Heavy D heading to screen near you

Taking a page from fellow rappers-turned actors Will Smith and Ice-T, Heavy D is hoping to make it, uh, big on the big screen. (Sorry,couldn't resist the obvious pun.) Mr. D, who already has small partsin 11 movies to his credit, joins Tim Allen, Rene Russo and Janeane Garofalo in the comedy "Big Trouble," now filming in Miami.

The entertainer also has plans for the small screen. Heavy D tellsthe New York Post he has been tapped for a recurring role on David E.Kelley's new show, "Boston Public."

WEEKEND WATCH: As usual, restaurant kingpin Alex Dana certainlywas juggling celebs at his eateries-helping actor Robert Conrad toasthis wife Velda's 40th birthday at Rosebud …

House rejects Republican effort on UN funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has rejected a Republican-led effort to force the United Nations to give back $179 million in overpayments.

The vote was 259-169. Republicans needed two-third of those voting for the bill to pass.

Republicans pushed for the legislation as part of a cost-cutting effort. The State Department said $100 million of the money already had been designated for the New York City police …

UN: Attacks on Hutus in 1990s could be genocide

A leaked U.N. draft report says the Rwandan army and its Congolese rebel allies committed massacres in Congo in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide that could also be classified as genocide, using hoes and axes to kill ethnic Hutus and burning others alive.

The report is a major embarrassment to Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, whose government has been credited with ending the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda during which more than half a million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were brutally slain.

The French newspaper Le Monde, which first reported the leaked U.N. draft, said Kagame threatened to withdraw troops from the U.N.-African peacekeeping mission in …

Horizons of chemical engineering

Editors' Note: At each AIChE national meeting, local high school students are recruited to assist speakers in their sessions. In return, the students are given a overview of the profession during their lunch break to familiarize them with career options in chemical engineering.

The following was judged to be the best essay from precollege students who participated in the 1996 Annual Meeting student program. The essays were evaluated for clearness of concept, quality of insight, and expression of ideas. Students were encouraged to focus on what was experienced and learned at the meeting, both positive and negative. We thought it also provides a unique and fresh perspective to what …

Hard Spun Has Trainer Optimistic

STANTON, Del. - Having endured a heartbreaking second-place finish by Hard Spun in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Larry Jones is heading into the Preakness with no regrets.

"I wouldn't take anything back that we've done," Jones said Tuesday upon returning to Hard Spun's home stable at Delaware Park.

Given his horse's love for speed, and the fact that jockey Mario Pino calls Maryland home, Jones likes his chances in the May 19 race at Pimlico. Pimlico, he said, is a track that favors speed.

"If there's such a thing as home-court advantage, I hope we have it this time," he said of the second leg of the Triple Crown. "We sure don't feel like we're giving up anything by …

Robert Morris, Portland St. head to NCAA tourney

Robert Morris and Portland State have become the 13th and 14th teams to receive automatic berths in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Both teams needed a bucket in the closing seconds to win their respective tourneys.

Dallas Green picked up a loose ball and hit a basket with 2.5 seconds left, giving Robert Morris a 48-46 win over Mount St. Mary's in the Northeast Conference final. Jeremy Chappell finished with a team-high 15 points to help the Colonials reach the NCAA tourney for the first time in 17 years.

Portland State claimed the Big Sky Conference title, beating Montana State 79-77 on Julius Thomas' tiebreaking dunk with 3.5 seconds to play. Thomas …

Even cleaning may be hazardous to health

Many chemicals from cleaners, waxes and materials in your homemay build up and actually make you feel ill, irritable and depressed.

The most energy-efficient and inexpensive method to improve theair quality in your home is to reduce the amount of pollutants youput in the air.

Recent research also suggests that certain varieties of commonhouseplants can help purify indoor air.

When cooking, cleaning, painting, etc., operate an exhaust ventfan. Close the doors to that room and crack open a window just alittle to reduce heated air loss from the rest of your home.

Replace synthetic household cleaners and materials in your homewith "low-tox" natural …