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End to Iraq war halts Fort Stewart deployment

2011-10-21T18:47:00.001-07:00

One of the first Army divisions to send soldiers into Iraq more than eight years ago, the Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division was also scheduled to be one of the last to deploy fresh troops this fall.
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But with President Barack Obama's announcement that he's bringing an end to the war, the 775 soldiers from the division at Fort Stewart probably won't be deploying.

Shortly after Obama's announcement Friday, the 3rd Infantry's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams, issued a statement saying the Iraq deployment was being called off. Hours later, his chief of staff said the division had not received the official word.

Still, the earliest the division could deploy would be November — and all U.S. forces are to leave Iraq by Dec. 31.

"While we have all seen the president's announcement, we have not received any official guidance," said Col. Lee Quintas, the 3rd Infantry's chief of staff. "We're still prepared to go and we'll standby until we hear differently."

The Georgia soldiers, all part of the general's command battalion, had been training for months to deploy this fall despite the drawdown of U.S. forces. Discussions between the U.S. and Iraqi governments had left open the question of whether a smaller force of U.S. troops might stay.

In March 2003, thousands of 3rd Infantry soldiers rumbled in their tanks and Bradley armored vehicles across the Kuwaiti border into Iraq among the first wave of U.S. soldiers whose push to Baghdad would soon topple Saddam Hussein.

The Army would call on the division to return to Iraq three more times over the next eight years.

Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Trosper returned home to his wife, Nita, and their three sons at Fort Stewart almost exactly a year ago. It was the second time the 39-year-old soldier from Ripley, Tenn., had deployed to Iraq.

Trosper said Friday he's glad the Iraqi security forces will soon get a chance to be on their own and put to use the training they received from U.S. forces. While he's uncertain what Iraq's future will look like after the U.S. military departs, Trosper said he's certain the country is better off than it was under Saddam.

"I'm not going to necessarily say it's a victory, based on all the casualties we have," Trosper said. "But there's a sense of accomplishment. I know we made a difference in that country."

Other than the general's command battalion, none of the division's four combat brigades, including one based at Fort Benning in Columbus, were facing deployment orders.

Abrams, the division commander, said in a statement that his soldiers would be ready to deploy elsewhere if needed, though no such orders have been given.

"We are the Army's decisive force for any mission, anytime, anywhere," Abrams said.

The end of the Iraq war brings to a close a chapter of Fort Stewart's history that has kept its soldiers on a constant cycle of training for war and deploying overseas since the initial invasion.

Quintas said the division's soldiers should reflect on their service during those years as a job well done.

"We have invested a tremendous effort and sacrifice over an extended period to come to this conclusion," Quintas said. "These soldiers have a lot to be proud about."

Marco Rubio defends himself amid family exile saga

2011-10-21T18:46:00.001-07:00

Marco Rubio defends himself amid family exile saga

Controversy erupted over whether Sen. Marco Rubio has exploited his Cuban family’s immigration story to advance his political ambitions. Rubio is outraged.
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Politifact: Rubio's original story false

By Marc Caputo
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

A Cuban couple’s journey to America more than 50 years ago became a media firestorm this week when their son, Sen. Marco Rubio, was challenged about whether he misused the story of their immigration and exile experience to promote his successful political career.

A Republican, Rubio acknowledged making a mistake on his official Senate website, which inaccurately said his parents "came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover" in 1959. His family actually came initially in 1956.

The Washington Post late Thursday accused him of repeatedly and publicly embellishing his parents’ story for political gain.

Rubio said the Post story was “outrageous” and left a false impression.

“I didn’t lie about the date. I wasn’t aware of it,” Rubio told The Miami Herald, noting his parents’ immigration from Cuba happened a half century ago and that he was basing his story on a family oral history.

“It’s irrelevant to the central narrative,” he said. “The date doesn’t really add anything. It doesn’t embellish anything. The date is less relevant than the experience, the experience of people who came here to make a better life and who could never go back.”

On Friday, Rubio penned a written response to the Post article that was published on Politico, the national political website.

The controversy took on a life of its own in the nation’s political echo chamber as the left and right picked sides over whether the vice presidential short-lister was a liar or a victim.

Beyond the typical conservative-liberal feud, the issue became a point of departure over immigration and just what constitutes a political “exile.” It also served as a stark reminder that any politician seeking higher office will have every word parsed in a nonstop news cycle fueled by blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

The political ruckus also put the heat on The Washington Post because the story —inspired by documents from a birther activist who claims Rubio can’t be vice president — became the subject of criticism among several national media outlets.

The first paragraph of the Washington Post report suggested Rubio himself said "he was the son of exiles, he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after ’a thug,’ Fidel Castro, took power."

However, the story didn’t cite any speech in which Rubio actually made the remark.

To back up the allegation, the Post took excerpts from a 2006 address in the Florida House where Rubio said “in January of 1959 a thug named Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and countless Cubans were forced to flee. ... Today your children and grandchildren are the secretary of commerce of the United States and multiple members of Congress ...and soon, even speaker of the Florida House.”

In the speech, Rubio didn’t say that his parents fled the island nation and he wasn’t referring to just those who specifically fled Cuba after Castro took power. Instead, he specifically said he was talking about "a community of exiles." That is: He was talking about all the Cubans who live in Miami.

Regardless of when his parents left Cuba, they were exiles because they stayed in the United States, specifically Miami, in a community where they soon felt they couldn’t go back to their homeland.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/21/2465750/rubio-defends-himself-amid-media.html?asset_id=Marco%20Rubio%3A%20%22The%20son%20of%20exiles.%22&asset_type=html_module#ixzz1bTGOFkwT

Pavilion celebrates Halloween with Hocus Pocus Pops

2011-10-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Houston Symphony will perform “terrorific” music at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion during Hocus Pocus Pops at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28.

Tickets are $15 for orchestra seating. Mezzanine and lawn seating are free, courtesy of H-E-B. Tickets are not required for free seating. Gates open at 6 p.m.

Conductor Brett Mitchell casts a spell on the audience with chilling music and spooky sounds as the symphony plays The Ride of the Valkyries from “Die Walküre,” Toccata and Fugue, Funeral March of a Marionette, Psycho: A Narrative for String Orchestra, Suite from “Star Wars” and more.

Daddies, mummies and all the little ghosts and goblins are invited to dress up in their favorite Halloween costumes for a chance to walk on stage during the concert. The first 100 children in costume to check in at Hocus Pocus Central in the Fidelity Investments Plaza can participate in the Goblin Parade that snakes across the stage during the symphony’s performance.

There also are pre-concert activities. Pulling into The Pavilion at 5:30 p.m. is the Great Pumpkin Express. Hop on for a ride around The Pavilion’s grounds. Starting at 6 p.m., costumed characters roam the grounds in the Fidelity Investments Plaza where little monsters can create their own spine-tingling music at The Pavilion Partners Instrument Petting Zoo and ignite their haunting imaginations creating lollipop ghosts at The Partners arts and crafts booth. Enjoy ghoulish activities by H-E-B, Houston Family Magazine, Woodforest National Bank, Fidelity Investments, Montgomery County Food Bank, YMCA’s Run Thru the Woods and Audi of America, official automobile of The Pavilion. Creep into the House of Blues Hospitality Tent for Radio Disney’s Graveyard Smash Dance Party featuring the Radio Disney Boo Crew from 6-7:15 p.m. for dancing, prizes, tricks and treats.

For “monsterous” prizes, register to win one of two gift baskets provided by H-E-B and The Pavilion by bringing any H-E-B receipt from October 2011 to Hocus Pocus Pops. Receipts must be brought to Hocus Pocus Central in the Fidelity Investments Plaza prior to the performance (between 6 and 7:15 p.m.). The drawing takes place on the Main Stage before the concert.

Winners of the Hocus Pocus Pops “Spooktacular” Essay Contest will be announced. Out of 130 entries, a winner was chosen from each of six grade categories. Each grade category winner receives a $25 gift card to H-E-B, a $25 gift card to Amazon.com, four VIP tickets to the concert and will have the essay printed in the Hocus Pocus Pops program. One grand prize winner will be drawn at random from the six finalists and announced at Hocus Pocus Pops. The winner receives an Amazon Kindle, a $100 gift certificate to Market Street and will have the essay printed in The Courier and The Villager newspapers. Each participant in the contest is entered into a drawing for a variety of prizes. The Hocus Pocus Pops “Spooktacular” Essay Contest is sponsored by The Courier and The Villager and Simply Tutoring.

For more information about The Pavilion, visit www.woodlandscenter.org.

Business Leaders Connect Billings to the Bakken

2011-10-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

BILLINGS - Activity at the Bakken Oil Formation is causing growth in Western North Dakota and Eastern Montana. Williston, N.D. is being described as having the nation's fastest growing economy, and local businesses are meeting Thursday hoping to get into the action.

"When you double the size of a town, you don't just need oil workers, you need dentists and doctors and nurses and teachers and pretty much everything," said Williston Economic Development Executive Director Tom Rolfstad. "And it's happening very rapidly, so that's even more challenging to try to keep up."

Rolfstad is meeting with Billings business leaders to encourage them to bring their businesses and workers to the Bakken area.

"This could be a good thing for Billings and a good thing for us," Rolfstad said. "A win-win situation."

Experts with the U.S. Geological Survey said the Bakken Oil Formation is the largest continuous oil resource in the lower 48 states. Rolfstad said it reaches 13,000 feet below the surface and spans 100 miles around Williston.

Business leaders are making efforts to market the Yellowstone Valley as an energy hub for the Bakken.

"The Bakken area is ripe for business. There's so much of a need for outside entities to come in," said Jeremy Vannatta with the Big Sky Economic Development Authority. "If they're a welder, if they're a manufacturer, they paint vehicles, whatever it may be, how can we get tied into that area and really help Billings businesses and Yellowstone County grow."

No one can say exactly how many jobs the Bakken Oil Formation will create, but Rolfstad said he expects long-term economic growth and sustainability.

"While oil has kind of been branded as a boom, bust business, we just celebrated 60 years of oil in North Dakota, and I fully expect 60 years from now we'll be celebrating 120 years of oil. So I think it will be a part of the economy for a very long time."

Rolfstad said some Billings businesses are already expanding to the Bakken area, but he sees more opportunities for growth.

Thursday's conference is being held at the Crowne Plaza with a series of free seminars starting at 8:30 a.m.

Olin Kreutz not 'feeling it,' leaves Saints

2011-10-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Saints center Olin Kreutz has left the team because he has lost his passion for the game of football, leaving a hole in middle of New Orleans' offensive line.

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"He loves the games," said his agent, Mark Bartelstein. "He has to love the game. He just hasn't been feeling it."

The Saints will place Kreutz on the left-team list and then eventually release him. By doing that, the team will be able to get out of the guaranteed portion of his contract. Kreutz has been battling a sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

"He called me on Monday and Tuesday and said, 'I don't know if I can keep on doing this,' " Bartelstein said on "The Waddle and Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "Went in and talked to (coach) Sean Payton and (general manager) Mickey Loomis and expressed it to them. They tried to talk him out of it. They wanted him to stay and he actually thought he was going to give it another whirl and called yesterday and said, 'I just know, it's not in my heart. I'm not going to keep collecting a check if I know deep inside me I can't bring what I need to bring to play every week.' "

This has been a tumultuous year for the 34-year-old center, who played the first 13 seasons of his career with the Chicago Bears but could not come to terms on a contract this offseason. Kreutz, a six-time Pro Bowl performer, had said he was willing to take a pay cut to stay in Chicago, but negotiations became public and messy and Kreutz finally signed a one-year deal with the Saints.

"I think there's probably some correlation to [how things went down with the Bears]," Bartelstein said. "It hurt him a lot the way it went down with the Bears. He wanted to finish his career with the Bears, so I think there's a part of it. But how much, it's hard to say."

Bartelstein said that Kreutz will not retire immediately.

"We're not going to file anything right now," he said. "I just never think it makes sense to do that right away. He's going to step back and spend time with his family. My guess is I'm not sure he'll play again, but we'll see. The Saints made it clear that if he changed his mind, they'd love to have him come back. But knowing Olin and the way he handles himself, I don't think that's going to happen. But we'll see."

Senior writer John Clayton covers the NFL for ESPN.com.

Moammar Gadhafi's Death: What the Media Is Saying

2011-10-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

"Upon hearing the news of Qaddafi's death the entire crowd spontaneously broke into quiet shrugs," wrote a Fox News contributor.

When news broke on Thursday that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had been killed by rebels, it was met with light-hearted and serious responses from Hollywood -- and news personalities took on the latter approach, for the most part.
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Piers Morgan teased Thursday's Piers Morgan Tonight, writing, "Historic show on @PiersTonight - the end of #Gadhafi, with dramatic new video, expert analysis +live reports from #Libya - #CNN 9pm ET."

Like Morgan, Anderson Cooper teased his show that night, writing, "New video of capture of #gadhafi, just coming in now. Will air on @AC360 8pm, 10pm #libya." He wrote another tweet on Thursday, which read, "Latest on capture and killing of #gadhafi. Was he executed? A reporter who was in Sirte weighs in @ac360 8p, 10p."

Sean Hannity wrote, "How do you feel about the death of Qaddafi?" Wolf Blitzer directed his followers to CNN: "Now no more doubt. Gadhafi is dead. Watch @CNN Breaking News."

Fox News' Andy Levy said, "At the airport. Upon hearing the news of Qaddafi's death the entire crowd spontaneously broke into quiet shrugs."

Keith Olbermann wrote, "Moammar Gadaffi is still dead. #OWS is still the lead: Officer Bologna claims HE's the victim, he wasn't aiming spray at women."

Christiane Amanpour wrote, "This is the first day of the post-Gadhafi era. The dictator is dead, now the real work to bring stability and freedom to Libya begins." Amanpour followed up with a lengthy post about the meaning of Gadhafi's death.

"When the news started trickling out this morning that Col. Moammar Gadhafi had been captured, or wounded or killed, I wasn't surprised. The uprising had long since toppled the pedestal upon which he had perched for the past 40 year," she wrote. "It was clear the dice were cast when I sat down with him in Libya this past February. His people had had enough. The fervor of the Arab Spring was spreading; the revolution coming out of Egypt was engulfing Libya."

Report: Jerome Harrison diagnosed with brain tumor

2011-10-20T19:51:00.001-07:00

ESPN.com reports: Philadelphia Eagles doctors conducting a physical on newly acquired running back Jerome Harrison discovered a brain tumor, nullifying a trade with the Detroit Lions while potentially saving Harrison's life, according to league sources.

Without the trade being made, Harrison's tumor -- which appears to be treatable -- might not have been discovered in time, the sources said.

Fox Valley Technical College board explores $65 million to $85 million expansion plan

2011-10-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

GRAND CHUTE — Plans are under way to expand Fox Valley Technical College’s main campus and one off-campus site with five major projects totaling $65 million to $85 million, officials said.

FVTC’s Board of Trustees is considering a facilities development plan that identifies five top-priority projects, along with the purchase of land next to the college's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center in Oshkosh and the purchase/expansion of a leased facility in Chilton.

♦ FVTC facts and figures

The centerpiece of the proposal is a $32 million public safety training center that would be located at the Outagamie County Regional Airport in Greenville.

The facility would provide state-of-the-art classroom and hands-on training opportunities for students along with police, firefighters and emergency medical services professionals from throughout the U.S.

With a sensitivity toward the current economic conditions, FVTC officials have embarked on a deliberate process and are seeking to gauge public support for the projects — including a possible spring 2012 referendum to finance some or all of them — through “school perceptions” surveys distributed this week to community leaders throughout the Fox Cities, along with a random telephone survey of the public.

Survey results are expected to help the nine-member Board of Trustees make a recommendation on how to proceed at its Nov. 15 meeting. As it stands, the proposal is the largest in FVTC’s history.

A growing student population seeking technical training, employer demands for a skilled work force and historic low borrowing costs are mitigating factors that offset the economic concerns, officials said.

“It’s a very challenging thing to do in any economic condition,” FVTC president Susan May told The Post-Crescent on Thursday. “The board is really trying to assess, ‘Is this the right time to go to the public?’ It’s a huge balancing act for us.”

During the past three years, FVTC’s former nontraditional students — adults in their 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s — have become traditional

Should Jahvid Best have received more attention on the sidelines?

2011-10-20T19:49:00.001-07:00

In the 25-19 defeat by the 49ers, Best kept landing head first on the Ford Field turf. It happened early in the third quarter after a 32-yard completion; Best struck the turf with his forehead after a tackle by safeties Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner. He stayed on the ground for a few moments while he unbuckled his chin strap. He then left the game for a few plays.

Best returned and landed facemask first again when tripped by cornerback Carlos Rogers on a screen pass. Best was again slow to get up and he left the game for the second time.

Best started the Lions final drive of the third quarter and had his head slammed to the turf by linebacker Aldon Smith after a 5-yard gain. It was a clean play, but afterwards, Best looked like he was in slow motion going out for a screen pass one play later. He exited for the final time.

After the game, Lions P.R. said Best would be unavailable to the media. With Best’s history of concussions and two trips to the sidelines after head-first landings, Pro Football Talk advocated an investigation into the situation by the league. With Best’s recent history of concussions, there’s a suggestion Best should have been examined more thoroughly on the sidelines and that independent doctors need to be consulted more frequently.

MLB World Series Loses In 18-49 Demographic To ABC's Modern Family

2011-10-20T19:47:00.001-07:00

Young people aren’t really watching the MLB World Series. One might look at the ratings and assume the demographic just isn’t giving as much of a damn about Major League Baseball. I’m here to assure you: it isn’t baseball. It’s the teams in the series. With the Texas Rangers at the Saint Louis Cardinals, there is no domineering, massive fan base behind the series, and thus less viewers, especially in the 18-49 demographic range. Not knocking on the strength of Cards fans, mind you.

For the second year in a row, ABC’s Modern Family has beat out the World Series in the 18-49 demographic. This doesn’t mean ABC won the night. Fox, who is hosting the series, still crushed in that demographic, but it was closer than you would think. According to THR, Modern Family pulled in 12.8 viewers during its hour of programming. Early reports indicate Major League Baseball was just a pitch behind, pulling in 12.9 million, during, granted, a lengthier haul.

Gone are the days when any baseball team might entrance the entire nation to get invested. There’s been too many steroid scandals, strikes, and drinking before games since the days of America’s baseball heroes. If there is no big name, there is no big game. And that’s all right. 12.9 million viewers isn’t anything to laugh at. X Factor can also attest to that. It’s just, you know, not what it once was.

Scott Hall was a wrestling superstar in the early 1990s

2011-10-19T22:59:00.001-07:00

Scott Hall was a wrestling superstar in the early 1990s, his immensely popular character the "Scarface"-like Razor Ramon. Later, he was one of the faces of the faction dubbed the New World Order. Now, at age 52, Hall has a pacemaker and takes about a dozen pills daily to deal with anxiety and pain. He's been arrested several times since his final stint with WWE in 2002 and has publically discussed his struggles with drugs and alcohol.

"There's got to be some reason that I'm still here," Hall told "E:60," which will air a story about him Wednesday. "I should have been dead 100 times. I should have been dead 100 times."

Hall said many of the older wrestlers of his generation are "all dinosaurs now and we're all retired and dead. The young guys coming up now aren't drinking and drugging and stuff I hope as bad as we did. …

"I tell my kids this, 'I can't tell you not to drink and do drugs, they are fun. It's fun. They work,'" Hall said. "But what sucks is when you want to quit and you can't, and pretty soon you alienate or you hurt everyone around you. It's a family disease and then you can't keep a promise to anybody. What sucks the most is when you can't even keep a promise to yourself."

Stephanie McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment's executive vice president of creative development and operations, said WWE has sent Hall to rehab multiple times and spent "in the six figures" on efforts to help him get sober.

"It's the most amount of money we've spent on anyone," she said. "I just want Scott to get help and to decide for himself that he needs help. It makes me sad. I don't want anybody to pass away prematurely or otherwise really. Scott was an incredibly talented performer, larger than life, charismatic. He's a father, he's a friend. I'm sure he means a lot to a lot of people and it would be a shame for him to pass away."

Hall's story of drugs and stints in rehab highlights the substance-abuse problems some former wrestlers have faced, and the efforts WWE has undertaken to try to help its ex-stars. It's a problem professional wrestling has faced off and on since it hit the big time 26 years ago. On pay-per-view TV, the world was introduced to a combination of entertainment and celebrity dubbed "Wrestlemania." The main event was Hulk Hogan and Mr. T battling Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff. That day, March 31, 1985, professional wrestling went mainstream. Liberace attended, Cyndi Lauper was a manager and Muhammad Ali was a referee. After all the glitz and glamour, professional wrestling became big over the next decade -- and behind the scenes it was, at times, debauchery.

"Back in that era it was pretty much sex, drugs and rock 'n roll," said Mike Mooneyham, who writes a wrestling column for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier. "I mean it was really the wild, wild west. There were very few rules. These guys were outlaws. … These guys were abusing drugs and there wasn't a lot of drug testing going on at that time."

Ohio State isn't waving bye

2011-10-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

Technically, Ohio State is idle this week.

In reality, the Buckeyes will be busy as ever.

While Ohio State (4-3, 1-2 in the Big Ten) does not have a game on Saturday, it will be busy working on self-improvement.

The Buckeyes will spend their bye week with one eye on an Oct. 29 game against visiting Wisconsin, but perhaps more so with an eye on themselves.

“You always have to look at yourself. That’s what you do when you have some extra time,” OSU coach Luke Fickell said on Tuesday. “You do those evaluations of yourself and what you’ve done the first few games. We have a good assessment of that, but sometimes when you step back, go back and watch it, you have a better feel.”

Ohio State has been an up-and-down team not just through the first seven games, but in particular the last three games.

In a 10-7 loss to Michigan State, the OSU offense was ineffective.

In a 34-27 loss at Nebraska, the Buckeyes had their running game going and also used the pass effectively to build a 27-6 lead, only to lose it when the Cornhuskers scored 28 unanswered points in the final 19 minutes of the game.

In last week’s 17-7 win at Illinois, Ohio State had a strong game on defense, limiting a talented Illini offense to only one touchdown.

And while it was outgained offensively by the Illini, the OSU offense turned two takeaways into touchdowns, churned out more than 200 yards rushing, and controlled the line of scrimmage.

C.J. Wilson ... No. 4 Starter?

2011-10-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, Mike Bacsik issued the following tweet:

My point on CJ is he is only a #1 starter in Texas. Any other team considered a playoff team he's a 2 or 3. In Philly he's in the pen.

My initial reaction to this was, of course, "No ... this doesn't sound right. And that bit about C.J. only being a reliever at best in Philadelphia absolutely CANNOT be right."

Well, today, Joel Sherman writes at length about the Yankees' rotation situation and their prospects of gunning for Wilson on the open market this winter:

The Yankees are not the only team showing a lack of fervor for C.J. Wilson, though he has gone 31-15 with a 3.14 ERA the last two years and is left-handed. In supply and demand, this should make Wilson the top free-agent starter on the market — and once the bidding begins, all the talk of caution usually vanishes.

But I have yet to find a baseball executive or scout who views Wilson as an ace and very few who even think he is a definitive No. 2. Heck, one member of the Yankees decision-making apparatus told me he thinks Wilson is a No. 4 on a championship-caliber team.

Wilson will start Game 1 of the World Series for Texas tomorrow and has pitched in Game 1 of every round of these playoffs. But there are concerns about his career postseason performance (1-4, 5.40 ERA, 10 homers in 40 innings) and his command of the strike zone.

Also, I thought Wilson would get more points for a likelihood of future durability based on that he was mainly a reliever his first five seasons and never exceeded 74 innings. However, most executives spoken to said there is plenty of stress being a high-leverage reliever several times a week. Also, a few evaluators voiced concerns about Wilson’s mechanics, noting he has a bit of the Inverted W in his delivery — both elbows pointing upward and above the shoulder before the release — though not as dramatic as those of, say, Stephen Strasburg or the young Mark Prior.

It led one NL talent evaluator to tell me this: “Is he a good bet to start without breaking down over the next five years and 1,000 innings? Well, no one really is. But I would say his chances are slimmer than others.”

I think that what you're going to find is C.J. ranking as a borderline No. 1 pitcher by the metrics (a No. 1.5 pitcher, perhaps), and as more of a No. 2 starter by scouts (with some apparently leaning closer to No. 3 territory), so I'm not surprised that he's not being viewed as a legitimate ace by baseball types. The notion that C.J. slots as a No. 4 starter on a championship-caliber team, however, is ludicrious, and smacks of some type of ulterior motive on the part of said (conveniently anonymous) Yankees executive.

As far as the talk about his durability ... well, I agree to the extent that I think those higher-leverage relief innings are more stressful, but I would still be inclined to think that there's a pretty substantial difference in the wear and tear created by 55-60 higher-leverage innings and the wear and tear created by 200-plus innings -- or more than 300 percent more pitches in an given season.

Lindsay Lohan Flashes Shocking Grand 'Old, Decaying' Smile On Red Carpet

2011-10-19T22:56:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Lindsey Lohan, 25, was seen on the red carpet at the launch of the "Saints Row: The Third" video game in LA, sporting her signature blonde hair, a black top, and yellow teeth?

Lohan's megawatt smile looked a bit dim as her teeth appeared to be "decaying," according to reports, which could be the result of years of her documented drug addiction from smoking and alcohol consumption.

"Lindsay is widely acknowledged as one of the most stunning actresses of her day, and we get requests every week wanting to do photo shoots with her from top photographers," her rep, Steve Honig, told PEOPLE Magazine.

When Lohan grinned for the cameras Wednesday night on the red carpet, she revealed yellowed, uneven, somewhat decayed teeth - presumably the result of her smoking habit, not to mention her much-publicized struggles with drugs and alcohol.

Jack Hanna on Zanesville, Ohio, Animals: ‘We Would Have Had Carnage’

2011-10-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

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There was no choice but to kill 49 animals, including tigers, lions and bears, that were released from their enclosures in Zanesville, Ohio, wildlife expert Jack Hanna told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer.

“I’m sorry to say, but what the sheriff did had to be done,” Hanna said. “Otherwise, we would have had carnage out here in Zanesville, Ohio.

“Tragedy-wise for me,” he added, “[it's] probably the worst thing in 45 years of history of working with animals. … I’ve seen poachers kill in the wild. I’ve seen animals killed right in front of me with their horns cut off. I’ve seen a lot of things happen in my career, but nothing like this have I ever witnessed.”

Hanna said tranquilizing wild animals is not as easy as many people believe.

“I’ve been out all over the world tranquilizing animals,” he said. “Can you imagine trying to tranquilize an animal in the dark. Fine, we have a spotlight. We hit it. You don’t know exactly: Did you hit a muscle? Did you hit a bone? If you hit the bone, the plunger might not work and put the medicine in. So what do we do? Then we send a veterinarian or the sheriff up there to see if the animal is down, right? What’s gonna happen if the animal is just sitting there not even asleep? You’re dead.”

Hanna told Sawyer that when the wife of Terry Thompson, the man who released the animals and then committed suicide, arrived on the scene, she was shaking and angry.

“She said she was coming to rip me apart because I was taking her animals,” said Hanna, who is helping move the remaining animals to the Columbus Zoo in Powell, Ohio. “When she came in there, she was totally not – just nothing was left. Her husband had just committed suicide. … She has 30-something animals laying there in her driveway that are gone. … She was shivering. I hugged her. I started crying with her.

“I could have yelled at her – you know … to lose 18 Bengal tigers in the world today is beyond a tragic loss,” Hanna said. “I can’t describe what that does to me, along with all the other creatures. But when you see a woman that’s lost everything, what do you do? Do I sit there and yell at her? … I sit there and console her and tell her I’m going to try to help her with her animals that’s left, which is nothing, basically. That’s all I could do.”

Sawyer asked Hanna how long the event would stay with him.

“It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life,” Hanna said. “What happened here last night had to be done or else we would have had some major losses of human life here this morning. And I won’t forget what happened here today as long as I ever live.”

Raiders get Carson Palmer from Bengals

2011-10-18T19:47:00.001-07:00

The Oakland Raiders made a bold move to replace injured quarterback Jason Campbell on Tuesday, trading two high draft picks to the Cincinnati Bengals for Carson Palmer.

Coach Hue Jackson paid a high price to acquire a quarterback he knows well but who has struggled in recent years and refused to report the Bengals this season despite being under contract through 2014.

The Bengals had been adamant about not trading Palmer, who wanted to be dealt from a team that has had only two winning records in the last 20 years.

Owner Mike Brown repeatedly insisted he wouldn't consider Palmer's request for a trade because he didn't want to reward him for holding out. He changed his mind after the Raiders offered a 2012 first-round pick and a second-rounder in 2013 for the 31-year-old quarterback.

"Mike Brown deserves a tremendous round of applause for absolutely crushing this scenario with Palmer," writes CBSSports.com's Will Brinson. "He called the quarterback's bluff, refused to deal the quarterback, landed a new franchise guy in Andy Dalton, and then when a team got really desperate, received two first-round picks in exchange."

The Raiders (4-2) became desperate for a quarterback after Campbell broke his collarbone during a win over the Browns on Sunday. Campbell had surgery Monday and was expected to miss at least six weeks, leaving the Raiders with only Kyle Boller and Terrelle Pryor on the roster.

Jackson's mantra all season has been "the time is now," and he backed that up by dealing for Palmer, who is coming off a 20-interception season last year with the Bengals.

CBSSports.com's Eric Gilmore notes that Jackson was never sold on Campbell as the starting QB, according to former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon.

"Hue Jackson goes back with Carson Palmer a long, long way. They have a very close relationship," Gannon told SiriusXM NFL Radio. "I'm not so sure that Hue Jackson was convinced or sold on Jason Campbell. I think that was an Al Davis deal. Hue was doing the best he could."

Bengals owner Mike Brown said the play of rookie quarterback Andy Dalton made it easier to trade Palmer.

"We also find ourselves rather suddenly in position of being able to receive real value for Carson that can measurably improve our team, which is performing well and is showing real promise for this year and years to come," Brown said in a statement. "When this opportunity arose, we felt we could not let it pass and needed to take a step forward with the football team if we could."

Palmer, who had been working out in Southern California, already reported to the Raiders' facility and will immediately start learning the offense. Oakland hosts Kansas City on Sunday and then has a bye week.

While Palmer has not played or practiced since last season, he has a history with Jackson, who was his offensive coordinator for two years at USC and the wide receivers coach for three seasons in Cincinnati.

Jackson was with the Bengals when Palmer had his best season in 2005 when he threw for 3,836 yards with 32 touchdown passes and a 101.1 rating while leading the team to an AFC North title.

Pittsburgh's Kimo von Oelhoffen crashed into his left knee after he threw his first pass in a first-round playoff game. The Bengals lost, and Palmer needed reconstructive knee surgery.

He came back and had two solid seasons before partially tearing a ligament and tendon in his passing elbow during the 2008 season. He has not been an elite quarterback since, despite getting back to the playoffs in 2009.

Over the past two years, Palmer completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 7,064 yards, 47 touchdowns, 33 interceptions and a passer rating of 82.9 while posting a 14-18 record. Those numbers are comparable to what Campbell has done since the start of the 2009 season.

But the Raiders were not willing to trust their playoff chances with Boller, who had not started a game since 2009 and had lost his previous 10 starts since October 2007, or Pryor, a project who will need time before he can be an NFL quarterback.

This is the second trade the Raiders have made since the death of longtime owner Al Davis, who also served as general manager and oversaw the entire football operation. Jackson dealt last week for former No. 4 overall pick in 2009, linebacker Aaron Curry from Seattle.

The trade leaves the Raiders with picks only in the fifth and sixth round in next year's draft. They traded their second-rounder during April's draft to New England for the picks to draft offensive lineman Joe Barksdale and running back Taiwan Jones. They used their third-rounder to take Pryor in the supplemental draft in August. They traded their fourth-rounder in 2010 to get Campbell and the seventh-rounder for Curry.

Oakland is expecting to get compensatory picks after losing Nnamdi Asomugha, Zach Miller, Robert Gallery, Thomas Howard and Bruce Gradkowski in free agency.

The Bengals (4-2) have started well with Dalton taking Palmer's place. The message board by the entrance to the Bengals' locker room Tuesday had an anonymous scrawled message: "Let My People Goooooo!" Otherwise, there wasn't much reaction from a team that had moved on from Palmer a long time ago.

"I don't think even one player in this locker room's even thought about that," left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. "We haven't worried about it. We've gone forward with the guys we have and tried to play as good as we can and that's all we can do."

"I think guys respect him," he added. "You realize that he didn't want to be here and he didn't believe in this place, and you go forward. You still respect him as a friend and the years we put in together, but you realize that he just made a choice he felt was best for him and his family."

If the Raiders hadn't made a first-round pick as part of its offer, the Bengals were content to let Palmer sit out the entire season and consider trading him next year. Campbell's injury changed the scenario.

The Bengals severed ties with Palmer when the season started and he didn't show up, giving his locker to Dalton, a second-round draft pick.

As recently as Monday afternoon, coach Marvin Lewis reiterated that there was no change in the team's position regarding Palmer, who led the Bengals to their only two winning seasons in the last 20 years.

Running back Cedric Benson wasn't surprised Brown made an abrupt about-face.

"The NFL is a business and deals get done," Benson said. "In business, oftentimes things are said and they're very rarely ever meant. So I'm sure the right deal presented itself."

Update: Harry Belafonte meditates through TV interview glitch

2011-10-18T19:46:00.001-07:00

Harry Belafonte has been in the news lately for several reasons. His new memoir, My Song, is just out. He has lent his support to the Occupy Wall Street protests. And now, he's going viral in a video in which a newscaster caught him sleeping as he was supposed to go on the air.

The 84-year-old singer was supposed to do an early-morning satellite interview with the KBAK in Bakersfield, Calif., on Friday. But as he waited to go on the air, he was shown with his eyes closed, unresponsive.

"Hey, good morning Harry!" says Layla Santiago to a snoozing Belafonte. She continues, "Wake up, wake up! This is your wake-up call! OK, I'll tell you what, he's meditating. He's taking a little nap."

UPDATE: What happened? A technical glitch. Lifeline Live has been told that the audio "dropped out" and Belafonte couldn't hear his introduction. Publicist Kristin Clifford says Belafonte was resting his eyes, but would have conducted the interview had he heard the newscaster. She adds that it's upsetting that "their technical difficulty was used to embarrass Mr. Belafonte. This was 100% their error."

UPDATE NO. 2: "After weeks of literally hundreds of interviews promoting his HBO documentary, memoir and CD, Mr. Belafonte had an early morning satellite TV tour this past Friday. True to form, there was a technical glitch in the feed to a local station in Bakersfield, CA. His earpiece wasn't working, so he decided to take the time to meditate before the rest of his Day-O," says Ken Sunshine, spokesperson for Harry Belafonte. "Mr. Belafonte is 84 years young, but sharper and more awake than most who have been interviewing him. Maybe the world would be a better place if more people took a moment to meditate."

Winston Churchill approve of Twitter? Fat chance.

2011-10-18T19:45:00.002-07:00

All right, Twitter. You win this round. You're infiltrating the halls of Congress: "[Some lobbyists are] surprised to witness members of Congress transfixed by their iPhones while updating their Twitter feeds," Dave Levinthal noted in Politico.

And now — thanks perhaps to a well-timed reference to Winston Churchill — Twitter is permitted inside the House of Commons building. But to invoke Churchill in this cause seems a bit much to me.

It would be one thing if Twitter were indeed used for pithy, Churchillian statements. "We shall tweet them on the beaches, we shall tweet them on the landing grounds" –

But it so seldom is. Look how our members of Congress use it. Anthony Weiner sent images of his privates. Perhaps there was a Churchillian precedent for this, too. A younger member once observed that the great man's fly was open. Don't worry, Churchill said, fixing him with a stare. "Dead birds do not fall out of nests."

Senator Chuck Grassley tweets things like “# volleyballuni 25 bradley 22 1st set. Bradley doing bettr than record wld indicate!”And he’s one of the good ones!

Besides, not that I presume to be a Churchill whisperer, but he could be invoked in support of almost anything.

Remember that time Franklin Roosevelt surprised him in the bathtub at the White House? Churchill beckoned him in: "The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the President of the United States," he said, or words to that effect.

Or how often Churchill was rude to his servants? When they attempted to remonstrate with him, Churchill merely shrugged. "Yes,” he reportedly said, “but I am a great man!"

Next we'll have the Winston Commemorative Show Up Nude Or With An Open Fly Or Hitting Someone Day in Parliament.

It’s a dangerous precedent. But beyond that, I don’t believe Churchill wouldn’t have approved. Using him as precedent misses the point. Churchill didn’t believe that everyone ought to be talking all the time. He believed that he ought to be talking all the time.

Yes, he was a master of pith. But Twitter doesn’t encourage pith. It encourages inanity.

It's one thing if the tweets you receive are a constant, golden stream of pith. But usually they tend to resemble a constant, golden stream of – well, change the last two letters.

Without Twitter, I had nothing to say and no one to say it to. With Twitter, only the latter changes.

But a tweet gets halfway around the world before the truth has time to get its pants on, as Churchill might note. No, I think this the sort of thing up with which Churchill would not put. If Twitter invaded Hell, Churchill would at least make a favorable 140-character reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.

Would Winston Churchill have excelled at Twitter? “Yes,” he might say, “but I ama great man.”

Companiesandmarkets.com: Low Consumer Awareness Concerning Health Benefits of Conjugated Linoleic Acid May Restrain Market Expansion

2011-10-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

LONDON--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--By 2017 the world market for CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) will reach nearly $200 million, according to a new report available on companiesandmarkets.com. This promising forecast stems from the fact that increasing levels of obesity are prompting market demand for weight loss treatments, as well as the increasing focus on prevention, rather than cure, of medical conditions.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): A Global Strategic Business Report

http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market-Report/conjugated-linoleic-acid-(cla)-a-global-strategic-business-report-693046.asp?prk=7c4ed5b510c1ffe12b50d9829eddaba2

Conjugated linoleic acid supplements have been available for over thirty years, marketed as a dietary supplement with numerous health benefits. More recently, CLA has been used a functional ingredient in fortified foods and beverages, and in the last few years has found application as a weight management aid and as an animal feed ingredient.

CLA supplements are also noted for a number of other health benefits, which include muscle strengthening, blood sugar regulation, enhanced metabolic functioning and anti-cancer properties.

Rising obesity levels are not restricted to the developed economies; the condition is also prevalent in the developing world. The growing concern over the impact upon the world’s healthcare facilities will further benefit the CLA market, although more research is required to convince sceptical consumers.

With 65% of the population classified as obese, the largest conjugated linoleic acid market is the US, where the supplement is widely recognised by consumers. Asia-Pacific is forecast to experience double digit growth over the reporting period, attributed to the adoption of more ‘western’ lifestyles.

The CLA market is fragmented and competitive in nature, controlled by several large global players. The conjugated linoleic acid research report profiles a number of the industry’s key players, for example: Aiko Natural Products Co., Ltd., Cognis, Dalian Innobioactives Co., Ltd, Jarrow Formulas, Lipid Nutrition, Natures Way, NOW Foods and Vitae Caps, S.A.

The August 2011 conjugated linoleic acid research report provides the reader with a detailed overview of the CLA market for the period 2008-2017. The report is split by geographic market: US, Canada, Europe, Germany, UK, Spain, Rest of Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Eagles trade Ronnie Brown to Lions for Jerome Harrison

2011-10-18T19:44:00.001-07:00

Maybe Ronnie Brown will have better luck with his Wildcat tendencies in Detroit.

The Philadelphia Eagles, who acquired the running back in August, traded him to the Detroit Lions today. In return, the Eagles obtained running back Jerome Harrison and a 2013 seventh-round draft pick.

Brown has appeared in all six games with the Eagles, gaining 38 yards on 13 carries. His most notable play was an oddity in which he tried to pass the ball when he was stopped at the goal line by San Francisco. Brown decided to pass at the last moment to fullback Owen Schmitt as he was being dragged down (watch here). The ball hit the ground and the Niners recovered on what was ruled a fumble.

Brown offers the Lions insurance, with Jahvid Best suffering his second concussion of the season Sunday.

Harrison was with the Eagles for eight games last season; he has 14 carries for 41 yards with Detroit this season.

Application deadline for Stop Loss compensation approaching

2011-10-15T23:38:00.002-07:00

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- The Oct. 21 deadline to apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay is fast approaching.

Airmen who were involuntarily held on active duty between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2004, may be eligible for the special pay compensation of $500 for each month they were affected.

The 2009 War Supplemental Appropriation Act set aside $534.4 million for the retroactive stop-loss special pay compensation authority. Officials said Sept. 1 only $219 million has been paid so far.

Eligibility includes active, retired and former servicemembers as well as members of the reserve component who served on active duty while their enlistment or period of obligated service was involuntarily extended, or whose eligibility for separation or retirement was suspended as a result of Stop Loss.

More than 8,220 current and former Airmen have been approved for retroactive stop-loss special pay since Air Force Personnel Center officials here began accepting claims in 2009, officials said.

Claims are evaluated based upon historical records as well as all supporting documentation that the applicant may submit, said Capt. Rose Englebert, chief of the AFPC Separations Branch.

"The more information the member provides, the better," she said.

Air Force officials used stop-loss for Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and 2002 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The deadline to apply, originally set for October 2010, was extended to allow for more people affected to apply for the retroactive pay. To file a claim, eligible members or legally designated beneficiaries may download a stop-loss claim application at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/stoploss.

"If you are unsure as to whether or not you are eligible, you have nothing to lose by applying," Englebert said.

McDonald's Beating Caught on Tape

2011-10-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

Police arrested a fast-food cashier who is accused of beating two female customers at a Greenwich Village McDonald's -- and the vicious attack was all caught on tape

Prosecutors say the cashier, 31-year-old Rayon McIntosh, became so enraged Thursday morning after two female customers jumped the counter that he picked up a metal rod and began beating them with it

One of the women is still in the hospital with a fractured skull and a broken arm. The other suffered a deep cut.

Prosecutors say McIntosh is a convicted felon, and was recently released after serving a ten year manslaughter sentenced. His lawyer was unavailable for comment.

The owner of this McDonald's on Sixth Avenue, Carmen Paulino, said she was "extremely disturbed" by the events.

"The actions of this individual are unacceptable and not characteristic of my employees," she said. "This individual no longer works for my organization."

Twenty Years Later: Covering the Anita Hill Story

2011-10-15T23:36:00.001-07:00

Twenty years ago Oct. 15, I was standing on the front steps of Anita Hill's home in Norman, Okla. In Washington, the U.S. Senate was taking up the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas. I was a TV reporter for a Dallas, Texas, station, and my assignment was to get Hill's reaction to the Senate's vote.

As the senators debated Thomas' fate, Hill was in her bungalow cooking dinner for her mother. Outside, I and other reporters pleaded with her to talk. She refused.

After Thomas' was narrowly confirmed, I knocked on the door again. Hill finally opened it and came outside. I begged her to say something. America's women, I said, wanted to hear from her on this historic night.

"Do you have anything to say to Justice Thomas?" I asked.

"I have no comment on that really, " she replied.

But then she suddenly seemed to realize the significance of what she had testified to at Thomas' confirmation hearings.

"It is almost as though a silence has been broken, and women are talking about experiences that they never have spoken about before, and that should not die," Hill said.

Far from dying, the experiences of that week set off an electoral revolution and brought unprecedented protection to working women in America. Anita Hill made it all possible by naming a "beast" that had long been untamed in the workplace - sexual harassment.

At Thomas' confirmation hearings, Hill had accused the Supreme Court nominee of making sexually provocative comments to her when she worked for him at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Broadcast live on television, the drama surrounding her testimony was heightened by the fact that it was unfolding in the presence of a skeptical, sometimes dismissive all-white male Senate Judiciary Committee. Days earlier, another powerful image had imprinted itself on the public's mind: A group of women House members had charged up the Senate steps to demand that Hill's claims against Thomas be aired.

The political fallout of the hearings was monumental. Ruth Mandel, who developed and directed the Center for American Women in Politics in the Eagleton Institute of Politics' at Rutgers University, said the controversy "called the country's attention to the absence of women in high political office."

That changed the following year. Six women were elected to the Senate, bringing the total to eight. Leo McCarthy, who lost to then-Rep. Barbara Boxer in the Democratic senatorial primary in California, said he had "got caught up in a tidal wave without a surfboard."

Many factors contributed to the political upheaval known as the Year of the Woman. But CBS News exit polls also revealed that many voters supporting female candidates were still angry over the disrespect and near-ridicule that Hill had experienced in giving her Senate testimony the previous year.

Hill's testimony not only shook up the political class. It also dramatically changed the working lives of ordinary women. By identifying the beast as sexual harassment, said Mandel, Hill "gave women the ammunition they needed to confront it in the workplace."

Legislatures across the country passed laws prohibiting and punishing sexual harassment. California's law provided for suspension, even expulsion, of a perpetrator as early as the 4th grade. Meanwhile, businesses, governmental agencies and universities all put tough anti-sexual harassment policies in place.

The result was immediate. Sexual harassment cases more than doubled from 1991 to 1996, according to filings by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In Norman that Oct. 15 night, I asked Hill if she would do it all over again. "I'm not sure if I could have lived with myself if I had answered those questions any differently," she replied.

America's working women should be thankful that Hill answered the way she did, because her brave testimony 20 years ago helped forever change the workplace for them.

Selena Gomez to Judge Disney's 'Make Your Mark' Dance Competiton Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2011/10/12/selena-gomez-to-judge-disneys-make-your-mark-dance-competiton/#ixzz1avLuxI6J

2011-10-15T23:35:00.001-07:00

Selena Gomez is following in the footsteps of Jennifer Lopez and Chrisitna Aguilera – the starlet has reportedly signed on as a judge for Disney Channel’s upcoming dance competition “Make Your Mark.”

Access Hollywood reported that singer will join fellow Disney stars Roshon Fegan and Debby Ryan as judges on the show.

“I have never judged anything,” Gomez told Access Hollywood. “I’m kind of excited.”

The winner of the competition will have the opportunity to strut their stuff in Disney’s show “Shake It Up,” a dancing show in which teens groove, pop and lock.
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Gomez recently showed off her chic style in Los Angeles at the premiere of the new thriller, 'The Thing.' Us Weekly reported that all eyes were on Gomez as she sported “a teeny tiny pair of sparkly black shorts, sexy strappy heels and a white floaty top.”

The singer reportedly has been in the midst of a breakup with superstar boyfriend Justin Bieber.
Entertainment website ShowbizSpy.com reported that Gomez is “growing increasingly frustrated” with the Biebs' behavior.

“Justin is still like a kid,” an undisclosed source told the website. “All he wants to do is watch movies and play video games.”

The shocking news comes days after Bieber went public about how great Gomez makes him feel and his

“She makes me laugh and she puts up with my practical jokes,” ShowbizSpy quoted Bieber saying. “We were both raised by our moms in single-parent households, and that’s given us a lot of the same family values in life.”

Still, the anonymous source claimed “that it’s not working.”

“Selena is very much a young woman,” the source said in the interview. “Most of the time they are apart because of work commitments.

“She wants to go out and have romantic dinners,” the source added. “But that’s not happening.”

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2011/10/12/selena-gomez-to-judge-disneys-make-your-mark-dance-competiton/#ixzz1avLzXQn9

To save birds, feds hope to drive mice from Farallon Islands

2011-10-15T23:34:00.001-07:00

Melissa Pitkin's hand darts into a rocky crevasse beneath a stone wall, emerging moments later with a fluffy gray chick.

The fluttering bird in Pitkin's hand is an ashy storm-petrel — one of the 13 species of birds that nest on the wave-battered shores of the Farallon Islands, and one of only 10,000 to 15,000 ashy storm-petrels worldwide. About half of those birds live in the Farallones, a remote and desolate series of islands 27 miles outside the Golden Gate that supports the largest breeding colony of seabirds south of Alaska.

Most of those birds — gulls, oystercatchers and auklets — departed at the end of the summer. But the ashy storm-petrel is something special: one of the smallest and shyest birds in the islands, active mainly at night and spending most of its time at sea.

"I've never seen one before, much less been able to hold one," said Pitkin, a member of the Marin-based PRBO Conservation Science, who has worked and lived on the Farallones for weeks at a time since the late 1990s. "Most people will never get to see one."

Ashy storm-petrels can live a long time — an average of 20 years, with at least one bird living to the ripe old age of 36. But they're in trouble. The petrels of the Farallones are falling victim to a most unlikely enemy. And efforts by members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save them has plunged the Farallon Islands into controversy.

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class="subhead">Far and away

While they're technically within the city limits of San Francisco, for most residents of the Bay Area the jagged teeth of the Farallon Islands might as well be on Mars. It's a two-and-a-half-hour journey by boat from Sausalito to reach the nearest island — Southeast Farallon — and there are no docks or landing zones on shore. Visitors are hoisted out of the water in a small boat and deposited on the cliffs 50 feet above them.

Almost all of those visitors are Fish and Wildlife personnel or PRBO scientists, who live in a pair of hundred-year-old lighthouse keepers' homes, powered by a solar generator, and keep tallies of the birds, seals, sharks, whales and anything else that visits the islands. Until a scheduled media tour last week, the last reporter set foot on Southeast Farallon more than three years ago.

Yet neither the islands' remote location, their rocky shoals or the fact that they are a popular feeding ground for great white sharks has kept humans away in the past. Fur traders from Boston and Russia nearly wiped out the islands' population of northern fur and elephant seals in the 1880s. The demand by Gold Rush miners for eggs almost did the same for the common murre, a black-and-white seabird.

In fact, competition between rival San Francisco egg-gathering companies led to the "Egg War" of 1866, a series of skirmishes on the islands that left two people dead. The violence led the federal government to ban egg collecting on Southeast Farallon in 1881 and President Theodore Roosevelt to name the Farallon Islands as one of the nation's first national wildlife refuges in 1909.

These days, the murres are one of the Farallones' success stories: though they suffered from gillnetters and an oil spill in the 1980s, the murres now number about 250,000, about a quarter of their original population. Fur and elephant seals are also making a comeback, as are other species of birds: the first breeding pair of peregrine falcons in decades now swoops and dives among the cliffs near the Southeast Farallon lighthouse.

Of mice and men — and owls

But at least one unpleasant legacy of the islands' past remains: the common house mouse, which arrived with fur traders sometime in the 19th century. The sands and cliff walls of Southeast Farallon are honeycombed with mouse holes, and in the fall — when the mice are most numerous — tiny brown heads pop up constantly from the sand, as though the entire island was a giant Whac-a-Mole game.

"About 20 to 100 mice per hectare is considered a lot of mice," said Dan Grout, who visited the Farallones on Thursday as a representative of Island Conservation, which specializes in the extermination of island-bound pests. "Last fall, our survey established that there are about 500 mice per acre here, or 1,200 mice per hectare. That is the largest density of mice we have on record."

The mice themselves don't seem to bother birds like the ashy storm-petrel. But their presence on the island has had an unusual effect on its annual gathering of migratory birds. About 160 different species of birds arrive in the islands each fall, some from the eastern United States, some from as far away as New Zealand.

One of those visiting birds is the burrowing owl. Under ordinary circumstances, the owls show up in the fall, stay for a month or so, and then continue on their migratory journey. But the presence of the mice — a scampering smorgasbord for owls — has changed things.

"The owls stay longer than they normally would because of the mice," Petkin said. "Then in the winter time, when the mouse population crashes, they start eating storm-petrels."

Only about 15 to 20 owls visit the islands each year. But they're responsible for a decline of about 40 percent in the ashy storm-petrel population, said Gerry McChesney, acting manager of the Farallones National Wildlife Refuge. And the situation isn't doing the owls any favors, either: the petrels aren't particularly nutritious food, and many of the owls — a species of special concern in California — are dying before they can leave the islands, McChesney said.

"We want to restore the native ecology and eradicate the mouse problem," said McChesney, holding up a pail filled with owl-ravaged petrel parts.

Other islands have taken a similar approach to their rodent problems. Island Conservation has claimed success in island groups within the Caribbean and Pacific, mostly by dropping rat-killing poison pellets from the sky. The company believes a similar approach could work in the Farallones.

"We've lost a lot of species over the last 300 to 400 years, and the epicenter of those extinctions has been islands," said Bradford Keitt of Island Conservation. "Rodents have been responsible for a host of extinctions globally."

Yet Fish and Wildlife officials — who have spent much of the last half-century helping to repair the damage humans have caused to the Farallon Islands in the past — remain cautious. They worry that poisons used to kill mice could be gobbled up by gulls, or passed along the food chain to predators like owls and falcons.

The service is preparing an environmental impact statement on its eradication plans. That statement will be ready by the spring of 2012; the agency will accept public comments on the statement until next fall. Should the agency choose to act, it will use $972,000 available from the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

While the plan has already received the endorsement of PRBO Conservation Science and Audubon California, acting manager McChesney expects to hear questions — and concerns — about the proposal once discussion of the eradication effort begins. The measure has been actively opposed by San Rafael-based WildCare, an animal rescue and advocacy group.

McChesney says he's happy to hear those criticisms, if discussion of the issue helps people to understand how remarkable, and fragile, the islands under his care really are.

"A lot of the general public doesn't even know the Farallon Islands exist," McChesney said. "We want people to know how special these islands are."