Center Franklin Mall Park Shopping

The committee's interim report in April 2006 harshly criticised Mr Olmert, saying that he had "made his mind up hastily" to go to war and found him and other leaders guilty of "very serious failings".

The Israeli military's chief of staff Dan Halutz resigned ahead of the interim report, and the Defence Minister Amir Peretz was forced to resign in its wake.

But Mr Olmert held onto office in spite of stiff opposition and little popular support.

The prime minister and his office launched a successful campaign to save his political career following the interim report.

'Some praise'

Mr Olmert's opponents are particularly critical of his decision to launch a ground invasion in the final two days of the war, which cost the lives of 33 Israeli soldiers.

Excerpts from the final report have been leaked to the Israeli media.

Aging Mesa outlet mall nears dubious milestone

VF Factory Outlet remains open at Power and Baseline roads. But 15 of 31 retail spaces surrounding the anchor store now sit empty. One more closure, and the 24-year-old mall will be half empty. Its a shame, said Joe Brown, a winter resident from Canada who has shopped at the mall for years. This used to be a really nice place. Closed storefront windows in one desolate wing of the mall show signs that read: Another Exciting Outlet Opening Soon! But Nicole Ganatos, an assistant manager at Dress Barn, said the wing has sat empty since she began working at the mall more than three months ago. She said part of the malls problem has been its prolonged lack of a food court or snack bar. People dont want to shop if they cant get something to drink, Ganatos said. Creative Ice Cream used to operate the snack bar, but the vendor shut down its services in March leaving the mall without a source of refreshments for almost a year.

Hispanics were key to McCain's victory

John McCain won Florida's Republican primary with the help of the state's wildly popular governor, his own war-hero biography and some crafty campaigning.Hillary Clinton won the Democrats' vote on the strength of her experience, her race and a campaign that oddly wasn't a campaign at all.The strange race for the presidency -- some late Republican mudslinging, no slinging of anything by Democrats -- has exited the biggest swing state for now, giving the nation a glimpse of the issues and ideas on the minds of voters of all stripes heading into Super Tuesday.In Florida, both candidates can thank one group above all others for their win: Hispanics.Hispanics backed Clinton by a 2-to-1 margin over Barack Obama, according to exit polls conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the National Election Pool. Pollsters say the Hispanic vote reflects a fondness for Bill Clinton's White House years and a long-standing trend of voting against black candidates.The Hispanic numbers were even more striking for McCain: 51 percent of Hispanics backed him, with 15 percent supporting Mitt Romney, who came in a close second statewide, and 25 percent for Rudy Giuliani.SIXTH BOROUGHSouth Florida was supposed to be the sixth borough, New York south for the former Big Apple mayor.

Wine, move over: Pairing food and beer is fun

Anheuser-Busch has archives of sales material dating to the turn of the 20th century advocating beer and food pairings. Those archives also contain a cookbook the company published in the 1950s.More recently, the idea of beer and food pairing got considerable attention after the 2003 publication of "The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer With Real Food." That book, by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the acclaimed independent microbrewery the Brooklyn Brewery, caught the attention of professional and home cooks and is considered one of the seminal works for pairing food with beer.But with the Clydesdales now pulling the bandwagon for beer-and-food pairing, the concept is likely to get a much wider airing.Two of the key local players in the development of the cookbook were Sam Niemann, an executive chef at company headquarters, and George Reisch, whose formal titles are brewmaster and "corporate ambassador."Reisch is the fifth generation of a family that ran a brewery in Springfield, Ill., and he earned a degree in food chemistry before eventually joining A-B.

Public safety log for Jan. 30

Robert Walker, 24, Washington Ave., Croydon, 9:31 a.m. Mon, warrant in 200 block Rt. 13, sent to county prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Police reported no crime.

Montgomery Co. Police Warn Of Purse Snatcher

Police warned women in Montgomery County on Thursday night to be on the lookout for a purse snatcher.