Pittsburgh Steelers Receiver Hines Ward Arrested for DUI

(ATLANTA) -- Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward, 35, is known for being one of the most well-respected players in the NFL, a reigning Dancing with the Stars champion, and most recently, one of the latest to be arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

The former Super Bowl MVP was arrested early Saturday in suburban Atlanta at 3:41 a.m., according to officials.


He was released from the DeKalb County jail on $1,300 bond.

Jeter Reaches 3,000 Hits With Home Run

Suzy Allman for The New York Times

With his teammates cheering, Derek Jeter runs the bases after hitting his 3,000th hit -- a solo home run -- in the third inning.  Watch it here!



By TYLER KEPNER

Published: July 9, 2011

Derek Jeter became the 28th player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits on Saturday, with a home run in the third inning at Yankee Stadium off the Tampa Bay Rays’ David Price. In doing so, Jeter became the first player in the Yankees’ storied history to reach the hallowed number. 
Jeter is the active leader in hits and the first player to collect his 3,000th since Craig Biggio of Houston in 2007. He is also the first to achieve the milestone at Yankee Stadium, old or new, and the fourth youngest player to do it. Only Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount joined the club at a younger age than Jeter, who turned 37 on June 26.
Jeter accomplished it all without playing anywhere but shortstop, the most physically demanding position on the field besides catcher. Only three other players, Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken Jr. and Yount, have recorded 3,000 hits while playing most of their careers at shortstop.
Like Ripken and Yount, Jeter has never won a batting title. But he has twice been the runner-up, churning out hits at a rate few have ever matched. Jeter has seven 200-hit seasons, and 10 with at least 190. Only Pete Rose and Cobb, who rank first and second on the career hits list, have more 190-hit seasons.
Jeter’s pace has slowed the last two seasons. In 2010 he hit .270, the lowest average of his career and a rare bit of bad timing. The sharp drop in performance did not stop Jeter from getting a three-year, $51 million contract, but the Yankees gave it grudgingly, publicly questioning his skills and challenging him to explore free agency.
Jeter tried an adjustment in the off-season and during spring training, eliminating his stride to give himself more time to react to the pitch. But he abandoned it soon after the season started, reverting to his old mechanics, without his old results.
After a two-hit game in Cleveland on Wednesday lifted his average to .257, Jeter — a .314 career hitter before this season — acknowledged that the scrutiny of his struggles had taken some fun from the chase for 3,000. He has little experience with bad press; few athletes in his era have received such overwhelmingly positive coverage in their careers.
“It’s kind of hard to enjoy it when there’s a lot of negativity that’s out there,” Jeter said. “Hopefully, I might be able to enjoy it the next few days.”
The Cleveland series ended with Jeter needing three hits for 3,000, and the Yankees headed back to the Bronx. Jeter closed the old Yankee Stadium with a stirring speech to the crowd in 2008, and helped christen the new version with a championship in 2009.
He also passed Lou Gehrig that season for the franchise record in hits, with 2,722. It was a stirring moment, even if it had little resonance outside Yankee Stadium. With 3,000 hits, Jeter has matched a revered number in the game’s history, and left an indelible mark.

NEWS: Liftoff! Atlantis Blasts Off on Final Flight

Atlantis Shuttle Launch: Big Pic

July 9, 2011 -- At 11:29 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 8, 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis lit its rockets and roared into space. Four astronauts made the climb toward orbit and the International Space Station (ISS), where they will arrive on Sunday. The 135th and last flight of the U.S. space transportation system, or STS, comes 30 years after the first flight in April 1981. You can view video of final launch on NASA's YouTube channel.

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When they rendezvous with the ISS, the shuttle astronauts will help set up the Raffaello logistics module, which is filled with supplies and spare parts to sustain station operations after the shuttles are retired. The crew also will conduct the robotic refueling mission, an experiment to test tools and techniques for robotic refueling of satellites in space.

The 12-day mission is the 33rd for Atlantis, which is named for an oceanographic research vessel. In fact, all of the shuttles were named for famous ships of exploration: Challenger, Endeavour, Discovery, and Columbia.

“The shuttle's always going to be a reflection of what a great nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through,” said Space Shuttle Commander Chris Ferguson shortly before liftoff. “We're not ending the journey today. We're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.”

Final Shuttle Launch: Atlantis, astronauts ready, weather maybe not

Atlantis, astronauts ready; weather maybe not

• Atlantis astronauts, from left, mission specialist Sandra Magnus, pilot Doug Hurley, …
• The space shuttle Atlantis is seen on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's final four shuttle astronauts boarded Atlantis for liftoff Friday on the last flight of the 30-year program, even as potential rainstorms threatened to delay the launch.

Forecasters stuck to their original 70 percent chance of bad weather, as the veteran crew climbed aboard the spacecraft. NASA was hopeful.

"We do have a shot at this today," launch director Mike Leinbach assured his team.

Commander Christopher Ferguson gave a thumbs up as he was strapped in after sunrise despite the still-iffy launch prospects. On his way to the spacecraft, Ferguson had jokingly beckoned for more applause, clapping his hands at one point. The astronauts posed for pictures before boarding.

Atlantis holds a year's worth of supplies — more than 8,000 pounds — for the International Space Station.
An estimated 750,000 people are expected to jam Cape Canaveral and surrounding towns for this final shuttle launch, reminiscent of the crowds that gathered for the Apollo moon shots.
Among the expected VIPs: 14 members of Congress, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, four members of the Kennedy family, two former NASA administrators, singers Jimmy Buffett and Gloria Estefan, and the first shuttle pilot of them all, Robert Crippen.

By 6 a.m., cars and RV were packed into almost every available space along U.S. 1 in Titusville, with cameras already trained on the launch pad in the hazy clouds across the Indian River. Many had planted chairs and staked out viewing locations just feet from the water. Some were still cocooned in sleeping bags as the sun rose.

Kenneth Cox, 25, an airport employee from Danville, Ind., joined three friends at the riverside. Hauling Lucky Charms, fixings for s'mores and a bottle of champagne to celebrate the launch, they slept off and on as the sun rose.

"It's the closing chapter of 30 years," said Cox, who went to Space Camp when he was in the fifth grade and has been enamored with the shuttle program as long as he could remember.

"I definitely think it's a somber attitude out here, because it's the last one," said Cox's friend, Simon Lin, 26, who works at Walt Disney World in Orlando. "It's brought so much to the tourist industry in Florida, and that's what we are. Closing it down, it's going to be sad."

Cherie Cabrera, 23, a Disney World employee, tried to explain the attraction.

"It's just powerful," she said. "There are so few people who have the ability to go to space, and for all of us to be here on the river, watching it launch and feeling it rise and feeling the wind, you feel like you're a part of it. You feel connected."

John and Jennifer Cardwell came from Fairhope, Ala., for their third attempt to see the shuttle launch. Twice before they made the trip only to have a flight canceled and they weren't able to stay. They brought their sons, Isaac, 6, and 3-year-old Eli.

"This is our last-ditch chance to see one," said 38-year-old Jennifer Cardwell, cradling a sleepy Eli in her arms just after dawn. "This is the end of an era, and I wanted to be able to experience it. My son is interested in space and science, and I wanted to encourage that.

"It's that last frontier, that last place left for us to explore," she said. "We've gone all over the world, and this is what's left."

NASA must launch Atlantis by Sunday or Monday or it will have to wait until at least July 16 because of an unmanned rocket launch scheduled for next week.

The 12-day mission will close out the space shuttle program, which began with the launch of Columbia in 1981. Atlantis will join Discovery and Endeavour in retirement, so NASA can focus on sending astronauts to asteroids and Mars. Private companies will take over the business of getting space station cargo and crews to orbit.

Once Atlantis soars, it will be another three years — possibly five or more — before astronauts blast off again from U.S. soil.

This will be the 33rd flight for Atlantis and the 135th shuttle mission overall.

"Everybody should be really proud how we've ended and just finishing strong," Mendoza said.

Facebook's Awesome Announcement: Group Chat, Video Chat, New Chat Design

Mark Zuckerberg promised "something awesome" for Wednesday's conference. What Facebook delivered is a trio of new chat features, including the earlier reported Skype-video chat integration.
The new features include a redesigned chat interface, group chats, and the aforementioned video chat, all explained on Facebook's blog.
The group chat feature will let users chat with multiple friends at once by selecting "Add Friends to Chat." According to Facebook, 50 percent of users are using the Groups feature, for things like co-ordinating events. Users can add friends that are not online at the time, and those friends will receive a summary of the chat later on. The feature rolls out today.
The chat redesign takes into account the size of a user's browser window and adjusts accordingly. Zuckerberg noted that users have found it difficult to start chats with the previous design. A new sidebar appears when the window is large enough and lists your most-messaged friends, even ones who are not online. A simplified chat tab will give users "one-click access" to chatting with friends. The new chat design will also roll out today.
Video chat, which the company collaborated on with Skype, lets users click a video call button at the top of their chat window in order to start the call. Users can also leave video messages for people who aren't there. Once a user clicks the video chat feature, a plug-in is downloaded to enable the call in "ten to twenty seconds." The feature will roll out to everyone in the next few weeks, though users can get on earlier if they're eager by going to Facebook.com/videocalling. It is not yet available on the mobile app.
"We have a very longstanding relationship with Microsoft," said Zuckerberg, who noted that Facebook had actually been working with Skype prior to Microsoft's acquisition.
Zuckerberg also revealed that Facebook has hit 750 million worldwide users, with 4 billion pieces of information shared each day.

Casey Anthony Jury Finds Her Not Guilty in Slaying of Daughter

ORLANDO — Casey Anthony, the young mother whose seeming heartlessness at the disappearance of her daughter transfixed America for three years, was found not guilty on Tuesday of killing the girl, Caylee Marie.

As for motive, prosecutors said Caylee’s murder was hastened by the fact she was beginning to string together words and would soon be able to reveal her mother’s lies. 

After nearly six weeks of testimony, a panel of seven women and five men decided that Ms. Anthony did not murder Caylee by dosing her with chloroform, suffocating her with duct tape and dumping her in a wooded area, as prosecutors claimed. They also did, however, find her guilty of lesser charges, of providing false information to law enforcement officers. The jury did not ask to review any evidence.

When the verdict was read, Ms Anthony, 25, who faced a possible death sentence, cried. The verdict vindicates the defense, which argued from the start that Caylee drowned accidentally in the family swimming pool and that the death was concealed by her panicked grandfather, George Anthony, and Ms. Anthony.

It also drove home just how circumstantial the prosecution’s case proved to be. Forensic evidence was tenuous and no witnesses ever tied Ms. Anthony to Caylee’s murder. Investigators found no trace of DNA or solid signs of chloroform or decomposition inside the trunk of Ms. Anthony’s car, where prosecutors said Ms. Anthony stashed Caylee before disposing of her body.

The prosecution was also hurt by the fact that nobody knows exactly how Caylee died; her body was too badly decomposed to pinpoint cause of death.
All of this allowed José Baez, Ms. Anthony’s lawyer, to infuse enough reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds to get Ms. Anthony acquitted of murder.
“They throw enough against the wall and see what sticks,” Mr. Baez told the jury, “right down to the cause of death.”
Caylee, a 2-year-old with cherubic cheeks and bright eyes, was last seen June 16, 2008. Her decomposed body was found six months later in a wooded area near the Anthony home. Despite her daughter’s disappearance, Ms. Anthony failed to report Caylee missing for 31 days and created a tangle of lies, including that a baby sitter kidnapped Caylee, to cover up the absence.
The defense conceded Ms. Anthony’s lies but said they happened for one reason: she had been sexually abused by her father and had been coached to lie her whole life.

“I told you she was a liar the first day,” Mr. Baez told the jury.

Despite a vivid portrait of Ms. Anthony’s seemingly callous and deceitful behavior after Caylee’s disappearance, jurors decided that leap from uncaring mother to murderess proved too much.

Prosecutors argued all along that Ms. Anthony killed her child so she could carouse with her boyfriend, go clubbing and live the “bella vita” — beautiful life — as her tattoo, done after Caylee’s disappearance, proclaimed.

“Whose life was better without Caylee?” Linda Drane Burdick, one of the prosecutors, asked jurors. “That’s the only question you need to answer in considering why Caylee Marie Anthony was left on the side of the road dead.”

With that, Ms. Drane Burdick ended her closing statement with a dramatic flourish, leaving behind a split screen image: one side was a photograph of the tattoo, the other was a smiling Ms. Anthony partying with friends after Caylee’s death.

One prosecutor, Jeff Ashton, called it “absurd” that Mr. Anthony, a former homicide detective, would find Caylee dead in the swimming pool and, rather than call 911, cover up the drowning, wrap dead Caylee’s face with duct tape and dump her body.

“It is a trip down a rabbit hole into a bizarre world where men who love their granddaughters find them drowned and do nothing,” Mr. Ashton said. “Where men who love their granddaughters take an accident, a completely innocent act, and make it look like a murder for no reason.”
With Caylee’s grandparents in the back of the courtroom, prosecutors also spoke forcefully about the pain they felt when they realized their granddaughter was missing and their daughter was the chief suspect. Mr. Anthony grew so despondent after the death he attempted suicide in 2009, leaving behind an eight-page suicide note. 
Mr. Anthony, who had testified tearfully during the trial, denied abusing his daughter and finding Caylee floating in the swimming pool.

Prosecutors also used jail-house recordings of Ms. Anthony and photographs of her reveling with friends to show she was clearly not grieving for a daughter who had supposedly drowned.

Mr. Baez, who began his law career in 2005 and three years later took up Ms. Anthony’s case, did little to bolster his initial defense during the trial, a fact that prompted experts to say he was overpromising to the jury.

He delved lightly into the drowning theory and said nothing more about the sexual abuse after the first day of trial. Judge Belvin Perry Jr., the presiding judge who also heads the Ninth Circuit Court, barred Mr. Baez from mentioning the abuse accusation during closing statements because there was no evidence to support his claim.

Yet he successfully hammered away at the relatively weak forensic evidence. More than 50 investigators recovered nearly 400 pieces of evidence, including trash and trash bags, in the wooded area where Caylee’s body was found. Ms. Anthony’s car also was impounded to test for signs of DNA, decomposition and chloroform.
As the trial wound on, Mr. Baez repeatedly turned Mr. Anthony into the villain for covering up the drowning and allowing Ms. Anthony to take the blame. He also spoke about the family’s dysfunction.

As for Ms. Anthony’s behavior, Mr. Baez derided the prosecution’s efforts to portray her as a “lying, no-good slut.” She was panicked and confused, he said, adding that every person grieves differently.

“This case should not be decided for or against anyone because you feel sorry for anyone or are angry at anyone,” Mr. Baez told the jury.

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