Lemon

Betty Ford will mourn her husband this week the same way she confronted many of her own personal demons and struggles - on America's public stage. The quiet and reserved former first lady will again be in the nation's spotlight, as she was when she battled breast cancer and drug-and-alcohol addiction. Her highly publicized personal struggles, which occurred during and after her husband's presidency, turned her into an accidental activist. Ford brought a new national awareness to alcohol and drug addiction after kicking her own dependence on booze and pills.

Lemons Forever, a 47-1 longshot who trailed by 14 lengths down the backside, won the $685,900 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs yesterday in the biggest upset in the race's 132-year history. "This is big-time," exclaimed winning trainer Dallas Stewart. Balance, the 8-5 wagering favorite in the Kentucky Derby eve race for fillies, finished 11th. Ridden by Mark Guidry, Lemons Forever won by 1 1/2 lengths. The 3-year-old filly covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.07 and paid $96.20, $37 and $18 as the longest shot in the race.

The state Attorney General yesterday filed suit against a Berks County woman for allegedly selling sick dogs and deceiving customers under Pennsylvania's "puppy lemon law. " The suit alleges that Traci Murai, a licensed kennel operator in Douglassville, sold imported English bulldog puppies to consumers around the country and required them to sign a contract waiving their rights under the state's lemon law. "This is a particularly egregious case,"...

While I am very sensitive to consumer protection and the difficulty many consumers have with their computer systems, I believe that the proposed Computer Lemon Law for Pennsylvania (House Bill 2284) would be bad for both the consumer and the computer industry. I opposed the original bill in 1999 in testimony before the House Committee on Consumer Affairs. I argued then that we were too early in the product development for such lofty expectations. In that the personal computer was about 20 years old at that time, I likened it to the automobile in the age of the Model T. "Imperfection is the price we pay for innovation," I told the committee.

Iesha DeSesso had her work cut out for her. The clock was ticking, and she had little more than an hour to decorate, assemble and transport a three-tiered butter cake. "I'll do it," said DeSesso, 23, of Philadelphia, filling a pastry bag with frosting. In essence, a piece of cake. DeSesso was part of a team from the Philadelphia Job Corps participating in a competition last week sponsored by the Culinary Arts Expo. The annual four-day Expo allows student chefs to mingle with professional chefs, showcase their cooking skills, network with restaurateurs, and compete for $2,000 scholarships.

HAS THE CITY bought a $54 million lemon? Ever since Motorola Inc., installed its digital emergency communications radio system that connects the city's police, fire and emergency personnel in December 2002, it has broken down at least a dozen times, reports the Daily News' Catherine Lucey. When the system broke down again last Saturday, a backup system kicked in, as designed, and ran for eight hours until the faulty computer part was replaced. City officials say communication wasn't lost, though City Councilman Frank Rizzo has said there were problems in sections of Southwest and North Philadelphia.

Your next-door neighbor tells you that a new project is proposed for the vacant property at the end of your cul-de-sac. You recall the paint factory that was suggested for the land a few years ago and how the neighborhood successfully urged the township supervisors not to rezone the lot to industrial. Now you're told the plan is for something with far more impact. It will have heavy traffic, long hours of operation, even potentially criminal activities. So you mobilize again, petition your township board - and find out there's nothing it can do about it. Why?

It was an IDEA whose time had come. In 1975, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, requiring public school systems to educate disabled young people. Millions of disabled kids would no longer be forced to stay at home or be shunted to special institutions. Thanks to the act, youngsters with even the most severe physical and emotional disabilities were to be given - had to be given - a publicly funded education appropriate to their needs. Much has happened since that hallmark legislation was enacted.

Around the world, food plays a special role in the celebration of Easter. Europeans view the holiday as a time to eat the first spring lamb. The British serve hot cross buns, while Russians bake a famous bread known as kulich and make paskha, a sweetened molded cheese dessert. Baking breads and sweets is also part of Easter rituals in Scandinavia, Germany, Greece, and countless other countries. In the United States, we, too, have culinary traditions linked to the spring holiday.

Nothing says celebration better than a platter of glistening babas au rhum. These miniature brioche-like cakes made with a yeasty savarin dough are dense with fresh butter and eggs. After a dip in a sweet rum syrup, they're glazed with rum-spiked apricot jam - quite a classic finish for an elegant dinner. Though most people associate babas with France, good things travel well. Drive south into Italy and you'll find the same mini cakes. But there they are dipped in a syrup made of limoncello, the Italian citrus-based liqueur.