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Lawmakers in Kansas passed an extensive anti-abortion measure Friday night, which Gov. Sam Brownback is expected to sign into law. The bill declares that life begins "at fertilization," prohibits abortions related to the baby's sex and blocks tax breaks for health care providers that perform abortions.

The House passed the bill 90-30, hours after the Senate approved it 28-10.

The Associated Press quoted Republican Kansas Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a supporter of the bill, as saying, "The human is a magnificent piece of work in all stages of development, wondrous in every regard, from the microscopic until full development."

The bill, called The Women's Right to Know Act, also requires doctors to provide controversial information to patients either seeking or inquiring about an abortion of a link between the procedure and breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute concluded in 2003 that abortion does not raise the risk for breast cancer, but physicians would have to address the issue as a "potential risk" for women seeking an abortion.

The Wichita Eagle reported that Rep. Annie Kuether, D-Topeka, responded to the bill's passage by saying the measure should be called "the Women's Right to Be Lied to Act."

The Women's Right to Know Act, or HB 2253, would make Kansas one of several states to add language that limits abortion practices while keeping Roe v. Wade in mind. The 1973 Supreme Court decision upholds the rights of women to obtain abortions in some circumstances, but allows states to put certain restrictions in place.

Gov. Brownback says he still has to review the law, but he is expected to sign it, allowing the new restrictions to take effect on July 1.

Every Midwestern city has garages full of four local teenagers playing rock 'n' roll and dreaming of the big time ... but Rockford, Ill., boasts the few that made it. Rick Nielsen formed Cheap Trick with three of his friends back in 1973 in Rockford and since then they've traveled the world and put out more than 16 albums.

Since Nielsen was in a band called Cheap Trick, we've invited him play a game called "BAAAAAAAA." Three questions about sheep tricks.

How did Dennis Rodman end up having dinner with Kim Jong Un in North Korea? It was the idea of Vice Media, which has grown from a counterculture magazine into a full-fledged youth media conglomerate.

Friday night, it premieres a documentary series on HBO, a kind of coming-out moment into the mainstream.

'I Wish We Were Weirder'

Vice Media's contradictions smack you in the face as soon as you step into its Brooklyn headquarters. You're just as likely to see rapper Snoop Lion walking in as you are journalist Fareed Zakaria.

In its glass conference rooms, you might see corporate-looking PowerPoints or staff looking earnestly at pictures of nude, tattooed women. A team from the tech website holds serious meetings about reporting on the Cannabis Cup in Colorado.

"Everyone [always says], 'Vice is so weird!' and I'm like, look, I wish we were weirder," says Vice's CEO and co-founder, Shane Smith.

He's a burly, bearded Canadian who has built Vice into a hipper version of a big media conglomerate. And the company is now succeeding where other media companies have failed.

"We do music, we do books, we do magazines, we do online, we do mobile, we do television, we do film. We do what everyone else does. We do it weirder, and we do it younger, and we do it in a different way and in a different voice," he says.

Young Attraction

In its nearly 20 years, Vice has gone from a small Canadian magazine to figuring out the holy grail of media: how to capture an international audience of aloof 18- to 24-year-olds.

In the office's edit rooms, young producers work on everything from a food series, to a film about Somali pirates, to interviews about electronic dance music.

Honda is moving its North American headquarters from California to Ohio. That's just the latest bit of good news for the Buckeye State and Honda, whose fortunes have been closely tied for decades now.

Honda has been an economic heavyweight here since it was lured to central Ohio in the 1970s. The company's footprint is big, and it continues to increase.

Honda's sprawling Marysville Auto Plant opened outside Columbus in 1982. Since then, it has grown to nearly 4 million square feet and now sits on a campus of 8,000 acres.

More than 4,000 employees build 1,900 vehicles here every day, including Honda Accords and several Acura models, and the company is adding 100,000 square feet to the plant to build a new hybrid.

That means more work for nearby engine and transmission plants, and for the more than 150 Ohio companies that sell parts to Honda.

A Broad Impact

Company spokesman Ron Lietzke says with Honda's Ohio operations in a continuing growth spurt, it makes sense to move the headquarters here.

"It will increase the speed of making decisions, it'll increase the speed of introducing new models, and it will improve our communications activities throughout the organization in North America," he says.

With more cars being built here and expanding global markets, Honda of America expects to soon become a net exporter of vehicles for the first time, sending cars to Asia and the Middle East. And as Honda goes, so goes much of the rest of central Ohio's economic development.

A Boon To Housing

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