march madness schedule 2010

march madness schedule 2010

March Madness Schedule 2010: NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament 2010 Results Schedule, Get to see the latest March madness schedule as we have it right here, its goin

g to be another follow through with the NCAA basketball tournament, as we get to see the live res ults. We will be having the match ups for this March Madness Schedule 2010: NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament 2010 below, The Start of the tournament will be this Thursday,

For the Today’s March madness Schedule 2010, We will be having the South Regional No. 7: Richmond vs. No. 10 Saint Mary’s, Midwest Regional No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Lehigh and the West Regional No. 7 BYU vs. No. 10 Florida, that is going to be it for today, We will find out soon later on the next day on who will be facing off for this NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament 2010 schedule, watch out for the results as well as the March Madness Schedule 2010 bracket updates, The online source list below will be showing those updates. Cheers! Have you also seen President Obama’s Prediction bracket? for those who havent check it out on the recent post as we share March Madness Schedule 2010 below.

graco high chair recall

graco high chair recall

Graco High Chair Recall - 1.2 million Graco Harmony high chairs are being recalled due a problem with the chair legs, which can become dislodged or break. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued the Graco Harmony high chair safety recall after receiving 464 reports of screws falling out and plastic brackets cracking causing the chair to tip over. Twenty-four children have been injured falling out of the Graco Harmony High Chairs.

If you have one of the Graco Harmony High Chairs, discontinue using it immediately. The chairs were manufactured from 2003 to 2009. The Graco "Harmony" chairs are no longer being produced.

sandra bullock marriage trouble

sandra bullock marriage trouble

A Sandra Bullock-Jesse James split looked crazy two weeks ago. However, Sandra Bullock-Jesse James split and marriage trouble rumors have exploded, after a new bombshell was revealed. More specifically, it was Michelle Bombshell McGee who was revealed as James' possible mistress on Wednesday. This marriage trouble comes after months of heartwarming stories about the couple, and how grounded it made the future Best Actress winner. Yet just two weeks later, Sandra Bullock-Jesse James split rumors have produced an unlikely twist to this story.

In Touch Weekly first alleged the marriage trouble, as Michelle Bombshell McGee claimed that she had had an affair with Jesse James. While Bullock was filming her Oscar winning role in "The Blind Side" James allegedly carried on an 11-month affair with McGee - including a five-week sexual affair.

According to McGee, she was led to believe that the couple was no longer together. If they weren't then, the Sandra Bullock-Jesse James split rumors are alleging that they are now. Since Bullock did not attend the London premiere of "The Blind Side" speculation is that In Touch Weekly is on to something.

Tabloids are becoming more and more accurate at reporting marriage trouble, like with John Edwards and Tiger Woods. But if Sandra Bullock's marriage is in jeopardy, it puts an ugly asterisk on what was a heartwarming, made-for-Oscar story.

During her big comeback last year, Bullock wasn't shy about discussing how much her marriage helped her. The two have been together for five years and have largely lived outside the Hollywood spotlight until the Oscars. However, she did not thank James in her Oscar speech, and with this new context, there is suspicion that she knew about McGee for a while.

The Sandra Bullock-Jesse James split reports are still just speculation, however. But People Magazine is now alleging that Bullock has moved out, and did so days before the In Touch Weekly interview.

erin andrews peephole video

erin andrews peephole video

Erin Andrews will be dancing with Maksim Chmerkovskiy on this season of Dancing with the Stars. And after a court ruling yesterday, Michael Barrett will be dancing with Bubba, Big Rey and other jail inmates for 30 months.

Barrett, a 48-year-old insurance executive from Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. The sentence follows his guilty admission of following ESPN reporter Erin Andrews for 18 months and filming her in hotel rooms, exercising and curling her hair, through peepholes.

In total, eight videos were made. Andrews previously paid Barrett for the rights to the videos, and pledged to go after anyone who attempted to release them.

Barrett was also ordered to pay Andrews $7,366 in restitution fees.

earthquake los angeles

earthquake los angeles

A 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook California early this morning just east of downtown Los Angeles. There have been no reports of damage or injuries.

"It was a shake, but not bad. Our inmates slept through it and we had a few calls, but not as many as you would think," (Pico Rivera sheriff's station Sgt. Jacqueline Sanchez to AP).

Though the quake was considered small, especially compared to the ones that hit Haiti and Chili, it was felt over a large area - even people from San Bernandino felt the rumbles.

There is a chance that this "small" quake could trigger something bigger in the coming hours or next few days.

Tiger Woods Returns To The Masters Because Of Miracle Therapy Sessions...

Tiger Woods Returns To The Masters Because Of Miracle Therapy Sessions...Tiger Woods is coming back!!

All together now...

"Hooray For The PGA!!"

Not even one month after admitting to the world that he was selfish and felt the rules of life did not apply to him, Tiger is returning to the safest place possible for his probable

return....Augusta, GA. It's interesting to me that Tiger chooses the same golf course that did not admit a African American golfer till 1990 as the "safe home" for his return. The same golf course which still refuses to admit female golfers as members is the place where golf's greatest professional is to make his return from his recent personal asylum.

Nothing against Augusta, but the timing of today's announcement of Tiger's return proves his "statement" to the world was nothing more than a big fat lie.

You remember the ending of his 13 minute statement as he addressed a hand selected crowd of family and friends with no media available for questioning. When talking about his return to golf, Tiger said:

"In therapy I've learned the importance of looking at my spiritual life and keeping in balance with my professional life. I need to regain my balance and be centered so I can save the things that are most important to me, my marriage and my children."

"I do plan to return to golf one day, I just do not know when that day will be."

This therapy Tiger must have gone through must have been the best therapy in the world. I do not know about you but if I cheated on my wife with over 20 women, would not it take longer than five to six months to fix truly what is "most important" to you? During the 13 minutes of garbage I heard that February morning, very little of it I believed.

I believed Tiger when he stated that he felt the rules of life did not apply to him. I believed Tiger we he stated that he owes families across the nation (including ones who sought help with his foundation) an apology. By announcing today that his return would be the Masters in Augusta, GA not six months after the crash heard round the world.....he truly was not sorry for anything.

He says the most important things in his life is his kids and his marriage, then why concentrate on your career when for most families it takes years of therapy to fix harsh wounds. He says he had a lot of work to do and said he would dedicate himself to do it.

Was this the Cliffsnotes version of "therapy?"

By returning to golf so soon only makes Tiger look shameful at best. Most people who are in therapy NEED to work for a living. He is the first athlete to gross over a BILLION DOLLARS but he feels he needs to get back on the golf course which for many would be considered an escape.

"I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy and I am continuing my treatment. Although I am returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life."

He cheated on his wife with more than a baker's dozen of women and yet two months of therapy.....CURED???

If Tiger Woods thinks he can play all of us for fools then I hope the American public is not buying the crap he is serving us. Not one month ago he told us that he and Elin had begun the process of discussing the damage caused by his actions, now after two months of therapy he feels Augusta is where he needs to be because it's a special focus in his career?

Tiger Woods is simply being the old Tiger Woods. Handpicking the tournaments he wants to play based on how much of the spotlight he can get. Tiger is simply picking The Masters because it's the crown jewel of the sport and it's where he can once again dominate the attention of the tournament no matter how he fairs on the scorecard. Tiger may think in two months he has fixed some of the damage in his personal life, but the reality of the fact is he is still is an addict of his own celebrity.

Senator Durbin Expects House to Take Up Health Care Bill This Week

Senator Durbin Expects House to Take Up Health Care Bill This Week

Illinois U-S Senator Dick Durbin says he expects the House of Representatives to take up a health care bill this week. The measure was previously passed in the Senate and Durbin says there are enough votes in the House to pass it there.

Some Congressional Democrats, however, say they won't support the bill because it doesn't include a public option. Durbin says it's too late to start over now.

DURBIN: There are a lot of good ideas that I won't give up on. We may not be able to get them in this bill, but this bill has so many good things that we cannot lose it in a debate over another issue.

Durbin says the bill also has enough support in the Senate to win final approval, but he says he's not sure how many Democrats are on board.

St Patrick's Day Parade: Slideshow and video

Irish eyes were certainly smiling in Leeds when hundreds of people lined the streets for the annual Leeds St Patrick's Day parade.

Marching bands, majorettes, local schools and organisations all brought a touch of green to the city centre yesterday when Leeds' Irish community held their popular event to say 'we're Irish and proud!'

An old fire engine, a tractor, dancers, Leeds Lord Mayor Judith Elliott and representatives from Leeds Irish schools all made up the parade, with youngsters on the roadside waving Irish flags as the parade wound through the city centre.

After the parade, there was live music, bands , stalls and beer as Millennium Square was taken over by a riot of green 'leprechaun' hats and pints of Guinness for an afternoon-long celebration of all that's Irish in the city.

Dad Kevin said: "It's been a lovely day, the parade was terrific. It's one day a year when the whole community in Leeds comes together and celebrates being Irish."

His son, Peter, eight, said he enjoyed the parade and all the people waving the Irish flag.

Beckham's injury will have international impact

David Beckham, who was set to become the first England player to compete in four straight World Cups, will not participate in South Africa 2010 after rupturing his left Achilles tendon in a game with AC Milan on Sunday night.

It's a crushing blow for Beckham, who put himself through a punishing schedule over the past 15 months, shuttling between three teams (Milan, England and the Los Angeles Galaxy) in an attempt to satisfy his paymasters while fulfilling the mandate of England coach Fabio Capello that he play at the highest club level in order to be considered for the World Cup team.

Now that's gone, which is sad if you care about this sport. If you strip away the glitz of the Beckham Brand, Beckham himself is a player's player, and his dream of taking the field in South Africa was always genuine, so much so that he was willing to subject himself to weeks away from his family in Milan, to dip into his own pocket for his loan deal, to throw his 34-year-old body headlong into demands that, ultimately, it could not withstand.

Beckham probably would not have started for England at this World Cup. But he almost certainly would have been a regular late-game substitute, a wily veteran who could still change a game with a few well-placed crosses into the box or a swerving free kick still considered among the world's best. By all accounts, Beckham was also a useful presence in the England locker room, no small attribute on a team wracked of late by leadership issues. (If anything, the abortive captaincy of John Terry, stripped after his affair with a teammate's ex-partner, has made Beckham's five-year captaincy look even better.)

As sports scandals go, Tiger Woods is tops

As sports scandals go, Tiger Woods is tops

The biggest news as the Tiger Woods scandal played out for the third week on gossip sites and chat boards everywhere wasn't really news.

It might not have even been his wife, Elin, not that it matters much anymore.

A 2-day-old photo of a blonde woman in sunglasses pumping gas into an SUV outside Orlando went viral — which is about all that seems to matter anymore — because, gasp, the woman was not wearing a wedding ring.

Perhaps you've heard that Woods and his wife, Elin, are having marital problems.

There's really not a lot more to the whole thing except for the scale of what happened and the size of the stage it has been playing out on. The greatest golfer ever is exposed as perhaps one of the greatest philanderers ever and, of course, we want to know all the sordid details.

Transgressions. Infidelity. Sins. Woods has used all three words himself in postings on his Web site owning up to some of his actions.

If only he had cheated on the golf course instead of off it. Marked down a 4 when it should have been a 5, or maybe kicked a ball from behind a tree when no one was looking.

He might have recovered from that. A lot of baseball players who cheated with steroids certainly have.

But he'll never really recover from this.

"In a lot of ways Tiger Woods has broken the hearts of a lot of people who looked at him as a role model who was above all those things," said Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida. "It was just so far out of bounds with what anyone considers normal behavior."

Indeed, this scandal is more about celebrity than sport. This wasn't Pete Rose betting on baseball, Bill Belichick spying on his opponents or Marion Jones bulking up to win Olympic gold.

But it is Tiger Woods. And that's all that matters.

"I don't know if there was anybody ever like Tiger Woods," Lapchick said. "We had an African-American athlete who totally transcended race and dominated a sport maybe like no one else who seemed to have this perfect life. It turned out not to be true."

Count Lapchick among those who initially thought Woods would largely escape much fallout from the accident and early reports of infidelity. Those in a graduate class he teaches in sports management thought so, too, predicting Woods would be welcomed back warmly when he returned to the course.

That was before every day brought another revelation, and more and more women were linked with Woods. Now his students have changed their minds, and Lapchick has, too.

Woods' sponsors are apparently coming to the same conclusion. No matter that few people know what Accenture does, the consulting company knows it doesn't want to be associated with Woods anymore.

And although AT&T doesn't mind spending millions to be a part of the 2012 U.S. Olympic effort, does the company really want Woods to make his return — whenever that might be — with its logo still on his golf bag?

What astounds Lapchick — who is not only a distinguished academic but a pioneer for racial equality in sports — is how the Woods scandal has morphed into something never before seen in sports. Even the sexual assault charges against Kobe Bryant — while arguably more serious — didn't create nearly this kind of frenzy.

Bryant has rebounded to a large degree, helped by the passing of time and his dominance on the basketball court. He has his endorsements back, and no one asks him any more what happened that night in a Colorado hotel.

There are, however, still some who remember the repulsive details of the allegations who will never cheer for Bryant again.

Like Bryant, what Woods did had nothing to do with sports. Still, it might end up being the biggest scandal ever in sports.

Nothing else comes close.

"It's so far the opposite of what we thought that it makes it so much more dramatic," Lapchick said. "I think it will always be with him."

For Tiger, games are over

For Tiger, games are over

A few weeks shy of his 34th birthday, golf's Peter Pan has finally grown up.

By announcing that he's taking an extended leave of absence from that which has meant so much and provided him with even more, Woods is acknowledging, maybe for the first time, that golf's just a game.

A wondrous and alluring one, to be sure, but in the end, coaxing a little white ball into a hole is far from the most important thing in life.

It's a lesson most of us learn in disappointment when the time comes to apply for a job and finally let go of those childhood dreams. Tiger's had to learn it in a much uglier way and I'm not sure which of us, in the end, has been luckier.

He's a proud man and I'm sure he'd be willing to trade many, many of his dollars in order to erase the ridicule and humiliation he's suffered through over the past fortnight.

Golf's going to miss him only in days ending in 'y' but he will be back, whether it be at Torrey Pines for the San Diego Open in six weeks or for the Masters in April. In the meantime, with the star on hiatus, we're going to have to content ourselves with the understudies as they try to keep the show going.

Not a particularly heartening scenario, I know — especially given the disaster that was the Tiger-less second half of 2008 — but Woods has a marriage to save, a family to try to keep together and a soul that needs healing.

In other words, his priorities are no longer those of an adolescent.

Friday's mea culpa statement on his Web site — I don't know about you but I'd still prefer to watch him speak those words, which would only amplify the humanity in them — gives great hope that the salvaging of the Woods family has begun.

It's heartening, for me, to learn that it's even possible.

I was far from convinced that Elin would be even willing to take him back. As hard as this has been on him, I can't imagine what it's been like to listen to women with very little going for them tell of not just sex but sharing intimacies with her husband.

The sex, in a sense, could be excused as a physical need, but what a betrayal it is to learn that your husband was cuddling with another woman in your matrimonial bed while watching a movie.

It's heartening, too, that Woods is no longer hiding behind cold, lawyerly words like "transgressions" but for the first time admits to "my infidelity."

Personally, I would have gone with the plural given the procession of women crawling out from beneath the sheets, but that's splitting hairs.

The overarching point is that Tiger Woods is finally taking full responsibility for his own actions, which is all any of us could ask of another human being.

And, really, it's the only way to forgiveness, which I think is what Woods ultimately seeks.

"I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person," Woods wrote.

That last part is for us, his public.

The Tiger Woods we've all known for the past 13 years, ever since he introduced himself with that mesmerizing, Hello, world, commercial has gone.

If he ever existed.

In that sense, the upheaval of the past two weeks may prove to be a blessing.

Woods will no longer need to project himself as perfect because we all know now in far too much detail that he's not.

And the paranoid handlers around him won't need to act like there's a Machiavellian cabal lurking around every corner to expose his imperfections.

Of course, it's not all going to be a bed of roses because at some point, Woods will make his return to competitive golf and, for the first time, we'll be watching him more than his golf ball. He'll have to deal with questions and they'll be difficult. He's also going to have to deal with the fact that he may no longer be the crowd favorite. Not everyone will be willing to forgive him his sins.

Be sure, it's going to be a long journey back for Tiger Woods, not just back to golf but back as a husband and a father.

A long road but shorter now that he's taken the first step.

More Women in the Tiger Woods Scandal

More Women in the Tiger Woods Scandal

As the Tiger Woods story continues to evolve and escalate, more and more and more (and more) women who aren't named Mrs. Woods have come into the fray claiming they've had affairs with the golf great. Last week there were three. But now, at least four (and maybe more) women have been thrown into the mix, some by their own admission and others by tabloid sources. It can be quite confusing -- so many mistresses, so little time -- so PopEater took the time to break down each alleged Tiger poacher and the stories swirling around them. Let's start with the newest name after the jump.

Who: Jamie Jungers
Occupation: Waitress and Aspiring Model
Age: 26
Alleged Length of Affair: 18 Months
How She 'Knew' Tiger: According to the Daily Mirror, Jungers allegedly met Woods at a party in Las Vegas, where he apparently sent a message to her that he wanted to meet. Naturally, romping ensued. The report states that the golfer and Jungers would meet up at his California home for trysts over the next year and a half.

Credible? Going on her looks and occupation (waitress), it seems to add up.


Who: Mindy Lawton
Occupation: Waitress or Manager at Perkins Restaurant
Age: 36
Alleged Length of Affair: 1 Year
How She 'Knew' Tiger: The cougar of the Tiger family, Lawton is also the most descriptive. The chain restaurant employee told the News of the World that she "sometimes looked like a rag doll after we'd made love." She also uses the term "well-endowed" to describe the golf icon, whom she claims would frequent her eatery near his Orlando estate. Shockingly, she says the Tiger affair occurred during his wife Elin's first pregnancy and that they would have wild sex at his mansion.

Credible? We're gonna go out on a limb here and say not so much. For starters, would gazillionaire Tiger really frequent a Perkins (no offense)?


Who: Holly Sampson
Occupation: Soft Porn Actress
Age: 36
How She 'Knew' Tiger: The details are hazy (ie, non-existent), but the Daily Mail referenced the star of 'OMG, Stop Tickling Me' as yet another Tiger mistress. Her lawyer exclaimed, "She has no comment on the matter," which is not a denial. Due to a lack of other info on this one, we'll just rattle off some more of her film credits: 'Flying Solo 2,' 'Diary of a Horny Housewife,' 'Descent Into Bondage' ...

Credible? No naughty tales from unnamed sources? No details on when they met or how long they may have flung? We'll wait on this one.



Who: Jaimee Grubbs
Occupation: Cocktail Waitress / Reality Star
Age: 24
Alleged Length of Affair: 31 months
How She 'Knew' Tiger: In a massive Us Weekly exclusive, Grubbs -- who was recently on VH1's 'Tool Academy' -- claims that she and Tiger had at least 20 sexual encounters, though she didn't divulge exactly what that means. Even worse for the golf great, she claims to have voicemails and text messages that will only bolster her claims of an affair. Us even has one of the voicemails, in which Tiger tells Grubbs: ""I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you."

Credible? Oh, the voicemails. Yes, her claims are believable.

Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies

Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died Tuesday night. He was 77 .

he death was announced Wednesday morning in a statement by the Kennedy family.“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port,” the statement said. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

Mr. Kennedy had been in precarious health since he suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. His doctors determined the cause had been a malignant glioma, a brain tumor that often carries a grim prognosis.

As he underwent cancer treatment, Mr. Kennedy was little seen in Washington, appearing most recently at the White House in April as Mr. Obama signed a national service bill that bears the Kennedy name.

While he had been physically absent from the capital, his presence had been deeply felt as Congress weighed the most sweeping revisions to America’s health care system in decades, an effort Mr. Kennedy called “the cause of my life.”

On July 15, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, which Mr. Kennedy heads, passed health care legislation that he had helped write and that may one day be regarded as the capstone to Mr. Kennedy’s government career.

Mr. Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s and that came to embody glamour, political idealism and untimely death. The Kennedy mystique — some call it the Kennedy myth — has held the imagination of the world for decades and came to rest on the sometimes too-narrow shoulders of the brother known as Teddy.

Mr. Kennedy, who served 46 years as the most well-known Democrat in the Senate, longer than all but two other senators, was the only one of those brothers to die after reaching old age. President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were felled by assassins’ bullets in their 40s. The eldest brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., died in 1944 at the age of 29 while on a risky World War II bombing mission.

Mr. Kennedy spent much of last year in treatment and recuperation, broken by occasional public appearances and a dramatic return to the Capitol last summer to cast a decisive vote on a Medicare bill.

He electrified the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August with an unscheduled appearance and a speech that had delegates on their feet. Many were in tears.

His gait was halting, but his voice was strong. “My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here, and nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States.”

Senator Kennedy was at or near the center of much of American history in the latter part of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st. For much of his adult life, he veered from victory to catastrophe, winning every Senate election he entered but failing in his only try for the presidency; living through the sudden deaths of his brothers and three of his nephews; being responsible for the drowning death on Chappaquiddick Island of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, a former aide to his brother Robert. One of the nephews, John F. Kennedy Jr., who the family hoped would one day seek political office and keep the Kennedy tradition alive, died in a plane crash in 1999 at age 38.

Mr. Kennedy himself was almost killed, in 1964, in a plane crash, which left him with permanent back and neck problems.

He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.

Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, one of the institution’s most devoted students, said of his longtime colleague, “Ted Kennedy would have been a leader, an outstanding senator, at any period in the nation’s history.”

Mr. Byrd is one of only two senators to have served longer in the chamber than Mr. Kennedy; the other was Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. In May 2008, on learning of Mr. Kennedy’s diagnosis of a lethal brain tumor, Mr. Byrd wept openly on the floor of the Senate.

Born to one of the wealthiest American families, Mr. Kennedy spoke for the downtrodden in his public life while living the heedless private life of a playboy and a rake for many of his years. Dismissed early in his career as a lightweight and an unworthy successor to his revered brothers, he grew in stature over time by sheer longevity and by hewing to liberal principles while often crossing the partisan aisle to enact legislation. A man of unbridled appetites at times, he nevertheless brought a discipline to his public work that resulted in an impressive catalog of legislative achievement across a broad landscape of social policy.

Mr. Kennedy left his mark on legislation concerning civil rights, health care, education, voting rights and labor. He was chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at his death. But he was more than a legislator. He was a living legend whose presence insured a crowd and whose hovering figure haunted many a president.

Court Papers Show Jackson Died of Propofol

LOS ANGELES — Lethal levels of a powerful anesthetic caused Michael Jackson’s death, according to preliminary coroner findings cited in Texas court documents unsealed Monday.

The documents, a pair of search warrants and affidavits filed by the police in July to search the Houston office and storage unit of Dr. Conrad Murray, Mr. Jackson’s private doctor, provide the most detailed evidence against Dr. Murray by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The police told judges in Texas and Nevada that they suspected Dr. Murray of manslaughter, according to documents filed there.

According to the warrants, Dr. Murray told investigators that he had administered an intravenous drip of 50 milligrams of propofol, an anesthetic, to Mr. Jackson nightly for six weeks before the singer’s death at his Holmby Hills home to help him sleep. Dr. Murray also administered lorazepam, an anti-anxiety drug that can be addictive, and midazolam, a muscle relaxant, to treat Mr. Jackson’s insomnia.

The chief coroner for Los Angeles County, Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, indicated that his preliminary assessment of the cause of death was due to a lethal dose of propofol, according to the court documents. They also describe how Dr. Murray administered propofol and other drugs, including Valium, on June 25, the day Mr. Jackson died.

“After approximately 10 minutes, Murray stated he left Jackson’s side to go to the restroom,” the documents show. “Murray stated he was out of the room for about two minutes maximum. Upon his return, Murray noticed that Jackson was no longer breathing.”

Dr. Murray said he tried to resuscitate Mr. Jackson and administered flumazenil, a drug to reverse the effects of the sedatives in his system, and then called Mr. Jackson’s personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, for help. Mr. Williams called Mr. Jackson’s security detail while Dr. Murray asked the singer’s chef to send one of his sons upstairs to the bedroom as he continued cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Dr. Murray waited about 82 minutes before anyone called paramedics to the home, according to the court documents.

Investigators said Dr. Murray did not initially tell paramedics or doctors that he had given Mr. Jackson propofol.

Mr. Jackson was eventually taken to University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, where he died. Medical experts said Monday that the combination of drugs Mr. Jackson was given would have exacerbated the effect of the propofol.

Drugs like lorazepam and Valium have the effect of slowing a person’s breathing.

“If you are going to put on top of that some propofol, you are not only standing on thin ice, but starting to jump up and down on that ice,” said Dr. John F. Dombrowski, director of the Washington Pain Center. “If you don’t have someone who knows how to manage respiratory depression, you’re going to die.”

The documents indicate that Dr. Murray tried to revive Mr. Jackson with flumazenil, which reverses the effects of benzodiazepines like lorazepam. But “there’s no drug that reverses propofol per se,” said Dr. Robert R. Kirby, an anesthesiologist.

And waiting 82 minutes to call 911 was inexplicable to medical experts. “Lord, no; you’d call right away,” Dr. Kirby said.

Investigators said they found numerous bottles of medications prescribed by various doctors at Mr. Jackson’s bedside and throughout his living quarters.

Dr. Murray said that he was not the first doctor to administer propofol to Mr. Jackson, that he suspected Mr. Jackson was addicted to the drug and that he tried to wean him off of it, the documents state. Dr. Murray told the police that the singer referred to propofol as his “milk.” On the day he died, Mr. Jackson was unable to sleep and, after repeated demands, the doctor administered propofol in an IV drip.

Investigators also interviewed Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who described how Mr. Jackson asked her to obtain propofol for him.

“He stated he would pay her or another doctor whatever they wanted for it,” according to the affidavit. Ms. Lee told investigators that she refused.

On June 1, Mr. Jackson’s bodyguard called to tell her Mr. Jackson was ill.

“She heard Jackson in the background saying, ‘One side of my body is hot, and the other side is cold,’ ” according to the affidavits. Ms. Lee told investigators that she told the bodyguard he should go to the hospital.

Dr. Murray was a cardiologist in Houston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles for 20 years. Earlier this year, AEG, an event promoter and stadium operator, hired him to be Mr. Jackson’s personal physician during a planned series of 50 concerts in London, for a monthly salary of $150,000.

A special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, which investigates prescription fraud, said records showed that despite the discovery of bottles of propofol at Mr. Jackson’s home, Dr. Murray “never ordered, purchased nor received any propofol.”

Dr. Murray told investigators that Mr. Jackson obtained propofol from various sources, including two unidentified doctors in Germany and an anesthesiologist in Las Vegas.

Mr. Jackson’s relatives and associates have said the singer used several aliases to obtain prescription drugs.

Public records show that Dr. Murray was in serious financial trouble before he became Mr. Jackson’s doctor, facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts and liens and a Las Vegas home in foreclosure proceedings.

Ed Chernoff, a lawyer for Dr. Murray, said in a statement Monday: “Much of what was in the search warrant affidavit is factual. However, unfortunately, much is police theory. Most egregiously, the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr. Murray.”

Lt. Fred Corral, an investigator at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, said the toxicology tests and a final autopsy report had been completed but were being kept confidential at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department, which continues to investigate Dr. Murray.

A spokesman for the police department said he had no official statement regarding the case since the investigation was continuing.

heidi montag miss universe video

heidi montag miss universe video

I'm pretty sure Heidi Montag said she wasn't going to lip-sync at the Miss Universe competition, but I not sure how she could even sing her new single "Body Language," there is nothing really to sing. It is like a cross between the Beverly Hills Cop theme and Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” (I stole the "Rockwell" comment from EW.com, but they nailed it with that reference). It's just one of those songs that is all auto-tuner, backups, and studio tricks. Think photoshop, airbrushing and "star wipe" but for music (I swear there is a star wipe in that song somewhere). Plus TMZ said that production staffers did not want her to sing, because they were afraid she would not remember the words.

In short -- Of course she lip-synced!

The only way I can describe the dancing is, it was like watching one of those Van Halen videos, where David Lee Roth, made the rest of the band do those choreographed routines. Or like Reese Witherspoon's dance number at the end of Vanity Fair, where she just stood there while people danced around her. You know Heidi's backup dancers were rolling their eyes at that bitch the entire "performance."

The saddest thing about the whole mess is that I actually think I'm starting to like the song "Body Language." I'm afraid it may creep onto my Ipod some drunken night. I know it would be like listening to a dollar store Britney Spears, but sometimes I liked the dollar store toys I got as a kid. I was quite fond of a few of them to be honest... Anywhoo watch the video of Montag below, and let us know your thoughts.

jasmine fiore fotos

jasmine fiore fotos

New Delhi, Aug 24, 2009: Jasmine Fiore fotos, Jasmine Fiore death photo, Ryan Jenkins Wikipedia. People are frantically searching for the photo of Jasmine Fiore on the cyberspace. A large number of people are searching for the photograph of her mutilated body when it was discovered in a dumpster.

The authorities or police have not released the photograph of the body of the former Playboy model.

The only photograph of Jasmine Fiore’s body ever published was the one that was published by gossip news website TMZ.com.

But it has been taken out from the site and now no other website worth its salt has published the photograph.

I think it is utterly unethical to put such a mutilated photograph of a person who was among more presentable people. Thank God they have removed the photograph from their website.

In the meantime the person who killed Jasmine Fiore, her ex husband Ryan Jenkins has apparently committed suicide in a remote motel in Canada.

michelle obama shorts

michelle obama shorts

Our beautiful first lady Michelle Obama wore what some consider short shorts when she went to the Grand Canyon with her family. Her choice to wear shorts is being highly criticized by some members of the media and the public. Please have a look at the pictures of Michelle Obama and tell us if you think her clothing choice was inappropriate for a first lady.

Many people seem to believe that Michelle Obama should never wear shorts in public. She didn't exactly wear a pair of Daisy Dukes. If she chose to wear shorts that short we could understand the drama. In all fairness, Michelle Obama's shorts were mid-thigh length.

Michelle Obama is a younger more hip than the former First Lady Laura Bush was. In the past, Mrs. Obama seemed to always dress appropriately in public. Was it so wrong of her to wear shorts during a summer vacation stop? Apparently many Americans think so.

In the "scandalous" photos President Obama is dressed in long pants and a polo shirt, while the Michelle and the Obama girls wore shorts.

In June, Michelle Obama caused an uproar when she was seen walking the families dog, Bo, on the White House lawn wearing shorts. You can view those photos here on Huffington Post.

sandra shaw

sandra shaw

WBAL-TV weathercaster Sandra Shaw will be joining Regis Philbin as co-host of "Live with Regis and Kelly" on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the syndicated show said Friday.

As reported on this blog, Shaw was one of 10 broadcasters who work for stations that carry the show to win a chance to co-host based on votes from viewers.

Guests on the show Wednesday will be Tim Gunn from "Project Runway" and Dr. Doris Day discussing skin cancer.

"Live with Regis and Kelly" airs at 10 a.m. weeekdays on WBAL-TV (Channel 11).

jasmine fiore pictures

jasmine fiore pictures

Jasmine Fiore Pictures, 28-year-old swimsuit model, Jasmine Fiore found dead. Jasmine’s dead body was discovered by police on Tuesday, stuffed into a suitcase. Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a Reality TV Show contestant is among the most probable suspects according to police.

Buena Park police have issued a statement according to which, they are looking for a person with Canadian nationality, named Ryan Alexander Jenkins, 32-year-old engaged in real estate business, from Calgary. He has been reportedly seen with Jasmine Fiore at her house at Fairfax district (Edinburgh Avenue) last week.

However till Tuesday morning, the Buena Park Police was still unable to determine Ryan – Fiore relationship, may be due to insufficient evidence. Rumors are that they were married somewhere in Las Vegas to which, Lisa Lapore totally denied.

gina carano playboy

gina carano playboy

Yes, Gina Carano Playboy pics are today’s hottest commodity on the internet however we must not forget Gina is up against Cristiane Santos in Strikeforce.

Yes folks... Gina Carano is set to fight Cristiane Santos for Strikeforce's inaugural woman's championship main event.

Let’s not forget that Gina Carano was ranked #16 in Maxim's Hot 100 list, a very promising start point for this young beautiful MMA fighter.

Bodog.com has Gina Carano as underdog in the Strikeforce fight against Cris Cyborg Santos. Gina’s odds are currently sitting at +155 while Cris Santos is priced at -185.

I don’t know you guys but Gina Carano is as hot as her odds. Forget Gina Carano’s playboy pics and go over to Bodog.com to bet on Gina now.

Bodog.com has been the pioneer in posting MMA odds, building brand awareness and a solid trust bond with MMA enthusiasts.

Visit Bodog.com for the latest Strikeforce betting odds and bet on Gina Carano’s hot odds. Click here to visit Bodog.com

tip jar

tip jar

This morning I found Tip Jar community online, which is powered by Google and offers parents and individuals tips on how to save money on food, kids, family and shopping. It also provides money saving tips in other categories ranging from finance to travel. Some of the tips that I saw on Tip Jar related food were actually very healthy.

For example, one tip says drink water instead of buying soda drinks. Here we have an obvious healthy tip from Tip Jar that also saves money. Zen Habits writes. ""Drink water. Often we drink lots of calories through sodas, coffee, alcohol, juices, tea, etc. And that costs a lot too. Drink water, save money, save calories. Here are some tips for forming the water habit." Apparently if you drink a big glass of water before each meal, you won’t eat as much, saving on the food bill.

Here is another good tip from Tip Jar that not only saves money, but also may fight obesity. This tip is from choosetosave.org and says "don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach or you may end up buying more than you need."

I read several tips at Tip Jar about the health and financial benefits of eating breakfast. "Eat breakfast. Eating a healthy breakfast fills you up with energy for the day and also decreases your desire to eat a big lunch in the middle of the day. Not only that, breakfast can be very healthy, quick, and inexpensive."

Another good tip is about eating out less. "Eat out less. The average person spends well over $2,000 a year on eating out. Restaurants are expensive, including fast-food. It’s much cheaper to cook your own food," writes again Zen Habits. Indeed, instead of eating out, parents are encouraged to buy healthy food and make home cooking a fun event for children. I do involve my children in cooking and encourage them to participate in the process. Not only I save on restaurants (nothing wrong against healthy restaurants), but also develope healthy eating habits in them, teaching how to cook vegetables and follow good diet habits.

pga championship tv schedule

pga championship tv schedule

The PGA Championship has started and you can watch it today beginning at 2 p.m.

Tiger Woods, with two straight PGA Tour wins heading into today, is the heavy favorite to win his first major of 2009. While he has not been able to capture his 15th major championship this year, he is on a serious roll after winning the Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational in consecutive weeks.

TNT is first up with TV coverage beginning at 2 p.m. (EDT) and ending at 8 p.m.

Can’t wait for live TV? You can view the PGA Championship live at pga.com from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 11 a.m-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Live coverage of the 2009 PGA Championship schedule for Thursday, August 13:

TNT: 2 p.m.-8 p.m

pga.com: 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

PGA Championship TV schedule for this week’s 91st PGA Championship :

Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m.-8 p.m. (TNT)

Saturday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (TNT), 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (TNT), 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS

rick pitino wife

rick pitino wife

When did Rick Pitino’s wife Joanne Minardi first know of Pitino’s alleged one night affair with Karen Cunagin Sypher? Rick Pitino and wife Joanne Minardi have married been 33 years.

But as revealed last night on LALATE, Rick Pitino according to police recently told investigators that he had a one night affair with the future Karen Cunagin Sypher.

Karen Cunagin Sypher Pictures
Karen Cunagin Sypher Photo 1
Karen Cunagin Sypher Photo 2
Karen Cunagin Sypher Photo 3

The date of the encounter was allegedly August 1, 2003. Karen was single. She was not Mrs. Cunagin Sypher at the time; she hadn’t ever met Tim Sypher by that point.

Pitino according to press recently told police Sypher and him had a one night affair following a meal at Louisville restaurant Porcini?

But when did Rick Pitinio tell his wife.

According to police, Pitino in 2003 reportedly quietly arranged to meet Karen at Tim Sypher’s condo, pay her $3000 for an abortion. In the months that would follow, Tim Sypher would marry Karen, who would reportedly often be alongside Pitino at Louisville functions.

When the first limited details of a pending extortion case against Karen hit in spring 2009, Pitino had previously issued the following statement about his family:

My family and I were recently threatened as part of a criminal scheme to extort money. Upon receiving these threats, we reported this extortion attempt to the FBI. While I did not want to make this matter public, I recently learned that the individual behind this extortion

media with false, defamatory and outrageous allegations in an attempt to pressure me to cave in to this scheme.

I want to make it clear that I intend to vigorously defend my reputation and the character of my family against any criminal scheme to extort money. I am hopeful that the media and public will recognize the slanderous nature of this direct and malicious attack.

Today Pitino has five children, Karen has four.

anderson silva vs forrest griffin highlights

anderson silva vs forrest griffin highlights

1. Silva dominating the ring. Silva controlled the ring, he made Griffin look off balance and awkward. Griffin was never able to get Silva into any position to deliver his famous leg kicks, like he used to destroy Rampage. Silva's head movement and body movements along with his great jabs and devastating punches caused Griffin to constantly lots of poor shots and take too many chances that wound up costing him dearly.

2 Silva's pounding Griffin on the ground. There was only one take down in the fight and Silva did it with a punch and followed it up with some devastating punches to Griffin's head. I think these shots definitely hurt Griffin and that allowed the Flicking punch to finish him off.

3. The deadly Flicking punch. Only used effectively one other time in a World Championship match, by Ali vs Liston. Just as ridiculous and just as controversial. 40 years later people are still talking about the Ali flick and there are 1,000's who believe Liston threw the fight. I am one of them. The same can almost be said about Griffin, I don't think for a minute he threw the fight, but I do think he wanted it over. He was getting killed and wanted out. If his jaw was broken, as some claim, but not any doctors who attended him, then he has a great reason to lie there and quit. Otherwise, I would like to have seen him do a little bit more, before the flick. Not after. He was in not condition to continue for whatever reason after he was flicked.'

4. The Griffin run away. If Griffin would have run as fast in the ring as he did out of the ring he might have stood a better chance of beating Silva. Can't wait until he finally tells everyone what was so important in the locker room that he could not't wait to even shake hands or hear the decision. Might have been a call from Brock Lesnar telling all you great commenter's how wrong you are in think that Silva is better than the Mighty Lesnar. Or perhaps it was a call from Fedor inviting Griffin to come to Strikeforce where there is no real competiton and no Brock.

falmouth road race results

falmouth road race results

It is ever imperative to value every day, and Alyssa Amos will forever make a point to cherish what she has gained through loss. Amos is not a typical 16-year-old Nordic skier; she has attained the understanding of a mature adult and attempts to wring the most out of every adventure she tackles due to her summit of a chronic and debilitating disease.

The extensive trek began when she had just turned 10 and was diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis, which is an ongoing disease of the colon or large intestine that is marked by inflammation in the lowest part of the colon - the rectum. Tiny open sores and ulcerations form on the surface of the colon lining and bleed before producing mucus and pus, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. The inflammation makes the colon empty frequently and Amos’s symptoms included diarrhea - sometimes bloody - and never-ending abdominal pain.

"At that point we believed that it was something we could get through with medication," said Alyssa’s mother, Becky Amos. "After two years Alyssa had began to taper off of the medication and we were not that worried or had even dismissed the possibility of her condition worsening."

Amos had just entered 7th grade when she encountered a major flare that was a cause for serious concern. A flare is the reappearance of the characteristic symptoms from ulcerative colitis generally including diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgent bowel movements, constipation, abdominal cramps and pain or weight loss.

"I was going to the bathroom 20 times a day and ended up losing 15 pounds before being rediagnosed with ulcerative colitis," Amos said.

Ulcerative colitis is a more serious inflammatory bowel disease that affects the entire colon and the lower part of the large intestine. Amos was prescribed Remicade, which is a drug that reduces the effects of a substance in the body that can cause inflammation. Unfortunately, Remicade lowered her white blood cell count, which allowed more minor infections to conquer her weak immune system.

"The treatment at that point was truly almost worse than the disease," said Becky Amos. "And the medications never really put her into remission."

During 2007, the Amos family moved to a new doctor at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center named Dr. Corey Siegel, who is a leader in inflammatory bowel disease research.

In the summer after 8th grade, Amos decided to run with the CCFA New England Got Guts Team in the Falmouth Road Race in early August of 2007 to raise awareness for her debilitating disease.

Sadly, Amos went from fairly healthy to completely bedridden in June before the race and was sent for another colonoscopy.

"I had been on Prednisone since January of 2007 and it had affected me tremendously," Amos said. "I just wanted to get off of the drug because it was so bad for my bones and then in June I started to have more and more symptoms, but I didn’t want to believe that my problems were coming back; I just wanted to ignore everything that was going on."

The colonoscopy in early July started a horrific chain reaction and Dr. Siegel placed Amos on Humira, which was injected into her leg - but the gruesome symptoms did not subside.

"I lost 30 pounds, couldn’t walk up or down the stairs and didn’t even have the strength to brush my own teeth," Amos said. "And all of these problems were side effects due to the medication I was on, but it wasn’t doing anything to relieve my original symptoms and we were running out of options."

Dr. Siegel weighed the options after attempting to minimize Amos’s ulcerative colitis with numerous medications and then recommended the family visit with Dr. Richard A. Hodin, the chief of endocrine surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"It’s difficult to put into words how great Dr. Siegel and Dr. Hodin were throughout the entire process," Becky Amos said. "Dr. Siegel was always willing to listen to exactly what [Alyssa] had to say and how she was feeling with a phenomenal interest."

The Amos family met with Dr. Hodin for a general colonoscopy, and he immediately recommended that Amos remain at Mass. General for an emergency total colectomy. She then went into surgery on July, 27, 2007 to have her colon and rectum removed.

"He came back after the colonoscopy and said ‘hope you have your bags packed, because you’ll be staying here for a couple of days,’" Amos explained.

Along with the initial surgery to remove the entire colon and rectum, an opening on the abdomen was made by the surgeon through which wastes are emptied into a pouch that is attached to the stomach with an adhesive. Amos had to carry an ileostomy or external stoma for approximately three months before it was removed during the second surgery.

That fall, Amos entered Stratton Mountain School as a freshman looking to make the most of the upcoming Nordic season despite missing the Falmouth Road Race due to her surgery in July.

"The surgery really weighed down on her physically for a couple of weeks, but she bounced back pretty quickly," Becky Amos said. "She still had the ostomy bag until October, but handled it very well and worked hard to train hard despite the few limitations that held her back."

During the month of her surgery, Amos decided to miss the Falmouth Road Race because of its proximity to her recovery, but her CCFA running-mates made a point to make her feel as comfortable as possible with everything she was going through.

"It was truly amazing to see what these people did for her and our family," said Ashley Amos, Alyssa’s sister. "The letters and e-mails poured in and some people even came and visited her in the hospital; these are people that we had never met before and it was just amazing how they helped out and gave her - and our family - encouragement."

Amos then received more heartening news in September, as she had won the CCFA Comeback Kid Award for ileostomy and traveled to New York City to accept the award at a banquet.

"I was very nervous about getting up on stage in front of all those people and giving a speech," Amos said. "But I started it off with a couple of jokes and it went smoothly after that.

"Going to New York was a great experience for me at that point because it was surprising to see how many people have gone through what I did and it felt great to talk about it because it was embarrassing in the beginning. That trip helped me realize that it really helps to just be open and honest about everything because some teenagers just don’t get it."

Amos returned to Mass. General for her second surgery on Oct. 18, just three weeks before SMS fall training camp in Quebec.

"It was really incredible how quickly she bounced back," Ashley Amos said. "But the most important thing was that she no longer had to battle with the disease and was now working to become a stronger athlete again."

All of the Nordic coaches at SMS had been informed by the Amos family of Alyssa’s condition and recovery during training, but Alyssa set herself up with goals to make the J2 championships in March of 2008.

"I headed into fall camp just a couple weeks removed from surgery, felt pretty tired throughout training and couldn’t participate in double sessions," Amos said. "But it felt great to be back; it felt great to have goals again and work toward something with no major problems. And most importantly, it was such a nice change to simply be out of the hospital."

Amos continued to work hard though her first season back, but couldn’t possibly be expected to compete at the high levels she imagined within her head and was constantly disappointed by finishing at the bottom of the results.

"Alyssa refuses to believe that she can’t do anything that she sets her mind to, and finds it hard to believe that this sickness would hold her back," SMS J2/J3 coach Poppet Boswell said. "And all of her experiences have given her the gift to push herself even harder to her goals because she understands exactly how precious life is.

"The only problem is that Nordic skiing is a tough sport and it takes time to make significant progress, so when a normal athlete is working hard to move up the ladder one step at a time, Alyssa is trying to skip three at a time and pushes herself almost too hard sometimes."

The freshman’s hard work and dedication completely paid off when she qualified for the J2 championships with a 16th-place finish at a meet in Lamoille in February.

"I had attained my initial goal; it was such a relief and a very emotional day for me and my family," Amos said. "I had been through so much, worked so hard, and it really hurt when I was finishing in last place at some of the first meets of the season; so qualifying for J2s was a great day."

Amos didn’t only want to make it to the J2 meet; she now wanted a Top 10 finish in one of the four races at the competition.

"Training is a real balancing act between pushing your body just far enough to get it into peak condition," Boswell said. "And with Alyssa, the hardest battle is to pull back on her reins a bit and get her to understand exactly how hard to push her body without going overboard."

All of the precise balancing paid off in March at the J2 Championships, where she finished seventh in the classic 1K sprint - which was her final race of the day after finishing 40th in the 5K classic race and 43rd in the 5K freestyle.

"I was utterly ecstatic, and I think I was even shaking on the podium," Amos said. "Getting my top ten was such a relief and it felt great to get my medal."

The seventh-place finish was an emotional release not only for Amos, but also her family, coaches and teammates who had been through so much with her crusade against colitis.

"Alyssa has been inspirational to all of us," Boswell said. "None of the kids on the team felt right complaining once they knew what she had gone through and the struggles she had to encounter on a daily basis even after her surgery.

"It was also moving to see her attain all of the lofty goals that she set for herself; we were all very happy, and tearful, that day at J2’s."

Amos’s meteoric rise continued with a 32nd-place finish at the Haywood Nationals Classic 7.5K at Whistler Olympic Park in Canada on March 28, 2008.

"I was still getting tired, but it was definitely getting better," Amos said. "Instead of simply surviving races, I was able to push myself and push my body a bit with out feeling any serious consequences."

Amos kept training hard through the summer of 2008 to make more of an impact in the upcoming Nordic season with a new goal of qualifying for the Junior Olympics as a sophomore.

The season jumped off to a positive start with a sixth-place finish at the TD Banknorth Eastern Cup Opener Weekend girls sprint race, but Amos struggled to finish higher in the remaining JO qualifiers.

"I went into the season much stronger, but again had difficulty with over-training and ended up with a common cold that held me back from attaining enough points to get to JO’s," Amos said. "That sixth-place finish was my best of the season and a definite improvement."

The sophomore still qualified for the J2 Championships in March of 2009 and turned in another rousing performance by finishing sixth in the 1K sprint, 16th in the 5K freestyle and 18th in the 5K classic.

The Amos family has now moved back to Bennington and Amos will transfer to Mount Anthony Union High School as a junior in the fall, but must first run in the race that her disease held her out of in the first place.

"I wanted to run in the Falmouth Road Race with the CCFA Got Guts Team to raise funds and awareness about colitis and everything that I had to go through," Amos said. "But more importantly, I want to run the race and thank all of those people who helped me through such a trying time in my life when I was scared and didn’t know what would happen.

"Before I had my surgeries, I talked with some people from the CCFA who said that they never wanted to forget this disease. At the time I didn’t understand what they meant, because I thought I’d want to move on and forget everything that I went through. Now I understand why I should remember and need to help out other people going through something similar."

Amos won’t be alone in Cape Cod for the race on Aug. 9, as her sister, Ashley, will be running along side her; sticking together, something the sisters have done since the beginning of the disease’s onset.

"I want to run the race with Alyssa because it has been an inspiration to see everything that she has gone through," Ashley said. "Not only was she trying to make it through school and life as a teenager, but she was trying to be an athlete at a high level in a very competitive sport.

"Also, I want to give back to all of the people from the CCFA who assisted our family through the past couple of years."

Amos is excited to participate in numerous sports at MAU and is even training to begin competing in the Biathlon, but her main focus continues to remain upon the upcoming Nordic season.

"Alyssa will be a great addition to our team," MAU head Nordic coach Bruce Smith said. "Our sport is very grueling and the fact that she has persevered through her sickness is a credit to her strength of character and determination."

But in the end, Amos is just happy to be a healthy teenager again.

"Everyone faces challenges in their lifetime, but it’s how you deal with those problems and overcome challenges to become a better or stronger person in the end," Amos said. "A bad ski race can seem like a horrible thing at the time, but I make a point to take a step back and say that I should just be happy to be out there, competing with my friends.

"Life could be so much worse, so I just try find the fun in things and get the most out of every new day."

spyder harrison

spyder harrison

It all began last fall with a chance encounter between a rocker and an animal-rights advocate in their hometown, Louisville, Ky. Jim James — singer, songwriter and guitarist of the band My Morning Jacket — was dining out with relatives when the activist Jenny Brown, whom he had never met, approached him with a proposition.

How about holding a concert to benefit the farm animal sanctuary that she ran in Woodstock, N.Y., Ms. Brown asked him.

Mr. James gave her his e-mail address, told her to keep in touch and went his way, but the proposal intrigued him. Several months later he came up with what he figured was a better way to help.

A few days after George Harrison’s death in 2001 Mr. James locked himself in an old bathroom at a farm near Louisville and recorded six of Mr. Harrison’s songs: an intimate, modest tribute of voice and acoustic guitar. The recordings had been shelved since then, and Mr. James said he wasn’t sure they would ever be released, until he met Ms. Brown.

On Tuesday an EP with the six Harrison tracks hits stores, and part of the proceeds will go toward Ms. Brown’s Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, a refuge for 150 or so abused, abandoned or sick farm animals, including a three-legged goat named Albie, a blind chicken named Coco and a 700-pound pig named Judy, after Ms. Brown’s mother.

To Mr. James there’s a clear connection between much that Mr. Harrison believed in and the work Ms. Brown does at the sanctuary.

“George was one of those people that always seemed to be a good inspiration for other humans, seemed like he was a very socially conscious person, a very responsible person,” Mr. James said. He didn’t know Mr. Harrison, he added, but described himself as an admirer of his music and character.

“George was always trying to put the good message out there,” Mr. James added. “And I think that’s what Jenny has been doing at the farm.”

Ms. Brown and her husband, Doug Abel, opened the sanctuary in 2004, leaving behind careers in film and television. (She was an associate producer of the ABC News special “Report from Ground Zero,” and he was an editor of the Oscar-winning documentary “Fog of War.”) Because they rely primarily on donations to keep the farm going, she said she couldn’t miss the opportunity to recruit Mr. James’s help.

While visiting her mother in Louisville she had bumped into him the day before at an outdoor cafe, and though she immediately recognized him, she left without saying a word.

That their paths would cross again the following night “must have been some kind of sign,” Ms. Brown said.

“Jim was leaving the restaurant and I could feel myself, like, ‘O.K., Jenny, you’ve got to do it,’ ” she recalled. “I told him I was sorry to bother him and that it was unusual how we sat next to each other two days in a row, and here’s what I do and, boy, wouldn’t it be a dream come true if he could lend his support to our mission.”

As it turned out, Mr. James and Ms. Brown found that they had more than just their hometown in common. She’s a vegan, and he’s a vegetarian, as Mr. Harrison was. And they both say they feel they are no better than, for example, a pig or a rooster — a belief that Mr. Harrison also shared, his widow, Olivia Harrison, said.

“He was the kind of guy who always put the bug outside,” Ms Harrison said in a telephone interview from England. “He never stomped on an ant or a spider.”

That a tribute to him will help support a home for abused farm animals is “an appropriate cause,” she continued.

The EP, which Mr. James is releasing under the moniker Yim Yames (“I just wanted to make my existing name funny sounding,” he said), was recorded at the Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville, in a plumbingless bathroom that is part of the same studio where My Morning Jacket recorded its first albums.

It includes four songs from Mr. Harrison’s critically acclaimed “All Things Must Pass,” which he released after the breakup of the Beatles, and two of the songs he wrote for the band, “Long, Long, Long” and “Love You To.” (Mr. James’s songs are also available for download purchase at yimyames.com.)

The Harrison recording is Mr. James’s first solo venture, but not his first charitable foray. He has donated time to the musicians’ outreach project Sweet Home New Orleans, helped raise money for the Center for Women and Families in Louisville and, in April, performed at Radio City Music Hall on a bill that included Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, among others, to benefit transcendental meditation, which Mr. Harrison helped popularize.

“I’m just lucky that I’m making a living with my music,” Mr. James said. “And if I can help.”

mosquito coast

mosquito coast

For centuries the people of the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua were plagued by arrivals from the sea. Successive waves of British traders, Dutch pirates and Spanish conquistadors brought little but misery. Their luck changed in the 1980s, though, when Colombia became the world’s cocaine capital — and some of the illicit produce started washing up on this monsoon-battered coast.

The locals call it “white lobster”: sacks of cocaine weighing as much as 25kg (55lb) that drift on to beaches near the port of Bluefields almost every day. More bob on the waves waiting to be scooped up. The bags, thrown overboard by Colombian smugglers as US patrols close in, have created a class of “lottery winners”; common parlance for a lucrative day’s fishing.

In a town still beset by grinding poverty, palatial villas with luxury cars in the driveways have sprung up like candy-coloured mushrooms, built on the profits of a drug that sells locally for more than $4,000 (£2,350) a kilogram. One resident, Charlie Walters, said that he had collected about 40kg in 1kg packets over the years. On one occasion he and a few friends found six 25kg sacks in a single day. “We went crazy,” he told The Times. “We built houses, we bought cars, we went on holiday to Costa Rica and partied for months without working.”

Sadly, it is all gone, Mr Walters lamented — blown on women, drugs and in the town’s several casinos — and there are real dangers associated with dabbling in the cocaine trade. “I couldn’t sleep when I had some in the house. If people hear you have found something ... I’ve seen people robbed and shot in the leg as a warning. That’s why I don’t do it anymore,” he said. He paused. “Well, not often, anyway.”

The exhilaration of a “big win” was unbeatable, Mr Walters said. Gazing out to sea, where the light of outlying islands glowed on the horizon, he said wistfully: “Sometimes I sit here and think about everything that’s out there. Probably two boats have passed just now, in the time that we’ve been talking.”

Sometimes local residents are spared even the trouble of converting the cocaine into cash. If the drug boats are returning from a drop-off, they will be carrying the proceeds — which, if they are pursued, they will also be forced to dump. “One time some friends of mine found $4 million in a bucket — in effective money,” Charlie emphasised, slipping into the colourful Creole mix of English and Spanish that characterises this former British protectorate.

The key to Bluefields’ good fortune, and that of other coastal communities, is a combination of geography, currents and climate. Lying about halfway between Colombia and millions of US consumers, traffickers pass close to shore at this point, drawn by the necessity of fuel stops. When cargos are ditched because of storms or pursuit by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, currents carry the loot into the nets of waiting fisherman. Some drug runners have made deals with the locals, sending them messages with GPS co-ordinates to let them know where they should leave fuel.

Sometimes the locals become involved directly in the trafficking itself, picking up loads stashed in lobster pots and transporting them to the next drop-off point. There is talk of a web of corruption and violence in which both the police and local authorities are complicit.

One Bluefields resident, who asked that his identity be protected, said that he had sold cocaine for five years with the connivance of the police. “They’ve given me cocaine to sell. They take it off other people, and then they empty the packets and replace it with soap powder. I’ve seen them do it. Then they burn it, make a show — but they’re just burning soap.”

A local journalist who has investigated the drug industry said that he had been subjected to a campaign of harassment directed by the police. “I have been mugged by youths who have told me they were working for the police. My internet account has been hacked. I have to take a lot of precautions.”

The police declined to comment.

Most of the Bluefields drugs are bought by local traffickers who then sell them on the Pacific Coast at double the price, but some stay in the area — where the effect on the impoverished and underemployed youth is obvious. Cocaine is cheaper than marijuana and there is a high incidence of its abuse, with thin, nervy youths hanging about on street corners — one of whom offered to sell some to The Times within minutes of our arrival.

The mayor, Harold Bacón Brokamp, attempted to play down the problem. “What we have is really just some remnants of drugs that pass by,” he said. “Some people benefit from it but some people suffer.”

Others say that many residents could not survive without it. When the rain comes in Bluefields — and it does almost every day, for 11 months of the year — it is so dense that it forms clouds as it whips sideways down the town’s narrow streets, forcing inhabitants to race for cover and rendering work almost impossible.

“Sometimes there might not be any shrimp in the harbour for months, and the only other real work here is construction — and you can’t mix cement in rain like this,” said one businesswoman who did not wish to be named, gesturing to the wall of water cascading from the roof of her porch.

“These are poor people. It is so difficult to even scratch a living here. You can’t really blame them for taking what they can get.”

A global habit

6.9m estimated number of North Americans using cocaine each year

65% of US dollar bills are contaminated with cocaine

$14.1bn US Government’s 2009 budget for fighting the drugs trade

$50bn estimated value of global cocaine market 51% of the world’s cocaine is produced in Colombia

300,000 estimated number of people working in Colombia’s cocaine industry