News In Brief

HI. I OWE YOU SOME MONEY

You may recall an item in this space last week about police in Cambridge, England, having to guard an automatic teller machine whose users discovered it had been stocked incorrectly with 20 notes ($32.47) instead of "tenners" - causing the bank that owns it thousands of dollars in losses. Contrast that with what happened to Keith Obraske. He stopped at an ATM in Fridley, Minn., for $20 on his way to work. But, by the time it finished churning out cash he found himself with $5,580. He thought briefly about keeping it all, but ended up handing back the surplus. "I felt," he said, "like I was being tested, big time." The grateful machine owners say his honesty will be rewarded.

GET THE BUGS OUT FIRST, OK?

Rain checks had to be issued last week for the opening performance of the famous Kirov Ballet troupe in Perth, Australia, although the weather was dry. The dancers' shoes had been shipped aboard a vessel suspected of being contaminated by wood-boring insects - and were ordered fumigated by port authorities.

Talking turkey: states that lead in producing gobblers

You may not live in North Carolina, but there's a possibility the turkey on your Thanksgiving table once did. According to data reported by the Bureau of the Census, almost one-fifth of the 7 billion pounds of turkey produced for the home market last year came from the Tar Heel State - more than from any of the other 49. Only 10 states account for more than three-quarters of all turkey production - although the US also imported more than $12 million worth of live turkeys from Canada. The top turkey-producing states, ranked in millions of pounds:

1. North Carolina 1.3 billion

2. Minnesota 1.0 billion

3. Missouri 598

4. Virginia 533

5. Arkansas 496

6. California 443

7. South Carolina 356

8. Indiana 352

9. Pennsylvania 233

10. Ohio 179

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society