But her gambling spun out of control: She said she would go days at a time at the tables, not eating or sleeping, brushing her teeth with disposable wipes so she didn't have to leave.

She says her losses totaled nearly $1 million.

Now she's chasing the longest of long shots: a $20 million racketeering lawsuit in federal court against six Atlantic City casinos and one in Las Vegas, claiming they had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off.

They knew I was going for days without eating or sleeping," Taveras said. "I would pass out at the tables. They had a duty of care to me. Nobody in their right mind would gamble for four or five straight days without sleeping."

Experts say her case will be difficult to prove, but it provides an unusually detailed window into the life of a problem gambler.

"It's like crack, only gambling is worse than crack because it's mental," said Taveras, 37, a New Yorker who now lives in Minnesota. "It creeps up on you, the impulse. It's a sickness."

She lost her law practice, her apartment, her parents' home, and owes the IRS $58,000. She said she even considered swerving into oncoming traffic to kill herself. ....

"How are you supposed to know whether this was a woman who was just having a good time, or had money and was just lonely, as opposed to someone who couldn't control themselves?" he said.

Arnie Wexler, the former head of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, estimates there are 5 million problem gamblers in the United States, with 15 million at risk of becoming compulsive.

"Hers is not a rare case, believe me," said Wexler, who says he had a gambling problem. "This is the most powerful addiction you can have without putting something into your body. You remember your first big win, and you think `Hey, I can do this again; I can get it all back.'"

As a young lawyer, Taveras made a name for herself representing the families of victims of American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in New York City's borough of Queens in November 2001, killing 265 people.

"I am a pet, I generally act animal like and I lead a really easy life," she said.

"I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone."

Last month, with Miss Maltby on a leash as usual, the couple tried to board a bus at the bus station.

The driver, who was off duty, was standing near the door.

Mr Graves alleged: "He shoved me off the bus. He called us freaks and he called Tasha a dog.

"He said, 'We don't let freaks and dogs like you on'. ....

In a separate incident, police were called when the driver, who has not been named, refused to allow other passengers on board after the couple ignored his orders and sat down.

Arriva would not comment on specifics but said it apologised if the couple felt they had been discriminated against. It added, however, that the driver was worried about safety and the company told Maltby to take the leash off in the future.

"We have spoken to the driver who has talked about health and safety," a spokesman said. "Should she be attached to a chain and something happens on the bus, that could be dangerous. All we are saying is that she is very welcome to use the buses but not when she is on her lead."

Spitzer, in his 2008-09 budget proposal unveiled Tuesday, said he wants to create a tax stamp for illegal drugs, similar to such stamps used for cigarettes, which he says would raise $13 million in the coming fiscal year and $17 million annually after that.

According to a memo explaining the eyebrow-raising proposal, "The bill contains a unique and strict secrecy requirement, preserving the confidentiality of any information obtained from a dealer."

Disclosure of the information in some cases would be allowed for a criminal or civil proceeding involving taxes.

But "the bill specifically provides that none of the information may be used against the dealer in any criminal proceeding [other than a tax crime] unless it has been obtained independently," the memo said.

Dubbing it the "crack tax," state Sen. Martin Golden, a Brooklyn Republican and former city cop, called Spitzer's plan "another pie-in-the-sky idea that really has no legitimacy, and hopefully is not a first step toward legalizing drugs."

The plan, modeled after one in North Carolina, would require arrested drug dealers or users to purchase different tax stamps from the state.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - What the ...? A St. Louis-area town is considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars, along with table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music.

City officials contend the bill is needed to keep rowdy crowds under control because the historic downtown area gets a little too lively on some nights.

City Councilman Richard Veit said he was prompted to propose the bill after complaints about bad bar behavior. He says it will give police some rules to enforce when things get too rowdy.

Kann Veasna took a break from drinking wine at a street stall to relieve himself through a hole in a fence, according to news agency DPA.

However a puppy spotted the Mr Veasna's appendage as it poked through and apparently thinking it was a toy latched on, newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea reported.

Oops. The man they were targeting had moved out five weeks earlier.

Instead they roughed up Berndsen, who had returned home from back surgery that day, her 74-year-old father, and a man she had just started dating and who for a few terrifying minutes wondered what he got himself into.

"They proceeded to destroy my apartment, still not saying why they were there," she said. "They not only told me the detective would explain all in time, they also had the nerve to tell me I should be lucky I'm not in handcuffs."

Officers rummaged through her bedroom closet, dresser drawers and kitchen cabinets, and in doing so, broke a couple of wizard figurines and cracked the headboard mirror on Berndsen's bed, she said.

They brought high-tech equipment into the apartment and hooked it up to her laptop computer to search for evidence. If they were looking for porn, Berndsen said, she found it odd that they never touched a bookcase full of DVDs and videocassette tapes in the living room.

Once they realized their mistake, the police showed Berndsen and her guests a photo and told them the name of the man they were seeking. She said she recognized the name from some mail that had arrived at her place.

....

"They said, 'We're sorry. I guess you're just one more of his victims,' " meaning the child porn suspect, Berndsen said. "I said, no, we're your victims."

You like to think the cops are chasing after people who exploit children. But it would seem that with all their intelligence-gathering skills, they would know if the target had moved away more than a month earlier.