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Kids Pre-Board No More
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Zachary Cunningham, 5, waits after his family's ATA Arilines flight for his two week vacation to Hawaii.AP
As if it wasn't hard enough traveling by air with children, United Airlines won't be offering early boarding to families in coach with small children.
United quietly made the policy shift in late April and joins other airlines including American Airlines and US Airways that have dropped family pre-boarding.
The airline says the move was "to simplify the boarding process and to reduce the overall number of boarding groups," United spokesman Charles Hobart told USA Today.
Previously, families with small children flying coach were allowed on aircraft before general boarding -- a convenience for parents to get their children and their things stowed before the crush of passengers. Â But now, as more airlines charge for priority boarding, passengers are more willing to pay to guarantee space in the overhead bins for their luggage --space that could be taken by early boarders.
Of course parents can still pay to board early and avoid the mad dash on the plane. Priority boarding programs begin at $9 and up, so a family of four can now expect to pay $36 or more for the privilege.
The good news is that other airlines, including JetBlue Airways, Virgin America and Delta Air Lines, still offer the early boarding convenience for free. Â But for how much longer, it's hard to tell.
United's move comes amid airlines imposing fees for passengers to sit in certain seats --including the window and aisle.
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Egyptians vote for second day in first post-Mubarak presidential election
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May 24, 2012: Female Egyptian voters cast their votes during the second day of presidential elections in the Mataraya neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt.AP
CAIRO â€"  Egypt's wide-open presidential election, which was in its second day of voting Thursday, is showing how deeply polarized the nation has become, with backers of rival Islamists and former regime figures each vowing they cannot let the other rule.
The impact of their rivalry goes beyond the key question of who gets to rule Egypt for the next four years.
An Islamist president will mean a more religious government, while a figure from Hosni Mubarak's ousted regime occupying the land's highest office would likely keep Egypt locked in dictatorship and thwart democracy.
The two candidates that inspire the most polarized opinions are Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest political group, and Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander and Mubarak's last prime minister, who was booted out of office by street protests several weeks after his former boss.
In the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the mother of a young businessman who was beaten to death by policemen in 2010 warned of a "second revolution" if one of the "feloul" - a member of the Mubarak regime, like Shafiq - is elected. The killing of her son, Khaled Said, helped ignite the uprising against Mubarak last year.
"I don't feel that my son has received justice," Said's mother, Laila Marzouk, said Thursday after she voted for Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist candidate who is a favorite among revolutionaries. "If one of the feloul of Mubarak's regime wins, another revolution will start and I'll be among the first to take part."
Beside Shafiq, the only other Mubarak regime figure running is Amr Moussa, who served as foreign minister for 10 years before he became the Arab League chief in 2001.
Both Shafiq and Morsi have repeatedly spoken of the dangers, real or imaginary, of the other becoming president. Morsi has said there would be massive street protests if a "feloul" wins the vote. They can only win if an election is rigged, he warned.
Shafiq, on his part, has said it would be "unacceptable" if an Islamist takes the presidential office, echoing the rhetoric of Mubarak, his longtime mentor who devoted much of his 29-year rule to fighting Islamists. Still, Shafiq's campaign has said it would accept the election's result.
While a Shafiq victory could spark protests, the deeper problem is whether Egypt's multiple power centers will be able to work together no matter who wins. Egyptians are eager for the new leader to rebuild the nation, wracked by more than a year of unrest, crime and a faltering economy.
A major issue is how a president will get along with the Islamist-dominated parliament, where the Brotherhood alone holds nearly half the seats and ultraconservatives known as Salafist have another 20 percent.
Also looming is the writing of a new constitution, already the source of contention. The Brotherhood and Islamists tried to control the panel tasked with writing the charter, sparking a backlash that led to the dissolving of the panel by a court ruling.
There is also the question of the powers that should be retained by the military after a president is elected. Many are concerned that the generals who took power after Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11, 2011, will try to retain influence.
The two days of voting, which end Thursday, are not expected to produce an outright winner among the 13 candidates vying for the post. If no one gets at least 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will go to a runoff June 16-17. The winner will be announced June 21.
The generals who took control after Mubarak was ousted have promised to hand over power by July 1, repeatedly assuring critics that they have no wish to remain in charge. There are fears, however, that they could retain significant powers on matters of national security and key foreign policies.
"I like the personality of Shafiq. He is strong enough to lift the country," said Suheir Abdel-Moamen, one of several women standing in line waiting to vote in the middle class Cairo district of el-Zawiya al-Hamra.Somaiya Imam, still undecided on who to vote for, replied with a reference to Islamist candidates, saying: "Don't you think we should vote for the candidate who holds the Quran?"
"We voted for them before and they let us down. They want everything - the presidency, parliament and government. They are never satisfied," Abdel-Moneim responded.
A woman standing behind the two chipped in: "But he (Shafiq) is a Mubarak's associate."
Sabahi, who adopts the socialist ideas of Egypt's late leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser, has been the choice of many who neither want an Islamist or a Mubaral-era figure for president. Others have turned to Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, who is an Islamist but is seen by some liberals as moderate enough.
In Cairo's northern Matariya district, a young IT specialist who asked not to be identified said she decided to vote for Sabahi as the middle-ground candidate.
"I wanted to vote for Ahmed Shafiq, because I am convinced he is the right man for the moment, but because I am afraid of what Islamists might do, I changed my mind and voted for Sabahi," she said. "Islamists either Salafis or Brotherhood are dying to hijack power. I am not going to give my vote for them."
Shafiq has been openly disparaging of the pro-democracy youth groups who led the 18-day uprising that forced Mubarak out of office 15 months ago. Critics accuse him of being too cozy with the generals who took over from Mubarak and whose own reputation is tainted by human rights abuses and authoritarian tendencies.
But with his strongman image, he has appealed to Egyptians who crave stability and fear Islamists.
Shafiq was met by several dozen protesters screaming "down with the feloul" as he arrived to vote in an upscale neighborhood east of Cairo on Wednesday afternoon. Some protesters showed their contempt by holding up their shoes in his direction. On his way out, some mobbed him, swinging their shoes at him as his security hustled him into his car.
> ___
Associated Press correspondent Aya Batrawy contributed to this report from Alexandria, Egypt.
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Blind Chinese activist\'s brother flees guarded village
BEIJING â€"  The brother of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has fled his closely guarded village to seek legal advice Thursday in Beijing on how to protect his son from what their supporters call retaliation by local officials, an attorney said.
Chen sought protection of U.S. diplomats last month after escaping virtual house arrest in his hometown, sparking a standoff between Beijing and Washington and highlighting the extralegal measures taken by local Chinese officials to suppress dissent.
The two countries resolved the standoff by agreeing to let Chen and his immediate family travel to the U.S. so that he could attend a university, but his supporters say the legal activist's extended family in Shandong province faces a continued crackdown.
His nephew, Chen Kegui, has been arrested and accused of attempted murder during a clash last month with local officials who burst into his home looking for Chen after his escape.
Chen Guangfu - the activist's brother and the father of Chen Kegui - met Thursday in Beijing with attorney Ding Xikui to discuss his son's case, the lawyer said.
Ding says he and another attorney were authorized by Chen Kegui's wife to defend him. However, police at the Yinan detention center where Chen Kegui is being have told the lawyers that government-appointed attorneys will be representing him instead.
Ding said Chen Guangfu wanted to meet with him to affirm that he, too, wanted Ding to represent his son, not the government-appointed lawyers.
"We are still in negotiations with the local authorities" on Chen Kegui's case, Ding said, adding that Chen Guangfu also wanted to meet his daughter-in-law who is staying in Beijing.
Two other rights lawyers said that Chen Guangfu called them once he left the village. One of them, Jiang Tianyong, said Chen Guangfu described the security situation in his hometown as having become tighter since Chen Guangcheng escaped the village a month ago.
"There are more people, many more people. They are stationed at the entrance of the village and at major intersections, they are spread even farther and wider," Jiang said.
Chen Guangcheng is a self-taught legal activist who gained recognition for crusading for the disabled and fighting against forced abortions in his rural community. But he angered local officials and was convicted in 2006 on what his supporters say were fabricated charges. After serving four years in prison, he then faced an abusive and illegal house arrest.
Chen made a daring escape from his village in April and wound up in the protection of U.S. diplomats, triggering a diplomatic standoff over his fate. Officials struck a deal that let Chen walk free, only to see him have second thoughts. That forced new negotiations that led to an agreement to send him to the U.S. to study law, a goal of his, at New York University.
The departure of Chen, his wife and two children to the United States on Saturday marked the conclusion of nearly a month of uncertainty and years of mistreatment by local authorities for the activist.
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Pelosi to the Right of Obama on Bush Tax Cuts?
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May 17, 2012: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gestures during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi just pulled her caucus well to the right of President Obama, as she dramatically broadened the scope of her proposal for extending the Bush-era tax cuts.Â
The White House, since Obama took office, has called for those tax rates to be extended only for households making less than $250,000 a year. The president wants the rates to expire for everybody else.Â
But Pelosi, in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, upped that threshold to $1 million. She urged Boehner to schedule a vote "as early as next week" to extend the "middle-income tax cuts" -- which she apparently is defining as those affecting households that make less than $1 million.Â
"We must ask the very wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. Democrats believe that tax cuts for those earning over a million dollars a year should expire and that we should use the resulting revenues to pay down the deficit," she wrote. "By ensuring that the middle-income tax cuts do not expire, we will put money into the pockets of American consumers, saving the typical middle-income family thousands of dollars per year."Â
The letter marked a split between how Pelosi and how Obama define middle class.Â
One senior Republican aide noted "how big a shift this is" after the letter was made public. It's a shift that could make it easier for Democrats from wealthier areas to support the party position.Â
The president came under fire from Republicans in the last Bush tax cut debate for describing households making $250,000 as wealthy and threatening to let their cuts expire. Ultimately, the rates for everybody were extended -- but that extension expires at the end of 2012 if Congress does not act.Â
Pelosi's letter adds renewed urgency to that debate, particularly after the Congressional Budget Office warned the country could hit a "fiscal cliff" if the tax cut expiration and other sweeping changes go into effect as scheduled in 2013.Â
The White House, though, is standing by its position on the tax cuts and its definition of middle class.Â
"The president has been clear that Congress must extend the tax rates for all families making less than $250,000 a year and let the rates for the very wealthiest expire at the end of the year," White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said. "The question now is whether Republicans in Congress will vote to give millions of middle-class families the confidence that they won't see their taxes go up at the end of the year, or whether they will continue to hold the middle class hostage so they can extend big tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans that our nation can't afford."Â
House Republicans also aren't backing off their position -- that the tax rates should be extended for all.Â
"Speaker Boehner has already announced that the House will act to stop the tax hike on every American taxpayer," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.
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Photos: Cheetah cubs debut at the Smithsonian\'s National Zoo
Newborn Cheetah Cubs Being Hand Raised at National Zoo | Photo Gallery - Yahoo!
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Woman battling flesh-eating disease sits up
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Aimee Copeland (AP Photo/Copeland Family)AP2009
For the first time since being hospitalized for flesh-eating bacteria, Aimee Copeland sat upright in a chair on Tuesday, according to a blog post written by her father. Â While nurses thought she would only be able to sit for an hour, Copeland surprised everyone by sitting for over five hours.
The development comes just days after doctors had to amputate 24-year-old Copeland's hands and remaining foot in order to stop the spread of the disease. Â While she still remains in critical condition, she has been making big strides, recently starting to breathe on her own without the use of a ventilator.
To add to her triumphant day, Copeland was also treated to a private concert by Nashville recording artist Corey Durkin - who performed a song he had written just for her titled “Southern Belle.â€
Copeland's father wrote about the day's events in a post on the Facebook page “Believe and pray for a miracle to happen for Aimee Copeland.â€
Copeland received necrotizing fasciitis â€" a rapidly spreading infection that causes the destruction of the skin and muscles â€" after falling from a homemade zip line near a creak and cutting her leg open.  Initially, her left leg had to be amputated, and doctors said her chances of her survival were “slim to none." Her struggle has since captured the attention and support of many across the nation.
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Weekly jobless claims fall slightly
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, government data on Thursday showed, suggesting the labor market continues to expand at a moderate pace.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 370,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 372,000 from the previously reported 370,000.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims unchanged last week. The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, dropped 5,500 to 370,000.
Claims have barely budged in the past four weeks indicating a marginal improvement in the pace of job creation after April's disappointing 115,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls.
A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state-level claims data and no states had been estimated.
The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 29,000 to 3.26 million in the week ended May 12.
The so-called continuing claims data covered the week for the household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived. The jobless rate dropped to 8.1 percent in April from 8.2 percent the prior month, but mostly as people gave up the hunt for work.
While more states are losing eligibility for extended benefits for the long-term unemployed, that is not yet being fully captured in the claims data as the figures are reported with a time lag .
Economists expect that as more people fall off the unemployment benefit rolls, that will artificially push down the jobless rate. Out-of-work people not receiving benefits are not obliged to be actively looking for work, a key criteria to be counted as unemployed.
The number of people on extended benefits dipped 4,800 to 299,955 in the week ended May 5, the latest week for which data is available. Only 15 states and the District of Columbia were offering extended benefits during that period.
There were 2.63 million Americans receiving emergency unemployment checks during that period, down 35,500 from the prior week.
A total of 6.17 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during the week ending May 5 under all programs, down 105,004 from the previous week.
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Iran rejects West\'s proposal to curb nuke program
BAGHDAD â€"  Iranian negotiators on Thursday rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about the Islamic Republic's ability to build atomic weapons.
The stance underscored the difficulties facing the nuclear talks as both sides stake out their terms and agendas for a second day in the Iraqi capital. Still, the negotiations did not appear in danger of collapse. Envoys added extra hours to their meetings as a sandstorm closed down the Baghdad airport.
Proposals for another round next month in Geneva also met with resistance from Iran, which is pushing for a venue not considered supportive of Western sanctions. Talks were expected to wrap up later Thursday.
The open channels between Iran and the six-nation bloc - the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany - are seen as the most hopeful chances of outreach between Washington and Tehran in years. They also could push back threats of military action that have shaken oil markets and brought worries of triggering a wider Middle East conflict.
Israeli leaders have been critical of the talks, claiming it allows Iran to buy time and drive a wedge between Washington and Jerusalem.
On Wednesday, Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak said even possible moves by Iran to open its nuclear facilities to greater U.N. inspect doesn't rule out a possible Israeli military strike.
Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, demanded an overhaul to the plan put forward by the world powers after the Baghdad talks began Wednesday. An Iranian diplomat involved in the discussions said the package falls far short of a compromise.
Iran went into the talks seeking that the West scale back on its sanctions, which have targeted Iran's critical oil exports and have effectively blackballed the country from international banking networks.
Jalili conveyed his concerns in a private meeting Thursday with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is formally leading the talks.
Ashton's spokesman, Mike Mann, called the negotiations "tough," but said that "some progress was made."
At the heart of the issue are two different proposals. On one side is an incentive package by the six-nation group - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - that seeks to halt the most sensitive part of Iran's nuclear fuel production.
Iran, in turn, wants the U.S. and Europe to ease harsh economic sanctions on its oil exports in return for pledges to give wider access to U.N. inspectors and other concessions.
The West and its allies fear Iran's nuclear program could eventually produce atomic weapons. Iran insists its reactors are only for energy and research.
A senior U.S. official predicted the pace of the talks - which began last month in Istanbul - would speed up in upcoming rounds.
"We are urgent about it, because every day we don't figure this out is a day they keep going forward with a nuclear program," said the U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations more candidly. "And there are all kinds of assessments about how long it will take them to get there."
"We still think we have some time for diplomacy, but it's not indefinite," the official said.
Iranian analyst Hassan Abedini called the proposal put forward by the U.S. and its allies unbalanced and filled only with old plans that Tehran dismissed years ago.
jIn exchange, the world powers offered benefits, including medical isotopes, some nuclear safety cooperation and spare parts for civilian airliners that are needed in Iran.
But they snubbed Iranian calls for an immediate easing of significant economic sanctions imposed on Tehran for flouting U.N. Security Council resolutions that demand the suspension of all enrichment.
"Giving up 20 percent enrichment levels in return for plane spare parts is a joke," said Abedini. "The package is unbalanced and therefore unacceptable."
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Romney\'s second TV ad focuses on deficit and China trade
Phillip cries during his victory song [photo: Fox]Well, after four months and a record-setting 132 million votes, it's official: Phillip Phillips is the 11th American Idol. It's hardly the most surprising finale result in "Idol" history--since many pundits (myself included) had him pegged as the winner the moment he entered the audition room--but it's not one without controversy.
After four male champions in a row, many "Idol" fans were no doubt hoping that runner-up Jessica Sanchez, arguably the technically best vocalist of Season 11, would be the girl to break the female curse on "Idol." And I suspect that "Idol's" powers-that-be were rooting for Jessica as well. Surely it would have been a fantastic PR development for the "Idol" franchise (which over the years has, wrongly or not, been accused of being a closed door to contestants of color or of the fairer sex, or basically any contestant that doesn't sing rock or country music) to blast out a press release declaring, "FIRST GIRL WINS IN FIVE YEARS!"--rather than have to send out yet another anticlimactic announcement that yet another cute young boy has prevailed.
[PHOTOS: "Idol" Season 11 Performances]
And it's true that--considering how some of "Idol's" biggest success stories (Kelly, Carrie, Fantasia, Jordin) have been the female winners, and that in the real world, female pop singers dominate the charts--it might've been better for "the franchise" if Jessica had won. But "Idol" fans don't care about "the franchise"; they simply vote for whom they like, and they vote with their hearts as well as with their ears. And understandably, their hearts told them to vote for one of the most likable people to ever appear on "Idol," good ol' P-Squared...especially after he closed Tuesday's performance show with "Home," possibly the best coronation song in "Idol" history. Outraged conspiracy theorists will surely cry racism or sexism, or some other "ism," when lamenting Jessica's defeat, but maybe the reason why Phillip won was just more simple, and more innocent, than all that.
[BLOG: The Most-Robbed Contestants of Season 11]
Jessica congratulates Phillip [photo: Fox]Maybe viewers just liked Phillip's music more. I don't think Phillip coasted to the winner's circle on boyish charm alone; the guy is undeniably talented, and I believe he has it in him to make a great record. I just hope it is a great-selling record too, since, let's face it, the show's credibility IS on the line. Season 10 champion Scotty McCreery's platinum success helped restore the "Idol" franchise after a couple of years of slumping sales, and now it is up to Phillip to maintain that momentum. It's a precarious place for him to be in, since rock music is hardly the top-selling genre right now--and it's very easy to imagine Jessica (who, like every other runner-up since Season 1, will surely get her own record deal) outperforming him on the charts. But stubborn Phillip, the kind of uncompromising maverick who responds to Tommy Hilfiger's style advice to not wear gray by putting on two gray shirts, is hardly going to let anyone, not even Jimmy Iovine, steamroll him into making some prefab pop album. And that's not what his fans want from him, anyway. Some of Phillip's fans might even argue that he would have been better off placing second, which presumably would have allowed him a little more creative freedom in the studio. (Coming in second would have also probably allowed him more time off to deal with his serious medical issues.)
[VIDEO: Top 10 Performances of Season 11]
However, I think there is a place for both Phillip and Jessica on the charts, as long as they both record strong material that plays to their very different strengths and very different fanbases. If Phillip makes music in the future like the wonderfully Mumford-y "Home," he could do very well (Mumford & Sons have sold 2.5 million albums in the U.S. alone, and plenty more overseas), while Jessica has a really great shot too, as long as she doesn't record dreary material like the boring original song she was sadly stuck with this week, "Change Nothing." (Give this girl some snazzier material, Jimmy!)
If Iovine does right by these two, then we may end up with two "winners," so to speak, of Season 11. And that would be the best thing for "the franchise" of all. Parker out.
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Searchers follow bike route where missing student was last seen
Dozens of people gathered to ride the route presumably taken by missing Louisiana college student Michaela "Mickey" Shunick when she vanished on her bike last Saturday.
Friends and searchers took to the route at dusk Thursday, following the path on which Shunick set out in the early hours of Saturday morning. FBI, U.S. Marshals and local police are involved in the search that they are treating as a missing-person case, but have not ruled out foul play.
Shunick, 22, a senior anthropology major at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, left friend Brettly Wilson's house on her bike just before 2 a.m. Saturday after a night out, and hasn't been heard from since.
"I asked her to be safe ... I saw her get to the driveway and that was the last time I saw her," Wilson said.
Friends and family held a candle light vigil Tuesday night, and announced a reward of $20,000 for tips leading to her whereabouts. Searches by K-9 units, police and volunteers have turned up no hints of what happened, but her family remains hopeful.
"I think she's OK, I think she's alive. I think she's out there," Mickey's sister, Charlene, told ABC affiliate KATC-TV in Lafayette, La.
The FBI, state and local police, and nearly a thousand volunteers are searching this morning, but have found no trace of the young woman. Friends say she wasn't drinking, and that Shunick was an avid cyclist, so riding her bike at that hour was not unusual.
Shunick's older sister says she never would have left on her own, and that Saturday was her brother's graduation. Monday was Mickey's own 22nd birthday, and the two had big plans.
"She's my mini-me. She's one of my best friends and I just miss her and I want to know what's going on," sister Charlie Shunick said through tears.
For her father, not knowing is the hardest part.
"If she has been taken by somebody, where is she? What are they doing to her? It's better being around people like over here. It's tougher when you're alone at night," Tom Shunick told ABC News.
Her family says they can't think of any reason anybody might want to harm Shunick, and her father said although he's grateful for the search efforts, he wishes the search had started earlier.
"None of the video cameras got checked over the weekend because the managers weren't in and waited two days to check the video cameras," he told Lafayette newspaper The Advertiser. "If somebody has abducted her and taken her on the interstate [highway] or something, they got a two-day head start."
Mickey Shunick always carried mace when she rode her bike, her family says, adding that they will keep searching, no matter how long it takes.
"We're going to see her soon, we're going to get her home and this is going to be over soon," friend Wilson said.
Shunick's family is offering a $25,000 reward for any information in the case. They say that they hope everyone is on the lookout for her, including those in states that border Louisiana.
The family plans to send out a robo-call today to the entire parish -- which consists of hundreds of thousands of people in the region -- hoping that someone knows where Mickey is.
Shunick is 5-foot-1 and 115 pounds. She was last seen wearing a pastel multi-colored striped shirt, light-wash skinny jeans and gray shoes.
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Inside the bus during drum major fatal hazing
Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion endured a lethal pummeling down the aisle of a pitch black bus that rocked from the force of the violence inside, the culmination of a tradition of violent hazing at the nationally known marching band.
Champion struggled, with a female band member holding him back to prolong the punishment, through a gauntlet of band mates who used their fists, feet, straps and sticks to pound him into unconsciousness.
Over 2,000 pages of evidence from the investigation into Champion's death were released by the Florida District Attorney's Office and they deliver a blow-by-blow of the night's events.
They also describe a culture that considers repeated "hot seat" beatings and the final "crossing over" gauntlet that killed Champion as rites of passage.
"It's a respect thing, you know," Jonathan Boyce told investigators.
Band members said that the band director and bus driver were not on the bus for the "crossing over," but that they were sometimes up front watching movies during the "hot seat" beatings.
Boyce, the head band member now charged with felony hazing, told detectives that Champion "was wanting to do it [cross over] all season," but Boyce had been reluctant to let him. Champion could not participate without Boyce's permission, as dictated by the band's internal code of hierarchy.
The band was in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 19, 2011 for the last game of the football season. Boyce asked Champion if she still wanted to participate.
"I was like, 'Do you still want to do it?' So he was like, 'Yes,'" Boyce told detectives. "I was like, 'Fine.'"
Champion, 26, was a member of the college's famed "Marching 100" band when he collapsed and died Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after a football game.
His death was ruled a homicide and 11 people have been charged with felony hazing and two have been charged with misdemeanor hazing in connection to Champion's death.
That night, Boyce said he was in a friend's room at the hotel when he got a call that Champion was going to do it, so he rushed to the bus to "try to save him," according to his interview with the police.
Meanwhile, Champion had begun the hazing. He was shirtless as dictated by the band's rules-women wear only sports bras as they "cross over" -and he was the third band member to try to make his way to the back of bus that night.
Ryan Dean, another band member indicted for felony hazing, told detectives that he yelled into Champion's ear, "Come on, push through." A woman was holding Champion back as fists rained down on him.
Keon Hollis went with Champion to the bus for the "crossing over." He told police that took a shot of alcohol before heading for the bus.
"It was really dark on the bus," he told detectives. "I couldn't really make out faces, but I know it was a lot of people."
When asked to explain the process, Hollis said, "Basically, get on the bus and you have to take your shirt off and you basically have to make it from the front of the bus to the back of the bus." Hollis told the detective that the goal is to "just get through it as quick as you can."
"They was using hands, straps, think [I] saw a comb," later described as a large plastic orange comb, he said. Hollis said they used drum sticks and kicks as well.
At the end of the ordeal, Hollis walked back to the front of the bus, through applause and "hooting and hollering" from his band mates. When he got outside the bus, he threw up.
While Hollis tried to compose himself, Champion started down the aisle. He battled through the storm of fists and feet with a female band member holding him back to prolong the punishment.
At its most severe, Champion collapsed into a seat, prompting a band member to brace himself on seat backs and jump up and down on the drum major for an estimated 15 seconds. Champion was greeted with a flurry of seven to 10 punches when he pushed himself free and resumed his death march down the bus aisle.
At least one band member jumped from seat to seat to get to the back of the bus to get another chance at Champion.
"By the time I got there he was maybe like a foot or two away from the back of the bus," Boyce said. "So I climb over the seats all the way to the back."
When he reached Champion, Boyce said he grabbed him "to try to keep everybody off of him" and "put my body around his body" to try to stop the beating.
Moments later, Champion touched the wall indicating that he had made it to the back.
Drum Major Robert Champion's Hazing Death
"And so then it was over," Boyce said.
Champion asked for water and they gave him Gatorade. He complained that he was having trouble breathing and that he couldn't see, though his eyes were wide open.
Band members got him to the steps of the bus, but he continued to say that he could not breathe.
"I checked him, he wasn't saying anything…he wasn't responsive or anything," band member Darryl Cearnel told detectives. Cearnel said he had first aid training. "They was calling his name and [he] wasn't saying anything. And I checked his pulse."
They had Champion lay on the ground and someone called 911 while Cearnel did CPR.
"I don't even remember, like, if he even came back," he said. "I started doing CPR again, mouth to mouth, started doing chest compresses."
He said Champion vomited and Cearnel took off his shirt to wipe his mouth clean. Moments later an ambulance arrived. He died on the way to the hospital.
Though band members told detectives that Champion "never approved" of the hazing rituals, they also said that in order to be considered for leadership positions, one would have to have crossed over.
"Crossing over" was only one aspect of the band's hazing traditions. Multiple band members told investigators that they were routinely called to the back of the bus by a tap on the shoulder by older students for a "hot seat" after doing something wrong.
In the "hot seat" they would have a blanket thrown over them and they were pummeled with fists, drum sticks and bass drum mallets.
The bus driver and the band director who often sat in the front of the bus were unaware of the "hot seats" because they would be paying attention to the road or watching a movie, band members said.
"The word hazing is not what was actually done," Champion's mother Pam Champion said at a news conference Wednesday. She has maintained that her son was murdered and that he was not a violent person.
"My son would never sign up for this," she said. "Nobody in their right mind would sign up for this."
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Meet the T.rex of the South
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Tyrannosaurus rex stalks his hapless victims in the movie, "Land of the Lost."Universal Pictures
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Researchers excavating the specimen of the abelelisaurid dinosaur named Eoabelisaurus mefi.Oliver Rauhut
A newfound giant predatory dinosaur with even stubbier arms than Tyrannosaurus rex may now hint that a vast desert once existed in the heart of a lost supercontinent, potentially barring this carnivore and its kin from spreading across the entire ancient world, researchers say.
When T. rex and its tyrannosaurid relatives dominated as predators in the Northern Hemisphere in what is now North America and Asia, carnivores known as abelisaurids were the top killers in the Southern Hemisphere on the lost supercontinent of Gondwana, which once was made up of what is now Antarctica, Australia, South America and Africa.
The newfound abelisaurid species, discovered in Patagonia in Argentina, is named Eoabelisaurus mefi, or "dawn Abelisaurus of the Museo Palentológico Egidio Feruglio." Based on the nearly complete skeleton, the carnivore was about 21 feet (6.5 meters) long and lived about 170 million to 175 million years ago, back when the area was hot and ranged between pronounced dry seasons and extensive rain.
'Why these animals had such tiny arms is a good question.'
- Paleontologist Oliver Rauhut
The finding, detailed online May 23 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests the abelisaurids, whose origins have remained enigmatic, originated at least 40 million years than before thought. This meant that abelisaurids existed back when all the continents were united in the supercontinent Pangaea. [See Photos of the New Dinosaur]
Little arms
Abelisaurids generally resembled tyrannosaurids in appearance, stalking the land on two legs, although their skulls were relatively shorter in length and taller in height, with a shape that hinted they had extremely powerful bites. As squat as the arms of tyrannosaurids were, abelisaurids had even squatter limbs that appeared even less useful - for instance, they typically lacked wrist bones.
"Why these animals had such tiny arms is a good question," said researcher Oliver Rauhut, a paleontologist at the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology in Germany. "One part of the answer might be that both had skulls that were adapted for very powerful bites, so these animals obviously relied on 'head hunting' for acquiring prey and didn't need the arms for that."
Rauhut added that tyrannosaurids and abelisaurids had specialized arms, with abelisaurids having an enlarged shoulder girdle, indicating muscle strength, as well as more flexibility of the upper arm. "What they did with these arms is anybody's guess," Rauhut said.
Dinosaur barrier
The fossil was first discovered in 2009 during a large-scale prospecting campaign by researcher Diego Pol at the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum in Argentina in a dry, savannahlike landscape. "Basically everything that grows there has thorns," Rauhut said. Native animals include the lowland llama, a small flightless bird known as the nandu, and armadillos, "but what you see most is actually sheep," Rauhut added.
The arms of Eoabelisaurus are not as tiny as those of later abelisaurids, but they are still unusually small, revealingthat shortening of abelisaurid arms began very early in their evolution. This reduction apparently started with the lower arm - in Eoabelisaurus, the upper forelimb is of normal size, but the lower arm is much shorter in comparison, with a very stunted hand and tiny fingers and claws.
The fact that Eoabelisaurus lived about 175 million years ago suggests abelisaurids could have spread across the whole of Pangaea before it fragmented about 10 million to 15 million years later into Gondwana and Laurasia, the supercontinent once made up of what is now Europe, Asia and North America. Since abelisaurids were apparently exceedingly rare in the Northern Hemisphere, a natural barrier may have prevented their advance northward, researchers suggested.
Growing evidence from climate models and geological data suggests a huge desert in the center of Gondwana might have kept abelisaurids from dispersing to the north. Such a barrier could also explain why other groups of animals were restricted to Gondwana, such as certain mammals and giant plant-eating sauropods, the researchers explained.
The scientists hope to continue investigating the dinosaurs of Patagonia. "Dinosaurs from the Southern Hemisphere are still extremely poorly known, so we can expect to find more surprises," Rauhut told LiveScience.
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Fire on nuclear-powered submarine injures 6
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May 23, 2012: Smoke rises from a dry dock as fire crews respond to a fire on the USS Miami SSN 755 submarine at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on an island in Kittery, Maine.AP
KITTERY, Maine â€"  A fire on a nuclear-powered submarine at a Maine shipyard has injured six people, including a firefighter.
Fire crews responded Wednesday to the USS Miami SSN 755 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on an island in Kittery, a town near Portsmouth, N.H., popular with tourists.
The fire, which began at around 5:45 p.m., was still burning early Thursday morning but shipyard spokesman Capt. Bryant Fuller said in a statement that the situation was improving.
The shipyard said the injured people were treated and released. The firefighter suffered heat exhaustion.
Shipyard public affairs specialist Gary Hildreth said the fire started in the forward compartment of the sub. The shipyard said the sub's reactor wasn't operating at the time and was unaffected. There also were no weapons on board.
The cause of the fire hasn't been identified.
Nonessential personnel were removed from the sub. Black smoke billowed overhead.
The USS Miami arrived at the shipyard for maintenance and upgrade work in March. Its home station is Groton, Conn., where the U.S. Navy has a base.
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DC taking new steps to combat food stamp fraud
Food stamp recipients are ripping off the government for millions of dollars by illegally selling their benefit cards for cash -- sometimes even in the open, on eBay or Craigslist -- and then asking the government for replacement cards.Â
The Agriculture Department wants to curb the practice by giving states more power to investigate people who repeatedly claim to lose their benefit cards.Â
It is proposing new rules Thursday that would allow states to demand formal explanations from people who seek replacement cards more than three times a year. Those who don't comply can be denied further cards.Â
"Up to this point, the state's hands have been tied unless they absolutely suspected fraudulent activity," said Kevin Concannon, the department's undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.Â
Overall, food stamp fraud costs taxpayers about $750 million a year, or 1 percent of the $75 billion program that makes up the bulk of the department's total budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.Â
Most fraud occurs when unscrupulous retailers allow customers to turn in their benefits cards for lesser amounts of cash. But USDA officials are also concerned about people selling or trading cards in the open market, including through websites.Â
Last year, the department sent letters urging eBay and Craigslist to notify customers that it's illegal to buy and sell food stamps. USDA officials followed up last month, saying they are still getting complaints that people are using the websites to illegally market food stamps.Â
Both eBay and Craigslist have told the government they are actively reviewing their sites for illegal activity and would take down ads offering food stamp benefits for cash. The USDA also has warned Facebook and Twitter about the practice.Â
South Dakota, Oklahoma, Washington, D.C., Minnesota and Washington state have the highest percentage of recipients seeking four or more replacement cards over a year. But USDA officials said that doesn't necessarily indicate a high rate of fraud. All states are required by law to reissue lost or stolen cards to those who are eligible for benefits.Â
Wyoming, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Alabama have the lowest percentage of households requesting four or more cards in a 12-month period.Â
In North Carolina, the state already issues warning letters to people who request four replacement cards in a year, letting them know that officials are monitoring them closely. Dean Simpson, chief of economic family services for the North Carolina Division of Social Services, said the new rules would give her state even more of a boost in curbing food stamp fraud.Â
"I think it would help with the trafficking and let individuals know they are being observed and watched," said Simpson, who oversees the state's distribution of food stamps.Â
More than 46 million people receive food stamps, nearly half of them children. The average monthly benefit is $132 per person.Â
Benefit cards work like debit cards, allowing users to swipe them for food purchases at some 231,000 stores around the country that are authorized to take part in the food stamp program. Once a card is reported lost or stolen, it can be disabled immediately. But the USDA does not require photo identification, since several members of a family, including children, may use the cards at different times.Â
Concannon stressed that the USDA wants to be sensitive to vulnerable people who may lose their cards for innocent reasons. While it may sound suspicious for someone to lose a card two or three times a year, food stamp recipients include many people who are homeless or have dementia or mental illness, he said.Â
"Our concern is that in many instances, it may point to a trafficking issue," he said.Â
Last year, about 850,000 people were investigated for possible food stamp fraud. About 2,000 stores were sanctioned for illegal conduct, and 1,200 stores were permanently removed from the food stamp program.Â
Large supermarkets are seldom involved in illegal activity, Concannon said. The vast majority of fraud is found in smaller shops and convenience stores.Â
The USDA is currently developing tougher sanctions and penalties for retailers engaging in food stamp fraud. It is also taking steps to make sure that people disqualified from the program for illegal activity are not able to use it again in other states.
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Article from FOXNEWS
Code of Dishonor: Vets\' Graves Left in Disarray
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Not all veterans' graves are maintained in a manner befitting the debt owed by a grateful nation.
The final resting places for many of the men and women who fought America's wars have fallen into shocking disrepair, with neglect, theft and vandalism prompting veterans groups to question the nation's commitment to honoring its dead soldiers.
Advocates say smaller federal, state, county and private cemeteries that contain the graves of service members are often poorly kept, marked by crumbling headstones, overgrown with weeds and littered with debris. Perhaps even worse, many veterans' gravesites have been targets of vandalism and theft.
'These are people who have defended our ideals. The way we treat and ultimately revere them in perpetuity is a message for tomorrow's generation.'
- Tim Tetz, American Legion
“It's a pattern that you're seeing across the country right now," said Tim Tetz, national legislative director for the American Legion. "You have cemeteries being expanded or added to with less or the same number of people caring for the grounds.â€
Vietnam veteran and retired Army Capt. Ronald Rulon told FoxNews.com he felt his heart drop when he heard that 200 bronze flag stands had been stolen from a local veterans' cemetery where many of his friends and fellow soldiers are buried.Â
"It's terrible," said Rulon, 70, of Mullica Township, N.J. "It's an affront to the veterans who gave their lives so the very people who stole from their graves could have their freedom, and all the niceties they enjoy in their day-to-day life."Â
Startling accounts of theft, vandalism and neglect at smaller veterans' graveyards across the nation have become too common, as cemeteries face budget and staffing shortfalls in a struggling economy.Â
- A supervisor at one New Jersey county veterans cemetery told FoxNews.com his facility cut half its groundskeeping positions over the past decade, even as the population of those interred rose from 3,000 to 5,000 vets.
- Last year, a maintenance supervisor at the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, just outside of Milwaukee, was arrested after allegedly using the veterans cemetery as his private dump, burying everything from cans of paint thinner to television sets, according to The Associated Press.Â
- A Catholic cemetery outside Boston, the burial site of some 4,000 vets, recently made news when thieves stole 200 brass flag stands to sell for scrap -- a phenomenon so common many are turning to plastic flag holders. A supervisor told FoxNews.com his facility has suffered deep staffing and budget cuts over the last decade, even as the number of graves has risen by 15,000.
- In April, a local utility shut off power to a small cemetery in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands of veterans of wars ranging from the Revolutionary War to World War II are buried after the facility fell behind on its bills. Power was eventually restored to Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery, home to soldiers from the Civil War.
 “We used to have 15 full-time people and now there's only 10,†said Paul Guillou, superintendent of St. Joseph's Cemetery in Pittsfield, Mass. “There's more work and less equipment for a greater number of graves. We're asked to do more with less."
Guillou said he regrets that caring for veterans' graves is a casualty of budget shortfalls.
“These guys and gals served their country, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea,†he said. “They deserve, at the least, a peaceful interment.â€
The graves of veterans can be found in virtually every cemetery in the nation, and private operators owe no more care to their graves than anyone else's. But some exclusively veterans' cemeteries do receive taxpayer funds, including the 131 run by the National Cemetery Association for the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Funding to those cemeteries has remained roughly static at $250 million over the last decade, even as more veterans of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars have passed on, according to Tetz.Â
A spokesman for the NCA insisted the federally funded veterans' cemeteries are well kept.
“There really isn't problem on the federal level,†said Darrin White, who oversees three national cemeteries, as well as a military section of a fourth facility, in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area. “We've kept up with the pace.â€
But advocates say no matter where veterans are buried, their memory and resting places deserve the respect of a a grateful nation.
“These are people who have defended our ideals …the way we treat and ultimately revere them in perpetuity is a message for tomorrow's generation about what it means to sacrifice,†said Tetz. “ If we aren't revering or honoring these people, it begets the question of what tomorrow will bring for our country.â€
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Walsh: Playing Sober Is Fun!
Legendary Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh has released his first new solo album in 20 years, "Analog Man," and FOX411.com has the exclusive video for his new single, "Wrecking Ball."
Walsh tells FOX411.com that his new music comes from a serene, grounded place. The 64-year-old musician is now happily married and, most importantly, sober. He clued us in on the new album, what its like playing the guitar while not under the influence, and if he'll run for President again.
FOX411: Your last album came out 20 years ago. What have you been up to for two decades?
Joe Walsh: Two things happened. The Eagles decided to get back to work in 1994, and we went around the world three times. That was a full time job, and I never got any momentum going for completing a lot of solo stuff.
And in 1994 it was time for me to get sober whether I wanted to or not. So I had to reinvent and start from the bottom up and learn to live sober. I had to learn to play in front of people sober and that was terrifying. I thought there would be no more fun, I wouldn't be funny. You just have to be sober a lot of consecutive days for things to make sense, so I spent some time doing that, and when I came out of my alcoholic haze, there was a big world out there that I had not been a part of, so I wanted to do a bunch of stuff sober, so I've been doing that.Â
When you say 20 years I think, ‘Oh my God I'm a dinosaur,' but I've got a lot to say now that things are really good and I think you can hear from the music I'm in a good place.
"I like to say I only got drunk once but it was for 30 years"
- Joe Walsh
FOX411: Describe the album.
JW: Everything I've learned in songwriting I'm kind of using at this point. I've had to learn digital technology, which is the underlying theme. The last time I made a record it was on recording tape and there were knobs, not a mouse. Recording is different, it's fun in that you can fix everything because I hear songs I did 30 years ago and I hear goofs in them and they've driven me nuts for 30 years.
FOX411: But we like the imperfections.
JW: It is a bad habit to be able to fix everything, because you end up fixing a lot of stuff that doesn't need fixing. You can hear that in the new music. You don't have that magic of the performance. The new way to record is to start with the drum machine and layer parts on and build it like a kit and so I kind of miss the analog days in terms of they were a better home for rock and roll.
FOX411: Not too many people know that you're Ringo Starr's brother-in-law.
JW: I'm married to Marjorie Bach (Barbara Bach's sister who is married to Starr.) I got married three years ago to a wonderful person. She's kind of the part of me that was missing and I really love her and she believes in me. Â
Along with her came this big extended family that's very close. Everyone has each other's back and it's a dynamic I've never been around. In my darker days I isolated completely and I've had some relationships that didn't work, and while touring I learned to do that alone, but this family has really opened me up. I'm confident and I'm happy and feel good about stuff. I think that's in the album when you listen to it.
FOX411: How long did it take you to get sober?
JW: I like to say I only got drunk once but it was for 30 years. Those were the times, my mentor was Keith Moon.
FOX411: That's a terrible mentor!
JW: (Laughs) It's just a place we were all in. I've lost a lot of friends along the wayside. The guys I used to run with aren't around that much anymore but at some point you have to check in on reality. I was just like a train rolling down the track with no driver and I had to stop.
FOX411: Do you ever think 'why did I survive?'
JW: Yeah I absolutely do. I'm amazed that I'm still here. I guess what happened is I hit bottom before I OD'd. Some of my friends, it was the other way round and I'm very grateful. I have a life now that I never dreamed could be possible and it's all good. So I have a little message of hope in the album, that there's life after dependency and it's good.
FOX411: It must have been so scary to start playing sober after so long.
JW: I had convinced myself that I couldn't do it otherwise. When you believe that to the core, that's behavior that you really have to work on. It was really scary at first, but when I realized that I didn't have to have a buzz and I could actually play better, it was an awakening, and that happened across the board. It happened in terms of writing music, relationships. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
FOX411: You ran for President. Do you still have political aspirations?
JW: I don't think so. I hear the debates and those guys just put their foot in their mouth about everything they say. If I just went to a debate and didn't say anything I would probably win so I'm tempted to do that but I'm watching from a distance. I am concerned in that a lot of things need fixing and we're kind of like ostriches with our heads in the ground pretending nothing is wrong and we're waiting for the economy to get better instead of doing something about it. I don't like this complacency that everybody has just waiting for it to get better.
Pre-order 'Analog Man' on iTunes. Album goes on sale June 5.
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