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Did Mean Girl Ruin \'Bachelor\'?

Fans of "The Bachelor" are furious enough with the behavior of antagonistic finalist Courtney Robertson-but imagine if the bad girl wins it all?

Brace yourself. She just might.

A flood of reports have been bombarding the Internet and the tabloids recently, claiming that Robertson most definitely takes home the rock and the rose on Monday night's finale. 

There are spoilers throughout every season of “The Bachelor,” but they are typically not unified in their predictions and are often proved incorrect (Popular online reality TV finale spoiler Reality Steve was wrong about who was chosen by former contestants Ali Fedotowsky and Brad Womack).

This season's reports, however, are in lockstep saying Robertson beat out fan favorite and southern belle, Lindzi Cox. Gossip website Star-Spin claims, “as far as we know right now, Courtney and Ben are engaged.”

A plethora of reports are also saying that Robertson breaks Ben Flajnik's heart just as quickly as she steals it. On March 6, HollywoodLife.com revealed that its source, Christy Whitman, co-author of New York Times bestseller, Taming Your Alpha Bitch, told them that the model is no longer engaged to Ben.

“Courtney slipped on [the] ‘Tell All' episode by saying, ‘I cared for him' and then tried to cover up by quickly adding, ‘I still do.'' Whitman told the website. “She gave it away that she is no longer with Ben.”

Whitman's co-author, Rebecca Grado thinks “Ben chooses her in the end because he sees the softness, almost childlike way in which she acts with him. She is vulnerable and open, and that's what's attractive. He has yet to see the ‘bitchy' side of Courtney, and my guess is that when this is revealed to him, he will not stick around.”

Reality Steve concurs. 

“There's zero suspense left. Ben is engaged to Courtney, he gave her the ring, he re-proposed, she said yes, and they were in a safehouse in L.A. from Sunday night through yesterday getting their groove on,” he wrote on his site Thursday.

The blogger added that the duo had a photo shoot with People magazine on March 5, and the magazine will be running a cover story on the couple next week.

Regardless of who gets a ring on Monday's finale, contestant Emily O'Brien put it well on “The Women Tell All” when she said to roaring applause: “At the end of the day, Ben has to be the one who lives with his choice. He has made his bed, he can lie in it.”

An ABC rep declined to comment.

Article from FOXNEWS

Stunning Images of Titanic Reveal Giant Debris Field

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- Researchers have pieced together what's believed to be the first comprehensive map of the entire 3-mile-by-5-mile Titanic debris field and hope it will provide new clues about what exactly happened the night 100 years ago when the superliner hit an iceberg, plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic and became a legend.

Marks on the muddy ocean bottom suggest, for instance, that the stern rotated like a helicopter blade as the ship sank, rather than plunging straight down, researchers told The Associated Press this week.

An expedition team used sonar imaging and more than 100,000 photos taken from underwater robots to create the map, which shows where hundreds of objects and pieces of the presumed-unsinkable vessel landed after striking an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people.

Explorers of the Titanic -- which sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City -- have known for more than 25 years where the bow and stern landed after the vessel struck an iceberg. But previous maps of the floor around the wreckage were incomplete, said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic historian who consulted on the 2010 expedition. Studying the site with old maps was like trying to navigate a dark room with a weak flashlight.

"With the sonar map, it's like suddenly the entire room lit up and you can go from room to room with a magnifying glass and document it," he said. "Nothing like this has ever been done for the Titanic site."

The mapping took place in the summer of 2010 during an expedition to the Titanic led by RMS Titanic Inc., the legal custodian of the wreck, along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts and the Waitt Institute of La Jolla, California.

They were joined by the cable History channel and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Park Service is involved in the mapping. Details on the new findings at the bottom of the ocean are not being revealed yet, but the network will air them in a two-hour documentary on April 15, exactly 100 years after the Titanic sank.

The expedition team ran two independently self-controlled robots known as autonomous underwater vehicles along the ocean bottom day and night. The torpedo-shaped AUVs surveyed the site with side-scan sonar, moving at a little more than 3 miles per hour as they traversed back and forth in a grid along the bottom, said Paul-Henry Nargeolet, the expedition's co-leader with RMS Titanic Inc. Dave Gallo from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was the other co-leader.

The AUVs also took high-resolution photos -- 130,000 of them in all -- of a smaller 2 mile (3.2 kilometer)-by-3-mile area where most of the debris was concentrated. The photos were stitched together on a computer to provide a detailed photo mosaic of the debris.

The result is a map that looks something like the moon's surface showing debris scattered across the ocean floor well beyond the large bow and stern sections that rest about half a mile apart.

The map provides a forensic tool with which scientists can examine the wreck site much the way an airplane wreck would be investigated on land, Nargeolet said.

For instance, the evidence that the stern rotated is based on the marks on the ocean floor to its west and the fact that virtually all the debris is found to the east.

"When you look at the sonar map, you can see exactly what happened," said Nargeolet, who has been on six Titanic expeditions, the first in 1987.

The first mapping of the Titanic wreck site began after it was discovered in 1985, using photos taken with cameras aboard a remotely controlled vehicle that didn't venture far from the bow and stern.

The mapping over the years has improved as explorers have built upon previous efforts in piecemeal fashion, said Charlie Pellegrino, a Titanic explorer who was not involved in the 2010 expedition. But this is the first time a map of the entire debris field has looked at every square inch in an orderly approach, he said.

"This is quite a significant map," he said. "It's quite a significant advance in the technology and the way it's done."

At Lone Wolf Documentary Group in South Portland, producers are putting the final touches on the History documentary. Rushmore DeNooyer, the co-producer and writer of the show, points out the different items on the map, displayed on a screen.

They include a huge tangle of the remains of a deckhouse; a large chunk of the side of the ship measuring more than 60 feet long and weighing more than 40 tons; pieces of the ship's bottom; and a hatch cover that blew off of the bow section as it crashed to the bottom. Other items include five of the ship's huge boilers, a revolving door and even a lightning rod from a mast.

By examining the debris, investigators can now answer questions like how the ship broke apart, how it went down and whether there was a fatal flaw in the design, he said.

The layout of the wreck site and where the pieces landed provide new clues on exactly what happened. Computer simulations will re-enact the sinking in reverse, bringing the wreckage debris back to the surface and reassembled.

Some of those questions will be answered on the show, said Dirk Hoogstra, a senior vice president at History. He declined to say ahead of the show what new theories are being put forth on the sinking.  

"We've got this vision of the entire wreck that no one has ever seen before," he said. "Because we have, we're going to be able to reconstruct exactly how the wreck happened. It's groundbreaking, jaw-dropping stuff."

Article from FOXNEWS

\'Blossom\' On Parenting

When Mayim Bialik was pregnant with her first child six years ago, she read all the usual books devoted to motherhood â€" but then she decided to take a different route when it came to raising her children, Miles and Fred.

The Blossom star is a staunch advocate of attachment parenting, a phrase popularized by well-known Drs. William Sears and Jay Gordon, which is characterized as, “an umbrella term describing a style of parenting that includes things like natural birth, breastfeeding, sleeping with your baby and gentle discipline.” She even penned a book about it called, Beyond the Sling. And while some of her parenting advice may seem controversial, she said it is science-based.  The 36-year-old actress earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA, where she specialized in the study of hormones of attachment and their role in obsessive compulsive behavior.

“Children are born giving signals; they are subtle, but if you spend enough time looking at them you will be able to reinforce those signals. Our children could sign for potty by 10 months, before they could walk or talk."

- Mayim Bialik

Now playing Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, Bialik and her husband follow attachment parenting avidly, which means the whole family shares one bedroom.

“I don't advocate bed sharing for you, but if it works for a family â€"  there's nothing wrong with it,” Bialik told FoxNews.com.

Bialik said the room has two beds, low to the ground. She sleeps in one with one son, and her husband, Michael Stone, sleeps in another with their second son.

“It's often musical beds, but it works for us,” she said.

The couple does not have sex in either bed, she added.

“We choose to have intimate moments not in the place where our children are,” she explained. “I understand it's a concern, but I also talk a lot about shifting the expectation of how often you have sex and the kind of sex you have. Once you have a kid that shifts anyway. It is true that my husband and I have made a commitment to not put our children's needs first, but to understand our children's needs as extremely critical especially in the first years and to lower our expectations to trying to get back to the life we had before in many ways, not just in the intimate ways.”

Bialik is also an advocate of a toilet training method known as the ‘elimination technique,' which describes toilet training by reading signals. Bialik said elimination technique doesn't fall under the  umbrella of attachment parenting, but many who follow the principles do practice it - and both of her sons were potty-trained by 1 year old.

“Children are born giving signals; they are subtle, but if you spend enough time looking at them you will be able to reinforce those signals,” she said. “Our children could sign for potty by 10 months, before they could walk or talk. By 12 months they did not want to pee in a diaper. It's not reward and punishment, good or bad. It's simply learning the cues.”

She admitted there was one aspect of attachment parenting that was hard for her and her husband to employ â€" that children should not be forced to share.

“We were very nervous to not force sharing,” she confessed. “It's such an ingrained Western value. But children will intuitively learn, if shown appropriate modeling, how to read other children's emotions. We were amazed that our children became the kind of people who understood the concept of sharing. It's about teaching a relationship â€" it's not teaching obedience.”

Bialik does not subscribe to theory of prompting kids to say ‘please' or ‘thank you,' adding she feels it's obnoxious. She said she understands parents want children who are polite and courteous, but she doesn't see any proof that ‘hovering' makes it any better â€" in fact, she thinks it produces a sense of shame in the child.

“Now that our son is 6, I can be much more playful and say to him, ‘Sometimes people like to hear a thank you!,'" Bialik said. "That's a very different conversation than making an 18-month-old spit out the words, ‘thank you.'”

Bialik said she knows some people will think she's ‘nutty' because she doesn't give her children Tylenol, or would rather consult another mother before the pediatrician, but that's OK with her.

For her, the main message of the book is to watch your children's cues and develop your own style of parenting skills â€" and that's hardly controversial parenting.
 

Article from FOXNEWS

What\'s Wolverine Brewing Up?

• A variety of products from Hugh Jackman's Laughing Man Coffee & Tea company.AP

You know you like your cup of Joe in the morning. But are you ready for a cup of Hugh?

We are, of course, talking about actor Hugh Jackman, who recently launched a coffee and tea company that raises money for charity.

Philanthropy is the driving force behind Jackman's involvement in the coffee world. In a telephone interview he talked about being inspired by the late Paul Newman and his company, Newman's Own, which has donated millions to charity. But it's not the only reason.

The other factor? Taste.

"Hey, I'm a coffee snob," says Jackman, who could drink coffee "all day, because I just love it," but limits himself to one or two cups. "If I'm buying it, I want a great cup of coffee. If you can have a great cup of coffee and the profits of that company are actually going back to different charities, I think it's a win-win for everybody."

Jackman's interest in creating a coffee company was sparked during a tour he took as an ambassador for World Vision, an organization that works with children and families. In Ethiopia, he met Dukale, a local coffee farmer, and was struck by how hard he worked to look after his family, and by how a little help could make a big difference in the lives of coffee farmers.

In a piece of synchronicity, he discovered that a friend, Barry Steingard, who has 25 years experience in the coffee and restaurant industry, was planning on getting back in the coffee business. "I said, 'Well, do you need a partner?'" said Jackman.

So far Laughing Man Coffee & Tea - chocolates were also recently added - is the first subsidiary under Jackman's umbrella company, Laughing Man Worldwide. The way it works is 50 percent of the subsidiary profits go to the parent company, which then donates 100 percent of its profits. Educational initiatives are the focus of the coffee company, which has partnered with Harlem Village Academies, the well-regarded charter schools in New York, and WorldVision.

And Jackman's not the only java star.

Leonardo DiCaprio is partnering with the La Colombe Torrefaction coffee company to create a special blend, LYON, with net profits earmarked for environmental projects supported by the actor's foundation.

Meanwhile, Newman's daughter, Nell Newman, partnered with Vermont's Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. to source, roast, package and distribute fair trade organic coffee under the Newman's Own Organics label. Green Mountain allocates at least 5 percent of pre-tax profits to social and environmental projects in the communities where it does business.

Celebrity coffees are just a fraction of the overall market. Still, the trend of celebrities working with high-quality roasters to make coffee for a cause "can only be a good thing," says Miles Small, owner and editor-in-chief of CoffeeTalk magazine, based in Vashon, Wash.

"Coffee is, and has always been an instrumental tool in bringing disparate folks together for a common cause," he said. "Buying celebrity coffee with a donation element helps toward achieving the charitable goals of the celebrity and also helps the over 25 million families worldwide whose survival is dependent on the growing of this 'not so simple' beverage called coffee."

In some ways, the coffee-celebrity connection seems a natural. Who hasn't seen umpteen paparazzi shots of stars clutching their Starbucks?

But Jackman laughs when asked if Hollywood has a corner on caffeine.

"Coffee is the world over," he said. "It's one of the oldest products known to man and it's one of the greatest crops ever. Traditionally, coffee is part of ritual and part of unity and community."

In Ethiopia, the families Jackman met roasted, ground, brewed and drank coffee together. "It's all part of community and being together," he said. "I think it's kind of a great product and underlines what our company is about."

Article from FOXNEWS

MLB Won\'t Muzzle Gun Logo

Major League Baseball won't try to disarm the Houston Astros' plans to pay tribute to their roots by wearing throwback uniforms with a smoking Colt .45 across the chest.

Nobody batted an eye in 1962 when the Astros' forebears, the Houston Colt .45s, first took the field. But with views toward guns changing over the decades, Major League Baseball balked at the team's plan to mark its fiftieth season by donning the retro jerseys. League officials said the gun that won the west had no business on the uniforms of the team that moves to the American League West in 2013.

“It was expressed to us that we could wear the uniform as long as the pistol was removed,” team historian Mike Acosta told Astros Daily last month. “We realize this changes the original design, but we still want to honor the Colt .45s. We are also under an obligation to follow Major League Baseball's requests."

The appeal brought to mind the name change undergone by the NBA's Washington, D.C., franchise in 1997, when it ceased to be known as the Bullets and rebranded itself the Wizards in sensitivity toward the issue of gun violence.

But gun rights enthusiasts and fans of the Texas team blasted the league's heavy-handedness and the league has backed off. The choice, says baseball, is up to the team, which plans to announce a decision today. Team owner Jim Crane, while under the impression that the uniforms had been involuntarily disarmed by league officials, let one fan know how he felt. In a response to Marine captain and Astros fan James Crabtree, who urged Crane not to cave in to “political correctness,” Crane may have tipped his hand.

“I would like to say up front that I agree with you,” wrote Crane. “Unfortunately, MLB has made this a requirement and their decisions are out of our control.”

The team, which became the Astros in 1965 in honor of the nation's space program, plans to wear various throwback uniforms throughout the season on "Flashback Fridays." The uniforms will also include the mid-70s rainbow jersey long panned as among the ugliest jersey ever worn by pros.

In that maiden season, the Colt .45s went 64-96-2, with an expansion team full of no-names. The next season, future stars Jimmy Wynn, Joe Morgan and Rusty Staub joined, but the Colt .45s never got much better. This year's team may have more in common with those early squads than jerseys: After finishing 56-106 last season, they will start a new player at every position and are widely expected to be among the worst teams in either league.

Article from FOXNEWS

Video: Beachgoers drag dolphins to rescue

Rio De Janeiro â€"  It could have been a nightmare scene for animal lovers around the world.

But thanks to some sun bathing beachgoers in Brazil - 30 dolphins are alive and well.

A dramatic video showing 30 beached dolphins being rescued by beachgoers in Brazil has become an Internet sensation.

(VIDEO BELOW)

The video shows dolphins appearing out of nowhere and suddenly beaching en masse on the Rio de Janeiro state coastline. They were apparently caught in a strong ocean current. 

Stunned beachgoers in swimming trunks at first look on as the dolphins' high-pitched squeals are heard. But within seconds, people quickly race into the surf to help the dolphins. 

Dozens of people are seen swimming into the ocean and dragging the mammals by their tails in an effort to get them back into deeper waters.

And the effort this past Monday was apparently successful. After all the dolphins were rescued, the crowd of dolphin-savers and onlookers broke into cheers.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

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\'Kony 2012\' filmmaker Jason Russell speaks out

The filmmaker behind the "Kony 2012" documentary, the mega-viral hit which exploded on the web this week, told NBC's Today show Friday that he makes no apologies for trying to put a human face on a complex and decades-old conflict.

"We can all agree we can stop him this year,'' Invisible Children filmmaker Jason Russell told the Today Show's Ann Curry, referring to guerrilla leader Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). "We're not going to wait.''

Russell defended the film from criticism that it hypes and oversimplifies the guerrilla conflict, which has subsided considerably from its height in 2003-2004. Accused of atrocities and the abduction of thousands of children to fight in his guerrilla group over the past 20 years, Kony's LRA is currently estimated to have fewer than 200 soldiers now, and most reside outside of Uganda.

"If that happened in San Diego, California, if that happened in New York City - 200 children abducted and forced to kill their parents ... it would be all over the news,'' the filmmaker said.

Russell also encouraged the millions of viewers who have watched the video to donate $30 to his advocacy group, Invisible Children, and wear a wrist bracelet. Some observers have charged that Invisible Children and its "Stop Kony" campaign are essentially promoting "slacktivism"--low-effort, feel-good activism among millions of college students and young people mesmerized by the video that does very little to help anyone on the ground in Central Africa.

"The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege," Nigerian-born writer Teju Cole, author of "Open City," said about the Invisible Children project on Twitter Thursday. "Feverish worry over that awful African warlord. But close to 1.5 million Iraqis died from an American war of choice. Worry about that."

American young people turned on to the "Stop Kony" campaign are eager to have a moral cause, Russell said: "These are children and young people 25 and younger are saying, 'Mom, dad, we want you to pay attention to this right now.'''

The San Diego-based filmmaker attributed the explosive interest in the film to its putting a human face on a complex, decades old war story. The 30-minute documentary had been seen by more than 52 million viewers on YouTube and 14 million on Vimeo since it was posted Monday, according to MSNBC.

"I think it's because it's a human story,'' Russell said. "We're all human beings, and for some reason we forgot about our humanity because of politics and because all these things we're talking about have paralyzed us.''

Veteran Beltway African experts were still marveling at the group's ability to generate so much interest in a distant Central African conflict that dates back to the 1980s and has been almost entirely under the American public radar. Some said, they welcomed the explosive interest and debate the group's film has stirred.

"Instead of continuing to debate the strengths and weakness of the Kony2012 video..." Sarah Margon, an Africa expert at the Center for American Progress wrote at the Think Progress blog Friday, "let's figure out how to turn this momentum into a constructive opportunity that can result in smart policies that will have a positive, real-time impact in the affected areas of central Africa."

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Gingrich gives up in Kansas, focuses on Alabama and Mississippi

RT @kjplotkin: I'm 4 followers from 600 #verysmallmilestones

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Daylight saving time: How to spring forward this weekend

It's time to roll the clocks forward into daylight saving time, the bittersweet deed that simultaneously signals spring and wreaks havoc on sleep.

For most people, the missing hour Sunday means a sleepy Monday. But for some -- particularly those who aren't big on mornings to begin with -- it takes a heavy toll on mood and productivity, earning blame for car accidents, workplace injuries and stock market dips.

"It's an interesting paradox, because traveling one time zone east or west is very easy for anyone to adapt to," said Dr. Alfred Lewy, director of Oregon Health and Science University's Sleep and Mood Disorders Laboratory in Portland. "But in daylight saving time, the new light-dark cycle is perversely working against the body clock. We're getting less sunlight in morning and more in the evening."

The body clock is a cluster of neurons deep inside the brain that generates the circadian rhythm, also known as the sleep-wake cycle. The cycle spans roughly 24 hours, but it's not precise.

"It needs a signal every day to reset it," said Lewy.

The signal is sunlight, which shines in through the eyes and "corrects the cycle from approximately 24 hours to precisely 24 hours," said Lewy. But when the sleep-wake and light-dark cycles don't line up, people can feel out-of-sync, tired and grumpy.

With time, the body clock adjusts on its own. Here are a few ways to help it along.

Soak Up the Morning Light

Getting some early morning sun Saturday and Sunday can help the brain's sleep-wake cycle line up with the new light-dark cycle. But it means getting up at dawn. Sleeping by a window won't cut it, Lewy said. The sunlight needs to be direct.

Avoid Evening Light

Resisting the urge to linger in the late sunlight Sunday and Monday also can help the body clock adjust, Lewy said.

Try a Lose Dose of Melatonin

While light synchronizes the body clock in the morning, the hormone melatonin updates it at night. The exact function of the hormone, produced by the pea-size pineal gland in the middle of the brain, is unclear. But it can activate melatonin receptors on the neurons of the body clock, acting as a "chemical signal for darkness," Lewy said.

Taking a low-dose (less than 0.3 mg) of melatonin late in the afternoon Friday through Monday can help sync the sleep-wake and light-dark cycles. But be careful: Although melatonin is sold as a dietary supplement, it can cause drowsiness and interfere with other drugs.

Also Read

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Presidential Protection

'Extreme Weather'

From the publisher
A terrorist hit is coming. The CIA, FBI, and Department of Defense systems have spiked, but traditional intel is going nowhere. It falls to the Taskforce-a top secret team that exists outside the bounds of U.S. law and is charged with finding and destroying asymmetric threats-to stop the unknown conspirators. Click here to learn more

'All Necessary Force'

From the publisher
A terrorist hit is coming. The CIA, FBI, and Department of Defense systems have spiked, but traditional intel is going nowhere. It falls to the Taskforce-a top secret team that exists outside the bounds of U.S. law and is charged with finding and destroying asymmetric threats-to stop the unknown conspirators. Click here to learn more

'The People's Money'

From the publisher
In The People's Money, Rasmussen explores clear-headed, responsible, and reasonable ways to eliminate a deficit that is much larger than politicians would have us believe -- $123 trillion and counting-all with the vast support of the American people. Click here to learn more

'Left Turn'

Dr. Tim Groseclose, a professor of political science and economics at UCLA, has spent years constructing precise, quantitative measures of the slant of media outlets. He does this by measuring the political content of news, as a way to measure the PQ, or "political quotient" of voters and politicians. Click here to learn more

'As Good As She Imagined'

From the publisher
Christina-Taylor Green was beautiful, precocious, smart and popular, a member of her elementary school's student council and the only girl on her Little League team. Born on 9/11/2001, it was perhaps no surprise that she harbored aspirations of becoming a politician-thus her presence at the political rally that fateful day in Tucson last January. Click here to learn more

'Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution'

From the publisher
From celebrated fitness trainer Chris Powell, star of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition", comes this inspirational weight loss book to help anyone conquer their weight. Click here to learn more

Article from FOXNEWS

Electric Amoeba Shocks Geneva

Apparently the roads of the future will have no bumps.

The ground-hugging Dawn electric car concept is a vision of the future, courtesy of Valmet Automotive. The Finnish automaker is most famous of late as the manufacturer of the Fisker Karma extended-range electric sedan.

Looking like the vehicular equivalent of the single-cell, mind-controlling parasites the crew of the starship Enterprise fought on the planet Deneva, the single-seat Dawn is a showcase of the firm's EV engineering prowess as it looks to expand its business around the world.

The driver of the dawn is placed next to a centrally-mounted battery pack, while a large electric motor stands proudly exposed at the rear like the internal combustion engine race cars of old. Wheels, if there actually are any, are shrouded in streamlined bodywork.

An induction pad adorned with a coil design sits between two pincers at the front of the car and offers wireless recharging, and a menacing look.

Details on the Dawn's specifications or projected performance have not been revealed as it was mainly designed to attract attention for the company at the Geneva Motor Show where it is currently on display.

Please try not to step on it.

Article from FOXNEWS

Firing upheld for lawyer who called court \'ghetto\'

DETROIT â€"  A former top lawyer for the city of Detroit who lost her job for calling a local court a "ghetto court" has lost an appeal over her dismissal. 

A federal appeals court says Friday that Kathleen Leavey's comments in 2009 were not protected under the First Amendment because they were made as part of her job. 

Leavey, who is white, has said she used the word "ghetto" in a conversation with a court employee to describe Detroit's 36th District Court as inefficient and poor in serving the public. 

The chief judge, who is black, heard about the comment and contacted city hall. The angry call to a deputy mayor led to Leavey's departure. 

The appeals court says the Constitution does not shield certain expressions made during official duties.

Article from FOXNEWS

GAO: banks paying back TARP with federal money

The Government Accountability Office says in a new report that banks that have repaid the Treasury Department's TARP bailout program did so with funds they received from other federal rescue programs.

The GAO's finding undercuts the Treasury's prior statements that effectively assert the Troubled Asset Relief Program has earned a profit for taxpayers. Specifically, the GAO says that, according to its new review, “as of January 31, 2012, 341 institutions had exited,” TARP, almost half by repaying...with funds from other federal programs.” For more, click here. 

The GAO also finds that banks continue to stream out of TARP, but the number that are reneging or missing their required dividend and interest payments back to the Treasury program has risen.

Treasury did not return email requests for comment.

The GAO adds that this issue of round-tripping federal bailout money arises with small banks, as the government essentially replaced their TARP funding with the new federal Small Business Lending Fund enacted in 2010, which GOP Congressmen have “TARP 2.0.”

FOX Business has reported that a GAO review of Treasury statements and press releases on TARP may bury the bad news about potential losses in the program, notably from bailouts of General Motors, AIG, and Ally Financial. The GAO has urged Treasury to improve disclosures on potential future losses, not just income expected from TARP bailouts.   

Under what's called TARP's “capital purchase program,” where Treasury invests in bank securities, Treasury invested “almost $205 billion in 707 eligible financial institutions between 2008 and December 2009,” the GAO says.

Specifically, the GAO says that, as of January 31, 2012, the Treasury had received $211.5 billion from its TARP investments, exceeding the $204.9 billion it had disbursed.

Of that amount, $16.7 billion remains outstanding, and most of these investments were concentrated in a relatively small number of institutions.

But the GAO adds that, as of November 30, 2011, Treasury estimated that the capital purchase program, which involves TARP investments in banks, “would have a lifetime income of $13.5 billion after all institutions exited the program.”

The GAO adds that, as of November 30, 2011, the number of banks and companies “that had missed their quarterly payments rose to 158, a marked increase from 8 in February 2009,” even though the TARP program “had fewer participants.”

And the GAO found that the number of companies in the program “designated as problem banks - that is, demonstrating financial, operational, or managerial weaknesses that threatened their continued financial viability - also rose from 47 in December 2009 to 130 in December 2011.”

The GAO warns: “Institutions that continue to miss payments and problem institutions may have difficulty ever fully repaying their CPP investments.”

Article from FOXNEWS

Alleged Incident on Board American Airlines Flight

URGENT: Police are responding to an incident on board an American Airlines flight from Texas to Illinois in which two flight attendants were injured, Fox News has learned.

Authorities said American Airlines flight 2332 had to be diverted back to the gate shortly before take-off over reports a flight attendant ranted to passengers over the public address system, saying the plane was going to crash. The crew member also complained about the airline's bankruptcy reorganization, according to reports. 

The flight was scheduled to depart Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for Chicago O'Hare International Airport. 

The airline released a statement, saying two flight attendants were taken to local hospitals for treatment following the incident. 

"We continue to investigate the details and circumstances and will have no further comment at this time," the statement said.

Article from FOXNEWS

SC lieutenant governor resigns amid probe of campaign expenses for personal items

COLUMBIA, S.C. â€"  South Carolina Lt. Gov. Ken Ard resigned Friday amid a criminal investigation into whether he spent campaign money on personal items. 

Ard stepped down at 10 a.m. Friday in a letter given to Gov. Nikki Haley and state Senate leaders. He also issued a statement, saying he was sorry and it was his responsibility to make sure his 2010 campaign money was spent correctly. 

"There are no excuses, nor is there need to share blame. It is my fault that the events of the past year have taken place," Ard said in the statement. 

Two hours later, Sen. Glenn McConnell announced he would become the state's next lieutenant governor. The announcement was a surprise. The 64-year-old Charleston Republican has been in the Senate for 31 years and leader of the body for the past decade, amassing a vast amount of power. 

Some senators thought he might step aside briefly and let someone else become lieutenant governor, which has little power except to preside over the Senate. 

McConnell's decision came after a closed-door meeting with legislative leaders. 

"I have decided I have a moral obligation to my oath of office and the constitution of this state," McConnell said in a statement. "It is an obligation that compels me to do the right thing no matter how difficult it may me to me personally." 

Ard has been under a legal cloud for several months. The state grand jury began investigating Ard in July. The 48-year-old Republican has already paid a $48,000 ethics fine for using money from his campaign to pay for personal items, like clothes, football tickets and a flat-screen TV. 

Attorney General Alan Wilson, who oversees the grand jury, has called a news conference with State Law Enforcement Division chief Mark Keel for 1 p.m. Friday. Wilson's office refused to say what Wilson would discuss. 

Ard easily won election in 2010, and then freely spent campaign cash on tickets to the 2010 Southeastern Conference title game where South Carolina's football team played, as well as iPads, clothes, a flat-screen television and video game system. One spending spree at a Best Buy emptied $3,056 from his account. 

Ard paid the $48,000 fine in July after being hit with 107 civil counts of using campaign cash for personal expenses that also included a family vacation, clothes and meals. He also had to pay $12,500 to cover the costs of the state Ethics Commission investigation and had to reimburse his campaign $12,000. 

Within two weeks, Wilson set up a task force to review the ethics findings and referred the investigation to the state grand jury to determine whether it merited criminal prosecution. 

Ard promised full cooperation with the investigations and said he, too, had sought a full review on the day the grand jury news broke. However, the attorney general's office said Ard had only sought a State Law Enforcement Division investigation -- something that would have delayed the grand jury's work. 

The lieutenant governor is paid $46,545 for the part-time job. He presides over the Senate when it is in session and also is in charge of the state Office on Aging. 

Haley issued a statement thanking Ard for his service and wishing him and his family the best. 

"I look forward to continuing the progress South Carolina has made in the last 15 months with our next lieutenant governor," Haley said. 

Ard had only served two terms on the Florence County Council before he decided to run for lieutenant governor, beating an Army reservist and a former director of the state Insurance Commission for the Republican nomination in 2010. 

He touted his business experience, which included a truck body manufacturing plant, a convenience store and centipede grass farms. 

Ard bankrolled much of his campaign with personal loans, and questions about Ard's post-election spending were first raised by the Free Times, a Columbia weekly newspaper. 

Ard defended and justified the spending in a January 2011 interview with the publication. 

"I'll be honest, I'm not really good at dotting i's and crossing t's, but I've got a lot -- a lot -- of money in here and I'm certainly not spending any money on my own personal behalf. ... I've got a vast amount of my personal wealth tied up in this campaign and I'm just trying to recoup as much of that as I can," he said. 

The investigation of Ard marks the second time in two years a top state politician has had ethics charges reviewed for criminal prosecution. Then-Gov. Mark Sanford faced questions in 2009 after the Ethics Commission looked into his use of state planes, campaign cash and first-class travel after his revelation that he had an affair with a woman in Argentina. The GOP-dominated House issued a formal rebuke but did not impeach Sanford. 

Sanford paid $74,000 in ethics fines and $36,498 to cover the investigation and other costs -- the largest ethics fines on record. He also agreed to reimburse his campaign and state agencies for $29,736 in travel and personal expenses. 

Then-Attorney General Henry McMaster, a Republican, reviewed the Sanford case but said he found nothing worth prosecuting.

Article from FOXNEWS

Clarkson Denies Endorsing Paul

Kelly Clarkson is backpedaling on tweets perceived to be an endorsement of Ron Paul, saying she never threw her support behind the candidate, despite writing “I love Ron Paul.”

“I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination and no one gave him a chance," she Tweeted late last year. "If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he's got my vote. Too bad he probably won't." 

Her tweets ignited a firestorm from critics who cited his newsletter controversy, wherein materials circulated by Paul in the 1980s and 90s included racist and homophobic remarks. The content of the newsletters was revealed during the 2008 election, but did not get as much attention until 2012, when he became a more formidable candidate.

But Clarkson tells Rolling Stone she was surprised at the reaction.

“I was hanging out with my brother and my little niece, playing Barbies, and Ron Paul comes on TV,” she said. “He doesn't BS around anything. I was like, ‘This dude is refreshing.' All I did was tweet what I thought, and people went crazy!”

“All of a sudden people were like, ‘You hate gay people' â€" what? I didn't even endorse him!” she added. “All I said was that I liked him.”

In December, following the firestorm of criticism, Clarkson apologized to her critics.

“I am really sorry if I have offended anyone. Obviously that was not my intent. I do not support racism. I support gay rights, straight rights, women's rights, men's rights, white/black/purple/orange rights,” she tweeted after being lambasted online.

“I like Ron Paul because he believes in less government and letting the people (all of us) make the decisions and mold our country. That is all. Out of all of the Republican nominees, he's my favorite."

Clarkson also tweeted that she had, “never heard that Ron Paul is a racist or a homophobe."

But many of Clarkson's fans stuck by the singer and she even gained some new ones in the process. Her record sales were even boosted  on Amazon.com, according to Gossipcop.com.

Still, the singer said she is “not even hardcore Republican,” having voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

Article from FOXNEWS

Women allegedly kidnapped in hail of gunfire

Police are searching for two young Michigan women allegedly kidnapped in a hail of gunfire more than a week ago.

Authorities are scouring the vast acres of Eliza Howell park in Hamtramck, Mich., where investigators say 18-year-old Abreeya Brown and 21-year-old Ashley Conaway may have been taken, Fox affiliate WJBK-TV reported. 

Both women were abducted outside a family member's home in Hamtramck on Feb. 28, law enforcement officials said. 

Two men are in police custody in connection with the alleged kidnapping, including Conaway's former boyfriend, according to the station. 

Sources close to the case told the station that a ping from one of the victim's cell phones helped lead police to the park. 

Officers from multiple agencies are assisting in the search. 

Click for more on this story from MyFoxDetroit.com 

Search Continues for Two Missing Hamtramck Women: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Article from FOXNEWS

Obama to visit NCAA tournament trip with Britain\'s Cameron

"Is anyone here allergic to penguins?" the captain of Delta Flight 486 from Atlanta to New York asked passengers-including this writer-on Wednesday night. "No? Alright, we have a surprise for you."

"How would we even know if we were?" I asked the woman seated next to me in seat 33D.

"He can't be serious," she said, pausing briefly as she flipped through her copy of Sky Mall.

But sure enough, after the plane reached a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet and the seat-belt sign was turned off, a pair of penguins waddled down the aisle from first class.

"You can take pictures, but we ask that you don't touch them," the captain announced. The flight's 300-plus delighted passengers heeded the warning, snapping photos and videos with camera phones lighting the aisle as if it were a red carpet.

The foot-and-a-half tall penguins, Pete and Penny, ages 6 and 12, were en route to the New York premiere of "Frozen Planet," a new Discovery Channel documentary series narrated by Alec Baldwin. The screening, held Thursday at the Lincoln Center, was followed by a "polar-themed" party, hosted by Baldwin, Dustin Hoffman and Glenn Close, among other environmentally-conscious luminaries.

[ SLIDESHOW: Penguins attend 'Frozen Planet' premiere ]

Oddly enough, this is not the first time penguins were allowed to roam the cabin on a commercial flight. In fact, it happens fairly frequently, judging by videos uploaded to YouTube.

Just last month, three penguins on Southwest's Orlando-to-LaGuardia trek emerged from their kennels midflight, surprising passengers.

Last March, two world-traveling waddlers from Sea World made an appearance on a Southwest flight to San Diego from San Francisco, where they attended a science convention.

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Greece secures biggest debt cut in history

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's creditors agreed Friday to take cents on the euro in the biggest debt writedown in history, providing much-needed breathing room for European nations living beyond their means. The agreement paves the way for Greece to receive an enormous second bailout in the hopes of containing the crisis before it drags the entire continent further into chaos.

Without the agreement, Greece would have risked defaulting on its debts in two weeks' time, an event that would have sparked turmoil in the financial markets and sent shockwaves through the other 16 countries that use the euro.

Following weeks of intense discussions, the Greek government said Friday that 83.5 percent of private investors holding its government debt had agreed to a bond swap that would involve them taking a cut in more than half the face value of their investments with softer repayment terms for Greece.

The bond swap was a radical attempt to pull Greece out of its debt spiral and put its shrinking economy back on the path to recovery. The deal is also a key condition for Greece to receive a euro130 billion ($172 billion) package of rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

"We have achieved an exceptional success ... and I believe everyone will soon realize that this is the only way to keep the country on its feet and give it a second historic chance that it needs," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told Parliament.

"A window of opportunity is opening" with the success of the deal to reduce the country's euro368 billion debt by euro105 billion, or about 50 percentage points of gross domestic product, he said.

Of the investors holding the euro177 billion ($234 billion) in bonds governed by Greek law, 85.8 percent joined. The deadline for those holding foreign-law bonds was extended to March 23.

Creditors holding Greek-law bonds who refused to sign up will be forced into the deal, with the Cabinet approving during a meeting Friday the activation of legislation known as "collective action clauses."

The settlement date for Greek-law bonds is set for Monday, and April 11 for foreign-law bonds.

The Fitch ratings agency downgraded Greece to "restricted default" over the bond swap - a move that had been expected. Fitch was the third agency to downgrade Greece into default, after Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

"The downgrade ... reflects Fitch's previous commentary that the exchange would constitute a sovereign default event under the agency's distressed debt exchange rating criteria," it said. The agencies are expected to raise the country's credit rating after the completion of the swap.

Eurozone finance ministers said after a conference call Friday that Greece had fulfilled the conditions to soon get approval for the bailout.

"There is no doubt that we will be able to decide on the release of the second Greece package next week," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. The IMF has set a tentative date of March 15 to discuss the size of its participation.

The ministers also released up to euro35.5 billion ($47 billion) in bailout money to fund the debt swap. Investors exchanging bonds will receive up to euro30 billion - or 15 percent of the remaining money they are owed - as a sweetener for the deal and euro5.5 billion for outstanding interest payments.

"The debt exchange represents the largest ever sovereign debt restructuring," said Charles Dallara, the managing director of the Institute of International Finance, the body that negotiated the deal with the Greek government on behalf or large investors.

However, some economists are concerned that Greece is merely buying time. The breather allows European governments and banks to strengthen their financial defenses, leaving them less vulnerable if Greece cracks a few months or even a few years from now.

The bond swap deal and the expected bailout loans do "more to protect Europe from Greece than for Greece itself," said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The group of 17 countries that make up the single-currency eurozone also have to contend with spiraling debt problems of Spain, Portugal and Ireland and Italy.

Markets, which had rallied on Thursday on expectations of a successful deal, were muted on Friday. The Stoxx 50 of leading European shares was up 0.6 percent, but the main stock index in Athens closed down 2.15 percent. The euro retreated 1.19 percent from recent highs to $1.3110.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association was meeting to determine whether the bond swap would be deemed a so-called "credit event" - a technical default - which would trigger the payment of credit default swaps, which is essentially insurance against a default.

When the debt relief plan was first announced last year, eurozone leaders and the ECB worked hard to avoid a credit event, because they feared the a payout of CDS could destabilize big financial institutions that sold them.

However, since then a CDS payout has started to look less threatening. The ISDA, a private organization that rules on credit events, said that if triggered, overall payouts on CDS linked to Greece will be below $3.2 billion.

EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said he was "very satisfied" by the high turnout, and urged Athens to press ahead with its austerity program, implemented over the past two years amid deep popular resentment.

On the streets of Athens, however, many were skeptical about the deal and pessimistic about the future. Panayiotis Theodoropoulos said the writedown was good "for them."

"For us? Nothing. Everyone looks out for themselves. In a while the people will be living on the streets," he said.

The debt crisis, sparked by years of overspending and waste, has left Greece relying on funds from international rescue loans since May 2010. Austerity measures including repeated salary and pension cuts and tax hikes imposed in return have led to record unemployment with more than 1 million people out of work, a fifth of the labor force.

Statistics released Friday showed the recession in the last quarter of 2011 was deeper than initially forecast, reaching 7.5 percent instead of 7 percent. The economy is expected to shrink for a fifth straight year in 2012, stagnate in 2013 and modestly expand in 2014.

____

Nicholas Paphitis and Demetris Nellas in Athens, Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

White house: Obama to call Russia\'s Putin on election win

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will speak with Vladimir Putin on Friday, for the first time since weekend elections that will return Putin to Russia's presidency, the White House said on Friday.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One that Obama would telephone the Russian president-elect while en route to a visit to the electoral battleground state of Virginia.

Official results showed Putin won more than 63 percent of votes in the weekend election, but independent international monitors said the poll was skewed to favor the powerful prime minister, who had been president for eight years until 2008.

Opponents demoralized with the former KGB spy's dominance of Russia's political system have branded his victory an insult to the Russian people.

(Reporting By Laura Macinnis; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Italy condemns British raid where hostages died in Nigeria

ROME (Reuters) - A diplomatic row broke out between London and Rome on Friday over Britain's failure to inform the Italian government before launching a botched hostage rescue mission in Nigeria.

The raid resulted in the deaths of a Briton and an Italian held hostage by a militant Islamist group.

Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara had been kidnapped last May while working for a construction company in northwest Nigeria.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said they were killed by their captors in a rescue mission involving Nigerian and British special forces.

President Giorgio Napolitano led a chorus of Italian condemnation on Friday, saying: "The behaviour of the British government in not informing Italy is inexplicable."

"A political and diplomatic clarification is necessary."

British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC that there was a narrow window of opportunity to try to free the hostages because intelligence showed that they were about to be moved and possibly executed.

"It's very unfortunate, but it's completely explicable."

Asked whether the Italians had approved the operation, Hammond said: "They were informed of it. I don't think they specifically approved it, they were informed of what was happening."

Prime Minister Mario Monti said Italy had been informed only after the raid began against a compound in the town of Sokoto. The British government confirmed this on Friday.

"Italy wasn't informed or asked its opinion about a blitz that put at mortal risk an Italian citizen," Fabrizio Cicchitto, a senior official in former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Liberty party, said in a television interview.

"Between allies, this sort of mission is usually talked about beforehand. The British government bypassed and completely ignored us," he said.

While Italian media criticised Britain for acting unilaterally, commentators also said the event underscored Italy's diminishing international clout.

They linked the incident to an ongoing struggle by Italy to free two marines on anti-piracy duty who are being held in India for shooting dead two fishermen in the Indian Ocean.

"The United Kingdom still acts, maybe unconsciously, with the nostalgia of imperial glory," said Antonio Puri Purini in Corriere della Sera, the country's biggest daily.

BRITAIN DOWNPLAYS

The British ambassador in Rome visited the Italian Foreign Ministry "on his own accord" on Thursday night, a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said without giving further details.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking in Copenhagen before a meeting of EU foreign ministers, said he planned to speak to his Italian counterpart Giulio Terzi about the raid.

Hague played down the spat, saying "everybody understands the constraints involved, the rapid timing involved in a case like this."

A Downing Street spokesman said Britain had been in close contact with the Italian government since the kidnapping last May. Rome was contacted as the operation got underway, he said.

"The fact of the matter is things were moving quite quickly on the ground and we had to respond to that and our top priority was to maximize the chances of getting the hostages out."

Asked if Italy's premier had given prior approval to a rescue operation, he said: "When the prime minister (Cameron) phoned Mario Monti, the operation had happened. We knew that the hostages were dead."

Monti also spoke to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, whose special forces made up most of the attack force, on Thursday to demand a "complete reconstruction" of the operation.

The hostage takers were a faction of militant Islamist sect Boko Haram that has links with al Qaeda's north African wing, a senior official at Nigeria's State Security Service said.

Boko Haram is waging an insurgency against Nigeria's southern dominated government and has been blamed for shootings and bombings that have killed hundreds in the last two years.

The two diplomatic incidents in Nigeria and India are an unexpected challenge for Monti, who has focused primarily on economic reforms.

He took power at the head of an unelected government of technocrats in November, replacing the scandal-plagued Berlusconi as Italy teetered on the brink of ruinous default.

Despite being a NATO member and active in international peacekeeping - with troops in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Lebanon and elsewhere - Italy's international influence seems to have flagged in recent years.

Berlusconi's flamboyant personality, sexual and corruption scandals and diplomatic gaffes damaged Italy's reputation abroad, especially after his foot-dragging when Britain and France pushed for the NATO bombing campaign that helped oust Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.

Article from YAHOO NEWS

\'Santorum Girls\' Viral Video

KONY 2012 isn't the only video going viral on the web this week. 

A family band called First Love recorded and released a campaign song for Rick Santorum on March 6, and the video has already racked up over 300,000 views on YouTube.

'Game On' features lead vocals from sisters Camille and Haley Harris, and backup from what looks to be the entire extended Harris family. 

The music video was shot outside the Jubilee Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where mom and dad Harris are pastors.

"Oh no, this is it guys, I just know its going to go viral," father David Harris told FOX 43 he screamed when he first heard the tune. "From the very first note that came out of their mouths."

"The music that we have, we believe came from God. Especially this song," he added.

Daughter Camille Harris said she knew they had hit the big time when they saw a tweet from the candidate himself.

"[He] said something like 'love the song and video 'Game On,' thank you Harris family," Camille Harris said.

Check it out for yourself.

Click here for FOX 43's interview with the Harris family.

Article from FOXNEWS

Student punished over religious service reinstated

By Todd Starnes/TWITTER

A Virginia school district said they would reverse a decision to remove a student from the National Honor Society just hours after the student filed a federal lawsuit accusing the district of religious discrimination.

The 17-year-old student had been placed on probationary status because she had completed her community service work at a local church. The NHS faculty advisor at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology told the student that her hours would not count because her work was in a church and was in violation of district policy.

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However, a spokesman for the school district told Fox News that the faculty adviser was mistaken.

“A mistake was made,” spokesman John Torre told Fox News. “It was an honest mistake. There was nothing sinister about it.”

Torre said the student had been placed on probationary status but will now be a member in good standing. She is also being credited with the service hours performed in her local church.

Torre said he was not sure if the district had issued an apology to the student or reprimanded the faculty advisor.

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“Everything is under review right now,” Torre said. “We want to make sure going forward how the policies are structured so there is no misinterpretation down the road.”

 The school board's faith-based service policy states that in order to be considered for credit, faith-based activities “must have a secular purpose…and may not include preparation or participation in the performance of religious services.”

That's still a problem for Matt Sharp, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund who is representing the student.

“We applaud the school district for wanting to right this wrong,” Sharp told Fox News. “We are of course glad to work with them to change the unconstitutional policy.”

Sharp said the lawsuit has not been dropped. He still wants the policy changed â€" and he also wants to make sure the school district will undo damaged caused by his client's NHS status.

“There were some scholarship deadlines that were missed,” he said. “She was unable to apply for those because of her probationary status.”

Article from FOXNEWS

Unexplained explosion caught live on Phoenix news broadcast

Phoenix's FOX 10 reporter Andrea Robinson was in the middle of an on-air report when an unexplained, bright white explosion appeared in the distance behind her.

The strange blast was caught on tape and aired live during Robinson's report. At first, news station employees thought the explosion was a transformer. But when FOX 10 checked with local utility providers APS and Salt River Project, they were told no transformers had blown in the area.

While the source of the explosion remains a mystery, it comes on the heels of the anniversary of one of the most-famous UFO sightings in recent history. On March 13, 1997 a cluster of glowing orbs moving in a V-shaped formation were spotted in the skies above Phoenix. That incident was also caught on film. The origin of the light formation has since been endlessly analyzed and debated.

Arizona is also home to Travis Walton, who famously claimed to have been abducted by a UFO in 1975. Walton has written a number of books on the subject and his story was turned into the 1993 film Fire in the Sky.

And while Phoenix officials remain stumped by the strange light explosion, FOX 10 has reached out to the public asking for assistance in explaining exactly what they caught on film.

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Why Mitt Romney can\'t shut up about his money

@kssturgis62 http://t.co/OzaLiRps have a nice day

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Teacher allegedly taped impaired 9-year-old to chair

A teacher at a Washington, D.C., school has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly taping a 9-year-old visually impaired student to a chair.

The alleged incident happened Wednesday afternoon during an after school tutoring program at the Friendship Blow Pierce Junior Academy Campus.

Christian Washington, a fourth-grade student, said the teacher wrapped the tape several times around his chest and his legs after he got out of his chair twice.

"She was laughing," he said. "Everybody in the class was laughing at me."

The 9-year-old said he was taped to the chair for about 10 minutes.

The boy told his mother, Terik Washington, about the alleged incident later that night. She confronted the teacher at school Thursday morning and said she was surprised by the teacher's admission and explanation.

"She said, 'Yes, but I don't want you think that this is anything malicious. I don't want you to think that this was done out of spite or anything like that. He was in on it and it was a game,' and I said, 'That's not a game,'" Terik Washington said.

She said that her son is visually impaired, and she placed him at the school because he had been taunted by other students at his previous school.

"Emotionally, I'm drained, I'm tired. I'm tired of my son being hurt," she said. "The teacher did this in front of students, so if it's OK for the teacher to do it, is it OK for the students to go behind her and do the same thing? No, it's not."

School officials say they are looking into the matter and have placed the teacher on administrative leave.

Terik Washington has filed a complaint with D.C. Police and the department is investigating.

Article from FOXNEWS

Facebook \'friend\' exposes man\'s other wife

TACOMA, Wash.-- A Washington state corrections officer has been charged with bigamy after Facebook discovered two women were connected to him and suggested they might want to "friend."

Prosecutors in Pierce County say Alan L. O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing wife No. 1.

Wife No. 1 found out about Wife No. 2 when Facebook detected their connection to O'Neill and suggested the friendship connection.

The News Tribune reports O'Neill was placed on administrative leave after prosecutors charged him Thursday.

Article from FOXNEWS

Pakistan charges bin Laden\'s three widows

Pakistan has charged Usama bin Laden's three widows with illegally entering and living in the country prompting the Pakistan Taliban to say they will attack government, police and military officials if they are not released, a spokesman for the militant group said on Friday, Reuters reports. 

The three women have been in Pakistani detention since May last year, when U.S. commandos raided the house where they, bin Laden and several of their children were staying. The commandos shot and killed bin Laden, and then buried his body at sea.

"If the family of Usama bin Laden is not released as soon as possible, we will attack the judges, the lawyers and the security officials involved in their trial," Ehsanullah Ehsan of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) told Reuters.

"We will carry out suicide bombings against security forces and the government across the country."

Rehman said the three had been charged in court, but he did not say when. It was unclear if they had a lawyer.

He said their children were free to leave Pakistan, but could stay with their mothers for the duration of the trial.

A Pakistani legal expert contacted about the case, Hashmat Habib, said the maximum punishment the women could receive was five years in jail. One of their relatives has reportedly visited Pakistan recently to urge authorities to let them leave the country. The decision to charge them could be a formal part of that process.

One of the women is known to be from Yemen, another from Saudi Arabia. The nationality of the third woman is unclear.

Bin Laden, the subject of a massive international manhunt, had been living in the Pakistani army town of Abbottabad for around five years before the CIA traced his whereabouts. The unilateral American raid humiliated and angered the Pakistani army, which has also faced uncomfortable questions over why it wasn't aware of bin Laden's presence.

A government commission is investigating the affair, but few expect it to come up with many answers. Its members have interviewed the wives. Last month, the government destroyed the three-story compound the bin Laden clan was living in, removing a concrete reminder of the country's association with the world's most wanted man.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Article from FOXNEWS

Firing upheld for lawyer who called court \'ghetto\'

DETROIT â€"  A former top lawyer for the city of Detroit who lost her job for calling a local court a "ghetto court" has lost an appeal over her dismissal. 

A federal appeals court says Friday that Kathleen Leavey's comments in 2009 were not protected under the First Amendment because they were made as part of her job. 

Leavey, who is white, has said she used the word "ghetto" in a conversation with a court employee to describe Detroit's 36th District Court as inefficient and poor in serving the public. 

The chief judge, who is black, heard about the comment and contacted city hall. The angry call to a deputy mayor led to Leavey's departure. 

The appeals court says the Constitution does not shield certain expressions made during official duties.

Article from FOXNEWS

Israeli airstrike kills militant commander

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel has carried out its highest-profile attack in the Gaza Strip in months. The Israeli military confirms that an airstrike today killed a top Palestinian militant commander and a second militant.

The Israelis say the commander was plotting an attack inside Israel similar to the one his group carried out in August that killed eight people.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli drones were seen hovering above, just moments before a vehicle exploded into flames just outside of Gaza City.

The commander (Zuhair al-Qaissi) was in charge of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committee, a large militant group aligned with Hamas.

Israel often targets Gaza militants it says are preparing attacks, but the situation has been relatively calm in recent months.

Article from FOXNEWS

Penguins, flying first class, delight passengers on Delta flight

"Is anyone here allergic to penguins?" the captain of Delta Flight 486 from Atlanta to New York asked passengers--including this writer--on Wednesday night. "No? Alright, we have a surprise for you."

"How would we even know if we were?" I asked the woman seated next to me in seat 33D.

"He can't be serious," she said, pausing briefly as she flipped through her copy of Sky Mall.

But sure enough, after the plane reached a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet and the seat-belt sign was turned off, a pair of penguins waddled down the aisle from first class.

"You can take pictures, but we ask that you don't touch them," the captain announced. The flight's 300-plus delighted passengers heeded the warning, snapping photos and videos with camera phones lighting the aisle as if it were a red carpet.

The foot-and-a-half tall penguins, Pete and Penny, ages 6 and 12, were en route to the New York premiere of "Frozen Planet," a new Discovery Channel documentary series narrated by Alec Baldwin. The screening, held Thursday at the Lincoln Center, was followed by a "polar-themed" party, hosted by Baldwin, Dustin Hoffman and Glenn Close, among other environmentally-conscious luminaries.

Oddly enough, this is not the first time penguins were allowed to roam the cabin on a commercial flight. In fact, it happens fairly frequently, judging by videos uploaded to YouTube.

Just last month, three penguins on Southwest's Orlando-to-La Guardia trek emerged from their kennels mid-flight, surprising passengers.

Last March, two world-traveling waddlers from Sea World made an appearance on a Southwest flight to San Diego from San Francisco, where they attended a science convention.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

- Thousands of spiders blanket Australian farm after escaping flood

- George Washington-shaped Chicken McNugget sells for $8,100 on eBay

- Scott Hunt wants to help you prepare for doomsday

Article from YAHOO NEWS

Secret Militias on the Rise in U.S.

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{desc}","pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","update_page_permalink":true,"template_name":"vglry_thmbs","i18n":{"end_of_gallery_header":"End of Gallery","end_of_gallery_next":"View Again"},"metadata":{"pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","ult":{"spaceid":"97362355","sec":""}}},{"id": "ymh-browse", "dataManager": C.dmgr, "mediator": C.mdtr, "group_name":"channel-videos-carousel1", "track_item_selected":1,"tracking":{ "spaceid" : "97362355", "events" : { "click" : { "any" : { "yui-carousel-prev" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"Video Browse Carousel","slk":"prev","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } }, "yui-carousel-next" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"Video Browse Carousel","slk":"next","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // no more pages, don't beacon again // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } } } } } } })); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function() { try{ if (Math.floor(Math.random()*10) == 1) { var loc = window.location, decoded = decodeURI(loc.pathname), encoded = encodeURI(decoded), uri = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + encoded + ((loc.search.length > 0) ? loc.search + '&' : '?') + "_cacheable=1", xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest(); else xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); xmlhttp.open("GET",uri,true); xmlhttp.send(); } }catch(e){} })(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {YAHOO.Media.DarlaAdsController = new Y.Media.DarlaAdsController(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(document.onclick===YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.newClick){document.onclick=YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.oldClick;} }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function(Y) { var vmms = new Y.Media.VMMSPublisher(); vmms.broadcast("carouselLoaded"); })(Y); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function(Y) { var channelSort = new YAHOO.Media.ChannelSort({ 'Y': Y, 'modId': 'ymh-metadata', 'defaultSec': 'rel_news', 'spaceId': '97362355', 'queryUrl': '/_xhr/videos/channel-data/?start={start}&count={batchSize}&channelId={channelId}&source={source}&list_id={listId}&network_id={networkId}&network_name={networkName}&order={order}&template={template}&spaceid=97362355&sec={sec}', 'batchSize': 8, 'channelId': '22186928', 'source': 'discovery', 'listId': '', 'networkId': '', 'networkName': '', 'order': 'publishStart', 'template': 'vglry_meta_16u_long_desc', 'timeout': '15000' }); channelSort.init(); })(Y); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(!videosSocialSync && (Y.one('#ymh-browse') !== null)) { var videosSocialSync = new YAHOO.Media.Carousels.SocialButtonsEasySynchronizer({ carouselId : 'ymh-browse', plnkKey : 'plnk_vita', titleKey : 'ttle', thumbnailKey : 'thmb_url', summaryKey : 'desc' }); videosSocialSync.init(); /* Update buttons after page loads * so we can use the first video * which fires its selectedItem event * before the init starts listening */ Y.on('domready', function() { videosSocialSync.updateAllButtons(); }); } }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function(Y) { var channelSort = new YAHOO.Media.ChannelSort({ 'Y': Y, 'modId': 'mediacarouselchannelvideosdiscovery', 'defaultSec': 'rel_news', 'spaceId': '97362355', 'queryUrl': '/_xhr/videos/channel-data/?start={start}&count={batchSize}&channelId={channelId}&source={source}&list_id={listId}&network_id={networkId}&network_name={networkName}&order={order}&template={template}&spaceid=97362355&sec={sec}', 'batchSize': 8, 'channelId': '22186928', 'source': 'discovery', 'listId': '', 'networkId': '', 'networkName': '', 'order': 'publishStart', 'template': 'vglry_atrbtn', 'timeout': '15000' }); channelSort.init(); })(Y); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function(Y) { var channelSort = new YAHOO.Media.ChannelSort({ 'Y': Y, 'modId': 'mediacarouselchannelvideosdiscovery_2', 'defaultSec': '', 'spaceId': '97362355', 'queryUrl': '/_xhr/videos/channel-data/?start={start}&count={batchSize}&channelId={channelId}&source={source}&list_id={listId}&network_id={networkId}&network_name={networkName}&order={order}&template={template}&spaceid=97362355&sec={sec}', 'batchSize': 8, 'channelId': '22186928', 'source': 'discovery', 'listId': '', 'networkId': '', 'networkName': '', 'order': 'publishStart', 'template': 'vglry_thmbs', 'timeout': '15000' }); channelSort.init(); })(Y); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function(Y) { new YAHOO.Media.Accordion( { 'spaceId' : '97362355' }); })(Y); }); }); });

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