YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AFP) –
American Kelly Pavlik stopped Miguel Espino in the fifth round of their World Boxing Council middleweight fight on Saturday.

Pavlik, 27, floored Espino three times including twice in the fourth round. He sent Espino to the canvas again in the fifth and that's when the challenger's corner threw in the towel.

Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs) traded punches with Espino from the opening bell in an entertaining fight that was stopped by referee Steve Smoger at 1:44 of the fifth.

Espino (20-3-1) is the third ranked contender behind Pavlik. He was deducted a point after round one for throwing a late punch.

The win was a confidence boost for Pavlik who recently took 10 months off to recover from an infected hand.

Pavlik suffered his only loss 14 months ago when he stepped up in weight to face Bernard Hopkins and dropped a unanimous 12-round decision.

Pavlik defended his title last February by beating Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio, but needed this win to prove himself once again.

Big Mac, large fries and a large Coke: That'll be 1,350 calories.

If Congress has its way, you'll soon be as familiar with the nutritional content of your fast-food combos as you are with their prices.

The House (HR 3962) and Senate (HR 3590) health care reform bills include provisions requiring fast-food chains to post calorie counts on their menus. Separate House (HR 2426) and Senate (S 1048) bills would have the same effect.

The measures are designed to curb the epidemic of obesity in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.

Legislators are hopeful that the extra information will help consumers make healthier choices -- helping reduce health care costs for heart disease, diabetes and other weight-related illnesses.

But according to independent research in low-income areas, calorie intake could take a backseat to price.

"We may need to look at a combination of policy implemented simultaneously to impact obesity," said Dr. Brian Elbel, assistant professor of New York University School of Medicine and author of the study.

Supportive policy like increasing healthier and affordable food choices in low-income areas can strengthen the calorie labeling measure, said Elbel.

Additionally, some critics say the calorie content alone is not enough because many consumers don't know much about what they should be eating.

For example, that Big Mac combo is nearly two-thirds of the 2,000 calories that an average adult who is moderately active should consume in a single day, according to Dr. James A. Dail, a nutritionist and doctor of naturopathic medicine.

The ideal caloric breakdown, according to Dail: 500 calories for breakfast, 1000 calories for lunch and 500 calories for dinner. He also says that the last meal of the day should be consumed before 7 p.m.

Still, supporters of the measures say any little bit of information helps.

A report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that most people underestimate the number of calories they consume.

The measure began as local mandates, with New York City leading the way.

Surprisingly, the National Restaurant Association supports the federal bills in part because it hopes to stem the tide of local restrictions, which vary widely. Those little differences cause heartburn in an industry that aims for standardized menus.

According to the association, menu labeling at fast-food chains is currently required in three counties in New York; Philadelphia, Penn.; Montgomery County, Md.; Nashville, Tenn.; and jurisdictions in Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon, among other places.

From our sister publication, Congress.org

ATLANTA – Willie Maxine Perry, who helped inspire the character Madea played by her movie producer son Tyler Perry, has died. She was 64.
Tyler Perry announced her Tuesday death on his Web site, where he thanked fans for their prayers. He did not say where his mother died or anything about the cause.
Perry's publicist, Keleigh Thomas, would not give further details Wednesday afternoon.
Perry owes much of his popularity to his portrayal of Madea, a sharp-tongued, iron-willed Southern matriarch played by Perry in a padded suit and wig. She is the central character in films like "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail,"
In an October interview, Perry told CBS' "60 Minutes" that the character is a celebration of strong black women who is based in part on his own mother.
"Madea's a cross between my mother and my aunt — she's the type of grandmother that was on every corner when I was growing up," he said. "... She's a strong figure where I come from, in my part of the African American community."
But the character has also earned criticism from some black community figures who argue Perry is reinforcing stereotypes of black women as overbearing, violent and brash. Film maker Spike Lee recently labeled Perry's TBS sitcoms and films "coonery."
Arlene Barron, executive director at the Jewish Community Center in New Orleans, said Maxine Perry had worked there as a nursery school assistant for about 10 years from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.
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On the Net:
http://tylerperry.com/

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The foundation for today's global Internet e-mail service was created in the early ARPANET and standards for encoding of messages were proposed as early as 1973 (RFC 561). An e-mail sent in the early 1970s looked very similar to one sent on the Internet today. Conversion from the ARPANET to the Internet in the early 1980s produced the core of the current service.

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