Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe (HOUSTON) -- The Aviation Department of the city of Houston says it will pick up the bill for all the overtime spent in providing extra police protection for the area's two major airports in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The price tag is estimated to be about $3 million. Houston's police chief, C.O. Bradford, says that the head of the aviation unit has assured him that the monies will be forthcoming. The Chronicle says that the city has been spending about $30,000 a day for the patrols. Advertisement Extra police have been assigned to both Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and Houston Hobby (HOU) Airports. The Aviation Department says it will find the money in a variety of places, from parking and rental car taxes to concessions to airplane landing fees. (DENVER) -- A Denver-area Christmas tradition is preparing its final run. An energetic theater group says this will be the fifth and final time it mounts a major production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." The Denver Post says the group, based in Arvada, has taken the colorful musical to near extremes with incredible lighting and even a highly detailed, 20-foot-long coat for the principal character. The production quickly became a central Colorado holiday tradition. Advertisement But, amid all of the set decoration, the publication's reviewer, John Moore, says that the production over the years has been one that has been tightly knit, providing 70 minutes of theater delights. The Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical was first performed four Christmas seasons ago by the ensemble at the Arvada Center, just northwest of downtown Denver. (SEATTLE) -- Business leaders in Seattle are closely watching possible additional layoff plans of one of the city's most important and celebrated companies -- Boeing. The Post-Intelligencer says that the aerospace and aircraft company is in "phase one" of a planned series of layoffs that will eventually include as many as 30,000 employees by next June. Executives for Boeing have continually stressed that they have little control over the pinkslips because of the sudden downturn in the popularity of air travel and uncertainties in the world of aviation. The next batch of layoff "warnings" will be sent to employees just four days before Christmas. The publication says that many who are laid off may find that it could take as long as five years for Boeing to hire them back, that is if confidence in air travel can be rebuilt. Advertisement (CINCINNATI ) -- Health officials in Cincinnati say they are welcoming a new report that shows the rate of smoking there is lower than thought and is among the lowest in the Midwest. The Enquirer is reporting that many people are surprised at the figures because the Cincinnati metropolitan area includes parts of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, among the five smokingest states in the country. Kentucky has the most smokers per capita, but is also home to much tobacco growing. The information is in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control. It is the first look at smoking on a city-by-city basis. Older reports simply contained state smoking figures. By the way, Toledo, Ohio, is the smokingest city in the country with more than 31 percent of adults regularly lighting up. Cincinnati is 17th in the Midwest. Several years ago that city enacted strong no-smoking regulations for restaurants and other public places. City officials in Toledo, stung by recent smoking stats, have tried to follow suit but have been blocked by court challenges in recent months.
