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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) The 15-year-old boy arrested in connection with an attempted kidnapping in Sprague had previously been investigated a year ago for allegedly trying to lure a minor, Lincoln County Prosecutor Jeff Barkdull said Thursday. The sheriff's office forwarded a report accusing the boy of luring, but the prosecutor's office decided not to file charges in that case, Barkdull said. "It did not meet the elements of luring," Barkdull said. "We re-reviewed it and I stand by the decision. Barkdull said the previous incident also occurred in Sprague. The 15-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, is scheduled to appear in Lincoln County Superior Court in Davenport on Friday afternoon. Barkdull said he has not made a charging decision yet. According to a document involving last year's incident released Thursday by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, the responding deputy spoke with a woman who had phoned in the luring report involving her 11-year-old son. She said that the suspect had taken her son by the hand and walked away from her residence. She questioned him and the suspect let go, the report said. Meanwhile, residents of Sprague expressed relief Thursday that an arrest has been made in the attempted kidnapping of the 22-month-old toddler from a city park an incident that drew wide attention after it was caught on surveillance video. "They're so relieved," said Dorothy Giddings, an antique store owner who was involved in the rescue of the toddler on Sunday. "The only sad part is it is a young boy who lives here in town." Sprague is a farm town of about 500 people located about 40 miles west of Spokane along Interstate 90. The parents of the toddler expressed praise for their two older children, who chased the kidnapper and screamed for help. "They have a motherly instinct," Michael Wright told The Spokesman-Review about his two older children. "We're going to watch each other closer and even more diligently than we did before." Giddings said the 15-year-old boy lived with his family but did not socialize much with other teenagers. He apparently wore a disguise during the attempted abduction to mask his identity, she said. Authorities announced the arrest on Wednesday afternoon, culminating a tense four days in Sprague. "Deputies and detectives have worked relentlessly on this case," Sheriff Wade Magers said in a press release. The identity of the youth was being withheld because he is a juvenile. The dramatic surveillance video footage showed a male running down a sidewalk with the toddler in his arms last Sunday. The child's two siblings screamed and chased him. The scene ended after two teenage boys joined the chase, and the man put down the toddler and fled. The toddler was not hurt. One of the kidnap victim's young siblings has positively identified the suspect, Magers said. The 15-year-old was booked into a juvenile detention facility on suspicion of second-degree kidnapping, Magers said. The incident began after Michael Wright left his three children with a baby sitter in Sprague on Sunday while he went to work. The children Brenden, 10, Delicia, 8, and the toddler were playing unsupervised in a city park near the sitter's house. Sheriff's deputies said the suspect talked with the children for a few minutes, then scooped the toddler out of his stroller and ran down the street. Surveillance video from a grocery store showed the kidnapper running, child in arms, with Delicia chasing and Brenden not far behind. Delicia's screams alerted Giddings, who was working at her antique store downtown. Giddings said she realized what was happening and sent her grandson Andrew Crane, 15, and his friend Isaac Yow, 16, to chase the man. As the older boys approached, the man put the child down in a vacant lot and escaped, the sheriff's office said. Giddings said Crane and Yow knew the suspect from school, although they did not recognize him Sunday. "He was wearing glasses and a fake mustache," she said.
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news
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Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson crash the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week. Rough cut (no reporter narration)
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video
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Sen. Pat Toomey is pushing to include a provision in anti-human trafficking legislation that would bolster background checks for teachers. Senators started debate Tuesday on the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The legislation expands resources for law enforcement, while also starting a fund for trafficking victims. Toomey said, while he supports the legislation, he wants to amend it so it will "protect even more children." Under the Pennsylvania Republican's amendment, schools would have to do thorough background checks for any employee who has unsupervised contact with children in order to get federal funding for teacher salaries. "We're not imposing a mandate on the states," he said. "But we also understand that there are pedophiles in this country, and they seek out vulnerable children. It's what they do." Toomey's amendment also bans what the Pennsylvania Republican referred to as "passing the trash," when school officials provide a letter of recommendation for an employee they know has sexually preyed on children. While he said that "neither of these mechanisms should be controversial," Toomey predicted that his amendment would face opposition. "I'm afraid we're going to have some opposition voiced," he said. "Several senators have voiced some specific concerns." Toomey and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced similar legislation earlier this year.
| 5 | 11,002 |
news
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Sarah Brightman has been working with her former husband Andrew Lloyd Webber on a song she can perform in space. The British soprano, who is training at Star City near Moscow, is due to blast off on a Russian Soyuz craft on 1 September. The 54-year-old will spend 10 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), 260 miles (420 km) above Earth. Brightman said singing in space was a "very different" proposition to performing on Earth. Speaking at a press conference in central London, the Phantom of the Opera star said her team were trying to work out the technical details of performing on the ISS. "I would like to connect with a choir, or children or another singer or an orchestra on Earth," she told reporters. Brightman said she had been working with Lord Lloyd-Webber to find a song that "suits the idea of space". She recorded the song in New York last week and it will appear on a retrospective of her career, out later this year. "To sing in microgravity is a very different thing to singing down here," she said. "We use the Earth to ground ourselves when we sing and the air around us. "This is going to be very different. I'm trying to find a piece that is beautiful and simple in its message, as well as not complicated to sing." She didn't want to "promise too much", she went on, because of the complexity of the idea. In 2013, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity from the ISS become a huge YouTube hit. 'Pivotal moment' Brightman is thought to be paying around £34m ($51m) to become the eighth space tourist. She said she had paid for the trip herself, but could not "contractually" say how much it had cost. She will be part of a three-person crew travelling to the ISS. The last space tourist to make the trip was Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte in 2009. Brightman said the Moon landing in 1969 - which she watched as a nine-year old - had been "a pivotal moment" in her life. She joked that while in space she might "do some of the movements" from 1978 chart hit I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper. The track was performed on Top of the Pops by dance troupe Hot Gossip, with whom Brightman began her career. 'Laughter and tears' In the 1980s, Brightman starred on the West End stage in Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. Both were penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she married in 1984. The pair divorced in 1990 and Brightman embarked on a solo singing career. The singer helped popularise the classical crossover genre, scoring a worldwide hit with her duet with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Time To Say Goodbye. Brightman began Tuesday's press conference by saying she had talked to many people who have travelled in space. "They have all said it is indescribable. You feel a mixture of laughter and tears. You feel humble but you can see the bigger picture. "It's been an unusual path that has taken me to this point and it hasn't been an easy journey. I've found out a lot about myself." The singer has also spent time training at Star City with Tim Peake, who will become the first "official" British astronaut when he goes to the ISS at the end of 2015.
| 5 | 11,003 |
news
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RHINELANDER, Wis. A 17-year-old northern Wisconsin girl killed her mother and stepfather and locked her three younger siblings in a room with some food before fleeing to Indiana with a 22-year-old man, sheriff's deputies said. Ashlee A. Martinson has been charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the killings of Jennifer Ayers, 40, and Thomas Ayers, 37, whose bodies were found at their Rhinelander area home on Sunday. Martinson is also charged with three counts of false imprisonment. Oneida County sheriff's officials said Tuesday Thomas Ayers was fatally shot and Jennifer Ayers died of knife wounds. Investigators have not released a possible motive for the slayings. Sheriff's deputies responding to a 911 call found three young girls and the couple's bodies in the Town of Piehl residence about 10:40 a.m. Sunday, according to the complaint. The girls were not injured, authorities said. Investigators said the oldest girl, aged 9, told them Martinson killed her parents. The girl said she was in the living room with her stepmother, Jennifer Ayers, and heard two gunshots. The stepmother ran upstairs. The girl followed and saw her fighting with Martinson, according to the complaint. The girl says Martinson put her and the two other girls, ages 2 and 8, in a room and tied the door shut so they couldn't leave. She said Martinson placed food and juice in the room for the girls, according to the court document. Authorities received information that Martinson was traveling south with Ryan Sisco, 22, and the two were arrested in Boone County, Indiana, about 7:50 p.m. Sunday. Martinson was evaluated at a hospital because of some injuries and transferred to the Boone County Jail. Martinson apparently acted alone in the homicides, Oneida County sheriff's officials said. Thomas Ayers' sister, Barbara Curtis, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that her brother married Jennifer Ayers about a year ago. The youngest girl was their biological child and the other two younger girls were Thomas Ayers' from a previous relationship, Curtis said. Martinson and Sisco remained in the Boone County Jail Tuesday morning and faced extradition proceedings.
| 5 | 11,004 |
news
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Stealth Bitcoin startup 21 Inc. has come out of the shadows with news that it has raised $116 million in venture capital. It's the largest funding ever received by a digital currency startup, according to data gathered from Coindesk . Some of its backers of 21 Inc. include Andressen Horowitz, Qualcomm, eBay founder Peter Thiel and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. While the company has revealed its funding, it hasn't shared details on what exactly it will be doing in the digital currency space. But its co-founder Matthew Pauker shared with the Wall Street Journal that there will be "several interesting developments over the next weeks and months," aimed at driving the adoption of bitcoin through software and hardware. He added that Qualcomm's involvement with 21 Inc. is key to the company, as he hopes to use their production expertise to develop consumer Bitcoin products. Formerly known as 21E6, named after the 21 million Bitcoin limit controlled by the digital currency's algorithm, 21 Inc. caught the attention of Silicon Valley in 2013, after SEC filings revealed it raised $5 million , triggering speculation that it was developing a high-powered Bitcoin mining machine. Bitcoin, an online payment system developed in 2009 by a coder using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, has been touted as the world's first decentralized digital currency. And since its inception it has been through several ups and downs, with its market cap reaching its highest point of $13.9 billion in January 2014. While it's far from becoming ubiquitous as a payment method, its acceptance is steadily growing online through eCommerce sites such as Newegg, Overstock, Expedia and more.
| 3 | 11,005 |
finance
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Hannah Hart is wasted. Before turning on her camera, the YouTube host consumed an unknown but probably alarming quantity of red wine, and she's now attempting to make a homemade potato chip she's charmingly (and drunkenly) dubbed a "single Pringle." During the six-minute recipe tutorial, Hart randomly throws ingredients into a bowl and accidentally shatters a wine glass atop her creation. But for Hart, it's all part of a day's work while filming an episode of her three-year-old YouTube series My Drunk Kitchen , a gig that comes with its fair share of awkward moments. "I mean, do you want to sit there and watch two hours of yourself, drunk?" Hart laughs. "It's not fun at all." Hart launched My Drunk Kitchen on a whim in March 2011; that debut video , titled "Butter Yo Shit," has racked up more than 3.5 million views. Hart's YouTube channel, MyHarto , has more than 1.8 million subscribers, which has led to the publication of the My Drunk Kitchen cookbook (in 2014) and celebrity guest stars like fellow comedienne Sarah Silverman . "I think that it continues to feel like a daydream," Hart says. "This is all something I've been doing for fun. It all has been just growing and growing, and then, every day it's something new and something different." Food Network executives once plucked their stars out of professional restaurant kitchens like early stars Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali or from the blogosphere, as The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond can attest . But the 46-year-old Drummond, the lifestyle blogger turned cooking show host, is arguably the network's last true breakout star her Food Network show launched in 2011, with best-selling cookbooks following shortly thereafter. As the network recycles its lineup of hosts with Guy Fieri, Alton Brown, and a slew of celebrity chefs often appearing on several shows there appears to be no true successor to Anthony Bourdain in place. But tomorrow's biggest food personalities might already be making names for themselves on video-uploading site YouTube, which, according to the site's numbers , has more than one billion users. Some of YouTube's culinary uploaders are already breakout stars. YouTuber Rosanna Pansino bakes themed treats in her show Nerdy Nummies , which boasts 3.49 million subscribers a number that places her on par with mega pop star Justin Timberlake's YouTube reach. In 2014, BusinessInsider estimated Pansino made nearly $200,000 in ad revenue off her channel, most likely boosted, in part, by YouTube featuring her in a national ad campaign . Harley Morenstein , the host and co-creator of YouTube channel Epic Meal Time, started uploading videos of his friends' over-the-top stunt foods in 2010. Video games and branded merchandise soon followed, and in early 2014, EMT inked a television deal, debuting Epic Meal Empire on the FYI Network in July of that year . Hart is making waves, as well. Last year, along with friends and fellow YouTube celebrities Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart (no relation), she starred in Camp Takota , which was produced by RockStream Studios and released online. And earlier this year, Hart along with Morenstein was named to Forbes ' 2015 30 Under 30 list , joining the likes of Emma Stone, Zach Efron, and Keira Knightly on the magazine's list of influential entertainers. While she's branching out into other forms of content, Hart says she'll continue to "dance with the one that brought" her to the public's attention. " Kitchen 's never going away," Hart says. "I don't care what happens in life. I could be accepting a reward, or I could be returning to a day job, and I would still make episodes of My Drunk Kitchen because it's fun and why not?" The Recipe for YouTube Success While Hart makes it seem easy, success in the culinary YouTube world is hard-won. According to YouTube's numbers, more than 300 hours of video are uploaded by users every minute, while "hundreds of millions of hours" worth of video are watched on the site every day. But for many amateur cooks, YouTube grants them immediate access to a rapt audience that's not necessarily concerned about culinary credentials. The "average joe" accessibility might be exactly what viewers want: Compare Pansino and Hart's numbers to those of acclaimed chef Mario Batali, who despite a large television presence and restaurants in multiple cities, has just 19,000 subscribers on YouTube. Chef Jamie Oliver, famously an early YouTube adopter, boasts 1.38 million subscribers , about on par with Hart. Instead, in the YouTube space, cooks identify personality, authenticity, and actively engaging with their audience as must-haves for success. Raiza Costa , host of the baking show Dulce Delight , swapped a career working in art galleries for her pastry channel, which currently has 152,000 subscribers and has racked up 15 million views total. Costa, who has a degree in fine art, peppers her show and its recipes for patisserie classics with bright colors, pop music, and her bubbly personality, baking everything from macarons to chocolate tarts (the latter being her most-watched video, with 1.39 million views). "All of the cooking shows [already] out there didn't represent me," Costa says of her inspiration to launch Dulce Delight four years ago. "It was all very boring, 'Do this recipe,' but [without] explaining why they're taking these certain steps. I decided to make a cooking show that would represent me: Not boring, not lame, showing things that can go wrong and that's okay, because we're not perfect." Costa's artistic background emerges: In the recipe development phase, she makes watercolor sketches of each dish (shown, right) , visualizing each treat's colors and layout before diving into the baking. "I think the aesthetic of everything we do in life impacts the way we see it and the way we absorb it," she says. YouTube's French Guy Cooking ,aka creator and host Alexis Gabriel ,also stresses that he's not a professionally trained chef. "I was, at first, definitely more into food than into cooking," he says, noting he seriously got into cooking just a "few years ago." But Gabriel's natural delivery in yes, a French accent and "love" for his viewers results in recipes for sous-vide steak and omelets three-ways, netting him 59,000 subscribers. A crepe video done in tandem with Jamie Oliver , who selected Gabriel to be one of the members of his YouTube hub, netted more than 96,000 views. "At some point in life, you want to make something in which you truly believe you can make a difference," Gabriel says of his career switch to YouTube personality. "I know my weaknesses, but I also know my strengths, and Youtube seemed to be at the crossing of my skills. So, I left everything else, and started my own cooking show to share this passion as best as possible with everyone." Hart, Costa, and Gabriel all self-produce and shoot their own shows. Costa notes that including pre-production, recipe testing, shooting, animating, and editing, each episode takes her about six days to make, including eight to 10 hours of "running back and forth" between the front and back of the camera during filming. "Today, I consider myself a filmmaker more than a chef, because the amount of work that goes into the videos is insane," Costa says. Hart notes that each six-minute episode starts with more than two hours of footage that must be edited down. But some YouTubers launched programs with the help of official YouTube channel partnerships. Joshua Greenfield , co-host of Brothers Green Eats , which has 97,000 subscribers, says the show featuring himself and his brother Mike happened by accident. "Our roommate was a filmmaker and took an interest in our cooking, so it was really just a window into our lives, music, food, humor," Joshua says of the early episodes, which featured "just some friends hanging out" and cooking. "Next thing you know, we are being approached by a YouTube-licensed channel to host the first official cooking series through their new funded channel initiative." YouTube's Hungry channel which is now defunct launched in summer 2012 , featuring The Brothers Green and other original shows like Drink Inc. and Casserole Queens . After arriving with much fanfare, YouTube's Original Channel Initiative, which funded Hungry and dozens of other channels, quietly ended in late 2013; some placed the cost of the failed experiment as high as $300 million . Greenfield says the timing allowing the duo "the opportunity to break away and do our own thing on our own terms." Recent episodes of Brothers Green Eats have stressed the casual nature that launched the pair's YouTube career: The guys hang out in their own kitchen, leaning on counters as they wordlessly walk viewers through tutorials for "Ways to Get Creative" with ingredients like pizza dough and coconut milk. (The simple instructions usually come via illustrations on the videos.) "Sometimes I have a dream about a recipe, wake up, go the grocery store, buy the ingredients and start filming just to see what happens," Greenfield says of the brothers' current shooting strategy. "Other times we may come up with something while cooking a meal and then shoot the video a few days later, and other times still we have an idea we want to try, we test it out and then the second round of testing happens on camera. It's rare that we try to perfect something and then film it; we always want there to be some sort of new discovery happening on camera ." Translating YouTube Hits to Other Opportunities For some of these YouTube cooks, their online fan base has helped them parlay their viewership into appearances on "traditional" television. After much urging from her fans to apply, Costa briefly appeared on season three of FOX's amateur cooking competition MasterChef , making it through the audition round but eventually getting cut before the elimination episodes began. "It was a nice experience to be a part of a big production," she says. "[But] after I participated in a show with hundreds of people in the crew, I realized that the only way to be creative in this field is having a small crew, basically." Costa cites the creative freedom inherent with conceptualizing and editing her own YouTube program but just last week, Costa wrapped up shooting a Brazilian version of Dulce Delight , which is already airing on Brazil's Globo TV . Globo signed Costa to a 20-episode first season that effectively translates her YouTube show into Portuguese; Costa says the Brazilian show features entirely new recipes but keeps her colorful aesthetic intact. New episodes will run on Globo through June. The Greenfields, meanwhile, are currently working with MTV International on a hybrid "cooking/music" show, although Joshua remains mum on the details. "The show has been officially picked up and we've shot an entire first season; it's set to air internationally in a few months," Greenfield says. Gabriel has also shot a pilot for French television, and he's similarly keeping the details close to the vest, only revealing that "the pilot will be about regional French food, products and people. I want my viewers to discover what France really is behind those chef's whites." "It's hard to say whether or not I'd be interested in doing something on TV, because TV is super-limiting." Hannah Hart Hart, who caught up with Eater in between takes for another unaffiliated web series, has branched out into other forms of entertainment, setting up an official production studio complete with a kitchen set. (It's the blue-painted kitchen that's showing up in her most recent "My Drunk Kitchen" episodes.) With friend and fellow YouTube personality Grace Helbig, Hart's currently shooting a remake of the '70s TV series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl , to be released online by Legendary Digital Media. (She plays a wannabe superhero.) She's been increasingly posting videos not related to cooking or drinking. Hart's other channel, YourHarto , delves into deeply personal topics; most notably, her 2012 video series about coming out has collected millions of views. From outside the confines of MDK, Hart has launched a community of fans who self-describe as "Hartosexuals," and she met many of them in person during a multi-city live tour last year. But while she says she'd welcome another cookbook opportunity or tour, Hart is ambivalent about making the switch to traditional food television. " My Drunk Kitchen isn't just about the cooking, and it's also not just about the drinking, and it's also not just about the message," she says about bringing the show somewhere like the Cooking Channel. "It's this happy little blend, and it's hard to say whether or not I'd be interested in doing something on TV, because TV is super-limiting. It's a lot of people spending a lot of money, so there's a lot of rules attached." Instead, her growing MyHarto channel plans to branch out, offering more scripted content and video "longform." Costa agrees, noting she's been in conversations about a potential television show for about a year. "I'm tough on my creative side," Costa laughs. "If they want me to do the same thing everyone else already does, there's no point to be doing it. I want to bring something new to people. I want people to feel inspired, and I don't want to be that perfect TV host where I have to make it look like I know everything. I don't know everything, and things go wrong, and I think people connect to that." She laughs. "I want my TV show to be so real that it's not even called a reality show it's a super-reality show ." Stay tuned.
| 0 | 11,006 |
foodanddrink
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Mariner of the Seas and Carnival Triumph in port at St. Thomas Rennett Stowe / Flickr Skift Take: Despite a higher volume of cruise passengers, visitors arriving by land stay longer and spend more making them far more valuable for long-term economic growth. Samantha Shankman Although the cruise industry plays an important role in many Caribbean economies, visitors that arrive by air are far more valuable to these islands built around hotel stays and excursions. More than double the number of travelers arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands by cruise (1.9 million) than by air (800,000), according to statistics shared by Visit U.S. Virgin Islands . However, even with lodging taken out of the equation, travelers in the U.S. Virgin Islands that arrive via air spend close to $100 more per person per day than those that arrive via ship. The average cruise visitor spends between $138 and $158 per day while the average visitor arriving via air spends between $200 to $250 per day. "While we get more visitors from cruise and it is an extremely important part of our overall mix, the truth is that land visitors spend almost three times as much per day as a cruise passengers, says says U.S. Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism Beverly Nicholson Doty. "It includes lodging and transportation and they're there for longer so they participate in more excursions." Non-cruise visitors also do significantly more for the local economic in terms of job growth and economic impact. "Overnight visitors are important for us in terms of an economic driver as it correlates back to staffing at hotels. They really have additional value for the territory, especially since 68 percent of every dollar is generated through tourism," says Doty. Similar trends can be found on other Caribbean islands where tourism, and the cruise sector in particular, plays an important economic role. In Bermuda, cruise arrivals accounted for 61 percent of visitors in 2014, however, their spend is strikingly lower than that of air arrivals. Cruise visitors spend an average $153 per visit while visitors arriving via air spend an average $1,249 per visit. The dramatic difference is caused by lodging, which as Doty pointed out plays an important role in job growth. In Puerto Rico, visitors arriving via air again spent much more than visitors via cruise. The island welcomed nearly 1.4 million cruise passengers in 2014 who spent an average $155 per day. Significantly more visitors, more than 8 million, arrived via air and those that stayed in hotels spent $298 on average per day. It is interesting to note that visitors to Puerto Rico who stayed in relatives' homes or vacation rentals spent less than cruise visitors and hotel guests at an average $142 per day. Find average per visit and per day spend for cruise and air arrivals in three tourism economies: Country Cruise Arrivals Air Arrivals Cruise Spend Per Person Air Spend Per Person U.S. Virgin Islands 1,900,000 800,000 $138-$158 per day $200-$250 per day w/o lodging Puerto Rico 1,356,822 8,600,413 155.62 per day $298.15 per day w/ lodging Bermuda 355,880 224,329 $153 per visit $1249 per visit w/ lodging
| 2 | 11,007 |
travel
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The other day I was sitting around talking with a friend in the car business, an older gentleman who has been in finance and insurance (F&I) since the invention of the automobile (I think he may actually have been in the horse & carriage business before that), and completely out of the blue he asked me a question I could not answer. "Why do we show such disdain for the people who feed us?" By "the people who feed us," he meant the customers. The ones who buy the cars. They're the ones who put food on our table, clothes on our backs, and allow us to pay for our children's education. And yet, as he pointed out, we in the car business routinely refer to people with credit problems with such derogatory terms as "bogues" or, worse yet, "roaches," when these are the very people we make the most money off of. At the same time we have nothing but contempt for those people with credit scores of 800 and perfect credit histories because they don't need us and we can't control them. If you come in and pay full price, you're a "laydown," which is, in a sense, the same thing as being a fool. But if you fight for your money, what do you get? Our respect? No way. We call you a mooch. There is an incredible arrogance under the surface in the car business, and behind the smiles and the handshakes, an incredible disdain for our customers. In some places the culture has become so rotten it's considered fashionable to talk in the most disparaging tones imaginable about the customers behind their backs. It's almost as if salespeople are in a competition to see who can make the most damning statement about a customer. And we do this even as we're trying to sell to them. If a salesperson takes the customer's side or fights for a customer too much, they're told they're being "too much of a customer advocate" and viewed with suspicion. After all, it's Us against Them. And you're either one of us, or you're one of them. You can't be both. The longer you've been in the business, the worse it gets. The proper stance for any veteran of sales is supreme cynicism. Cynicism is seen as evidence of wisdom and experience. If you show a tendency to believe in people and accept their statements as mostly truthful, you're considered weak, naive, or a sucker. The strong do not believe in anything or anyone. Every customer is lying. Every customer is a con artist trying to "put us together," escape a commitment, or avoid buying a car. We've got to be on our guard at all times, otherwise these people will steal us blind and screw us on the survey. And to be perfectly honest, after you've been in sales for a while and enough Little Old Ladies and Boy Scout Leaders and Fine Upstanding Pillars of the Community have lied their heinies off to you, you may start to be a little cynical, too. Everybody's on the take. Everybody's scamming me. But then, you have to take a step back and say, "Is it really like that? Is everybody trying to scam me? Even 80-year-old Mrs. Fenster in her Buick Regal? Or is it only a few?" In my opinion, the folks who are quickest to believe they're being lied to by their customers are the ones who do the most lying to their customers. They just naturally assume that because they're doing it, everyone else is doing it to them. There are good, decent people out there. And all they want is to be treated with honesty and respect. And after that, a fair deal. But first comes the honesty and respect. And yes, after 10 years doing this job, I am still naive enough to believe that if you give that to most people, you will get the same in return … from most people. Not all, but most. Disdain is the accepted mentality in many car dealerships today. It's sad, and it's unfortunate, and I have no idea how to change it … except to say that we need to relearn how to respect our customers and genuinely appreciate their business because without the customers, honestly, all we'd have is a parking lot full of slowly rusting metal. More Car Salesman Confidential: When Test Drives Go Bad When The Turnover Isn't Tasty Why I'm Better Than The Internet
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Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC after what it called a "fracas" with a producer. Sources said he was accused of hitting the producer in an incident last week, and the remaining three episodes of the current series might not be broadcast. The BBC confirmed one episode - due for broadcast on Sunday - would not be shown, but gave few further details. Clarkson, 54, has not commented, but has been joking on social media about films that could replace Sunday's show. He was given what he called his "final warning" last May after claims he used a racist word during filming. At the time, he said the BBC had told him he would be sacked if he made "one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time". In a statement earlier, the BBC said: "Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. "No one else has been suspended. "Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. "The BBC will be making no further comment at this time." BBC News special correspondent Lucy Manning said sources had confirmed reports Clarkson was suspended for "allegedly hitting a producer". "The incident is believed to have happened last week, but was reported to the BBC on Monday and dealt with on Tuesday," she added. "The next two episodes of Top Gear will not be broadcast and it's understood that a third programme, the final of the series, is unlikely to be transmitted." 'Sorry Ed' Clarkson's representatives have yet to reply to requests for a comment. In an exchange on Twitter, Clarkson and co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May have been suggesting films that could be aired in place of the Sunday's Top Gear episode. Later - in an apparent reference to Ed Miliband - Clarkson tweeted: "Sorry Ed. It seems I knocked your 'I'm a human' piece down the news agenda." Justine Miliband, the Labour leader's wife, has given an interview to the BBC saying she expects personal attacks on her husband to be "really vicious" as May's election approaches. This weekend's episode of Top Gear was set to feature Clarkson - who has fronted the show since 2002 - and his fellow presenters at a classic track day. Former footballer and pundit Gary Lineker was also to appear as the "star in a reasonably priced car". Lineker has tweeted: "I don't think I'm ever meant to appear on Top Gear!" 'Strong character' Former Top Gear presenter Chris Goffey told BBC Radio 5 live that, while discussions on the programme sometimes became heated when he worked on the show, it "must have been something fairly serious behind the scenes to warrant his immediate suspension". "I can't think what the hell's gone on, but there you go. When you've got a very strong character who likes things his own way, if somebody stands up to him, there's going to be a row." Clarkson has courted controversy on several occasions during his time hosting Top Gear. The show's executive producer, Andy Wilman, described last year as an "annus horribilis" for the programme. It followed an incident in Argentina where the presenters and crew were forced to flee the country after trouble erupted over a number plate reading H982 FLK - which some suggested referred to the Falklands conflict of 1982. Last year the show was also censured by Ofcom for breaching broadcasting rules after Clarkson used a derogatory word for Asian people during its Burma special programme. Other Top Gear controversies May 2014 - The programme drew complaints when video footage leaked to the Daily Mirror appeared to show Jeremy Clarkson using a racist term while reciting the nursery rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe. The presenter later apologised for the incident, which was never broadcast October 2012 - The BBC Trust ruled comments by Clarkson which likened the design of a camper van to people with facial disfigurements breached disability guidelines. January 2012 - Indian diplomats complained about a 90-minute India special in which a car fitted with a toilet in its boot is described by Clarkson as "perfect for India because everyone who comes here gets the trots". February 2011 - The BBC apologised to Mexico after Clarkson and his co-hosts characterised Mexicans as "lazy" and "feckless".
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DENVER (AP) The Colorado Avalanche will sit goaltender Semyon Varlamov on Tuesday night against Los Angeles after he injured his groin over the weekend. Coach Patrick Roy confirmed after the morning skate that rookie Calvin Pickard will take Varlamov's place in net. Varlamov has started 22 straight games, one away from matching Craig Anderson's mark for most consecutive starts by an Avalanche goaltender set in 2010. In a win Sunday at Minnesota, Varlamov appeared to hurt his groin. Earlier this season, Varlamov missed 15 games due to the groin. He also took a puck off his shoulder area against the Wild, but Roy said that wasn't an issue. Varlamov tested out the groin Tuesday morning. Roy said ''it doesn't hurt him, but he doesn't feel like it's solid enough to take a chance.''
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Gary Cahill has warned Paris Saint-Germain that Chelsea's recent League Cup victory has left the team hungry for more silverware as the sides prepare to meet in the UEFA Champions League last-16 second leg. Premier League leader Chelsea won its first silverware since Jose Mourinho returned as manager when it defeated London rival Tottenham 2-0 in the Wembley showpiece at the start of this month. A hard-fought 1-0 victory at West Ham followed in the league as Chelsea made it eight games unbeaten since suffering a surprise 4-2 defeat to third-tier Bradford City in the FA Cup. That loss afforded Chelsea a rare weekend off and Cahill believes the extra time spent on the training ground could be crucial in Wednesday's contest at Stamford Bridge, with the tie locked at 1-1. "The cup final was huge in terms of the atmosphere around the club and the dressing room," he told Chelsea's official website. "We were desperate as a team, as a squad, to win that game. We came through it really well and hopefully as a group we can use the positive experiences from that and try and build momentum for many more cup finals. "We have had more time than we usually would to rest up and prepare in training for a good three or four days before the game. We've been able to really work on specific things in preparation for it. We know the quality of PSG and the job that lies ahead of us. It's going to be like a final, a big one-off game and we'll be ready to go out there and give it everything we have to get us into the next round." Chelsea defeated French champion PSG in last season's quarterfinals and returns to London in better shape this time around, having trailed 3-1 following the first leg 12 months ago. For big-spending PSG, the match offers the chance to finally make a statement in Europe's premier competition, having suffered last-eight defeats on the away goals rule to Barcelona and Chelsea in the past two seasons. Former Chelsea defender David Luiz stoked the flames ahead of his return to Stamford Bridge by claiming Mourinho was not special for him a reference to the Portuguese's "Special One" moniker. The Brazil international also spoke of his belief that PSG can progress, a view shared by teammate Blaise Matuidi. "Wednesday's match will be a very tough one against a team full of confidence," he told PSG's official website. "But we're heading there to qualify." Head coach Laurent Blanc will have to make do without Serge Aurier (hamstring), Lucas Moura (groin) and Yohan Cabaye (thigh). Chelsea will once more be without John Obi Mikel (knee), but Nemanja Matic should shake off an ankle injury suffered celebrating the League Cup win despite the Serbian missing that match through suspension.
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Jurors in the Boston Marathon bombing trial were shown a disturbing note suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scribbled inside the boat he was hiding in. CNN's Deb Feyerick reports.
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A wrap up of the day in sports Big night for LeBron Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James reacts after dunking against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in Dallas. James had 27 points and set the Cavaliers career assist record as Cleveland won 127-94. Going low Team Japan's Kazuhisa Makita pitches against Team Europe in the fourth inning of their friendly baseball game at Tokyo Dome on Tuesday in Tokyo. Three's a crowd Real Madrid's Toni Kroos, left, and Raphael Varane, right, go for a header challenged by Schalke 04's Marco Hoger during their Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday in Madrid. Schalke won 4-3, but Real Madrid advanced 5-4 on aggregate. Gonzaga wins WCC title Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Domantas Sabonis shoots against the Brigham Young Cougars during the finals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena on Tuesday. Gonzaga beat BYU 91-75 to win their 14th WCC title. IMAGES: COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON Tripped at the last Ruby Walsh falls from Annie Power at the last when clear in The OLBG Mare' Hurdle Race at Cheltenham racecourse on Tuesday in Cheltenham, England. Takedown St. Louis Blues center David Backes, left, checks Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba on Tuesday in St. Louis. The Blues won 5-4. IMAGES: NHL SEASON Just gliding past An elderly man looks on as paragliders fly over the Botan River on Tuesday at Gabar Mountain in Siirt province of Turkey. Can't bear to look Wake Forest's Cornelius Hudson (front) and Konstantinos Mitoglou (left) leave the court after losing 81-80 to Virginia Tech in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C. IMAGES 2014-15 COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON A lot to celebrate Porto's Yacine Brahimi celebrates his goal against FC Basel with his teammates during their Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match at Dragao stadium on Tuesday in Porto, Portugal. Porto won 4-0 and advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Going the other way Colby Rasmus of the Houston Astros swings at a pitch during a spring training game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday in Kissimmee, Fla. IMAGES: 2015 SPRING TRAINING Plenty of clearance Mr W. Biddick riding Mendip Express clears a fence during the Ultima Business Solutions Handicap Steeplechase on day one at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday in Cheltenham, England. Dancing in Dallas The Dallas Mavericks dancers perform during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday at American Airlines Center in Dallas. IMAGES: NBA DANCERS A ride through paradise Daniel Teklehaimanot and Youcef Reguigui of MTN-Qhubeka and Isaac Bolivar Hernandez of UHC pass through Batu Melintang during Stage 3 of the 2015 Le Tour de Langkawi on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Into the windy wild Third placed (shared) Stefan Kraft of Austria in action during the men's Ski Jumping Large Hill FIS World Cup competition in Kuopio, Tuesday. With third place Kraft took the lead of the World Cup series. Hoping to impress Kent State's Casey Pierce catches a football during workouts for NFL scouts during pro day on Tuesday in Kent, Ohio. Leave something behind? Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, left, of FC Schalke 04 goes past goalkeeper Iker Casillas of Real Madrid CF during their Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday in Madrid. Taking it strong to the hoop Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs goes to the basket during a game against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. The Spurs won 117-107. IMAGES: 2014-15 NBA SEASON Doubling up Seattle Mariners' Chris Taylor throw over Colorado Rockies' Brandon Barnes to complete a double play in the first inning of a spring training exhibition baseball game on Tuesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. IMAGES: 2015 SPRING TRAINING BC tops Tech Olivier Hanlan (21) of Boston College drives to the basket past Georgia Tech's Tadric Jackson during their first round matchup in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C. Hanlan led Boston College with 25 points to a 66-65 win. IMAGES 2014-15 COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON India prevails over Ireland Rohit Sharma of India plays the ball away for four runs during the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup match between Ireland and India at Seddon Park on Tuesday in Hamilton, New Zealand. Hard driving Georgia Tech's Tadric Jackson, center, drives against Boston College defenders during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C. Boston College won 66-65. IMAGES: 2014-15 COLLEGE BASKETBALL The other undefeated team Princeton Tigers head coach Courtney Banghart celebrates with her players in the locker room after defeating the Pennsylvania Quakers 55-42 to win the Ivy League Championship on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Princeton finished the regular season undefeated at 30-0. IMAGES 2014-15 COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON France in mourning A poster of the recently killed Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat is hung Tuesday at the City Hall of Nice, France. Argentine recovery teams arrived on Tuesday at the site of a helicopter collision to recover the bodies of 10 people, including Muffat, 25, who was participating in a reality TV show. Crunch time Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brad Stuart checks Los Angeles Kings center Nick Shore into the boards on March 10 in Denver. The Kings won 5-2. IMAGES: NHL SEASON Sliding safely Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, right, steals second base under the tag of New York Yankees second baseman Stephen Drew during the first inning of a spring training game at Ed Smith Stadium on Tuesday in Sarasota, Fla. IMAGES: 2015 SPRING TRAINING Pacers cheer Indiana Pacers fans cheer during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic, on Tuesday in Indianapolis. Indiana won 118-86 and hit 17 3-point shots in the game. IMAGES: 2014-15 NBA SEASON Dumb and Dumber Baseball fans Danny Pehrson of Arizona, left, holding up a hair dryer , and his friend, Justin Goshorn, of Aspen, are dressed like the movie characters from "Dumb and Dumber" during an exhibition spring training baseball game, on Tuesday, in Fort Myers Fla. IMAGES: 2015 SPRING TRAINING Teaming up Singer Justin Bieber, tennis player Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard, comedian Will Ferrell and comedian Kevin Hart attend the 11th Annual Desert Smash Hosted By Will Ferrell Benefiting Cancer For College at La Quinta Resort and Club on Tuesday in La Quinta, California. CR7 celebrates Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid CF celebrates as he scores their second goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg match between Real Madrid CF and FC Schalke 04 at Estadio Bernabeu on Tuesday in Madrid, Spain. Selfie time Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina and Monica Seles of the United States pose for a selfie during the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday in New York City. Steep ascent A skier climbs up the summit on Seegrube mountain above the western Austrian city of Innsbruck on Tuesday. Julius Randle and the Laker girls Los Angeles Laker Julius Randle and Laker Girls attend the Bob Hope USO at LAX on Tuesday in Los Alamitos, California. IMAGES: 2014-15 NBA SEASON DePaul girls celebrate DePaul players celebrate around guard Brittany Hrynko (12) after the team's 78-68 win over Seton Hall in an NCAA college basketball game, claiming the Big East Conference tournament title on Tuesday in Rosemont, Ill. IMAGES 2014-15 COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON Balancing act Scotland's Freddie Coleman tries to maintain his balance, without hitting the boundary with his feet, to successfully catch out Sri Lanka's captain Angelo Mathews during the Cricket World Cup match in Hobart March 11, 2015. IMAGES: PREVIOUS DAY'S PHOTOS
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ST. LOUIS -- A return to their usual form at home this week could move the Blues back to the top of the Central Division. They haven't been all alone in first place since Chicago moved to the top Dec. 14, though St. Louis briefly shared the lead with Nashville in early February. The Predators beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Feb. 7 to start a six-game win streak, and they led the Blues by as many as nine points. But thanks to Nashville's six-game losing streak that ended Monday night with an unconvincing 2-1 overtime win at lowly Arizona, the Blues have new life in the race for the NHL's best division. They're just four points behind the Predators, who have played three more games and will close out the week by finishing a tough West Coast road trip at San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim. "We want to continue climbing up the ladder," Blues forward Jaden Schwartz says. "There's no secret what the standings are, but we've got to focus on our game, make sure we're doing our job, and the rest will take care of itself." That starts with getting back to what made them one of the NHL's best home teams. After losing two of its first three to start the season, St. Louis went 20-2-2 and never lost by more than a goal. But Tampa Bay looked like the far superior team before the Blues rallied late to win 2-1 in overtime Feb. 3, and Chicago finally ended a nine-game home points streak by knocking off St. Louis five days later. By the end of February, the Blues had lost four of their last six home games, all by two goals or more. "I think we got too comfortable staying in town for such a long period of time," coach Ken Hitchcock says. "We got sloppy, so to me we've got to grow our game back where we've got to put details back in it." It's tempting to blame the struggles solely on the homestand coming at the wrong time, especially since it began immediately after Kevin Shattenkirk went down with an injury. But St. Louis still won its last four road games in February, including tough tests at Tampa Bay and Winnipeg, two teams in position to make the playoffs. Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester says the Blues are feeling good after earning seven of 10 points on their five-game road trip, capped off by a dominant 6-1 win at Toronto last Saturday. They'll look to carry that into Tuesday night's game against Winnipeg, set for 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Midwest. The Jets will bring a physical game, and St. Louis wants to do a better job of matching it from the start than it did in a 2-1 win at Winnipeg. The Blues survived a scoreless first period despite getting outshot 11-4 before recovering to earn a critical two points to snap a two-game losing streak. Oddly, finding energy from the opening faceoff has been much tougher for St. Louis at home since the All-Star break. The Blues haven't scored first in eight home games, and they scored their only first-period goal in a 2-1 win over Arizona. On the road, St. Louis failed to take a 1-0 lead only once, and that resulted in a disastrous 6-1 loss at lowly Columbus. The Blues are 29-5-2 this season when they score first, and captain David Backes knows a fast start can be huge. "You can really establish your game early, then it seems to have perpetual motion through the rest of the game," Backes says. "You start slow and it's a lot tougher to grab it back." The same goes for divisional races, but everyone in the St. Louis locker room knows Nashville has provided an unexpected opening at the top. The Blues will have their chances down the stretch, and they'll need to play well at home with six of their last eight games at Scottrade. Whether they follow Hitchcock's advice and keep their focus limited to only one game or look at the big picture, how they finish will be most important. You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at [email protected].
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One of the hardest, yet most critical, wedding planning decisions you need to make is deciding on a practical wedding budget. Already have yours figured out? Congrats! Now you need to know how to spend the money you've got. While it's definitely more fun than setting the budget, sticking to your planned expenditures can be a real hardship for many couples. That's where we come in. We've already shared our best advice for divvying up your $15,000 , $25,000 , and $40,000 wedding budgets, so now we're breaking down the details for couples that have $30,000 to spend. And for couples that are working with a different budget entirely, visit our wedding budget tracker tool to calculate your own custom wedding budget and track payments. Dress & Style: $3,900 Based on your budget, you have $1,800 to spend on your dream wedding dress. Before you shop for your accessories, like a headpiece, veil, shoes, and jewelry, keep in mind you should spend no more than $600 total for these add-ons. Before you book your hair and makeup for the big day, remember you $600 budget here includes any trials, too. And don't forget about your groom! He's got $300 to spend on a tuxedo or suit, so he can look stylish on the big day. Plan to spend no more than $600 on the two rings you'll both exchange after your nuptials. Paper Products: $1,200 You should plan to spend about $900 on your wedding invitations and thank-you cards. If you need some inspiration, check out the BRIDES stationery shop , where you can customize your perfect suite. While you're there, take a look at ceremony programs, escort cards, and menus, since you have a generous $300 to spend on those details. Ceremony & Reception: $16,500 Book a ceremony venue that costs no more than $300, and plan to spend an additional $300 on any officiant fees or donations. Always dreamed of walking down the aisle to the sound of live music? Book a vendor that costs about $450. As for your reception, this is where the bulk of your budget will go. Your venue, including any rentals, food, service, beverages, and bartenders should run you no more than $12,600. Add in an additional $600 for your cake and $2,250 for a great band or DJ and you're on your way to a memorable evening. Accommodations & Transportation: $900 Get yourself to and from the wedding in a limo or car rental that costs about $450. Then, when the party is over, cozy up to your groom in a hotel room for about $150. Don't forget your guests, though. Book transportation to and from the venue for $300. Flowers & Décor: $2,700 Your bouquet should cost no more than $225, which will leave you with another $300 to spend on all of your bridesmaids' arrangements. Find boutonnieres for all the guys that will cost about $90, and then spend $30 on petals for the flower girl to toss. You've got $420 to spend decorating your ceremony space, which includes any altars, chuppahs, or aisle runners. As for your reception d°cor and centerpieces, select a look that won't break your $1,635 budget. Photo & Video: $3,600 Your wedding photos will last you a lifetime, and with $2,100 to spend on a photographer you'll have an album of beautiful memories to cherish for years to come. If you're planning to have a videographer on hand to record the ceremony or reception, you can spend an additional $1,500. Favors & Gifts: $1,200 Your attendants have done so much to help your throughout the wedding planning process, so with the $600 you have to spend on them, gift your 'maids and groomsmen with a thoughtful token. When picking favors to hand out to guests, remember you have about $300 to spend. And if you want to thank your parents for their support, you have another $300 to put towards any gifts. Calculate your own wedding budget here!
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A sensitive leak investigation of a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has stalled amid concerns about confirming a joint U.S.-Israeli covert operation in federal court and possibly complicating nuclear talks with Iran, according to current and former U.S. officials. Federal investigators suspect that retired Marine Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright leaked to a New York Times reporter details about a highly classified operation to hobble Iran's nuclear enrichment capability through cyber sabotage an effort not acknowledged by Israel or the United States. Prosecutors will have to overcome significant national security and diplomatic concerns if they want to move forward, including pitting the Obama administration against Israel if that ally were opposed to any information about the cyber operation being revealed in court. The United States could move forward with the case against Israel's wishes, but such a move might further harm relations between two countries, which already are frayed because of a disagreement over how best to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. "There are always legitimate national security reasons for not proceeding in one of these cases," said John L. Martin, who handled many sensitive espionage investigations as a former Justice Department prosecutor. The case highlights how national security issues and diplomatic and foreign policy sensitivities can outweigh prosecutors' desire to hold high-ranking officials to account for leaking classified secrets. The Obama administration has been the most aggressive in history in pursuing those suspected of leaking classified information. The Justice Department has offered no clues to whether it intends to proceed with a case against Cartwright, who helped design the cyber campaign against Iran under President George W. Bush and was involved in its escalation under President Obama. Spokespeople for the Justice Department, the White House and the FBI declined to comment for this article. Gregory B. Craig, Cartwright's attorney and a former White House counsel in the Obama administration, said he has had no contact with prosecutors for more than a year. "General Cartwright has done nothing wrong," Craig said. "He has devoted his entire life to defending the United States. He would never do anything to weaken our national defense or undermine our national security. Hoss Cartwright is a national treasure, a genuine hero and a great patriot." In discussions with the Office of the White House Counsel, then led by Kathryn Ruemmler, who left in June 2014, prosecutors sought to determine whether the White House would be willing to declassify material important to the case. Ruemmler was unwilling to provide the documentation, citing security concerns, including those relating to sources and methods, said a person familiar with the matter. Ruemmler declined to comment. "There's a fundamental tension in cases like this between the needs of a criminal prosecution and the needs of national security," said Jason Weinstein, a former deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, who was not briefed on the investigation. "Where that comes to a head is when prosecutors want to use evidence in a courtroom that is highly classified and very sensitive." It is often the case that the needs of a particular criminal prosecution yield to national security interests. "At the end of the day," Weinstein said, "if you can't use the evidence you need in court, you can't bring the case." Details of the joint program, including its code name, Olympic Games, were revealed by Times reporter David E. Sanger in a book and article in June 2012. The sabotage of Iranian nuclear centrifuges by the computer worm dubbed Stuxnet had emerged two years earlier, and security experts speculated that it was the work of the United States and Israel. Confirmation of the joint authorship set off a political controversy, with congressional Republicans charging that the White House had deliberately leaked information to enhance Obama's national security credentials as he sought reelection. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. assigned the U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein to investigate the leak. His office declined to comment. FBI investigators focused on Cartwright in the fall of 2012, officials said. They interviewed him at least twice, according to people who are familiar with the case and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. During the first interview, Cartwright had to go to the hospital. Part of the challenge of preparing a case like this is determining to what extent authorities who control the declassification of information, in this case the White House and the intelligence community, are willing to divulge information. In the case of a CIA officer who was recently convicted of espionage, the government disclosed sensitive details during the leak trial about a separate operation to sabotage Iran's nuclear program that occurred more than a decade ago. The CIA even allowed a Russian scientist who had defected and taken part in the highly classified operation to testify. "The government's got to make a choice: Is it more important to prosecute a national security leak or more important to preserve relationships with allies and shield sources and methods that protect the country?" said one individual familiar with the matter. The case also poses opportunities for "graymail" a situation in which defense attorneys exercise leverage that lawyers in ordinary criminal cases lack by forcing prosecutors to make tough judgment calls about divulging sensitive or classified information. Craig might, for instance, push for broad discovery of information aimed at demonstrating that other officials could have been sources of the leak. He also could press to establish the factual basis for the information leaked, which could expose sensitive material. Cartwright had White House authorization to speak with reporters, according to people familiar with the matter. Craig might try to put the White House's relationship with reporters and the use of authorized leaks on display, creating a potentially embarrassing distraction for the administration. The case could remain open beyond the point at which national security and foreign policy concerns are an issue. Under the Espionage Act, one of the statutes that the government probably would use, prosecutors have 10 years from the date of the alleged crime to file charges. Sari Horwitz contributed to this report.
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The future of Sen. Robert Menendez might hinge on what his staffers have to say. At question is whether his aides can give testimony that would implicate the New Jersey Democrat, who is facing possible federal corruption charges for his dealings with Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen. Members of Congress and their staffs are entitled to privileged communication surrounding legislative matters. The Speech or Debate Clause (Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution) protects senators and representatives from being questioned about legislative acts anywhere but the floor of their chamber. But what constitutes a legislative conversation? Two Menendez staffers, Kerri Talbot, a former chief counsel, and Michael Barnard, a health care legislative assistant, are cited as having conversations with the executive branch surrounding Melgen. When compelled to testify to the nature of the interactions, both invoked the Speech or Debate Clause. It's a common response for lawmakers and staffers facing an investigation, said Kenneth A. Gross, a political law attorney at Skadden. Gross cited the case of ex-Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., and STOCK Act investigations as recent examples. "Anytime you are investigating Congress, such as this, it creates a real hurdle for prosecutors," said Gross. A federal district court ordered the aides to testify, but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to the lower court. The burden is now on Menendez to prove there was a legislative purpose to the conversations and the speech is protected. That will not be easy to do, says Michael Stern, a former senior counsel to the House and former Senate investigator who writes a blog about congressional legal issues, Point of Order . "The Supreme Court has said that efforts to influence an executive agency are not covered under Speech or Debate," Stern said. "But the lower courts have said the 'information gathering' conversations can be protected, if you're intending to use it for legislative purposes later on. It's a fuzzy line; what is informal information gathering, and what will be used some day for legislation?" In this instance, Stern believes it's unlikely the conversations were legislative in nature. "It was more likely they were bringing up a case to have the agency handle rather than gathering information for a legislative purpose," he said. "The case law makes the distinction between 'legislative acts' that are directly related to the legislative business in [the] Senate and 'political acts', in the sense that it may be part of the official duties of a member, but they are outside of the specific legislative duties," said Robert L. Walker, counsel at Wiley Rein, former chief counsel of the Senate Ethics Committee and a former trial attorney with the public integrity section of the Department of Justice. Such "political acts" include constituent service activities, said Walker, including communications with executive branch agencies on behalf of constituents. According to the New Jersey Law Journal , Talbot asked a staff member from U.S. Customs and Border Protection if that agency would refrain from donating used screening equipment to the Dominican Republic, clearing the way for a contractor controlled by Melgen to make a sale. If Talbot's communication is protected under the Speech or Debate Clause, it cannot be used at trial to implicate Menendez, even if the executive branch is willing to testify to its nature. "it's a little hard for me to believe that if the government official was saying, 'Well, my interpretation was Menendez was telling me to fix the prob for the doctor,' that anyone could keep that out [of trial] based on the Speech or Debate Clause," Stern said. "But its not 100 percent clear," he continued. It also could be a case of both protected speech and non-protected speech occurring in the same interactions, which can be very difficult to parse out, Walker said. "If it's intertwined, if you can't get it without treading on protected, the protections get to prevail. On the other hand, it may well be a discrete set of activities related to constituent-service like conduct; chances are that the courts are not going to find that that's protected." Talbot and Bernard may have to wait until the lower court makes a ruling, but they might not need to wait long. Leaked court documents indicate that the grand jury is moving forward with an indictment, and their testimony might not be needed until trial. But it can be a long agonizing wait. Especially for two staffers who were likely doing what their boss wanted, as part of their routine job responsibilities. The 114th: CQ Roll Call's Guide to the New Congress Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call in your inbox or on your iPhone .
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SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) Manny Machado had three hits and drove in one run, Wei-Yin Chen pitched three scoreless innings and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 3-1 on Tuesday. Machado, who had knee surgery last August, continued his strong early spring. He's now 6 for 14 and made a nifty pickup on a slow roller down the third base line. ''He's been good since Day One,'' Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. ''Manny's locked in.'' Second baseman Jonathan Schoop had two hits and an RBI, and rookie Rey Navarro hit a home run in the seventh. In his second spring start, Chen gave up one hit and walked one. He struck out two. Chen has thrown five scoreless innings. Chase Whitley, jockeying for a place on the Yankees' staff, pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking one, striking out one and throwing a wild pitch. STARTING TIME Yankees: Whitley was satisfied with his outing. ''At this point in the season, it's good to have a game like that, I guess, to battle through and get in some situations that will come up in the season,'' he said. Orioles: Chen is now using a palmball instead of a circle change. ''Hopefully that will get my velocity more consistent. I'm going to try to see how it works,'' Chen said through his translator. TRAINER'S ROOM Yankees: RHP CC Sabathia (knee surgery) is lined up to make his first start on March 17 against Toronto. He had a 38-pitch bullpen session and will throw in a simulated game Thursday. ... 1B/OF Garrett Jones was scratched with flu-like symptoms. ... RHP Andrew Bailey threw 20 pitches in his first simulated game since having right shoulder surgery in July 2013. ... RHP Luis Severino missed his second day of workouts due to strep throat. Orioles: Matt Wieters is on track to catch his first game since last June's Tommy John surgery on March 17. He's already throwing to the bases at what he estimates to be 70-80 percent speed. ''We've been doing that for about a week, maybe longer than a week now. Throwing to the bases and simulating what you might get in a game. It's different with adrenaline when an actual base runner take off on you, but we are going to cross off as many question marks as we can before the game,'' Wieters said. Showalter isn't worried about Wieters' hitting. He is now hitless in 17 at-bats. ''That's the least of my worries. It will click at some point,'' Showalter said. ALL-AROUND ALEX Alex Rodriguez is competing for at-bats at designated hitter, but to give New York manager Joe Girardi more options has also started workouts on a back field at first base in addition to his normal time at third. ''Baby steps,'' Rodriguez said. ''We've been doing it during batting practice. We've done it about two or three times already.'' Rodriguez didn't travel with the team Tuesday, staying behind in Tampa for batting practice and fielding drills at third. He had played on consecutive days for the first time Sunday and Monday. ''Actually feel a little better today than I did yesterday, so that's a good sign,'' Rodriguez said. ''I'm encouraged.'' SIGN THEM Baltimore signed the remaining 16 unsigned players on its 40-man roster, including Machado, Schoop and Kevin Gausman. UP NEXT Yankees: LHP Chris Capuano will start against Boston RHP Joe Kelly. Orioles: RHP Miguel Gonzalez faces Toronto RHP Drew Hutchison on Wednesday.
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Porto remained unbeaten in the Champions League this season and qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2009 as they defeated Swiss side Basel 5-1 on aggregate on Tuesday. Goals from Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar, combined for a 4-0 win at the Estadio do Dragao, and continued Basel's poor form in Portugal as their coach Paulo Sousa endured a miserable return to his homeland. The first leg had finished 1-1 three weeks ago in Switzerland. The Swiss champions have yet to win on six trips to Portugal while Sousa, a former Benfica and Sporting Lisbon midfielder, saw his side fail again in their bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Algeria's Brahimi eased the nerves of the home fans and put the two-time champions in charge with a precision free-kick after just 14 minutes. Former Argentina international Walter Samuel, who won the 2010 Champions League with Inter Milan, committed the offence that led to the setpiece and Brahimi made no mistake from just outside the box. The 25-year-old, curled the ball past the wall as Basel 'keeper Thomas Vaclik stood rooted to his line and was well beaten to the left of his goal. Samuel was later sent off in the final minute for a second yellow card. Porto's Brazilian captain Danilo was then carried off with a worrying injury, and left the stadium in an ambulance, when he collided just outside the penalty area with his own goalkeeper and compatriot Fabiano. Hector Herrera then scored his third goal of the competition with a neat right-foot shot from the edge of the area two minutes after half-time as Basel continued to crumble. Brahimi again played a key role as his surging run and lay-off to Herrera laid the foundations for the goal. As Basel struggled to stay in touch, the evening went from bad to worse for the visitors on 56 minutes with another precision strike from Casemiro. The Brazilian hit a long range free-kick that flew past Vaclik and killed off any chances of a Basel comeback. Cameroonian Aboubakar put the gloss on a fine night's work for the Portuguese champions with their fourth goal on 76 minutes with another high quality strike from 25 yards. Porto, who won the competition in 1987 and 2004, now go into the hat for the quarter-finals for the first time since they were beaten 3-2 in the last eight by Manchester United in 2009.
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Chris Brown talks with the newest Bills running back about being traded to Buffalo. To see more Bills videos download the Bills DeskSite.
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European footballer of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo helped himself to one goalscoring record and equalled another as holders Real Madrid booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday. Ronaldo is now the all-time leading goalscorer in European competition after two goals in the upset 4-3 defeat against Schalke took his total to 78, surpassing the previous record held by another former Real stalwart, Raul. Fixtures -- results -- player stats -- team stats But, perhaps more importantly for his intense rivalry with Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Ronaldo equalled the Argentine's Champions League record of 75. And there was more than a touch of irony that the record-breaking goals should have come against Schalke, the club where Raul ended his playing days after being deemed surplus to requirements in Spain. Real's 2-0 win in the first leg in Gelsenkichen saw them squeeze into the last eight 5-4 on aggregate. Match facts -- Ronaldo stats Also through to the last eight are FC Porto, who advanced at the expense of Swiss club Basel, 5-1 on aggregate and 4-0 on the night. Ronaldo scored twice for Real in the first half, his header in the 25th minute from a corner by Tony Kroos cancelling out an opener for the Germans by Christian Fuchs five minutes earlier. That equalled Raul's record of 77, and then, after Klaas Jan Huntelaar had restored Schalke's lead, Ronaldo equalised for a second time with another header just before the break, with his 78th European goal in all. Ronaldo, 30, who collected his third Ballon d'Or in January, just seems to go from strength to strength. - Fully-deserved - Last year he led Real Madrid to their 10th European Champions title, but their first in 12 years, smashing Messi's record of 15 Champions League goals in a single season with 17 in just 11 appearances along the way. This season, he has already netted 30 times in the league and eight times in the Champions League, matching Messi goal for goal. It also means he has now scored 60 times in 59 Champions League appearances for Real. But he still ended up on the losing side on the night. Early in the second half, Karim Benzema put the hosts in front but Schalke earned a fully-deserved win thanks to further strikes from Leroy Sande and Huntelaar. Real had come into the game unbeaten in 21 Champions League games at the Bernabeu, but that record was under threat from the off in a wretched performance that was only salvaged by Ronaldo's prediatory instincts. In Oporto, FC Porto remained unbeaten in the Champions League this season and qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2009 as they defeated Swiss side Basel 5-1 on aggregate. Goals from Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar, combined for a 4-0 win at the Estadio do Dragao, and continued Basel's poor form in Portugal as their coach Paulo Sousa endured a miserable return to his homeland. The first leg had finished 1-1 three weeks ago in Switzerland. The Swiss champions have yet to win on six trips to Portugal while Sousa, a former Benfica and Sporting Lisbon midfielder, saw his side fail again in their bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
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Kim Kardashian West is reportedly furious she will "only" make $15 million from her new TV deal.
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Two University of Oklahoma students have been expelled for taking a "leadership role" in the singing of a racist chant. CNN's Miguel Marquez reports on the fallout.
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It's getting real. Stocks were pummeled Tuesday as investors begin to realize the main dynamics supporting equities over the last few years ultra-cheap dollars from the Fed, unstoppable corporate profits and nonexistent volatility are suddenly all at risk. In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.8%, the S&P 500 lost 1.7%, the Nasdaq lost 1.7% and the Russell 2000 lost 1.2%. The catalyst was another strong reading on the U.S. jobs market this time, from the JOLTS report that showed the number of job openings surged to the highest level since January 2001. This greatly increases the chances the Federal Reserve prepares for a June hike in interest rates, the first since 2006. 3 Airline Stocks Hitting Turbulence As a result, the U.S. dollar is surging, pushing down commodities and crude oil, hammering the euro and destabilizing emerging market economies. Things have depended on the smooth flow of cheap dollars from the Fed and a lack of cross asset volatility. That's changing now as the Fed prepares to hike and currencies moves undermines the calm the bulls have enjoyed since late 2012. Moreover, a stronger dollar, weaker commodity prices (especially oil) and turbulence overseas all threaten to undermine the value of foreign profits earned by U.S. corporations threatening earnings growth, which is already rolling over at a pace that's associated with recessions. In fact, the last times the dollar strengthened to this extent were in the midst of the last two recessions, as shown above. Let's also not forget that a big driver of corporate earnings growth in the last few years has been the loose labor market and a lack of wage inflation. With the JOLTS data corroborating the solid February payroll report featuring a drop in the unemployment rate to 5.5% that's changing as well. If all this wasn't enough, the negotiations between Greece and the European establishment seem to have hit an impasse. The U.S. debt ceiling is back in play. And oil dropped 2.6% to close at $48.69 a barrel on word from Kuwait's OPEC governor that he expects the cartel to continue with its current policy stance at its next regular meeting in June. In other words, the market oversupply will continue. Technically, given how overextended investor sentiment and positioning was headed into this decline, I'm looking for the S&P 500 to drop to support near its 200-day moving average at 2,000. That would be worth an additional 2.2% decline from here. Should any of the wild cards, such as Greece or the debt ceiling, take a turn for the worse, we could see a potential move back to the October lows another 8.3% down from here. In response, I'm recommending leveraged inverse ETFs to my Edge subscribers including the ProShares UltraShort Europe (NYSEARCA:EPV) which is up 9.6% this month. For the more aggressive, my Edge Pro subscribers booked nice profits on a number of put option positions today. Many of these were highlighted in a recent post including a 193% gain in the March $33 contracts against Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) that were purchased on Friday as well as a 166% gain on the March $190 contracts against Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) purchased on March 4. Anthony Mirhaydari is founder of the Edge and Edge Pro investment advisory newsletters. More From InvestorPlace The Top 10 S&P 500 Dividend Stocks for March Why Twitter (TWTR) Still Is Dead Money 5 Healthcare Stocks That Win Big From Record Spending The post Strong Dollar, Interest-Rate Fears Crush Wall Street appeared first on InvestorPlace .
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Two multiple sclerosis patients, a 4-year-old who had a seizure in front of reporters, a depression-plagued Navy veteran and three fired-up senators kicked off a major effort to reform U.S. marijuana laws at a Capitol Hill press conference Tuesday. The senators -- Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Corey Booker, D-N.J. -- are proposing legislation that would legalize state medical marijuana programs under federal law and reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act. The legislation would allow for greater research into the medicinal value of the drug, with the lower schedule opening the door to eventual health insurance-covered pot at conventional pharmacies around the country. Possession of marijuana for any reason outside limited research currently is a federal crime, even though four states have voter-approved laws allowing recreational use of the drug and nearly two dozen allow use of marijuana as medicine. The Department of Justice generally turns a blind eye to patients in the 23 states whose laws allow doctors to "recommend" and dispensaries to sell the drug to patients, but federal prosecutions do still happen. A dozen other states allow use of cannbidiol, a compound used to treat some seizures, and others such as Virginia have decades-old laws that allow doctors to prescribe marijuana, which is currently impossible because it's a Schedule I drug, meaning federal authorities must deem it to have no accepted medical value. The new bill -- the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act -- would allow doctors affiliated with the Veterans Health Administration to recommend the drug to patients and explicitly allow medical marijuana businesses access to the banking system. It's unclear how the bill will fare, but momentum is on the side of reformers. Congress voted last year to ban federal prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration from spending fiscal year 2015 funds to go after state medical marijuana laws, but that vote did not change the underlying law. Legal access to medical marijuana is overwhelmingly supported by Americans, according to polls, but opponents remain influential in both major parties. Politicians who oppose legal access to medical marijuana include hard-line anti-legalization Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., leader of the Democratic National Committee, that party's central organization. Rank-and-file members of Congress appear more in line with the public on medical pot, with most Democrats and many Republicans in the House voting last year to protect state medical marijuana programs. Some of those in the minority on that 219-189 vote, such as conservative Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said the measure didn't go far enough and they would prefer to change the actual law. Last year's medical marijuana measure did not come up for a vote in the Senate and was rolled into a large spending deal signed into law in December. The tone of the senators Tuesday may hint at the seriousness of the new legislative push. "Today we join together to say enough is enough," Booker told a packed room. "Our federal government has long overstepped the boundaries of common sense, fiscal prudence and compassion with its marijuana laws. These laws must change." The senators each personalized the issue by introducing patients. Paul introduced the father of a staff member, who treated spasms and pain from MS with pot while living in Arizona, before he moved to Virginia, where he cannot legally acquire the drug. "I dare any senator to meet with the patients here and say to them they don't deserve the medicine their doctors prescribe," a fervent Gillibrand said, describing opposition to medical marijuana as "clearly a case of ideology getting in the way of scientific progress." "Patients need this medicine," she said. "It's outrageous they are not allowed to take it, it is outrageous that any parent should be worried about child's services knocking on their door." Paul said most people believe medical marijuana should be legal for patients because "if you don't believe in medical marijuana you believe in putting that person in jail." Paul and other senators declined to offer predictions for how long it would take for marijuana to become available at conventional pharmacies, should their legislation pass. Copyright 2015 U.S. News & World Report
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Carlo Ancelotti insists he does fear the sack after Real Madrid's poor form continued in a 4-3 defeat to Schalke in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Real scraped into the quarterfinals with a 5-4 aggregate victory but, having lost top spot in La Liga following defeat at Athletic Bilbao last weekend, the club's poor form continued against Roberto Di Matteo's men. Real was forced to withstand a late barrage after former striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar secured Schalke's win on the night with a fine 85th-minute strike at the Santiago Bernabeu. Ancelotti's side has now lost four times in all competitions since the turn of the year - a marked contrast to the team that embarked on a club-record 22-match winning streak before the mid-season break. Ancelotti is aware of the pressure he is under, but has vowed to end Real's slump. "I do not think about [being sacked]," he said. "I keep doing my work, trying to do it better. I need to do better. "We must say it clear, we are playing very badly. It is pretty hard to understand, after what we did up to December. " Real's latest defeat was met with a chorus of jeers from the Bernabeu crowd. Ancelotti expressed sympathy with the home supporters, but maintained his confidence that his under-performing team will bounce back. "The whistles from fans are totally deserved. This is going to motivate us more, for the next game," he added. "We suffered a lot until the final minute, right until the end. The game did not go as we wanted. Anything could have happened. We have had problems, in all aspects of the game, attack and defense, fight, concentration, motivation. It was pretty clear. "It is not easy to explain, above all we have lost some confidence in our play, in our identity, above all that. I have full confidence in these players, in all of them. The key to fix this problem is the players themselves, the coach too."
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Mike Garafolo gives you all the details of the Haloti Ngata trade.
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Hosting your first dinner party is a major milestone; sure, you've had friends over for cocktails or thrown a raucous house party, but those are different beasts altogether. A dinner party might seem imposing at the outset, but really it shouldn't be; follow these guidelines and you'll pull it off no problem. 1. Keep your guest list manageable : Stick to six to eight people (including yourself); not only is it less stressful to host a smaller group, but it's more budget-friendly as well (cooking for a big crowd adds up!). While there's no need to stick to one friend group - a dinner party is, of course, a great way to introduce mutual friends - it's generally a good idea to avoid a guest list entirely made up of strangers. 2. Consider hosting on a weeknight or a Friday : While it's tempting to choose a Saturday as you'll have more time to shop, prep, and clean your house, a weeknight dinner party (or even Friday) comes with lower expectations and therefore less pressure. Plus, you won't eat up your entire weekend getting things ready. With some advance planning and outsourcing, a Wednesday or Thursday is totally manageable, plus it'll be a fun break from your (and your guests') weeknight routine. 3. Send out the invite at least a week ahead : Schedules fill up fast, so send out invites one to two weeks ahead of time. If you're inviting a group of friends, a mass email is fine; if not, email or call everyone individually. Alternatively, a Paperless Post invite adds a grown-up touch. Make sure to inquire about dietary restrictions so that you can plan around any. 4. A week before your party, assess your inventory : While there's definitely no need to have matching plates, silverware, glassware, and napkins, do make sure that you have enough of each for the entire group. CB2 , West Elm , and Ikea are all great options for inexpensive table settings. (We're fond of CB2's water glasses and stemless wine glasses , as both clock in at $20 for a set of eight, so you won't be too peeved when one breaks, since they inevitably will.) Don't overlook napkins. While there's no need to splurge, paper towels don't cut it (sorry). Channel a French bistro by using striped dishcloths , go the tear-off route , or if you have enough dish towels in good condition, use those. 5. Get creative with serveware : Don't stress if you don't have a collection of platters and serving bowls (really, who does?). Instead, arrange appetizers on a wooden cutting board; serve the main course in a casserole dish, cast-iron skillet, or dutch oven; and present salads in a mixing bowl. 6. Feel no shame in outsourcing : Most will probably bring a bottle of wine or some beer, but if one of your guests asks what they can bring, suggest their favorite cheese and a baguette or a couple pints of ice cream for dessert. Likewise, don't feel the need to cook every dish; go store-bought with at least one major element, whether it's appetizers (think nuts, olives, and charcuterie) or dessert (a pie from your neighborhood bakery or a few pints of really good ice cream are great options). 7. Prep as much of the menu ahead of time as possible : Leave dishes that need to be finished at the last minute, like a delicate salad or pan-fried fish, for when you have a couple dinner parties under your belt. Instead, fill out your menu with foods that are meant to be served chilled or at room temperature. Consider a braise or soup for the main course, as these typically improve overnight and only need to be reheated. Do as much of the cooking as you can in the day or two prior to your party. 8. Don't overlook ambiance : Like dinner prep, don't leave cleanup to the last minute; do the dishes, take out the trash, wipe down the dinner table, and tidy up high-traffic areas like the bathroom the night before. Put together a playlist earlier in the week, or queue up Songza . Consider picking up some inexpensive flowers (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods both have good options), dim the lights, and decorate the table with a handful of unscented tea lights . 9. Serve the meal family-style : If you have a large enough table, pass dishes around; alternatively, set up a buffet in the kitchen or on a side table (grab a coffee table from elsewhere in the house if need be). Plating the meal is stressful on both fronts; it's one more thing for you to think about, and your guests will feel the need to clear their plates, regardless of their hunger level. 10. Keep the alcohol flowing : While you can expect some of your dinner-party guests to bring booze, don't rely entirely on this. Even if you explicitly ask everyone to bring something they'd like to drink, have some wine or beer chilled and ready for when the first people show up. Unless you're a teetotaler, savor a preparty glass of wine or beer while you put the finishing touches on your party; it'll set a convivial mood and loosen you up. (If you're stressed out, your guests will be too.)
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They just 'accidentally' legalized ecstasy, ketamine, mushrooms and meth.
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The Buffalo Bills' aggressive search for talent this offseason apparently isn't slowing down. Former New York Jets wide receiver Percy Harvin is heading to Buffalo to meet with Bills' brass, according to a source. Harvin, 26, was released by the Jets on Tuesday. After news broke last week that the Jets were acquiring Brandon Marshall in a trade, the writing was on the wall that Harvin would be cut. The Jets saved $10.5 million in cap space by making the move. Harvin's relationship with head coach Rex Ryan and wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal is very strong, according to the New York Daily News' Manish Mehta. Pairing Harvin with second-year sensation Sammy Watkins and running back LeSean McCoy would rival just about any team for speed at the skill positions. Harvin, who has played for three teams in three seasons, had 51 receptions for 483 yards and a touchdown in 2014.
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The struggle is real.
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"It matters not whether someone wants a two-seater merely for transportation or an all-out racing machine there is a Corvette to fit his desires, no matter how extreme." That's how the editors at Motor Trend kicked off their review of two '61 Vettes in the magazine's September 1961 issue, "identical except for color and engine option." Digging through the photo archives we found plenty of pictures of the "sedate appearing white test car" and its fuel-injected small-block. The "bright red, both inside and out" model with the single-four-barrel-equipped 283 proved more elusive. Which, actually, reflected the coverage the cars got in the magazine. There were four big photos of the white fuelie in the story, just two of the red car. The photos you see here are previously unpublished outtakes from the editors' day at the track, during which they also put a new-for-'62 409-powered Impala to the clocks. Related: Unrestored 1960 Corvette Might Be Most Original in Existence Comparing the two Vette engines, they pointed out that their differences go "far beyond the single area of carburetion. Though all Corvette engines have a displacement of 283 cubic inches, there is much that is done in the way of altering breathing ability to produce variations in output." The 230hp single-carb version was fitted with a hydraulic cam with 250 degrees of duration and 28 degrees of overlap, making the engine "behave like the best-mannered passenger car." Related: 1959 Chevrolet Corvette: All-American Sports Car On the other hand, the 315hp fuelie up from the previous year's 290 thanks to bigger intake and exhaust ports wouldn't idle "under 700 rpm and is most consistent in the 800-to-900-rpm range because of the combined effects of 66 degrees of valve overlap and the inability of the fuel-injection system to maintain pressure within its lines at low rpm." The cam in the fuelie "provides both valves with 287 degrees of opening." Comparing low- and mid-range performance figures wasn't a good yardstick to differentiate the two engines, they said, "because there really isn't a large numerical difference. However, a time of 8.3 seconds 0-to-60 for the mild engine as compared to 7.4 seconds for the hot version will impress those that have experience in the field of acceleration testing. A quarter-mile run would show a very large difference between the two." Sadly, the story's test data did not include that quarter-mile comparo. Outside of the engine compartment, the two Vettes received similar reviews. Both were praised for their "plush" interior appointments, which included "tufted carpeting and considerable use of chrome trim." But "when you grasp the steering wheel and negotiate a turn at high speed, and when you shift the four-speed gearbox, you completely lose sight of your luxurious environment and realize that you are driving a true sports car." Related: Hottest Corvettes from the Detroit Autorama That four-speed got especially high marks: "No matter what you pay for a sports car, whether it be in the four-figure or five-figure bracket, there is none that shifts more easily and more consistently than the Corvette four-speed box." (Speaking of which, the 230hp Vette's base price was $4,109, the fuelie $4,636.) The car's cornering ability was also "in the superior category," thanks to its low center of gravity, firm suspension, and front stabilizer bar. "Engineering wisely sacrificed softness of ride for safety in this machine." The car's rear sway bar, though, "has a detrimental effect on rear wheel adhesion," the editors felt. "In a hard corner it has a tendency to take weight off the inside rear wheel, causing the outside rear wheel to be called upon to offer the majority of the resistance to side thrust. This is not good racing practice for power-on cornering. In actual driving, though the back end wasn't uncontrollable, it did start drifting earlier than the other characteristics of the car would indicate." Two years later, of course, the Sting Ray's IRS would change all that. Chevrolet Corvette Slideshow and 360 degree panorama
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With spring almost upon us, experts are predicting the house hunting season will be a blowout. Home buying confidence is up 10 percent this year, according to TD Bank's third annual mortgage service index survey , released Tuesday. The survey found that 30 percent of Americans consider that this spring and ideal time to purchase a home, compared with only 20 percent at the in 2014. Additionally, 29 percent of consumers said they are likely to purchase a home this year, compared with 21 percent in 2014. Here are three reasons why home buying confidence is up this year: Mortgage Rates Are Low. Mortgage rates are close to historical lows but are could rise within the year as Fed watchers speculate. Home seekers are trying to take advantage of current rates before they climb. The Personal Savings Rate Is Up. The personal savings rate, which represents savings as a percentage of disposable personal income, improved in January to 5.5 percent compared with 5 percent in December, according to the most recent available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That helps with the down payment. The Stock Market Has Been on a Bull Run. In the past year, the stock market has had a good run, with the S&P 500 up 9.2 percent and the NASDAQ up 12.45 percent. Since 2009, the S&P is up nearly 210 percent and the NASDAQ has soared 285 percent. Some of that money is already being redirected to the real estate market, albeit to the higher end of it, but it could spread. "Mortgage rates are still historically low, which helps with affordability," said Rick Huard, senior vice president of consumer lending product management at TD Bank. "There has also been continued improvement in wage and employment statistics and with an uptick in consumer confidence, people are more comfortable making larger purchases." That said, it doesn't mean there won't be any obstacles, especially concerning housing inventory, which two in five consumers still consider low. But with home prices up 5.7 percent in January compared to last year, this could soon change. "Home values are up year over year, leading to more homeowners in position to list a home for sale which should improve inventory," said Huard. "It should also spur buying activity as people will move from the sidelines as we see consistent home price improvement."
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Saudi Arabia is trying to minimise the impact of plunging oil prices on its economy, King Salman said Tuesday in a wide-ranging address which promised a more diversified economy. "The low prices witnessed by the oil market are having an effect on the income of the kingdom. However, we are working towards minimising the impact on development," Salman, 79, said in his first major speech since acceding to the throne on January 23. Over the second half of last year the global price of crude oil dropped by about half, from above $100 a barrel. Yet the kingdom in December announced a 2015 budget that included a slight rise in spending to $229.3 billion with a projected fall in revenue to $190.7 billion. Those numbers leave the country with its first budget deficit since 2011. Saudi Arabia is the Arab world's largest economy, and much of its spending is on health, education and social services as well as infrastructure. Officials have said the kingdom's reserves, estimated at $750 billion, enable it to withstand the global crude price drop. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest crude exporter and oil makes up about 90 percent of government revenue. Salman told government officials and other dignitaries that the search for new deposits of oil, gas and other natural resources in Saudi Arabia would continue. "High petrol prices during the past few years have had a positive effect on the economy of the kingdom, in the development of projects," the king said. But the plunge in oil prices has emphasised the need for economic alternatives, and Salman said the kingdom's future economy "will be based on a number of foundations", with a growing number of small and medium enterprises. "The next few years will be full of important accomplishments aimed at emphasising the role of the industry and the service sectors in the national economy." - Continuity - Salman delivered his wide-ranging palace address in front of Crown Prince Moqren, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, provincial governors, the top cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, other religious leaders, the Shura Council which advises the monarch, military officers and citizens. "I have committed myself to continuing the work on the immutable foundations on which this blessed country has stood since its unification," he said, mentioning adherence to sharia Islamic law and preservation of unity and stability. "We shall work continually towards the integrated, balanced and comprehensive development in all regions of the kingdom," added Salman, the latest in a line of ruling sons of King Abdul Aziz bin Saud, who founded Saudi Arabia in 1932. The conservative Sunni-majority kingdom has a Shiite minority which has complained of marginalisation. Salman urged officials to "be attuned to the citizens", and indicated that he wants the fight against corruption stepped up. The kingdom's foreign policy "is based on the teachings of our religion that call for peace and kindness", Salman said, but "extremism and terrorism" will be fought at their roots in cooperation with others. "Defence of Arab and Islamic causes, and in the first place the right of the Palestinians to a state with Jerusalem as its capital, will remain at the top of Saudi Arabia's demands," Salman said. Analysts have expected the new king to maintain a steady course for the kingdom's oil and foreign policy after his half-brother king Abdullah died aged about 90. In September, Saudi Arabia joined air strikes as part of a United States-led coalition of Western and Arab nations bombing the Islamic State group extremists who have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.
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North of San Francisco, Napa Valley is rightly world famous as a scenic wine-producing region and a great destination for a weekend trip from the city. But Sonoma County is more than a match for its better-known neighbor as a weekend wine getaway. Sonoma County spans westward from Napa, across farmlands, mountains, and an expansive seashore covering an area the size of Rhode Island, with more than 400 wineries and 16 different wine appellations growing in "more soil types than all of France." Sonoma County encompasses both the Sonoma Valley wine area and the city of Sonoma, so visitors need to be aware of which "Sonoma" they're trying to get to. Sonoma Airport is a little-known but highly convenient gateway into the area from a number of West Coast cities, making it an easy weekend getaway anywhere from Seattle to San Diego. Wine, Wine, Wine With so many wineries spread over such a large area, one needs to be strategic during a Sonoma wine-tasting weekend. A good way to tour Sonoma's widespread wineries, particularly if you're new to the area, is in the comfort of a chauffeur-driven van, bus, or limo. Not only do you avoid the problem of drinking and driving, but the tours also often have special access or reduced admission costs for their target wineries. Beau Wine Tours , Valley Wine Tours , and Platypus Wine Tours are among the best. But even on your own with a little research, you can visit some of Sonoma's nearly 50 wineries with free tastings . (Note: Call ahead or check winery websites to see if appointments or new fees are required.) Wine-related events occur year-round in Sonoma, from the upcoming Wine Road Barrel Tasting to the annual Sonoma Wine Country Weekend event over Labor Day a charity event that gathers more than 200 Sonoma County winemakers and chefs for a very delicious tasting day, wine auction, and other food and winery events throughout the county. Sonoma also has a host of harvest events, including the Sonoma Valley Reserve festival. Wine tasting in Sonoma doesn't have to be a passive activity, though. For those seeking a little exercise with their wine and cheese, how about a Sonoma Wine Country bike tour , complete with a wine bottle carrier on the bike? Enjoy the scenery, but just be extremely careful about how much you're consuming at the tastings. Or take a free self-guided hike through some of the eight wineries that have opened up their vineyards to visitors, finishing it off with a few sips in one of their tasting rooms (usually not free). Eat, Eat, Eat Travel to enough Sonoma wineries and you're sure to get "palate fatigue," meaning everything starts to taste the same. That's where Sonoma's fine food scene comes in because what's a good wine without a food pairing? Among its 600 eateries, Sonoma has three Michelin-star restaurants Madrona Manor in Healdsburg, Terrapin Creek Cafe in Bodega Bay, and the Farmhouse Inn Restaurant in Forestville all of which pour the best of Sonoma's wines with your meals. But Sonoma isn't just about the fancy meals. It has every variety of roadhouse, diner, pizza shack, and pub grub you could imagine. Stop at the roadside Carneros Deli for great sandwiches (and a bottle of Bonneau Wine ), try the tasty tacos and filling burritos at Sonoma's Tortilleria Jalisco, or slurp down a savory bowl of noodles at Petaluma's Cafe Zazzle . Another way to max out your tasting experience and minimize the price is to participate in Sonoma County Restaurant Week , which runs from March 9 to March 15, when more than 100 restaurants serve three-course, prix-fixe lunches from $10 to $20, and dinners from $19 to $39. Fun Non-Wine Things to Do Bordered by 55 miles of coastline and filled with hills and forest, Sonoma County is a destination for all sorts of outdoor activities (aside from picking grapes): hiking among redwoods, road and mountain biking, sea kayaking, and whale watching from the cliffs at Bodega Head. You can even visit the "Sonoma Serengeti" in the 400-acre exotic animal sanctuary of Safari West . All visitors to Sonoma should make a pilgrimage to Charlie Brown's house, or, rather, the Charles M. Schulz Museum , which honors the creator of the Peanuts cartoon series, who lived and worked in Sonoma for decades. A recreation of his drawing workshop looks just like he left it on his last day of work. The nearby hockey rink Schulz sponsored reflects his Minnesota upbringing. Places to Stay Sonoma has a variety of lodgings, from quaint bed and breakfast establishments and inns to high-end hotels like Olea Hotel , the Inn at Sonoma , and the Honor Mansion . It also has the highly rated Petaluma KOA campground which, aside from befitting the area's agricultural heritage, also has cozy cabins, a giant trampoline, a pool, and a popular petting zoo. Or go big and rent a six-bedroom villa on a 7-acre winery estate. And there's always a handy Motel 6 by the highway if your wine weekend is getting the best of you and you just need a place to sleep it off. Sonoma by Bike (Video) Check out our original adventure trave series " A Broad Abroad ." For More from Yahoo Travel... What's the Password? The New Drinking Trend in Orlando: Speakeasies Tenerife: The Most Popular Island Americans Have Never Heard Of 12 People Who Should Be Banned From Flying How a NatGeo Photographer Took These Mind-Blowing Winter Yellowstone Shots ]]>
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Asia's Best 50 Restaurants Now in its third year, the list of Asia's best restaurants is compiled by the Diners Club® Asia's 50 Best Restaurants Academy - a panel of over 300 experts from across the region. With the votes tallied and the winner announced, join us as we count down the very best in fine dining to see which establishment, and chef, have been crowned Asia's Best Restaurant for 2015. You can learn more about the awards by visiting the official website here. 50. Cuisine Wat Damnak, Siem Reap, Cambodia Chef : Joannès Rivière Style of food: New Cambodian Standout dish : Pan-fried sanday fish with tiger eggplant, caramelised palm sugar, fresh peppercorn and green mango. (Pictured is the Rice wine steamed Mekong langoustine with Kurata pepper) Contact : Wat Damnak Village, Sala Kamreuk Commune, Siem Reap. +855 77 347 762 You can learn more by visiting : www.cuisinewatdamnak.com 49. Quintessence, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Shuzo Kishida Style of food : Modern French Standout dish : Goat milk bavarois with lily bulb, sea salt and olive oil Contact : 141-0001 Shinagawa-Ku Kitashinagawa 6-7-29 Garden City Shinagawa Gotenyama 1F, Tokyo. +81 3 6277 0090 You can learn more by visiting: www.quintessence.jp 48. Antonio's, Tagaytay, Philippines Chef : Tony Boy Escalante (pictured) and Ricky Sison Style of food : Modern European with Philippine influences Standout dish : Lechón de leche slow-roasted suckling pig rubbed with herbs and spices Contact : Purok 138, Barangay Neogan, Tagaytay City, Batangas. +63 917 899 2866 You can learn more by visiting : www.antoniosrestaurant.ph/antonios/ 47. Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Singapore Chef : Tong Yuk Sing Style of food : Cantonese barbecue Standout dish : Peking duck Contact : Paragon, #05-42/45, 290 Orchard Road, Singapore 238859. +65 6732 7838 You can learn more by visiting : www.imperialtreasure.com/en/super-peking-duck 46. Hakkasan, Shanghai, China On the pass : Global executive chef Tong Chee Hwee (pictured) and executive chef Alvin Chan Style of food : Modern Cantonese Standout dish : Crispy duck with caviar Contact : Bund 18, 5/F, 18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road, Shanghai 200002. +86 21 6321 5888 You can learn more by visiting : www.hakkasan.com/locations/hakkasan-shanghai/ 45. Osteria Mozza, Singapore Chef : David Jordan Almany Style of food: Italian Standout dish : Burrata with California Sterling Royal caviar, red onion, egg and chive (Pictured is the pork chop) Contact : 2 Bayfront Avenue, B1 Galleria, Level 42-46, Singapore 018972. +65 6688 8868 You can learn more by visiting : www.osteriamozza.com/singapore/restaurant.cfm 44. Sukiyabashi Jiro, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Jiro Ono Style of food : Traditional sushi Standout dish : Kohada (gizzard shad) nigiri Contact : Tsukamoto Sogya Building, Basement 1st Floor, 4-2-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104 0061. +81 3 3535 3600 You can learn more by visiting : sushi-jiro.jp 43. Ministry of Crab, Colombo, Sri Lanka Chef : Dharshan Munidasa Style of food : Sri Lankan seafood Standout dish : Chilli crab Contac t: Old Dutch Hospital, Colombo 1. +94 11 234 2722 You can learn more by visiting : www.ministryofcrab.com 42. Caprice, Hong Kong, China Chef: Fabrice Vulin Style of food: Modern French Standout dish: Caramelised pigeon breast, Moroccan spices and ras el-hanout-flavoured cous cous (Pictured: Chocolate and Kumquat Crémeux, Moka Sidamo, Crispy Amaranth and Kumquat Sorbet) Contact: Four Seasons Hotel, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong. +852 3196 8860 You can learn more by visiting: www.fourseasons.com/hongkong 41. Bukhara, New Delhi, India Chef : JP Singh Style of food: Traditional north-west frontier Indian Standout dish : Sikandari raan Contact : ITC Maurya Hotel, Diplomatic Enclave, Sardar Patel Marg, Chankyapuri, New Delhi, 110021. +91 11 2611 2233 You can learn more by visiting : www.itchotels.in/bukhara 40. Sushi Saito, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Takashi Saito Style of food : Japanese Standout dish : O-toro nigiri Contact : 1st Floor, Ark Hills South Tower, 1-4-5 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo. +81 3 3589 4412 39. Issaya Siamese Club, Bangkok, Thailand Chef : Ian Kittichai Style of food : Modern Thai Standout dish : Banana blossom and heart of palm salad with crispy shallots and roasted peanuts in chilli jam dressing (Pictured: Yum Hua Plee) Contact : 4 Soi Sri Aksorn, Chua Ploeng Road, Sathorn, Bangkok 10120. +66 2 672 9040 You can learn more by visiting : www.issaya.com 38. La Yeon, Seoul, South Korea Chef : Head chef Kim Sung II (pictured) and head of culinary research Seo Sang Ho Style of food : Korean haute cuisine Standout dish: 10 Korean flavours made with the best seasonal ingredients Contact: Hotel Shilla, 249 Dongho-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-856. +82 2 2233 3131 You can learn more by visiting : http://www.shilla.net/seoul/dining/index.do 37. Bo.Lan, Bangkok, Thailand Chef : Duangporn 'Bo' Songvisava and Dylan 'Lan' Jones (pictured) and head chef Kraisorn Chaiyaboot Style of food : Authentic Thai cuisine Standout dish : Free-range Cha Cheong Sao duck salad (Pictured: Stir-fried Southern Style Water Bamboo with Ocean Prawn) Contact : 24 Soi Sukhumvit 53, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana Bangkok 10110. +66 2 260 2962 You can learn more by visiting : www.bolan.co.th 36. Tippling Club, Singapore Chef : Ryan Clift Style of food: Modern, global avant-garde with cocktail pairings Standout dis h: Razor clam, parsley, sea rosemary, pink garlic (Pictured: Strawberries & Cream) Contact : 38 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088461. +65 6475 2217 You can learn more by visiting : www.tipplingclub.com 35. The Chairman, Hong Kong, China Chef : Kwok Keung Tung Style of food : Cantonese Standout dish : Steamed fresh flowery crab with aged ShaoXing wine, fragrant chicken oil & flat rice noodles Contact: 18 Kau U Fong, Central, Hong Kong. +852 2555 2202 You can learn more by visiting : www.thechairmangroup.com 34. 28 Hubin Road, Hangzhou, China Chef: Colin Cheng Style of food : Traditional Hangzhou Standout dish : Braised traditional style dongpo pork, chestnut pancakes Contac t : Hyatt Regency Hangzhou, 28 HuBin Road, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province. +86 571 8779 1234 Yo u can learn more by visiting : www.hangzhou.regency.hyatt.com 33. Takazawa, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Yoshiaki Takazawa Style of food : Japanese-French fusion Standout dish : Snapping turtle soup and purple asparagus (Pictured: the Fuji ecosystem) Contact: 2nd Floor, Sanyo Akasaka Bldg, 3-5-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0052. +81 3 3505 5052 You can learn more by visiting : www.aroniadetakazawa.com 32. Shinji by Kanesaka, Singapore Chef : Executive chef Shinji Kanesaka and head chef Koichiro Oshino (pictured) Style of food : Japanese Standout dish : Five-hour steamed Hokkaido abalone (Pictured: Sashimi) Contact : Raffles Hotel, 2-20, 1 Beach Road (via Seah Street lobby), Singapore, 189673. +65 6338 6131 You can learn more by visiting : www.shinjibykanesaka.com 31. Nihonbashi, Colombo, Sri Lanka Chef : Dharshan Munidasa Style of food : Japanese Standout dish : N' Sashimi (Yet to be named Sashimi) raw sea bream with ground sesame, leeks and soy sauce (Pictured: gyuu no tataki) Contact : 11 Galle Face Terrace, Colombo 3. +94 11 232 3847 You can learn more by visiting : www.nihonbashi.lk 30. Burnt Ends, Singapore Chef : Dave Pynt Style of food : Barbecue Standout dish : Pulled pork shoulder in home-made brioche bun with slaw and chipotle mayonnaise Contact: 20 Teck Lim Road, Singapore 088391. +65 6224 3933 You can learn more by visiting : www.burntends.com.sg 29. Wasabi by Morimoto, Mumbai, India Chef : Group executive chef Hemant Oberoi (pictured) and head chef Masasan Kobayashi Style of food : Contemporary Japanese Standout dish : Black cod miso (Pictured: White fish carpaccio) Contact : Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Apollo Bundar, Colaba, Mumbai 400001. +91 22 6665 3366 You can learn more by visiting : www.tajhotels.com 28. Bo Innovation, Hong Kong, China Chef : Alvin Leung Style of food : Ultra-modern Chinese Standout dish : Hairy crab with aged chinkiang vinegar (Pictured: Tomato with pat chun vinegar, fermented chinese olives) Contact : Shop 13, 2F, J Residence, 60 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. +852 2850 8371 You can learn more by visiting : www.boinnovation.com 27. Ryunique, Seoul, South Korea Chef : Tae Hwan Ryu Style of food : Modern fusion Standout dish : Seared duck breast with smoked leak and orange miso jus Contact : 40 Gangnam-daero 162-gil, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. +82 2 546 9279 You can learn more by visiting : www.ryunique.co.kr 26. Le Moût, Taichung, Taiwan On the pass : Lanshu Chen (pictured) and Jimmy Lim Style of food : Modern French Standout dish : Pigeon in Oriental fragrance, black truffle barley ragoût and mustard green Contact : 59 Cunzhong St, West District, Taichung City, Taiwan 403. +886 4 2375 3002 You can learn more by visiting : www.lemout.com 25. Eat Me, Bangkok, Thailand Chef : Tim Butler Style of food : Modern international cuisine Standout dish: Seared foie gras with mango chilli compôte and crispy puffed rice (Pictured: Wagyu Striploin Tartare) Contact : Soi Pipat 2 (20 metres off Convent Road), Silom, Bangkok 10500. +66 2238 0931 Y ou can learn more by visiting : www.eatmerestaurant.com 24. Tenku RyuGin, Hong Kong, China Chef : Chef de cuisine Hideaki Sato Style of food : Modern Japanese Standout dish : Poached Gillardeau oyster wrapped with shyabu-shyabu wagyu beef and grated celeriac jelly Contact : 101st Floor, ICC, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong. +852 2302 0222 You can learn more by visiting : www.ryugin.com.hk 23. Robuchon Au Dôme, Macau, China Chef : Executive chef Francky Semblat Style of food : Contemporary French with Asian influences Standout dish : Seared Kagoshima beef with asparagus, black truffles and soufflé potatoes Contact: Grand Lisboa Hotel, 43rd floor, Lisboa Tower, 2-4 Avenida de Lisboa, Macau. +853 8803 7878 You can learn more by visiting : www.joel-robuchon.com/en/restaurants-macao-robuchonaudome.php 22. Indian Accent, New Delhi, India Chef : Manish Mehrotra Style of food : Modern Indian Standout dish : Black pepper prawn with kundru bhaji and sago papad (Pictured: Meetha achaar canadian spare ribs, sun dried mango, toasted kalonji seeds) Contact : 77 Friends Colony (West), New Delhi 110065. +91 11 4323 5151 You can learn more by visiting : www.indianaccent.com 21. Mr And Mrs Bund, Shanghai, China On the pass : Chef-Patron Paul Pairet (pictured) and executive sous chef Julien Hermida Style of food : Alternative French bistro cooking Standout dish : Lemon & lemon tart PP Contact : Bund 18, 6/F, 18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, Shanghai 200002. +86 21 6323 9898 You can learn more by visiting : http://www.mmbund.com 20. Lung King Heen, Hong Kong, China Chef : Chan Yan Tak Style of food: Dim sum and modern Cantonese Standout dish : Birds' nest soup with shredded chicken and Yunnan ham (Pictured: Steamed Star Garoupa Fillet in Bamboo Basket) Contact : Four Seasons Hotel, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong. +852 3196 8880 You can learn more by visiting : www.fourseasons.com/hongkong 19. Fu He Hui, Shanghai, China Chef : Tony Lu Style of food : Vegetarian Shanghainese Standout dish : Lotus seed, honey pea, black fungus Contact : 1037 Yuyuan Road, Changning District, Shanghai. +86 21 3980 9188 18. Iggy's, Singapore Chef : Masahiro Isono Style of food : Global eclectic using Japanese ingredients Standout dish : Capellini with sakura ebi, konbu and shellfish oil (Pictured: Cote de Boeuf, Kyoto vegetables) Contact : Hilton Hotel, 581 Orchard Road, Singapore 238883. +65 6732 2234 You can learn more by visiting : www.iggys.com.sg 17. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong, China Chef : Chef de cuisine David Alves Style of food : Modern French, small plates Standout dish : Free-range quail with foie gras, served with mashed potato (Pictured: Quercy lamb rack with mixed herbs salad and mashed potato) Contact : Shop 315, 334 & 401, Landmark Atrium, 15 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong. +852 2166 9000 You can learn more by visiting : www.robuchon.hk 16. Fu1015, Shanghai, China Chef : Tony Lu Style of food : Shanghainese Standout dish : Marinated hairy crab with yellow rice wine Contact : 1015 Yuyuan Road, Changning District, Shanghai. +86 21 5237 9778 15. Fook Lam Moon, Hong Kong, China On the pass : Executive chef Lau Chiu Shing (pictured) and head chef Leung Sun Lung Style of food : Classic Cantonese Standout dish : Steamed buns with lotus paste and salty egg yolk (Pictured: Pan fried birds nest with crab meat) Contact : Shop 3, G/F, 35-45 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. +852 2866 0663 You can learn more by visiting : www.fooklammoon-grp.com 14. Hajime, Osaka, Japan Chef : Hajime Yoneda Style of food : Modern French Standout dish : Chikyu (Planet Earth) Contact : 1-9-11-1F, Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka City, Osaka 550 0002. +81 6 6447 6688 You can learn more by visiting : www.hajime-artistes.com 13. Les Amis, Singapore Chef : Sebastien Lepinoy Style of food : Modern European Standout dish : Caviar on petals of potato salad with herbs Contact : 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208. +65 6733 2225 You can learn more by visiting : www.lesamis.com.sg 12. L'Effervescence, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Shinobu Namae Style of food : Modern French Standout dish : Whole cooked turnip and parsley oil emulsion, Kintoa Basque ham and brioche Contact : 2-26-4 Nishi-azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo. +81 3 5766 9500 You can learn more by visiting : www.leffervescence.jp 11. Jaan, Singapore Chef : Chef de cuisine Julien Royer Style of food: Modern French Standout dish : 55° organic egg, smoked potato, chorizo Ibérico and buckwheat Contact: Level 70, Equinox Complex, Swissôtel The Stamford, 2 Stamford Road, Singapore. +65 6837 3322 You can learn more by visiting : www.jaan.com.sg 10. Jungsik, Seoul, South Korea On the pass : Jung Sik Yim Style of food : Molecular Korean Standout dish : Pork belly Contact : 11 Seolleungro, 158 Gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. +82 2 517 4654 You can learn more by visiting : www.jungsik.kr/seoul 9. Waku Ghin, Singapore Chef : Tetsutya Wakuda Style of food: Modern Japanese Standout dish : Marinated botan ebi, uni and Oscietra caviar Contact : Atrium 2, Level 2, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956. +65 6688 8507 You can learn more by visiting : www.marinabaysands.com/ 8. 8 1/2 Otto E Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong, China Chef : Umberto Bombana Style of food : Contemporary Italian Standout dish : Short rib and beef tenderloin Contact : Shop 202, Landmark Alexandra, 18 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong. +852 2537 8859 You can learn more by visiting : www.ottoemezzobombana.com 7. Nahm, Bangkok, Thailand Chef : Head chef Prin Polsuk Style of food: Authentic Thai cuisine Standout dish : Sour pomfret curry with garlic and coriander (Pictured: minced fermented fish) Contact : Metropolitan Hotel, 27 South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120. +66 2 625 3388 You can learn more by visiting : www.comohotels.com/metropolitanbangkok 6. Amber, Hong Kong, China Chef : Culinery director Richard Ekkebus (pictured) and chef de cuisine Maxime Gilbert Style of food : Classical French with subtle Hong Kong influences Standout dish : Normandy diver scallop seared with maco artichokes, tête de veau, black autumn truffle and Italian parsley bouillon (Pictured: Dombes frog legs) Contact : The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 15 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong. +852 2132 0066 You can learn more by visiting : www.amberhongkong.com 5. Restaurant André, Singapore Chef: Chef-patron André Chiang (pictured) and executive chef Johnny Jiang Style of food : Southern French nouvelle cuisine reinterpreted Standout dish : Memory warm foie gras jelly with black truffle coulis Contact : 41 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore 089855. +65 6534 8880 You can learn more by visiting : www.restaurantandre.com 4. Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Seiji Yamamoto Style of food : Modern Japanese Standout dish : Octopus with cod roe, kinome leaves and white miso broth (Pictured: Shabu-shabu) Contact : Ground Floor, 7-17-24 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. +81 3 3423 8006 You can learn more by visiting : www.nihonryori-ryugin.com 3. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China Chef : Chef-patron Paul Pairet (pictured) and head of research Greg Robinson Style of food : Experimental comfort food Standout dish : Truffle burnt soup bread Contact : c/o Bund 18, 6/F, 18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, Shanghai 20000. +86 021 6323 9898 You can learn more by visiting : www.uvbypp.cc 2. Narisawa, Tokyo, Japan Chef : Yoshihiro Narisawa Style of food : French cooking using Japanese ingredients Standout dish : Satoyama scenery Contact: Minami Aoyma 2-6-15, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107 0062. +813 5785 0799 You can learn more by visiting : www.narisawa-yoshihiro.com 1. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand Chef : Gaggan Anand Style of food : Progressive Indian cuisine Standout dish : Chargrilled Indian cottage cheese sandwich and chutney bubbles (Pictured: Potato 2 - some crispy and liquid) Contact : 68/1 Soi Langsuan, Ploenchit Road, Lumpini, Bangkok 10330. +66 2 652 1700 You can learn more by visiting : www.eatatgaggan.com
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FOX Sports 1 NFL insder Mike Garafolo discusses the Colts' free agent signings.
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Iker Casillas acknowledged that Real Madrid has hit "rock bottom" following his side's Champions League defeat to Schalke on Tuesday completed a miserable 10 days for Carlo Ancelotti's men. The Blancos lost 4-3 on the night but edged out the Germans 5-4 on aggregate, courtesy of a 2-0 win in the first leg in Gelsenkirchen. The loss means Madrid has now gone three games without a win in all competitions, after a draw and a defeat to La Liga rivals Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao, respectively. Casillas, who was arguably at fault for three of Schalke's four goals, said: "It's true we have hit rock bottom in a most resounding way. But the positive is that we will be in the draw next Friday. When that draw is made we will forget what has happened over the past 10 days they have been dramatic. "We must think about tomorrow, we cannot look back, nor dwell on the 22 successive wins [earlier in the season] or anything else we have achieved." Casillas did produce a late save on Benedikt Howedes that kept Madrid in the competition, but the Spain international admitted he did not perform well. "I believe a goalkeeper is always to blame [after conceding four times]," he added. "This was not one of my best games, but it's not the moment to think about myself."
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PALM HARBOR, Fla. Few other PGA Tour rookies are more seasoned than Zac Blair, who reached the big leagues after a journey that took him from one end of the Americas to the other. And he even managed to get a degree from BYU along the way. "My dad has always ingrained in me that if you're good enough, you'll get a shot somewhere and take advantage of it," Blair said. "It was a sweet route I took, but a little unpredictable." That route took the 24-year-old from Utah to the PGA Tour Latin America, the PGA Tour Canada, the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour in a span of six months. He also played on the Australasian Tour last year, though that was after he had his card. And he tied for 40th in the U.S. Open, where he had his father come inside the ropes to carry his bag up the 72nd hole at Pinehurst No. 2. If there's a message Blair has for college kids, it would be to go through Q-school in the fall (even as an amateur) to try to get some status. He made it through four stages, including pre-qualifying, and earned conditional Web.com Tour status. That wasn't enough to persuade him to turn pro. He was planning to play amateur golf for seasoning. But then he saw players he beat at Q-school competing in Latin America, and decided to give it a try. Blair had three top 10s before Latin America took its summer break, and his plan was to return and try to finish high enough on the money list to get a Web.com Tour card. Then he qualified in Oregon for the U.S. Open and, with the PGA Tour Canada in nearby Vancouver, went there and missed the cut. The big break was in Nova Scotia on the Web.com Tour, where his conditional status made him the 40th alternate. "It wasn't even on my mind," he said. "But I got a call that week that, 'Hey, you're 10th alternate, you might want to come out.' I'm not coming out for 10th alternate. Three hours later, I was fifth alternate. I was on my way to Greenbrier for Monday qualifying and they called in another hour and said, 'You're in.'" He tied for seventh in Nova Scotia. He tied for 11th in Utah he already had an exemption to his home state event but that got him to the next stop, and he tied for 25th in Boise. With that, he had full status the rest of the way, and he reached the Web.com Tour Finals. Blair promptly made three straight cuts, and then was runner-up in the finale to earn his PGA Tour card. And in his first start, he played in the last group at the Frys.com Open and tied for 12th. He also has a tie for sixth in the Sony Open and a tie for 11th at Torrey Pines. But what a journey. "It was different," he said of the first leg of his trip to Latin America. "It's not like you're getting in a car and going out to eat. You're by yourself. It was good. I learned a lot and it helped me grow up and mature. At that point, it was the best thing I've done." Right up there with graduating. There was one class he worried about failing. Blair was in the Dominican Republican when his academic adviser called to say he graduated. "It was the best moment ever, something I promised my parents I would do," he said. Which is better getting a PGA Tour card or getting a college diploma? "They're both pretty good," he said with a smile. "I would recommend it." ___ GRAND SLAM: Donald Trump spoke last week about "major news" involving one of his golf courses, and he was right about one thing. It's a tournament only for major champions. The PGA of America announced Tuesday that Trump National Golf Club-Los Angeles will host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The 36-hole exhibition is for the four major champions of the year, or past major champions as an alternate if someone doesn't play or there is a multiple major champion in 2015. The tournament will be Oct. 20-21. It will be the first time on the mainland since 1993. Over the last two decades, it was played in Bermuda and at Poipu Bay in Hawaii. Golf Channel will televise the event for the first time. It previously was broadcast by TNT Sports. PGA chief executive Pete Bevacqua said Turner Sports will continue its relationship with the PGA of America and that both sides are committed to TNT showing the opening two rounds and early weekend coverage of the PGA Championship. Turner also manages the PGA of America website. ___ TOUR CHARITY: The PGA Tour says its charitable donations reached a record $140.5 million last year, which includes all six tours in runs the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Web.com Tour and the circuits in Canada, China and Latin America. The tour said its career charity total now is at $2.14 billion dating to the first contribution of $10,000 at the 1938 Palm Beach Invitational. The tour reached $1 billion in charity in 2005, and the next $1 billion mark in January 2014. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said five PGA Tour events raised more than $7 million in 2014, and that three of them topped more than $9 million in charity Valero Texas Open, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. ___ POWER STRUGGLE: Trump National Doral played into the hands of power players last week, and Ryan Moore found out the hard way. He was paired in the third round with J.B. Holmes and said, "He's got clubs in holes that I can only dream of having." In the 14 driving holes, Holmes was on average 30.7 yards beyond Moore off the tee. Just his luck, Moore got to play with Masters champion Bubba Watson in the final round. Watson was on average 32.9 yards farther than Moore on each hole. "He didn't have to worry about getting clubs off us," Holmes said. Moore went 74-76 on the weekend and tied for ninth. ___ DIVOTS: Puerto Rico Open winner Alex Cejka is the third-oldest player (44 years, 3 months, 6 days) to win for the first time on the PGA Tour. The oldest was Ed Dougherty, who was 47 when he won the 1995 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic. Ken Duke (44 years, 4 months, 25 days) won the 2013 Travelers Championship. ... Fifteen players shot over par all four rounds at Trump National Doral last week. ... John Daly tied for 10th at the Puerto Rico Open, his first top 10 on the PGA Tour since the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2012. ... Adam Scott has gone 57 straight tournaments worldwide without missing the cut. ___ STAT OF THE WEEK: HSBC Women's Champions winner Inbee Park has gone 92 holes without a bogey. ___ FINAL WORD: "I won't be grounding my club anywhere if I miss the fairway." Dustin Johnson on the PGA Championship returning to Whistling Straits.
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A jury decides that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams plagiarized Marvin Gaye on their hit song, "Blurred Lines." Phil Furey reports.
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GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) -- Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant hit consecutive home runs for the Chicago Cubs and yet they still became the only winless team in the majors this spring, falling to the Cleveland Indians 10-6 Tuesday. The Cubs, full of expectations this season under new manager Joe Maddon, dropped to 0-6. Milwaukee posted its first exhibition win earlier in the day. Soler, Baez and Bryant connected in the fourth inning off Trevor Bauer. Baez got his first hit of the spring. Welington Castro singled after the three homers. Castro homered later in the day. The Cubs made four errors. Michael Bourn had three hits and Tyler Holt, celebrating his 26th birthday, drove in two runs for the Indians. Chicago starter Travis Wood gave up four runs, two of them earned, and seven hits in three innings.
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Gun control groups are distancing themselves from a failed attempt by the Obama administration to ban certain types of armor-piercing ammunition commonly used in AR-15 hunting rifles. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Tuesday it is putting the proposed bullet ban on hold amid mounting criticism from Republicans and the gun lobby. The National Rifle Association (NRA) claimed the bullet ban was a "backdoor" attempt to restrict AR-15 rifles and accused the administration of "pandering to billionaire Michael Bloomberg and his gun control groups." "Since they haven't been able to ban America's most popular rifle, they are trying to ban the ammunition instead," NRA chief lobbyist Chris Cox said. But prominent gun control groups linked to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg deny having any hand in pushing for the bullet ban. The NRA's claims are simply not true, said Erika Soto Lamb, spokeswoman for Bloomberg's group Everytown for Gun Safety. "We have sent dozens of recommendations to the administration on what they can do to prevent gun violence this ammo proposal has never been one of them," Lamb told The Hill. Meanwhile, the gun safety group linked to Giffords, Americans for Responsible Solutions, also said it is not interested in any such bullet ban. "We are focused on keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people and protecting the rights of responsible, law-abiding gun owners, not banning bullets or other forms of hardware," spokesman Mark Prentice told The Hill.
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After seeing a video of a racist chant by members of the University of Oklahoma chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, 4-star offensive tackle Jean Delance decommitted from the Sooners on Monday . Below, he explains in his own words as told to Bleacher Report's Damon Sayles what led to that decision. My mom and I visited the campus the day before the video came out. The biggest thing for me was to get my mom on board, and I think [the visit] sold her on everything. That was it for me. I was going to come back and watch the spring game and even bring my grandma there. I was done. Great Day at Oklahoma Today!! 🅾🙌 pic.twitter.com/PKNoS8z5Bi Jean Delance (@JeanDelance74) March 7, 2015 Then I saw the video on Twitter. I was disgusted. That's not anything I want to be a part of. I know it's just those few select people, and it's not everybody [at Oklahoma]. It's not like cancer where it's going to spread all over. But specifically, that chant…they couldn't get a couple [of] guys to say, "We can't do that?" I was disgusted. pic.twitter.com/aSLmxJqhIY Jean Delance (@JeanDelance74) March 9, 2015 My grandmother's people picked cotton. I can't understand their struggle, but I can't go [to Oklahoma] and say I'm comfortable with being there, especially with what my family went through. My grandmother said she didn't want me going there if they still continue to do things like that. She said that would be disrespectful to her, my mom and myself if I did. It's just not something that you want to be a part of. [The social media reaction to my decision] has been surprising. Percentage-wise, it's been about five percent understanding to 95 percent against. There are some who are totally understanding about a young recruit's decision. But then there are people I don't even know who are saying, "Why would you do that? This had nothing to do with the school." I probably won't be considering Oklahoma anymore. Now I've got to get to know everybody and start over again. I don't think some people know the difference between getting an offer and committing. Getting offered and getting to know a coach are two different things to me. You want to know who's going to coach you for the next three or four years. That's important. A coach can extend an offer, but anything can blindside you. This is something that was totally unexpected. You just never know what can happen. Every recruit has a way of expressing himself. This is mine. Additionally, Bob Stoops and members of the football team have very publicly denounced the remarks. All player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports ' composite ratings.
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PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) One was a college kid playing the Valspar Championship on a sponsor's exemption. Two were PGA Tour rookies. They were joined on the back nine at Innisbrook by a tour veteran who already has played in a Ryder Cup and a Presidents Cup, who has played in the final group at the Masters and is among the top 10 players in the world. And they're all the same age. Well, not really. When they stepped off the 11th tee Tuesday afternoon, Golf Channel asked Georgia Tech senior Ollie Schniederjans, rookies Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas, and Jordan Spieth to pose for a picture. Someone asked who was the oldest, and they each mentioned their birthdays. ''I'm the oldest? Really?'' said Berger, who lost in a playoff at the Honda Classic two weeks ago and turns 22 in April. The youngest was Spieth, who would be in his senior year at Texas if he had not left college after three semesters. He crossed the $9 million mark in career earnings on the PGA Tour last week at Doral, so it appears to have worked out well for him. More than a foursome, they are friends. And more than just friends, they are part of a group that is quickly becoming known as the ''Class of `11.'' That's their graduation class. From high school. This is an example of the direction golf is going. The future of Tiger Woods has never been more uncertain. He turns 40 at the end of this year, and no one has any idea if he'll play before then. Phil Mickelson turns 45 in June, and while he looks as fit as he has in years, Lefty has finished out of the top 10 in 24 of his last 25 tournaments. The best player in golf is Rory McIlroy, who is 25. The challenge is more likely to come from guys who are younger, not older, with exceptions such as Dustin Johnson (30), Jason Day (27) and a few others. Spieth has been mentioned as a possible challenger depending on quickly he matures and whether he can start piling up victories. He got started late last year when he won the Australian Open by closing with a 63, and then the Hero World Challenge by 10 shots. Spieth and Thomas have known each other the longest, and they had a fierce competition in the summer of 2007 when both were picked to play for the U.S. in the Evian Junior Masters in France. Thomas won the 36-hole event, allowing him to play in the Evian Masters pro-am with Juli Inkster. Spieth caddied for him. Spieth left Texas after the fall semester of his sophomore year, and 10 months later he was playing alongside, Woods, Mickelson and Steve Stricker in the Presidents Cup. ''It's just nice to have guys out here my own age,'' said Spieth, who won the John Deere Classic when he was 19. ''I have good friends out here. I'll have a beer with Rory or Rickie Fowler, but I think Rickie was five years ahead of me in school.'' And they didn't have a beer until last July. Legally, anyway. Thomas left Alabama a year later, spent one year on the Web.com Tour and easily earned his PGA Tour card. He has played in the final group on the weekend three times this year - the third round at the Sony Open and Phoenix Open, the final round of the Humana Challenge. Berger, who left Florida State after only two years, did not have an amateur career as decorated as Spieth or Thomas. But he's not the same path as Thomas - one year on the Web.com Tour to get his ticket to the big leagues, already three top 10s this year, and plenty of power off the tee. Schniederjans had his heart set on playing Major League Baseball as a kid and was part of a traveling team until he was 12 and picked up a golf club while messing around with kids on his baseball team. He was obsessed with it. Two years later, he tried local qualifying for the U.S. Open. At 15, he played in the U.S. Junior Amateur. He might have turned pro if he had a great freshman year like Spieth and Thomas, but now is determined to get his degree at Georgia Tech. As the No. 1 amateur in the world last year, he is exempt for the U.S. Open and British Open. But it's more than a foursome. Also in the field at Innisbrook this week is Emiliano Grillo, another guy from the Class of `11. He lost in a five-way playoff in the Puerto Rico Open two days ago. Patrick Rodgers was a Walker Cup partner with Spieth in 2011 and Thomas in 2013. The Stanford alum is in his first year on the Web.com Tour and already has won this year. Thomas described Anthony Palouci as ''the best in our class coming out of high school.'' Palouci missed out on Monday qualifying for Innisbrook. ''It's going to pretty cool the next few years,'' Thomas said. ''We'll be 23, and there could be six of us out here.''
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AUBURN, Ala. (AP) Auburn's starting quarterback job is Jeremy Johnson's to lose. The Tigers opened spring practice Tuesday with Johnson the clear front-runner after spending two seasons backing up Nick Marshall, creating a potentially drama-free quarterback competition leading up to next season. Johnson's potential challengers include redshirt freshman Sean White, freshman Tyler Queen and junior college transfer Jason Smith, who could also end up playing another position. ''He's going to have to go out there and win the starting job, but he's in a very good spot and we have a lot of confidence in him,'' coach Gus Malzahn said. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Johnson, who gained about 10 pounds in the offseason has started one game each of the past two seasons. He said he feels ''much stronger and faster.'' Johnson started the opener last season against Arkansas when Marshall was suspended for the first half. Now, Johnson's the presumed No. 1 guy even though he said he's not taking that for granted. ''It's a competition, and they're all pushing me,'' Johnson said after practice. ''I'm not looking at it as I'm the starter or I'm going to be winning the starting job. I'm just there competing.'' He brings a different style than Marshall, who was a constant running threat operating the zone read. But, Johnson said, ''The ones who haven't seen me run probably will be surprised.'' The switchover from Marshall could mean at least a tweaking of the offense for Malzahn, who called Marshall ''one of the better runners from a quarterback standpoint probably this league has seen.'' ''We'll build around our starting quarterback, and Jeremy is the guy that is going to take the first snap'' in practice, Malzahn said. ''He's got the most experience. Jeremy is a good runner in his own right. He's not exactly like Nick but he's a very good runner. He throws the ball extremely well. But all of our quarterbacks are going to have a run element.'' It's a change from last spring, when Malzahn had a returning starter at quarterback for the first time as a college coach. Johnson finally gets his chance to take over the offense. ''I don't think he's changed at all,'' offensive lineman Avery Young said. ''I know he's taking it real serious right now and trying to do what he has to do to make things happen for him.'' Auburn is also searching for replacements for running back Cameron Artis-Payne, center Reese Dismukes and wide receiver Sammie Coates on offense. Sophomore Roc Thomas and junior college transfer Jovon Robinson, who is already enrolled, give the Tigers two highly touted candidates to replace Artis-Payne, who led the Southeastern Conference in rushing. Defensively, the big focus is on new coordinator Will Muschamp's efforts to rebuild a defense that was victimized down the stretch last season. The defensive struggles contributed to Auburn's fall from national title contender. The Tigers lost four of their last five games. Malzahn fired veteran SEC coordinator Ellis Johnson and hired Muschamp, who had recently been fired as Florida's head coach. Muschamp has got the three leading tacklers returning, with established players like linebackers Kris Frost and Cassanova McKinzy, defensive tackle Montravius Adams and cornerback Jonathan Jones. Malzahn said one goal for the spring is to regain ''that hard-nosed edge that we kind of lost toward the end of last year.'' ''We're going to be very physical in spring, and we're going to get that back,'' he said. NOTES: Mississippi transfer Austin Golson, who sat out last season, is moving from tackle to center to start the spring. ... Linebacker Anthony Swain, who Malzahn said will graduate this spring, has left the team. Punter Jimmy Hutchinson has also decided to ''explore other opportunities,'' the coach said. ... Former Auburn defensive lineman Kenneth Carter has joined the staff in an off-the-field role. Jeff Nord, who was a graduate assistant under Malzahn at Arkansas in 2006, will work as an offensive analyst.
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As an unapologetic neoconservative hawk, it perhaps came as no surprise to Senate Republicans last week when Arkansas freshman Tom Cotton started circulating his five-paragraph missive to Iran's leadership. "We're all aligned that we do not want a nuclear Iran," said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., who confirmed to CQ Roll Call that he was the first of the 46 Republicans who joined Cotton on the letter. "That's what this is all about. I applaud his leadership in offering the letter but we're all aligned." All 11 of Cotton's fellow Republican freshmen in the Senate signed onto the letter, including fellow military veterans Joni Ernst of Iowa and Dan Sullivan of Alaska. Like Cotton, military service played a major role in each of their campaigns. Fellow freshman Sen. Thom Tillis , R-N.C., praised Cotton's "leadership and courage," when asked about his decision to sign. "I think that we're getting a discussion going that's very important and I think that the American people are interested in, too. So, [I] fully support him that's why I signed onto the letter." Another rookie to the chamber, Republican Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, capped his thoughts on the letter with: "So, good job, Tom." Cassidy, who served with Cotton in the House prior to winning a Senate seat, told CQ Roll Call that the two have a good relationship, but shied away from the suggestion that his colleague stands out as a leader in the freshman class. "No, I think that everybody has their area of interest; I mean, it's nothing against [Cotton]," Cassidy said. "Everybody has their area, right? What is your committee? What is your natural interest? He comes from being a war veteran, and so he's of course naturally interested in the Middle East, so I think it's natural for him to take an interest in this." In a noteworthy move, Cotton was appointed chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee at the start of the 114th Congress. He made waves in January with a speech delivered at the Heritage Foundation blasting the White House's attempts to negotiate with Iran. The Harvard-educated hawk, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has also proposed curtailing the president's authority to waive new sanctions against Iran. "I think his experience as a veteran is a great asset to the United States Senate and to our country," said Sen. Steve Daines , R-Mont., who also emphasized that Republicans backing the bill are all aligned on Cotton's message. The GOP senators who didn't sign have been clear about where they diverged from Cotton. Sen. Susan Collins , R-Maine expressed worries about the message that Cotton penned. For one, there were some "technical glitches with the letter," Collins said. "We vote whether or not to approve or reject a resolution of ratification." Another was the tone, which Democrats characterized as gratuitous and brazen. Collins said it was "different than I would have used." But her chief concern was that the letter seemed to undermine the Senate's role in giving or withholding consent to the president at this critical stage of the negotiations. "The best way for me to state my position on Iran was to support [Sen. Bob] Corker's proposal to make sure that Congress approves any deal President Obama makes with Iran," said Sen. Lamar Alexander , R-Tenn. "I believe all of us in the Republican caucus support that, and a growing number of Democrats, too. So, I think what unites us on the Republican side is our feeling that Congress ought to have a say, and I didn't see a need to say more than that." Many on the left have balked at the letter, bashing it as over the top. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called it "beneath the dignity of an institution I revere" and said it "ignores two centuries of precedent and threatens to undermine the ability of any future American President." Obama accused Republicans of making "common cause" with Iranian hardliners, while his spokesman talked of a "rush to war" by the GOP. But Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn , R-Texas, was full of praise Tuesday. "He clearly took the initiative on that, yes," Cornyn said, when asked if he was impressed with Cotton's leadership. "I think, given his background, he's a great new membe of the Armed Services Committee." Related: Democrats Blast Cotton, GOP Over Open Letter to Iran Senate Schedule Changed After Iran Vote Delay 7 Democrats Said to Back New Iran Sanctions Bill The 114th: CQ Roll Call's Guide to the New Congress Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call in your inbox or on your iPhone .
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Blue Jackets winger Scott Hartnell scored two goals in the 4-3 shootout win over the Hurricanes on Tuesday.
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Alumni of OU's SAE chapter offer insights on house mom Beauton Gilbow, "Mom B," who is under fire for a video of her laughing and saying the n-word.
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Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov was at least curious about how much his franchise could fetch on the open market. It presumably was not enough to prompt a sale. On Tuesday, Prokhorov ended his agreement with investment bank Evercore Partners, according to ESPN . He hired the firm in January to explore the market for a potential sale of the Nets after Steve Ballmer purchased the Clippers for $2 billion last year. MORE: Austin's impact beyond basketball | Aldridge's blessing in disguise | Wizards get defensive spark In ending his agreement with the bank, it would seem Prokhorov wasn't blown away by the potential offers. The sale of the Nets in the near future is highly unlikely as a result, ESPN's report said. Prokhorov bought an 80 percent share of the Nets in May 2010 for $200 million. He also contributed another $200 million to finance a portion of the construction of Brooklyn's Barclays Center, of which he owns 45 percent. Forbes recently reported the Nets were worth $1.5 billion , which would make Brooklyn the NBA's sixth-most valuable franchise.
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Flooring retailer's share have gotten hammered
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) NASCAR placed crew chief Paul Wolfe on probation for the rest of the 2015 season after NASCAR caught Team Penske pulling out the fenders on Brad Keselowski's car before qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR penalties announced Tuesday night included a $25,000 fine on crew chief Steve Addington because Justin Allgaier's car was too light in postrace inspection Sunday. Wolfe's penalty was considered a P2 penalty on NASCAR's scale. Addington's was a P3. The most severe is a P6. Keselowski's car was pulled from the qualifying grid right before Friday's session began and sent back to inspection because NASCAR said the fenders by the wheel wells had been flared. It was a point of contention last season as NASCAR did not have a specific rule banning the flared sideskirts. The fine against Addington was because ballast from Allgaier's car fell out during the race. It caused the car to not meet minimum weight requirements after the race.
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DENVER (AP) -- The more urgent their season becomes, the better the Los Angeles Kings seem to perform. That's just the way this team ticks. They're hardly bothered by pressure-filled games this time of year. Brayden McNabb had a goal and two assists, Jonathan Quick stopped 21 shots and the Kings beat Colorado 5-2 on Tuesday night to end the Avalanche's three-game win streak. Marian Gaborik, Jeff Carter, Kyle Clifford and Jake Muzzin also scored as the reigning Stanley Cup champions crept closer to playoff contention with 16 games remaining. ''We're at our best when we're in dire need of a win,'' said Justin Williams, who had two assists. ''And we're in dire need of 16 more wins.'' Quick made one sensational save after another to move the Kings into a third-place tie with Calgary in the Pacific Division with 77 points. The Flames currently hold the tiebreaker courtesy of more non-shootout wins. Los Angeles also crawled to within a point of Winnipeg for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. ''This time of year we've got to play our best hockey,'' Clifford said. ''It's one game at a time and points are huge.'' Tyson Barrie and Alex Tanguay scored for the Avalanche, who dropped the first contest in a pivotal three-game homestand as their postseason aspirations dwindle. Rookie goaltender Calvin Pickard filled in after Semyon Varlamov injured his groin over the weekend. Pickard's night didn't last long, with the Kings scoring three early goals and chasing him from the game at 14:15 of the first period. Reto Berra took over the rest of the way. Varlamov had his string of 22 straight starts snapped. ''It stings,'' Barrie said. ''We didn't give ourselves a chance. We didn't have the first two periods we wanted to have. I thought we responded well in the third but it was too late.'' Tanguay made it 4-2 when he lifted a shot past Quick at 8:27 of the third. But Muzzin quickly answered to restore the three-goal lead. It was Muzzin's first goal since Jan. 28. Colorado pulled Berra with around five minutes remaining for an extra skater and yet couldn't get anything past Quick. ''They (Kings) are so good, there's no reason for these guys to not be in the playoff picture right now. It shows how tough it is,'' Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. ''You have to be good night after night after night if you want to make the playoffs in this conference. If you want to be in the playoff picture, you have to be healthy and you have to play well.'' Gaborik got the Kings on the board at 7:47 of the first period when he redirected a shot past Pickard, who was called up from Lake Erie of the American Hockey League the day before. Moments later, Jordan Nolan and Carter executed a perfect give-and-go, with Carter sending a shot over Pickard's glove. Barrie sliced into the lead by beating Quick with a low liner, only to have McNabb tip in a shot at 14:15 to make it 3-1 and end Pickard's night. Pickard entered the evening with a 2.18 goals-against average in 15 games for Colorado. He's stepped in from time to time this season as Varlamov's dealt with a nagging groin injury. Although Varlamov skated at morning practice, Roy elected to take a cautious approach. Roy said Varlamov is ''day-to-day'' and may be back in goal against New Jersey on Thursday. ''It doesn't hurt him, but he doesn't feel like it's solid enough to take a chance,'' Roy explained. This has been an injury-filled season for the Avalanche, who are already without defenseman Erik Johnson (knee), along with forwards Nathan MacKinnon (broken foot) and Jamie McGinn (back). ''Story of our season,'' Roy said. ''Losing Johnson and MacKinnon and McGinn and on and on and on and on.'' NOTES: The Kings had 10 assists in the game. ... Varlamov was one start away from matching Craig Anderson's mark for most consecutive starts by an Avalanche goaltender set in 2010. The franchise record is held by Quebec's Ron Tugnutt, who started 26 straight during the 1990-91 season. ... F Joey Hishon (neck/elbow) was a scratch.
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Gonzaga had no problem with BYU in the WCC finals on Tuesday night. Six Bulldogs scored in double figures as they took down BYU, 91-75.
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Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski commented on the sanctions that were handed down on the Syracuse basketball team. The guys react to Krzyzewski's quote.
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The only thing better than a hot British actor is a group of hot British actors - and luckily for us, some of our favorite guys from across the pond just so happen to run in the same circles. For really no reason at all, we've rounded up 22 photos of your favorite British actors - including Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Hiddleston - hanging out with each other and generally looking really hot together. Keep reading to see them all now, and be sure to check out more cute guys gushing about their celebrity man crushes. Tom Sturridge and Eddie Redmayne hung out after a performance of A Doll's House in London in August 2013. Robert Pattinson and Andrew Garfield had a laugh at HBO's Golden Globes afterparty in January 2011. Douglas Booth and Sam Claflin stuck together at the Mulberry fashion show in February 2013. Dan Stevens and Benedict Cumberbatch were all smiles at the September 2014 screening of The Guest in London. Robert and Eddie posed together at the HFPA Banquet in August 2014. Henry Cavill and Luke Evans buddied up at a Jessie J concert in August 2012. Sam had his arms around Douglas and Max Irons at the Rome photocall for Posh in September 2014. Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston were picture-perfect pals at an InStyle event in LA back in January 2011. Eddie and Benedict were dressed to the nines for the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in January 2015. Tom was in a deep conversation with Nicholas Hoult at a Mulberry dinner in London in February 2012. Luke Evans and Henry Cavill had a laugh at the LA premiere of Immortals in November 2011. Max Irons and Sam Claflin chatted on the red carpet at the December 2014 premiere of The Riot Club in Paris. Tom and Eddie looked dapper at a Wimbledon event in June 2012. Daniel Radcliffe had Tom's attention at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2013. Idris Elba paired up with Charlie Hunnam at the London premiere of Pacific Rim in July 2013. Luke Evans and Douglas Booth suited up for a fashion event in London back in February 2013. Douglas and Tom matched up at a London fashion event in September 2010. Robert and Tom Sturridge sported white t-shirts and sunglasses while hanging out together in NYC in August 2014. Eddie and Benedict had a chat at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014. Tom Sturridge, Andrew Garfield, and Robert Pattinson were a handsome lot at a Vogue UK dinner in February 2009. Andrew hosted a private screening of his "dear friend" Eddie's film The Theory of Everything in NYC in October 2014 - aww! Dan Stevens and Eddie Redmayne posed together at a Burberry cocktail party back in June 2012.
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A man who police believe has an affinity for marijuana - and occasionally cocaine - was charged with a different crime Sunday: The stalking and assault of a Jewish Miami Beach man who said Diego Chaar yelled at him in Arabic then threatened to cut his head off. Chaar, 24, was picked up by Miami Beach detectives Sunday and escorted to police headquarters, where they say he admitted to passing David Weberman outside the Ohev Shalom Congregation and telling him, "I will cut your head off." "He agreed to go to the station and speak," said Miami Beach Detective Vivian Thayer. If the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office chooses to consider Chaar's actions a hate crime, it could act as an enhancement during any sentencing. A hate crime in itself is not a charge. Police say Weberman and a friend were walking outside the temple at 7055 Bonita Dr., at 9:24 p.m. Saturday when Chaar looked directly at Weberman and yelled "Allahu Akbar," an Arabic term meaning God is great. When Weberman ignored the comment, Chaar allegedly then yelled, "Heads will be cut off." Weberman then called 911 from his cell phone, the arrest affidavit says, and police responded. But before they arrived Weberman had managed to follow Chaar and spotted him hiding behind a car. Police briefly questioned Chaar and wrote up a report, but released him. Then, according to the police report, about 45 minutes later or shortly after 10 p.m., Chaar returned to the synagogue, walked past Weberman again, and repeated "Allahu Akbar," before walking away. The victim called police again, who found Chaar on Sunday, took him to the police station, and arrested him. Weberman couldn't be reached for comment and by late Tuesday there was still was no record of Chaar checking in at Miami-Dade County Corrections. But the Anti-Defamation League weighed in, saying "menacing and ugly threats have no place in our society." "They are a symptom of the ideological ills plaguing the suspect who spoke them, and they are a symptom of the disease called hate," ADL Florida Regional Director Hava Holzhauer said in a written statement. It's not Chaar's first brush with the law, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records. Those records show he was arrested nine times between 2006 and 2013 mostly for possession of marijuana, but three times on cocaine charges. Yet in every case, in jurisdictions from Orlando to Sunny Isles to Miami Beach, the charges were dropped. According to an old NBC 6 report, Chaar appears to also be familiar to Miami Beach detectives because three years ago a man also named Diego Chaar claimed someone had threatened his life. In that instance, the television station reported Chaar told police Armando Rodriguez entered his apartment on the night of Feb. 11, 2012, beat him over the head with a crowbar, stuck a gun in his mouth, and demanded Chaar hand over marijuana and cocaine. Miami Beach police had not confirmed that report by late Tuesday. Sunday marked at least the third time hatred has been spewed toward Jewish Miami Beach residents since last fall. In September a homeless man was caught scrawling a swastika and the letters "KKK" on a temporary sign at Temple Emanu-el, the oldest Conservative Jewish congregation on the Beach. That same week someone spray painted a similar sawstika and "KKK" on the wall of a Publix Supermarket in Surfside.
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LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Kyle Wiltjer had 18 points and 10 rebounds, helping No. 7 Gonzaga shoot its way past Brigham Young 91-75 Tuesday night for the Zags' third straight West Coast Conference tournament title. Gonzaga (32-3), the regular-season champion, clinched its 14th WCC tournament by putting on an offensive show in an entertaining rematch of last year's title game. BOX SCORE: GONZAGA 91, BRIGHAM YOUNG 75 The nation's best shooting team during the regular season, the Bulldogs shot 53 percent inside Orleans Arena and made 8 of 12 from 3-point range. Kevin Pangos had 16 points and five assists for Gonzaga. Domantas Sabonis and Gary Bell Jr. added 15 points each. BYU (25-9) tried to match the Zags shot for shot behind Kyle Collinsworth, but never quite caught them after built a 12-point lead early in the second half. Collinsworth finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists after posting a triple-double in the semifinals. Tyler Haws added 15 points for the Cougars, who have to endure an agonizing wait until Selection Sunday for the second straight season. The Zags have become a staple in the WCC title game, making their 18th straight appearance, the last 15 under coach Mark Few Gonzaga won the regular-season title for the 14th time in 15 years and is guaranteed to make its 17th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. BYU was still hovering around the NCAA Tournament bubble, though its 14-point win over Portland in the WCC semifinal finals boosted its bid. The Cougars were one of two teams to beat Gonzaga during the regular season, ending the Zags' 41-game home winning streak with a 73-70 victory less than two weeks ago. Gonzaga shot poorly in the second half of that game - 1 for 8 from 3-point range - and started slow in the title game, missing eight of its first 10 shots. Once they got going, the Bulldogs seemed to take turns scoring. Wiltjer, who has been bothered by a sore hip and had tape on his left shoulder, did the early damage, powering his way to the rim and hitting a pair of 3-pointers while scoring 12 first-half points. Sabonis was next, scoring 11 points by bulling his way inside. Bell closed out the first half with a mix of 3-pointers and midrange shots, scoring 12 points to help the Zags to a 48-42 lead. Collinsworth, BYU's crafty point guard, did his best to keep the Cougars in it by himself, getting into the lane to score and draw fouls. He had 17 points by halftime, hitting 9 of 11 free throws. Gonzaga turned to Przemek Karnowski down low to start the second half. Getting deep post position, the big man scored on three hook shots and Wiltjer added a 3-pointer to help put the Zags up 71-59. Gonzaga kept making shots - 13 of 21 in the second half - and BYU was unable to chip away at the lead. --- TIP INS BYU: The Cougars played without Anson Winder, their third-leading scorer and best perimeter defender, because of a knee injury. ... Coach Dave Rose was called for a technical foul midway through the second half for arguing a call. ... BYU has not won conference title since 2001 Gonzaga: Wiltjer made 7 of 12 shots and made all three of his attempts from 3-pont range. ... Karnowski finished with 12 points. UP NEXT BYU: NCAA Tournament or NIT. Gonzaga: NCAA Tournament.
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Kelly Osbourne Kelly Osbourne wants to "try new things" after quitting 'Fashion Police'. The 30-year-old star insists she has no regrets about leaving the E! Series late last month just days after co-host Giuliana Rancic was forced to apologize to Disney star Zendaya Coleman for making an "outrageously offensive" comment about her dreadlocks. Asked how she is feeling, the visibly emotional star said: "You know what, it was the five best working years of my life. I am so grateful for the experience -- working with Joan Rivers for five years was incredible." But the purple-haired presenter admits she is more than ready to move on. She told 'The Talk': "I learned so much and I'm excited for my future. I want to try new things." A source previously revealed Kelly wasn't happy on the show since Kathy Griffin stepped in to replace Joan after the comedian died last year. The insider said: "After Joan died, Kelly gave [the show] a shot. "Kelly thought the show was going to be revamped [after Joan's death], but it was basically the same except they hired new people and there was a new set. "[The show] has gotten a little better, but it's not what she wanted." Chrissy Teigen, Khloé Kardashian, Amber Rose, Naya Rivera, Nene Leakes and Kristin Cavallari are among those in talks to replace Kelly, but a spokesperson recently insisted "no decisions have been made" in relation to finding a new host for the show just yet.
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entertainment
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Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson netted the only goal of the game in the Lightning's 1-0 overtime victory against the Canadiens on Tuesday.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jordan Hill led seven Lakers in double figures with 16 points, and Los Angeles beat the Detroit Pistons 93-85 on Tuesday night to snap a five-game losing streak. BOX SCORE: LAKERS 93, PISTONS 85 The injury-riddled Lakers (17-46) beat the Pistons for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings behind 46 points in the paint and a 46-41 rebounding edge, but were officially eliminated from playoff contention before their game ended when New Orleans beat Brooklyn. Greg Monroe had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Pistons, but missed a pair of critical free throws with 1:09 remaining and Detroit trailing by three. Andre Drummond had 21 rebounds along with 14 points, but couldn't prevent Detroit's seventh straight loss. The Pistons trailed by as many as nine before slicing the deficit to 78-74 with a fast-break dunk by Monroe and a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 5:55 remaining. They got as close as 85-82 on a fast-break layup by former Laker Jodie Meeks with 1:42 left. But Hill helped put it away with a 20-footer in the final minute and Jeremy Lin added four free throws. Caldwell-Pope hit a 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds left in the half to give the Pistons a 50-49 lead at intermission. But they missed their first eight shots of the third as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run that Detroit's Tayshaun Prince ended on a driving layup with 5:43 left in the quarter. TIP-INS Pistons: The Pistons are 4-4 when Drummond gets 20 or more rebounds. ... Meeks, who spent the previous two seasons with the Lakers and shot under 90 percent on free throws in each of them, is leading the NBA from the line this season (92.3 percent) . ... The Pistons shot just 38.6 percent from the field. They've reached 50 percent just four times this season and once on the road. ... Detroit is 2-34 when trailing after three quarters. ... The Pistons' other meeting with the Lakers this season resulted in a 106-96 defeat that came during Detroit's 13-game losing streak. ... Prince, who returned to the Pistons on Feb. 19 in a trade with Boston, needs 119 more points to become the eighth player with at least 10,000 in a Detroit uniform. Lakers: Kobe Bryant, out for the season after rotator cuff surgery, reiterated that his plans are to return for a 20th season - and possibly beyond. ''Who said I was retiring? It was never a question for me whether or not I was going to play next year,'' the NBA's No. 3 career scorer said. ''It's discouraging. You have an injury and you have another one and you have another one - it's discouraging. But I'll respond to it the same way I always have: just sticking to the process.'' Injuries have limited Bryant to just 41 of 144 games since the start of last season. The team is 44-101 without him in the lineup, but only 12-29 when he's played. ... No Laker has scored 30 or more points since Dec. 9, when Bryant had 32 for the sixth and final time this season in a 98-95 win over Sacramento. ... Guard Jabari Brown, the leading scorer in the NBA Development League this season with a 24.4 average for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, signed a 10-day contract. UP NEXT Pistons: At Golden State on Wednesday. Lakers: Host New York Knicks on Thursday.
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Apple's logo is a masterpiece of form. It's a refined, elegant shape that represents the computer brand without the need for words, and represents an expectation of quality. But, according to a UCLA study published last month, nobody can remember what it looks like. Scientists at the university asked 85 students, 89 percent of whom were Apple users, to draw the Apple logo from memory. Only seven were able to draw the iconic image without major errors. Only one could reproduce the logo accurately. The students drawings, shown in the paper, were muddled. Some got the basic idea but missed minor details, misplaced the bite, or added two stalks at the top of the Apple. Others missed the mark entirely, drawing flattened hand grenades or approximations of the Pepsi logo. But the paper suggests the blindspot doesn't just apply to drawing when students were asked to pick out the real Apple logo from a lineup of similar images, only 47 percent of them chose the right answer. Apple users had a slight advantage over PC users in the test, but the scientists behind the study said there "was not a significant difference." The inability to clearly remember well-known images and logos has been observed before a similar study, conducted in the 1970s, showed that people couldn't recall what was on the faces of an American penny. But UCLA's scientists say the new study is different in that it examines logos that are "prominently advertised, people attend to frequently, and are designed to be recognizable." People use pennies, but rarely need to closely observe their features; Apple's logo is easy to find in everyday life and designed to be noticed. Instead, the scientists say the students' forgetfulness may be down to "a form of attentional saturation," which can lead to "inattentional amnesia" the logo's simplicity and ubiquity work mean that people stop noticing the details because their brain tells them they don't need to. "Under intentional learning conditions," the study says, "people could memorize and reproduce the logo," but without the need to do so, we simply acknowledge its existence. Our brains, used to seeing the image everywhere, use an "efficient and adaptive memory system" to avoid storing the unnecessary information.
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U.S. airlines are expected to carry more passengers this spring than they have in seven years, Washington trade group Airlines for America said Wednesday. The group estimates that about 134.8 million passengers will travel on U.S. airlines during March and April, up almost 2 percent compared with the same time last year. U.S. carriers are increasing the number of seats available for booking by 3 percent to accommodate the demand, the group said. Airlines for America "attributes the increase in spring air travel to rising U.S. employment and personal incomes, an improving economy, the highest consumer sentiment in a decade and the continued affordability of air travel," the group's Chief Economist John Heimlich said in the release.
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HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) A Mexican Mafia hit man convicted of beating and strangling a San Antonio woman because she didn't pay the gang's 10 percent tax on her illegal drug sales was executed Wednesday evening. The injection of Manuel Vasquez with a lethal dose of pentobarbital leaves Texas with enough of the powerful sedative to carry out only one more execution. Vasquez was the fourth Texas inmate put to death this year, and at least six are scheduled for execution in the coming weeks. Texas prison officials, like those in other death penalty states, have found it increasingly difficult to find suppliers to provide drugs intended for capital punishment use. Vasquez, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. CDT, 17 minutes after the drug began being administered. Vasquez, in a final statement, told his family and friends he loved them and thanked "the Lord for his kind mercy, faithfulness and unconditional love." "In Jesus' name I pray," he said, then told the warden: "I'm ready." He took three deep breaths, then began snoring loudly. The snores became progressively quiet, and all movement stopped within less than a minute. The sister of his victim was among witnesses watching through a window. He never looked at her. His own sister and a female friend cried as they watched in an adjacent room. Vasquez's lawyers filed no late appeals to delay his execution for the 1998 slaying of 51-year-old Juanita Ybarra. Testimony at Vasquez's trial showed Ybarra had ignored the gang's "dime" tax on street drug sales in San Antonio, so Vasquez and two partners were ordered that she "had to go down." "I'm sure she was told if you're selling, you've got to pay the tax," said Mary Green, an assistant Bexar County district attorney who prosecuted Vasquez. "I guess she didn't take it seriously." Fueled by a night of drinking and drugs, the men put on bandannas to cover their faces and socks on their hands to prevent fingerprints and barged into a room at a run-down San Antonio motel where Ybarra was staying with her boyfriend, Moses Bazan. Bazan was beaten and stabbed but survived to identify one of the attackers, leading to the arrest of all three. He said he saw Vasquez ask one of his companions for a phone cord and saw Vasquez strangling Ybarra. One of the men, Johnny Joe Cruz, testified against Vasquez under a plea deal that carried a seven-year prison term. The third man charged, Oligario Lujan, is serving a 35-year sentence. Court records show the three were carrying out orders from Mexican Mafia boss Rene Munoz, who spent years on the Texas Department of Public Safety's 10 Most Wanted List until his arrest in 2012. Vasquez had a lengthy record and had been in and out of prison at least twice. One conviction involved the beating of a man who died after his body was set on fire, and he was tied to the 1992 slaying of another drug dealer who wasn't paying the gang's drug tax. Texas' next execution is scheduled for next week. Randall Mays is set to die for a 2007 shootout where two East Texas sheriff's deputies were killed. Executions set for April in the nation's most active death penalty state will require a new lethal drug supply to be carried out. Some states have started considering other options. Utah's Legislature gave final approval Tuesday night to a proposal to allow executions by firing squad if there is a drug shortage. Legislation to allow firing squads also has been introduced in Arkansas, while a Wyoming firing-squad measure failed. In Oklahoma, lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the state to use nitrogen gas to execute inmates. "I remain optimistic we'll be able to carry out executions according to the schedule," Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, has told The Associated Press. "Time will tell."
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NEW YORK (AP) -- In a matchup of teams fighting for postseason spots, only the New Orleans Pelicans looked playoff-worthy. Alexis Ajinca and Quincy Pondexter each scored 17 points and the Pelicans moved within percentage points of eighth place in the Western Conference by beating the Brooklyn Nets 111-91 on Tuesday night. BOX SCORE: PELICANS 111, NETS 91 Omer Asik had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Pelicans in their third straight victory. Anthony Davis scored 15 points, a night after tying his career high with 43 in a win at Milwaukee. The Pelicans are now 2 percentage points behind Oklahoma City for the West's final playoff spot. "It's big," guard Eric Gordon said. "Every game counts from here on out and we've just got to keep on fighting for the eighth spot. We just know that it's going to be tough to reach the eighth seed because they're winning a lot of games and we are too, so we can't slow down." Brook Lopez had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Nets, lost their fourth straight in the finale of a five-game homestand in which they went 1-4. Nets coach Lionel Hollins was disappointed his team didn't respond after the Pelicans roared back from an early 14-point deficit. "Well, that's all year long," Hollins said. "I think competing is what this business is about, that's the reason I played, the reason I coach -- to compete. It's not about the money, it's not about the fame, it's not about anything but just going out there competing and earning respect of your opponent. That's all that matters. "People can write good or bad about you and you can make a lot of money or not make a lot of money, but the money doesn't matter when you get between the lines." Ajinca had 11 points during a four-minute stretch of the second quarter as the Pelicans took a 55-46 lead into halftime. "He was good," coach Monty Williams said. "He gave us a big lift. Being able to throw him the ball is something that we've gone to the last few weeks and he's delivered for us." New Orleans extended the lead to 78-61 by the end of the third quarter as Asik and Davis dominated Brooklyn's frontcourt. The pair combined for 13 of New Orleans' 23 points in the third. Pondexter had 14 points in the fourth. Davis was hit in the face and returned to the locker room to be checked out early in the period. By the time he was cleared to return, the Pelicans were well ahead and didn't need him. The Nets lost Alan Anderson, Markel Brown and Sergey Karasev to injuries. Brooklyn fell three games out of the final playoff spot and into 11th in the East. "Every game at this point is a big game," struggling guard Deron Williams said. "I talked about it after last loss. The teams in front of us are not showing any signs of slowing down. We got some ground to gain and got to play better than we are if we want a chance to win." ------ TIP-INS Pelicans: Monty Williams compared Davis to some elite company. "Tracy McGrady was probably the most talented guy I played with and AD is like Tracy," he said. "They can do pretty much anything on the floor. Grant (Hill) was like that. Allen Iverson was like that. They're just off-the-chart talented, so you never put a ceiling on those guys because they can do anything on any given night on both ends. AD is not like anybody I've ever seen. That's why I'm not frustrated, but I just kind of laugh at the MVP stuff. The guy dominates on both ends of the floor and we only talk about guys who are dominating on one end of the floor so it's tough for me to listen to all that when I've got a guy who absolutely dominates on both ends." Nets: Anderson left the game with a bruised tailbone. Brown turned his right ankle. X-rays were negative. Karasev sprained his right knee and will undergo further tests Wednesday. UP NEXT Pelicans: Hosts Denver on Sunday. Nets: Visits Miami on Wednesday.
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You read that right. It turns out watching COPS isn't the only thing that can make Will Ferrell break a sweat. The actor and comedian plans to play all nine positions during multiple Cactus League games on Thursday, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale . Ferrell is expected to travel from game to game via helicopter, proving that he is, indeed, kind of a big deal. Ferrell will reportedly appear in the Athletics-Mariners and Dodgers-Padres games. The start times for both contests were changed to accommodate Ferrell, who is performing the publicity stunt for a good cause. Major League Baseball and HBO are teaming up to film a special about the event in the name of cancer awareness. No word yet on whether the Padres will change their uniforms to reflect San Diego's German-to-English translation. Also, other games in which Ferrell will appear have yet to be announced, though Thursday's Cactus League schedule -- one that is unusually staggered -- could shed some light on that (all times Eastern): 3 p.m. -- Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland Athletics 4:05 p.m. -- Chicago White Sox vs. Texas Rangers 4:05 p.m. -- Colorado Rockies vs. Milwaukee Brewers 4:05 p.m. -- Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Indians 4:10 p.m. -- Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Angels 5:10 p.m. -- Cincinnati Reds vs. Arizona Diamondbacks 7:05 p.m. -- San Francisco Giants vs. Chicago White Sox 9:15 p.m. -- Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Dale Johnston was sent to death row in 1984 for a double homicide he didn't commit. He's spent the years since his 1990 release trying to get back the life he lost. The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in Johnston's latest attempt to win a wrongful imprisonment suit against the state. Now 81, Johnston described his years under a death sentence as "hell on earth." "Death row's the most horrible place anybody could be," he said in a recent interview at his home in Grove City in suburban Columbus. "Especially when you know they're wanting to kill you for something you didn't do." The case dates to 1982, after parts of the dismembered bodies of his stepdaughter, Annette Cooper Johnston, and her boyfriend, Todd Schultz, were discovered in a cornfield a few days after they went missing. Johnston was indicted the following year and in 1984, a Hocking County jury, based in part on testimony by a hypnotized witness, convicted Johnston of the killings and sentenced him to death on the theory he'd been having an affair with his stepdaughter and killed both in a jealous rage. An appeals court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, but a judge refused to allow the hypnotized witness' testimony and other evidence and the case was dismissed. In 2008, two men confessed to the crime, with one saying he killed the couple and the other that he helped dispose of the bodies. Three years ago, a Franklin County judge declared Johnston innocent, allowing him to seek compensation from the state, but an appeals court reversed the ruling. Arguing a series of technicalities, the state says because Johnston failed in an earlier attempt to prove wrongful imprisonment, he isn't eligible to try again. "Johnston already unsuccessfully brought a wrongful imprisonment action arising out of his criminal convictions," Debra Gorrell, an assistant Attorney General, argued in a court filing last year. "This case seeks a do-over." Johnston's attorney said with the real killer in prison, the state's arguments help perpetuate a "monstrous inequity." Finding that Johnston was wrongfully imprisoned "is necessary to preserve the reputation for justice that the Ohio courts have elsewhere earned," attorney Todd Long said in a 2014 court filing. Some justices seemed skeptical of the state's efforts to fight Johnston, given the judge's 2012 ruling in his favor. "Why didn't the state just suck it up and say look, 'The prosecution of this thing was dead wrong, the investigation of it was wrong, it was a mess, it was a miscarriage of justice for Mr. Johnston'?" said Justice Paul Pfeifer. Stephen Carney, Ohio deputy solicitor, emphasized the state's position that the 2003 law under which Johnston sued doesn't apply to cases before it took effect. Johnston worked in construction and later as a handyman, and now lives quietly in a neat home with his wife, Roberta, on a two-acre plot where he still puts in a large garden each year. Ohio courts have awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past in similar cases. "If I am able to get everything that the state says I'm allowed to have, that's still an insult when you figure what I lost," Johnston said.
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LOS ANGELES Kobe Bryant reiterated that he plans to return to the Los Angeles Lakers next season after recovering from shoulder surgery, but, at the moment, he doesn't expect to play beyond that. Speaking to reporters before the Lakers played the Detroit Pistons at Staples Center, Bryant acknowledged he briefly had second thoughts about coming back after getting the news of his shoulder injury. Bryant said he recalled thinking, "I don't know if I can do another nine months (of rehabilitation), this is crazy." But even though the setback is "discouraging," the Lakers' all-time leading scorer said he quickly turned his thoughts to preparing to play in his 20th NBA season. "There was never a question for me whether or not I was going to play next year," when he stands to earn $25million in salary in the second year of a two-year contract, he said. Then he was asked about extending that contract and playing another season. "As I sit here right now, do I want to play after next year? No. That could change," he said. Did Bryant, 36, know what factors might make up his mind one way or the other? "No idea," he replied. Bryant had surgery in late January to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder, the third consecutive season that the Lakers' star has had his season cut short because of an injury. He tore his Achilles' tendon in April 2013. After returning for the 2013-14 season, he played only six games before he suffered a fractured bone in his left knee. "This (rehabilitation) is much more encouraging," Bryant said of the shoulder. "I can move around a lot more. I can pretty much do anything." Except shoot a basketball. "As far as shooting, I don't know" how soon that might happen, Bryant said. "Probably a month or so." Bryant said he remained motivated by "the thrill of the challenge of trying to come back. It gets tougher and tougher to try to get back up." Bryant played in 35 games this season before the surgery, a season in which he will make $23.5 million. He averaged 22.3 points a game but shot a career-low 37.3 percent, compared with a career average of 45.4 percent coming into this season. Before the surgery, Lakers Coach Byron Scott often rested Bryant in hopes of keeping him healthy all season. Bryant was asked Tuesday if he expected to have his minutes limited again next season. "Honestly, I don't know," he said. "At this stage all I can do is just try to do whatever I can to try be as healthy as possible. If something's going to go, it goes." He also revealed that his shoulder had been bothering him for more than a decade. "It's been there for a long time," he said. "Judging by the pain, I've had that same pain in my shoulder since 2001." With the Lakers playing so poorly this season, there has been speculation about a high draft pick or acquiring a free agent who could help the team rebuild next season. Bryant said he doesn't follow college players to see which ones might be available to the Lakers, nor does he give the team a list of available free agents he thinks they should pursue. "I'm not involved like that and I don't want to be," he said. "You've got to trust each other (and let) everybody do their job, the best job that they can and I'll do the best job I can and we'll see how it goes," he said. Still, Bryant said he would like to see a premier player join the team next season. "I'd much rather hand the keys over to somebody that can take this organization right from the jump," he said.
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After winning a Super Bowl in his lone season with the Patriots, Darrelle Revis is returning to the Jets. The deal is for $70 million over five years with $39 million guaranteed.
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Kawhi Leonard had 24 points, 11 rebounds and matched a career high with five steals, and the San Antonio Spurs withstood a second-half letdown to beat the Toronto Raptors 117-107 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight victory. BOX SCORE: SPURS 117, RAPTORS 107 Tony Parker added 23 points and nine assists, and Danny Green was 5 for 6 on 3-pointers in scoring 19 points for San Antonio. Toronto lost its fourth straight despite 32 points from Kyle Lowry and 21 for DeMar DeRozan. Amir Johnson had 16 points and 14 rebounds. Tim Duncan made the game's first basket on a follow of his own blocked shot 19 seconds in, after failing to make a field goal for the first time in his career in San Antonio's previous game. He finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds in 36 minutes.
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MANCHESTER, England (AP) Struggling Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao made a surprise appearance for the club's under-21 team on Tuesday. The two-time Ballon d'Or nominee failed to find the net against Tottenham in his first appearance for United's second string during 72 minutes on the pitch before being substituted. Falcao has scored just four goals since joining United on loan in September from Monaco, making a permanent deal at the end of the season look less likely. The 29-year-old Colombian failed to get off the bench on Monday when Arsenal beat United 2-1 in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
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How can you be a grown-up when the "grown-ups" won't take you seriously?
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MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan Sara Bahai's decision to become Afghanistan's only known female taxi driver was motivated less by ideals of equality than by the need to support an extended family and a love of driving that has confined her conservative detractors to the rear-view mirror. She still remembers her first time behind the wheel, shortly after the Taliban were driven from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. "I felt like I was in the sky, and I totally fell in love with driving," she said. There was no turning back. Bahai, now around 40 years old, had already spent much of her life defying taboos in Afghanistan, where women are widely regarded as inferior to men and discouraged from working outside the home. She never married, she said, because she had to support her parents and siblings and feared a husband would prevent her from working. With no children of her own she adopted two boys, now both in high school. When Taliban insurgents shot and killed her brother-in-law, she took in her sister and seven nieces and nephews. She now supports a dozen people. To put food on the table, she drives around the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in a spotlessly clean yellow and white Toyota Corolla with sparkly woven seat covers and a good luck talisman in the front window. "I receive threats from unknown callers who tell me to not drive in the city because I am a woman, because it is against Islam. Some tell me that if I continue to work as a taxi driver they will kill me," she said. "Male passengers are very jealous and often abuse me, but I don't care what they think of me, I am not afraid. I will change the country with whatever ability I have to do so," she said. She got her driver's license in 2002 and is also a mechanic. She earned a university degree in education and now teaches other women to drive so they can be more independent. Attitudes about women have been slowly changing in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, and gender equality is enshrined in the constitution. But local authorities have been slow to adopt change, and outside major cities deeply conservative traditions prevail. Women who step out of their homes unaccompanied by male relatives often face verbal and sometimes physical harassment. Domestic violence goes largely unpunished and girls are still married off against their will, often to much older men, as payment for debts or as swaps for property. At the same time, millions of girls are today attending school, and many graduate from university. Maternal mortality rates are falling as health services improve, and it is no longer unusual for women to travel abroad alone, or even to live alone in major Afghan cities. A recent spike in rape reports reflects the effectiveness of public education campaigns, according to Najia Nasim, country director for a women's rights organization called Women for Afghan Woman, which also runs shelters. Afghanistan's First Lady Rula Ghani has adopted a rare public profile since her husband, President Ashraf Ghani, took office in September. She is the first wife of an Afghan leader to routinely appear in public and has campaigned for women's issues and poverty alleviation. In a speech to mark International Women's Day on Sunday, she said "women should be respected both inside and outside their homes and play an active role in society as doctors, engineers, soldiers, police officers." She also called on the world to rethink the widely held view of Afghan women as victims. Bahai would agree. The pioneering taxi driver sees more and more young women attending school, graduating college and living their own lives, as she has done. "They are building the confidence to live independently. Step by step everything is going to be all right," she says. "My message for Afghan women is to stand up for yourselves, set goals and achieve them, and help to make Afghanistan a happy place to live." ___ O'Donnell reported from Kabul, Afghanistan ___ Follow Lynne O'Donnell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lynnekodonnell
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Tobias Harris comments on why the Magic weren't able to get it done against the Indiana Pacers.
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For the most part, Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec has played pretty decently this season. Or at least, he hasn't had many of his signature, mind-numbing moments where you wonder just what the heck he was thinking. That little part of his game has been in hibernation. It awoke and reared its ugly head on Tuesday. The Jets had tied the game in St. Louis at 4-4 with minutes remaining in the third, but then Blues defenseman Barret Jackman fired a floater in from center ice at Pavelec and the unthinkable happened. The final horn sounded less than a minute later. The Jets lost, 5-4. did you even try at all pic.twitter.com/kjsR4vK6J0 Steph (@myregularface) March 11, 2015 (H/T @myregularface)
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CNN's Gary Tuchman reports on a shooting in 2007 that's receiving renewed attention in light of Tony Robinson's death.
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Brett Hundley tells Joel Klatt and Peter Schrager why he should be a first round pick in this year's draft.
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A couple of pretty big names retired at a young age on day one of the 2015 NFL calendar. It's well-known that the shelf life of an NFL player is shorter than most other professions. On average, professional football players only last for a few years, but many others last longer--especially when those players were high draft picks. Aside from the trades, new deals and other surprising moves that occurred on Tuesday, two other announcements rocked the league. Shortly after the 2015 year officially began for the NFL, Titans quarterback Jake Locker announced that he was retiring . The former No.8 overall pick of the 2011 draft surprised many with the declaration as he was set to hit free agency. "I am retiring from football after much reflection and discussion with my family," Locker said in a statement obtained by NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport. "I will always be grateful for having had the opportunity to realize my childhood dream of playing in the NFL and for the lifelong relationships I developed because of that experience. "Football has always played a pivotal role in my life and I love the game, but I no longer have the burning desire necessary to play the game for a living; to continue to do so would be unfair to the next organization with whom I would eventually sign. I realize this decision is surprising to many, but I know in my heart that it is the right decision and I look forward to spending more time with my family and pursuing other interests." Some speculated that because of injury and ineffectiveness as a quarterback that Locker would look at re-tapping his roots as a professional baseball player. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim drafted Locker in 2009, but made it known that they were not interested in giving him another try six years later . Locker was the second quarterback taken in what was believed to be a deep 2011 quarterback class. Unfortunately, for many teams, that class hasn't worked out. Ironically, the two drafted at the top of the second round, Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick , have had the most in-season success. ***** Meanwhile, the Black and Yellow boys across the river experienced an similarly odd situation. Though Jason Worilds wasn't technically under contract with the Steelers , the outside linebacker suddenly announced his retirement late Tuesday night. Though he was a free agent and wasn't really pegged to return to the Steel Town, Worilds' retirement comes as a surprise after registering 15.5 sacks the past two seasons. He seemed to have been hitting his professional stride and had some interest on the open market, but decided to "pursue other interests". Worilds is only 27 years old and was drafted by the Steelers in the second round of the 2010 draft. He signed the contract for the seldom-used Transition Tag before last season for a $9.75 million contract.
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We all know the names of certain famous male inventors throughout history, from Galileo to Alexander Graham Bell to Steve Jobs , but many women have also contributed groundbreaking ideas to science, technology, and our daily lives. Here are five female inventors whose innovations, both large and small, have improved our world in various ways. Margaret Knight (1838-1914) Margaret Knight was nicknamed "the lady Edison for her prolific inventions which included a safety device for textile looms, shoe manufacturing machines, a rotary engine and internal combustion engine, among many others. Margaret Knight was an exceptionally prolific inventor in the late 19th century; journalists occasionally compared her to her better-known male contemporary Thomas Edison by nicknaming her "the lady Edison" or "a woman Edison." Knight was born in York, Maine and was still a young girl when she began working in a textile mill in New Hampshire. After seeing a fellow worker injured by a faulty piece of equipment, Knight came up with her first invention: a safety device for textile looms. She was awarded her first patent in 1871, for a machine that cut, folded and glued flat-bottomed paper shopping bags, thus eliminating the need for workers to assemble them slowly by hand. Knight received 27 patents in her lifetime, for inventions including shoe-manufacturing machines, a "dress shield" to protect garments from perspiration stains, a rotary engine and an internal combustion engine. Margaret Knight's patent for a machine that cut, folded and glued flat-bottomed paper shopping bags, thus eliminating the need for workers to assemble them slowly by hand. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Melitta Bentz (1873-1950) Melitta Bentz was a German housewife who invented a coffee filter system in 1908 and founded a business that still exists today. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Have you ever wondered who to thank when you're getting your coffeemaker ready for your first cup of the day? Coffee beans have been made into beverages since the eleventh century, but a German housewife named Melitta Bentz updated brewing for the modern world. At the turn of the 20th century, the usual method was to tie up the coffee grounds in a small cloth bag and place the bag into a pot of boiling water; the result was a bitter, gritty drink. Bentz came up with a new method. She put a piece of thick, absorbent paper into a brass pot with a few holes punched in it and poured the coffee through this two-part contraption, which trapped the grounds and allowed the filtered liquid to seep through and drip into a waiting cup. She received a patent for her coffee filter system in 1908 and founded a business that still exists today. Caresse Crosby (1891-1970) Mary Phelps Jacob, who later became known as Caress Crosby, revolutionized women's undergarments with her invention of a "backless brassiere." Sometimes it takes a woman to know what other women really need. In 1910, Mary Phelps Jacob later known as Caresse Crosby was a young, educated socialite living in New York City. One day, feeling frustrated by the bulky and restrictive corset that women customarily wore beneath their clothing, she asked her maid to bring her two handkerchiefs, some ribbons, and a few pins. From these items she fashioned a lighter, more flexible undergarment that she called a "backless brassiere." In 1914 she received a patent for her idea and a few years later she founded the Fashion Form Brassière Company to manufacture and sell her invention. She eventually sold her patent to Warner Brothers Corset Company, which began producing bras in large quantities. Women have literally breathed easier ever since. Feeling frustrated by the bulky and restrictive corset that women customarily wore beneath their clothing, Mary Phelps Jacob patented this design for a lighter, more flexible undergarment. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898-1979) Physicist Katharine Blodgett in the General Electric research laboratory in 1938. One of her most influential inventions was non-reflective glass. (Photo: Smithsonian Institute/Wikimedia Commons) Scientist and inventor Katharine Blodgett was educated at Bryn Mawr College and the University of Chicago. Then she became a pioneer in several respects: she was the first woman to receive a Ph.D in physics at England's Cambridge University and the first woman hired by General Electric. During World War II, Blodgett contributed important research to military needs like gas masks, smoke screens and a new technique for de-icing airplane wings. Her work in chemistry, specifically in surfaces at the molecular level, resulted in her most influential invention: non-reflective glass. Her "invisible" glass was initially used for lenses in cameras and movie projectors; it also had military applications such as wartime submarine periscopes. Today, non-reflective glass is still essential for eyeglasses, car windshields and computer screens. Stephanie Kwolek (1923-2014) In 1965, Stephanie Kwolek created an unusually lightweight and durable new fiber which was later developed by DuPont into the synthetic Kevlar, which is used in everything from military helmets and bulletproof vests to work-gloves, sports equipment, fiber-optic cables and building materials .(Photo: Harry Kalish/Chemical Heritage Foundation/Wikimedia Commons) Shortly after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Stephanie Kwolek began working at the chemical company DuPont, where she would spend 40 years of her career. She was assigned to work on formulating new synthetic fibers, and in 1965 she made an especially important discovery. While working with a liquid crystal solution of large molecules called polymers, she created an unusually lightweight and durable new fiber. This material was later developed by DuPont into Kevlar, a tough yet versatile synthetic used in everything from military helmets and bulletproof vests to work-gloves, sports equipment, fiber-optic cables and building materials. Kwolek was awarded the National Medal of Technology for her research on synthetic fibers and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1994.
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What a coup for the New York Jets' new regime to bring back All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, whose agents announced late Tuesday he has agreed to terms with the team that drafted him. It's a five-year, $70 million pact that includes $39 million fully guaranteed, a person with knowledge of the deal said. Revis is due $33 million over two years and $48 million over three, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn't been finalized. At age 29, Revis is worth it, provided he stays healthy. He remains an elite cover man the type coach Todd Bowles needs to operate his diverse, pressure-heavy scheme at full tilt. Signing Revis also means weakening the team that rules the AFC East: the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, who let Revis hit the market by declining his $20 million option for 2015. There are still plenty of other matters for the Jets to sort out before they have hope of being relevant this season. (Who's playing quarterback again?) But bringing Revis aboard is a strong statement the penny-pinching of recent years may be over, and the Jets probably aren't done yet. Ironically, the salary purge under former general manager John Idzik that accelerated with the trade of Revis to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in April 2013 is part of the reason Jets owner Woody Johnson can afford to make him the NFL's highest-paid cornerback now. According to the NFL Players Association, as of Feb. 9, only two teams had spent less cash over the past two seasons than the Jets' $207.78 million. They were well below the 89% cash minimum every team must hit for the 2013 to '16 league years, so they had to spend now. This isn't just about money, though. It's about changing the perception of what the Jets had become, ushering in a new era with a taste of the old. After four non-playoff seasons and two years of hearing from their ever-vocal fans about why they let Revis go in the first place, for the Jets, it all tastes pretty good. Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero .
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Marvin Gaye's family sued over similarities between "Blurred Lines" and "Got to Give It Up." A jury has awarded the family $7.4 million in the suit.
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By Rachel Wold In the most shocking NFL move of the day, Jimmy Graham was shipped off to the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday in exchange for center Max Unger and a first-round pick. While Graham hasn't tweeted about the trade, he did change the bio in his Twitter profile to say "traded": Are we to assume that Graham is not happy about this sudden move considering he did not mention his new team? If he was totally blindsided, it could take some time to absorb everything. It's also important to note that multiple members of the Seattle Seahawks threw shade Graham's way following the Saints' playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champions in Jan. 2014. "Seahawks' Michael Bennett called Jimmy Graham soft and the most overrated player in the NFL," Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman tweeted in Jan. 2014. Linebacker Bruce Irvin also criticized Graham after that outing (via USA Today). Jimmy was warming up in our area and I just asked, 'Could you go on your side of the field?'" Irvin said after the Seahawks' 23-15 win. "And he said, 'I'm Jimmy.' And I said, 'Who is Jimmy? I don't know Jimmy.' It really makes you question whether Graham is happy about being dealt to Seattle. If not, he should probably get over it. Living in Seattle and playing for a Super Bowl contender should make up for any hurt feelings. Who is happy about the trade? The Seattle Seahawks of course. They are now loaded at nearly every position.
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Lawmakers in Utah have proposed resuming the use of firing squads to carry out the death penalty if lethal injections drugs are not available. US states such as Texas are struggling to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage. Other states are considering alternative methods after several inmates who received lethal injections took hours to die. It is not clear if Utah Governor Gary Herbert will sign the measure into law. The bill that passed the state senate on Tuesday night would reinstate the use of firing squads more than a decade after the state abandoned the practice. The bill's sponsor, Republican lawmaker Paul Ray, said using a firing squad would be faster and more humane than the drawn-out deaths that have occurred in botched lethal injections. But opponents call firing squads a cruel practice from the state's Wild West days. If approved, Utah would become the only US states to execute inmates by firing squad. States across the country have seen their drug inventories dwindle after European manufacturers opposed to capital punishment have refused to sell the lethal concoctions. Texas only has enough drugs on hand to perform two more executions. The state could run out in the next two weeks. The head of Utah's prison system has said the state does not have any lethal injection drugs on hand. The Utah bill is one of many being debated across the country. This year Arkansas lawmakers introduced legislation to allow firing squads. In Wyoming, a measure to allow firing squads if the lethal drugs are not available failed to pass the legislature. In Oklahoma, lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the state to use nitrogen gas to execute inmates. Last firing squad in 2010 Because of the intense media attention, Utah lawmakers stopped offering inmates the choice of a death by firing squad several years ago. But a handful of inmates sentenced to death before 2004 still have the option of going before a firing squad. Ronnie Lee Gardner, a convicted murderer who shot and killed a lawyer in attempt to escape from prison, was the last inmate executed by a firing squad in 2010.
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Wisconsin Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky (44) and Nigel Hayes (10) walk off the court as Duke players celebrate their 68-63 victory over Wisconsin in the NCAA Final Four championship game April 6 in Indianapolis. Maryland Maryland's Tierney Pfirman, left, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough sit in the locker room after losing 81-58 to Connecticut in the NCAA Women's Final Four semifinal game April 5 in Tampa, Fla. South Carolina South Carolina Gamecocks guard Tiffany Mitchell reacts after losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 66-65 in the NCAA Women's Final Four semifinal game April 5 in Tampa, Fla. Kentucky Head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts against the Wisconsin Badgers during the NCAA Final Four Semifinal April 4 in Indianapolis. Wisconsin won 71-64. Michigan State Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo looks down during the second half of the NCAA Final Four Semifinal against Duke April 4 in Indianapolis. Duke won 81-61. Kentucky Kentucky's Tyler Ulis cries as he sits in the locker after the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal loss to Wisconsin on April 4 in Indianapolis. Wisconsin won 71-64. Michigan State Michigan State's Kenny Goins and State's Alvin Ellis III sit in the locker room after the NCAA Final Four loss to Duke on April 4 in Indianapolis. Duke won 81-61. Kentucky Kentucky student Haotian Zhang bemoans the Wildcats' 71-64 loss against Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament national semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 4. Michigan State Michigan State senior band member Justin Bopp reacts as Duke opens a ten-point lead against the Spartans in the first half in the NCAA Tournament national semifinal on April 4. Duke advanced, 81-61. Tennessee Tennessee Lady Volunteers forward Bashaara Graves sits on the bench after fouling out against Maryland late in the regional final of the 2015 women's NCAA Tournament on March 30. Maryland won 58-48. Dayton Dayton players Amber Deane, Jenna Burdette and Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova sit in the team locker room after their 91-70 loss to Connecticut in a regional final game in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament on March 30 in Albany, N.Y. Louisville Louisville Cardinals players Wayne Blackshear, left and Mangok Mathiang react during overtime against the Michigan State Spartans on March 29 in the finals of the east regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Carrier Dome. Michigan State won 76-70. Gonzaga Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis watches play late in the game against Duke on March 29 in Houston. Duke won 66-52. Notre Dame Pat Connaughton and Demetrius Jackson of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish look on after being defeated by the Kentucky Wildcats during the midwest regional final March 28 in Cleveland. Louisville Louisville players Ariana Freeman, left, and Sara Hammond sit in the locker room following their 82-66 loss to Dayton in a women's college basketball regional semifinal game in the NCAA Tournament on March 28 in Albany, N.Y. Arizona Arizona guard T.J. McConnell hugs head coach Sean Miller as he leaves the game against Wisconsin during regional final in the NCAA Tournament March 28 in Los Angeles. Wisconsin beat Arizona 85-78 to advance to the Final Four. North Carolina State North Carolina State's Ralston Turner reacts in the locker room after a regional semifinal against Louisville in the NCAA Tournament on March 27 in Syracuse, N.Y. North Carolina North Carolina's Danielle Butts leaves the court following North Carolina's 67-65 loss to South Carolina after the regional semifinal game in the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, N.C., on March 27. UCLA UCLA's Nick Kazemi, right, consoles Norman Powell after a college basketball regional semifinal game against Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament on March 27 in Houston. Oklahoma Oklahoma Sooners guard Buddy Hield and forward Khadeem Lattin walk off the court after the game against the Michigan State Spartans in the semifinals of the east regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Carrier Dome on March 27 in Syracuse, N.Y. Utah Utah's Isaiah Wright sits by his locker after a college basketball regional semifinal game against Duke in the NCAA Tournament on March 27 in Houston. Xavier Xavier guard Myles Davis, second from left, hugs teammate guard Dee Davis after losing to Arizona 68-60 in the NCAA Tournament March 26 in Los Angeles. West Virginia Gary Browne of the West Virginia Mountaineers reacts with his head coach Bob Huggins as he exits the game against the Kentucky Wildcats during the NCAA Tournament March 26 in Cleveland. Kentucky won 78-39. North Carolina North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks, forward Theo Pinson and guard Nate Britt sit on the bench in the final moments of their 79-72 loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament March 26 in Los Angeles. Princeton Princeton guard Blake Dietrick reacts late in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament on March 23 in College Park, Md. Maryland won 85-70, despite a team-high 26 points from Dietrick. Oklahoma Members of the Oklahoma Sooners basketball team console each other after their loss to the Stanford Cardinal in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament on March 23. Stanford won 86-76. Maryland Maryland's Damonte Dodd walks off the court after a 69-59 loss to West Virginia in an NCAA tournament college basketball game in the Round of 32 in Columbus, Ohio, on March 22. Northern Iowa From left, Wes Washpun, Seth Tuttle, Paul Jesperson and Nate Buss of the Northern Iowa Panthers react after being defeated by the Louisville Cardinals 66-53 during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 22 in Seattle. Oregon Oregon guard Joseph Young walks off the court after a Round of 32 game against Wisconsin on March 22 in Omaha, Neb. Wisconsin won 72-65. Villanova Dylan Ennis of the Villanova Wildcats walks off the court after losing to the North Carolina State Wolfpack 71-68 during the third round of the NCAA Tournament on March 21 in Pittsburgh. Butler Butler Bulldogs forward Roosevelt Jones reacts after losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 67-64 in the third round of the NCAA Tournament March 21 in Pittsburgh. Georgia State Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter hugs his son R.J. after taking him out of the game against Xavier during the second half of an NCAA tournament third round game March 21 in Jacksonville, Fla. Xavier won 75-67. Cincinnati Cincinnati Bearcats forward Jermaine Sanders looks on against the Kentucky Wildcats in the third round of the NCAA Tournament March 21 in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky won 64-51. Alabama-Birmingham Denzell Watts of the UAB Blazers reacts as his team is defeated by the UCLA Bruins 92-75 during the third round of the NCAA Tournament March 21 in Louisville, Ky. Robert Morris Robert Morris's Rodney Pryor (11) and Marcquise Reed (2) walk off the court after their NCAA Tournament loss to Duke March 20. Duke won 85-56. Oklahoma State Anthony Hickey Jr. of the Oklahoma State Cowboys reacts to after a 79-73 loss to the Oregon Ducks March 20, 2015 in Omaha, Neb. Coastal Carolina Shivaughn Wiggins of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers reacts after their 86-72 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers March 20 in Omaha, Neb. Albany SMU Cannen Cunningham and Sterling Brown of the Southern Methodist Mustangs walk off the court after losing against the UCLA Bruins March 19 in the NCAA Tournamenat in Louisville, Ky. Iowa State Georges Niang of the Iowa State Cyclones reacts against the UAB Blazers during the NCAA Tournamenat March 19 in Louisville, Ky. UAB won 60-59. Wofford Lee Skinner of the Wofford Terriers reacts after losing to the Arkansas Razorbacks 56-53 in the NCAA Tournament March 19 in Jacksonville, Fla. Harvard Harvard's Kenyatta Smith reacts after a 67-65 loss to North Carolina in an NCAA Tournament second-round game March 19 in Jacksonville, Fla. North Florida Head coach Matthew Driscoll and Chris Davenport of the North Florida Ospreys walk off the court after losing to the Robert Morris Colonials 81-77 during the first round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 18 in Dayton, Ohio. Brigham Young Brigham Young Cougars forward Josh Sharp reacts after the game against the Mississippi Rebels in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament on March 17. Ole Miss defeated BYU 94-90. Connecticut Connecticut's Ryan Boatright reacts late in his team's 62-54 loss to SMU in the finals of the American Athletic Conference tournament in Hartford, Conn., on March 15. North Carolina North Carolina's Brice Johnson walks off the court after losing 90-82 to Notre Dame in the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament March 14 in Greensboro, N.C. Kansas Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks walks off of the court as Dustin Hogue of the Iowa State Cyclones celebrates their 70-66 win in the championship game of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament March 14 in Kansas City, Mo. Eastern Michigan Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, consoles Eastern Michigan guard Cha Sweeney after the championship game against Ohio in the Mid-American Conference tournament March 14 in Cleveland. Eastern Michigan lost to winner Ohio, 60-44. Tulsa Tulsa's Rashad Ray, left, and Keondre Dew react after their 47-42 loss to Connecticut in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament in Hartford, Conn., March 14. Maryland Maryland Terrapins guard/forward Jake Layman (10) and guard Melo Trimble (right) react as they leave the court after losing to the Michigan State Spartans in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament at United Center. UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara's Alan Williams walks off the court after he was relieved in the overtime against UC Irvine in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament, Friday, March 13, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif. UC Irvine won 72-63. Colorado State Colorado State's Tiel Daniels reacts after San Diego State won in the semifinal round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Friday, March 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. San Diego State defeated Colorado State 56-43. Duke Duke Blue Devils center Marshall Plumlee and guards Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones and Matt Jones walk off the court after losing to the Fighting Irish 74-64 during the semifinals of the 2015 ACC tournament March 13 in Greensboro, N.C. Virginia Justin Anderson of the Virginia Cavaliers reacts during the 71-67 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels during the semifinals of the 2015 ACC tournament March 13 in Greensboro, N.C. Penn State Penn State's D.J. Newbill cries after after losing to Purdue 64-59 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference tournament March 13 in Chicago. Boise State Boise State's Derrick Marks reacts during a 71-66 loss in overtime to Wyoming in the semifinal round of the Mountain West Conference tournament March 13 in Las Vegas. Baylor Rico Gathers of the Baylor Bears reacts during their 62-52 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks during a semifinal game of the 2015 Big 12 tournament March 13 in Kansas City, Mo. North Carolina State North Carolina State Wolfpack guard Trevor Lacey and reacts during the team's 77-53 loss to the Duke Blue Devils at the ACC Tournament March 12 in Greensboro, N.C. West Virginia Towards the closing seconds of a game against the Baylor Bears, BillyDee Williams #21, Devin Williams #5 and Brandon Watkins #20 of the West Virginia Mountaineers sit dejected during the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 basketball tournament March 12 in Kansas City, Mo. Baylor won 80-70. Marquette Marquette center Luke Fischer reacts in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Villanova in the quarterfinals of the Big East Conference tournament March 12 in New York. Villanova won 84-49. St. John's St. John's guard D'Angelo Harrison reacts during the team's 74-57 loss to Providence in the quarterfinals of the Big East Conference tournament March 12 in New York. USC Trojans Katin Reinhardt #1, Darion Clark #0 and Julian Jacobs #12 of the USC Trojans react on the bench late in their 96-70 loss to the UCLA Bruins in a quarterfinal game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament March 12 in Las Vegas. Rutgers Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Mike Williams reacts after being taken out at the end of the game in first round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament at the United Center. Minnesota defeated Rutgers 80-68. Washington Washington's Mike Anderson reacts after his team lost to Stanford in an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the Pac-12 conference tournament on March 11 in Las Vegas. Stanford won 71-69. Seton Hall Khadeen Carrington #0 of the Seton Hall Pirates walks off the court after losing to the Marquette Golden Eagles 78-56 during a first round game of the Big East basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 11 in New York City. Georgia Tech Travis Jorgenson of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets watches as time expires during a first round loss to the Boston College Eagles in the ACC basketball tournament on March 10 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Boston College won 66-65. Wake Forest Wake Forest's Cornelius Hudson, front, and Konstantinos Mitoglou, left, leave the court after the game against Virginia Tech in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference on March 10. Virginia Tech won 81-80. Iona Iona Gaels guard Kelvin Amayo reacts near the end of the championship game against the Manhattan Jaspers in the MAAC Conference Tournament on March 9. Manhattan won 79-69. BYU BYU players sit on the bench after their 91-75 loss to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference tournament championship NCAA college basketball game on March 10 in Las Vegas.
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By Brad Gagnon It's been overshadowed by a flurry of free agent signings and trades, but Patrick Willis shocked the football world this week with his sudden retirement from the NFL. Willis never put up huge numbers and didn't play a flashy position. His play had begun to fall off as he dealt with injury problems the last couple years, but this is close to being a Barry Sanders-type of walk-away. The man was ranked by his peers last offseason as the 27th-best player in the NFL. He was an All-Pro in 2012 and a Pro Bowler in 2013. He was the heart and soul of one of the league's best defenses. And yet only six weeks after turning 30, he's apparently gone. Willis was undoubtedly on the Hall of Fame track. The San Francisco 49ers linebacker was a first-team All-Pro in five of his first six seasons. He had over 100 tackles in six of his seven seasons before missing all but six games in 2014. The problem is that only four other modern-day players Earl Campbell, Lee Roy Selmon, Lynn Swann and Kellen Winslow have made the Hall of Fame despite playing fewer than 10 seasons. Only Campbell played nine. Sanders actually played 10. But not a single modern-era member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame played just eight seasons. Willis was only effective for seven, which might not be enough considering that he didn't win any Super Bowls and was never MVP or Defensive Player of the Year. Sadly, the Hall of Fame backlog will only accumulate in the years to come. So with great linebackers like Randy Gradishar, Sam Mills and Lee Roy Jordan still out of Canton, it won't be easy for Willis to squeak in, despite the fact he played a role in reviving the inside linebacker position in an era that gives most of its love to edge rushers. It's hard to ignore those five All-Pro nods. Willis is one of only six modern-day players to have that many All-Pro honors before the age of 29, and the other five are in the Hall of Fame. But the other five also kept going, and there are two other five-time All-Pros Zach Thomas and Kevin Williams who aren't and probably won't be Hall of Famers. It's a close call, but I just don't think Willis did it over a long enough period of time.
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SHE ADMITTED she shook the baby. A Queens woman on trial for the 2010 death of an infant she was baby-sitting tearfully admitted to violently shaking the 9-month-old after he wouldn't stop crying in a videotaped confession played Tuesday in Queens Supreme Court. "(I) grabbed him and said, 'What's wrong with you? What happened?'" Yohani Moran told Detective Mark Oliva and Assistant District Attorney Leigh Bishop on the video, which was recorded two days after the death of Dilan Criollo. Moran, 42, is charged with second-degree murder, but her lawyer says she's been overcharged in the infant's death. [email protected]
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Calvin Pickard got the start for the Avalanche after being called up from the AHL, but was pulled after allowing three first period goals in Colorado's 5-2 loss to the Kings.
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By Matt Hladik It has been two days since video emerged of members of the University of Oklahoma chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity engaging in horrific, racist chants. The fallout from the video has been swift and profound, with OU President David Boren banning the fraternity from campus and expelling the two students seen on the video leading the chants. Legendary former Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer is reportedly an honorary member of SAE. He told KOCO in Oklahoma City Monday that while he didn't tolerate the racist chants, he didn't believe punishing the entire fraternity for the actions of some was the right move. "I understood that supposedly they were called bigots that lived in this house, none of them could live on this campus. I haven't seen the interview, but if that happened and occurred, that's no different from what those kids did on that bus," Switzer said. "Throw a blanket over these kids that are here and say that they're bigots? That's unacceptable." Switzer took some heat for that opinion, and he released a statement Tuesday afternoon further clarifying his position on SAE and Oklahoma's response to the entire situation. "While I support the University of Oklahoma and SAE's decision to pursue swift actions, this situation is unfortunate for the many innocent people involved. As a long-time supporter of the University and member of the SAE chapter, I know the majority of our students don't condone or participate in bigotry. These incidents are not a reflection of the true spirit of our campus. I hope that we can begin to heal the wounds by avoiding rhetoric that fuels the fire and instead spend more time thinking about how we can collectively create positive relationships and interactions among our campus family." It's understandable why Switzer felt the need to clarify what he meant. His initial comments might have appeared tone deaf, but Switzer obviously holds a deep love for the University of Oklahoma. The statement Tuesday did a better job of expressing that.
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The Bruins scored all three of their goals, including two from Ryan Spooner, in the second period in a 3-1 win against the Senators.
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DALLAS An Iraqi man who fled violence in his homeland and was reunited with his wife in the United States had been in Texas just three weeks when he was fatally shot while taking photos of his first snowfall, his father-in-law said. Ahmed Al-Jumaili had saved money for more than a year for the move by providing Internet connections to Iraqi homes, according to Mohammed Altaae. Al-Jumaili was killed by gunfire last week while playing in a rare Dallas snowfall with his wife and brother-in-law at their apartment complex. Dallas police Maj. Jeff Cotner says investigators are searching for four men in their late teens or early 20s seen on surveillance video walking from the complex last Wednesday. It's unclear if Al-Jamaili, 36, was targeted or if the suspects haphazardly scattered shots across the parking lot of the complex. He died early Thursday morning at a hospital. "The family was taking photos," Cotner said. "That's the first time they had seen snow. A pretty snowfall brings out the child in all of us." Al-Jamaili and his wife, Zahraa Altaie, had been married just a month before she moved to Dallas, leaving behind strife in Iraq. She had settled with family in an area of Dallas with a concentration of immigrants, particularly from the Middle East. Al-Jamaili arrived in February and the couple was reunited, Altaae said. "For a young man and a young woman, oh God, so many dreams together," Altaae said. "They wanted to have children and educate them well. It was the dreams of young people." He described Al-Jumaili as a man trying to do right by his family, as someone who was quick with a smile and faster with a joke. Al-Jumaili was fond of soccer and swimming, and enjoyed any puzzle or game that expanded his knowledge. "He had a lot of faith in his future, a lot of faith in his destiny," his father-in-law said. Cotner says Al-Jamaili's killing doesn't appear to be a hate crime, but it's a consideration as the investigation moves forward. Two of the suspects were armed, he said, one with a rifle. The two groups apparently had no interaction no cross words, no contention, he said. He declined to say how many shots were fired. A number of vehicles also were struck. Alia Salem, executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Muslims in Texas are "in fear of their lives" following Al-Jumaili's death. "I've gotten a number of calls from people saying they don't want to leave their homes," said Salem, who cited violent incidents elsewhere, such as the shooting deaths last month of three university students in North Carolina, apparently over a parking dispute. In Texas, hundreds of people protested earlier this year outside a Muslim conference in suburban Dallas, Salem noted, and protesters heckled and interrupted a Muslim rally at the Texas Capitol. Abeer Hallak of Mesquite attended the rally and said she was surprised by the strident nature of the demonstration. Muslims need to express the tenets of their faith as a way of tamping down anti-Muslim fervor, she said. "We're Americans here," Hallak said. "Our children were born here. This is our homeland."
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TEMPE, Ariz. - Quarterback Jake Locker's sudden retirement from the NFL on Tuesday sparked immediate speculation that he would resume his baseball career with the Angels, who retain Locker's rights through August after paying the former two-sport star a $300,000 signing bonus in 2009. But General Manager Jerry Dipoto shot down that speculation forcefully, saying he had "no interest" in Locker as a baseball player and would release Locker if he has any interest in playing baseball again. The Angels, who were under the direction of former General Manager Tony Reagins and former scouting director Eddie Bane at the time, picked Locker, a former outfielder, in the 10th round in 2009. Locker, who hadn't played baseball since high school, signed but remained at the University of Washington to finish out his football career. Locker, now 26, was a first-round pick (eighth overall) of the Tennessee Titans in 2011 and played 30 NFL games in four years, throwing for 4,967 yards and 27 touchdowns. But he struggled with injuries, including a dislocated shoulder that ended his 2014 season. Dipoto said that neither Locker nor his representatives had reached out to the Angels on Tuesday. "I really don't know much about him as a football player, and I only know a little bit about his baseball past as an amateur," Dipoto said. "We're going to focus on the group we have here."
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LeBron James comments on becoming Cleveland's all-time assists leader and more after the Cavaliers' win over the Mavericks.
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BOSTON A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student on Wednesday identified Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as the man he saw leaning in to the police cruiser of an MIT officer who was fatally shot three days after the bombings. Nathan Harman, 24, a student working toward a Ph.D. in mathematics, testified that he was riding his bike through a campus courtyard at about 10:20 p.m. on April 18, 2013, when he saw a parked MIT police cruiser. Harman said the driver's-side door was open and there was a man bent at the waist and leaning in to the cruiser. "He sort of snapped up, stood up and turned around, and he looked startled," Harman said. "And then I just didn't think anything of it and rode off." When asked by a prosecutor if he saw the person in the courtroom on Wednesday, Harman pointed to Tsarnaev. "He's right there," he said. Harman said he assumed Tsarnaev was an MIT student. "I remember thinking he had a big nose, but nothing beyond that really," he said. Prosecutors say Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, killed MIT police Officer Sean Collier as he sat in his cruiser that night in a failed attempt to steal his gun. The shooting came hours after the FBI released images of the brothers, identifying them as suspects in the marathon bombings. Tsarnaev's lawyer previously told the jury her client participated in the bombings but said Tamerlan was the mastermind. She said Tamerlan was the one who shot Collier. Harman said he did not see a second person near the cruiser. Prosecutors showed jurors a surveillance video that showed Collier's parked cruiser, with two figures walking up behind it, then going to the driver's-side window. The car's brake lights go on and off, then the two figures are seen running away. The video does not show the faces of the two people, and prosecutors have acknowledged that their identities cannot be determined by the video. Earlier Wednesday, jurors saw the tattered pieces of the backpack that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev used to carry a bomb in the deadly attack and heard a frantic call made by the policeman who found Collier mortally wounded. FBI Agent Sarah De Lair held up pieces of the black and white backpack for the jury. She said they were found near the Forum restaurant, where Tsarnaev planted and detonated a bomb on April 15, 2013. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when the brothers set off two pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon finish line. Photos show debris and abandoned items scattered on the sidewalk and street clothing, a stroller, plastic water bottles and matching cowboy boots a few feet apart. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers have admitted he participated in the bombings but say Tamerlan was the mastermind. Tamerlan, 26, died in a shootout with police four days after the bombings. Dzhokhar, now 21, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. MIT Officer David Sacco described receiving a call from a resident who heard loud noises and saw an MIT cruiser outside three days after the bombings. After being unable to reach Collier, Sacco sent another officer to check on him. The jury heard a recording of that officer yelling, "Officer down! Officer down!" when he discovered Collier shot multiple times. "Get on it!" the officer yells frantically. Collier was shot hours after the FBI released photos of the Tsarnaevs and asked for the public's help in finding them. Testimony is set to resume Thursday.
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SAMMAMISH, Wash. The FBI says authorities have found an underground bunker east of Seattle that's believed to have been used by a bank robber who spent nearly five years on the run before he was arrested last summer. FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich-Williams says investigators have hauled large tubs of evidence from the bunker found Tuesday near Lake Sammamish. Reporters got a tour of the bunker Tuesday. It has a cot, plastic bags and shelves with bottles. Bradley Robinett fled in 2009 instead of reporting to a Seattle halfway house after serving time for bank robbery. He was arrested in June in Hillsboro, Oregon. He pleaded guilty to escape and related counts in January. Sentencing is set for May 4. KOMO-TV reports that agents believe Robinett may have built other bunkers.
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Chris Stewart, Jared Spurgeon and Thomas Vanek scored in the second period to help Minnesota defeat New Jersey 6-2 on Tuesday.
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Software developers say it will not be easy to come up with a "killer app" for Apple Inc's Watch - few have seen the product and the software is still in test mode. While app makers are passionate about developing for the Apple Watch, some are skeptical about the prospects of coming up with a big idea for the little computer on a wrist that hits stores on April 24, said Markiyan Matsekh, product manager at software engineering firm Eleks. A killer app that grabs consumers' attention will be key to the success of the Apple Watch and could spawn new companies, as the iPhone did. The photo-sharing app Instagram grew into a $1 billion business bought by Facebook Inc, and Snapchat has gone from a mobile messaging app to a company valued at $19 billion. Apple has blocked some features, such as the gyroscope and accelerometer, on the development kit, and the watch simulator cannot test all functions, developers said. Apple declined to comment on why developers cannot access certain features. "The limitations are discouraging," said Matsekh, who helped develop a Watch app to control a Tesla Model S without involvement from the electric carmaker. App designer Mark Rabo believes Apple is spurring creativity though restraint. The challenge he believes is "not trying to take a phone app and cram it into a Watch." Rabo is developing an app called "Revere," that ties notes to calendars. The Watch will recognize the wearer is walking into a meeting and pull up previously dictated notes about the attendees, for instance. Apple listed about 40 apps on its website as it unveiled its smartwatch on Monday with "thousands" more in the works, it said. Watch apps showcased by Apple so far are mostly extensions of services like Uber, American Airlines and Twitter. "People are playing it pretty safe and right now just extending their application," Ryan Taylor, design director at Normative Design, the software firm hired by Rabo. Once the Watch is released, it will be easier to develop, he said. Taylor points out that there has been no "killer app" so far on Android smartwatches that have been on the market for two to three years. What Apple is "trying to do is get people to think of apps differently than an iPhone app. That cultural shift is taking a little bit more time and that's OK," he said. (Reporting by Malathi Nayak; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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The Rangers were able to top the Islanders behind two goals from Kevin Hayes and Rick Nash. Nash scored his first non-empty net goal in seven games in the 2-1 win.
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Derrick Favors had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat the New York Knicks 87-82 on Tuesday night to tie a season high with their third straight victory. BOX SCORE: JAZZ 87, KNICKS 82 Both teams struggled to score as the Jazz were without leading scorer Gordon Hayward (back) and the Knicks have been injury-plagued all season. New York missed Tim Hardaway Jr. (back) for the second consecutive game. Reserve Rodney Hood scored 17 points for the Jazz, while Rudy Gobert added 10 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three steals. Hood and Favors carried the offensive load in the fourth after the Knicks took a two-point lead. Alexey Shved scored 21 points and had a career-high 10 rebounds for the Knicks. Andrea Bargnani finished with 20 points. The Knicks got eight quick points from Bargnani to take a 15-9 lead, but the Jazz responded with a 13-2 run and led 24-20 after the first quarter. New York had another short burst with a 7-0 run early in the second quarter, but couldn't overcome 32.5 percent shooting in the first half. The Knicks have struggled to score all season with a mish-mash lineup and entered the game averaging 92.3 points, the second-lowest in the league. The Jazz shot just 42.9 percent from the field for the game and the Knicks climbed to 39.2 percent. Hayward missed his first game of the season with a lower back strain. His 19.5 points per game ranked No. 16 in the league before Tuesday's game. "He's been playing through some tightness for a while," coach Quin Snyder said. "It's an NBA season and guys get banged up and they get sore, whether it's a knee or a back or a foot. It's something he's been getting treatment on." ------ TIP-INS Knicks: Coach Derek Fisher said he's hopeful Hardaway will be ready for Thursday's game against the Lakers. ... Cole Aldrich scored 17 points, one shy of his career-high. Jazz: The team assigned forward Grant Jerrett to the NBDL's Idaho Stampede Tuesday. He was acquired at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Enes Kanter to Oklahoma city. ... Trey Burke was held to five points on 1-for-11 shooting. UP NEXT Knicks: at Lakers on Thursday. Jazz: host Houston on Thursday.
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- North Dakota State appeared to take control of the game with a big run midway through the second half. However, the Bison had to fend off South Dakota State's surge down the stretch to earn a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Lawrence Alexander scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half to help North Dakota State hold on for a 57-56 win Tuesday night to take the Summit League tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. BOX SCORE: NORTH DAKOTA STATE 57, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 56 After cutting a nine-point deficit to one in the final minute, the Jackrabbits fouled Alexander with 8 seconds remaining and he missed the front end of a 1-and-1, giving South Dakota State a final shot. However, George Marshall's 3-point attempt was wide left. "We maybe got a little impatient offensively, but they're a great team," North Dakota State coach David Richman said. "It's a game of runs, and that's going to happen." A.J. Jacobson added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Bison (23-9), who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in school history. Last year, they beat Oklahoma in their first game. Cody Larson scored 19 points to lead the Jackrabbits (23-10), and Deondre Parks added 13 points and six rebounds. The Bison had a 17-4 run in the second half and led by nine with just over 6 minutes remaining. However, the Jackrabbits rallied to pull within one in the final minute. South Dakota State had a chance to take its first lead since the 11:11 mark, but George Marshall's shot was blocked out of bounds with 8 seconds remaining. The call on the court originally went to the South Dakota State, but after an official review, possession was given to North Dakota State. The Jackrabbits were forced to put Alexander -- an 81-percent free-throw shooter -- on the line. "We wanted this stage," Richman said. "We knew our backs were going to be against the wall in a hostile environment with a pro-South Dakota State crowd. But they've (North Dakota State players) handled so many things down the stretch this year." Despite the missed free throw, Alexander was named the tournament's MVP. South Dakota State took its biggest lead of the game at 35-31 when Larson scored on his second of back-to-back dunks with 12:35 to play. Larson's dunks capped a 12-3 run after the Bison built a five point lead early in the second half. But Alexander responded to South Dakota State's surge, hitting two deep 3-pointers in less than a minute, quieting the crowd of 9,033. After North Dakota State built the lead to nine, South Dakota State used a timeout and responded accordingly, setting up the frenzied finish. The Jackrabbits shot a season-worst 32 percent. They were just 24 percent from the floor in the first half, but were still tied at 23-23 at the break. "They're a great defensive team, but the only reason we were in the game is because we played good defensively," South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy said. "When you have open shots, you need to be able to knock those things down." Nagy was proud of the way his team fought back after nearly falling behind by double digits. Asked what he told his players after the game, Nagy said: "I think most people don't try, and they live in the middle. They don't put their hearts out there and they try and protect themselves. When you do this and you put your heart out there in front of all these people, sometimes it's exhilarating and sometimes it's incredibly painful. But that's what living feels like. "I hope they live the rest of their lives that way and they don't protect themselves. It's hurtful sometimes. Very hurtful." ------ TIP INS North Dakota State: The Bison outrebounded South Dakota State 43-36. They finished with their second-highest total, two shy of the 45 against Alcorn State on Dec. 22. South Dakota State: The Jackrabbits entered the game averaging 73.5 points per game and matched their lowest total of the season, set against Bakersfield on Dec. 19. UP NEXT North Dakota State: NCAA Tournament.
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Darrelle Revis' old Jets jersey was being sold at a discounted price online after the cornerback agreed to a deal with the Jets. Whoops!
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