Latest News

Unborn son's struggle inspires Christian singer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:37:00 -0800

Latest News - Told that his unborn son had only half a heart and little chance to survive, the lead singer of the Christian rock band Sanctus Real began pouring his fears and doubts into music.

The songs were meant to comfort his family while they searched for answers and sought to understand God's role during the months before and after the baby's birth that were filled with surgeries and life-threatening complications.

It didn't take long for him to realize that his words needed to be shared so that others struggling with life would know they're not alone.

What came out of the heartache was "Every Falling Tear," a solo album that's meant to touch and console during the hardest of times.

"People want to know that their pain has a purpose," said Matt Hammitt, one of the founding members of Sanctus Real, a band with two Grammy-nominated albums since 2008.

"That's the biggest part of sharing our story," he said. "That there is a purpose."

Hammitt and his wife, Sarah, knew something was wrong minutes after finding out during an ultrasound in April 2010 that their third child would be a boy, following two girls. They saw the sorrow on their doctor's face even before she spoke.

Doctors later confirmed the baby had a rare congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which causes the left side of the heart to be severely underdeveloped. For five months, the couple contemplated all of the possible procedures and treatments while weighing the odds of what could go wrong.
Their baby would face multiple surgeries and an uncertain future at best.

They also didn't know how to deal with a flood of emotions — the anger, the doubt, the feeling of being alone. Hammitt, 32, decided he needed to tell God how he was feeling, so he started writing songs about their journey.

"I began writing about all that I was learning about struggle and faith," he said.

Each song tells of a moment or a series of events leading to the baby's birth — there's a father's fear of holding back his love for a son he may never know and a mother's hope of finding peace in the midst of despair.

"I wanted to write songs that would speak him someday about how much his father loved him no matter how long or short his life would be," Hammitt said, his voice trailing off.

The album released in September was his first solo work. On tour during the fall with the band, he included the song "All of Me" in their sets. It starts: "Afraid to love, something that could break. Could I move on if you were torn away?"

Hammitt was a high school sophomore when he and guitarist Chris Rohman and drummer Mark Graalman started the band 15 years ago. They've stayed together, playing in coffee shops, churches and now arenas.

Sanctus Real will be one of nearly a dozen Christian artists taking part in the Winter Jam tour that starts in January, with stops in 47 cities.

The song from "Every Falling Tear" that means the most to Hammitt is "Trust," a worship song that reminds people not to lose faith "even in the darkness, even in the questions, even when the hardest times of life are at hand."

The lyrics were born out of a time when Hammitt was feeling isolated and alone.

"Sometimes we need to be reminded of the truth," he said. "And for me, the truth is that I trust God."

Bowen Matthew Hammitt was born on Sept. 9, 2010. His first open heart surgery came four days later and the next night he went into cardiac arrest. A team of doctors and nurses spent an hour performing CPR until they were able to revive him and get him on life support.

Complications and a stroke kept him in the hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., for just over two months.

While there, the couple played demos of the songs Hammitt had written "so Bowen could hear his dad's voice," his wife said. Night-shift nurses often turned up the music when most families would leave for the evening.

"They felt it was good for all the babies to be soothed," Sarah said. "We'd come back in the morning and it'd be really loud."

Hammitt recorded the songs for the album soon after the family brought Bowen home to suburban Toledo. His only unease was that they might be critiqued like any other work.

"Originally I just wanted them recorded for us at the hospital," he said. "I realized they're meant to comfort other people too."

So far, the response has been what he hoped for. They've even received notes from parents who've played the songs at their children's funerals.

Now, the Hammitts want to take their work a step further by starting the Whole Hearts Foundation, a source of financial, emotional and spiritual help for families with children suffering from congenital heart defects. They see the foundation becoming their life's work.

"It's amazing to see even beyond the album what's come out of this," Hammitt said. "We had a vision in the hospital, how can we help other families, let them know they're not alone."

Bowen, who turned 1 in September, faces one more surgery now slated for 2013 to repair his heart. Eventually, he'll likely need a new heart before he reaches middle age.

He's growing, but not as fast as doctors would like. Sarah watches him closely for any signs of heart failure. He only has a single ventricle pumping oxygen to his body and lungs so she looks to see if he sweats when he eats or if his skin turns blue or red.

When Matt brought him downstairs after a nap, a look of worry crossed her face when she saw that his hair was matted with sweat. But it turned out there was no cause for concern.

"We know at any moment things could change even though he's stable now," Sarah said. "It's ultimately God's will."

Prince Philip in hospital as royals mark Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:36:00 -0800

Latest News - Britain's royal family gathered Sunday to celebrate Christmas with one notable absence — Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip, who remains hospitalized following a heart procedure.

The 90-year-old prince is recovering from having a coronary stent put in after doctors determined that the heart pains which sent him to the hospital on Friday were caused by a blocked artery.

Buckingham Palace said "he's in good spirits" and family members will visit Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, in the hospital after lunch.

The palace has said the rest of the family's Christmas schedule will go ahead as planned — including a traditional morning service at St. Mary Magdalene Church on the queen's sprawling Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The huge crowds that gathered outside the church got an early peek when the royals made a quick private visit to the church ahead of the services. Less than two hours later, they were back — in different clothes — for the Christmas service.

The Queen arrived first — dressed in a lavender-colored coat and hat — in a royal limousine, leading the way into the church. Her oldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, trailed behind.

Prince Harry walked in with his brother William and new sister-in-law Kate— now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Kate, whose style is closely watched around the world and sends dresses flying off the shelves in Britain, wore an eggplant-colored coat and matching hat.

Among the other royals present was the queen's granddaughter, Zara Philips, who was joined by her new husband Mike Tindall, an English rugby player.

After the service, children lined up to give bouquets of flowers to the queen. Thanking each well-wisher, the queen then handed the bouquets to her granddaughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

The royal family then traveled back to the house for lunch, an integral part of their celebration.

Another key part of the royal family's Christmas festivities is the queen's annual message to the nation, which this year will focus on family and community.

The queen has made a prerecorded Christmas broadcast on radio since 1952 and on television since 1957.
She writes the speeches herself, and the broadcasts mark the rare occasion on which the queen voices her own opinion without government consultation.

Lange, Shepard separate after nearly 30 years

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:17:00 -0800

Latest News - Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard have separated after nearly 30 years together.

A publicist for Lange confirmed the split Monday. People magazine first reported the separation, saying the actors concluded their relationship almost two years ago.

The 62-year-old Lange and the 68-year-old Shepard had been together since 1982. They have two grown children together.

Lange won Oscars for her roles in "Tootsie" and "Blue Sky." She's starring in the FX series "American Horror Story." She was nominated for a Golden Globe last week.

Shepard recently starred as Butch Cassidyin the film "Blackthorn." He also is a playwright and author whose play "Buried Child" won a Pulitzer Prize.

Lange previously was married to ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Shepard previously was married to actress O-Lan Jones.

NY man gets 1 year in prison for 'X-Men' piracy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:16:00 -0800

Latest News - A New York man has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for illegally uploading and distributing a copy of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" before the movie's premiere.

Forty-nine-year-old Gilberto Sanchez was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles federal court. The judge also imposed a year of supervised release and numerous computer restrictions.

Sanchez pleaded guilty in March to one count of uploading a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution. Prosecutors say he admitted uploading a "workprint" copy of the 2009 film about one month before it was released in theaters, then publicizing the upload on two websites.

Prosecutors said in court documents that the film proliferated like wildfire throughout the Internet, resulting in up to millions of infringements.

Sanchez has a prior conviction for a similar offense.

Oral Roberts beats depleted No. 8 Xavier 64-42

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:58:00 -0800

Latest News - All the three players could do was sit and watch one of the worst moments in Xavier’s recent history.

Dominique Morrison scored 19 points Sunday, leading Oral Roberts to a 64-42 victory over previously unbeaten Xavier, which couldn’t do much with three of its starters sitting on the bench because of suspensions.

The eighth-ranked Musketeers (8-1) didn’t have point guard Tu Holloway, shooting guard Mark Lyons or freshman forward Dez Wells, who account for 40 percent of their points. The trio was suspended for a brawl eight days earlier against crosstown rival Cincinnati.

The players began paying the price on Sunday—their first loss of the season.

“We just weren’t ourselves today on both offense and defense,” coach Chris Mack said.

The depleted lineup couldn’t get in sync or keep up with the experienced Golden Eagles (8-4), who start three seniors and two juniors and knew they had a good opportunity with Xavier so short-handed.

“Full-strength it might have been a different game, but they weren’t here to play so we don’t know,” Morrison said. “We can’t control what happened last week. We could only control what happened on the court today.”

They were fully in control after the opening minutes.

Travis Taylor scored 11 points for Xavier, which lost for only the second time in the last 46 games at the Cintas Center. It was the Musketeers’ worst loss at Cintas, which opened for the 2000-01 season, and their worst home loss overall since an 80-49 defeat to La Salle on Jan. 23, 2000 at Cincinnati Gardens.

Xavier had the week off since its 76-53 win over Cincinnati on the Musketeers’ home court. The game was called with 9.4 seconds left when a brawl broke out. Each team suspended four players.

Holloway, one of the nation’s top point guards, got a one-game suspension for instigating the brawl with his trash talking. Lyons got two games and will also miss Xavier’s opening game against Long Beach State in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii on Thursday.

Wells got a four-game suspension, along with walk-on Landen Amos. They were all in street clothes on the bench for the game. Holloway was the last one out of the locker room, walking slowly across the court by himself in a yellow button-down shirt.

Mack went to midcourt and spoke for 55 seconds before the player introductions, wanting to address the fans directly.

“We were all embarrassed by our behavior last weekend,” he told the crowd of 9,678. “It’s extremely disappointing and in no way was a representation of what our university and our basketball program is all about.”

Junior guard Brad Redford and freshman point guard Dee Davis made their first career starts for the Musketeers, who were missing their top two scorers in Holloway (17.6 points) and Lyons (17.4). Davis had 10 points, Redford two.

Xavier center Kenny Frease played with a prominent cut and bruise below his left eye, caused by a punch from Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates during the brawl. Frease needed seven stitches. He finished with four points on 2 of 9 shooting.

“A lot of things broke down,” Frease said. “It wasn’t just one thing that they did better than us.”

Frease had Xavier’s first field goal, a bank shot that fueled a 5-1 opening spurt against Oral Roberts, which was coming off a 67-61 loss at Gonzaga on Thursday night. The Golden Eagles then patiently took advantage of the Musketeers’ inexperience on the court in every way.

“Well, it was a tough week for our program, even tougher today,” Mack said. “It’s disappointing. From tough times, tough people last, and we certainly have to get better and improve. Some of the reserves on our team didn’t play particularly well, and I didn’t coach particularly well.”

Damen Bell-Holter got open under the basket for two uncontested layups during a 12-0 run that put the Golden Eagles ahead to stay, 16-7. Xavier missed seven of its first 10 shots and couldn’t get into a flow offensively without its top two ball handlers.

The defense was a problem, too, with Golden Eagles getting wide open.

“As a team, we didn’t step up to the challenge of guarding every play like it was the last play we’d ever play,” Xavier forward Andre Walker said. “They didn’t do anything differently. Our defensive coverage would break down, one guy wasn’t sure what the other would do. Then we were just frazzled for the rest of the game.”

Warren Niles hit a 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper during a 10-point run that pushed it to 31-14. Xavier shot only 36 percent from the field and had 12 turnovers in the half, which ended with the Golden Eagles up 36-19—Xavier’s lowest-scoring first half in more than a year.

Xavier never got closer than 16 points in the second half, with the lead getting as high as 30 points.

Dawkins out against Patriots with neck injury

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:58:00 -0800

Latest News - Broncos safety Brian Dawkins will miss the game Sunday against the New England Patriots with a neck injury.

Dawkins was hurt while making a tackle last weekend in a win over the Chicago Bears.

The Patriots are without receiver Deion Branch (groin), linebacker Brandon Spikes (knee), offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer (back/foot), running back Shane Vereen (hamstring) and safety Patrick Chung (foot).

With Dawkins sidelined, the Broncos altered their secondary. Rookie Quinton Carter will slide over and play strong safety while fellow rookie Rahim Moore takes over at free safety.

Denver also was without special teams standout David Bruton (Achilles).

Cornerback Andre’ Goodman was cleared to play after sustaining a concussion last Sunday.

Penn St. coach says he saw, reported molestation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:44:00 -0800

Latest News - As soon as he walked into the Penn State locker room, Mike McQueary heard running water and rhythmic, slapping sounds of “skin on skin.” He looked in a mirror and saw a naked Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach, holding a young boy by the waist from behind, up against the wall in the campus shower.

“I just saw Coach Sandusky in the showers with a boy and what I saw was wrong and sexual,” McQueary recalled telling his father that night in 2002. He repeated it the next morning to coach Joe Paterno, who slumped deep into his chair at his kitchen table.

“He said, `I’m sorry you had to see that,”’ McQueary said.

McQueary’s testimony Friday at a preliminary hearing for two Penn State officials accused of covering up the story was the most detailed, public account yet of the child sex abuse allegations that have upended the university’s football program and the entire central Pennsylvania campus. Paterno and the university president have lost their jobs, and officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are accused of lying to a grand jury about what McQueary told them.

A Pennsylvania judge on Friday held Curley, the university’s athletic director, and Schultz, a retired senior vice president, for trial after the daylong hearing.

Curley said that McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw, and said he was only told that Sandusky was “horsing around” with a boy but that his conduct wasn’t sexual.

He said he told the university president about the episode and the top official at a children’s charity that Sandusky founded, but never told university police. “I didn’t see any reason because I didn’t think at the time it was a crime,” he told the grand jury, according to testimony read into the record on Friday.

Curley, Schultz and Paterno have been criticized for never telling police about the 2002 charges. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years. Sandusky has denied having inappropriate sexual contact with boys.

In about two hours on the witness stand, McQueary said again and again that what he saw was a sexual act, although he stopped short of saying he was sure that Sandusky, now 67, had raped the boy.

“I believe Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of sexual intercourse with him,” McQueary said on Friday. He said later he “can’t say 100 percent” that Sandusky and the boy were having intercourse because he was seeing Sandusky from behind.

He said after talking to his father, he went over to Paterno’s home the next morning and said that what he had seen “was way over the lines, it was extremely sexual in nature.” He said he would not have used words like sodomy or intercourse with Paterno; he did not get into that much detail out of respect for the coach, he said.

Paterno told the grand jury that McQueary said he saw Sandusky doing something of a “sexual nature” with the youngster but that he didn’t press for details.

“I didn’t push Mike … because he was very upset,” Paterno said. “I knew Mike was upset, and I knew some kind of inappropriate action was being taken by Jerry Sandusky with a youngster.”

Paterno told McQueary he would talk to others about what he’d reported.

McQueary said he met nine or 10 days later with Curley and Schultz and told them he’d seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.

“I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on,” said McQueary.

McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn’t go to police, he referenced Schultz’s position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police

“I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you,” he said. “In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it.”

The square-jawed, red-haired assistant coach spoke in a steady voice in his first public account of the alleged abuse, sometimes turning his seat and leaning toward defense lawyers to answer questions. His voice rose a few times and he blushed once when describing the sexual encounter in the shower.

Defense lawyers for Curley and Schultz argued that a perjury charge should not be based solely on a person’s testimony under oath contradicting someone else’s testimony. The defense said uncorroborated testimony from McQueary is not enough and sought to pick apart the ways he described the shower scene differently to different people.

The defense noted that McQueary admitted changing his description of the shower encounter when speaking with Paterno—enough so that the coach didn’t believe a crime had occurred.

McQueary said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers in the spring of 2002 when he saw Sandusky with the boy, who he estimated was 10 or 12 years old.

McQueary, 37, said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn’t see Sandusky’s genitals, but that “it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on.”

In its report last month, the grand jury summarized McQueary’s testimony as saying he “saw a naked boy … with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky.”

McQueary said he peeked into the shower three times—the first via a mirror, the other two times directly. The last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated, he said. He said he didn’t say anything, but “I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them.”

McQueary said the entire encounter—from when he first entered the locker room to when he retreated to his office—lasted about 45 seconds.

Curley told the grand jury that he couldn’t recall his specific conversation with McQueary, but McQueary never reported seeing anal intercourse or other sexual conduct. He said he spoke to Sandusky about it, who first denied having been in the shower with a boy, but later changed his story.

Schultz said he remembered McQueary and Paterno describing what the younger coach saw only in a very general way.

“I had the impression it was inappropriate,” Schultz told the grand jury. “I had the feeling it was some kind of wrestling activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed a young boy’s genitals.”

Under cross-examination, McQueary said he considered what he saw a crime but didn’t call police because “it was delicate in nature.”

“I tried to use my best judgment,” he said. “I was sure the act was over.” He said he never tried to find the boy.

Paterno, Schultz and Curley didn’t testify, but District Judge William C. Wenner read their grand jury testimony from January at the Dauphin County hearing.

Curley’s attorney, Caroline Roberto, said prosecutors “will never be able to reach their burden of proof at a trial.”

Schultz’s attorney, Tom Farrell, predicted his client would be acquitted.

He also took a shot at Paterno, saying, “I’m an Italian from Brooklyn, and he may not have called the police but he may have done what I would have done, which is get the boys in the car with a few baseball bats and crowbars and take it to the fellow.”

Sandusky says he is innocent of 52 criminal charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere.

Curley, 57, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.

Beach Boys announce 50th anniversary reunion tour

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:43:00 -0800

Latest News - It's almost winter, but get ready for some surf and sun: The Beach Boys are reuniting.

The founding members of the classic rock group — Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine — announced Friday they are getting back together to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They're working on a new album and also plan a 50-date tour that will take them around the world.

"This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys, and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again," Wilson said in a statement.

The group also includes Bruce Johnston and David Marks, both of whom have been with the band for decades.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers gave birth to the California rock sound. Back then, the band members were Love, Jardine, Wilson and his two brothers — Carl and Dennis Wilson, who have since died. With songs like "Good Vibrations," ''I Get Around" and "California Girls," the quintet embodied the fantasy of West Coast beach life. Their albums, particularly "Pet Sounds," influenced rockers of their generation and beyond.

But Wilson suffered mental problems that caused him to withdraw from the band, and there were years of animosity between Love and Wilson, who are cousins, as well as lawsuits among members of the band. Still, they have gotten back together over the years, including for their 40th anniversary in the last decade.

Love remarked in the statement Friday on how he and Wilson were getting along well, sharing compliments together in the studio.

"Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood," he said. "It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world." Referring to a Beach Boy hit, he added: "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Do It Again? Absolutely!"

The group was supposed to announce their reunion as a surprise during the Recording Academy's live nominations special for the Grammys last month, but those plans fell through.

However, Jardine said the group planned to appear at the Feb. 12 Grammy telecast in Los Angeles.

"There will be a surprise at the Grammys," he told Rolling Stone. "We will do something really exciting. There's a lot of interest in it, which is nice. It's going to be a very big operation."

The Beach Boys first concert is scheduled for April 27 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Founder of famous Paris bookstore dies at 98

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:01:00 -0800

Latest News - George Whitman's life was packed with the type of adventures that filled every nook and cranny of his bookshop, Paris' iconic English-language Shakespeare and Company.

A bohemian traveler, Whitman was once nursed to health by Mayans in the Yucatan during a 3,000-mile (5000-kilometer) trek across Latin America and sometimes bragged that he had lived in Greenland with a beautiful Eskimo woman.

At home, Whitman was best known as a pillar of Paris' literary scene. For more than half century, his eclectic Left Bank shop was a beacon for readers, who spent long hours browsing its overflowing shelves or curling up with a good book next to a drowsy cat.

Shakespeare and Company was also a haven for every author or would-be writer passing through the City of Light.

For them, Whitman reserved a welcome that turned Yeats' famous verse — "Be not inhospitable to strangers / Lest they be angels in disguise" — into deed: He took in aspiring writers as boarders in exchange for a helping hand in the store.

Whitman died Wednesday in his apartment above the bookstore, two days after his 98th birthday and two months after suffering a stroke, the store announced on its website.

He "showed incredible strength and determination up to the end" and read every day with his daughter, his friends and his cat and dog, according to the statement. "Nicknamed the Don Quixote of the Latin Quarter, George will be remembered for his free spirit, his eccentricity and his generosity."

The store was shuttered Wednesday, and longtime customers, students and anonymous book-lovers lit candles on its stoop to pay their respects.

The store will live on under the management of Whitman's daughter, Sylvia Whitman. In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this year, she summed up the unique store this way: "My father says it's a Socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore."

Whitman was born on Dec. 12, 1913, in East Orange, New Jersey, although he grew up in Massachusetts.
His twin loves of the written word and foreign travel were nurtured early on, when his father, a physics professor who authored several science books, took the family along for a yearlong sabbatical at a Chinese university in 1925.

That was the first of a series of adventures that later saw Whitman wander Latin America, sail to Hawaii and hitch his way across the United States.

After graduating from Boston University with a degree in journalism in 1935, Whitman enlisted in the U.S. Army. During World War II, he was trained as a Medical Warrant Officer and treated the wounded at hospitals across Europe, according to the store's statement.

Whitman moved to Paris permanently under the GI Bill in 1948. Three years later, he founded his bookshop in a rickety old building directly across the Seine River from Notre Dame cathedral. Initially baptized "Le Mistral" after the blustering winds that blow in off the Mediterranean, the shop's name was later changed.

The original Shakespeare and Company bookstore came from legendary literary matron Sylvia Beach, and the place was a magnet for English-speaking expats like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. She opened that store in the early 1920s in a Left Bank district not far from its current home, on the rue de l'Odeon. The shop gained fame by publishing Irish writer James Joyce's banned book "Ulysses."

World War II forced it to close, and Whitman gave Shakespeare and Company a new life in new digs in 1951.

Over the decades, Whitman's refuge for literary souls from far and wide became a Paris institution. It's widely regarded as an honor for authors to give a reading at the store, where eager listeners jostle for a spot among the stacks of first, second- and thirdhand books lining the walls and floors.

Whitman was made an officer of arts and letters by the French Culture Ministry in 2006.

He is to be buried in the city's venerable Pere Lachaise cemetery, where the remains of literary giants including Oscar Wilde, Balzac and French poet Guillaume Apollinaire rest, the posting said. The date of the funeral has not yet been set.

Judge says Lindsay Lohan doing well on probation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:00:00 -0800

Latest News - A judge offered Lindsay Lohan something Wednesday that she hadn't heard from a court in nearly two years: Praise.

Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner said the actress was doing well under strict new terms of her probation and urged her to keep up the good work.

The starlet has completed 12 days at the county morgue and five therapy sessions since Nov. 2, when she was sentenced to a strict routine of community service and counseling after her latest probation violation.

"You're doing well and I'd like to see it continue," Sautner said during a 10-minute status hearing.

She also offered Lohan an incentive to succeed, saying the actress could take leisure trips outside California after she completes a dozen days of morgue work a month.

The actress had permission from her probation officer to take a trip to Hawaii to celebrate her sister's birthday. She returned just hours before the hearing.

Lohan, 25, has drawn the repeated ire of judges for failing to complete counseling sessions and community service assignments on time. Sautner made clear Wednesday that she believes Lohan's new schedule — which requires the model and actress to appear in court monthly until March — is the reason for the turnaround.

The judge even hinted that Lohan might end her supervised probation early if she works harder.

"Do more days a month and we can end this in February, possibly," Sautner said.

The judge said Lohan should keep reporting to court in person to make sure she remains on track.

"I think she likes to come see me," Sautner joked. "I think that's her motivation."

Lohan appeared in court wearing brown slacks and a beige cardigan and found a smaller crowd of reporters than has chronicled the actress' court scoldings since she missed a hearing in May 2010.

The last time she appeared in court without a probation compliance issue on the agenda was February 2010.
Judges repeatedly sent her to jail and rehab since then, and Sautner said last month she was giving Lohan one final chance to end the court spectacle.

The actress remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case and a misdemeanor grand theft case filed after she took a $2,500 necklace without permission from a store.

Her appearance Wednesday came days before a Playboy issue featuring Lohan in a mostly nude pictorial hits newsstands.

Stolen guitar found, but Pearl Jam autographs gone

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:33:00 -0800

Latest News - Police in Vermont say a stolen 1972 Fender Telecaster electric guitar autographed by members of Pearl Jam for a boy with a brain tumor has been recovered — but the signatures are gone.

The Burlington Free Press reports (http://bfpne.ws/rZP9Ev) two men have been jailed on charges of possession of stolen property.

Ben Hardy said his ailing brother Josh received the guitar autographed by members of Pearl Jam in 1991 in Seattle. It was arranged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Josh died several months later at the family's home in Durham, N.H.

The guitar and other items were taken from Hardy's home between Thanksgiving and Dec. 5 while he was away.

Arrested were 25-year-old Jeffrey Leduc and 51-year-old Timothy Crews, both of Burlington.

Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez to ring in MTV New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:32:00 -0800

Latest News - Hey Justin Bieber — Selena Gomez already has plans for New Year's Eve.

Gomez will be ringing in the New Year in New York City's Times Square with fellow star Demi Lovato for MTV's live special.

MTV said Monday that both are due to perform, along with singer Jason Derulo and rappers J Cole and Mac Miller. The night's festivities will be hosted by Lovato and Tyler Posey of MTV's "Teen Wolf."

The show will air from MTV's Times Square studios. Fans can bid to be part of the audience. Proceeds will go to FWD, to help with the crisis in East Africa.
The show will air live at 11 p.m. EST.
___
Online:
http://www.mtv.com
http://action.usaid.gov/action.php
http://is.gd/mtvnye

Levi jazzed to host Spike Video Game Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:41:00 -0800

Latest News - Zachary Levi has performed at the Oscars, and now he's hoping to pump dignity into the Spike Video Game Awards.

"As a gamer, I definitely want to bring as much legitimacy and respect to the game community as I possibly can," said the "Chuck" star, who performed a song from Disney's "Tangled" with Mandy Moore earlier this year at the Academy Awards, and is serving as the host of Saturday's ninth annual Spike Video Game Awards.

The show, which will be broadcast live from Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, will honor outstanding achievements within the gaming industry over the past year, as well as debut never-before-seen footage from such upcoming games as "Metal Gear Solid: Rising," ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Patriots" and "BioShock Infinite."

"I'm jazzed about hosting the awards," said Levi earlier this week during a break from filming on the "Chuck" set. "I'm very excited and very nervous all at the same time. I've always had so much respect for guys and girls who host awards shows."

"Portal 2," the mind-bending puzzler from Valve, leads this year's batch of nominees with 12 nods, ahead of a pair of fellow game of the year nominees: Rocksteady's superhero sequel "Batman: Arkham City," which is up for 10 awards, and Naughty Dog's globe-trotting adventure "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception," which has nine nominations.

Other titles up for game of the year include Bethesda Softworks' role-playing epic "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" and the latest entry in Nintendo's "Zelda" franchise, "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword." The fantastical 25-year-old series will be honored as the show's first-ever hall of fame recipient.

"So many people appear to appreciate 'The Legend of Zelda,'" said Japanese "Zelda" creator Shigeru Miyamoto through a translator Friday. "I'm very, very thankful for all the 'Zelda' fans, especially the 'Zelda' fans in the United States."

The winners of most of the show's categories are chosen by an advisory council, while the best trailer and most anticipated game winners will be selected by viewer votes.

'Dallas' returns to city it made famous

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:40:00 -0800

Latest News - J.R. Ewing has returned to Dallas.

With Larry Hagman reprising his role as the conniving Texas oilman, filming is underway at locations all over the city for TNT's new television series "Dallas," which will also see the return of Patrick Duffy as J.R.'s brother Bobby and Linda Gray as J.R.'s ex-wife Sue Ellen, along with a new generation of Ewings.

And, of course, the spotlight also returns to the city itself, with its distinctive skyline rising from the prairie.

"We're trying to give the show a real sense of place and Dallas has a real personality," said location manager John Patterson, adding, "It's a city that does things in a big way. That's part of J.R. and part of what we try to give the show — a sense of the city, which is big, very well done, shiny, new and looking toward the future."

TNT has ordered 10 episodes of the series, set to air in summer 2012. Filming for the series, entirely shot in Dallas, began mid-October and is expected to wrap in late January.

"There was just no way we were going to film anywhere else," said executive producer Cynthia Cidre, who also wrote the pilot for the new series, a "mix of the old world and the new world."

The original series, which aired from 1978 to 1991, enjoyed popularity around the world as viewers tuned in to watch the scheming Ewing family. As the plot twisted and turned season after season, the series contributed to some of TV's most memorable moments. After Bobby died in a season cliffhanger in 1985 after being hit by a car, the entire next season was revealed to have been a prolonged dream sequence when his former wife, with whom he had reconciled, wakes up to find him alive, taking a shower. The 1986-87 season then mark's Duffy's return to the cast after a yearlong absence.

And, of course, there was the cliffhanger in 1980 that left the whole world in suspense. The catchphrase "Who shot J.R.?" became part of the common vernacular as viewers waited to find out who had fired on J.R. When viewers tuned in for the answer on Nov. 21, 1980, the shooter was revealed to be J.R.'s vengeful mistress, who was also his sister-in-law. That episode was seen by more people than any TV program in history until that time.

"That phrase. I don't think there's a country in this world that you could find someone who doesn't know what that is. And it all goes back to 'Dallas,'" said Josh Henderson, who plays J.R. and Sue Ellen's son, John Ross.

Henderson, who was born in Dallas and spent part of his childhood here, said that working with Hagman has been a little surreal.

"I find myself sometimes just looking at him sometimes going, 'Wow, this is really happening. This is really 'Dallas' again and I'm really kind of family and kin to the J.R.," Henderson said.

Hagman, who said returning to Dallas to film the legendary show again has been like "coming home," says that this time out, the plots are even more complicated.

"Everybody's double-dealing here. I mean everybody," Hagman said.

Filming a scene this fall, it's apparent that J.R. has lost none of his swagger. After striding into a sleekly designed Dallas home in his Western blazer and cowboy boots, he sits down and begins deal-making.

"The best way to understand a man is to talk to his friends and his enemies," J.R. says. "My friends are in the statehouse. My enemies are going to be harder to find."

The actors rounding out the new generation are: Jesse Metcalfe as Bobby's adopted son, Christopher Ewing; Julie Gonzalo as Christopher's fiancee, Rebecca Sutter; and Jordana Brewster as Elena Ramos, daughter of the cook at the Ewing family's Southfork Ranch who grew up to become a geologist and is John Ross' girlfriend and the former love of Christopher.

"Her alliance is constantly shifting," Brewster said. "She's a very fun character to play."

The youngest Ewings aren't the only new thing about the Dallas reboot: The city itself has changed in the last 20 years with new construction. Recent additions where scenes have already been filmed include Jerry Jones' gleaming Cowboys Stadium and a downtown arts district with a new opera house and theater.

They are also filming at plenty of classic Dallas locations including downtown's Neiman Marcus, the luxury chain's flagship store, and the State Fair of Texas. And, of course, they're shooting at the famed Southfork Ranch, an events center that houses the Ewing Mansion.

"I think the lovely part this time is that we're really incorporating a lot of Dallas itself. I think we're utilizing much more of it so far," Gray said.

For most seasons of the original series, two of the 10½ months of shooting were done in Dallas with the rest in Los Angeles.

"To see the beauty that has really transpired and transformed the city ... it's a joy to see it," Gray said.

Patterson noted that not only are there "acres and acres" of new development, but there are also "still plenty of cranes working."

"There's been so much new growth in the city at a time when there's not necessarily been new growth throughout the country," he said.

Dallas Film Commissioner Janis Burklund said that the series' value to the city has been immeasurable — making it known to people around the world.

"Now I feel like we've gotten sort of got hit by lightning twice to have another shot at this iconic show coming back," Burklund said.

Patterson said that the tie to the past show has helped them find locations for shooting. He said that they got a great response after the city asked residents to offer up their homes or businesses as possible shooting locations.

"People have fond memories of the show, a large part of my job made easier because the show has a history," said Patterson, who moved to Dallas with his family when he was 11 in the "Who shot J.R.?" summer of 1980 and has memories of seeing Duffy filming at a local water park.

"People know what it is and what it's about and that it's part of the city. A lot of people still want to be a part of it, which has been great."

Andie MacDowell's daughter named Miss Golden Globe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Dec 2011 02:35:00 -0800

Latest News - The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has named its newest Miss Golden Globe.
Rainey Qualley was introduced as the 2012 honoree at a news conference Thursday at Cecconi's restaurant in West Hollywood. She's the daughter of Golden Globe-nominated actress Andie MacDowell.

Miss Golden Globe is traditionally the child of a celebrity who is invited to assist during the awards ceremony. Previous honorees include Rumer Willis, Laura Dern, Melanie Griffith and Joely Fisher.

The 21-year-old Qualley is an aspiring actress and musician.

The announcement was to be followed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's starry Night of Firsts party, held to celebrate the start of Hollywood's awards season.

Nominations for the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards will be announced next week. The ceremony is slated for Jan. 15.

Questlove: NBC clearing Roots songs for Fallon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Dec 2011 02:34:00 -0800

Latest News - NBC is now checking the songs the Roots play on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" after the band performed an off-color song during Michele Bachmann's show appearance last month.

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of The Roots says now he's "gotta clear a lot of the song choices" with the network.

"It's still a comedy show, so they promise not to step on my toes or that type of thing, but they definitely want to know the title of the song, the subject matter of the song, can it be seen as an insult?" he said in an interview Thursday.

When the Republican presidential candidate appeared on the Nov. 22 show, house band The Roots played a snippet of a 1985 Fishbone song called "Lyin' Ass B----." A day later the Minnesota congresswoman received a personal letter from NBC's vice president for late night programming, Doug Vaughan; Fallon also apologized.

"It was kind of wrong for me to throw (NBC) under the bus without telling them what it was, so I understand from a business standpoint," Thompson said.

The drummer and frontman of The Roots said after the incident, he heard from members of Fishbone. The veteran rock band is the subject of a recent documentary, "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone," so for them, the controversy likely helped.

"They have a movie out so I guess for them at least the stars were aligned," he said. "They're one of my favorite bands, like I tip my hat to those guys."

Pujols, Angels reach $254 million, 10-year deal

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 8 Dec 2011 22:46:00 -0800

Latest News - Albert Pujols could have been a wealthy Cardinal for life, planning for the day his statue would be erected outside Busch Stadium next to those of Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and the other St. Louis greats.

Instead, exactly six weeks after leading the Cardinals to a second title in one of the most thrilling World Series ever, he decided to accept the second-highest contract in baseball history for a new future in southern California with the Los Angeles Angels.

The three-time NL MVP agreed Thursday to a $254 million, 10-year contract with the Angels, leaving behind a heartbroken fan base by jilting one of the sport’s traditional teams for an expansion club with only one championship in its half-century.

Many top stars have changed teams in their careers, from Babe Ruth to Willie Mays to Barry Bonds. But this is perhaps the best player in the game over the past decade, exiting shortly after one of the great postseason power shows.

A big and burly offensive force with a shaved head, the nine-time All-Star has a room full of honors, winning the 2001 NL Rookie of the Year award, NL MVPs in 2005, 2008 and 2009, a batting title in 2003 and a pair of Gold Gloves at first base. Who would have predicted that when the Cardinals selected him in the 13th round of the 1999 amateur draft with the 402nd overall selection?

And now, he’s going West.

As his deal fell into place on the final day of the winter meetings, the Angels struck another big agreement, a $77.5 million, five-year contract with left-hander C.J. Wilson, the ace whose Texas Rangers lost to the Cardinals in the seven-game World Series.

“This is obviously the moment where we have thrown our hat in the ring,” new Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said.

Had he stayed in St. Louis before packed, adoring crowds, Pujols would’ve established a Cal Ripken-like legacy of loyalty, a rare modern star who remained with a franchise from first at-bat to final swing.

Instead, some of his former fans will see him as a sellout.

Pujols rejected a multiyear extension last offseason that was said to include a small percentage of the franchise and cut off negotiations a day before he arrived at spring training. St. Louis also offered the slugger a 10-year deal that chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said was in excess of $200 million.

“I would like our fans to know that we tried our best to make Albert a lifetime Cardinal,” he said in a statement, adding later in a telephone interview: “They were substantially higher than our bid.”

In St. Louis, Pujols has accomplished so much that he would have been beloved no matter his future performance. But in Anaheim, he will have to prove himself anew.

“I think his body’s going to start breaking down and he’s not going to be good for 10 years,” said Katie Coyle, fitness coordinator at the Webster-Kirkwood YMCA in Missouri, a die-hard fan who wore team colors to work during the playoffs. “I think he’s going to regret leaving here. If he’d have stayed here and signed a long-term deal with the Cardinals, they’d have had compassion for him because they’ve seen him at his best.”

Pujols’ contract, which like Wilson’s is subject to a physical, is only the third to break the $200 million barrier, following Alex Rodriguez’s $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas before the 2001 season and A-Rod’s $275 million, 10-year agreement with the Yankees before the 2008 season.

“This is a monumental day for Angel fans and I could not be more excited,” said owner Arte Moreno, who bought the team for $184 million from The Walt Disney Co. in 2003, a year after its only title.

Despite a top-four payroll this year, the Angels languished to a second-place finish behind Texas in the AL West. They spent $331.5 million on just two players, capping an unusual winter meetings in which the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox watched while the Angels and Miami Marlins spent as if they were the sport’s financial elite.

Moving into a new ballpark next season, the Marlins failed to reel in Pujols but acquired All-Star closer Heath Bell, All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes and left-hander Mark Buehrle for $191 million, meaning the two clubs committed $522.5 million to just five free agents.

“I think baseball needs to have a steroid-testing policy for owners,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economics professor at Smith College.

At the very same hotel 11 years earlier, teams spent $738.95 million on 24 free agents and none of the three big deals worked out as planned. Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez ($160 million over eight years with Boston) and Mike Hampton ($121 million over eight years with Colorado) all were traded during their contracts.

Pujols became the first player to hit 30 home runs in his first 11 seasons and the second after Al Simmons (1924-34) to reach 100 RBIs in his first 10. He has a .338 average with 445 home runs and 1,329 RBIs to become a franchise icon second only to Musial, and is fourth in career slugging percentage at .617, trailing only Hall of Famers Ruth (.690), Ted Williams (.634) and Lou Gehrig (.632).

But Pujols’ numbers in nearly every major offensive category are on a three-year decline. He had his poorest season in 2011 with a .299 average, 37 homers and 99 RBIs. He batted just .240 in the Series but had a night for the ages in Game 3, joining Ruth and Reggie Jackson as only the third player to hit three home runs in a Series game.

“We understand that players will go through peaks and valleys of sort,” Dipoto said. “Albert has spent many years operating at peak, and if we want to call a decline going from superhuman to just great, I don’t think we’ve seen the last great days of Albert Pujols, obviously, or we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

Some have speculated he is older than the listed 31 and he could be a full-time designated hitter within a few years. “Albert Pujols’ age to me is not a concern,” Dipoto said. “I’m not a scientist. I can’t tell you where he is, but I can tell you he hits like he’s 27.”

The Angels made the move as the financially troubled Los Angeles Dodgers are in the process of being sold by Frank McCourt in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, a deal that could give the region’s NL team a new, wealthy owner. The Dodgers could aggressively bid for talent a year from now, giving them a boost in the regional competition for fans’ attention.

“Winning breeds interest, and we are setting ourselves up to start next season with an opportunity to get good,” Dipoto said.

Pujols agreed in 2004 to a $100 million, seven-year contract, a deal that— with a 2011 option and bonuses—wound up paying him $112.55 million over eight years.

Cardinals fans already lamenting the retirement of manager Tony La Russa won’t get to see Pujols up close for a while—his old and new teams don’t meet in interleague play next season.

“He left a pretty good impact over there. I don’t think fans will soon forget what his contributions were,” said former Cardinals manager and star Joe Torre, now an executive with Major League Baseball. “I still think the St. Louis fans are going to be more appreciative than angry.”

Pujols’ agent, Dan Lozano, split off last year from the Beverly Hills Sports Council to form his own agency, and Pujols’ negotiations seemed like an attempt to surpass A-Rod’s landmark first big deal.

“This is a footprint contract, because it follows the footprint laid by other great players,” said agent Scott Boras, who negotiated Rodriguez’s agreements. “Putting a hitter like Albert Pujols in a big market, where he can be a DH, I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Other teams were somewhat surprised by his decision, but not shocked in a sport that has often seen stars shift for larger salaries. Reaction depended on the league.

“For 2012, two wilds cards and no Albert Pujols,” New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. “I’m happy.”

Michelle Duggar Miscarries: 'I Feel Like My Heart Broke Telling My Children'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 8 Dec 2011 22:44:00 -0800

Latest News - The Duggars were given heartbreaking news on Thursday.

According to People, during a routine check-up where Jim Bob and Michelle were supposed to find out the sex of their 20th child, their doctor was unable to find the baby's heartbeat. Michelle was told that she had miscarried in her second trimester.

PLAY IT NOW: How Do The Duggars Make Their Huge Family Work?

"After the appointment, we came back home and told the children," the 45-year-old mother of 19 told the mag. "We had just been talking about baby names last night and they were getting excited about naming a boy or a girl. It has been a real sad disappointment."

Jim Bob also released a statment confirming the tragic news to Access Hollywood , saying, "Earlier today at a routine doctor's appointment, Michelle and I received the sad news that we lost the baby. Michelle is resting comfortably at home with the support of the entire family. We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, but ask for privacy during this difficult time."

The Duggar matriarch said they will still name the baby after they find out of it was a boy or a girl and they plan to hold a funeral service.

"I feel like my heart broke telling my children," she continued. "They have all been so excited about this baby and looking forward to April coming around and having a new little one in our arms. That was the most difficult. The Lord is the giver of life and he can choose when that life is ready to go on and be with Him."

This is Michelle's second miscarriage. She previously lost a baby during her second pregnancy, when she was reportedly taking oral birth control. According to the mag, this incident caused the couple to let the number of children they have be "up to God."

In addition to their youngest daughter, Josie, who was born in December 2009, the couple is also parents to Joshua, 23 (who has two children, Mackynzie, 2, and Michael, 4 months, with wife Anna, 23), twins Jana and John-David, 21; Jill, 20; Jessa, 19; Jinger, 17; Joseph, 16; Josiah, 15; Joy-Anna, 14; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 12; Jason, 11; James, 10; Justin, 8; Jackson, 7; Johanna, 6; Jennifer, 4; and Jordyn, 3.

Jason Aldean parties hard with 6 wins at ACAs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 03:34:00 -0800

Latest News - The American Country Awards were Jason Aldean's kinda party.

Country music's newest superstar won six awards Monday in Las Vegas, including the night's top honors artist of the year and record of the year for "My Kinda Party."

It's true, 2010 has been a non-stop party for Aldean. More than a million fans turned out for his arena tour, his platinum album has spawned four hits so far and the awards are starting to pile up after years of being ignored.

"This is getting a little ridiculous now," Aldean said on his second visit to the stage. "I don't know what else to say. It's been a crazy year."

Carrie Underwood's fans came through for her again at the fan-voted awards a year after she was the top winner on the inaugural show with six trophies. She picked up three awards this year, including female artist of the year and female single of the year for "Mama's Song."

"You guys vote like crazy," Underwood said during her second trip to the stage.

As expected, the show's focus was mostly on country music's emerging stars. Thompson Square also won three trophies — blue Fender Telecasters with an embossed silhouette of the U.S. The husband-and-wife duo of Shawna and Keifer Thompson rode their breakthrough single "Are You Going to Kiss Me Or Not?" to group single, new artist single and new artist video of the year awards.

"This is the first time we've won anything, so be patient," Keifer Thompson joked.

Chris Young won two awards, breakthrough artist and single of the year for "Voices," ''American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery was named new artist of the year and Lady Antebellum won a second straight group of the year.

Along with the night's top two honors, Aldean also was named touring artist of the year and won male single of the year for "My Kinda Party" and vocal collaboration single of the year for "Don't You Wanna Stay" with Kelly Clarkson.

Alabama won a Greatest Hits Award and Toby Keith was named artist of the decade as the most-played country star on radio over the past 10 years.

Blake Shelton won video of the year for "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking." He dedicated the win to his father, Dick, who is in the hospital with pneumonia. He then appeared to tear up at the end of his performance of "God Gave Me You."

"I want to say 'hi' to my dad back home," Shelton said. "He's been having a pretty rough couple of weeks. I know he's watching back at home and I love you, dad, and want to dedicate this to you."

Seattle welfare recipient lives in million-dollar home

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 03:33:00 -0800

Latest News - A Seattle woman who is receiving welfare assistance from Washington state also happens to live in a waterfront house on Lake Washington worth more than a million dollars.

Federal agents raided the home this weekend but have not released the woman or her husband's name because they have not officially been charged with a crime.

However, federal documents obtained by KING 5 News show the couple currently receives more than $1,200 a month in public housing vouchers, plus state and government disability checks and food stamps. They have been receiving the benefits since 2003.

The 2,500 square-foot home, which includes gardens and a boat dock, is valued at $1.2 million. And even though the couple has been receiving the benefits for nearly 10 years, records show that they accurately listed the address of their current home when applying for the state and federal benefits.

A federal official told KING 5 that the couple likely took advantage of a loophole, which allows low-income individuals to receive financial assistance to help them pay their rent and move away from housing projects. However, the law does not require officials to verify what type of home the benefits recipient is living in.

As if the million dollar home weren't enough, the supposedly low-income couple also gave money to various charities and traveled around the world to locales in Turkey, Tel Aviv and resort towns in Mexico, according to court records.

McCready's ex says she's pushing luck over son

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 4 Dec 2011 01:58:00 -0800

Latest News - Country singer Mindy McCready is pushing her luck with the legal system by not following a judge's order to return her 5-year-old son to the care of her mother in Florida, her ex-boyfriend and father of the boy said Friday.

McCready said Thursday she would not bring her son back from Tennessee, despite violating a custody arrangement.

McCready took the boy during a recent visit at her father's Florida home, and a judge signed an order Thursday ordering authorities to take the boy into custody and return him. It's not yet clear whether the singer could face criminal charges.

"I'm doing all this to protect Zander, not stay out of trouble," McCready wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday. "I don't think I should be in trouble for protecting my son in the first place."

McCready says she is in Tennessee and cannot travel because she's nearly seven months pregnant with twins.

The judge's order means law enforcement anywhere can pick up the boy and bring him back to Florida.

The boy's father, Billy McKnight, told the NBC "Today" show Friday he spoke on the phone with McCready and their boy after the judge's deadline expired.

"He did sound healthy and ok. He wasn't crying or scared," McKnight said about their son.

"I think she believes she has a case and doesn't realize she's pushing her luck on this one," he said.

McCready and her mother have had a long custody battle over the boy. The boy was living with McCready's mother, who was awarded guardianship in 2007. McCready says her son has suffered abuse at her mother's house; her mother, Gayle Inge, denies the abuse allegations.

"Once the child is located, we will pick him up and bring him back to Florida," said Terri Durdaller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Children and Families. "Although these circumstances are unfortunate for a young child, his safety and well-being are our number one priority."

McCready provided a series of emails to the AP with Lee County Judge James Seals' ruling to return the boy.

"Mom has violated the court's custody order and we are simply restoring the child back into our custody," the judge wrote. "Nothing more. Nothing less. The court makes no judgment about whether Mom will or will not competently care for the child while in her custody. It only wants the child back where the court placed him."

McCready found fame in the mid-1990s and has lived a complicated life in recent years.

In August, she filed a libel suit against her mother and the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., over a story published in the tabloid newspaper that quoted Inge.

And in 2008, McCready was admitted to a hospital after police said she cut her wrists and took several pills in a suicide attempt.

During the TV show "Celebrity Rehab 3" in 2010, McCready came off as a sympathetic figure, and host Dr. Drew Pinsky called her an angel in the season finale.

No. 3 Okla St makes BCS case in 44-10 win over OU

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 4 Dec 2011 01:55:00 -0800

Latest News - Mike Gundy didn’t feel comfortable campaigning for No. 3 Oklahoma State to play for the national title until his Cowboys had at least won a conference crown.

His team made a better case than anything he could have ever said.

Joseph Randle ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns, Richetti Jones returned a fumble for a score and No. 3 Oklahoma State throttled No. 13 Oklahoma 44-10 Saturday night to win the Big 12 championship and make its case to play for the BCS national title.

“I don’t think there’s any question Oklahoma State should play in the big game,” Gundy said.

The Cowboys (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) snapped an eight-game losing streak in the Bedlam rivalry and won their first outright conference title since 1948 in the three-team Missouri Valley.

Oklahoma State’s defense, badmouthed much of the season while giving up big yardage but leading the nation in takeaways, forced the Sooners (9-3, 6-3) into five turnovers—four of them by quarterback Landry Jones.

Fans started chanting “L-S-U!” midway through the fourth quarter with the victory well in hand, then stormed the field and tore down the goal posts when it was over.

The top-ranked Tigers could be next up for the Pokes, but only with a boost in the BCS standings due out Sunday night.

“If that’s the way it works out, absolutely. We took care of what we could take care of,” quarterback Brandon Weeden said. “We had to worry about us and control what we could control, and if we were able to do that, we were conference champs.”

While the top-ranked Tigers won the SEC championship Saturday to lock up a spot in the BCS title game, No. 2 Alabama sat at home idle after finishing second in its division. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, proved itself the best team in its state and its conference. But it’s up to the voters, who had the Cowboys fifth in the coaches’ poll and Harris poll, to decide whether Oklahoma State will play for the highest stakes.

Gundy proclaimed earlier this week that he considered the Crimson Tide to be the second-best team in the nation “right now”—but that’s what he thought his team needed to hear at the time.

“I have to make that decision and I wasn’t raised that way. I’m not comfortable standing up and beating our chests and saying that we needed to play somebody when we hadn’t even won this game,” Gundy said.

“That was what we were telling the team in here every day. … I said, `Look, I’m not going to go stand up and say we need to go play somebody else until you guys beat Oklahoma.”’

Afterward, he proclaimed on the field that “there’s no question Oklahoma State should be No. 2 right now.”

“The honest answer is we didn’t deserve it. We do now,” Gundy said. “And if we’d have won this game 17-14, I don’t know if I’d have said it. … When you win by 34 points, we deserve the right.”

The Cowboys won over at least one voter: Sooners coach Bob Stoops said he’d put them at No. 2 on his ballot.

“I’m sure they’re going to have some great opportunities from here,” Stoops said. “I don’t know what will happen.”

For most of the 107 years of the Bedlam rivalry, the Sooners had the better team and more on the line.

But each of the past two years, Oklahoma came in with a lower ranking and still found a way to derail a couple of the best teams in Oklahoma State history — first dashing any hopes of a BCS at-large berth two years ago and then taking away the Cowboys’ shot at the Big 12 championship last season.

With all that history on their side, the Sooners came out looking to intimidate.

After coming onto the field, players ran into the west end zone for a pregame prayer and then lingered after it was over—right outside the gate where the Cowboys were getting ready to run out. Coaches, game officials and security officers made them get out of the way.

The Sooners couldn’t back up the pregame bluster, though.

Brandon Weeden’s 53-yard pass to Tracy Moore set up Jeremy Smith’s 9-yard touchdown run, and the Cowboys defense—which entered the game ranked 107th out of 120 teams in the nation—never needed any more than that.

Brodrick Brown outfought Jaz Reynolds to pick off Landry Jones’ pass in the end zone and prevent an Oklahoma score, and Alex Elkins stripped the ball from the quarterback on a sack to set up a TD for the Cowboys.

Jamie Blatnick picked up the fumble and returned it 59 yards to the 1-yard line, and Randle scored on the next play to make it 17-0. Randle added a 2-yard run after Sam Proctor’s holding penalty on a kickoff return backed the Sooners up, and they went three-and-out—punting it back to Oklahoma State on a shortened field.

Richetti Jones made it 34-3 after Landry Jones reached back to pass the ball and fumbled it onto the turf, with the OSU defender bobbling it and then finally controlling it for a 5-yard return.

The Sooners got their only points on Michael Hunnicutt’s 48-yard field goal at the end of the first half and Blake Bell’s 28-yard TD scamper with 2:25 left in the game.

It ended up as Oklahoma’s most lopsided defeat since losing the 2005 Orange Bowl against Southern California, and the second-biggest margin of victory for the Pokes in the series—behind only a 47-0 shutout in 1945.

“That was a convincing win over OU, who is a great team. We were in the No. 1 power-rated conference, we won it outright and we held them to 10 points,” Blatnick said.

“We beat them convincingly. What more do you need than that? I don’t think anybody wants to see another rematch with no touchdowns.”

The Tide’s only loss was at home against LSU, 9-6 in overtime. Alabama has the nation’s top defense and LSU is second, while Oklahoma State has the nation’s No. 2 offense.

“They had their opportunity. I’ve got all the respect in the world for Alabama, all the respect in the world for LSU, but we need our shot,” Gundy said. “There’s talk all year about offense in this league, defense in that league and all that. Well, let’s find out.”

Oklahoma State’s case to play against LSU in New Orleans next month will be hurt by a double-overtime loss 15 days earlier at Iowa State, which finished its season 6-6. It’ll be bolstered by five wins against teams in the BCS Top 25, compared to two for Alabama.

And, of course, the Cowboys will have the momentum from not only winning a conference title but doing it in dominating fashion against a team that was ranked No. 1 earlier this season.

“They had their shot,” Gundy said. “Give us ours.”

Analysis: MF Global proves Enron-era accounting lives on

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Dec 2011 05:55:00 -0800

Latest News - The off-balance-sheet accounting methods that Enron and Lehman Brothers made famous in their epic failures years ago have a modern-day poster child: MF Global.

Like its predecessors, the bankrupt brokerage formerly run by Jon Corzine took advantage of an accounting maneuver to keep certain financial obligations off its books, making the firm look less indebted and thus less a risk than it really was.

On Thursday, Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told a committee of Congress the SEC was investigating the accounting treatment that helped mask MF Global's exposure to risky foreign sovereign debt.

The fact that MF Global was able to use the technique highlights how off-balance-sheet moves are evolving as quickly as new accounting rules intended to stop them. Earlier this year, the Financial Accounting Standards Board changed its rules to bar an off-balance-sheet loophole that had helped Lehman Brothers get into trouble in 2008.

The fixes of FASB often are too specific to keep firms from trying new tacks, said several analysts, academics and former regulators. "They keep trying to put a Band-Aid on this thing, but you've got this problem that is huge and requires major surgery," said Penn State University accounting professor Ed Ketz.

WITHIN THE RULES

MF Global's version complies with current accounting rules. Other Wall Street firms use it too, though generally for ultra-safe U.S. Treasuries, which the government promises to repurchase at face value.
In MF Global's case, the off-balance-sheet accounting itself didn't cause the firm's downfall, but it allowed MF Global to use borrowed money to make billions of dollars in ultimately catastrophic bets on European sovereign debt - and obscured the risk those bets posed to the company.

Nothing was done to force MF Global to respond until the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority demanded that MF Global's broker dealer business put aside more cash and liquid assets to absorb any losses in its European bets. Moody's downgraded the firm, setting off a rapid drop in confidence that ended with the firm's October 31 bankruptcy.

Moody's senior analyst Al Bush told the Wall Street Journal last month his firm was surprised to learn that MF Global's large off-balance-sheet position was not being held for clients, but was the firm's own bet.

Law-enforcement officials, regulators and the bankruptcy trustee are still searching for as much as $1.2 billion in missing investor money believed to have been unlawfully mingled with the firm's own funds. The firm has said it is cooperating fully with the investigation. Corzine has been quiet on the matter since his November 4 resignation, though at that time he pledged to help the firm respond to inquiries.

REPO

MF Global's off-balance-sheet maneuver involved what's called a repo, or repurchase agreement. In repo deals, a firm borrows money, but puts up assets as collateral, assets it agrees to repurchase later. Repo deals are common, and typically don't move assets off the balance sheet.

Lehman got in trouble for doing deals in late 2007 and in 2008 using a slightly different move, what it called the "Repo 105,", which used to get assets off its balance sheet, often just days prior to its reporting deadlines.
Lehman's repo created "a materially misleading picture of the firm's financial condition," according to a 2010 report by Anton R. Valukas, the now-defunct firm's Bankruptcy Court examiner and chairman of Jenner & Block law firm.. It has been closed by a new FASB rule being implemented this quarter.

MF Global used a version of the off-balance-sheet move called "repo-to-maturity." The firm offered billions of dollars in sovereign debt as collateral on a series of loans designed to expire at the same time as the collateral itself. With the collateral and the loans coming due simultaneously, MF Global might never take possession of that debt again. That entitled the firm to count those as sales, and moved $16.5 billion off its balance sheet, most of it debt from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and Ireland.

It did disclose a $6.3 billion exposure to European debt, a figure that eventually became a concern for regulators and others doing business with the firm.

To top it all off, the accounting for these deals added $124 million in financing payments to the firm's revenue over the last four quarters, according to SEC filings, firm documents and people close to the firm.

HARD TO TRACK

It's hard to track the intricacies of repo-to-maturity deals. A few other financial firms including Oppenheimer, Nomura Holdings and Merrill Lynch have disclosed that they use the structure. Much like MF Global, Nomura used the deals to help build a bet on European debt that was as high as $3.6 billion at the end of September, but which has now been cut by the Japanese firm to $884 million. A New York spokesman for Nomura could not immediately be reached for comment.

Accounting and financial experts are starting to call for a re-examination of the repo structure that MF Global used. "We are talking to FASB about whether that is a policy that ought to be changed," Schapiro said on Thursday, referring to the Financial Accounting Standards Board. In response, a FASB spokesman declined immediate comment.

Last month, Leslie Seidman, FASB chairman, told Reuters in an interview that the U.S. accounting rule maker relies on regular contact with regulators, investors, accounting experts, companies and accounting firms to know what accounting concerns are out there and no one had raised questions about repo-to-maturity transactions.

Accounting rules since Enron have forced many deals onto the balance sheet and disclosure of important details on other deals. Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in credit card debt, for example, moved onto balance sheets after accounting changes in 2010, though similar bets on real estate loans remain largely off bank balance sheets. Hundreds of billions of dollars in obligations of all types sit off balance sheets.

In the banking industry, the bigger off-balance-sheet categories are unused credit, investments backed by pools of loans and derivatives. Excluding derivatives, which are largely offset by other investments aimed at limiting their risk, U.S. bank holding companies' off-balance-sheet obligations totaled over $9 trillion in September, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve Board data by Montanus Group.

More than half of that came from unused lending commitments, 70 percent of which were promised by the 10 largest banks.

That's down almost $700 billion in the last two years, in part because of changes in accounting rules that required banks to bring some of their off-balance-sheet deals onto the books.

For MF Global, repo-to-maturity deals pushed assets and liabilities off their balance sheet while providing a source of income for a company that had a drop in other sources, especially interest income.

MF Global earned $286.8 million in its last full fiscal year from interest income after expenses. Three years earlier, that figure was $502.1 million.

"In this type of environment, when it's tough to generate high returns on anything, institutions may try to get a little cute in the way they take positions," said Montanus Group managing partner Nathan Powell. "That's the lesson I take from MF Global."

Zynga IPO values company as high as $9.04 billion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Dec 2011 05:54:00 -0800

Latest News - Zynga Inc plans to sell an 11.1 percent stake in a scaled-back initial public offering that would value the Facebook game maker at as much as $9 billion on a fully diluted basis.

The leading social games maker plans to sell 100 million new shares at between $8.50 and $10 each, according to a U.S. regulatory filing on Friday.

At the midpoint price, the IPO could raise $925 million, which would make it the largest from a U.S. Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.7 billion in 2004.

Five-year-old Zynga made its name on viral games such as "FarmVille," among the most popular on the Facebook social network. While Zynga's games are free to play, the company makes money from selling virtual items -- such as tractors and weapons -- that players then use.

Based on a fully diluted share count of 904 million, which includes existing shares and stock options, the IPO price values Zynga at $7.7 billion to $9.04 billion.

In a filing two weeks ago, the company said a third-party analysis had valued it at $14.05 billion. While the valuation has been cut, Zynga would still be among the largest publicly traded U.S. game developers after it debuts on Nasdaq under the "ZNGA" symbol.

Video game developer Activision Blizzard Inc currently has the industry's highest market value of $14.2 billion, followed by Electronic Arts Inc at $7.7 billion.

Zynga's debut will follow IPOs this year from Groupon Inc and LinkedIn Corp, which helped revive a market that had sputtered in recent years. Facebook is gearing up to go public next year.

Mark Pincus, a serial entrepreneur before he founded Zynga, will hold a class of shares with 70 times more voting power than the regular stock that will be sold in the offering.

Google, one of the early investors in Zynga, will be offering about 1.7 million shares, according to a regulatory filing. Other companies selling shares include Institutional Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures
Deep-pocketed rivals from Walt Disney Co to Electronic Arts are starting to muscle in on Zynga's turf.

The company said its IPO represented 14.3 percent of 699 million common shares, excluding restricted stock.

Noah says doping accusations were wake-up call

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 1 Dec 2011 08:09:00 -0800

Latest News - Former French Open champion Yannick Noah says his accusations of doping being rife in Spanish sport were intended as a global wake-up call to sports authorities he feels should be doing more to catch drug cheats—yet he maintains his belief that Spain is tainted.

In an interview with a French newspaper last week, Noah accused Spanish athletes of widespread doping. He said the only way to level the playing field for struggling French and other athletes would be to allow everyone to use the “magic potion,” or banned drugs.

“If I chose this turn of phrase, it was to address the authorities … in order to start a debate,” Noah said Friday on the website of newspaper Le Monde that published his comments last week.

Those accusations drew criticism from Spanish athletes such as 10-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, and from the French Tennis Federation, which distanced itself from Noah.

“I am a bit frustrated that there are two weights and two measures in terms of doping, whether it’s Spain or another country,” Noah continued. “Of course all Spanish athletes aren’t doped … (But) are (the French) worse than the others? I don’t think so.”

Nadal said Noah should be banned from commenting in the media, while Pep Guardiola, the coach of Barcelona soccer club, told him to produce proof or stay quiet.

“I went through the same thing 30 years ago, when I was 20. I spoke about doping and drugs and everyone had a go at me,” Noah said. “I couldn’t respond to everyone. To Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle, who’s told his nephew never to say hello to me again. But what do I care if he says hello to me or not?”

Noah, whose son Joakim plays for the Chicago Bulls, refused to back down from his view that Spain remains tainted by doping.

He cited cases involving cyclist Alberto Contador’s positive doping test when he won the 2010 Tour de France, world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez, and the Operation Puerto blood-doping investigation as examples.

“The cyclist who ate some meat that helped him pedal faster and who was cleared by his federation, the case of (Dominguez) stopped by the police and then cleared,” Noah said. “My question is the following: Is this not all orchestrated? In the Puerto case, I have the feeling that the affair has been smothered, that names have been hidden.”

Dominguez was among 14 people detained in December 2010 as part of the “Operation Galgo” doping investigation, but a Madrid court cleared her of doping and of trafficking performance-enhancing substances.

This led to an investigation into Spain’s Civil Guard for irregularities in managing her case.

Seven people linked to Puerto will stand trial in Spain, facing up to two years in prison. They include sports doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, former Liberty Seguros team boss Manolo Saiz and five others arrested in 2006 on suspicion of providing doping services to cyclists.

Puerto implicated more than 50 cyclists but Spanish sports bodies could not use evidence to ban athletes because of Spanish law, which has since changed.

On Thurday, sport’s highest court completed a four-day hearing into Contador’s 2010 Tour case. Hu must wait until early next year to find out if he will be stripped of his title.

Contador’s defense is that eating contaminated steak caused his positive tests for clenbuterol.

“I am against all forms of doping but I’m hypersensitive when it comes to injustice. There are too many cheats winning these days. In Spain and elsewhere,” Noah said. “At which point is an athlete considered to have doped? When he takes a product that makes him run faster, makes him stronger, helps him recover more quickly? Or when he tests positive? The answer to the question is not the same, depending on the country.”

Noah blamed the media for not being aggressive enough on doping issues.

“There are side effects which you never read about on the front pages of the newspapers,” he said. “We know there have been problems in the past with Italian footballers who are now seriously ill.”