Plane crash

Plane crash at southern Utah airport kills 4

Saturday, May 26, 2012


(05-26) 16:42 PDT ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) --

A small plane that crashed early Saturday at a municipal airport in southern Utah killed all four people on board, authorities said.

The downed single-engine Cessna 172 was found at about 6 a.m. some 400 feet from the runway, said Marc Mortensen, assistant to the St. George city manager. It's uncertain whether the crash occurred shortly after takeoff or upon landing, he said.

The plane crashed under "unknown circumstances," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Although the area saw windy conditions on Friday and later Saturday, there was no severe weather at the airport during the early morning hours on Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologist Monica Traphagan told The Spectrum of St. George.

The airport has been in operation at its current site for about 1 1/2 years. It does not have a radio tower and pilots use an automated system to communicate with one another when landing or taking off, Mortensen said.

The wreckage was found by an airport crew making a routine safety check of the property. The city expected to release the victim's names either late Saturday or Sunday, Mortensen said.

wildfires in West

May 26, 2012 2:33 PM

Crews battle wildfires in West, Mich

(CBS/AP) Wildfires cast a pall over Memorial Day weekend in parts of the West Friday as smoke from a massive New Mexico blaze prompted widespread air-quality warnings, and high fire danger in Colorado spurred officials to put thousands of firefighters on standby.

Meanwhile, in southern California, lower humidity and light winds are helping firefighters get ahead of a stubborn wildfire that has charred 4,100 acres of tinder-dry grass and brush in rural San Diego County.

Buying Madonna's house

Buying Madonna's house: A tale of family, fame and misfortune

By Tommy Andres, CNN

Sat May 26, 2012

(CNN) -- Years before Karolyne Smith sold Golden Palace Casino ad space on her forehead for $10,000, and long before an image of the Virgin Mary was toasted into the buttery crust of a grilled cheese sandwich and hocked for $28,000, there was a little family in a little town in Michigan that imprinted their names onto the awkward pages of eBay infamy with another strange sale.

That family is mine.

Just about everyone in my hometown of Rochester Hills knew Madonna had grown up there, but I would guess there weren't too many who could point out which house had been hers. That is, until we

Knicks coach Woodson

Knicks coach Woodson gets extension

May 26, 2012

boston.com

BASKETBALL

The Knicks removed the interim tag from coach Mike Woodson’s title and gave him a multiyear extension, rewarding him for leading the team to an 18-6 record after replacing Mike D’Antoni on March 14. The Knicks lost, 4-1, to Miami in the first round of the playoffs, snapping an NBA-record, 13-game postseason losing streak by winning Game 4, their first playoff victory since 2001 . . . The NBA fined Heat coach Erik Spoelstra $25,000 for “critical public comments’’ about officiating in the Eastern Conference series with Indiana. Spoelstra was quoted Thursday by several media outlets saying the NBA “does not have a problem’’ with Indiana committing hard fouls on Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade . . . According to reports, Magic center

Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey pulls of Cannes double header

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

Saturday, May 26, 2012

To have one film competing at the Cannes Film Festival is a privilege. To have two, Matthew McConaughey says, is wonderful good fortune — and the reward for a spell of hard labor in the trenches of independent cinema.

In Lee Daniels' steamy Southern noir "The Paperboy," McConaughey plays a journalist who returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a murder.

In Jeff Nichols'"Mud," which screened Saturday as the festival's final competition entry, he is a story-spinning fugitive holed up on an island in the Mississippi who is befriended by two local boys.

McConaughey laughs when asked if having two movies competing for the Palme d'Or gives him divided loyalties.

"That would be a high-class problem," he said. "I'm really, really endeared to both of them for different reasons — and they're very, very different from each other.

"I'm very honored. I've got two films that I'm proud of, two experiences that I really loved, and I've got two characters that I really care about."

The two films take the Texas-born actor on a tour of the U.S. South — and of men on society's margins.

In "The Paperboy," McConaughey's Ward James is a crusading reporter with dark depths to his psyche that imperil his quest for the truth.

His title character in "Mud" is being hunted as a dangerous fugitive, but may be a wild innocent driven by love.

Critics have hailed McConaughey's turn in "Mud," and director Daniels said he was wowed by McConaughey's nuanced performance in "The Paperboy."

"I'm so happy that he's so understated in the film," Daniels said. "There were moments when I didn't recognize Matthew."

French Open

French Open: Novak Djokovic says Rafael Nadal is Paris favourite

FRENCH OPEN

• Venue: Roland Garros, Paris
 
• Date: 27 May - 10 June

Coverage: Live text commentaries on BBC Sport website from 10:00 BST; updates & commentary on BBC Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra and online

Novak Djokovic admits Rafael Nadal is the favourite for the French Open - but is up for the challenge of completing a historic Grand Slam sweep in Paris.

The world number one is bidding to be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major trophies.

Henrique OT goal puts Devils in Final

MAY 26, 2012 by SAM GARDNER

NEWARK, N.J.

Devils rookie Adam Henrique was 4 years old in 1994, when New Jersey blew a 3-2 lead in games to New York in the Eastern Conference final, allowing the rival Rangers to continue on a Stanley Cup run while the Devils and their fans seethed — or wept — from across the Hudson.

The Devils have seen better days in the wake of that '94 heartbreak, winning three Stanley Cups in the 18 years since, the first coming the following year.

Still, despite all of the success New Jersey has found over the past two decades, there’s always been something of a score to settle with their cross-river rivals — and Henrique was the guy who finally

I'll Have Another Gallops at Belmont Park

I'll Have Another Gallops at Belmont Park

By Blood-Horse Staff 5-25-2012

With a steady rain falling, dual classic winner I'll Have Another galloped a mile at Belmont Park May 25 as he continued to prepare for attempt at history in the JUne 9 Belmont Stakes (gr. I).

The 3-year-old son of Flower Alley   galloped for the first time since his arrival in New York following his game victory in the May 19 Preakness Stakes (gr. I). Accompanied by multi-millionaire stable pony Lava Man, I’ll Have Another and exercise rider Humberto Gomez went to the track shortly after the track maintenance break.

As the  rain began to fall, Gomez kept I’ll Have Another well off the rail toward the center of the track. I’ll Have Another had his ears pricked forward as he rolled through the stretch before being pulled up on the clubhouse turn.

“He was a little hard to pull up,” Gomez told New York Racing Association officials. “He felt really good. We’re happy because he came out of the last race very good. He handled the track very, very well.”

“He looked super,” said Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill. “One thing we were looking to see how he got over the track, stride-wise, and he looked fantastic. The rider said he felt good, and he’s happy, so we’re happy.”

Reddam Racing Stable’s colt, winner of the May 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), could become the 12th horse in history and first since Affirmed in 1978 to win the coveted Triple Crown with a victory in the Belmont.

NYRA reports as many as 11 challengers could face I’ll Have Another in the Belmont. They are Alpha, Atigun, Dullahan, Five Sixteen, Guyana Star Dweej, Optimizer, Paynter, Ravelo's Boy, Street Life, Union Rags, and Unstoppable U.

Hurricane Bud weakens off...

Hurricane Bud weakens off Mexico's Pacific coast

By David Alire Garcia | Reuters

5-25-2012

MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Bud weakened as it churned closer to Mexico's coast on Friday, but brought heavy rains and strong winds that downed trees and closed schools and a major Pacific shipping port.
The first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud will hit the coast

NBC may buy Microsoft's...

NBC may buy Microsoft's MSNBC.com stake

5-25-2012 

REUTERS - NBCUniversal is in talks to buy out Microsoft Corp's 50 percent stake in joint venture MSNBC.com, media reports said.
NBCU parent Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) is conducting due diligence and the partnership with NBC News could be unwound by this summer, said Adweek, which first reported the talks.
"Discussions are taking place," Amy Lynn, director of communications at NBC News, told the Wall Street Journal.
The companies are likely to negotiate a deal ensuring that MSNBC.com secures real estate on MSN.com, similar to the treatment Fox Sports receives, Adweek said.
NBC and Microsoft joined forces in 1996 to create a cable news channel and online news operation that melded broadcasting with then-emerging internet technology.
MSNBC and MSNBC.com are now separate operations, and

EU says China, U.S., Japan...

EU says China, U.S., Japan also have economic work to do

By Barbara Lewis 5-25-2012
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States and Japan must tackle their tax issues and China must relax restrictions on the yuan, as they share responsibility with Europe for restoring global economic health, EU leaders said ahead of a June summit of the G20 leading economies.
In a letter addressed to all 27 European Union nations, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Europe was doing it all it could.
"Europe has stepped up and assumed its special responsibility for securing the financial stability of the euro area and we will continue to do so," said the letter in the run up to the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.

JENNA JAMESON "I just want to go home."

JENNA JAMESON 911 

'She Went Into the Pole'

Jenna Jameson was a crying mess after she crashed into a light pole early this morning ... telling people, "I just want to go home."

TMZ obtained the 911 call made by a woman who claims she witnessed the porn legend driving like a

Pope's butler accused ...

May 25, 2012

Pope's butler accused of leaking confidential Vatican files

Vatican police have arrested Pope Benedict XVI's butler for allegedly leaking confidential documents and letters detailing claims of corruption, mismanagement and conflict in the Holy See, according to news reports from Italy.

Ind. man releases hostages, fatally shoots self

Ind. man releases hostages, fatally shoots self

By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press

5-25-2012

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — A gunman looking for someone he believed owed him money shot himself inside an Indiana real estate office several hours after releasing hostages Friday, and he died after being rushed to a hospital, police said.
Two loud bangs were heard Friday afternoon before SWAT team members broke windows and rushed into the Prudential Executive Group Real Estate office in Valparaiso, where police said the gunman had holed up.

For U.S., Egyptian election....

For U.S., Egyptian election results are simply 'flavors of bad'

BY MATTHEW SCHOFIELD
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
 05-25-12
WASHINGTON -- The United States has been preparing for varying degrees of anti-Americanism with the election of a new Egyptian president.


But that doesn't make it any easier to bridge the gaps that almost certainly will exist between the ultimate winner of this election process and a nation seen as the power behind the toppled autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak.


"We have to get our heads around the idea that there are no good things coming out of the Egyptian elections, as far as the United States is concerned," said Eric Trager, an Egypt expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Instead, this is about flavors of bad."

Is the Currency (Finally) Doomed?

Euro Crisis: Is the Currency (Finally) Doomed?

By Michael Schuman | @MichaelSchuman | May 25, 2012

Since the start of Europe’s debt crisis in 2009, there has been a steady drumbeat of predictions that the euro is doomed. The problems were too intractable, the debts too large, the political will too feeble. So far, the doomsayers have been wrong. The leaders of Europe have managed to put a bandage here and a few stitches there to keep the monetary union together. But now we really have to ask if the game is up. The years of half-measures, misguided policy and delusional stubbornness may finally be building up to crush the euro, like a cartoon snowball rolling downhill. Financial markets are clearly smelling an approaching debacle — the euro this week

Facebook emits in-house camera app

Instagram-owner Facebook emits in-house camera app

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 25th May 2012 

Free whitepaper – Enabling Datacenter and Cloud Service Management for Mid-Tier Enterprises

Facebook has launched a new Instagram-like mobile camera app via Apple's iTunes store.
The social network, which inelegantly plonked itself on the Nasdaq a week ago, said in April that it planned to buy photo-sharing startup Instagram in a $1bn cash-and-stock deal.

Observers considered the proposed buyout of that app to be a defensive move by Facebook. Now it turns

French president:

French president: all combat troops out in 2012

5-25-2012

By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — All French combat forces will pull out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, France's new president said in Kabul Friday, but some trainers will remain to help Afghanistan's nascent security forces.

Francois Hollande said that France's troops have carried out their mission in Afghanistan and it is time for them to leave, an early pullout that will be coordinated with the United States and other allies.

"There will be no combat troops" after the end of the year, Hollande said during a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Hollande flew to Afghanistan to meet with troops and to discuss plans with Karzai to withdraw French

Buffett Says

Buffett Says Free News Unsustainable, May Add More Papers 

May 25, 2012 By Zachary Tracer

Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) struck a deal this month to acquire 63 newspapers, said he may buy more publications as the industry rethinks whether to offer free content on the Internet.

“This is an unsustainable model and certain of our papers are already making progress in moving to something that makes more sense,” Buffett wrote in a letter to editors and publishers of Berkshire’s daily newspapers. “We want your best thinking as we work out the blend of digital and print that will attract both the audience and the revenue we need.”

Kidman vamps it up in steamy Cannes

May 25, 2012 by smh.com.au

Nicole Kidman sizzles as a small-town vamp drawn to a convicted murderer in Lee Daniels' The Paperboy, marking the US director's return to Cannes on Thursday after his harrowing hit Precious.

The steamy new picture, set partly in Florida's humid swamps, features a bleached-blonde Kidman as Charlotte, an "oversexed Barbie doll" who carries on correspondence with dozens of prison inmates in the late 1960s.

One day a letter arrives that stands out from the others, mainly in its vivid description of the sex the convict Hillary (John Cusack) wants to have with her when he gets out. Charlotte promptly declares him "The One".

Meanwhile crusading newspaperman Ward (Matthew McConaughey) learns of Hillary's case and believes he has been falsely sent to death row for the killing of a policeman.

Ward, his brother Jack (Zac Efron) and a black writer Yardley (David Oyelowo) begin to investigate with the help of a

Angels' Haren Ks 14 in shutout of Mariners

Sports Network

May 25, 2012

Seattle, WA — 

Dan Haren tossed his first shutout of the season to help the LA Angels of Anaheim take down the Seattle Mariners, 3-0, in the opener of a four-game set Thursday.

Haren (2-5) gave up just four hits with no walks and a career-high 14 strikeouts. His 12th strikeout of the game was the 1,500th of his career. 

Albert Pujols went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, the 450th of his career, while Kendrys Morales drove in the other run for the Angels, who have won three straight. 

Jason Vargas (5-4) gave up three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over seven innings of work for the Mariners, who had won five of six coming into the game. Ichiro Suzuki's double in

originated on Mars.

Organic carbon originated on Mars

May 25, 2012  by Emma Woollacott

New, NASA-funded research indicates that very large molecules containing carbon - a key ingredient for the building blocks of life - have originated on Mars.

Through a study of Mars meteorites that have landed on Earth, the CarnegieInstitution for Science team's established that the reduced carbon - carbon that's bonded to hydrogen or itself - found inside isn't a result of contamination. But, says the team, it comes from volcanic processes, not life.

The macromolecules themselves of biological origin, but do show that complex carbon chemistry has taken place on Mars.

"These findings show that the storage of reduced carbon molecules on Mars occurred throughout the planet's history and might have been similar to processes that occurred on the ancient Earth," says Carnegie's Andrew

It Underestimated Radiation Released in Japan

Utility Says It Underestimated Radiation Released in Japan 

May 25, 2012

By REUTERS  

TOKYO (Reuters) — The amount of radioactive materials released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost two and a half times the initial estimate by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday.

The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the meltdowns it believes took place at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances into the air during March 2011. The accident, which followed an earthquake and a tsunami, occurred on March 11.

The iPen?

Apple's next invention: The iPen?

Apple has filed a patent application for an iPen stylus, Draw Something loses players, and Yahoo attempts a new spin on search with the Axis tool.

by Bridget Carey  May 24, 2012

In today's show, we ponder a world with an iPen, lose our addiction to Draw Something, and tilt our heads to the Axis:

Yahoo has launched a new tool for searching the Web, called Yahoo Axis. This is not a browser, but rather a plug-in that attaches to your desktop browser, and it's also an app for Apple devices. So why use it? It's supposed to be a faster way to comb through search results. Start typing in your search term, and a horizontal bar will showcase thumbnail previews of websites you can jump to.

Donald Trump "thinking"...

May 24, 2012 

Donald Trump "thinking" about starting super PAC

by  Leigh Ann Caldwell

(CBS News) Businessman and reality TV host Donald Trump is once again entering the political fray -- by hosting a upcoming fundraiser for Mitt Romney, participating in an online contest and by possibly starting a super PAC to oppose President Obama's re-election.

In the first of a two-part interview with conservative website Newsmax posted on Wednesday, Trump said he is "thinking about just doing my own PAC," referring to an independent third-party organization able to raise unlimited funds for political activity. 

The real-estate mogul said his super PAC's television advertisements "would show how badly we're doing as a country - how disrespected we are as a country."

"I would show people form OPEC - 11 people sitting around a beautiful, round, gold-encrusted table, talking about how they're going to continue to rip off the United States," he said.