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A voluntary recall of S. Rothschild & Co. girls' coats has been announced by the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission due to a strangulation hazard.

According to the reports, about 13,500 coats were imported from Guatemala by S. Rothschild & Co. of New York and sold nationwide from September 2006 through September 2009 for between $70 and $100.

The commission further said that the coats have detachable capes with drawstrings that pose a threat of strangulation.

It has been reported that prices plunged on Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade as traders tried to even up positions before the long holiday weekend.

Corn was off 13 1/2 to off 14 1/4, soybeans were off 11 to off 14, wheat was off 8 1/2 to off 10 and oats were off 5 1/2.

Coupled with a higher dollar, corn suffered from pressure from equities and crude oil.

One analyst has said that funds and speculators were responsible for much of the selling and traders were evening up following a recent buying binge on strong demand from China.

According to the official reports, U. S. markets fell on Friday in New York after credit rating agency Fitch's downgraded Spanish debt.

The downgrade from AAA to AA plus comes on the same day Spain's Parliament passed an austerity budget amendment by just one vote.

Because of fears that debt issues would spread across Europe, markets have already suffered through a dismal month. Greece and Portugal have also had bonds downgraded in May.

According to media reports, a vocal advocate of open-carry gun laws in Wisconsin has been barred from possessing any weapons while he fights a murder charge.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported that a judge made that a condition of Jesus Gonzalez's bail on Thursday. Gonzalez was released on $100,000 bail last week.

According to the sources, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's contract to speak at Cal State Stanislaus calls for a $75,000 fee, bottled water and "bendable straws."

The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that two unnamed California State University sources speaking on condition of anonymity who allege to have seen the contract say along with the fee to be paid in two installments of $37,500 each, are expenses for air fare, hotel and transportation yet to be calculated.

Authorities have revealed that firefighters wearing hazardous-materials suits rescued a reclusive senior couple in Chicago trapped under a mound of trash and hoarded junk.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Friday that retired teacher Thelma Gaston, 79, and her former zoologist husband, Jesse Gaston, 76, may have been trapped for as long as two weeks amid trash, moldy food and garbage so fetid the smell kept neighbors at a distance until one finally called authorities.