• The suspects range in age from 15 to 21 and included a 17-year-old boy who turned himself in and a former Richmond High School student. Richmond, California Police Lt. Mark Gagan said, "These suspects are monsters. And, I don't understand how this many people capable of such atrocious behavior could be in one place at one time." • A lawyer for Susan Finkelstein, the Phillies fan accused of offering sex for World Series tickets, said her post on Craigslist saying she'd get "creative" with payment, "was a variation of 'will work for food.' It doesn't mean she was a prostitute.'" Attorney William Brennan denied an undercover police officer's claim that she offered him sex for tickets and added, "You're talking about a 43-year-old woman who was overcome by Phillies fever. All she was looking to do was take her husband to a World Series game. You know that Madonna movie Desperately Seeking Susan? This was Susan Desperately Seeking.'" • Edward Ates of Florida testified in court today that he couldn't have killed his son-in-law because he is too fat to commit the crime. Paul Duncsak, who was in a child custody dispute with Ates daughter, was shot in his home in 2006. Ates says he weighed 285 lbs at the time and wouldn't have had the energy needed to climb and descend the staircase where prosecutors say the killer was perched when he shot Duncsak. • A Utah judge has sentenced 21-year-old Leo Harrison to prison for accepting $150 from a pregnant girl to help her kill her fetus. Harrison was facing 21 years in prison for pleading guilty to second-degree felony attempted murder, but the judge sentenced him on a charge of third-degree "attempted killing of an unborn child" under Utah's anti-abortion statute, which means he could serve up to 20 years in prison.The woman, who gave birth to a healthy baby, pleaded no contest to second-degree felony criminal solicitation to commit murder for paying Harrison to assault her. • Using forceps if a woman is having difficulty during the "pushing" stage of labor has fallen out of favor, but a new study found that trying forceps instead of immediately performing a C-section does not raise the risks to the baby in most cases. A study of 3,200 women who had an unplanned C-section found that when cases in which there was already a problem with the fetal heart rate were excluded, the rate of complications were the same whether forceps were tried before a C-section or not. • While many Indian women are acting as surrogate mothers, more than half a million Indian women die every year due to pregnancy complications, despite government programs guaranteeing free obstetric care. According to Human Rights Watch, India is doing a poor job of monitoring how maternal health programs are implemented. UNICEF estimates that for every maternal death, there are 20 to 30 cases of other complications including obstetric fistulae, uterine prolapse, infertility, vaginal scarring, and sepsis. • A Spanish study of contraceptive use by 11,000 women from 14 European countries found that after condoms, the pill is the most popular contraceptive method. IUDs are the most popular long-acting contraceptive, but only 10% of women surveyed use them and most are over 30 years old. • Scientists at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain say they've figured out the secret behind Mona Lisa's smile. They say the smile depends on what cells in the retina pick up the image. Sometimes the image is transmitted to the brain on one channel and you see the smile and sometimes another channel takes over and you won't see it. • In a session on grieving during The Women's Conference in California, Maria Shriver said she's been telling people she's OK since her mother's death two months ago but, "the real truth is that I'm not fine... The real truth is that my mother's death has brought me to my knees. I had feared this my entire life... She was my hero, my role model, my very best friend. I spoke to her every single day of my life. I tried really hard when I grew up to make her proud of me." • According to a UC Irvine study, 30 percent of Americans have a gene variant that is linked to performing 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it. Previous studies have found that in people with a BDNF gene variant, which supports communication among brain cells, a smaller portion of the brain is stimulated when doing a task than in people with a normal BDNF gene. • Check out Live Science's guide to everything you always wanted to know about constipation but were afraid to ask here. (Paging Tracie Egan.) • Accused murderer Drew Peterson is suing JP Morgan Chase because he says the company violated truth-in-lending laws by cutting off his home-equity credit line in May. He says he is now unable to post bond and pay his lawyers, and said if his accounts remain frozen he'll ask the court to approve taxpayer money to fund his defense. • Germany's Lutheran Church Margot Kaessman is one of only two women to serve as bishop in Germany's Protestant church. • Indiana University researchers studied workplace politics at an urban elementary school and found that people who are targets of gossip are negatively evaluated during formal work meetings, but gossip can be derailed by changing the subject, targeting someone else for criticism, or by pre-emptive comments that are positive. "When you're sitting in that business meeting, be attentive to when the talk drifts away from the official task at hand to people who aren't present," said sociologist Tim Hallett. "Be aware that what is going on is a form of politics... that can be a weapon to undermine people who aren't present. But it also can be a gift. If people are talking positively it can be a way to enhance someone's reputation." • Sasha and Malia Obama were given the H1N1 vaccine last week after it was made available for D.C. schoolchildren. The President and First Lady still haven't been vaccinated. • Sarah Palin has responded to Levi Johnston's claim on CBS' Early Show that she repeatedly referred to her son Trig as "retarded" saying, "Trig is our 'blessed little angel' who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad... Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies — those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention." • Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, says it was inappropriate for him to call Federal Reserve advisor Linda Robertson a "K Street whore." "I offer my sincere apology," Grayson said in a statement. "I did not intend to use a term that is often, and correctly, seen as disrespectful of women." • The Australian Sex Party has nominated Marianna Leishman (a.k.a. Zahra Stardust), for a December election to fill a vacant seat in the Australian House of Representatives. Leishman is a feminist writer/pole dance instructor who has worked at the United Nations and has a law degree. She said in a statement, "In an area that claims 50 years of conservative representation from white, heterosexual, able-bodied, suited, male protagonists, the Australian Sex Party is excited to provide a modern, outward looking female candidate." On her agenda is legalizing gay marriage and abortion, examining child sex abuse in religious institutions, and pushing for more sex education in schools. •

A spokeswoman for Michelle told chicagobusiness.com that "we believe it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes." Ty responded by saying that although the dolls were created with the Obama daughters in mind, they "were not designed to look like any living person." The dolls in question are part of a TyGirlz line that includes dolls named Lindsay, Britney, Paris, Hillary and Jenna (but no Barbara). [UPI , AP]

The letter is actually very sweet; it makes the White House sound like the most magical place to grow up, full of both history and possibility. Jenna and Barbara remember what it was like to first enter the White House at age seven, and then return again at age 18. They reminisce on the vacations spent in DC, the years they spent playing house in the East sitting room and staging plays in the grand ballroom. They offer some advice to Sasha and Malia from “two sisters who have stood where you will stand and who have lived where you will live,” including:

If you're traveling with your parents over Halloween, don't let it stop you from doing what you would normally do. Dress up in some imaginative, elaborate costume (if you are like us a pack of Juicy Fruit and a Vampiress) and trick-or-treat down the plane aisle.

And:

If you ever need a hug, go find Ramsey. If you want to talk football, look for Buddy. And, if you just need a smile, look for "Smiley."

And what may be the best advice:

Go to anything and everything you possibly can: the Kennedy Center for theater, State Dinners, Christmas parties (the White House staff party is our favorite!), museum openings, arrival ceremonies, and walks around the monuments. Just go. Four years goes by so fast, so absorb it all, enjoy it all!

Sasha and Malia are going to grow up in the public eye, facing constant scrutiny and receiving more attention than they are probably ready for. We have only just seen the beginning of this with the media madness surrounding their first day of school. However, this letter is refreshingly not about that. On such an exciting day, it seems right that Jenna and Barbara are cautioning the Obama girls on how to be kids living in the White House, and how to fully enjoy their father’s historic presidency without losing sight of the magic of their surroundings.

Playing House in the White House [WSJ]

The style bible asked several children's wear designers to imagine inauguration ensembles for the First Daughters. The styles range between colorful skirts and classic, full-skirted dresses — there's even a black velvet pinafore of sorts — but all of the sketches (except for the Bonnie Young evening gowns) seem rather old-fashioned.

(At left, a design by Lucy Sykes; center, a dress by Olive Juice; right, coats by Best & Co.)

Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, are modern young ladies, not porcelain dolls. Yes, they should look classic, yes, they should look appropriate. But isn't there something antiquated or passé about a little girl in a dress with a Sound Of Music bow at the waist? Clearly, velour pants with "Juicy" emblazoned across the ass would not be appropriate. But. If their father is running on a platform of change, couldn't that be represented in Sasha and Malia's style?

Inauguration '09: And for the Girls..., Obama Girls Influence Style [WWD]
Earlier: The Politics Of Style: An Obama-Inspired Shopping Spree At J. Crew
Imagine: A Project Runway Inauguration Dress For Michelle Obama

Long before the days of women's suffrage and equal rights crusades, Quakers were unique in integrating women fully into the ministry; the schools were not only coeducational, they focused on equipping girls with all the same spiritual and intellectual apparatus as boys. It's no accident that Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott and any number of leading suffragists were raised in Quaker homes.

On the other hand, a piece in the Wall Street Journal reminds us that unlike so many families in this country, the Obamas have the means to select a private school, "and no one begrudges them that choice given that Washington's public schools are among the worst in America." The WSJ piece notes:

Most D.C. parents would also love to be able to choose a better school for their child, but they lack the financial means to do so. The Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program each year offers up to $7,500 to some 1,900 kids to attend private schools, but Democrats in Congress want to kill it. Average family income for kids in the voucher program is about $22,000. Mr. Obama says he opposes such vouchers, because "although it might benefit some kids at the top, what you're going to do is leave a lot of kids at the bottom." The example of his own children refutes that: The current system offers plenty of choice to kids "at the top" while abandoning those at the bottom.

Obviously the President-Elect is giving his daughters an education some Americans can't give their children. But which politician would not?

In any case, the challenge for Sasha and Malia will be some attempt at normalcy (Facebook banned? Oh no!) Newsweek reporter Suzanne Smalley received an email from a parent whose child attends a school the Obama girls visited last week: "My son asked one of the Secret Service agents yesterday why he was hiding behind a doorway in a hall," the parent wrote. Apparently Malia "had asked him to hang back so she could be more 'normal.'" But! The kids at the school referred to the Secret Service agents as "bodyguards." Not normal, but kind of cool?

Why Sasha and Malia Will Go to Sidwell Friends [Time]
The Sidwell Choice [WSJ]
Just One More Frame! [Newsweek]