Toilet

A passenger who flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco was detained on arrival by federal agents after a vindictive flight attendant claimed he had not flushed a lavatory toilet, according to a federal suit. The suit, which seeks $500,000 in damages, was filed last week in the Northern District of California. Salvatore Bevivino, 52, a business manager for Genentech, boarded a Virgin America flight on April 28, 2012. After the plane reached cruising altitude over Indiana, the former Amblerite pushed the call button and asked for a soda.

There are loos. And then there are lulus. The humble toilet isn't necessarily a plain-Jane - or should we say plain-John? - fixture anymore. It's gone upscale, fashioned in stainless steel, clad in leather, and pimped out with heated seats, water-jet cleansing systems, and all manner of gadgetry designed to make your stay more satisfying. It's all in keeping with the increasing emphasis placed on kitchens and bathrooms, says Lenora Campos, public relations manager for the U.S. arm of high-tech Japanese toilet-maker Toto.

Even though the Pentagon is bracing for steep budget cuts, it is still paying nearly $1,900 for toilet covers, more than $640 for urinals and almost $70 for rubber toilet seals, according to congressional staff investigators. The expenses were detailed in a memo this week to Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R., Iowa) and William V. Roth Jr. (R., Del.), who have been looking into a spate of reports on costly Pentagon purchases. The Air Force is paying $1,868.15 each for toilet covers used aboard the C- 5B cargo plane, the memo said.

Day four of their stay at the Southwark Plaza public housing development and federal officials Elton Jolly and Michael Smerconish were waxing philosophic yesterday about what they had seen and experienced. Jolly, the Philadelphia Housing Authority special master, said there was a little maintenance problem Sunday night when the one toilet in the apartment they are staying in appeared to have sprung a leak. The problem turned out to be minor, Jolly said, and they fixed it themselves.

With a twist of the wrist, the modern flush toilet does its thing -unless it gets stopped up, and then you're in a heap of trouble. When we lived in an apartment, the toilet got clogged up fairly often. The maintenance man would come in and in a matter of a few minutes, he'd have it working. Now that we have our own home, I worry that this could happen. How would I take care of the problem? I'd hate to have to call a plumber very often. All modern-day toilets have a similar design, which means that most blockages, while out of sight, are close at hand.

  Following the explosions of at least 304 toilets, the manufacturer of a toilet flushing system has ordered the recall of more than 2.3 million units. Flushmate, a division of Sloan Valve Company, manufactured about 2,330,600 Flushmate III devices between October 1997 and February 2008. In recent years, hundreds of people have called the company to report the devices burst, releasing enough stored pressure to lift the lids and shatter the tanks of toilet. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 14 people have reported impact or lacerations injuries resulting from the commodes' ceramic shrapnel.

Nearly a year after Jean Saxon moved out of a rented Levittown home, her landlord discovered a syringe in the base of the toilet - a find the prosecution in Saxon's murder trial presented in Bucks County Court yesterday as the case's smoking gun. Edmund Armstrong said he found the syringe after taking the toilet apart to see why it repeatedly clogged. He called a Bensalem detective to retrieve it. Saxon, 46, is charged with the murder of her estranged husband, Jerry, 52, who lapsed into a coma on March 17, 2003, and died five weeks later.

Since its move indoors, the toilet has eased its way into ever bigger - and more luxurious - quarters. No longer is it just a place to answer nature's call. The master bathroom is an often-opulent extension of the master bedroom suite, with brass fixtures, whirlpool tubs, faux marble counters and more. It is also, no doubt, an example of the value we place on personal comfort. "It's now become a grooming center," said Gary Schaal, executive vice president of Orleans Corp., a leading home builder.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Philadelphia man on parole for murder who is believed to be responsible for the shooting death of a patron outside of an Upper Darby bar described as "a huge toilet. " Upper Darby police believe that John Gordon, 37, of Bellford Street near Buist Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, shot and killed Randy Campbell, 23, outside of the Venue bar on Garrett Road about 2:40 a.m. Monday after the two got into a fight in the bathroom, police said.

DEAR ABBY: The letter from "Turned Off in Texas" caught my attention. While I agree that putting a toilet brush in the dishwasher with the dishes was unexpected and off-putting - we don't ever want to link the toilet with our food - I think your answer showed a little overreaction. Running the dishes in another cycle should take care of any concerns as long as the water is hot. Studies have shown that the inside of the average public toilet bowl is not as bacteria-laden as a public drinking fountain.

ALTHOUGH KERMIT Gosnell was tried for more than 250 crimes, the most serious counts he faced were for the first-degree murders of four babies (he was convicted of three) and the third-degree murder of patient Karnamaya Mongar (he was instead found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Mongar's death). The jury yesterday found Gosnell not guilty of murder in the death of Baby E, and the judge dismissed murder charges regarding Babies B, F and G after the prosecution rested last month.

A passenger who flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco was detained on arrival by federal agents after a vindictive flight attendant claimed he had not flushed a lavatory toilet, according to a federal suit. The suit, which seeks $500,000 in damages, was filed last week in the Northern District of California. Salvatore Bevivino, 52, a business manager for Genentech, boarded a Virgin America flight on April 28, 2012. After the plane reached cruising altitude over Indiana, the former Amblerite pushed the call button and asked for a soda.

Ballparks around the nation have been very interested in human waste lately. Early last week came news that the Lehigh Valley IronPigs will have a "urinal gaming system" at their park this season. Step up, aim, and see how high you can score. Meanwhile, fans in Milwaukee may be upset because the Brewers are gaming the urinal system. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Friday that the Brewers have decided to prevent fans from bringing portable toilets to the parking lot for their tailgate parties.

How does one outdo a toilet-training kit for cats? With a pillowcase designed to be worn - yes, worn - on the head, with a hole to accommodate earphone wires and a pocket for an iPod or a remote control, Rebecca Rescate believes. The Yardley mother of three has $15,000 in personal finances banking on it, and has just secured an additional $90,000 from Robert Herjavec, an investor on ABC-TV's popular Shark Tank . The technology titan missed out on Rescate's funky feline venture when she appeared on the show in 2011 - sales of the CitiKitty Cat Toilet Training Kit have reached $5 million - and "I'm not going to do it again," he said when she returned for a Feb. 8 episode pitching the new product - the HoodiePillow.

Apparently, if you believe Peter Kushkowski of Portland, Conn., I goofed pinpointing the source of rusting of a heating register next to a reader's toilet. "From my experience, the obvious cause is not condensation as you suggested, but her husband," said Kushkowski, identifying poor aim as the cause. "Advising him to sit down as his wife does will go a long way to eliminating the reoccurrence of rust - it worked at our house," he said. Of the six e-mails suggesting this as a reason, Kushkowski was the only male sender.

Each time Stan Auerbach sits on his toilet, he worries it might explode. "It's a little scary," said Auerbach, 78, of Delaware County. Auerbach has two toilets in his Garnet Valley home, and they're both outfitted with a powerful high-pressure Flushmate III system. In June, the Flushmate III was declared a "laceration risk. " The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall notice for more than 2.3 million of the water-conservation devices after learning that 304 units had blown up. The explosions shattered the commodes, caused home flooding, and, in some cases, sent porcelain shrapnel flying.

  Following the explosions of at least 304 toilets, the manufacturer of a toilet flushing system has ordered the recall of more than 2.3 million units. Flushmate, a division of Sloan Valve Company, manufactured about 2,330,600 Flushmate III devices between October 1997 and February 2008. In recent years, hundreds of people have called the company to report the devices burst, releasing enough stored pressure to lift the lids and shatter the tanks of toilet. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 14 people have reported impact or lacerations injuries resulting from the commodes' ceramic shrapnel.

When New Jersey lost one of its 13 congressional districts last winter, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman faced a tough choice: run against an incumbent Republican in a right-leaning district that now included some of Rothman's former turf or square off against a fellow Democrat in a newly formed district that included more than half of his old constituency. Many Democrats urged him to take on U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, a Republican with tea party leanings in the Fifth District, where the remapping committee put Rothman's hometown of Fair Lawn, Bergen County.

Myron Wentz, a microbiologist, recently wrote a book called The Healthy Home — www.myhealthyhome.com — and offers some ways to create one at your house: Take your shoes off before entering your home. We walk around unwittingly in car oil, pesticides, animal waste, and toxins. Nonstick pots and pans release potentially hazardous fumes and particles into the air such as toxic gases, carcinogens, and global pollutants. Try using a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet instead.

Plumbers working on a clogged residential toilet discovered the remains of a fetus Monday afternoon in the city's Harrowgate section, police said. Two plumbers opened a pipe in the basement of a home in the 800 block of East Russell Street about 4 p.m. and found the remains while removing debris from a pipe leading to a second-floor toilet, Chief Inspector Scott Small said. They dialed 911, and responding officers and investigators determined the remains were human, Small said.