Women

WHAT WOULD you say if I told you that you could profoundly cut your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer? Significantly decrease your risk for Alzheimer's disease, too? And, better yet, that you could do all this without spending a single dime? Impossible, right? Wrong. All that and more may be possible simply by following the sage advice of Dr. Michael Mosley, a British medical journalist and co-author of The FastDiet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting . The "Fast Diet" is all the rage in Britain and could take flight here as well.

EYEWITNESS NEWS anchor Susan Barnett is leaving CBS 3 and the CW Philly. Barnett has been at CBS since 2006, anchoring the evening newscasts since 2008. She anchored the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. broadcasts on CBS, and the 10 p.m. broadcast at the CW Philly, along with co-anchor Chris May . Her contract expired in March. "I have decided to not renew my contract with the stations at this time. I am incredibly thankful for having been a part of the CBS Philly family, but I feel that this is the right decision at this time," Barnett said in a statement yesterday.

CLEVELAND - The man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his home terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games, and locking her indoors, her relatives say. Several relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Ariel Castro years ago and died last year after a long illness, painted a nightmarish portrait of life with Castro. In interviews with the Associated Press, the relatives described Castro as a "monster" who abused his wife and locked his family inside their own home.

The grand jury called it "a baby charnel house. " For more than 30 years, Kermit Gosnell ran an abortion clinic in West Philadelphia that was the "go-to" place for women wanting illegal late-term abortions or for people seeking no-questions-asked prescription drugs, according to a grand jury. Here are some highlights from the jury's report: Gosnell performed thousands of abortions at his Women's Medical Society at 38th Street and Lancaster Avenue, even though he was a family practitioner never certified as an obstetrician or gynecologist.

Amanda Steinberg was 2 years old when her parents divorced. She grew up driven by something her mother stressed: Never be financially dependent on anyone. Now 35 and a Mount Airy mother of two going through her own divorce, Steinberg became "a maniacal entrepreneur," she says. She had 15 people working for her by the time she was 23 and had formed six companies in 10 years specializing in website development, app creation, and consulting. She's not too proud to admit that "most of them failed.

CHICAGO - Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years. The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models of hip implants perform best in women, even though women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year to ease the pain and loss of mobility caused by arthritis or injuries.

MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio - Republican nominee Mitt Romney's awkward comment during the second presidential debate that he had received "binders full of women" as Massachusetts governor when he requested more female job candidates went fully viral Wednesday, drawing snickers from voters but also fueling a broader fight between the two campaigns over the key support of women. Romney's remark was just a sliver of the discussion Tuesday night about issues relevant to women, as the candidates tussled over subjects such as contraception and unequal pay. The battle escalated Wednesday, as President Obama worked to reclaim his advantage among women - and as the Romney campaign returned to its core argument that the Republican is better suited to manage women's top concern, the economy.

It seemed at times like a traditional court hearing. The judge peered down from the bench at the defendant as the parole officer gave her latest report. But then some comments made the assistant district attorney look up from her papers. "I want you to realize that you don't have to be in a relationship with a man to be valuable," Assistant D.A. Shea Rhodes told the defendant. This was no ordinary proceeding. This was Project Dawn Court, Philadelphia's treatment option for prostitution where sex workers opt to seek healing and an escape from the cycle of prostitution.

Awhile back, a reader wanted me to investigate whether there was an evolutionary explanation for women sleeping around. He didn't come at the question directly, but asked me to look at female low self-esteem and evolution. I pressed on how such low self-esteem was manifested, and that's when the sex question came out. He said he was worried about his daughters. The exchange left me with an interlocking series of questions: Why do some women sleep around? Does sleeping around have anything to do with self-esteem?

Number of pairs of shoes the average woman owns: 17 Number of pairs that she wears regularly: 3 Number of pairs that the average woman buys annually: 3 Price that the average woman pays for shoes: $49 Percentage of women who have paid more $100 for a pair of shoes: 31 Percentage of women who consider themselves a shoe person: 39 Percentage of women who have gotten blisters from their shoes: 59 Percentage of women...

Rutgers-Camden announced Thursday that it has hired Annette Reiter, who played on four state championship teams at Gloucester Catholic, as its women's basketball coach. Reiter, a 21-year coaching veteran at the college and high school levels, had been the Penn State Abington coach. She spent three seasons as an assistant at Rowan. Her Nittany Lions team posted a 9-16 record a year after going 0-23. Reiter also starred as a player at Widener. Baseball. Fifth-seeded Neumann (30-14)

The winners of Saturday's quarterfinals in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse championships will head to Villanova for the semifinals on May 24. The championship game is slated for May 26 at Villanova Stadium. The Division II and III semifinals and title games are both Saturday and Sunday in Owings Mills, Md. Maryland, undefeated in 20 games, is the top seed in Division I and will host unseeded Duke (14-5) on Saturday. No. 4 Syracuse (17-3) will host No. 5 Florida (18-2)

The Rowan University women's track and field team won the Eastern College Athletic Conference championship in Springfield, Mass., on Friday. Among the highlights, Shailah Williams (Pemberton) won the 400 meters in 56.32 seconds. Vanessa Wright (Haddonfield) came in second in the 1,500 and the 4x800 squad of Vanessa Valdes, Jessalynn Wright (Cherokee), Melirah Search and Vanessa Wright finished second. In the men's competition, Rowan's Demetrius Rooks (Absegami) won the 400 hurdles.

The Penn women's softball team fell to Texas A&M, 12-0, in five innings in the first round of the Division I regionals in College Station, Texas, on Friday. Quakers ace Alexis Borden took the loss. The Quakers had advanced to the double-elimination regionals after earning an automatic bid with the Ivy League title. Coached by Lisa King, Penn had an eight-game winning streak in March and ended the regular season by winning seven of its last 10 games. The loss put Penn (30-19)

WOMEN MAY be making progress knocking their heads against the glass ceiling, but the celluloid ceiling is still causing a problem. Female representation in major-release movies is at its lowest level in five years, according to a study released yesterday by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and reported by the Los Angeles Times . And that's with "Bridesmaids," "The Hunger Games," the...

Erica Herr was cold and tired when she arrived at the scoring area for the U.S. Women's Open qualifier at Butler (Pa.) Country Club. She also was a little bummed, believing that her 78 in the second round of the 36-hole event would not be good enough to gain a ticket to the biggest show in women's golf. However, after a quick examination of her scorecard, the official in charge said, "Congratulations. " A junior at Council Rock North High School, the 17-year-old Herr was ecstatic.

Junior attacker Mackenzie Cyr notched her second straight six-point game, and sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick recorded four goals and two assists to lead the seventh-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team to a 12-9 home victory against No. 8 Massachusetts in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions (14-6), who improved to 9-0 at home and 7-2 when hosting an NCAA tournament game, won consecutive NCAA tournament games for the first time since 1999 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight year.

WOMEN Against Abuse announced plans yesterday to open a new facility for domestic-violence victims by the end of the year. The shelter, made possible through a $2.5 million grant from the city's Office of Supportive Housing, will allow WAA to open a second 100-bed facility to serve an additional 600 women and children a year. Currently, there is only one shelter in the city for victims of domestic violence. Last year, WAA had to turn down 8,465 requests for safe shelter. The shelter will be housed in a building that is to be renovated, but officials won't disclose its location to protect the women who will stay there.

Prescription for women's safety Having read in vivid detail the trial testimony about the alleged shop of horrors run by abortionist Kermit Gosnell, I wonder when we as a society will realize that proactive, universal policies that enable women to avoid unwanted pregnancies must be a priority. Policies that mandate timely sex education for our teens, including options such as abstinence and uninhibited access to birth-control for young men and women, are socially responsible actions that we must take to ensure that early and especially late-term abortions are minimized or eliminated.

JERUSALEM - Forming human chains and using metal barriers, Israeli police held back thousands of ultra-Orthodox protesters who tried to prevent a Jewish women's group from praying at a holy site Friday, the first time police have come down on the side of the women and not the protesters. The reversal followed a court order backing the right of the women to pray at the Western Wall using religious rituals Orthodox Jews insist should be practiced only by men. Wearing prayer shawls, phylacteries, and skull caps reserved for men under strict Orthodox tradition, the women sang and prayed out loud.