// Ticker startup
function startTicker()
{
	// Define run time values
	theCurrentStory  = -1;
	theCurrentLength = 0;
	
	// Locate base objects
	newsList = newsUl.getElementsByTagName("li");
	
	theItemCount = newsList.length;
	
	if (document.getElementById) {	
	    theAnchorObject = document.getElementById("TickerLink");
		runTheTicker();   	
	}
}

// Ticker main run loop
function runTheTicker()
{
	var myTimeout; 
	var newsItem;
	// Go for the next story data block
	if(theCurrentLength == 0)
	{
		
		theCurrentStory++;
		theCurrentStory      = theCurrentStory % theItemCount;
		
		newsItem = newsList[theCurrentStory].getElementsByTagName("a")[0]		
		theStorySummary      = newsItem.innerHTML.replace(/"/g,'"');		
		theAnchorObject.href = newsItem.href;
                                theAnchorObject.target = newsItem.target;

	}
	// Stuff the current ticker text into the anchor
	theAnchorObject.innerHTML = strIntroLabel + theStorySummary.substring(0,theCurrentLength) + whatWidget();
	// Modify the length for the substring and define the timer
	if(theCurrentLength != theStorySummary.length)
	{
		theCurrentLength++;
		myTimeout = theCharacterTimeout;
	}
	else
	{
		theCurrentLength = 0;
		myTimeout = theStoryTimeout;
	}
	// Call up the next cycle of the ticker
	setTimeout("runTheTicker()", myTimeout);
}
// Widget generator
function whatWidget() {
	if(theCurrentLength == theStorySummary.length) { return theWidgetNone; }
	if((theCurrentLength % 2) == 1) { return theWidgetOne;}
	else { return theWidgetTwo; }
}

	var theCharacterTimeout = 50;
	var theStoryTimeout     = 5000;
	var theWidgetOne        = "_";
	var theWidgetTwo        = "-";
	var theWidgetNone       = "";

	var theItemCount = 0;
	var newsList = "";
	var strIntroLabel = "";
	var newsUl = "";
	
	function initNewsTicker(){
		newsUl = document.getElementById("NewsList");
		if(newsUl != null){
			newsUl.style.display = "none";
			startTicker();
		}
		
		
	}

	addOnLoadEvent(initNewsTicker);