Kucinich sighting?

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has claimed he saw a UFO, according to Shirley MacLaine in her new book, "Sage-Ing While Age-Ing." Kucinich "had a close sighting over my home in Graham, Washington, when I lived there," wrote the actress, a close Kucinich friend. "Dennis found his encounter extremely moving. The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him. It hovered, soundless, for 10 minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind."

Kucinich's campaign did not return calls and e-mail seeking comment.

Singer hospitalized

Singer Robert Goulet, 74, has been on a ventilator at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles since last week after being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a serious lung disease, his family reportedly told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Passages

Peg Bracken, the dry-witted former advertising executive who relieved the kitchen anxieties of millions of readers with her 1960 best-seller, "The I Hate to Cook Book," died Saturday at her home in Portland, Ore., of pulmonary fibrosis. She was 89.

Vincent DeDomenico, co-inventor of Rice-A-Roni, whose catchy TV jingle paid homage to San Francisco and made the pasta dish known to every baby boomer, died Thursday in Napa, Calif. He was 92.

Critters

Escape artists

German police had to round up a cluster of crawfish after the crustaceans broke out of an Asian food shop and scuttled down the street, police in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said Monday. They had escaped by squeezing through gaps in the grating on their tanks and leaving by the store's front door, which had been left ajar.

Today in History

1946: The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.

1973: President Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor to John J. Sirica.

1983: 241 U.S. Marines and sailors in Lebanon were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

2002: President Bush signed the biggest military spending increase since Ronald Reagan's administration — a $355.5 billion package.

Today's Birthdays

Movie director Philip Kaufman, 71. Soccer great Pele, 67. Author Michael Crichton, 65. R&B singer Barbara Ann Hawkins (The Dixie Cups), 64. Actor Michael Rupert, 56. Movie director Ang Lee, 53. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves, 51. Country singer Dwight Yoakam, 51. Parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic, 48. Actor Ryan Reynolds, 31. Actress Masiela Lusha, 22.

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