The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo announced Wednesday afternoon that its 2008 attendance exceeded expectations despite the sluggish economy, bringing in more than 1.2 million visitors last year. The projected attendance of 1.15 million was surpassed by 5 percent, with a total of 1,208,261 visitors.

According to Zoo Director Steve Taylor, attendance held steady due to affordable ticket prices, a series of successful special events, and popular summer attractions. Taylor also noted that last year's attendance figures will keep the zoo in the top 20 zoos nationwide by attendance.

This marks the 16th straight year that the zoo's attendance has surpassed 1-million visitors.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is open 10 a.m. to 5p.m. daily. Discounted winter admission through March 31 is $7 per person, $5 for kids ages 2 to 11 and free for children under 2 and Zoo members. Parking is free. Located at 3900 Wildlife Way, the Zoo is easily accessible from Interstates 71, 77, 90 and 480.

To learn more, visit clemetzoo.com or call (216) 661-6500.

Some people are just bad drug users.

Lily Allen, a British singer, better not be planning on coming to the U.S. anytime soon because the Department of Homeland Security may not be too pleased with her. No, she didn't threaten to bomb any cities and she hasn't converted to Islam as far as we know. Instead, she talked about one of the world's inherent evils - drugs - in a more positive light than we're used to over here.

While Americans starve and lose their jobs, the war on drugs rages on. The messages that Lily have go against everything that our government believes in. Drugs are evil they say, but Lily, however, suggests that they aren't all that bad:

“The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you - you will become a prostitute, a rapist or a dealer. But that's not true. I know lots of people who take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work. But we never hear that side of the story. I wish people wouldn’t sensationalize it. Some people are just bad at taking drugs," said Lily.

The argument makes perfect sense to me.

No serious objections are anticipated.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) will hav her confirmation hearing to become Secretary of State this coming Tuesday. Incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said Wednesday that he would chair the hearing.

Both Democrats and Republicans expect no serious objections to her confirmation, so Clinton's transition from the position of junior Senator to the nation's top foreign policy post should progress smoothly.

The committee will vote on Clinton's nomination Thursday, at the beginning of a confirmation hearing on Susan Rice, Barack Obama's pick as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Once Clinton is confirmed, New York Governor David Patterson will have the power to appoint her successor. Caroline Kennedy has made her interest in the job well known, and Patterson said that he is considering her amongst other candidates.

Will the Cleveland Browns have a new head coach on Friday? Reports out of Boston say "yes". Mike Petraglia of WEEI, a sportstalk network, wrote on the stations website today:

WEEI's Michael Holley is reporting that Eric Mangini will be named the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns by the end of the week. Mangini would replace Romeo Crennel, who like Mangini was a former Patriots defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick. Mangini was fired last week by the New York Jets after leading his team to a 9-7 record in his third and final season in New York. Holley also reports that Pats G.M. Scott Pioli will not follow Mangini to Cleveland, likely heading to Kansas City or staying put in Foxboro. -- Mike Petraglia (Jan. 7, 10:21 a.m.)

So Browns fans, what do you think about Pioli being out and Mangini being in? Good move or bad move?

These days it seems everyone and every company are in need of a government bail-out. That is, everyone except Google, who continues to rake in the cash at figures us mere plebians can only dream of. While Google continues its upward climb, another industry - the newspaper industry - continues to hasten its downward slide, and is now looking towards the Mountain View, CA company for a rescue plan. If Google CEO Eric Schmidt has anything to say about it though, they'll need to look elsewhere.

Google will undoubtedly continue to over search on newspapers' websites, and even broker ads for them, but that's about it. When asked why they don't just buy up the newspaper industry, Schmidt told Fortune

According to a federal report released Wednesday, teen pregnancy is on the rise in more than half of the states in the U.S. The analysis also found that Mississippi has also displaced Texas as the state with the highest teen pregnancy rate.

This latest report shows significant increases in the teen birthrate for 2006 in 26 states. 2006 is the most recent year for which data is available.

Mississippi's teen birthrate in 2006 was 60% higher than the national average. Texas and New Mexico trailed closely behind with 50% higher rates of pregnancy.

Some experts are blaming the higher teen pregnancy rates on increased federal funding for abstinence-only education. The results revealed today mark the first signficant spike in teen pregnancy rates in over 15 years.

The annual Cleveland International Film Festival is slated to kick off this spring, and will run March 19 through 29. The Cleveland Film Society is charged with bringing the event to life, and are this year putting on a spectacular series of fundraisers - Film Feasts - to keep their vision alive.

Film Feasts sell out very quickly, and reservations are first, come first served until sold out. There are six separate events on different dates and at varying locations. There are no tickets for the event, but you will be sent a letter one week in advance with directions and details.

Tickets can be purchased

• Online
• By phone at 216-623-FILM (216-623-3456) ext. 14 (credit card only)
• By fax. Fax completed form to 216-623-0103 (credit card only)
• By mail. Mail completed form to Cleveland Film Society, 2510 Market Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113. (Check or credit card).

For more information about each event, please see the Cleveland Film Society website.

Prescription drug manufacturer Merck has now asked the Food & Drug Administration to approve the Gardasil vaccine for use in boys ages 9 to 26. Currently, Gardasil is administered to females to protect against HPV and cervical cancer.

Gardasil first hit the market in 2006, and was recommended for girls age 12 to 26, and due to some aggressive marketing the drug quickly became one of the companies top-selling vaccines. In 2007 sales topped $1.5 billion. Sales slowed in 2008, however, after a Harvard study showed that it wasn't cost effective to administer it to women in their 20s.

Merck has long had plans to release a vaccine for males. Men are simply not just carriers of HPV, and those men infected with HPV run the risk of developing cancer of the genitals or mouth, and genital warts. In initial testing, Merck found that Gardasil prevented 90% of cases of penile cancer and genital warts in the 4,000 males (16-26) that received the vaccine.

Before Gardasil can be made available to the general male public, the FDA has to approve Merck's request. Such a process can take up to a year to complete.

The Associated Press are reporting that Roland Burris will be seated in the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. That seat, of course, is part of a on going investigation as authorities are Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was caught on wiretaps apparently asking favors in exchange for the seat. Despite pleas from everyone, Blagojevich made an appointment to the Senate but it was met with criticism from both the left and the right. Burris tried to enter the Senate yesterday but was told that he would not be seated but it appears that the Democratic leadership has changed their mind on the matter.

In the 1990s, Cleveland had a rather highly educated City Council. I can’t remember the number but the percentage of lawyers among the 21 members was high.

Cleveland also had an intelligent, crafty and feisty Mayor in Michael White.

Today, City Council appears – with a few exceptions – to be inept and even farcical. Mayor Frank Jackson may be steady but one wouldn’t call him artful or exciting.

Does it make any difference?

Here is an example where it definitely didn’t. The city and its citizens have been paying dearly for it ever since despite the best and the brightest at city hall at the time.

I asked the city recently to provide me with payments by the city for two garages the city built during the White Administration for Gateway.

The documents they sent me detailed the costs of the garages to the city since September 1996 through September 2008. Each September and each March, the debt service figures are totaled of payments made.

The cost since 1996: $30 million. All City money.

The city has had to raid its “parking meter collections” and its “parking garages/lots collections” – money that could go into the general fund to pay for police, fire or any other city service – to pay debt on the Gateway garages.

This was a disgraceful method of insuring that the bondholders would be secure.