O'Brien to succeed Leno?\nNEW YORK -- NBC announced Monday that Conan O'Brien will take over for Jay Leno as host of the "Tonight" show. He'll have time to write his jokes -- the planned succession won't happen until 2009. The announcement solves a delicate problem for NBC, which realized O'Brien was getting antsy in his "Late Night" time slot (12:35 a.m. Eastern) and wanted to keep him from jumping to another network. Leno planned to make the announcement on Monday's edition of "Tonight," a special celebration of the talk show's 50th anniversary. "In 2009, I'll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years," Leno said. "When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60," the notoriously workaholic Leno said about his wife. Leno took over from Johnny Carson on "Tonight" in 1992 and after a few years of trailing the man he beat out for the job in the ratings -- David Letterman -- he passed the CBS star and has been dominant in the time slot. O'Brien had the thankless job of taking over for Letterman on "Late Night," and he was nearly fired after several weeks of painful shows. He recovered and has been a critical and commercial success.
Hospitals might lift ban on cell-phone calls\nMUNSTER, Ind. -- Some health officials in northwest Indiana and Chicago say it might be time for area hospitals to lift their long-held bans on cell-phone calls, citing research that shows the phones do not interfere with medical equipment.\nCell calls are banned or limited to certain sections at all but one hospital in Lake and Porter counties and at one of the three hospitals in Chicago's south suburbs, The Munster Times reported Sunday. Some health-care officials said hospitals should conduct tests before allowing cell phones, especially if facilities use older medical equipment. They said it also would be wise for hospitals to ban phones in sensitive areas or in places where noise would be a problem.\nBut the building-wide bans might no longer be needed, officials said. Research by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council found little evidence to support the theory of cell phones interfering with equipment, said spokeswoman Linnea O'Neill.\n"It's an old wives' tale," O'Neill said.\nThe council called on Chicago-area hospitals to re-examine the issue. Dr. John Halamka, chief medical information officer for Harvard Medical School, said three years ago, the school held a conference on the issue with about 100 engineers, the Food and Drug Administration, wireless providers and businesses. The group determined that cell phones only pose a threat if they are within three feet of medical equipment.
