Features

Sosa brothers robbed 

CARACAS, Venezuela — Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa was robbed of $20,000 that he and his brother left on a desk in a Caracas hotel lobby, a newspaper reported Friday. 

Sosa and his brother, Jose Antonio, had the cash in a plastic bag wrapped inside a towel as they sat talking in the lobby of the Caracas Hilton last Saturday, El Universal said, citing unidentified police sources. 

The brothers forgot the bag when they left to eat at a hotel restaurant. Remembering it, they rushed back to the lobby but the cash was gone, the newspaper said. 

Hotel management refused to comment on the report Friday. Caracas city police in charge of the district where the hotel is situated said they had no information and could not comment. 

El Universal said Sosa reported the robbery to police and asked hotel management to review hotel security camera videotapes. Management told him the cameras weren’t working, the paper said. 

The robbery occurred after Sosa attended a Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico Caribbean Series game, El Universal said. 

Kicking off Fashion Week 

NEW YORK — Actress Angie Harmon, in a sleek, tiered brown leather skirt, tan turtleneck sweater and stiletto-heel boots, looked the part of fashion ambassador as she helped open New York Fashion Week on Friday. 

Did she put a lot of thought into her outfit? 

“Of course,” she told The Associated Press. “I chose this last night after I tried on a million different things.” 

Harmon and her husband, New York Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn, stood with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and dozens of fashion designers at Bryant Park, which becomes Fashion Central for eight days as fall collections are previewed for editors and retail buyers. 

Unlike previous seasons where most shows were staged at Bryant Park inside giant tents, only about half of the 100 men’s and women’s collections will be shown there this time around. The rest have gone to smaller sites throughout the city. 

Spring previews were cut short after Sept. 11, causing a financial blow to the industry. 

“The best memorial to those we lost is to go forward,” Bloomberg said. 

The mayor, dressed in a gray suit, pink shirt and blue tie, said Fashion Week is when all the top designers and models are in the city — “which is just another day in New York.” 

This year, sponsor Mercedes-Benz added a philanthropic element to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Designers and celebrities decorated miniature cars to be auctioned on eBay. 

Harmon and Sehorn’s car has a football theme. But pointing to the red heart painted on the trunk with “J+A” written on top, Harmon said “it was a team effort.” 

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On the Net: 

http://www.mercedesbenzfashionweek.com/ 

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/egpaf 

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GARY, Ind. (AP) — Deion Sanders has made the transition from football to baseball to CBS sports analyst. Now, “Prime Time” moves into prime time as host of the Miss USA pageant. 

Pageants officials said Thursday that the flamboyant and outspoken Sanders will be the host of the March 1 show. CBS will broadcast the event from Gary’s Genesis Convention Center. 

Donald Thompson, pageant coordinator for Gary, said he hopes Sanders will help boost ticket sales. Already, sales for pageant events, including the presentation show, coronation ball and the pageant finals, have equaled last year’s total, when William Shatner was the host. 

Sanders, whose nickname is “Prime Time,” spent 13 seasons in the NFL and played briefly for the Cincinnati Reds. He won Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers in 1994 and the Dallas Cowboys a year later. 

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A judge put jailed actor Brad Renfro into a three-month substance abuse treatment program and told him he faces a nine-month sentence if he fails it. 

The 19-year-old, who starred in the 1994 film “The Client,” was jailed Jan. 31 for violating his probation for trying to steal a yacht. He violated probation when he was arrested Jan. 14 and charged with driving without a license and public intoxication near his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn. 

“I’m going to put you into this program, which I think will have some reasonable probability of success,” Circuit Judge Ronald Rothschild told Renfro on Thursday. “I’m going to ask you to put some energy into this.” 

Renfro’s aunt, Julie Pyshzka, whispered to him across the courtroom and said afterward, “He says it’ll be very good for him.” She said his problem was running with the “wrong crowd” and having “too much, too soon.” 

Renfro’s credits include “Bully,” “Ghost World,” “Sleepers” and “Telling Lies in America.”