Jell O

A listener contacted KNX radio to thank the station for persuading her to try Jell-O, which she had heard advertised on "The Jack Benny Show" during the station's Drama Hour. Luckily, the boxes she buys aren't as old as the commercials, which--like the Benny show--are vintage, having aired in the 1940s and 1950s. I guess there's no danger of KNX's "Dragnet" reruns turning anyone on to the brand advertised in its 1950s commercials--Chesterfield cigarettes.

BOSTON -- The other day Kobe Bryant was saying he just "missed some bunnies" in the first game of the NBA Finals, or as Chick Hearn would've been telling us, "Marge could have made those shots." It doesn't seem so long ago, but it will be six years this week, Chick doing his final Lakers broadcast after 42 years behind the microphone, a championship-clinching victory over the New Jersey Nets. Two months later a fall in his backyard led to his death.

While athletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics are going for the gold, their Utahan hosts will be going for the green. That is, green as in lime Jell-O--the nonsponsoring, unofficial food of choice in the home of the Winter Olympics. Salt Lake City is America's Jell-O-eating capital. Every man, woman and child in Salt Lake City buys two boxes of the stuff annually, or twice the national average, says Mary Jane Kinkade of Jell-O brand gelatin-maker Kraft Foods.

A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted a 21-year-old man on charges that he falsely claimed Jell-O products had been poisoned with cyanide. Norman Mark Allen was charged with two counts of communicating false information concerning consumer products being tampered with, an FBI spokesman said. No hearing date was set.

With the Lakers on their way to their third consecutive playoff sweep Sunday, Chick Hearn finally came clean. Yes, Chick admitted, he has lost a step. Derek Fisher had just lobbed an easy assist to an unguarded Shaquille O'Neal, so easy that Stu Lantz was laughing as he mused to Hearn, "You could make that pass." Lantz was joking, of course, but once again, his intended punch line wound up merely a straight line for Hearn, who responded with a very skeptical, very dubious, "W-e-l-l . . .

Remember tofu? The bland, curdy stuff that looks like albino Jell-O, beloved by your vegetarian friends? If you think that bean curd is only for Asians and health food fanatics, it's time to look again. Tofu is turning up at mainstream markets and top restaurants. My local supermarket recently began carrying tofu with Chinese spices and even one with French herbs. There's good reason for tofu's new-found popularity.

Nolan Ryan has pitched seven no-hitters in his career, but his fondest memory in baseball is of hearing Larry Andersen belch the entire national anthem. Dennis Eckersley may be the finest relief pitcher in baseball, but there was no better time in his life than when he and Andersen were roommates--in the back of a pickup truck.

A year after Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) became speaker of the House, the legislative landscape has not changed all that much because many of her most ambitious goals -- winding down the war in Iraq and rolling back key provisions of President Bush's tax cuts -- have not been met.

Clint Eastwood knows how to set a scene on screen or at Mission Ranch, his strikingly handsome hotel and restaurant in Carmel. The hotel, a historic property, has a multimillion dollar view of the sea and beautiful grounds to match. Magenta bougainvillea spills from balconies, flowering pots decorate porches, huge cypress trees shade buildings and lawns. You'd expect a room to cost $500 a night or more. So how about $120 a night? Hard to believe, especially in a pricey tourist area like Carmel.

You're not going to see Lindsay Lohan crash a 2013 Nissan Altima into the back of a garbage truck. Your 10-year-old won't be hanging a poster of one on his bedroom wall next to a Lamborghini Aventador and Kobe Bryant. The car won't have a heavily scripted cameo in the next "Avengers" movie withRobert Downey Jr.'s character at the wheel. Mid-size sedans don't get that kind of attention. This Nissan should. The mid-size segment traditionally has the allure of a used toothbrush with none of the minty residue.