NEWS LITE : HEEERE'S JOHNNY ON THE SPOT.

Johnny Carson has given $25,000 to the cash-strapped widow of Ray Combs. The ex-talk show star gave Combs his first big break in 1986, when he did a comedy stint on the ``Tonight'' show. A day later, Combs landed the host's job on ``Family Feud.''

Combs, who killed himself June 2, left his wife, Debra, about $500,000 in debt and facing a foreclosure on her $400,000 house. She and her six children have been struggling along on Social Security and eating from a Cincinnati-area church food bank, she said.

Circus will applaud its

hometown

Usually it's the circus that comes to town. But in this case, the town's going to the circus.

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus is inviting all 875 residents of McGregor, Iowa, to be honored guests at a 125th anniversary performance in Des Moines on Saturday.

The reason: The Ringling brothers held their first circus in their back yard in this town on the banks of the Mississippi.

The people of McGregor ``feel such an ownership with the whole Ringling concept, understand the spirit of what our performers do everyday. To know we have a whole city in our state that understands that is truly magical,'' said Annie Meacham, a publicist for the circus. ``To know that it started in McGregor, Iowa, it's pretty compelling on the Ringling Bros. side of things.''

``It's pretty awesome,'' said Kaye Morel, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce in McGregor and Marquette. ``We'll try to get as many down there as we possibly can.''

Townspeople will get to mix with the circus performers before the show.

``They'll learn to juggle, spin plates, walk the giant ball, walk the low-wire, do a little trapeze flying, bungee dance,'' Meacham said.

Crime suspects bushwhacked

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. - Four would-be robbers were surprised when a dried-up bush outside a fast-food restaurant turned out to be a shotgun-wielding former Marine decked out like Rambo.

Police Detective Earl Feugill, who had been blending in the shrubbery for 90 minutes, was staking out a Checkers drive-through window Tuesday night after a series of restaurant robberies in southern Florida's Broward County.

When the four - who were armed and wore masks - approached the back door, Feugill sprang up, raised his shotgun and ordered them to freeze.

``They were quite surprised,'' Feugill said.

The disguise was made of burlap attached with silicone to a camouflage outfit. He used it in his Marine days and still hunts with it.

``Scottish gamekeepers used these suits to cull their game herds,'' Feugill said.

James Scott, 19, and three juveniles were charged with armed robbery and resisting arrest. An employee also was charged with armed robbery because she was an accomplice and opened the door for the bandits, police said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Puckering up to make a point

Near the EiffelTower in Paris, Sylvaine Denis and a cow share an air kiss. Farmers trekked from southwestern France to get sympathy for their losses from the British ``mad cow disease'' scare that drove down beef prices.

(2) Pembroke Pines, Fla., police Lt. Joseph Yetto discusses the camouflage coup pulled off by Detective Earl Feugill, left.

Associated Press