Danny Puff

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - As cell phones, iPods and laptops creep steadily into every corner of modern life, America's national parks have stayed largely off the digital grid, among the last remaining outposts of ringtone-free human solitude.

For better or worse, that may soon change.

Under pressure from telecommunications companies and a growing number of park visitors who feel adrift without mobile-phone reception, the airwaves in such grand getaway destinations as Yellowstone National Park may soon be abuzz with new wireless signals.

That prospect has given pause to a more traditional cohort of park visitors who cherish the unplugged tranquility of the great outdoors, fearing an intrusion of mobile phones - and the sound of idle chatter - will diminish their experience.

Some have mixed emotions. Stephanie Smith, a 50-something Montana native who visits Yellowstone as many as six times a year, said she prefers the cry of an eagle to ring tones.

But she also worries that future generations may lose their appreciation for the value of nature and the need to preserve America's outdoor heritage if a lack of technology discourages them from visiting.

"You have to get there to appreciate it," Smith said. "It's a new world - and technology is a part of it."

Balancing the two aesthetics has emerged as the latest challenge facing the National Park Service as managers in at least two premier parks, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, consider recent requests to install new telecommunications towers or upgrade existing ones.

There is no system-wide rule governing cellular facilities in the 300 national parks, national monuments and other units the agency administers nationwide. Wireless infrastructure decisions are left up to the managers of individual park units.

The agency's mission statement requires it to protect park resources and the visitor experience, but each individual experience is unique, said Lee Dickinson, a special-uses program manager for the Park Service.

"I've had two visitors calling me literally within hours of each other who wanted exactly the opposite experience: One saying he didn't vacation anywhere without electronic access and the other complaining he was disturbed by another park visitor ordering pizza on his cell phone," Dickinson said.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Wireless supporters say more is at stake than the convenience of casual phone conversations. Cellular providers say new wireless infrastructure will boost public safety by improving communications among park rangers and emergency responders.

They argue that the ability to download smartphone applications that can deliver instant information on plants and animals will also enrich park visitors' experiences.

"Our customers are telling us that having access to technology will enhance their visit to wild areas," said Bob Kelley, spokesman for Verizon Wireless, which is seeking to install a new 100-foot cell tower at Yellowstone.

Rural communities that border the national parks also stand to benefit from enlarged cellular coverage areas.

On the other side of the debate, outdoor enthusiasts worry that bastions of quiet reflection could be transformed into noisy hubs where visitors yak on cell phones and fidget with electronic tablets, detracting from the ambience of such natural wonders as Yellowstone's celebrated geyser Old Faithful.

Expanding cellular reception may even compromise safety by giving some tourists a false sense of security in the back country, where extremes in weather and terrain test even the most skilled outdoorsman, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

Tim Stevens, the association's Northern Rockies director, said distractions like meandering moose already challenge the attention of motorists clogging park roads at the height of the summer tourist season.

"People brake in the middle of the road to watch animals. The added distraction of a wireless signal - allowing a driver to text Aunt Madge to say how great the trip is - could have disastrous consequences," he said.

Yellowstone already offers some limited mobile-phone service, afforded by four cellular towers previously erected in developed sections of the park.

But vast swathes of America's oldest national park, which spans nearly 3,500 square miles across the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, still lack wireless reception in an age dominated by Wi-Fi and iPad users who expect access even in the most remote locations.

Park officials see definite signs that a portion of the roughly 3 million annual visitors to Yellowstone, which crafted a wireless plan in 2008, are finding the lack of cell phone coverage disconcerting.

Park spokesman Al Nash said he routinely fields calls from anxious relatives of Yellowstone visitors unable to contact their loved ones.

"They say, My gosh, my niece, daughter or parents went to Yellowstone, and we haven't heard from them for three days,'" he said.

(Reporting and writing by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman and David Gregorio)

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WASHINGTON (AP) Presidential terms are measured by sweeping laws and stirring events, but legacies are about enduring ideas. The one Barack Obama has in mind will drive most everything he tries to do in the next four years: assuring that America is a place where anyone can make it.

There is no moonshot here, no call to end tyranny in our time.

What Obama wants written in the first paragraph of history is that he helped deliver a better life for the people struggling in the richest nation on earth.

His second-term agenda amounts to a wish list in support of that core idea, and this time, he is freer to define the issues.

Obama wants an immigration law that would deal firmly but compassionately with millions of illegal residents; an economic model that demands more money from the rich to shrink the debt; a tax system that is fairer and simpler for families; and a bigger emphasis on education and made-in-America energy.

The old problem of gun violence is suddenly on the list now, too, but only after an elementary school massacre led Obama into days of reflection. He concluded that the country is failing its people in another fundamental way, by not keeping even its children safe.

This is the playbook of a Democrat who thinks the basic compact between a nation and its people has been broken, who sees government as more of an aggressive force for good than a bureaucratic menace to society.

In the discussions that shape Obama's next moves, in the speeches that convey his thinking, the policy premise is usually boosting hope and genuine opportunity.

Many people have lost both.

"I've got one mandate," the president said after defeating Republican Mitt Romney in November. "I've got a mandate to help middle-class families and families that are working hard to get into the middle class. That's what the American people said: 'Work really hard to help us.'"

The American people, however, also returned Republicans to power in the House, setting up a giant clash of visions over the role of government.

Should Obama get bogged down in power struggles over the debt and spending, his overarching ideas may be shrunk along with his legacy. His influence is limited by his opponents in Congress, forcing him to scale back time and again, and frustrating him about the pace of progress.

Yet piece by piece, he is building what he is convinced voters want. He will use his powers, he says, to build a country where "you can make it if you try."

He does not have much time. Presidential capital fades after the second year of a second term.

What Obama does have is more freedom to pursue an agenda on his terms.

By the time he is sworn in again, Obama will have sworn off some of the problems he inherited.

The recession is over. So is the Iraq war, with the Afghanistan war winding down. Obama will never again have to worry about getting re-elected.

"He came into office when the American Dream was at its most maximum peril," said Obama confidant Robert Gibbs, recalling a collapsing job market and stock market. "Fixing that is likely to be a journey that will be the charge of the next several presidents. But it's his job to build a foundation."

Obama is halfway into that project.

It began with the milestones of his first term: a law extending health coverage to millions of people, taxpayer intervention to help a plummeting economy, consumer protections and Wall Street reform, and the appointment of two women to the Supreme Court, including the first Hispanic justice.

He also repealed the ban on gays serving openly in the military and became the first president to announce support of gay marriage.

Almost forgotten, by now, is the symbolism of Obama's presidency itself. He was the first black man to win the office.

"His progressive legacy is continuing the civil rights movements to the very last groups that have been marginalized," said Douglas Brinkley, a Rice University historian who has written extensively about presidents. "He is, in a way, trying to bring into the fold the last people who haven't made it."

Even when Obama looks back at the lowest moment of his re-election campaign, it is to bemoan his failure at explaining what his presidency is about. He told Time magazine that his flawed first debate against Romney never conveyed the stakes of a society in which too many have too little chance to succeed.

"Do we believe in an America that says some folks are more American than others or more worthy than others or more valued than others?" Obama said. "Or do we believe in an America where that Declaration (of Independence) means what it says: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident ... that all people are created equal?'"

Obama's legacy is already safe, Brinkley said, simply because he won again.

History is much kinder to presidents who got voter approval to finish what they started.

For Obama, Brinkley said, that means protecting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in a time when the country leans right-center and demands to contain the debt are soaring. "His role is to be the firewall," Brinkley said.

Even discussing one's legacy can be politically tricky for any White House.

The word itself can convey that the president is too focused on his place in history, or too close to nearing dreaded lame-duck status.

But Gibbs, who served as Obama's press secretary for the first half of the first term, said legacy-shaping is inherent in every big decision in the West Wing.

"People are exceedingly aware of the fact that, for better or worse, presidents are judged on their time in office," Gibbs said. "What are their ultimate, lasting contributions? Everybody understands that. Maybe it's the elephant in the room, but it's in each and every room."

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EDITOR'S NOTE Former AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller covered the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Hundreds of people are gathering in state capitals nationwide to rally against stricter gun control measures.

An estimated 600 people turned out so far for Saturday speeches in Austin, Texas. Many are carrying signs with messages such as "An Armed Society is a Polite Society" and "The Second Amendment Comes from God."

Meanwhile, police say hundreds more joined rallies in New England while organizers also have plans to gather in capital cites to the west.

Activists have promoted the "Guns Across America" rallies primarily via social media. They're being held days after President Barack Obama unveiled a sweeping package of gun-control proposals.

First-term Texas state Rep. Steve Toth is among attendees in Austin. He's one of several state officials nationwide who've proposed trying to curb federal gun restrictions in states.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) He's already gotten the Oprah treatment. Now Lance Armstrong is headed for the silver screen.

Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams' production company, Bad Robot, are planning a biopic about the disgraced cyclist, a studio spokeswoman said Friday.

They've secured the rights to New York Times reporter Juliet Macur's upcoming book "Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong," due out in June. Macur covered the seven-time Tour de France winner for over a decade.

No director, writer, star or start date have been set.

Armstrong is in the midst of a two-part interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he admits to using performance-enhancing drugs to reach his historic victories, something he'd defiantly denied for years. The International Olympic Committee stripped him of his 2000 bronze medal this week.

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WASHINGTON (AP) Three days of inaugural celebrations kicked off in Washington Saturday, with President Barack Obama heading up a National Day of Service ahead of his swearing-in for a second term.

The president and first lady, Michelle Obama, planned to volunteer in the Washington area Saturday. Vice President Joe Biden, his wife, Jill, and others members of his family spent the morning filling care packages for U.S. troops serving overseas, veterans and first responders.

Obama added the day of service projects in 2009 and hopes it will become a tradition for future presidents.

Volunteers also gathered on the National Mall on a crisp, sunny morning in Washington for a service summit. In a videotaped message played at the event, Mrs. Obama said the volunteers were "showing once again that by giving back, we can lift up our fellow citizens and build stronger, healthier communities."

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, the honorary chairwoman of the volunteer effort, kicked off the summit by praising her family's "chain of service."

The president will be officially sworn in for his second term on Sunday in a small ceremony at the White House. He'll take the oath of office again on Monday before hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall, followed by the traditional parade and formal balls.

Thousands of workers and volunteers were making final preparations for the celebration. Hotels and government buildings along the parade route were adorned with red, white and blue bunting. White tents, trailers and generators lined the Mall.

Yet there is decidedly less energy surrounding Obama's second inauguration than there was in 2009. That history-making event drew 1.8 million people for the swearing-in of the nation's first black president.

This time, Obama takes the oath of office following a bruising presidential campaign and four years of partisan fighting. He's more experienced in the ways of Washington. He has the gray hair and lower approval ratings to show for it.

For at least the inauguration weekend, the fiscal fights and legislative wrangling will be put aside in favor of pomp and circumstance.

The White House did not say in advance what Obama's service project would be. In 2009, he helped spruce up a shelter for homeless teens in one of Washington's poorer neighborhoods then visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The White House sees the call to service as a way for Americans across the country to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. The day Obama publicly takes the oath of office marks King's birthday, and 2013 is the 50th anniversary of the civil rights leader's March on Washington.

Also Saturday, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden were hosting the Kids' Inaugural Concert, an evening event paying special tribute to military spouses and children.

The crowds pouring into Washington were expected to be far smaller than they were four years ago, and there will be fewer inaugural balls for the president and first lady to attend. Still, Obama's swearing-in at the Capitol is expected to draw up to 800,000 people, which would make it the largest second.

The president was still working on his inaugural address heading into the weekend. He isn't expected to delve deeply into the policy objectives he'll tackle in a second term, but the tone and theme of the speech will set the stage for the policy fights to come.

Aides said he will make the point that while the nation's political system doesn't require politicians to resolve all of their differences, it does require Washington to act on issues where there is common ground. He will speak about how the nation's core principles can still guide a country that has changed immensely since its founding.

Temperatures were forecast to fall throughout the weekend and be in the 30s on Monday when the crowds gather along the parade route that will take Obama from Capitol Hill to the White House.

Despite scaling back on some of the revelry, the inauguration will be a star-studded affair. Top acts including Beyonce, Katy Perry and Brad Paisley have signed on to perform at the weekend's events.

The inauguration also is bringing thousands of Obama campaign staffers and donors to Washington, with many getting invitations for tours and other events at the White House. On Friday, the president and first lady held two private events for donors who helped finance his 2012 campaign.

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Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

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(Reuters) - Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o has denied ever being in on an elaborate hoax, telling ESPN he had believed his relationship with a woman who turned out to be an online fabrication was real.

The tragic story of his girlfriend and her injuries from a car accident and death from leukaemia was one of the most widely recounted U.S. sports stories last year as Notre Dame made a drive toward the national championship game.

"I wasn't faking it," Te'o told ESPN in an off-camera interview on Friday, excerpts of which were posted on ESPN.com. "I wasn't part of this."

When asked whether he had made up the tale to support his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy, the highest individual honour for a college football player, Te'o replied: "Well, when they hear the facts they'll know. They'll know that there is no way that I could be part of this."

The interview was Te'o's first since the sports blog Deadspin.com on Wednesday exposed the heart-wrenching tale of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, and her death as a hoax and that a friend of Te'o's named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was behind it.

Te'o told ESPN that Tuiasosopo called him on Wednesday and admitted he was behind the hoax and it was then Te'o was sure the woman had never existed.

"I don't wish an ill thing to somebody," Te'o said of Tuiasosopo, according to ESPN. "I just hope he learns. I think embarrassment is big enough."

Outside Tuiasosopo's home in Palmdale, California, on Thursday, a member of his family who did not identify himself told reporters they had no comment.

Te'o acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday that he had never met the woman in person, though he considered her his girlfriend and said he had been duped.

In the ESPN interview, Te'o said he tried to video chat with her several times, but she could never be seen on the other end. He also said he intentionally told people stories about her in a way that would make people believe they had met in person.

"I even knew that it was crazy that I was with somebody that I didn't meet," Te'o said.

NATIONAL PROMINENCE

ESPN said the interview was held at a training facility in Florida where Te'o has been preparing for the National Football League draft. The star linebacker was expected to be a high draft pick before the hoax was revealed.

Te'o sprang to national prominence last fall when he led Notre Dame to a victory over Michigan State within days of learning his grandmother and girlfriend had both died. The grandmother's death was real.

The story grew to become a big feature in coverage of the team, which went undefeated in the regular season and reached the national championship game. Alabama defeated Notre Dame in the title game on January 7.

Notre Dame, one of the most powerful institutions in U.S. collegiate athletics, held a news conference within hours of the Deadspin.com article to say that Te'o had been duped.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said on Friday the Indiana university was comfortable, based on a private investigation it launched and on four years experience with Te'o, that he was the victim and encouraged Te'o to speak publicly.

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Eric Beech)

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What s the big idea?

That s what Yahoo News asked its readers this month: Which one big idea could help the country address our most pressing national problem? Which solution even if it's "out there" or controversial could go far in tackling an issue that affects millions of Americans?

After Barack Obama delivers his second inaugural address on Monday, the country will again face another four years of the same hurdles, including a still-smarting economy, gun violence, foreign entanglements and health care battles.

How do we hammer away at those problems in his next term and beyond? We requested creative and outside-the-box ideas that may not have been tried before. (Yet they still had to be credible, grounded in reality and reasonably doable. As we admonished previously: Sorry, no superintelligent monkey doctors.)

You offered a swarm of interesting brainstorms for instance: mandatory gun ownership, drug legalization, congressional penalties, hemp farming, Social Security for everyone, and mandatory recycling and we found experts in various fields to comment on the feasibility of your proposals.

Here are excerpts from several ideas, followed by reaction from experts we asked to comment.

We received hundreds of suggestions, so we ve created a Tumblr that displays many more.

John Jackson, co-owner of Capitol City Arms Supply, holds an AR-15 rifle for sale at his business in Springfield, Ill. (Seth Perlman/AP)

GUN VIOLENCE

For better gun control, we need public gun education By Phil Dotree

To effectively combat gun violence, we need a complete shift in the tone of our conversation. Here's a radical suggestion that will never gain traction: required gun education in public schools. Not a trip to the firing range, not sharpshooting lessons, but a brief addition to every health class that includes basic gun safety.

A basic education would help to dispel some of the myths that lead to impractical gun legislation. For instance, many gun-control advocates don't know that "silencers" don't actually silence guns, (they just suppress the noise) or that automatic weapons are already highly regulated. Education might compel a more civil discourse, which would allow for better laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

More of Dotree s proposal.

Experts responses:

Children understand guns, but it's adults who refuse action by Tom Mauser

After my son Daniel was shot and killed at Columbine, I found myself receiving suggestions for how to stem gun violence. One was this simplistic notion that if we just better educated our children about the danger of guns, they would not abuse them. As I responded back then, I think the two Columbine killers would have laughed at the irony of being given a gun education class.

In a proposal, Yahoo News reader Phil Dotree makes a reasonable call for gun education as a "brief addition to every health class," but then also says he wishes to dispel myths that lead to bad gun legislation. Sorry, but it s adults who write gun legislation, not kids, and we haven t done a very good job.

More of Mauser s response.

A public school gun education would have merit, pitfalls By Dr. Harry L. Wilson

Phil Dotree s call for education on firearms has serious merit. Education on any topic is inherently useful, and the debate over guns would benefit tremendously with more knowledge and less heat. That said, there would likely be a long and protracted battle over what would be included in the curriculum. Survey data suggest that those who are more familiar with firearms are less fearful of guns, and they are less likely to favor gun control measures.

The unfortunate reality in the current gun control debate is that while there may be some common ground between the two sides, there is so much mutual distrust that any consensus is difficult to reach. One person s "common-sense gun regulation" is another person s "infringement on Second Amendment rights."

More of Wilson s response.

High school graduation. (bredgur/Flickr)

EDUCATION

Add a 13th school year for job and college preparation By Sylvia Cochran

Many of today's high school graduates are woefully unprepared for entering a competitive job market or succeeding in college. The National Review Online notes that nationwide approximately 40 percent of college students drop out, which gives the United States the dubious distinction of having "the highest college dropout rate in the industrialized world."

Education reform must therefore target all of America's high schoolers. The best way to prepare them for real-life job market conditions is the addition of a 13th school year. This would apply to up-and-coming grads intending to go to college as well as those planning on joining the work force immediately after graduation.

More of Cochran s proposal.

Expert s response:

A 15th year, but who s counting? By Dr. Robert Maranto

On reading Sylvia Cochran s cogent, but ultimately misguided, proposal for a required "13th year" after high school but before college or work, I could not help but recall the old Woody Allen quip about a restaurant with awful food "and such small portions." Presumably, what some schools fail to do in 12 counting kindergarten and preschool really 14 years the addition of another year will fix.

That works in models but not in the real world, where real people have other ideas.

Given such goals, lacking rigor for 14 years does not make success more likely in a 15th; on the contrary, it lets kids and teachers relax since nothing really counts until extra innings. And anyway, kids vary. An extra year would be a boon to some and hell for others. Why force everyone into the same timeframe?

More of Maranto s response.

Jonathon Quatela of the Salvation Army helps unload meals to Hurricane Sandy victims in New York on Nov. 1, 2012. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

VOLUNTEERING

Uncle Sam should want us to serve By Thomas Daniels

In 1963, "serving your country" for approximately half of the citizenry of the United States meant being shipped to a foreign land and putting their lives and health in constant danger. Fifty years later, "serving your country" for most of the citizenry of the United States is a platitude we offer to veterans in a paltry thanks for their real sacrifice.

Americans have become entitled, less intelligent and less healthy. And in another 50 years, the America we know may be non-existent because of it. Americans need to get over themselves and realize that just because you are born in this country does not make you special, that there is a price to pay for the life we enjoy. Requiring everyone in the country serve the country for two years would make us all more intelligent, healthier, more patriotic and more grateful for the life that we do have.

More of Daniels proposal.

Expert s response:

Required national service would serve needy, give meaningful work By Dr. Nina Eliasoph

It might seem outrageous to suggest that such service be mandatory. But it's no more outlandish to suggest that people should be forced to serve their nations by helping people survive and thrive than it is to suggest that people be forced to serve their nations by killing people, is it? All nations need people to take care of what's shared roads, schools, parks, beaches and all nations need people to take care of their old people, young people, sick and disabled people.

As it stands now, people get care only if their families are able to give it or can afford to pay for it. But with this program, if a government-sponsored volunteer helped a disabled toddler, for example, the parents' wealth wouldn't matter. The kid would get the care.

More of Eliasoph s response.

Early voters in Salisbury, Md., line up to cast their ballots in the presidential election on Oct. 31, 2012. (Alex Brandon/AP)

VOTING AND THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Make online voting mandatory; abolish the electoral college By Laurie Jo Miller Farr

Approximately half the Americans eligible to vote in the 2012 presidential election didn't. And many of those who did vote were subjected to waiting hours at polls on Election Day. Despite the typically unimpressive turnout, this presidential campaign was the most expensive ever waged. The Associated Press pegs that figure at an astonishing $2 billion, including $900 million spent on television ads. Two-thirds was dumped in just four states: Florida, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina. Another five swing states that tally up hefty electoral votes defined the race.

Something is wrong. Here's how we could fix it.

More of Farr s proposal.

Voting shouldn't be mandatory, but it should be easier By Dr. Peter Hanson

The case for making voting as easy as possible is strong. The United States requires its citizens to jump through more hoops to vote than other countries and this depresses turnout. For example, our population is mobile but Americans must re-register to vote each time they move. Inevitably, some people who want to vote fail to re-register in time and are unable to cast a ballot. Simple reforms such as allowing people to register on Election Day would help more citizens to participate in our democracy.

Mandatory voting is less appealing. On the pro side, it might make our pool of voters a better reflection of our actual population. People who are poor, young or minority face barriers that make them less likely to vote. Requiring everyone to vote might reduce this disparity and ensure that all parts of society are heard more equally.

More of Hanson s response.

Check out additional ideas from readers and add your own at our "What's the Big Idea?" Tumblr site.

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PASADENA, Calif. (AP) Matthew Macfadyen is perfectly presentable in jeans and a crewneck sweater that coordinates nicely with the blue of his eyes.

But the look is far from the elegant attire he wore as Mr. Darcy opposite Keira Knightley's Elizabeth in the 2005 film "Pride & Prejudice." And his posture is just as casual, which he acknowledges might offend the aristocratic character's diehard fans.

"You're slouching! What are you doing? Stand up straight, man!" Macfadyen says, teasing himself.

He looks back fondly on what he calls the "iconic" role drawn from Jane Austen's novel. But the British actor who's also known to audiences for his part as an intelligence officer in the series "MI-5" ("Spooks" in the U.K.) welcomes the chance to switch gears.

"I, as most actors, want to mix it up and do different things. Otherwise it gets boring and tiresome, not only for yourself but for everyone else seeing you do the same kind of thing," he said. "The joy of being an actor is to play different parts, do something different."

Macfadyen's latest chance for diversity comes in "Ripper Street," an 1880s police drama set on the gritty and untamed streets of London's East End around the period that serial killer Jack the Ripper terrorized the area.

The series, starring Macfadyen as Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, debuts Saturday (9 p.m. EST) on BBC America after starting its British run this month. BBC America is home to another rough-and-tumble, 18th-century police drama, "Copper," set in 1860s New York City and the channel's first original scripted series.

The mysterious and brutal Jack the Ripper has been recycled throughout pop culture in films including 1979's "Time After Time" and 2001's "From Hell" with Johnny Depp. But series creator Richard Warlow said the killer is a backdrop and invisible character for "Ripper Street."

"What we wanted to do really was to tell stories about the streets down which he walked and committed his crimes in the wake of those terrible murders," Warlow said, "and how it affected the community and, most importantly, the police that tried and failed to catch him."

Each episode will include what he called a "stand-alone crime" as well as pull at the thread of Reid's life, including those surrounding him at work and at home.

Macfadyen said he was reluctant to take on another series after two plus-seasons on "MI-5" because of TV's demanding production schedules. Then the "Ripper Street" pilot script came his way last year.

"I thought the Jack the Ripper thing had been done before ... but I loved it. The thing that was most attractive was the language and the way he (Warlow) constructs the sentences ... they feel very muscular without feeling sort of wanky and silly. ... They feel very muscular."

There is an antiquated eloquence to the dialogue that contrasts with the drama's mean streets and violent sexuality of the first case tackled by Reid and his cohorts, police Sgt. Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn, "Game of Thrones") and American forensics whiz Capt. Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg, "The Ex List").

Macfadyen said he was drawn to his character's modern sensibility.

Reid isn't "a sort of stock detective character. He's a very free thinking, forward-looking kind of man, not a sort of jaded 'seen it all' copper. So I was intrigued by that," he said.

The detective's viewpoint is so expansive that he can't resist admiring the potential of an early version of a motion picture camera even when he's just thwarted its use in making a 19th-century snuff film.

The scene had slipped Macfadyen's mind when he watched the episode at home in London and his wife, actress Keeley Hawes ("Upstairs Downstairs"), suddenly took alarmed note of what was unfolding on the screen.

"My 12-year-old stepson was watching and we said, 'OK, bedtime!" said Macfadyen, who has two children with Hawes.

But he considers the show "punchy and brave" for a mature audience and would like to see it go at least another season, in part for selfish reasons.

"Jerome, Adam and I get on so well, very happily. I know actors always say they love each other," he said, then smiled. "That's not always the case."

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Online:

http://www.bbcamerica.com

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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The crash of a train into a low-rise apartment building in Sweden this week was an accident and not the fault of a cleaner who was the only person hurt, state prosecutors said on Friday.

Swedish police and prosecutors began an investigation into the accident on Tuesday in which a train ploughed past the end of the line at a depot, vaulted a narrow sidestreet and crashed into an apartment block in the upscale Stockholm suburb of Saltsjobaden.

"Several circumstances point now to the fact that the train began moving due to an accident," the state prosecution service said in a statement. "There is no longer anything which indicates that the woman drove the train away on purpose."

The service said it had found serious breaches of security on the train. The woman, who is still in hospital and with whom prosecutors have not been able to speak, was no longer suspected of committing a crime and an order for her detention has been lifted.

Prosecutors began investigating the case as one of endangering the public, but that might now be changed to one of a breach of laws on working conditions, the prosecution service said.

(Reporting by Patrick Lannin, editing by Paul Casciato)

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IN THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES (AP) The man known as "Alligator Ron" has a lifetime of experience in the Florida Everglades, a fleet of airboats at his disposal and knows the habitats of furry prey for large reptiles. He still couldn't lead a pack of hunters to a single Burmese python.

That's the catch in Florida's "Python Challenge": Even experienced hunters with special permits to regularly stalk the exotic snake through Florida's swamplands are having trouble finding them for a state-sponsored competition.

"When these snakes are in the water, in the vegetation, they blend in naturally to where you can't hardly see them," said state wildlife commissioner Ron Bergeron, whose nickname is emblazoned on the rudder of his black airboat, over the image of him riding an alligator.

The vast majority of roughly 1,000 people who signed up to hunt Burmese pythons on public lands from Jan. 12 through Feb. 10 are amateurs when it comes to pythons. Only about 30 hold permits for harvesting pythons throughout the year.

The permit holders might have a slight edge when it comes to handling snakes, but the tan, splotchy pythons have natural camouflage that gives them an important advantage in the ecosystem they have invaded.

As of Thursday, 21 pythons had been killed for the contest, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It's hard to pin down exactly how many Burmese pythons slither through Florida's Everglades, but officials say their effect is glaringly obvious. According to a study released last year, sightings of raccoons, opossums, bobcats, rabbits and other mammals in the Everglades are down as much as 99 percent in areas where pythons are known to live.

It's believed that the pythons are devouring the native wildlife and officials worry the snakes' voracious appetite will undermine the ongoing, multimillion-dollar effort to restore natural water flow through the Everglades.

Bergeron led U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., into the Everglades to hunt pythons Thursday afternoon. They splashed from their airboat through knee-deep water into several islands that rise in small bumps above the sawgrass, but they always emerged empty-handed.

They didn't flush out any of the mammals Bergeron thought he'd see, either. The only thing they did find: signs of feral hogs, another problematic invasive species.

"Rabbits were like rats. Growing up, you saw them everywhere," said Jim Howard, a Miami native and a python permit holder participating in the contest. "I haven't seen a rabbit in 20 years. I don't see foxes. I hardly see anything."

He has caught a python in the Everglades in each of the last two years, though. Each was more than 12 feet long and contained more than 50 eggs.

He returned to those locations Wednesday, poking under ferns and discarded wooden boards with a hook at the end of a 3-foot-long stick. All he found were the sheddings of some large snake each transparent scale was the size of a fingertip.

After spending hours steering his boat along 14 miles of canals to levees and embankments where pythons might lurk, Howard extended the hook toward the dense, impenetrable grass that stretched all the way to the horizon, with no landmarks or vantage points.

Millions of acres in any direction in the Everglades are exactly the same. From that perspective, the hunt for well-hidden pythons seems futile.

"We're looking at inches," Howard said.

Officials say the number of pythons caught during the contest isn't as important as the data they provide.

"I'm going to be ecstatic if we see 100," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida professor of wildlife ecology who is helping the commission with the contest.

He continued to low-ball expectations for the final tally. "I'm happy with 11. I'm going to be happy with whatever we have. The small number only proves that they're really hard to find," he said.

The state hopes to use the information from python necropsies particularly what's in their stomachs to improve their attempts at dealing with the snakes.

"Our list of what pythons eat is not complete yet," Mazzotti said.

The population of Burmese pythons, an invasive species in Florida, likely developed from pets released into the wild, either intentionally or in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. They can grow to be more than 20 feet long and have no natural enemies in Florida other than very large alligators or cold weather, which drives heat-seeking snakes onto sunny roads and levees.

Florida prohibits owning or selling pythons for use as pets, and federal law bans importation and interstate sale of the species.

Mazzotti had one tip for hunters frustrated by the pythons' near-invisibility: Stop and listen for a dry, rustling sound in the grass.

"It sounds like something large," he said.

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