Wolf

Back to Blood A Novel Tom Wolfe Little, Brown: 704 pp., $30 About a quarter of the way through Tom Wolfe's new novel, "Back to Blood," pornography addiction specialist Dr. Norman Lewis waits with his nurse (and mistress) Magdelena Otero to be interviewed by a "60 Minutes" crew. Norman is delirious at the prospect of his star turn - so much so that he becomes a bit, er, overstimulated. "' Now - while they're at the door!' " he grunts at Magdalena, who responds, " 'No, Norman!

The Baltimore Orioles placed left-handed pitcher Randy Wolf on the 60-day disabled list Wednesday with a torn ligament in his left elbow. Manager Buck Showalter said that Wolf, who was 2-0 with a 5.28 earned-run average in five games with the Orioles since signing as a free agent on Aug. 31, felt discomfort in his elbow during the fifth inning of his start Saturday in Boston. Baltimore purchased Bill Hall's contract from Triple-A Norfolk. The 32-year-old Hall, who plays both infield and outfield, will be used to help out in the outfield while Lew Ford recovers from a groin injury.

The Alaska Board of Game has refused to consider a request to establish an emergency no-hunting zone  for wolves on the edge of Denali National Park, a buffer sought after the park's best-known pack lost two of its prime breeding females and largely disappeared from public view. The issue has consequences for tourism - viewing wolves in the wild is one of the premier attractions at the 6-million-acre park - but state officials say a ban on hunting and trapping on the edge of the park is not necessary to protect the substantial numbers of wolves that still roam the park.

It's a strange time to be a woman. I say this not because state legislatures enacted no less than 95 restrictions on reproductive rights this year. I say it not because at the same time, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker repealed his state's equal pay law and Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman conjectured that "money is more important for men. " Or because, just last month, an alarming number of male legislators demonstrated serious confusion about the birds and the bees. I'm saying it because Naomi Wolf has written a book about her vagina.

South Florida 32, at Nevada 31: B.J. Daniels threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yard scoring pass to Andre Davis with 38 seconds left in the game, to help the Bulls (2-0) come from behind to beat the Wolf Pack (1-1) at Reno. Daniels also threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Davis, who finished with 12 catches for 191 yards, and a 52-yard score to Chris Dunkley with 2:37 remaining for South Florida (2-0), which trailed 21-6 in the opening quarter. Cody Fajardo passed for 271 yards and a touchdown and ran for 134 yards and two scores for Nevada (1-1)

"Vagina: A New Biography" by Naomi Wolf (Ecco / 400 pages / $27.99 ) "The End of Men - and the Rise of Women" by Hanna Rosin (Riverhead / 320 pages / $27.95) In June, Republican state representatives in Michigan silenced Democratic colleague Lisa Brown for using the V-word during discussion of an abortion bill. Afterward, Rep. Mike Callton refused to utter the word. "What she said was offensive," he said. "It was so offensive, I don't even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.

Dick Wolf, the veteran powerhouse producer behind NBC's new "Chicago Fire," at first glance seems an unlikely match for a fast-moving, large-ensemble drama filled with calamity, danger and big action sequences. Wolf, 65, is best known as the creator of NBC's "Law & Order" franchise, which started in 1990 with NBC's "Law & Order," one of the longest-running shows in television history, and spawned such spinoffs as "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," the last now entering its 14 t h season.

Massachusetts prison officials must provide a publicly funded sex reassignment surgery to an inmate serving a life sentence for killing his wife, a federal judge in Boston ruled Tuesday. The decision , handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf, is believed to be the first such order by a judge in the nation, lawyer Frances S. Cohen of Bingham McCutchen LLP of Boston, said by telephone. Cohen is one of the attorneys representing Michelle Kosilek, who lives as a woman in an all-male prison.

There's a lot more to restoring an endangered species than simply getting enough animals to breed in the wild. They return to a changed area, narrower and more hostile, where humans occupy more space. Sometimes this works out fine; the bald eagle has been a stunning success story. The return of the gray wolf to the northern Rockies looked as though it would be similarly inspiring, with the wolf's numbers rising from an original 66 to about 1,700. It still could be, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been too willing to see the multimillion-dollar wolf program set back by agreements with states that allow widespread hunting.

There was a time when the Pine Mountain Inn hosted the biggest party in town. Bikers would roar up the tortuous mountain roads north of Ojai, and cowboys would mosey by in their pickups. Hunters - sometimes more than 100 at a time - would camp in Tom Wolf's field and string fresh deer jerky on clotheslines. The menu boasted of "the purtiest waitresses, best food, lowest prices and only flush toilets within 14 miles in any direction. " There was no phone and only a generator for power.