News In Brief

IT HAD TO BE PUT SOMEWHERE

For competitive reasons alone, United Airlines doesn't want to be thought of as a dinosaur. Nonetheless, the carrier's terminal at O'Hare International Airport near Chicago is about to take on the look of a lair for the prehistoric beast. It's inheriting the 75-foot-high skeleton of a brachiosaurus that has long stood in the city's Field Museum of Natural History. Why move it to an airport? To make room for a bigger and better attraction: "Sue," the skeleton of the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex yet found.

BY GUM, WE CAUGHT HIM

Pittsburgh police are accepting kudos for alert work in solving a house break-in. The alleged thief was careful not to leave any other clues as he stole a computer, video camera, and CDs. But he slipped up in helping himself to some chewing gum, whose foil wrappers were thoughtlessly tossed aside ... with his fingerprints on them.

Tom Hanks films are No. 1, No. 2 at weekend box-office

Tom Hanks as Sheriff Woody in "Toy Story 2" and as a prison guard in "The Green Mile" rounded up the top two spots in the weekend box-office competition. "Toy Story 2" was the No. 1 moneymaker for the third straight weekend, taking in $18.7 million Friday through Sunday. "The Green Mile" was a close second with $18.57 million in its weekend debut. With $140.8 million since opening Thanksgiving week, "Toy Story 2" is on track to become Walt Disney's second $200 million film this year, after "The Sixth Sense," which has grossed $274.4 million. The weekend's top-grossing movies at North American theaters (in millions):

1. "Toy Story 2" $18.3

2 "The Green Mile" 18.0

3. "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" 12.2

4. "The World Is Not Enough" 6.2

5. "End of Days" 4.8

6. "Sleepy Hollow" 4.7

7. "The Bone Collector" 1.7

8. "Dogma" 1.2

9. "Pokmon: The First Movie" 1.2

10. "Being John Malkovich" 0.96

- Exhibitor Relations Inc./AP

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society