Idaho State athlete suspended for theft

POCATELLO, Idaho € Suspended Idaho State basketball player Shabaka Lands has been fined and placed on probation after pleading guilty to shoplifting a $44 pair of gloves from a local mall.

Magistrate Ted Israel placed Lands, 21, on probation for six months, ordered him to do 20 hours community service and barred him from entering the mall where the shoplifting occurred. Lands, a senior guard from Indianapolis, was the Bengals' starting point guard last season and this year until he was suspended.

The magistrate suspended $225 of a $300 fine, ordered Lands to pay $75 for a public defender and $51.50 in court costs.

Lands also faces charges of marijuana possession and illegal alcohol consumption in Flagstaff after the Bengals defeated Northern Arizona University on Jan. 18. Lands was immediately suspended and hasn't played since.

5-year-old to remain on life support

NEW YORK € A second hospital agreed to maintain life support for a brain-dead baby girl yesterday, ending a court fight over whether 5-month-old Mariah Scoon should remain hooked up to a breathing machine.

Mariah was brought to St. Vincent's Hospital after Cardinal John O'Connor, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in New York City, approached the hospital about the case.

''Her parents are greatly relieved,'' said Ronald Kuby, attorney for Lois and Dr. Malcolm Scoon.

Mariah had been hospitalized at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, which wanted to disconnect the ventilator keeping her heart and lungs functioning. The Scoons objected, citing their religious beliefs.

Colgate aiming for antibacterial paste

BETHESDA, Md. € A toothpaste manufacturer wants to add an ingredient from antibacterial soaps to its product to fight gum disease.

The ingredient is triclosan, a name that can be found in the fine print on bottles of shampoo or jars of face cream but not, in this country, on tubes of toothpaste.

The Colgate-Palmolive Co. says its paste, called Total, reduces plaque and the gum disease gingivitis and asked the Food and Drug Administration for approval to market it.