a member of the British Fertility Society that warned of the shortage in the British Medical Journal.

Here's a look at some bills filed for the 2009 legislative session, which begins Jan. 13 here in Austin:

- A two-year moratorium on state college tuition increases would also limit the amount university tuition could increase in the future.

- Critics want to abolish the Trans-Texas Corridor superhighway, a top initiative of Republican Gov. Rick Perry. Rural Texans have objected to the proposed stretch of toll roads, rail lines, pipelines and utility lines that could cost up to $200 billion and require almost 600,000 acres.

- A proposed constitutional amendment would curb future business tax increases. The plan, which would require voter approval, is designed to require a three-fourths majority of the Texas House before the state franchise tax could be raised.

- A constitutional amendment, requiring voter approval, would affirm that Texans have ``the right to hunt and fish in this state.''

- A bill would create a law ...

By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, far worse than economists expected and stark proof the economy is deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid pace.

 

The new snapshot, released Friday by the Labor Department, showed the crucial jobs market quickly eroding. The jobless rate zoomed to 6.5 percent in October from 6.1 percent in September, matching the rate in March 1994.

Unemployment has now surpassed the high seen after the last recession in 2001. The jobless rate peaked at 6.3 percent in June 2003.