Tuesday
Jon and Kate Gosselin are Gold for TLC
california Suprme Court Uphelds prop 8
Followers of prop 8 disagreed the weddings should be recognized. Today's opinion, penned by Chief Justice Ronald M. George for a 6-to-1 majority, announced that same-sex couples still have the legal right to civil unions, which gives them the facility to select one's life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all the constitutionally based situations of marriage. But the justices related the citizens had obviously voiced their will to restrict the ritual of wedding to opposite-sex couples. Justice George wrote that Offer eight failed to wholly repeal or revoke a right to such a protected relationship, but disagreed that it carves out a narrow and limited exception to these state constitutional rights, reserving the official designation of the term 'marriage' for the union of opposite-sex couples as a matter of state constitutional law. The eighteen thousand existing unions can stand, he wrote, because Offer eight failed to include language particularly claiming it was retroactive. Heated reaction to the call started right away, with protestors obstructing traffic near the court, and recommends for same-sex wedding beginning plans for another election. In L. A.
Jennifer Pizer, the Wedding Project Director for Lambda Legal, announced the decision places it to us to patch up the damage at the ballot box. One of the state's biggest gay rights groups, Equality California, sent an e-mail message to fans pleading for contributions to raise $500,000 toward a huge campaign to put an initiative on the ballot and win..
Sonia Sotomayor Nominated for Supreme Court
President Obama on Tues. selected U.S. Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the high court, the child of Puerto Rican parents who has achieved success and could now replace retiring Justice David Souter and become the 1st Hispanic and the 3rd woman ever to serve on the supreme court.
Calling Sotomayor "a provoking woman," Obama declared that he looked not only at intellect and the facility to be unprejudiced but at life experience and the facility to relate to normal Americans in selecting Sotomayor as his nominee. At a presidency meeting, Sotomayor thanked the president for "the most humbling honor" of her life. "My heart today is bursting with gratitude," she announced. If confirmed by the Senate, the 54-year-old judge would bring virtually seventeen years of expertise on the Fed bench and a record of bipartisan appeal to the supreme court. She was first allocated to Fed bench in the Southern District of Manhattan in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and was named to the following Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1998. Obama announced Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any of the justices had when they were designated for their positions on the supreme court. Souter is regarded as a liberal voice on the bench, and Sotomayor is predicted to keep on that trend. Still, Republicans are not predicted to put up much of a fight. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell recounted his colleagues will treat Sotomayor reasonably but need time to argue her qualifications. "We will entirely inspect her record to make sure she understands the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, in spite of their own feelings or private or political preferences," McConnell claimed in a press release posted on his site.LA Lakers Victorious, not easy though
LA Lakers 105 Denver 103Los Angeles Lakers have barely won the first game of the NBA West Finals.
I personally thought it would be easy but Carmelo Anthony did not mak eit easy on the Angelinos to put this game away.
It seems the games are way harder this time around compared to last years finals, but in the end the Lakers show why they have championship material, staying cool under surprise.
I predict a 4-2 series. Denver will not be an easy team. I think Kobe and the Lakers are ready .
Missing Link Fissil Unveiled
Scientists have discovered an exquisitely preserved ancient primate fossil that they believe forms a crucial "missing link" between our own evolutionary branch of life and the rest of the animal kingdom.
The 47m-year-old primate – named Ida – has been hailed as the fossil equivalent of a "Rosetta Stone" for understanding the critical early stages of primate evolution.
The top-level international research team, who have studied her in secret for the past two years, believe she is the most complete and best preserved primate fossil ever uncovered. The skeleton is 95% complete and thanks to the unique location where she died, it is possible to see individual hairs covering her body and even the make-up of her final meal – a last vegetarian snack.
"This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of all the mammals; with cows and sheep, and elephants and anteaters," said Sir David Attenborough who is narrating a BBC documentary on the find. "The more you look at Ida, the more you can see, as it were, the primate in embryo."
"This will be the one pictured in the textbooks for the next hundred years," said Dr Jørn Hurum, the palaeontologist from Oslo University's Natural History Museum who assembled the scientific team to study the fossil. "It tells a part of our evolution that's been hidden so far. It's been hidden because the only [other] specimens are so incomplete and so broken there's nothing almost to study." The fossil has been formally named Darwinius masillae in honour of Darwin's 200th birthday year.
It has been shipped across the Atlantic for an unveiling ceremony hosted by the mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg today. There is even talk of Ida being the first non-living thing to feature on the front cover of People magazine.
She will then be transported back to Oslo, via a brief stop at the Natural History Museum in London on Tuesday, 26 May, when Attenborough will host a press conference.
Ida was originally discovered by an amateur fossil hunter in the summer of 1983 at Messel pit, a world renowned fossil site near Darmstadt in Germany. He kept it under wraps for over 20 years before deciding to sell it via a German fossil dealer called Thomas Perner. It was Perner who approached Hurum two years ago.
"My heart started beating extremely fast," said Hurum, "I knew that the dealer had a world sensation in his hands. I could not sleep for 2 nights. I was just thinking about how to get this to an official museum so that it could be described and published for science." Hurum would not reveal what the university museum paid for the fossil, but the original asking price was $1m. He did not see the fossil before buying it – just three photographs, representing a huge gamble.
But it appears to have paid off. "You need an icon or two in a museum to drag people in," said Hurum, "this is our Mona Lisa and it will be our Mona Lisa for the next 100 years."
Hurum chose Ida's nickname because the diminutive creature is at the equivalent stage of development as his six-year-old daughter. Hurum said Ida is very excited about her namesake. "She says, 'there are two Idas now, there's me I'm living and then there's the dead one.'"
"It's caught at a really very interesting moment [in the animal's life] when it fortunately has all its baby teeth and is in the process of forming all its permanent teeth," said Dr Holly Smith, an expert in primate development at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who was part of the team. "So you have more information in it than almost any fossil you could think of."
The fossil's amazing preservation means that the scientific team has managed to glean a huge amount of information from it, although this required new X-ray techniques that had not previously been applied to any other specimens.
The researchers believe it comes from the time when the primate lineage, that diversified into monkeys, apes and ultimately humans, split from a separate group that went on to become lemurs and other less well known species.
Crucially though, Ida is not on the lemur line because she lacks two key characteristics shared by lemurs – a grooming claw on her second toe and a fused set of teeth called a tooth comb. Also, a bone in her ankle called the talus is shaped like members of our branch of the primates. So the researchers believe she may be on our evolutionary line dating from just after the split with the lemurs.
According to the team's published description of the skeleton in the journal PLoS ONE, Ida was 53cm long and a juvenile around six to nine months old. The team can be sure Ida is a girl because she does not have a penis bone.
"She was at this vulnerable age where you are no longer right with your mother," said Smith, "Just as you leave weaning you are not full grown, but you are on your own."
The unprecedented preservation of Ida meant working out how she died was more like a modern day crime scene investigation than the informed guess-work that palaeontologists usually make do with. The team noticed that she had a broken wrist that had begun to partially heal. The injury did not kill her, but they speculate that it contributed to her premature demise.
"It might be that her mother dropped her once or that she fell down from a tree earlier in her life," Smith said. She survived the accident, but her climbing abilities would have been impaired. Unable to drink from water trapped by tree leaves, she would have had to venture down to the lake to drink. This would have proved to be a fateful decision.
The huge range of magnificently preserved fossils at Messel suggest that the volcanic lake was a death trap. Scientists believe that it sporadically let forth giant belches of poisonous volcanic gases that would have immediately suffocated anything in, around and even over the water. Ida would then have fallen into the water and been preserved in the sediment deep at the bottom.
• Atlantic productions' programme, Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link, will be broadcast in the UK on Tuesday, 26 May at 9pm on BBC1. Colin Tudge's book, The Link, is published on 20 May by Little Brown.
Source: Guardian UK
Good News Garage
(NECN: Anya Huneke, Burlington, VT) - A do-gooder in Vermont is doing his part to lend a helping hand. He's fixing up junky old cars and giving them to low-income families.
Hal Colston got his first taste of advocacy work in the eighth grade, growing up in York, Pennsylvania. He tried to right a wrong after his teacher, who was mad at his father for trying to desegregage an area swimming pool, mistreated him.
That was more than 40 years ago, but Colston is still on a mission. These days, he's based in Vermont and his cause is poverty.
He founded the Good News Garage in Burlington in 1996 to provide affordable transportation options to people in need. The organization repairs donated cars and matches them with low-income families.
The Good News Garage, which now has programs in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, has served thousands of people since then, including Dilli Dulal, who moved to Vermont from Bhutan in September.
For him, getting a new job was a challenge, not to mention getting to and from a job.
After eight years here, Colston decided his help was needed elsewhere. So, he founded another social service organization called NeighborKeepers, which helps people overcome poverty through community support.
His work caught the eye of talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who taped a show featuring Colston, which will air Tuesday. In his modest fashion, he sees this not as a reason to brag, but as a reason to keep going.
Source:
Necn.com
Ryan Church What Did you do?
Clayton Kershaw celebrated with Orlando Hudson and Mark Loretta in front of the Mets' Carlos Beltran after the Dodgers scored the winning run in the 11th inning
I need to lie down,” Manuel said.
No wonder. The Mets arrived at Dodger Stadium in first place in the National League East. They left, after a 3-2 loss to the Manny Ramirez-less Dodgers in 11 innings, leaving Manuel wondering if he was managing a team sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds. The carnage included a season-high five errors — including two in the 11th, which led to the Dodgers’ winning run — one decisive base-running blunder by Ryan Church and countless slack jaws, head shakes and dumbfounded looks in a solemn clubhouse.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Carlos Beltran said.
And neither had anyone else. To be fair, Manuel said he had seen his former charges, the Chicago White Sox, commit five errors, not that he was boasting of that achievement or anything. But no, he had never seen a player completely miss tagging third base on his way home as Church did in the top of the 11th. That gaffe canceled what would have been the go-ahead run, ended the inning and breathed life into the Dodgers. Not that, on this night, they needed any extra help. The five errors were the Mets’ most since they committed six on Sept. 16, 2007, against Philadelphia.
“The guy missed third base, that’s unbelievable,” Manuel said. “I can’t explain why or how or anything, but he actually missed the base. To me, it’s just hard to miss third base. I know there are guys who miss first because they’re looking for the ball, that type of thing, but I don’t remember if I’ve ever seen a guy miss third base in a situation like that.”
Then he clarified. No, he had not. Church, for his part, said he thought he nicked the side of the bag as he rounded third, heading home on Angel Pagan’s gapper to right-center. But the third-base coach Razor Shines did not complain when the Dodgers appealed, and Manuel did not argue the call.
“I just feel terrible because touching the bag is a simple thing to do and I didn’t do it,” Church said.
Making the simple difficult since 1962 — that could be the Mets’ motto. At times this season, the Mets (21-17) have turned that act into an art form, missing cut-off men, failing to slide and running into outs. But they have played better recently, even as injuries have caused two of their stars — Jose Reyes (right calf tendinitis) and Carlos Delgado (right hip surgery) — and a valued utility player, Alex Cora (torn right thumb ligament), to miss time. In their stead, Manuel has been forced to mix and match, starting players at unfamiliar positions because he has little choice.
Which is how it came to pass that Ramon Martinez, who arrived at 6:45 p.m. — 25 minutes before the first pitch — after being recalled from Class AAA Buffalo, was playing shortstop Monday night and committed two errors. And how Pagan was getting his first major-league start in more than a year. And how Jeremy Reed, who now has a total of 16 1/3 innings of major-league experience at the position, came to be playing first base in the 11th inning.
From that post, Reed gazed out toward left-center field as Xavier Paul’s fly ball started to plummet. Pagan and Beltran converged. Beltran said he called the ball, “like, six times,” but Pagan did not move.
“Pagan was still in the middle and I couldn’t see the ball,” Beltran said. “If Pagan would have called that ball, my job is to get out of the way. Basically he stood in the middle and I just couldn’t see the ball.”
The ball dropped between them, and Mark Loretta, who had walked against Brian Stokes to lead off the inning, scooted to third. Paul zipped to second, and the Dodgers had the winning run on third. Not so fast, though. Juan Pierre was walked intentionally, loading the bases, and Rafael Furcal flied to shallow left. One out. The Mets should have — could have — escaped when Orlando Hudson followed by tapping a grounder to Reed.
Reed fielded the ball perfectly. He got into throwing position immediately. However, “looking back on it now, I probably just rushed,” he said.
His throw home sailed wide of the catcher, Ramon Castro, and Loretta scored. Dodgers 3, Mets 2. A premonition of these fill-ins being exposed that Manuel had offered a few hours before Monday’s game had come true.
“I haven’t practiced that,” Reed said. “But I should be able to do that. I pride myself — wherever he sticks me, I can make plays.”
The Mets have not hit a home run in five straight games, which would be an irrelevant piece of trivia if not for the fact that the last two nights have proven that they actually could really have used one. Their situational hitting skills must have played hooky Sunday, skipped the short flight from San Francisco and — even aware that Delgado is out indefinitely — made little effort to arrive in time for Monday’s game.
In 48 hours, Manuel has seen a dramatic shift in the tenor of his team’s offense. In winning the opening three games in San Francisco, the Mets went 19-for-47 with runners in scoring position, slapping singles and lining doubles all over the field. In losing their last two games, the Mets have gone 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position, magnifying what has been a season-long dearth of power. The Mets entered Monday with 26 homers, ahead of only Pittsburgh, Oakland and San Francisco.
“I think you need a little power here and there, I think you need that, but I think it’s dangerous to ask the group that’s not sluggers to be sluggers,” Manuel said. “I think we have to continue to preach the type of baseball that we played in San Francisco, because we have the ability to play that type of game.”
The lone bright spot for the Mets was Tim Redding, who in his debut showed that he could be a capable fifth starter. After giving up two runs in the first, Redding shut down the Dodgers, allowing just two hits over six innings in emerging with a quality start. The Mets evened the score at 2-2 in the eighth, on an infield single by Gary Sheffield. Four Mets relievers combined to hold the Dodgers scoreless until the 11th, when, as Redding said, in beautifully understated fashion, “a couple things didn’t go our way tonight.”
If only it were a couple. Then Manuel may not have needed a rest.
“It was a bad game on our part,” Manuel said. “Very bad.”Source: NY Times
Denver Nuggets looking to redeem themselves
Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesThe Nuggets' cast of characters is looking for redemption. Will they find it against the Lakers?If you're already suffering from "Lost" withdrawal and worried that you can't last until the new season begins in 2010, the Western Conference finals are the perfect fill-in. The Denver Nuggets couldn't be more like "Lost" if they took chartered flights on Oceanic Airlines.
You want characters seeking to atone for their mistakes and reinvent their lives? Check the Nuggets.
"This is a team of redemption," Nuggets coach George Karl says. "This is not 1, 2, 3, this is 5, 6, 7 stories of redemption."
It's a group of castoffs, the unwanted. Carmelo Anthony is the only member of the team who stepped on stage with a Denver Nuggets cap to shake David Stern's hand on draft night -- and even he has been haunted by first-round playoff failures, perpetually running to catch up with his more accomplished mates in the class of 2003.
Everyone else is some other team's leftovers.
It's easy to draw the comparisons between the Nuggets and the "Lost" characters.
Kenyon Martin: Sawyer, the reformed bad boy who is now a team player. Karl gave Martin the boot in the middle of a playoff series three years ago. This year, Martin stepped up at a preseason meeting to apologize for his problematic past and commit to better behavior.
Chris Andersen: Charlie, the former drug abuser turned hero. After a two-year ban for violating the NBA's substance-abuse policy, Andersen is back to doing all the little things Denver needs, like rebounding and blocking shots. Not quite as valiant as sacrificing his life in an underwater communication station, but he gives the Nuggets everything he has on the court.
Dahntay Jones: Sayid, the defensive specialist, the type of guy you'd want to fix a radio, "coerce" information from someone, or guard Kobe Bryant.
Nene: Rose, a cancer survivor and steadying influence.
J.R. Smith: Kate, knows how to shoot, can definitely heat things up, but also a threat to burn down your house.
Allen Iverson: Michael, tended to do things on his own, and now isn't around anymore.
Carmelo is Jack, the leader by default who had to come to grips with his own insufficient ways to become a better person. Part of his growth was his willingness to yield to Chauncey Billups, who is a blend of Desmond and Faraday, newer arrivals on the show who wound up providing critical guidance.
It's not easy to hop on the bus in the middle of the trip and take the wheel. Billups wasn't around for training camp. Then again, he also wasn't there for the Nuggets' string of early exits over the years. While they were losing in the first round, Billups was in Detroit, going to the conference finals six straight years. Make it seven. That's what gave him the credibility.
Nothing about Billups' athletic abilities jumps out at you when you watch him, but talk to players and they'll tell you his hidden asset is his strength. He's just as strong in the huddle and the locker room.
"My whole thing was, I was just going to be me and not worry about taking too much of the responsibility," Billups says. "I was just going to be me. I'm a leader by nature. It pretty much just worked itself out.
"It's tough for some people, but my whole thing was, I know these guys wanted to win. That's one thing I know how to do, is win. I don't do it all the time, but I'm trying to. Walking through a bunch of different situations throughout the season, us getting better throughout the season, my leadership just kind of showed up."
Give Anthony credit, too. Like Jack, he recognized that doing it his way all the time wasn't bringing the desired results. So he was man enough to listen to other ideas.
"It was a matter of me and everybody else putting the ball in [Billups'] hands and saying, 'Do what you've got to do,'" Anthony says. "Everybody bought into him being the point guard, him being our leader."
"Lost" is up to its tiki torches in leaders. Different leaders at different times. Different leaders for different sides. Which brings us to the Nuggets' main leader, George Karl. He's Locke, perhaps the central character on the show.
Karl has found a new path to confidence and serenity, like Locke after he arrived on the island. Karl calls it "my mellowness," and at times he can sound almost Phil Jacksonian when he does things like talk about his team's "quiet happiness."
Karl is partly responsible (assisted by a profane challenge from assistant Tim Grgurich last summer) for the team's more defensive-minded approach this season, which started with an emphasis on D for the first half hour of every practice. Among the payoffs: the Nuggets have forced 16.4 turnovers per game in the postseason, the most of any team.
Karl, like Locke, believes in destiny, one that is set in motion by your beliefs.
"Your spirit, your thoughts, your heart, direct what you become," Karl says.
Destiny versus free will is a question that's as pivotal to this series as it is to "Lost."
"Lost" began as a show about the lives of its characters, but every indication is that the final season will examine how they fit into the grander scheme of the island. They could be nothing more than a version of bowling pins, constantly knocked down and reset (in a new form) for the next frame. There are greater forces at work.
It's hard to go against the machinations the NBA sets in motion. Plenty of players and coaches believe the matchups are preordained. It sure felt that way when the Lakers and Celtics met last season. Can anything overcome the marketing momentum of Lakers and Cavaliers, Kobe and LeBron meeting in the NBA Finals? It might take a nuclear weapon to deter that inevitable matchup. Hmmm...
The Nuggets have played the best basketball in the Western Conference during the playoffs. They've had two slipups, but no complete letdowns the way the Lakers have in their past two road games. The Nuggets unleashed an epic beatdown on the New Orleans Hornets in the first round, equal to the biggest blowout in playoff history. They have an array of inside attackers and defenders in Martin, Nene and Andersen. They have Melo, who will be hard for the Lakers to keep in check. The Lakers' main weapon, Kobe Bryant, has not been his usual franchise-carrying, ultimate closer self in every game.
And yet, playing at home seems to make L.A. big man Pau Gasol tougher and Trevor Ariza and the Lakers' reserves more active. The Lakers do have home-court advantage in this series. There will be no time-traveling to the past to change that outcome.
The tone of a playoff series shifts dramatically whenever a team wins on the road or wins two games in a row.
"My vision is we get the first two swings," Karl says. "We want to open up the window of opportunity for our fans to energize us."
Already there are all sorts of theories floating around the Internet about how "Lost" will turn out. The conference finals have far fewer possibilities. At least not when it comes to Karl's prediction for his team.
"We're going to challenge ourselves to be what we can be, the best we can be," Karl says. "And if someone beats us, I think that's what you'll write: They beat us."
The first episode is Tuesday night (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET). And the best thing about sports is there are no spoilers.
Source: ESPN NBA
Space Pictures
NASA Image Exchange →
Not a collection in itself, the NASA Image Exchange is a search engine that pulls images from across NASA's Web space.
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Dryden Image Gallery →
A collection of images and multimedia on NASA aircraft, aeronautics facilities and research.
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Kennedy Multimedia Gallery →
Images and video from the Kennedy Space Center, including shuttle launches and landing, crew training and satellite launches.
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Great Images in NASA →
A selection of the best and best-known images from a half-century of exploration and discovery.
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Planetary Photojournal →
A vast archive of images from across the Solar System, from the early missions to Mars and Venus to Cassini and Deep Impact.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day →
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured.
Source: Nasa.gov
Mark sanchez Racy Photos
Nu, swine flu? It seems that the H1N1 virus isn't just for Daily News readers anymore!
The closing of St. David's School, on East 89th Street off Fifth Avenue, sent shudders through the tony neighborhood and came as the city locked four more Queens public schools because of increased numbers of kids suffering flu-like ailments.
At this rate of 15 schools in the sticks for every one school in "tony" parts of Manhattan, the News can hope, theoretically, to get 15 times the readers the Post gets off the swine flu story! Seriously, we've talked about this before, but never has the coverage of a story shown so clearly what the difference is in sensibility between the two tabloids. The cover line is a generic "PIG BAD FLU," but the words "Upper East Side" make it into the 18-word lead of the story printed on the front. The inside headline? "FLU FEAR MOVIN' ON UP."
General observations: Does sex sell? Recently I was directed to look at an ad for office space in a fashionable new building that straddles the High Line. A layer was photo-shopped over the building such that the mystical spirit of a giant slut baring her breasts at the reader was superimposed over the entire building. Put a year's rent in this building's brassiere, the ad seemed to say, and the building will show you its tits, possibly more. We don't have the energy to talk about the Post spending part of its cover lauding the editorial decisions of other publications (yesterday, an early version of the cover was replaced with a pick-up story about a pilot in a jetpack stolen from a U.K. paper). You can't help but wonder why the Post didn't do its own story about how Mark Sanchez should trade in his shoulderpads for kneepads. Normally, we are inclined to reward the Post for its shamelessness, but this is too much. And the Post is myopic today in its treatment of the swine flu story. It's just stretching things too far to lead with the fact that swine flu has reached an Upper East Side school instead of asking the question whether the death of an infant from causes being investigated by the C.D.C. as possible swine flu is a watershed in the pandemic's effect on New York. Confidential to Col Allan: Sometimes, it's O.K. to care.
Meanwhile, the News ought to hire a movie reviewer who has something more to say besides "I saw this movie already!" if they are going to try to sell papers by sticking movie stills on their covers.
Source: Observer.com
John Wall has made decision
The recruitment has gone on long enough that most people are familiar with the various permutations behind the scenes, but in case you're catching up, a quick primer: Wall is the best recruit in the country. He considered leaving for the NBA draft on a fifth-year-senior technicality before deciding to attend college. He eventually narrowed his list of schools -- which could have included every school in the world, had he wanted -- to Duke, Miami and Kentucky. Miami would have been his show and he liked the campus. Duke needed a point guard right away and his handler, AAU coach Brian Clifton, liked the idea of Duke's sheltered team environment keeping out the hangers-on. (Oh, and Wall was arrested for breaking and entering on May 4, but it doesn't seem to have affected his recruitment in the slightest.)
Kentucky, on the other hand, was at a disadvantage: John Calipari just signed another top point guard, Eric Bledsoe, to go along with the returning DeAndre Liggins. Would Wall need to compete for time? Would that affect his decision? Did Kentucky think it was out of the Wall sweepstakes, and instead signed Bledsoe as insurance?
Turns out, you never underestimate Calipari when it comes to recruiting. He is unstoppable. It's frightening, really. After convincing Patrick Patterson to forgo the NBA -- despite an outside chance of being a lottery pick -- Calipari will bring in four five-star recruits to next year's Kentucky team, including the best player in the country, a guy who plays a little bit like a smoother, ambidextrous Derrick Rose. Kentucky was already going to be good next year. This is terrifying. Not just for other teams; nay, for humanity at large. Calipari, through whatever means, is apparently capable of convincing young men that Memphis and Lexington are truly desirable places to spend a year before heading to the NBA. Let's pray he sticks to basketball. That elevated form of persuasion is not to be trifled with.
Update: In the interest of providing credit where due, SLAM broke the story at like 1 a.m. this morning. Excellent work, SLAM. (For real, that magazine rules.)
Source: Yahoo Sports
klippel trenaunay syndrome Carla Sosenko
Carla Sosenko, a well known writer and Associate Copy Chief at Bauer Publishing, has revealed that she is suffering from Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome.
Carla has written abour her condition in an essay in Marie Claire and also on her blog. She says “my right leg is larger than my left and trails slightly when I walk; my back is an uneven, fatty slab with a dense lump above the waist; and a gigantic port-wine stain reaches around my broad torso and down toward my right thigh.”
Medically, Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome (KTS) is a congenital circulatory disorder characterized by hemangiomas (abnormal benign growths on the skin consisting of masses of blood vessels), arteriovenous abscesses, and varicose veins, usually on the limbs. The affected limbs may be enlarged and warmer than normal. Fused toes or fingers, or extra toes or fingers, may be present. Bleeding may occur, often as a result of a rectal or vaginal tumor. The cause of the disorder is unknown.
The even worse part is “There is no cure for KTS. Treatment is symptomatic. KTS is a progressive disorder, and complications may be life-threatening.”
Check out the amazing story here and note the remarkable ending “My story doesn’t begin or end with K-T. I have a full social calendar, a job that I love, excellent clothes, a teeny-tiny nose ring, a filthy mouth, and a badass triangle pose. Most important, I have family and friends who care about me.”
Source: www.2-xiaoshuo.com/newsMonday
Ethan Zohn Diagnosed with Cancer
Source: US Magazine.com
Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn has been diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin's disease, Usmagazine.com has confirmed.
The 35-year-old reality star -- who began chemotherapy Friday to treat the rare CD20-positive Hodgkin's -- received the diagnosis months after complications arose from what was believed to be a skin condition.
Doctors found a swollen lymph node under his left clavicle and a subsequent CT scan revealed a mass on the left side of his chest.
A form of cancer that can yield a 90 percent success rate, Hodgkin's disease affects the body's lymphatic system. Five percent of Hodgkin's patients suffer from the same strain as Zohn. Treatment includes an intense three-months of chemotherapy.
Currently dating Suvivor: Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, Zohn travels the world with his Grassroots Soccer charity as an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness and funding.
Pregnant at 66
Source: Times Online UK
A BUSINESSWOMAN set to become Britain’s oldest mother at 66 has left it too late to be giving birth, according to the medical world’s leading advocate for motherhood in old age.
When she gives birth next month, Elizabeth Munro will beat the previous British record for having a baby, held by Patricia Rashbrook, who became a mother at the age of 62. It is is thought that Munro became pregnant by undergoing IVF with donor eggs, like Rashbrook before her.
The news of Munro’s pregnancy reignited medical debate on the issue of the maximum age at which it is ethical to have a child.
Yesterday the man considered one of the fiercest proponents of a woman’s right to have a baby at any age spoke out against the pregnancy. Professor Severino Antinori, who treated Rashbrook and has pioneered the IVF techniques involved in impregnating older women, said Munro, who will be 67 in July, was too old.
“I am shocked by the idea of a 66-year-old woman giving birth,” he said. “I respect the choice medically but I think anything over 63 is risky because you cannot guarantee the child will have a loving mother or family.
“It is possible to give a child to the mother up to the age of 83 but it is medically criminal to do this because the likelihood is that after a year or two the child will lose his mum and suffer from psychological problems.”
Munro, who is understood never to have given birth before, is set to have her baby by caesarean section at an NHS hospital next month. She was given her IVF treatment at a clinic in Ukraine.
Antinori, who claims to have treated 3,000 women aged from 49 to 63 with IVF, said: “Ukraine is one of the worst places; they don’t do tests there. They’re pretty adventurous, to say the least.”
Laurence Shaw, a consultant in reproductive medicine, said a mother’s life expectancy could be cut short for reasons that had nothing to do with old age: “The truth is anybody might not survive to raise their children.
“Now life expectancy is 80, so is it not reasonable for someone to go through a process of fitness screening to decide whether they should have a child?”
Frank Caruso not Charged
Bollea, child of Terry Bollea - known worldwide as fighter Hulk Hogan - was charged in an auto wreck that left John Graziano with brain damage.
Bollea's solicitor, Kevin Hayslett, reported to Clearwater police that Frank Caruso had left Hayslett and Hogan emails and calls that Hogan thought constituted convincing threats to Hogan and Hogan's family, the case file asserts. A Clearwater police officer heard a message left on Hayslett's answerphone. The caller was annoyed about the wounds Graziano suffered, as well as what the caller assumed was a light jail sentence given Bollea after the wreck. Bollea was handed 8 months in prison after pleading no contest to a charge of reckless driving concerning serious bodily injury.
The officer failed to hear the caller make a direct threat to Hayslett, but spotted the caller went out of his way to let it be known that he knew the name of Hayslett's wife and also discussed Hayslett's kids. Some of the calls made to Hogan have been broadcast by radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge. In the recordings played on Clem's show, the caller is heard insulting Hogan ; his estranged better half, Linda ; the couple's girl, Brooke ; and Nick Bollea. The caller speaks with bravado - "It's over," "You disrespected the incorrect person," "You ain't nothing" - but no specific threats of violence are heard on the tapes played on a show in June. A charge of hectoring or obscene phone calls was referred to the Pinellas-Pasco State lawyer's Office, but the office selected not to file charges against Caruso. Hayslett was not upset about that call. Caruso "appears to be auditioning for the Sopranos but I never viewed it as a significant threat," the lawyer claimed. Caruso is the boy of Debbie Graziano from her first wedding, the case file asserts. Linda Bollea told investigators Debbie told her that she left Caruso's dad due to physical abuse, and that Frank Caruso was a violent person who could not hold a job. Investigators determined he had been charged with abduction and battery in 1997 in Florida, and with stalking and terrorist threats in California in 2003, the case files claims. Clearwater police could find no record the threats to Hulk Hogan came from Caruso's telephone, but they observed he might have used his mum's. And they could not find Caruso, either. He could be living in California, the case file announces. Among the people that said the voice on the messages was Frank Caruso's was Ed Graziano, Caruso's step-father. Ed Graziano has been charged with making an attempt to hire an executioner to kill Debbie Graziano, and is being held without bail at the Pinellas county lock up.Cif Southern Section
Playoffs start on Tues. .
Follow the softball and baseball groups from the Foothill League on Facebook. In high school volleyball, 4 groups from the Foothill League were in the 1st round of the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs. Only 1 will continue to the second round. Valencia swept a scrappy Simi Valley team and will play El Modena in the second round on Tues. night. El Modena is the Century League champ and beat Arcadia in the 1st round of playoffs. Hart was swept by Westlake and Saugus lost to Saddleback in 4 games in the 1st round. Ravine lost to Brentwood in 4 games.Tony Kornheiser no longer on Monday Night Football
Play-by-play man Mike Tirico and analyst Ron Jaworski are staying in the booth. "I am fully thankful for the MNF opportunity that I actually enjoyed the last 3 seasons," Kornheiser asserted in an announcement. "I feel we got better yearly. My fear of planes is mythical and sadly true.
When I looked at the approaching schedule it was the ideal tempest that would've often moved me from the bus to the air.
I kept taking a look at the schedule the past month and wanted to get a way to noiselessly extricate myself. If I could handpick a replacement of a soccer guy, I might cast a net and drag in Jon Gruden." Kornheiser will remain as the co-host of Pardon the Interruption for ESPN. Gruden, fired by the Bucs after last season, was a researcher with the NFL Network in the NFL draft. "Jon is an example of the best soccer minds in the game, he's got a natural capability to speak that data and he brings great passion everything you need in an analyst, ESPN VP Norby Williamson claimed in an announcement. Mixing Mike, one of the top play-by-play commentators in TV and radio, and Jaws, potentially the NFL's best X's and O's researcher, with Jon, a mega Bowl-winning head coach, will make a must-watch Mon. Night Football booth in the 40th season and in the years ahead.".Melissa Rycroft with Playboy Magazine?
"We're going to go out and have fun." Check out DWTS members' extraordinary makeovers Rycroft, who was famously dumped by Bachelor Jason Mesnick, announces she is just excited at how far she's come. "Eleven weeks back, I was sitting in my cubicle doing Power Point presentations," she is saying. "I don't think that anyone might have scripted that I was going to be here." "I can't fathom now if I win," she is going on.
"I do not know what is going on to occur to me if I win the prize. I mean, there is a place on my mantel for it!" See the wackiest DWTS outfits in history Her post-DWTS plans? "I'm going on vacation!" she asserts. "I'm turning off my cell telephone. I am not turning on the radio or the Television , but I go back home [to Dallas] for a little bit." Rycroft, who's now dating Tye Strickland, also claims she never thinks of ex Mesnick.
Announces the dancer, "I know I am chuffed in my life and my situation.".Sunday
President Obama in the middle of a storm
Source: Yahoo News
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – President Barack Obama strode head-on Sunday into the stormy abortion debate and told graduates at America's leading Roman Catholic university that both sides must stop demonizing one another.
Obama acknowledged that "no matter how much we want to fudge it ... the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable." But he still implored the University of Notre Dame's graduating class and all in the U.S. to stop "reducing those with differing views to caricature. Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It's a way of life that always has been the Notre Dame tradition."
One of the noisiest controversies of his young presidency flared after Obama, who supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare, was invited to speak at the school and receive an honorary degree. "I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away," the president said.
The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, introduced Obama and praised the president for not being "someone who stops talking to those who disagree with him." Jenkins said too little attention has been paid to Obama's decision to speak at an institution that opposes his abortion policy.
Ahead of Obama's address, at least 27 people were arrested on trespassing charges. They included Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as "Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. She now opposes abortion and joined more than 300 anti-abortion demonstrators at the school's front gate.
More than half held signs, some declaring "Shame on Notre Dame" and "Stop Abortion Now" to express their anger over Notre Dame's invitation to Obama.
Obama entered the arena to thunderous applause and a standing ovation from many in the crowd of 12,000. But as the president began his commencement address, at least three protesters interrupted it. One yelled, "Stop killing our children."
The graduates responded by chanting "Yes we can," the slogan that became synonymous with Obama's presidential campaign. Obama seem unfazed, saying Americans must be able to deal with things that make them "uncomfortable."
The president ceded no ground. But he said those on each side of the debate "can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.
"So let's work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term."
He said he favored "a sensible conscience clause" that would give anti-abortion health care providers the right to refuse to perform the procedure.
Before taking on the abortion issue, Obama told graduates they were part of a "generation that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind even before this crisis hit an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and diligence, and an honest day's work."
Obama's appearance appeared additionally complicated by fresh polls that show Americans' attitudes on the issue have shifted toward the anti-abortion position.
A Gallup survey released Friday found that 51 percent of those questioned call themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42 percent "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as "pro-life" since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
Just a year ago, Gallup found that 50 percent termed themselves "pro-choice" while 44 percent described their beliefs as "pro-life."
A Pew Research Center survey found public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.
Pew said its latest polling found that 28 percent said abortion should be legal in most cases while 18 percent said all cases. Forty-four percent of those surveyed were opposed to abortion in most or all cases.
Gallup said shifting opinions lay almost entirely with Republicans or independents who lean Republican, with opposition among those groups rising over the past year from 60 percent to 70 percent.
The abortion issue also is front and center as Obama considers potential nominees to fill the vacancy left by the retirement this summer of Justice David Souter. Abortion opponents are determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned, but only four court justices out of nine have backed that position. Souter has opposed arguments for overturning the ruling.
The Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations hold that abortion and the use of embryos for stem cell research amount to the destruction of human life, are morally wrong and should be banned by law.
The contrary argument holds that women have the right to terminate a pregnancy and that unused embryos created outside the womb for couples who cannot otherwise conceive should be available for stem cell research. Such research holds the promise of finding treatments for debilitating ailments.
Within weeks of taking office in January, Obama eased an executive order by President George W. Bush that limited research to a small number of stem-cell strains.
On the Notre Dame campus, members of an abortion rights group also protested while a plane pulling an anti-abortion banner circled above. Tara Makowski of Seattle, who received a master's degree Saturday from the school, said she was dismayed by the way Notre Dame was being characterized.
"Seeing us being portrayed nationally as radical conservative has been really tough," she said. "People need to realize that the majority of students and faculty" favored Obama's visit.
But Bishop John D'Arcy, whose diocese includes Notre Dame, skipped commencement. He attended an open-air Mass and rally. He said he wanted to support the students protesting Obama's speech.
"All of you are heroes, and I'm proud to stand with you," he said.
Obama was the ninth president to receive an honorary degree from Notre Dame and sixth sitting president to address graduates. Other commencement speakers have included Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Back in Washington, Vice President Joe Biden attended Mass with his family at Holy Trinity Church, where a granddaughter received her first Communion.
Vanessa Rousso Wins EPT Highroller Tournament
Top US poker pro Vanessa Rousso earned herself a cool Euro 720 000 for an investment of a Euro 25 000 buy-in Sunday when she defeated fellow American Randy Dorfman in an exciting heads up to decide the winner of the PokerStars.com EPT Monte Carlo High Roller Championship in Monaco.
It's the second big finish for Rousso in as many months - she was recently runner-up in the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Facing a field of 78 that included some of the toughest and most competitive players in the business, Rousso prevailed to enter a final table comprised of Dorfman, TonyG of Lithuania, Florian Langmann from Germany, Australians David Eldar and David Steicke, the UK's Andrew Feldman and William Thorsen of Sweden.
The final game was off to a flying start, with Steicke sent to the rail in only a few hands, and Feldman following barely 20 minutes later after a clash with the redoubtable TonyG. Both Eldar and Thorson followed soon after following a run-in with Dorfman, which left the American in the chip lead on a suddenly much depleted final table.
Langmann was next to go, clearing the way for Rousso, Dorfman and TonyG to battle it out for the heads up honours, a struggle that took several levels to decide but ended when Dorfman saw off TonyG in third place for Euro 257 000.
Heads up, Dorfman had a 600 000 chip lead on Rousso, holding 2.4 million in chips. He used it to good effect, whittling away at Rousso's chipstack for the next hour or more. Then Rousso gained the ascendency with a series of all-ins and double ups which brought the pair to an even footing, from whence Rousso steadily took control with disciplined and skilled poker playing over the next 40 minutes until she eliminated Dorfman after a total final table playing time of just over 11 hours.
Dorfman's reward for a hard-fought second place was Euro 434 000.
Randall Terry leads protests at Notre Dame
Source: ABC News
Randall Terry, the outspoken, sometimes in-your-face former head of Operation Rescue is back in the limelight, helping lead a six-week-old anti-abortion protest against school officials at the University of Notre Dame.
At issue for Terry is the decision by Notre Dame president the Rev. John I. Jenkins to allow President Obama to speak at Sunday's graduation.
"Notre Dame is the premier institution of the Catholic church in the western hemisphere. Obama is the premier promoter of child killing in the western hemisphere. When you have that kind of epic thing going on, it demands a response from the whole Catholic world," Terry told ABCNews' John Hendren in an interview outside Notre Dame.
The one-time Pentecostal lay missionary spent much of the 1980s leading anti-abortion activists in large scale acts of civil disobedience -- including blocking entrances to family planning and medical facilities where abortions were performed. His protests garnered national media attention and frequently landed him in jail. In the years since he left Operation Rescue, he's run for public office twice -- and lost twice.
He converted to the Catholic faith a few years ago and has seized on the Obama commencement address at the famed Catholic university as a way of pushing the abortion issue back to the forefront of public consciousness.
"Abortion is an intrinsic evil. It is a higher crime than any other crime that we have on the face of the earth," Terry said, as his fellow protestors surrounded him outside of the main gate of Notre Dame, praying loudly. "We want our bishops to start acting like apostles. If ... bishops really stood up and said, ‘This isn’t gonna happen,’ we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. The reason why we have President Obama is because our bishops do not rightly express their duty to defend life."
Notre Dame campus police have stopped Terry and other protestors from taking their message on campus. The 50-year-old Terry has already been arrested for trespassing once during the protest, as has former presidential candidate and activist Alan Keyes.
Though the numbers of protestors have been relatively small, Terry predicted there will be hundreds more protestors during the Obama speech. And possibly hundreds more arrests.
"Let's start filling the jails now," Terry said, "so we can have a witness that reaches to the world against this treachery and this betrayal."
L.A. Lakers What if they Lose
Source: ESPN NBA
LOS ANGELES -- It gets late early in the NBA playoffs, to paraphrase Yogi Berra. A Los Angeles Lakers team that seemed destined for the NBA Finals has already arrived at its day of reckoning here in the second round. Their date with destiny showed up ahead of schedule, while the Lakers were still upstairs deciding what to wear.
Their stature has suffered from their inability to put away the injury-depleted Houston Rockets, but that won't be an issue if they win Game 7. This isn't the Bowl Championship Series. Titles aren't awarded based on perception or rankings. Win and they're on to the Western Conference finals, and even if they won't be considered the same prohibitive favorites over the Denver Nuggets as they might have been a week ago, they'll still have the home-court advantage they earned over the course of the regular season. That hasn't gone away.
What could change is the way we think of Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson if the Lakers lose. That's really what's at stake here. As much as Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum have been questioned during these playoffs, ultimately they are not the ones being judged in historical terms, competing against the legacies of Michael Jordan and Red Auerbach.
If Kobe wants to be mentioned in the same sentence as Jordan he needs to move off his current total of three championships and get to Jordan's six. And in order to get closer to Jordan this season, he'll need to move away from his recent history of subpar performances when the Lakers are facing elimination. In his past five elimination games -- two against Boston in last year's NBA Finals, against Phoenix in the first round in 2007 and 2006 and against Detroit in the 2004 NBA Finals -- Bryant shot 38 percent (43-for-113) and averaged 25.8 points. He exceeded his career playoff average of 25 points only once in those five games, when he scored 34 points in Game 5 against Phoenix in 2007. But it took him 33 shots to get them. And after the game, he demanded changes. And a few days after that, he demanded a trade.
Could another early playoff exit lead to another tumultuous summer? Well, Bryant can opt out of his contract after the season. Even though he hasn't uttered a single word about wanting to explore his options, nor is there any rumbling in the always-gossipy NBA about him heading elsewhere, it's possible that this could be Kobe's last game in a Lakers uniform. Not that Game 7s need any more drama.
Kobe could not only stay behind Jordan, he could lose ground to LeBron James. They're already tied in their MVP trophy collection. If Kobe loses, he will be powerless to stop James in the championship race as well, with James pursuing ring No. 1. Oh, and all of those Kobe vs. LeBron commercials? They'd be as useless as Reebok's Dan and Dave ads.
Then there's Jackson. He always wears his most recent championship ring during the playoffs to remind his team what's at stake, only his most recent ring isn't so recent anymore. It's from 2002 and might be starting to oxidize. Jackson needs one more ring to break his tie with Auerbach and stand alone with 10 championships.
Jackson's recent trend has been toward the kind of history he doesn't want to make. His 2004 Lakers were his first (and still only) team to lose a playoff series in which it had home-court advantage. In 2006, his Lakers became only the eighth NBA team to lose a series after leading 3-1.
His stoic refusal to call timeouts and insistence on resting his stars drives fans crazy enough when he wins. If he loses he'll get roasted for his loyalty to Fisher and his quick hook with Bynum in these playoffs. And he might not have the desire to return. At 63, with an assortment of hip, back and foot injuries over the years, he might not want to travel around the country and sit in his special high, cushioned coach's seat anymore. He hasn't committed to coaching next season. And would it be worth it to the Lakers to keep paying him $12 million a year if he isn't delivering championships?
These are questions that don't have to be asked right now if the Lakers win Game 7. They're 48 minutes from more time, less big-picture concern. They do have home court, which favors the home team eight out of 10 times in Game 7. They beat the Rockets by 40 points the last time they played there.
If the Lakers' vulnerabilities have been exposed, Houston has shown its share of weaknesses as well.
When it comes to passing, the Rockets are more Joey Harrington than Peyton Manning. They were 22nd in the league in assists during the regular season. And they won't be getting any taller before tipoff, if the Lakers ever do decide to exploit their height advantage.
The Lakers can still win this series and still win a championship. Matchups matter more than momentum, and the Lakers went 7-1 against the Nuggets, Cavaliers and Celtics this season. They just have to get there first.
The two paths beyond are simple. Favorable matchups versus uncomfortable questions. The last time the Lakers played a Game 7 at Staples Center was the epic fourth-quarter comeback against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2000. And this is the most important single game for the franchise since then. In 2000, the mini-dynasty almost ended before it began. If the Lakers lost that year, the Shaq-Kobe tandem might never have lasted long enough to win a championship. The Lakers could put up with the inner tension as long they were winning; having the memory of playoff failure hanging over their heads could have turned the next inevitable spat into a roster shakeup.
This time it's not a matter of clashing egos. The team gets along well enough; there's a single leader established. It's time for him to show that he, in and of himself, is enough. He's done it before. Bryant led the Lakers in every major statistical category in that 2000 Game 7, but it was Shaq who wound up with the Finals MVP trophy, the one prize that has eluded Kobe.
In Game 7, we'll get a better idea if this solo championship dream will happen for Kobe, or, from the Lakers' perspective, if it will ever happen with him.
Alltell taken over by AT&T
Just in time for Christmas 2010, Verizon Wireless service in Pratt, surrounding counties and most of western Kansas will be switching to AT&T.
A definitive agreement was reached May 8 for AT&T to purchase Verizon Wireless assets for $2.35 billion in cash.
The transaction is not finalized and will have to have regulatory approval before the purchase is complete, said Kerry Hibbs, AT&T spokesman.
The final approval and acquisition should be complete by the end of 2009 with the conversion to AT&T service expected to take until the end of 2010, Hibbs said.
Verizon purchased Alltel earlier this year. The AT&T purchase will affect 1.5 million Alltel customers in 79 service areas across 18 states including practically the entire western half of Kansas including Pratt, Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Kiowa and Stafford Counties.
“This will have a big impact on western Kansas,” Hibbs said.
It is unknown at this time the order counties and towns will switch over to AT&T service.
As part of Verizon/Alltel purchase agreement Verizon is required to sell 79 Alltel services areas to meet regulatory approvals.
AT&T won the bid for those markets and once the purchase is approved will make a change over in service that is not expected to take more than 12 months, Hibbs said.
The change over is expected to require a capital investment of $400 million.
It is too early to determine what impact, if any, the change over will have on customer’s bills but AT&T has a wide variety of service plans, Hibbs said.
When the AT&T system is in place the new customers, mostly rural, will have access to the “world’s fastest 3G network” for smartphones, including iPhones, free Wi-Fi service at over 100,000 hotspots, retail stores, hotels, airports and other locations around the planet and be able to take advantage of AT&T rollover minutes, Hibbs said.
Customers don’t need to run out and pick up an iPhone just yet but subscribers will be able to enjoy largest 3G network in the nation. The worldwide network features high-speed data transmission for sending pictures, graphics and data.
It will be some time before customers have any decisions to make. When the time comes they will be notified.
“As we get closer to something actually happening, Alltel customers will get notification from AT&T,” Hibbs said. “The change over will be seamless for customers. There’s nothing the consumer has to do or worry about.”
The states affected by the acquisition are Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
Economic slump worries businesses in Wisconsin Dells
Source: jsonline.com
Wisconsin Dells - Usually, by mid-May, half of the Sandrift Resort's rooms are booked for the summer.
But with a recession pushing the unemployment rate sharply higher, just over 20% of the small motel's rooms are reserved for the season. Sandrift owners Linda and Chris Allessi are worried.
"A lot has to do with the economy," Linda Allessi said. "People are afraid. They're losing their jobs."
The 13-room Sandrift was among the businesses hardest hit when rain-swollen Lake Delton suddenly drained last June, leaving a large mud pit. The dammed lake has since been restored.
Many hotels and other Dells-area businesses, including the large indoor water park resorts, weren't directly affected by the lake's disappearance. Travelers to the Dells spent $1.07 billion in 2008, a 3.9% increase, according to a study commissioned by the Wisconsin Dells Visitor & Convention Bureau. That was about half of the 8% increase in 2007 - but it was an increase.
Unfortunately, that Lake Delton disaster was followed by a larger calamity: the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. That's causing people nationwide to cut back on spending, including discretionary items such as vacations. It's showing up in the Dells, with some motels reporting large drops in room reservations.
The 60-room Cliffside Resort, overlooking Lake Delton, normally is full on Memorial Day weekend. This year, only 15 rooms were reserved for Memorial Day weekend as of Thursday, said Sheila Zink, who was staffing the front desk.
At the 30-room Lakeside Motel, bookings are behind their normal pace, said owner Christine Nowak.
"It's kind of scary, to be honest," Nowak said. "Hopefully, people will come."
Great Wolf affected?
Some larger hotels could be affected as well.
Great Wolf Resorts Inc., which operates 12 water park resorts throughout the country, including a 385-room resort in the Dells area, said in its latest quarterly report that a sustained decline in discretionary spending could hurt the Madison-based company's financial results.
Company executives think more people are driving, instead of flying, to vacation spots to save money. That trend benefits Great Wolf, they say.
But the quarterly report also said the Wisconsin Dells property has been significantly affected by the "abundance" of competing indoor water park resorts in that area. The company in April disclosed an agreement to sell its 30% share in the Dells resort and another Great Wolf resort, near Sandusky, Ohio, to its partner in those two properties for $6 million.
In fighting for customers, Dells tourism operators have a message: Lake Delton is back.
"Yes, we do have a lake. Yes, we do have fish," Nowak said.
Indeed, on a visit last week, the sunlight glistening off the water's surface was a reminder of Lake Delton's beauty before it drained in just hours on June 9, rushing through a breach around the dam, and pouring into the Wisconsin River.
News coverage of that event, particularly "sensationalized" stories by cable TV networks, created a false perception that much of the Dells area was affected, said Tom Diehl, president of Tommy Bartlett Inc. Diehl, who's also a Lake Delton Village Board trustee, and other local leaders immediately began working on a lake restoration plan. The visitors bureau mounted an emergency ad campaign to let vacationers know that most Dells hotels and tourism spots were not affected by the lake's disappearance.
Nowak is among those who praised Diehl for responding quickly.
Other business operators pitched in, including Nick Laskaris, owner of Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park. Laskaris provided small lakefront hotel operators with free Mt. Olympus tickets to give to their guests to help drum up business, Chris Allessi said.
Businesses bounced back
Many Dells businesses bounced back, particularly in August.
"We had to educate people," said Todd Nelson, operator of the 750-room Kalahari resort and water park. "They thought the Dells was underwater."
At Wilderness Territory, which includes Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort, Wilderness on the Lake and Glacier Canyon Lodge, 2008 turned out to be a good year, said Joe Eck, general manager. Wilderness on the Lake, which sits on Lake Delton, lost money, Eck said. But that 108-room property is just a small part of Wilderness Territory's overall operations, which total 1,158 rooms.
Businesses that rely heavily on Lake Delton weren't as fortunate.
Lakeside Motel's revenue plunged 70%, forcing Nowak to dip into her retirement savings to keep the business afloat.
The Tommy Bartlett Show, one of the area's largest tourism draws, canceled its signature water-ski act, while adding more stage acts. People stayed away in droves, and the business finished 2008 with a loss of more than $2 million, Diehl said.
Lake Delton Water Sports, which rents pontoons, fishing boats and other watercraft, saw its revenue decline by 55%, said co-owner Kathy Zowin. With Lake Delton gone, Zowin and her husband, Steve, added boats to their operation on nearby Mirror Lake and also opened a new outlet at Castle Rock Lake, a 40-minute drive from the Dells.
Kathy Zowin feels optimistic about the summer. But she's a bit nervous about the economy, and how it might affect vacation plans.
"It doesn't make you feel real secure," Zowin said.
At Noah's Ark Water Park, reservations are running even with last year, said co-owner Tim Gantz. The water park is offering discount advance tickets through 380 Kwik Trip convenience stores in Wisconsin and eastern Iowa to spark sales. It's the biggest such promotion ever done by Noah's Ark, Gantz said.
Running ahead
Nelson and Eck both said summer bookings are so far running ahead of last season at Kalahari and Wilderness Territory. The 300-room Hotel Rome, part of Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park, is almost completely booked for Memorial Day weekend, Laskaris said.
"I think there's just a real buzz," Eck said. "Guests want to come back and see this lake that was built in 11 months."
At the 74-room Baker's Sunset Bay Resort, bookings are up about 5%, said owner Dawn Baker. She's looking forward to bouncing back from last summer's 40% decline in business.
"We never really realized how beautiful the lake was until it was gone," Baker said.
At Tommy Barlett, business can't go anywhere but up from the lost summer of 2008, Diehl said.
The overall Dells area, positioned within a relatively short drive of Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis, has weathered past recessions, he said.
"People in tough times, and even with higher gas prices, take shorter trips," Diehl said.
That's what the Allessis, at Sandrift Resort, are hoping. Their business fell by 79% last year, so they're selling a nearby lake condo and other assets to raise cash.
"Our problem is survival," Chris Allessi said. "If we have another bad year, I don't know what we're going to do. You can only sell so much."
