(WSB Radio) The American Association of Retired People is warning the elderly beware of the free lunch!

The AARP says a common setting for fraudsters to engage their victims is through a free lunch or dinner offer, by which an individual is solicited to attend and learn more about investing in retirement. Many of these invitees have received 10 or more invitations to these "free" events.

Once at the seminar, half of attendees surveyed said the presenter asked for personal information, such as contact or financial information, and nearly 46 percent reported that the presenter attempted to make a follow-up appointment at their home.

According to a new survey from AARP, 78 percent of surveyed Americans age 55 and older indicated they are very or somewhat concerned about financial scams affecting them or someone they know.

http://www.aarp.org/

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) The holidays may not be so sweet this year.

Nestle which sells nearly all the canned pumpkin in the U.S. says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays.

The company said heavy rains made it nearly impossible to pick its pumpkins during this year's harvest. The longer the pumpkins sit in the muddy fields, the more they deteriorate. As a result, the company announced this week that it would not pack any more pumpkins for the season which means it may be hard to find its canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling product until next year's harvest.

``Mother Nature had other plans for us,'' the company said in an open apology to customers online.

Nestle is the largest national brand for canned pumpkin products, with 80 to 90 percent of the market, the company said.

It plants a special strain of pumpkin at a farm in Morton, Ill., which provides nearly all its supply. Nestle estimates if you turned all the pumpkins it grows on the farm to pie, it would total 90 million pies.

``There are a lot of beautiful pumpkins out there that we just can't rescue,'' said Nestle spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn.

The company had a wet harvest last year, too, which meant it didn't have a surplus to carry over into this year and led to spotty shortages in late summer and early fall. The harvest started in August and it began getting products on its shelves soon after, but it won't be able to meet its normal demand.

``We hope everyone understands that Mother Nature was a little difficult this year and hope she's a little bit kinder to us next year,'' O'Hearn said.

Nestle said it has seen the popularity of pumpkin grow recently as more people have become aware of its health benefits, but Thanksgiving is still the company's peak season.

Pie makers can still use fresh pumpkin or other brands.

Trader Joe's said it has its store brand pumpkin in stock but said it couldn't predict what would happen to supplies in the future.

Whole Foods Market Inc. said that while it is aware of lower pumpkin yields in parts of the country, the company was able to get enough pumpkin for its store brand product and actually shipped more product to stores this year than ever before.

Farmers Market Organic, the country's largest provider of organic canned pumpkin, said it didn't experience the same issues with fungus and mold at its farm that big growers in the Midwest suffered this year and last.

And the company, based in Corvallis, Ore., said it increased its capacity and has shipped millions more cans of its product this year.

``Pumpkin pie is something people just won't do without, it's pretty sacred,'' said Tracy Miedema, national sales and marketing manager for Farmers Market. ``They are willing to switch out of a previous brand but they aren't willing to switch out of pumpkin pie.''

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) -- An hour apart and a mile away.

Atlanta police are investigating the overnight thefts of three big-screen TVs in a pair of smash-and-grab burglaries at downtown bars just a mile apart.

Investigators were comparing security video from the Rise Sushi Lounge on Marietta Street and The Original Chocolate Bar on Trinity Avenue to see if the two burglaries were related.

WSB's Richard Sangster reports the first incident happened just after 2 a.m. at the sushi bar, about a block west of CNN Center on Marietta Street.

Less than an hour later, police received an alarm call from the Chocolate Bar a mile away on Trinity Avenue.

There, thieves tossed a cinder block through the front door, then stole two 40-inch flat screens.

(WSB Radio) -- A suspicious package found outside The Temple synagogue Friday morning turned out to be harmless.

"It was a black plastic bag with newspapers inside," Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz said.

The package caused some tense moments outside the synagogue just south of the Brookwood Amtrak station.

WSB's Jon Lewis says the package was reported at about 6:30 a.m.

Fire Capt. Rick Perdue said a caretaker discovered the package, about a foot and a half long and six inches wide in a driveway.

Two lanes of the busy street in Atlanta's midtown area were blocked by fire trucks and police cars.

A dynamite blast blew a hole in the side of The Temple in 1958. No one was injured in the blast, and no one was ever convicted in the case.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) When an ambulance brought Daniel Webb home from the hospital after he hurt his knee in March, paramedics warned the then 550-pound man he probably wouldn't be able to get up from his recliner if they put him there, his wife said.

Webb told them to leave him there anyway. He would sit in that recliner, slowly dying, for the next eight months. Finally, paramedics were called back to his Greenwood home on Wednesday because he was in a lot of pain.

Webb's body was physically stuck to the power recliner and firefighters had to cut him from the chair to take him to the hospital. He died a few hours later, his body covered with sores and a ``very bad odor,'' according to a police report.

Webb, 33, didn't ask for help for all those months, because he was ashamed and didn't have health insurance, said his wife, Ada. He slept and used the bathroom in his chair and she cleaned it every day. The former preacher would post sermons online from the chair, and it wasn't long before he decided he was ready to go home to the Lord, she said.

``After he sat there in that one spot for a week, he was embarrassed. It was like he already knew what was going to happen,'' Ada Webb said.

Webb's mother was the one who placed the final call to paramedics. Not only did crews have to cut apart the chair, but they had to cut a hole in the wall of the couple's mobile home about 70 miles west of Columbia to get him out. A police report said he weighed about 800 pounds, but his wife said he was closer to 500 pounds.

The hospital told Daniel Webb's wife he died from a heart attack, she said. The coroner's office isn't investigating the death and referred all questions to Greenwood County deputies, who sent their report, but didn't respond to a phone message.

Webb died on the couple's second anniversary. They met four years ago on MySpace, and Ada Webb said she didn't see a man who weighed more than 500 pounds, but instead saw a guy who loved the Lord and had a big heart.

``I had the worst anniversary yesterday I ever had, but I know he had the best one he ever had because he's with Jesus now,'' she said.

Daniel Webb drove school buses for nearly 15 years, until his weight made it impossible. His health kept getting worse, and Ada Webb said she begged hospital officials to keep him after doctors treated his knee injury in March. But the couple had no way to pay and were sent home.

For his first few weeks home, Daniel Webb was open to the idea of seeing someone. Getting to them was the problem.

``Everybody kept telling us, if you get here, we'll help you. We didn't have no way of getting him up, and nobody was willing to come help us,'' Ada Webb said. ``He just kind of said, 'it's in God's hands' at that point.''

Daniel Webb spent the rest of his days playing with his four dogs and talking about religion to other people on the Internet.

``I did all I could for him. He loved me with a passion,'' his wife said. ``The only reason he held on to life here was for his family because he wanted to go home and be with the Lord.''

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

WASHINGTON (AP) Most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually, say new guidelines that conclude that's enough to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.

The change by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes amid a completely separate debate over when regular mammograms to detect breast cancer should begin. The timing of the Pap guidelines is coincidence, said ACOG, which began reviewing its recommendations in late 2007 and published the update Friday in the journal Obstetrics Gynecology.

The guidelines also say:

Routine Paps should start at age 21. Previously, ACOG had urged a first Pap either within three years of first sexual intercourse or at age 21.

Women 30 and older should wait three years between Paps once they've had three consecutive clear tests. Other national guidelines have long recommended the three-year interval; ACOG had previously backed a two- to three-year wait.

Women with HIV, other immune-weakening conditions or previous cervical abnormalities may need more frequent screening.

Paps can spot pre-cancerous changes in the cervix in time to prevent invasive cancer, and widespread use has halved cervical cancer rates in the U.S. in recent decades. About 11,270 new cases will be diagnosed this year, and about 4,070 women will die from it, according to American Cancer Society estimates. Half of women diagnosed with cervical cancer have never had a Pap, and another 10 percent haven't had one in five years.

Cervical cancer is caused by certain strains of the extremely common sexually transmitted virus called HPV, for human papillomavirus. There is a new HPV vaccine that should cut cervical cancer in the future; ACOG's guidelines say for now vaccinated women should follow the same Pap guidelines as the unvaccinated.

But the updated guidelines reflect better understanding of HPV. Infection is high among sexually active teens and young adults. Women's bodies very often fight off an HPV infection on their own without lasting harm, although it can take a year or two. The younger the woman, the more likely that HPV is going to be transient.

Moreover, ACOG cited studies showing no increased risk of cancer developing in women in their 20s if they extended Pap screening from every year to every two years.

As for adolescents, ACOG said cervical cancer in teens is rare one or two cases per million 15- to 19-year-olds while HPV-caused cervical abnormalities usually go away on their own, and unnecessary treatment increases the girls' risk of premature labor years later.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(WSB Radio) -- He strikes just before noon.

Or are there six different men who simply look similar?

Seven banks from northwest Atlanta to Dunwoody describe this lunchtime bandit striking often just before noon, wearing a variety of baseball caps pulled low on his face, making off with untold amounts of cash, and eventually driving away in a burgundy or maroon Chevrolet Tahoe missing a rear hub cap.

Or maybe seven different guys with uncanny resemblance have managed to pull separate bank heists -- twice at the same bank, and three out of the last four Fridays -- and escaped in eerily similar getaway SUVs.

Federal and local authorities and area bank security officials are calling this mystery suspect a serial bank robber.

"It's very plausible that if he's hitting one bank (in an area), he could be responsible for others nearby," FBI spokesman Special Agent Stephen Emmett told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The man's M.O. changes slightly from one incident to the next. He usually strikes at or just before noon, but there have been afternoon and early morning robberies. He shows no obvious appearance of a weapon to reinforce the demand for money, but he has appeared on occasion to have shoved his hand into his pocket, creating the facade of an armed robbery.

Sometimes he uses a demand note, sometimes not.

Sunglasses, or ball cap pulled down low, never looking up to the camera.

A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of this robber.

CHICAGO (AP) ``The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' an iconic broadcast that grew over two decades into a daytime television powerhouse and the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, Winfrey's production company said Thursday night.

Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast on Friday, Harpo Productions Inc. said, bringing an end to what has been television's top-rated talk show for more than two decades, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the U.S. alone.

A Harpo spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on Winfrey's future plans except to say that ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' will not move to cable television.

Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a much-delayed joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that is expected to debut in 2011. OWN is to replace the Discovery Health Channel and will debut in some 74 million homes. An OWN spokeswoman declined comment Thursday.

CBS Television Distribution, which distributes ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' to more than 200 markets blanketing the United States, held out hope that it could continue doing business with Winfrey, perhaps producing a new show out of its studios in Los Angeles.

``We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success,'' the unit of CBS Corp. said in a statement. ``We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well.''

Winfrey's 24th season opened earlier this year with a bang, as she drew more than 20,000 fans to Chicago's Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue for a block party with the Black Eyed Peas.

She followed up with a series of blockbuster interviews Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, exclusives with singer Whitney Houston and ESPN's Erin Andrews, and just this week, former Alaska governor, GOP vice presidential candidate and best-selling author Sarah Palin.

Over the years, ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' grew from a newcomer that chipped away at talk king Phil Donahue's dominance into a program that turned inspirational. The show covered a gamut that ranged from interviews with the world's most famous celebrities to an honest discussion about her weight struggles.

``As that show evolved, it really kind of dressed up the neighborhood of the daytime talk show,'' said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. ``There was a seriousness to it, as though what she was doing was a calling and not just a television show.''

In 1986, pianist-showman Liberace gave his final TV interview to Winfrey, just six weeks before he died. In a widely viewed prime-time special aired in 1993, Michael Jackson revealed he suffered from a skin condition that produces depigmentation.

Tom Cruise enthusiastically declared his affection for the much-younger Katie Holmes on the program in 2005 and jumped on the couch to prove it.

In 2004, Winfrey unveiled her most famous giveaway, when nearly 300 members of the studio audience opened a gift box to find the keys to a new car inside. The stunt became a classic show moment as much for Oprah's reaction ``You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!'' as its $7 million price tag.

The show also became a launching pad for Oprah's Book Club, and authors whose books were selected became best-sellers. The titles ranged from ``Song of Solomon'' and ``Paradise'' by Toni Morrison to Wally Lamb's ``She's Come Undone'' and Elie Wiesel's ``Night.''

For others, the selection backfired. ``A Million Little Pieces'' exploded in sales after Winfrey chose the James Frey memoir in fall 2005. Soon after, it was revealed as a fabricated tale of addiction and recovery, and Winfrey later chewed out Frey on her show.

``She's been a great inspiration, a great support for all the shifts in politics and social consciousness and consciousness in general,'' said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. ``I call her 'Queen of the New Consciousness' because she did so many things to change lives, the books that she promoted.''

The loss of ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' would be a blow to CBS Corp. because it earns a percentage of hefty licensing fees from TV stations that use it; the show is largely seen on ABC affiliates. On a conference call with analysts two weeks ago, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said the contract with the show runs through most of 2011 and ``if there's a negative impact, it wouldn't hit us until '12.''

``Oprah's been a force of media and there's really no person you can look to out there who you could say, `That's the heir apparent,''' said Larry Gerbrandt, an analyst for the firm Media Valuation Partners in Los Angeles. Gerbrandt noted many stations built their schedules around Winfrey's show and used it to promote other shows.

``It's a big loss, but not as huge as it would have been 10 years ago,'' he said. ``However, it still commands the biggest audience and ABC station competitors are licking their chops.''

Talk of the show's end often has accompanied impending contract negotiations for Winfrey. Before she signed her current contract in 2004, she had talked about quitting after the 2005-2006 season. As far back as 1995, she had called continuing ``a difficult and important decision.''

CBS continues to sell several top shows into syndication, including ``Wheel of Fortune'' and ``Jeopardy.'' But many TV stations are struggling with falling advertising revenue and were unlikely to pay the same fees as in the past for Winfrey's show, which has seen ratings slip 7 percent from a year ago and saw its average viewership slip below 7 million last season.

Winfrey started her broadcasting career as a teenager in Nashville, Tenn., reading the news at WVOL. Two years later, Winfrey started co-anchoring news broadcasts on WTVF-TV in Nashville. In 1976 she moved to Baltimore to anchor newscasts at WJZ-TV before becoming host of the local talk show ``People Are Talking.''

In 1984, she relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show ``A.M. Chicago'' the show was became ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' one year later. She set up Harpo the following year and her talk show went into syndication.

Powered by the show's staggering success, Winfrey built a wide-ranging media empire. Harpo Studios produces shows hosted by Dr. Phil McGraw and celebrity chef Rachael Ray, and O, The Oprah Magazine was the nation's 7th most popular magazine in the first half of 2009.

``I came from nothing,'' Winfrey wrote in the 1998 book ``Journey to Beloved.'' ``No power. No money. Not even my thoughts were my own. I had no free will. No voice. Now, I have the freedom, power, and will to speak to millions every day having come from nowhere.''

Earlier this year, Forbes scored Winfrey's net worth at $2.7 billion, even as the magazine knocked her from atop its list of the world's most powerful celebrities. The honor went to Angelina Jolie, but Winfrey was still No. 2 on the annual Celebrity 100 list and the top earner at $275 million.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)