Childish: A physician pleaded innocent to criminal...

Childish: A physician pleaded innocent to criminal charges in Alexandria, Va., late last week after authorities said he fathered at least seven of his patients’ children by using his own sperm for artificial insemination. Cecil B. Jacobson denied he injected the women with his sperm. The doctor is accused of falsely telling couples that he operated a bona fide donor program that selected sperm from carefully screened men. And he does not want to go to trial: He says the case would violate his confidential doctor-patient relationship.

Clothes Call: Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf says for him it’s a case of clothes make the man. Schwarzkopf, donning a tuxedo for a $500-a-plate fund-raiser for Boy Scouts of America in Springdale, Ark., said things have changed since he retired his desert camouflage uniform: “I’ve found that retirement means more work and less people to help you.” He said during the Gulf War he could issue an order and 500,000 soldiers would respond. “Today, I can’t even get the plumber to come to my house.”

Bible Belt: Opponents of abortion, seeking new allies in their fight against their political enemies, have appealed to higher authority. Randall A. Terry and Joseph M. Scheidler went to the Vatican to ask Pope John Paul II to punish and possibly excommunicate 27 politicians and public figures, including Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. A letter asks the pontiff “to deal with the political betrayal of certain American Catholic politicians.” But the duo may need to do better homework: At least one of the 27 people, Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.), is not Roman Catholic.

Water Everywhere: An 84-year-old woman who was stuck in her bathtub in Johannesburg, South Africa, for four days because she didn’t have the strength to lift herself out survived by drinking the bath water. Police were called to Gertrude Bosmon’s home Friday by worried relatives unable to contact her by phone. She was reported in good condition at a local hospital.