Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg's death Monday presents the state's popular Republican governor with a series of decisions that carry consequences beyond who will serve as New Jersey's next U.S. senator. While Republicans and Democrats alike will be watching Christie's next moves closely, there's no telling what the governor who has staked out a reputation for going his own way will do.

"I give him praise on a life well-lived," Christie said of the Democratic senator with whom he frequently tangled. The governor made the comment during an appearance at a women's conference and then canceled the rest of his public schedule Monday, clearly mindful of the high stakes involved in choosing Lautenberg's successor.

Christie has wide latitude to choose Lautenberg's successor but it would be unusual for him to select a Democrat. Four states require the governor to choose a member of the outgoing senator's political party but New Jersey is not among them. With Lautenberg's death, the Senate now has 52 Democrats, 45 Republicans and two independents who often side with the Democrats.

For Christie, who has enjoyed strong approval ratings, picking the wrong successor might reflect poorly on him as he looks to win by a large margin against Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono, who is considered an underdog against the well-known governor. Choosing a conservative might help him with national Republicans but could undercut his moderate bona fides, which have helped him connect with independents and Democrats in his state.

In the longer term, the wrong person could irk Republican leaders in Washington and activists in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. If Christie selects a Republican with views that are out of step with the GOP base someone who supports abortion rights or gun control, for instance it might hurt Christie with party stalwarts. The appointee's vote could tip the balance on issues like immigration reform, which the Senate is expected to begin debating in the weeks ahead.

Christie's appointee also could offer a window into the governor's own thinking on issues and thrust Christie into an ongoing fight between establishment Republicans and the GOP's tea party wing.

The governor, who has brought a blunt-speaking independent streak to the Republican Party, took flak from fellow Republicans when he appeared alongside President Barack Obama on the Jersey Shore in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the state about a week before the 2012 election. He appeared again with Obama last week to promote the Jersey Shore's recovery and repeatedly has spoken of the need for politics to be set aside for the good of his state.

Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the U.S. Senate Republicans' campaign committee, said the governor has "demonstrated time and again that he will do what he believes is best" for his home state.

Picking a Democrat to carry the torch from Lautenberg however unlikely might win him bipartisan love in liberal-leaning New Jersey but would enrage Republicans already suspicious of Christie's chummy relations with Obama after Sandy. Christie has maintained good relations with Newark's Democratic mayor, Cory Booker, who decided to run for Senate instead of challenging Christie, but appointing the media-savvy Booker might be viewed as treasonous to Republicans.

"I don't envy the governor on his decision," said Julie Roginsky, a New Jersey-based Democratic strategist.

If Christie is looking for a well-regarded placeholder, he could turn to former Republican Gov. Tom Kean, who served two terms as governor from 1982 to 1990 and served as chairman of the 9/11 Commission.

Other Republican possibilities include Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, likely viewed as Christie's heir apparent if the governor runs for president; Kean's son, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who was defeated by Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in 2006; state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a Christie ally who was defeated by Menendez last year; former Gov. Christie Whitman; state Sen. Kevin O'Toole; or Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., has also been mentioned.

Roginsky said appointing a caretaker Republican like Kean, the moderate former governor, would not be viewed favorably by Republican leaders or party activists in early presidential voting states. But appointing a hard-core conservative "would definitely hurt him at home" as he runs for re-election.

While Christie appoints a senator to fill Lautenberg's seat, it's unclear when that new senator would face an election. Even that process carries risks for Christie.

He could decide to hold a special election in November, but the presence on the ballot of Booker, the likely Democratic Senate nominee, might drive more Democratic turnout and affect Christie's ability to win big against Buono. If Christie says the next Senate election should wait until 2014, the governor runs the risk of a hand-picked Republican getting trounced by Booker only months before launching a presidential bid.

Dayspring said a 2013 contest could mean a "potentially ugly and quick" primary between Booker, who already had announced a Senate bid, and potential challengers like Reps. Frank Pallone and Rob Andrews. A 2014 race, he said, would allow a Republican appointee to "build trust and name identification with voters."

The state's laws on choosing a successor appear to be contradictory. One provision says that if a vacancy occurs more than 70 days before a regularly scheduled statewide general election, the vacancy would be filled on the next statewide general election Nov. 5, 2013 when Christie will be on the ballot. But another law says the election would be held during the next general election only if the vacancy occurs 70 days before the state's primary, which was being held Tuesday. In that case, the Senate election would be held in November 2014, when Lautenberg's seat was scheduled to be considered by voters. The late senator had said he would not run for re-election.

National Republicans say they want the Senate election to be held in 2014 and hope Christie appoints a GOP official who will run for the seat outright. The thinking: It would give the appointee more than a year to serve in the Senate and build a record that might help the person in the Democratic-tilting state.

New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972. The last Republican to serve in the Senate was Nicholas Brady, who was appointed by Kean in 1982 to finish the term of Democrat Harrison Williams, who resigned amid scandal in the last year of his term. Lautenberg won the seat later that year and remained in the Senate until his death, except for a brief retirement in 2001 and 2002.

Many governors have taken the placeholder route in recent years: Ted Kaufman, a longtime aide to Joe Biden, was appointed to the Senate when Biden became Obama's vice president; Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick chose his former chief of staff, William "Mo" Cowan, to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's Senate seat on an interim basis until after a special election.

Other appointments have turned into political liabilities. Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, withstood criticism from Latinos for appointing then-Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to a Senate seat in January 2009 to replace Ken Salazar, who became Obama's interior secretary.

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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Follow Geoff Mulvihill on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield. Angela Delli Santi contributed from Trenton.

A total of 132 IRS officials received room upgrades at the 2010 conference in Anaheim, Calif., according to the report being released by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

One official stayed five nights in a room that regularly goes for $3,500 a night, George's report said, and another stayed four nights in a room that regularly goes for $1,499 a night. The agency paid a flat daily fee of $135 per hotel room, it said, but the upgrades were part of a package deal that added to the overall cost of the conference. Without the upgrades, the IRS could have negotiated a lower room rate, as required by agency procedures.

The inspector general's report was surfacing as the IRS came under fire again in connection with its targeting of conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the IG report ahead of its release.

In all, the IRS held 225 employee conferences from 2010 through 2012, at a total cost of $49 million, the report said. The Anaheim conference was the most expensive, but others were costly, too.

In 2010, for instance, the agency held a conference in Philadelphia that cost $2.9 million, one in San Diego that cost $1.2 million, and one in Atlanta that also cost $1.2 million.

Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has called the conferences "an unfortunate vestige from a prior era." Werfel took over the agency about two weeks ago, after President Barack Obama forced the previous acting commissioner to resign.

For more than 18 months during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns, IRS agents in a Cincinnati office singled out tea party and other conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they sought tax-exempt status, according to a previous report by George.

The report issued last month said tea party groups were asked inappropriate questions about their donors, their political affiliations and their positions on political issues. The additional scrutiny delayed applications for an average of nearly two years, making it difficult for many of the groups to raise money.

On Tuesday, leaders of conservative groups complained to Congress that they were abused by the Internal Revenue Service for years as they sought tax-exempt status, including questions one Iowa anti-abortion group said it got about prayer meetings.

The testimony of the tea party and other conservative organizations before the House Ways and Means Committee was the first time groups complaining about the IRS's treatment have appeared directly before lawmakers since the IRS revealed the problem and apologized for it last month. They talked about applications for tax-exempt status that took three years for approval or in some cases haven't yet been approved and queries from the agency about the identity of their donors, video of meetings and whether speakers at such gatherings expressed political views.

"I'm a born-free American woman," Becky Gerritson, president of the Wetumpka Tea Party in Alabama, tearfully told the committee, adding, "I'm telling my government, you've forgotten your place."

Sue Martinek, president of the Coalition for Life of Iowa, an anti-abortion group, said the IRS asked them about "the content of our prayers."

"As Christians, we know we needed to pray for better solutions for unplanned pregnancies," she said.

The president of another group, the National Organization for Marriage, said the IRS publicly disclosed confidential information about donors. George Eastman said he thought the IRS's release of that information was designed to intimidate contributors to the group which opposes same-sex marriage "to chill them from donating again."

At Tuesday's Ways and Means hearing, committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said the conservative groups were being singled out for their beliefs.

"They are Americans who did what we ask people to do every day add their voice to the dialogue that defines our country," Camp said. "And for pursuing that passion, for simply exercising their First Amendment rights the freedoms of association, expression and religion the IRS singled them out."

The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Sander Levin, said it was time to correct the IRS's problems.

"You are owed an apology," Levin, from Michigan, told the witnesses. "We say to you that each of us is committed to doing our part to ensure this does not happen again."

The leader of a small South Carolina tea party group said her organization first applied for tax-exempt status in 2010 and is still waiting for the application to be processed.

"Nearly three years in waiting for an answer is totally unacceptable," said Dianne Belsom, president of the Laurens County Tea Party. "The IRS needs to be fully investigated and held accountable for its incompetence harassment and targeting of conservative groups."

Belsom said her group in rural South Carolina has about 60 members and "seeks to educate ourselves and fellow citizens on various issues pertinent to living in a free country." The group also holds candidate forums in election years, she said.

"I'd like to note that our group is a small-time operation with very little money and this represents a complete waste of time by the IRS in terms of any money they would collect if we were not tax-exempt," Belsom said.

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Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

The study had enrolled about 2,500 people, mostly gay men, in 19 cities. Half received an experimental vaccine developed by the National Institutes of Health, and half received dummy shots.

A safety review this week found that slightly more volunteers who had received the vaccine later became infected with HIV. It's not clear why.

The NIH said Thursday that it is stopping vaccinations, but will continue to study the volunteers' health.

Multiple attempts at creating an AIDS vaccine have failed over the years. But researchers continue to try, pointing to modest success in a 2009 study in Thailand.

The Hockey Hall of Fame goalie, author and former federal cabinet minister is attempting to clear away the fog surrounding concussions by getting athletes, medical professionals, researchers, coaches and sports administrators in one room in front of the public.

"I think it's the biggest issue of sports and not just hockey, but football, lacrosse and rugby and even soccer," Dryden said Monday night at a sport concussions panel at the University of Calgary.

"I love the phase 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' But in an awful lot of very difficult, tricky questions, and this is one of them, it's the reverse that's more true. 'I need to see some way before I'm ready to commit more will.'

"I think that's where we are. This is a question that needs a lot more way, a lot more answers."

Dryden hosted the event with what he jokingly called a "Johnny Carson" style. He interviewed his guests seated on couches in front of a live audience in a university theatre after moderating similar panels in Dryden, Ont., Guelph, Ont., and Regina.

The 65-year-old won six Stanley Cups and the Vezina Trophy the award for the NHL's top goaltender five times while playing for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

Post-hockey, Dryden authored several books, including "The Game", and was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He served as Minister of Social Development in Paul Martin's government.

Dryden believes there will be catastrophic repercussions if the sports community doesn't get to the bottom of concussions.

"I think that this is one of those big questions like cigarette smoking was 40 or 50 years ago that we look back on now and we wonder how we could have been so stupid," he said. "I think this is the one, in sports, that 40 or 50 years from now, people will look back at us and wonder 'What was wrong with them? How didn't they get it? Why were they so stupid?'

"Even those who know quite a bit know that they don't know a lot. None of us knows what we really need to know. And we need to get at it. That means scientists and coaches and players and parents and administrators, not separately so we can all point our fingers elsewhere."

Dryden opened the forum by questioning athletes on their concussion experiences. Alpine ski racer Carey Mullen, hockey player Jeremy Colliton and long-track speed skater Kristina Groves were among those relating their personal stories with an injury that is so mysterious.

Colliton, who won silver and gold with Canada's junior team in 2004 and 2005 respectively, has suffered five concussions during his hockey career. Two during the 2011-12 season while playing for the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers kept him off the ice for 11 months.

"I think we have to make it OK to finish a check and not hit a guy in the head," Colliton said. "You can make a devastating hit and not put a guy out for months.

"That's part of why I'm going to Europe, is because I don't think I can play in North America and survive for a couple of years. I need to be concussion free for a bit before I go back."

A concussion Groves suffered in her final season of racing didn't force her to retire, but the four-time Olympic medallist has spoken with other winter-sport athletes whose lives have been forever altered by head injuries.

"We're fundamentally changing who we are when we smack our heads that hard," Groves said. "You're not the same person as you were. That's something we don't talk about when we talk about the risks of concussions."

While the medical professionals said there's still much to learn about concussions, they added that recognizing and reporting symptoms and seeking immediate treatment has become standard knowledge.

The discussion turned quickly towards bodychecking in minor hockey when sports administrators and coaches joined Dryden on the podium.

Former Calgary Flames captain Jim Peplinski turned up the heat on Hockey Canada and Hockey Alberta representatives, pointing to a University of Calgary study that concluded bodychecking among peewee players (aged 11-12) more than triples the risk of concussion and injury.

"I'm with Jim," Calgary Dinos coach Mark Howell said. "We need to be leaders in this. Hockey Canada, Hockey Alberta, we need to trust medical experts and stop waiting for opinions.

"A lot of people that run minor hockey, they care so much about the game of hockey, they care about the kids, they do, but they're also clouded in their opinions. They don't want to trust the medical knowledge that's out there."

Dryden concluded the panel by pointing to a worst-case scenarios, which is the recent lawsuit launched by hundreds of former NFL players against the league over brain injuries.

But it's not the professional athletes that concerns Dryden the most.

"I got out of sport, and our kids got out of sports, everything that one could ever hope to get out of sports," he said. "I hope for their kids and other kids that they will have that same kind of experience.

"Part of it is being able to play without extreme risks."

KYOTO, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese author Haruki Murakami made his first public appearance in his homeland in 18 years on Monday, describing his newest novel, which was an instant-best seller, as a story that takes place in the real world, unlike many of his other novels.

"Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" has attracted positive reviews, with readers spotting familiar Murakami themes such as people bonding through pain.

Publisher Bungeishunju made the rare decision to print 1 million copies within a week of its April release in Japan.

The novel is about a lonely 36-year-old engineer named Tsukuru Tazaki, who embarks on trips in Japan and Finland to overcome his most painful experience - broken friendships.

"Usually things are divided into the real and unreal, but I was wondering how it will be if I bring all of that into the stage of the real world," Murakami told an audience of about 500 fans in Kyoto.

"People get hurt and close their minds, but as time passes, they gradually open up, and they grow as they repeat that. This novel is about growth."

The fans who won a lottery to attend the event were surprised that the 64-year-old, whose fiction is often surreal and who has made a handful of speeches overseas in recent years but none in Japan, was actually speaking to the public.

"I am a fan of his novels but I have never seen him in person nor heard his voice. Is he a normal person?" Hiroko Yamada, 40, asked as she waited for the event to start.

Murakami said he decided to speak in public to honor his friend Hayao Kawai, a psychologist who died in 2007.

"It's not like I get purple dots all over myself when I am in front of many people. I like to go around on the bus and the subway and live a normal life," he joked.

"I want you to think of me like an endangered species - it's fine to look at me from far away, but be careful because I may bite if you come near and talk to me or touch me."

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

In appealing the ruling, the administration recommitted itself to a position Obama took during his re-election campaign that younger teens shouldn't have unabated access to emergency contraceptives, despite the insistence by physicians groups and much of his Democratic base that the pill should be readily available.

A day earlier, the Food and Drug Administration lowered the age that people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 younger than the current limit of 17 and decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near the condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters.

That decision appeared to fly in the face of a judge's decision last month that women of any age should be allowed to buy both Plan B and its cheaper generic competition as easily as they can buy aspirin. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York gave the FDA 30 days to comply, and the Monday deadline was approaching fast, prompting the administration on Wednesday to ask the court to put the ruling on hold while it reconsiders.

With the appeal, the Obama administration is making clear that it's willing to ease access to emergency contraception only a certain amount not nearly as broadly as doctors' groups and contraception advocates have urged. Still, the FDA decision moving the pill from behind the counter to drugstore shelves reflected a societal shift in the long battle over women's reproductive rights, marking a major milestone for those who believe all forms of birth control should be easy to buy.

Reluctant to get drawn in to a messy second-term spat over social issues, White House officials insisted Wednesday that both the FDA and the Justice Department were acting independently of the White House in deciding how to proceed. But the decision to appeal was certain to irk abortion-rights advocates who say they can't understand why a Democratic president is siding with social conservatives in favor of limiting women's reproductive choices.

"We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women's reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women of their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit that prompted Korman's ruling.

Current and former White House aides said Obama's approach to the issue has been heavily influenced by his experience as the father of two school-age daughters. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have also questioned whether there's enough data available to show the morning-after pill is safe and appropriate for younger girls, even though physicians groups insist that it is.

In Wednesday's filing, the Justice Department said Korman exceeded his authority and that his decision should be suspended while that appeal is under way, meaning only Plan B One-Step would appear on drugstore shelves until the case is finally settled. If Korman's order isn't suspended during the appeals process, the result would be "substantial market confusion, harming FDA's and the public's interest" as drugstores receive conflicting orders about who's allowed to buy what, the Justice Department concluded.

Rather than take matters into his own hands, the Justice Department argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Korman should have ordered the FDA to reconsider its options for regulating emergency contraception. The court cannot overturn the rules and processes that federal agencies must follow "by instead mandating a particular substantive outcome," the appeal states.

The FDA actually had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B sell over the counter in late 2011, when Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 were physically capable of bearing children but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.

Sebelius' move was unprecedented, and Korman had blasted it as election-year politics meaning he was overruling not just a government agency but a Cabinet secretary.

More than a year later, neither side in the contraception debate was happy with the FDA's surprise twist, which many perceived as an attempt to find a palatable middle ground between imposing an age limit of 17 and imposing no limit at all.

Any over-the-counter access marks a long-awaited change, but it's not enough, said Dr. Cora Breuner of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which supports nonprescription sale of the morning-after pill for all ages.

"We still have the major issue, which is our teen pregnancy rate is still too high," Breuner said.

Even though few young girls likely would use Plan B, which costs about $50 for a single pill, "we know that it is safe for those under 15," she said.

Most 17- to 19-year-olds are sexually active, and 30 percent of 15- and 16-year-olds have had sex, according to a study published last month by the journal Pediatrics. Sex is much rarer among younger teens. Likewise, older teens have a higher pregnancy rate, but that study also counted more than 110,000 pregnancies among 15- and 16-year-olds in 2008 alone.

Contraception advocates see a double standard. No one is carded when buying a condom, but under the FDA's decision they would have to prove their age when buying a pill to prevent pregnancy if that condom breaks.

"This isn't a compromise. This is wrong," said Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network.

Social conservatives were outraged by the FDA's move to lower the age limits for Plan B as well as the possibility that Korman's ruling might take effect and lift age restrictions altogether.

"This decision undermines the right of parents to make important health decisions for their young daughters," said Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council.

Obama aides bristled at the suggestion that the FDA decision was an attempt at political compromise, insisting the FDA merely responded to an application filed by Plan B's manufacturer. At the same time, however, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama's concern had been about girls younger than 15 having access, suggesting an age limit of 15 might be acceptable.

If a woman already is pregnant, the morning-after pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to the medical definition, pregnancy doesn't begin until a fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of the uterus. Still, some critics say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it may also be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, a contention that many scientists and Korman, in his ruling said has been discredited.

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Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

The police seized the Daily Monitor's operations nine days ago and said they would leave the newspaper's premises only after getting a copy of the letter in which Gen. David Sejusa urged the internal security service to investigate reports that those opposed to the political rise of President Yoweri Museveni's son risk assassination.

The leader of an activist group that attempted to stage the protest at the newspaper's premises said two of his staff had been arrested by police.

"They have tear-gassed us and they have beaten many of us," said Wokulira Ssebaggala of the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda. "The police have left us with no option but to go and camp (at the newspaper's premises). Our message is that the police are there illegally."

Ssebaggala said he was also briefly detained by police before being freed.

The newspaper has resisted efforts to give a copy of the letter to police who say it's a crucial piece of evidence in ongoing investigations against Sejusa, a four-star general who is accused of talking politics despite rules that bar serving army officers from engaging in partisan activities.

"We shall vacate when we get what we want," police chief Gen. Kale Kayihura told reporters late Monday.

Watchdog groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned the police's actions against the newspaper.

"These are acts of impunity," said Livingstone Sewanyana, a Ugandan activist who runs a rights think tank called the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative. "It's part of a worrying trend that all independent voices and alternative views will be silenced."

The daily's printing press was disabled last week.

A lawyer for Sejusa said his client, who was traveling in London when details of his letter were made public, has since canceled a scheduled trip back home and will extend his stay there by at least three months.

Ugandan lawyer Joseph Luzige said Sejusa had asked for and been granted the protection of British police after receiving a credible report of a threat to his life. Luzige said on Monday that Sejusa believes Ugandan undercover agents with sinister intentions are trying to locate him. Okello Oryem, Uganda's deputy minister of foreign affairs, said Sejusa's claims of a plot to kill him are "rubbish." British officials said they had no comment on this case.

With Sejusa away, the newspaper that published his concerns has come under pressure to explain how it obtained a copy of the letter that has exposed a rift among the military elite over the first son's growing influence in the army. Museveni, who has held power for nearly three decades, has never said he sees his son as his political heir. But the son, a senior army officer named Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has been rapidly promoted over the years, leading many here into believing he is being groomed for high office. Kainerugaba is now a brigadier with full command of the country's special forces, an elite group within the military that protects the president and guards national assets such as oil fields.

The Sejusa case has riveted many in this East African country that once was prone to violent takeovers of power but which has seen relative stability under Museveni. But the president now faces growing pressure within and outside his party to retire when his current term expires in 2016. Some say Sejusa, a decorated hero of the bush war that brought Museveni to power in 1986, may be positioning himself to become of the leader of those within the military who want to discourage Museveni from hanging onto power.

More than two weeks after Sejusa's letter was leaked, Museveni announced changes in the military that saw the ouster of army chief Gen. Aronda Nyakairima and his deputy. Nyakairima, who had been cited in Sejusa's letter among those opposed to the rise of the first son, was given a civilian post as interior minister. His deputy, Lt. Gen. Ivan Koreta, was made an ambassador.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - San Francisco and Houston were chosen on Tuesday as host cities for the 2016 and 2017 Super Bowls after National Football League (NFL) team owners voted for the two ahead of Miami.

The San Francisco Bay Area will host the 50th Super Bowl in early 2016 at Levi's Stadium, the brand new home of the 49ers, which is still under construction.

Then Houston will stage the 51st edition of the sport's championship game in early 2017 at Reliant Stadium, the home of the Texans.

Miami, which had already hosted the Super Bowl a record-tying 10 times, was the odd city out in a three-way contest.

The South Florida bid was doomed after Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was unable to secure enough state funding to redevelop the team's 26-year-old stadium.

"(Tuesday's) decision doesn't dampen our enthusiasm to pursue Super Bowls in the future, since we are steadfast in our belief that those games are good for the South Florida community," Ross said in a statement.

The only previous time the Super Bowl was played in the Bay Area was in 1985, when the 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium.

The 49ers, one of the NFL's most successful teams, won the last of their five championships in January 1995 but made the Super Bowl last season, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans.

The northern California city is in the midst of a golden period in sport with the San Francisco Giants winning the Major League Baseball World Series two of the last three seasons.

The city's spectacular Bay is the host site for this year's America's Cup yachting series while the space-age Levi's Stadium is being built in Santa Clara, just south of San Francisco.

The stadium will seat nearly 70,000 people and will feature stadium-wide Wi-Fi, streaming video, mobile connectivity, in-seat tablet holders and huge high definition video boards measuring over 13,000 square feet.

The bid had the backing some of the biggest industry names in Silicon Valley, such as Apple, Google and Yahoo and a 2010 report estimated the Super Bowl would generate between $300 million and $500 million for the region.

"It's an awesome, awesome thing that they've allowed one of the biggest games, the golden anniversary, to be played in the golden state," 49ers chief executive Jed York said.

"We look forward to NFL fans from around the globe enjoying our region and our stadium, the likes of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world."

Houston will be hosting the game for the third time after 1974 and 2004.

"This is a worldwide stage that will be constructed in Houston and the world will be watching," Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said.

"It's an opportunity to showcase our wonderful city, the NFL and the Super Bowl all at the same time."

The next Super Bowl will be held in February 2014 in East Rutherford in New Jersey, the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets, while the 2015 game will be held at the University of Phoenix Stadium, the home ground for the Arizona Cardinals.

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

The chance to ride with DiCaprio sold for 1.2 million Euros ($1.5 million) at the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS charityThursday night (May 23), according to . The prize was listed as a "once-in-a-lifetime trip to space with a mystery guest" in the auction booklet, and the mystery guest's identity as DiCaprio was not announced until after the sale. The event took place at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc during the annual film festival on the French Riviera.

Regular tickets aboard Virgin Galactic'ssell for $250,000, and already about 550 people have paid in part or in full, despite the fact that the vehicle hasn't yet flown to space. The first manned flight to the edge of space is expected by the end of this year, though, and commercial passenger trips could begin in 2014, Virgin Galactic's billionaire founder Sir Richard Branson has said. []

DiCaprio was present at the charity dinner, where a second pair of seats on the same SpaceShipTwo flight sold for 1.8 million euros ($2.3 million). The actor was attending the film fest to promote his latest movie, "The Great Gatsby," which opened in theaters May 10.

Earlier in the night film producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein told the Hollywood Reporter about the planned auction opportunity. "We're going to get someone to bid on a seat next to him," said Weinstein, co-chair of The Weinstein Company film production house.

The executive joked that his film business peers might like to see Weinstein himself fly to space, "but only on a one-way ticket," he said.

Somehow I managed to misplace your cookbooklet. I have read that there is now a set of two of them. Would you please give me the ordering instructions? Thanks, Abby! -- JEAN IN RICHLAND, WASH.

DEAR JEAN: I get a lot of letters like yours and I'm glad to oblige. Once you start looking at "Cookbooklet II" you will see that a sweet tooth runs in my family. Many readers have told me the dessert recipes in my cookbooklets are great for entertaining, and actually save calories because they are divided among a greater number of people. The raw apple cake with caramel glaze serves 16! My booklets are sold as a set and can be ordered by sending your name and address, plus check or money order for $14 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price. Remember, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," and this recipe requires five or six of them. (Think of the fiber!)

My cookbooklet set contains more than 100 tasty recipes for soups, salads, appetizers, main courses and desserts that can be used when friends and families get together to celebrate holidays and special occasions.

I have been told by some readers that they have been used as the basis for Dear Abby-themed dinner parties. (The place cards were decorated with hearts and flowers, and the centerpiece was a "bouquet" of envelopes addressed to me.)

P.S. Your husband sounds like a sweetheart. My mother once said the secret to a lasting marriage is a husband who lasts, so feed him well and he will.

DEAR ABBY: I work in a skilled-care facility. I am also preparing for law school. Today one of my co-workers humiliated me in the presence of others by asking if I have been gaining weight. I giggled and said, "Probably."

She proceeded to say that I have gained "a lot" of weight in my "fat face" and told me to get on the scale so she could see how much. I told her it's none of her business.

She has done this to me and other co-workers before. Our supervisor likes her and doesn't reprimand her. How should I handle this? -- GETTING IMPATIENT IN ILLINOIS

DEAR GETTING IMPATIENT: Handle it by ignoring this unpleasant person and avoiding her whenever possible. So should any other co-worker she has offended. Any time she attempts to embarrass any of you, it should be reported to your supervisor's supervisor -- individually or en masse -- because the failure to act on your concerns is allowing a hostile work environment to exist.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.