News In Brief

JUST CALL IT GRUNT WORK

A 90-year old swine operation was driving the residents of Stillwater, Okla., well, hog wild. After real estate agents raised a stink about it, officials at Oklahoma State University agreed to move their barn two miles out of town. Now, with a planned state-of-the-art, odor-free, $3 million research facility, they say, "We have a very high confidence level that the center can ... remove 90 percent of the odors that commonly come with high concentrations of hogs." Happiest of all about the project: operators of the motel next door to the current facility.

AW, IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME

In Sofia, Bulgaria, a burglar or burglars broke into Boiko Rashkov's home over the weekend and got away clean with jewelry and a computer. Such an intrusion would upset anyone, but it is likely to cause Rashkov even more than the ordinary angst. Why? As chief of Bulgaria's Specialized Investigation Service, he is in charge of getting to the bottom of serious crime.

Honda, Toyota beat US rivals in initial car-quality ranking

Foreign automakers once again have bested their US rivals in the J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality survey. Honda's Acura luxury line and Toyota's flagship Lexus brand took highest honors, while General Motors's various Buick models made that the top-ranking American brand. The No. 1 US model overall: the Chevrolet Corvette - at No. 22. The five best and five worst 2000 models, followed by the number of reported problems for each in the first three months of ownership (per 100 vehicles).

Best

1. Lexus LS 400 79

2. Acura RL 82

3. Lexus ES 300 87

4. Acura TL 89

5. Lexus GS Sedan 92

Worst

1. Kia Sportage 301

2. Hyundai Tiburon 272

3. Suzuki Vitara 240

4. Volkswagen Jetta 238

5. Kia Sephia 232

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society