Balance sheet.

Wax On

Starting August 1, North Dakotans can legally get a bikini wax from state-licensed cosmetologists. Previously, the nether regions were not a recognized service area.

On Principle

National Security Council anti-terror official Rand Beers takes a stand and resigns, reportedly over concerns that the war on terror will take a backseat to the war in Iraq. Sure enough: Soon after, 4,000 Marines are switched from counter-terror to Iraq.

Why Not-Fi

McDonald's, Hilton, and Marriott are among the chains that join Starbucks in building Wi-Fi networks. Wireless Net connections attract customers, so a public network built with private dollars is evolving--and the cost should be recouped through higher sales.

Agri-Help

Big agricultural companies get behind the African Agricultural Technology Foundation and promise to work toward improving food production on the famine-plagued continent. They'll focus on such crops as cowpeas, chickpeas, cassava, and sweet potatoes, which haven't yet been studied to improve yields.

Backseat Drivers

Attempts to allow cops to pull over unbuckled drivers fail in Virginia, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. It could be that the buckle-enforcers' public relations approach needs work. "I sympathize with people who don't want to be told what to do, but it's not about them," Jeffrey Runge of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has explained.

Choice Decision

Florida's school voucher program quickly exhausts the $50 million budgeted for 15,000 scholarships for low-income kids to attend private schools. With long waiting lists after 55,000 applications, the state is confronted with proof of the little-advertised program's popularity.

Big Squeeze

The FBI and INS tag-team foreign students at the University of Idaho to get around Fifth Amendment protections. Student visas require holders to answer questions about immigration. But FBI queries about criminal matters normally require a court order and/or a chance to talk to an attorney.

Professor Obvious

University of California--Davis psychology professor Gregory Herek conducts a national opinion survey to find out that male respondents feel better toward bisexual women and lesbians than toward bisexual and gay men. Herek also discovers that liberals feel better about gays and lesbians than conservatives do.

Search Engine

Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has authorized more than 170 emergency electronic surveillance and physical searches of suspected terrorists and other national security threats. In the previous 20 years, 47 such searches were green-lighted.

House Arrest

New Jersey will respond to any national "code red" anti-terror stance by forbidding all "non-critical functions." The state anti-terror czar adds, "You literally are staying home, is what happens, unless you are required to be out."

Disinformation Center

The Justice Department says the FBI no longer must confirm that the data it enters into the National Crime Information Center is accurate. Remember that when you are denied a job due to your involvement in a llama rustling ring.

Digital Anvil

German copyright holders are lobbying their government to slap a $13 "copyright tax" on all computers sold in the country. IBM, Microsoft, and others take the matter to German court--before the idea spreads.