BLACK WIDOW
TRAPS LUTHOR

Smallville's most famous bachelor--still eligible?
By Kathy Romita

Smallville High School teacher Desiree Atkins had more than love on her mind when she married business tycoon Lex Luthor. According to local authorities, the gold-digging widow planned to have her bridegroom murdered.

Desiree Atkins, aka Mrs. Lex Luthor, was born Alison Sanders in Smallville and attended SHS. Weeks after the catastrophic meteor shower that descended onto Smallville over 12 years ago, another tragedy occurred--a double homicide. Sanders' boyfriend murdered her parents. The teenager confessed to the heinous crime but six hours later recanted his confession. Sanders inherited her parents' property and money.

Five years after her parents' death--and after she spent all of her inheritance--Sanders married Vesper Fearchild, a wealthy shipping executive. The 2-week marriage was cut short when tragedy struck again--one of Sanders' students murdered the 62-year-old Fearchild. Even though Fearchild had three adult children and a former wife, Sanders inherited the bulk of his estate, which she invested in highly touted dot com businesses.

Lex Luthor, Smallville's youngest mogul, recently left town on a 2-week business trip and returned engaged to one Desiree Atkins. The young couple met and married in less than one week. Those close to Luthor claim he was totally entranced by her.

The striking brunette replaced Mrs. Kowalski in biology class and was teaching a unit on health and human development. On the first day of school, firefighters were called out to the campus when a small fire occurred in her classroom while she showed a sex education movie. The next day, her car exploded in the high school parking lot. She claimed she witnessed one of her students set the vehicle ablaze. Several boys supported her allegation--but later recanted.

Atkins didn't wait for the ink to dry on Luthor's new will naming his wife beneficiary before she plotted to have her husband murdered. It backfired. She mistakenly thought Jonathan Kent would shoot Luthor, but Kent apparently only "pretended" to agree to commit the deed. The father/son team of Jonathan and Clark Kent saved Luthor from his homicidal wife. Once Jonathan Kent fired the gun, purposely missing Luthor, Atkins tried to incinerate her new husband by setting him afire. Clark Kent extinguished the flames, and Atkins was unable to escape. Sheriff Ethan arrested Atkins and will reexamine her parents' murders as well as that of Mr. Fearchild. Smallville authorities will also fully investigate Atkins' conspiracy to have her husband killed.

Lex Luthor refused to comment on the incident, but sources close to him stated that Luthor plans to have the doomed marriage annulled.

RECORD HIGHS CONTINUE TO
WILT SMALLVILLE

By Gena McGuiness

As Kansas suffers one of its worst heat waves, the record high temperatures have drained watering holes and power sources alike here in Smallville. The Lowell County Department of Water and Power urges consumers to practice energy conservation in an effort to ward off possible brownouts and eliminate the need for rolling blackouts.

High temps coupled with record low precipitation have plowed
farming businesses as crop harvests have plunged by as much as 80%, leaving Kansas farmers to file insurance claims to the tune of over $24 million. Many cattle farmers have been asked to remove their herds from government grazing lands to relieve the overstressed vegetation.
So when is that long-awaited cooling trend due to hit? The National Weather Service assures us that temperatures and rain will fall soon with showers continuing into the weekend.

WHATEVER HAPPENED
TO BABY LUTHORCORP?

Still Waiting For LexCorp To Mature
By Christopher James Beppo

Three months have passed since wunderkind Lex Luthor stunned his father--and the business world--by finally breaking away from the family company, LuthorCorp. The new LexCorp was to embody Lex's vision, his rejection of everything that Lionel Luthor had stood for, both personally and professionally. But since Smallville first learned of the plans, little has been revealed as to when exactly this fledgling corporation will take flight, beyond the reopening of the fertilizer plant here.

In one terrible week in May, Smallville was besieged by two disasters: Mother Nature and Father Luthor. The tornado that destroyed large parts of Smallville followed closely on the heels of Luthor's startling and senseless closure of LuthorCorp Fertilizer Plant No. 3. Either tragedy could have individually crippled the town. But just as it rose from the ashes of the meteor shower over a decade ago, plucky Smallville came out swinging. Countless emergency workers and volunteers resurrected the town physically and spiritually. And one man enacted a bold, eleventh-hour scheme to save it financially.

Only a Luthor could outwit a Luthor, as Lex proved the day he gathered his plant managers in a clandestine, late-night meeting and offered the only solution to Lionel's slash-and-burn tactic. In a powerful testament to Lex's leadership and persuasiveness, many employees agreed to mortgage their homes and take whatever risks necessary to scrape up enough money to buy Lionel out and reopen the plant under Lex's full control.

This was the birth of LexCorp. But other than the gleaming new logo adorning the plant, what has the power shift achieved in the intervening months? One learns from experience not to try to second-guess the Luthors. Is this seemingly stable period the calm before yet another storm? It appears that only time will tell.

TEEN ARSON SUSPECT "RELEASED"

By Eric Miller

A local high school student was released from jail after being detained on suspicion of setting fire to a car in the Smallville High School parking lot.

Clark Kent was arrested for arson after Desiree Atkins, a teacher at SHS and the wife of local tycoon Lex Luthor, reported seeing Kent set her car on fire last night. According to Atkins, Kent doused her car with gasoline and tossed a lit match at the vehicle. The car exploded in flames and then flipped over in the air.

Atkins, who said she was at the school working late, allegedly witnessed the incident as she was walking toward the parking lot. "He didn't know I was there, but I was too scared and stunned to try to stop him," said Atkins. "I just stood there and watched him blow up my car." Atkins was not injured in the incident. Although the fire occurred after hours, Atkins claimed she had several students ready to confirm her story.

Authorities also looked into Kent's possible involvement in the fire that damaged the Talon coffeehouse. That fire also happened late at night when few people were around.

According to SHS student and the Talon's assistant manager, Lana Lang, she and Kent were simply "hanging out" after the shop had closed when a cappuccino machine exploded, throwing sparks, setting wires on fire and spewing boiling water around the room.

"The machine blew up, and the next thing I know, fire is climbing up the walls," recalled Lang of how the fire started. Lang said she immediately called 911. Neither Lang nor Kent was injured in the incident.

The mere fact that Kent was at the Talon, however, initially made the sheriff suspect that he may have somehow started the blaze. "I found it strange that Clark was at the scene of three different fires," said Sheriff Ethan. "It's difficult to chalk it up to coincidence. I know Clark's a good kid though, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."

Kent was also in the SHS classroom that erupted into flames earlier in the week. Sheriff Ethan added, "In light of recent information, I'm more inclined to suspect the new Mrs. Luthor's involvement than young Clark's."