13-year old kid attempts to rape mother & ends up killing her for taking away Call of Duty

The jury in the murder trial of an Iowa teenager heard on Wednesday May 1, 2013 a disturbing 911 call in which the 13-year-old suspect admitted to killing his own mother after a failed attempt to rape her.

Crooks, who is now 14, was charged with first-degree murder and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse in the March 24, 2012, slaying of his mother, 37-year-old Gretchen Crooks. -->

In the 911 recording made on the night of the murder at the family's Osage home, Noah Crooks could be heard telling dispatcher Barb Michael: 'I’m not joking at all. She’s dead. I’m scared. I killed my mom with my .22. I don’t know why I did it.'


During the conversation, which lasted about 10 minutes, the boy repeated his confession several times The Global Gazette reported.


'I feel crazy and I know I'm not. I think I have some form of ADD,' Crooks told the 911 operator. 'I tried to rape her. I tried to rape her but I couldn't do it.

'Who tries to rape their own mom? My life is down the drain now.'

As Michael placed a call to deputies and sent an ambulance to the Crooks' home, Noah told him that his weapon is empty and appeared concerned that the officers might shoot him.

'I just wish it was a dream so I could wake up and I could kiss her and hug her,' then-13-year-old Crooks said.

Noah rambled on about his mother making him homemade doughnuts earlier that night and expressed disbelief that he killed her after she did that for him.

He then revealed that Gretchen Crooks had taken away his 'Call of Duty' video game because he got bad grades in school, and that is when he snapped.

'Something just came over me,' he told the dispatcher.

The boy droned on about having to move away and giving up on his dreams of getting into a good college and marrying his eighth-grade girlfriend.

On the first day of Crooks' trial Wednesday, jurors also heard testimony from Mitchell County Sheriff’s Deputies Jeff Huftalin and Greg Halbach, who described the crime scene at 3599 Cameo Avenue, WCF Courier reported.

Gretchen Crooks' bullet-riddled body was found stretched out on a coach. Her pajama top was undone and she was naked from the waist down, Halbach said in court. The woman was not breathing.

The deputies seized the murder weapon, a .22 caliber rifle, which was lying across a chair in the dining room.

Halbach said that he slapped handcuffs on Noah's wrists and placed him in the patrol car. He added that the teenage suspect was not crying and did not appear emotional.

Noah Crooks' attorney is not denying that his client killed his mother, but he claims that the boy suffered what he referred to as a 'tumor of rage, ‘rendering him insane at the time of the slaying.

Addressing the jury panel, the lawyer said that a child psychiatrist will testify that Crooks suffers from intermittent explosive disorder - a mental illness marked by repeated episodes of impulsive, aggressive or violent behavior. 

On Friday, Noah's father, William Crooks, 41, testified that on the day of his wife's murder, he was at a going-away party for his boss when he got a text message from his son that read: 'Dad this is Noah. I killed Mom accidentally, I egret it. Come home now please.' 

Crooks was certain that his son was kidding and responded in kind: 'OK. Just throw her in the grove. We'll take care of her later.' 

About 20 minutes later, a sheriff's deputy called Mr Crooks and told him that he needed to come home because an accident had taken place. 

Crooks pulled up to the house at around 8.20pm on March 24. In court Friday, he described the scene inside his home as 'chaos.' 

The father explained o the jury that his was was the disciplinarian in the family, and had a stormy but loving relationship with their son.

Mr Crooks added that the mother and son would fight often, but later make up and play games together. She was the one who bought the .22 caliber Ruger as a present for Noah in 2010 when he was about 11 years old.

The father said that his son did once say that he wanted to kill his mother, but he didn't take the threat seriously. 

There was no history of domestic abuse or criminal records associated with any Crooks family members.

On March 24, 2012, Crooks is believed to have fired a .22 caliber at his mother at their rural home. The teen was said to be calm and emotionless when he called 911 reporting the shooting.

'The emotions of the young man, from what I've been told, is his demeanor was very calm and kind of stoic. Almost like he was in shock also,' Deputy Greg Beaver told KTTC at the time.

Mitchell County Sheriff Curt Younker told the DesMoines Register: 'We’re at a loss. These are good people, very responsible. It is the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen.'

'We have lost our daughter. We have lost our grandson,' Mrs Crooks' mother Beverly Brahm of Mason City told the Albert Lea Tribune.

Mrs Crooks, who was listed with her husband William Crooks as the rural Osage property owners, had worked as a nurse at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa while also studying toward her master's degree after accepted at the University of Iowa in 2009.

On her Facebook page back in 2010, she praised her son, one of two sons according to Mrs Brahm, for his musical talents on the saxophone as well as his accomplishment in being accepted into a University of Iowa camp to learn Chinese.

'So proud of him!' she wrote.

She had also recently published an application on her page reading: 'Click "like" if you love your son!' 

Mrs Crooks' death comes as the first reported murder in the city of Osage since 1898, according to KAAL-TV.

Speaking of her daughter with pride, her mother, whom she relishes knowing she was able to say 'I love you' to earlier in the day of her passing, described the 37-year-old as studying 'full time, while she was working full time,' according to the Courier.

Wanting to make a difference wherever she could, Mrs Crooks previously served among a team of doctors and nurses who traveled to provide medical relief to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims in the Gulf in 2005.

Serving as a critical care nurse, she cared for patients in a makeshift hospital.

William Crooks' Facebook page shows his interest in the US Concealed Carry association as well as the Springfield Armory, a company that sells pistols and rifles.

'Gretchen was a great nurse and leader. We, as members of her Mercy family, continue to mourn for her and will be holding a memorial service. Our hearts and prayers go out to her family and friends.'

Mo'Nique Reveals 80 Pound Weight Loss

Mo'Nique Reveals 80 Pound Weight Loss


Mo'Nique has been busy dropping the pounds!
--> The 45-year-old Oscar winner has lost an impressive 80 pounds through changing her eating habits and staying active.

The actress/comedian said her family, including husband Sidney Hicks, have helped her stay committed to her weight loss goal.

"It made me say [to myself], 'OK sis, you got these babies. The twins [Jonathan and David] are 7, [stepson] Michael's 9, Shalon's 22.' And I want to meet their babies. So, I said, 'Let me stop being selfish, and eating everything.' And I ate everything . . . I was a food junkie," she said during an interview on The Cipha Sounds & Rosenberg Show on New York's Hot 97 FM.

The actress currently weighs 218 pounds. She previously was "tipping 300" while on "The Parkers" in 1999, she said.


Mo'Nique said her workout regime includes weights, yoga, running, sit-ups and making sure she takes a minimum of 10,000 steps daily

"My goal is between 190 and 200," she explained."I am the best Mo'Nique I've ever been in my life right now."

Adding, "And I still have a ways to go. But I feel amazing."

At Least 6 Killed in North Texas Tornado

Officials in North Texas said Thursday that they were no longer searching for survivors after a mile-wide tornado touched down here, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others.


At least seven other people were listed as missing.

The National Weather Service said that as many as 10 tornadoes may have struck towns south of Fort Worth beginning Wednesday evening. A precise count was to be made available later Thursday, the weather service said.

Granbury, about 35 miles southwest of Fort Worth, was the hardest hit area, accounting for the vast majority of the dead and injured, said Sheriff Roger Deeds of Hood County. Names of the victims have not yet been released, but the six confirmed dead were all adults, officials said.

In Rancho Brazos, a subdivision a few miles southeast of Granbury, more than half the homes were flattened, had roofs torn off or walls knocked down, or were simply torn from foundations, officials said.

“Most all of that is heavily damaged to totally destroyed,” Sheriff Deeds said Thursday at a news conference. “It’s definitely a nightmare.”

Steve Berry, a Hood County commissioner who worked as a firefighter for 23 years, said that during a tour of the neighborhood of modular, mobile and wood-frame homes, he had witnessed “total devastation.”

He estimated that more than 100 homes had been damaged.

Many houses in the subdivision, had been built in recent years by Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Berry said the houses had been tossed around so violently that they now looked “like Tinkertoys.”

At sunrise on Thursday, teams of fire crews aided by bulldozers and other heavy equipment began picking through rubble to determine if anyone was trapped, while electric crews worked to restore power.

A few hours later, Wayne McKethan, the city manager, said that all the survivors had been found with the aid of dogs.

“Search and rescue is over,” Mr. McKethan said. “We’re now in search and recovery” — that is, searching for the dead.

He pointed to a bare slab. “There used to be a house there,” he said.

Access to the area was restricted Thursday because propane tanks had not been secured and wreckage had not been cleared. Among the damage, Mr. Berry said, was a water tower that “imploded.”

Bits of sheet metal hung from power lines and wrapped around trees, some of which had been stripped of leaves and branches so that they resembled toothpicks.

The first storms arrived in the area Wednesday about 6:30 p.m., bringing hard rain and a barrage of baseball-size hail, according to the National Weather Service. About an hour and a half later, at 8:10 p.m., the weather service issued a tornado warning and local officials began evacuating residents to shelters. People had about 20 minutes to make it to safety, officials said.

Mr. Berry said that he had believed that the severe weather had bypassed Granbury without causing significant damage when “the storm seemed to pass and back up on top of us.”

On Thursday morning, Kyle McCombs, an emergency room physician at the Lake Granbury Medical Center, where he is also chief of staff, was sitting in his Chevrolet Suburban as he waited for a street to be reopened near the Rancho Brazos neighborhood. The police had blocked roads in the area because of downed power lines.

Dr. McCombs said he had worked overnight in the emergency room.

“It’s a real mess,” he said. “We saw the storm coming in and knew there was tornadic activity.”

At about 8 p.m., he said, administrators had sounded a “code black,” or severe weather alert, with instructions to move patients to interior hallways and away from windows.

Soon after, he said, ambulances started arriving with injured people.

“We had serious, major trauma, and a lot of it,” said Dr. McCombs, 47. “For a hospital of our size, we’ve never seen a mass trauma event like this.”

The emergency room typically sees as many as 65 people a day, he said, but on Wednesday night, “we were more than half that all at once.”

Dr. McCombs said patients had come with a broad range of injuries, including severe lacerations and spinal and skull fractures.

He said many staff members had come in “off duty to assist. That’s what really saved us.”

He added, “We all just started divvying up patients.”

About a dozen people with more serious injuries were transferred to hospital trauma centers in Fort Worth, he said.

LeSean McCoy's agent denies Eagle assaulted woman

The representative for Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that a woman's accusation that McCoy and/or his bodyguard assaulted her on a party bus last December "are completely, unequivocally false."

McCoy's agent, Andrew M. Smith, added that no criminal charges are pending from what he described as "a frivolous personal injury claim."

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The woman, who goes by the alias "Mary Roe," claims in a lawsuit that McCoy's publicist invited her and 15 other women to attend a party at a New York City nightclub. She is seeking more than $50,000, alleging assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

New Jersey police told TMZ that the woman had no visible injuries when she met with them at a rest stop near the New Jersey Turnpike last Dec. 19.

During that meeting with police, the woman never named McCoy as her attacker. But she now says either McCoy and/or his bodyguard roughed her up before booting her off the bus as it returned to Philadelphia from Manhattan.

"This is sadly an attempt to to extract money and LeSean will vigorously defend any attempt to collect money through a frivolous personal injury claim," Smith's e-mailed statement contends.

Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko declined to comment on the allegations against McCoy.

Holly Madison's Fiance May Be Facing 13 Years in Prison

Well this puts a whole new meaning to wedding stress. Holly Madison's fiance, Pasquale Rotella, is facing more than 13 years in prison for bribery, embezzlement, conspiracy and conflict of interest, RadarOnline.com reports.
A day after the former Playboy Bunny announced she was marrying Rotella, owner of Insomniac events, at a Aug. 14 ceremony, Rotella attended a pretrial conference in LA on Monday, May 13.

The LA Country District Attorney alleges that Rotella used more than $2.5 million in funds from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to pay off city officials. According to Radar, Rotella would use the coliseum to host raves.
He was indicted with five other men and posted a $1.8 million bail. Due back in court on July 29, Rotella reportedly could serve nearly 14 years in jail, if convicted.
Radar reports that Rotella's attorney, Gary Jay Kaufman, is confident that his client will be found innocent, calling the charges "politically motivated and publicity driven."

“[Rotella] has always acted lawfully and appropriately with respect to all of his dealings with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum," Kaufman said via Radar. "Any allegations of wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Rotella by the District Attorney’s office are completely baseless and flat-out wrong, both on the law and on the facts."
Rotella and Madison, 33, share a daughter -- 3-month-old Rainbow.


For her part, the former "Girls Next Door" star doesn't seem too fazed by her soon-to-be-hubby's legal troubles. On Tuesday, May 14, she tweeted to a new post on her Celebuzz blog page, writing about how important baby socks are needed for new moms.

"You don't know how many baby socks you need until the baby is here!" she wrote, seemingly avoiding any legal-talk involving Rotella.

Jodi Arias' attorneys wanted to withdraw but were denied

Jodi Arias' attorneys asked to step down from the case after their client was convicted of first-degree murder, but their request was denied.

--> During a closed-door meeting with the judge on Tuesday, Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott sought permission to withdraw from the case, according to court minutes released Thursday.

According to legal experts, Arias complicated efforts for her defense team when she gave a TV interview minutes after her conviction last week, saying she preferred to die over spending the rest of her life in prison.

"I believe death is the ultimate freedom, and I'd rather have my freedom as soon as I can get it," Arias told Fox affiliate KSAZ.

Meantime, the jury deciding Arias' fate heard dramatic and emotional testimony from the family of Travis Alexander. His siblings broke down in tears as they told jurors that Arias should be executed for stabbing him to death in 2008.

The testimony came as the trial's penalty phase opened in a Phoenix courtroom, with attorneys giving arguments on whether Arias should get a life sentence or be executed. The same jury convicted Arias of first-degree murder last week.

Wednesday, the panel took less than three hours to determine that Arias should be eligible for death in the killing of her one-time lover after prosecutors proved the murder was especially cruel.

In addition to the testimony on Thursday, defense lawyer Kirk Nurmi told the court that Arias will testify. He also listed several factors that the jury can consider in deciding to grant her mercy, including her age, troubled upbringing, lack of criminal history before the killing, and even her skills as a talented artist.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez went through each factor and sought to turn the attention to the gruesome killing, asking what her age, background and art skills have to do with what happened the day Alexander was stabbed nearly 30 times.


Other witnesses in the penalty phase will include Arias' friends and an ex-boyfriend who lived with her for several years in California.

Arias, 32, acknowledged killing Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home after a day of sex. She initially denied any involvement then later blamed the attack on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she settled on self-defense.

The Powerball jackpot has soared to $550 million after no tickets matched Wednesday night's drawing.

The $550 million jackpot ranks as the second-largest for Powerball and third biggest overall. The cash option is an estimated $350 million and the next drawing is Saturday night.

The winning numbers for the Wednesday drawing: 2, 11, 26, 34, 41 and a Powerball of 32. Not everyone walked away from the $360 million jackpot a loser. Tickets in Delaware and Pennsylvania won $5 million and there were 16 states that had $1 million winners, according to Powerball's website.

Powerball's largest jackpot to date was $587.5 million. It was awarded last November when a couple from Dearborn, Mo., and a man from Fountain Hills, Ariz., split the winnings.

The last big Powerball jackpot that made headlines was claimed in March when Pedro Quezada, 44, of New Jersey cashed his ticket worth a cool $338 million.

The price of a Powerball ticket doubled in January 2012. "We moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," says Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa-based lottery. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots."



When pots reach record levels, say lottery officials, phone calls start coming in from all around the world to Powerball's Iowa headquarters. "We start getting inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket," Neubauer told ABC News. "They ask if they can FedEx us the money."




The answer is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location."




About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one. Asked if there's anything players can do to improve their odds of winning, lottery officials say no -- apart from buying a ticket, of course.




They put the odds of winning tonight's Powerball pot at one in 195 million, meaning you are 251 times more likely to be hit by lightning.




Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provides additional perspective: You are more likely to die from all of the following than you are to win tonight's drawing: be hit by a falling coconut, be blown up by fireworks, or be eaten by flesh-eating bacteria.




Even though he knows the odds all too well, Garibaldi says that he has played past lotteries. "When it gets big, I'll buy a couple of tickets. It's kind of exciting. You get this feeling of anticipation. You get to think about the fantasy."




Writing for the New York Post, Garibaldi recently reviewed the book "Brain Trust," in which 93 scientists give advice on subjects that include how to win the lottery.




Their advice, he says, includes the following:




-Pick the most unpopular numbers. Avoid, for example, numbers thought to be "lucky," such as 7, 13, 23 and 32.




-Don't pick the number 1. It's on about 15 percent of all tickets.




-Do pick the "especially overlooked" number 46.




Garibaldi's own advice: Look for a jackpot that's rolled over at least five times yet still remains below $40 million. And be sure not to overlook state lotteries, which have fewer people competing for their pots.

Ponzi convict Bernard Madoff says he can't sleep at night, haunted by his son's suicide.

Bernard Madoff once had billions of dollars, but now he makes $40 a month doing menial prison labor.

"I used to work as a clerk in the commissary, and now they have me taking care of the telephone and the computer systems," said Madoff, speaking by phone from a federal prison in North Carolina. His prison phone account didn't have any money in it, so he had to call CNNMoney collect.

As far as the computers and phones go, Madoff said he has to "make sure they're working and they're kept clean," but he emphasizes that this requires no technical skill whatsoever.

It's a far cry from his former life. Once head of his own finance firm, Madoff is now identified as inmate #61727-054 at Butner Federal Correctional Complex. He's serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty, in 2009, to siphoning $17.5 billion from thousands of investors, wiping them out in a long-running, pyramid-style deception.

He said he only works "a few hours" a day, which leaves him plenty of time to ponder his undoing.

"I'm usually up at 4:30 in the morning because I can t sleep," said Madoff, 75, who is scheduled to be released in 2139.

Related: Madoff lawyers collect $700 million in fees

Certainly his surroundings in a medium-security prison are a lot less comfortable. When his massive Ponzi scheme unraveled in 2008, Madoff had to give up his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, a beach house in Montauk, N.Y, his homes in Florida, and France, as well as a yacht named "The Bull."

Madoff took great pains to insulate his family from his financial wrongdoings, but it didn't work.

He's especially haunted by the 2010 suicide of his oldest son, Mark, who hanged himself on the second anniversary of his father's arrest.

"I was responsible for my son Mark's death and that's very, very difficult," he said. "I live with that. I live with the remorse, the pain I caused everybody, certainly my family, and the victims."

His younger brother Peter, 67, is serving a 10-year sentence at a medium-security federal prison in South Carolina, after pleading guilty to covering up the financial wrong-doing.

"Obviously, the main concern that I have is being away from my family," he said. "Married for 50 years, I had a very close family."

Madoff said that his deception began after the Black Monday crash of 1987, a massive stock market sell-off from which he never truly recovered. He said that's when he turned his investors into victims, but he insists that his crime was never supposed to go on for so long.

"It was certainly never my intention for this to happen," said Madoff. "I thought I could work myself out of a temporary situation but it kept getting worse and worse and I didn't have the courage to admit what I had done. It created a major problem."

Tsarnaev note allegedly explains motive for bombing

While hiding in a boat before his capture last month, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man later charged in the Boston Marathon bombings, allegedly scrawled a message on an inside wall of the vessel in which he claimed responsibility for the attacks, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said the message suggested the attacks were mounted in response to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Written while the suspect lay seriously wounded, the note appeared to resemble a deathbed declaration, possibly prepared should he not survive the intense manhunt, the official said.

In the note, the 19-year-old suspect allegedly referred to his brother, Tamerlan, as a martyr and wrote that he hoped for the same recognition for himself.

"There is an apparent allusion to his own death," the official said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in an encounter with police three days after the bombings April 15 that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

Saban 'the devil himself'

Being called the devil by a former aide was 'terribly disappointing,' Nick Saban says

Two days after being called "the devil himself" by someone who served on his staff at two different places, Alabama coach Nick Saban sounded hurt.

“It really is a little terribly disappointing,” he said Thursday in response to comments made by Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis.

Saban spoke to members of the news media before a Crimson Caravan stop at Turner Field.

“I try to do right by the people that work for me," he said. "It’s a tough, demanding job. And at the same time, if anybody had an issue or problem with me, I would want them to just tell me.”

Earlier this year, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin referred to Saban as “Nicky Satan” at a speaking engagement, then soon apologized.

But Franklin never has worked for Saban. Davis worked two years as the offensive line coach under Saban with the Miami Dolphins, then served in 2008 as the director of player personnel at Alabama.

Davis now works for Florida coach Will Muschamp, who also worked with Saban, both at LSU and with the Dolphins

"I've always wanted to work with Will," Davis said at a booster club meeting Tuesday in Melbourne, Fla. "Will's got a plan. Will coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three. He did seven. And his DNA is not any different than Nick."

Saban was asked if the criticism is different when it comes from somebody who has worked for him.

“Twice. On two occasions,” Saban said. “It’s just disappointing. If somebody has a problem with me, I’d appreciate it if they’d tell me. If I’m doing something to offend somebody, I’d certainly like to do whatever I have to do to fix it. It’s not our intention. It’s not what we try to do.

“We’re in a tough business. It’s very competitive. Sometimes you’ve got to demand that people do things that maybe they don’t want to do, but it’s not personal.”

Davis also said Tuesday that Muschamp is “like the other guy, only he's got a personality. He'll smile at you. He'll talk to you. You understand? That's what he's all about. That's Will. I'm proud to work for him.”

Saban’s response was calm.

“I know it’s not representative of Will Muschamp and the University of Florida and the way they do things,” he said. “I know that, because I’m close enough to Will to know that.”

Wonder Woman could still fly back to TV on The CW. The network didn't order Allan Heinberg's "Amazon" script to pilot, but told reporters the project is still in play at the network.

--> According to The Hollywood Reporter, Heinberg has been replaced by "Heroes" writer Aron Eli Coleite on the rewrite. "It is being redeveloped. We're waiting for the script to come in; we haven't seen it yet," CW President Mark Pedowitz told reporters after the network's 2013 upfront presentation. "We are preparing to pilot it off-cycle should the script be what we want it to be. We do not want to produce something that doesn't work for that particular character -- it is the trickiest of all the DC characters to get done."

When news first broke about The CW's efforts to bring Wonder Woman back to the small screen in 2012, Lynda Carter, the star of the 1970s "Wonder Woman" TV series, said she was delighted to hear the character could be making a comeback.

"Wonder Woman is a fantastic, inspirational character who should be introduced to a new generation. I wish them great luck and look forward to seeing it on air," Carter said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

NBC tried to bring Wonder Woman back to TV with a 2011 pilot from David E. Kelley, starring "Friday Night Lights" veteran Adrianne Palicki.

"I'm incredibly proud of that project," Palicki told CraveOnline in October 2012. "I was so grateful to get to play Wonder Woman. That was a childhood dream of mine and I’m proud of the outcome. I do wish it would have gone to series but everything happens for a reason. Looking at it as a positive, I got to work with some amazing actors, [an] amazing writer and I got to wear the outfit. It was not comfortable but it was totally worth it."

Warrant Issued for Chad Johnson

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson in South Florida.

The state attorney's office confirmed Thursday that a Broward circuit judge issued a warrant May 7 against Johnson for failing to report to his probation officer.

Johnson received a year of probation last September after pleading no contest to a domestic violence charge involving his former wife, reality TV star Evelyn Lozada.

The six-time Pro Bowl player was arrested in August after Lozada said he head-butted her during an argument. She quickly filed for divorce, which was finalized days before his conviction. They had only been married since July 4.

Johnson was cut by the Miami Dolphins shortly afterward. He previously played for the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots.

Lozada is on the "Basketball Wives" TV show.

Will Smith Photobomb: Craig Sager Intrudes On Father-Son Moment

Just yesterday, Will Smith talked about intentionally embarrassing his son in front of the cameras during a father-son appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Now the "After Earth" star is getting a taste of his own medicine, thanks to sideline reporter and professional happy suit-wearer Craig Sager.

Sager was photographed creeping up behind an oblivious Will and Jaden Smith, who were sitting courtside at the NBA playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat Wednesday. "Noting the camera was on him, and encouraged by Marv and Steve Kerr, Sager broke into a full-on photobomb," NBA.com wrote.

Hi-De-Hi and You Rang M'Lord? actor Paul Shane dies aged 72 following a short illness

TV actor and comedian Paul Shane, best know for his role as Ted Bovis on hit sitcom Hi-De-Hi has died aged 72.
His agent said he died surrounded by his family at a hospice in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, earlier today after a short illness.
He leaves behind three daughters and six grandchildren. His wife Dory died in 2001.


Born in 1940, as George Frederick Speight in Thrybergh, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, he achieved fame late in life, after first working as a miner in Yorkshire.
An accident down the mine aged 27 saw him pensioned off, and he became an entertainer in the pub and clubs around south Yorkshire. 



A small role in a 1979 episode of Coronation Street as Frank Roper was to be the starting point for more than a decade on the TV screens of the UK.
Comedy writer Jimmy Perry spotted Shane in the soap opera, and cast him in the role of scheming Ted Bovis in his new holiday-camp sitcom Hi-de-Hi!.



The series ran from 1980 until 1988, and won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984. It was based on Perry's experiences working as a Redcoat in Butlins.
In 2004 the show was voted 40th in a list of Britain's Best Sitcom.
The episodes saw Shane's character, Ted Bovis, involved in a series of scams to con the campers out of money.
Bovis also spent his time terrorising timid campsite boss Jeffrey Fairbrother, played by Simon Cadell.
When Perry and co-writer David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, wrote their next show, You Rang, M'Lord?, they cast Shane to play Alf Stokes.


The show, which looked at life upstairs and downstairs of a aristocratic family in the 1920s, ran from 1990 to 1993, with Shane, a keen singer, also employed to sing the theme tune.
Between 1995 and 1997, Shane played Jack Skinner in two series of Oh, Doctor Beeching!.  He then spent his time performing in theatres, including performances in pantomimes.
He didn't disappear off TV screens altogether however, and enjoyed recurring roles in television series Holby City (11 episodes in all) and Emmerdale, where he played Solomon Dingle for 8 episodes.
In May 2009, he underwent a life-saving heart operation at Sheffield Northern General Hospital and made a full recovery.

Bin Laden son-in-law warning: New York judge warns bin Laden's son-in-law that lawyer he seeks could have conflict issues

Bin Laden son-in-law warning

A judge warned Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Wednesday that a lawyer he hired to represent him on charges he conspired to kill Americans could end up in prison himself.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Sulaiman Abu Ghaith that he could cause himself problems by choosing attorney Stanley Cohen to defend him against charges that he conspired against Americans in his role as al-Qaida's chief spokesman.

Cohen was indicted last year in Syracuse, N.Y., on federal charges that he failed to file individual and corporate tax returns between 2005 and 2010 and committed other tax-related violations. A federal prosecutor in Manhattan told Kaplan that additional charges may be filed against Cohen.

Kaplan asked Abu Ghaith a series of questions designed to make sure the 47-year-old defendant understood the hazards of rejecting three public defenders to have Cohen and another attorney represent him.

Bin Laden son-in-law warning

Bin Laden son-in-law warning


A judge warned Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Wednesday that a lawyer he hired to represent him on charges he conspired to kill Americans could end up in prison himself.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Sulaiman Abu Ghaith that he could cause himself problems by choosing attorney Stanley Cohen to defend him against charges that he conspired against Americans in his role as al-Qaida's chief spokesman.

Cohen was indicted last year in Syracuse, N.Y., on federal charges that he failed to file individual and corporate tax returns between 2005 and 2010 and committed other tax-related violations. A federal prosecutor in Manhattan told Kaplan that additional charges may be filed against Cohen.

Kaplan asked Abu Ghaith a series of questions designed to make sure the 47-year-old defendant understood the hazards of rejecting three public defenders to have Cohen and another attorney represent him.

The judge said he wanted to make clear to Abu Ghaith that Cohen "has interests that are potentially in conflict with your own."

He also told him it was "quite possibly ill advised" for a defendant to proceed with an attorney who faces criminal charges himself, and he noted that Cohen might not be able to obtain security clearance from the government to view classified materials necessary to prepare for trial.

Abu Ghaith insisted he wanted Cohen to represent him after his brother in Kuwait hired the veteran civil rights attorney.

"I understood he's very enthusiastic about this case," Abu Ghaith told Kaplan. "I thank you very much but I've made my decision."

The judge set a hearing for next week to further explore the legal issue. He told the government to submit legal papers explaining its position on whether Abu Ghaith can be represented by Cohen and whether his understanding of his rights was sufficient to switch lawyers.

Abu Ghaith has pleaded not guilty to charges that he urged the death of Americans after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Prosecutors say evidence against Abu Ghaith includes a widely circulated video of him in early October 2001 sitting with bin Laden and current al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri and another in which he calls on every Muslim to join the fight against the United States, declaring that "jihad is a duty."

Cohen said outside court that he believes he was chosen because of his extensive contacts throughout the Middle East and his ability to travel and speak with witnesses where other lawyers cannot.

"I've probably done more terrorism cases — real and fake — than any other lawyer in the United States," he said

Bowler shoots himself on accident in Florida

A man accidentally shot himself while he was enjoying a game of bowling. On May 15, Daily Mail reported about the incident. WPBF news station aired interviews with some witnesses on television tonight. They also got a picture of the victim on the news station.


The man swung his bowling ball and then the shot rang off. Everyone in the area thought it might be a firework at first, but then they realized that it was a gunshot as he limped back to his seat. It looked like he hit his left leg on the back swing somehow.

This accidental shooting was not life threatening. The man was taken to the hospital though for his injuries. At this time, they are not releasing the name of the bowler who shot himself. He is lucky that he didn't get hurt worse or injure someone else.

Did you see this on your local news tonight? Are you shocked the man shot himself? Sound off in the comments below on your thoughts.

Florida Bowler Accidentally Shoots Himself

Bowler shoots himself


Jupiter, FL (WPTV) — A man accidentally shot himself Tuesday night at the Jupiter Lanes Bowling Alley located on Maplewood Drive.

--> The man’s own gun accidentally discharged, injuring him, said Jupiter Police Officer Adam Brown.

Several witnesses said that the gun was in the bowler’s pocket when it went off, terrifying other players.

The man was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, Brown said.
He will not face any charges, according to police.

Charles Darwin wrong

Charles Darwin wrong


Charles Darwin sparked more than one controversy over the natural progression of life. One such case involved the evolution of coral atolls, the ring-shaped coral reefs that surround submerged tropical islands.

Coral reefs are actually huge colonies of tiny animals that need sunlight to grow. After seeing a reef encircling Moorea, near Tahiti, Darwin came up with his theory that coral atolls grow as reefs stretch toward sunlight while ocean islands slowly sink beneath the sea surface. (Cooling ocean crust, combined with the weight of massive islands, causes the islands to sink.)

A century-long controversy ensued after Darwin published his theory in 1842, because some scientists thought the atolls were simply a thin veneer of coral, not many thousands of feet thick as Darwin proposed. Deep drilling on reefs finally confirmed Darwin's model in 1953.

But reef-building is more complex than Darwin thought, according to a new study published May 9 in the journal Geology. Although subsidence does play a role, a computer model found seesawing sea levels, which rise and fall with glacial cycles, are the primary driving force behind the striking patterns seen at islands today.

"Darwin actually got it mostly right, which is pretty amazing," said Taylor Perron, the study’s co-author and a geologist at MIT. However, there’s one part Darwin missed. "He didn't know about these glacially induced sea-level cycles," Perron told OurAmazingPlanet.

What happens when sea-level shifts get thrown into the mix? Consider Hawaii as an example. Coral grows slowly there, because the ocean is colder than in the tropics. When sea level is at its lowest, the Big Island builds up a nice little reef terrace, like a fringe of hair on a balding pate. But the volcano — one of the tallest mountains in the world, if measured from the seafloor — is also quickly sinking. Add the speedy sea-level rise when glaciers melt, and Hawaii's corals just can't keep up. The reefs drown each time sea level rises.


The computer model accounts for the wide array of coral reefs seen at islands around the world — a variety Darwin's model can't explain, the researchers said.

"You can explain a lot of the variety you see just by combining these various processes — the sinking of islands, the growth of reefs, and the last few million years of sea level going up and down rather dramatically," Perron told OurAmazingPlanet.

For nearly 4 million years, Earth has cycled through global chills, when big glaciers suck up water from the oceans, and swings to sweltering temperatures that melt the ice, quickly raising sea level. This cyclic growth of ice sheets takes about 100,000 years.

The researchers also found that one of the few places in the world where sinking islands and sea-level rise create perfect atolls is the Society Islands, where Darwin made his historic observations.

Charles Darwin wrong

Charles Darwin Was Wrong About How Coral Atolls Form, Researchers Say


A study suggests that the formation and evolution of coral atolls is a rather complex process, and that Charles Darwin was partly wrong when developing his theory on the matter at hand. 

Long story short, back in 1842, Charles Darwin announced that, according to his investigations, coral atolls (i.e. coral reefs shaped like rings) formed when an island started to sink beneath the surface of the sea. 


 Since coral reefs are basically colonies made up of countless small animals that can only grow and thrive when having access to sunlight, Charles Darwin concluded that they most likely stretched towards the sun while the island slowly made its way below the sea's surface. 

Darwin also stated that such atolls had a thickness of several thousand feet, and by the looks of it, this part he did get right, Live Science informs us. 

Thus, investigations carried out in the years to come proved this bit of the theory correct back in 1953. 

However, specialists now say that an island's beginning to sink below the sea's surface is by no means the sole phenomenon that need be held accountable for the formation of coral atolls.

Quite the contrary: changes in sea levels and sea temperatures brought about by glacial cycles have a very important say in the matter at hand. 

More precisely, they are now said to be the primary cause for the formation of coral atolls. 

“Darwin actually got it mostly right, which is pretty amazing. However, there’s one part Darwin missed. He didn't know about these glacially induced sea-level cycles,” Taylor Perron, currently working as a geologist at MIT, reportedly argued. 

“You can explain a lot of the variety you see just by combining these various processes — the sinking of islands, the growth of reefs, and the last few million years of sea level going up and down rather dramatically,” the specialist further said. 

A detailed account of this investigation and its findings is made available to the public in the May 9 issue of the journal Geology.

Florida airport shooting

Police Involved Shooting At Jacksonville International Airport

One suspect was wounded, another arrested and at least one more is at-large after an officer involved shooting Wednesday at Jacksonville International Airport.



Credit Kevin Meerschaert
A police shooting occurred in the rental vehicle parking lot at JIA.
The incident occurred about 2:30 in the JIA rental car parking garage.



--> JSO Chief Tom Hackney says officers followed a suspected car thief in a white Ford Crown Victoria into the garage who had eluded arrest last week.



As detectives moved in to make an arrest the driver of the vehicle began ramming the police cruisers trying to box him in.

Hackney says as the driver was backing out of the garage an officer fired three shots at the vehicle. All shots hit the car.

He says the car was found shortly after at a Dunn Avenue apartment complex.

Two suspects were arrested. One was a 17 year old black male  who was shot in the foot at JIA. The other was 27-year old black male who was the registered owner of the Crown Victoria.     



No one else was injured during the incident.  

The original car theft suspect remains at large.      



Suspect 20-year old Rodney Lorenzo Addison is five-feet four and 130 pounds.
Hackney says he is 20-year old Rodney Addison. He is a black male five-foot four 130 pounds.

Hackney says the investigation is ongoing and hopes more information will be available at an 11 am press conference Thursday morning

Florida Airport Shooting, Shots Exchanged, One Suspect Still On The Run Read

Florida Airport Shooting, Shots Exchanged, One Suspect Still On The Run Read 


A Florida airport shooting Wednesday has left two men in jail and at least one man on the run after a Hollywood-style car chase that involved possible shots near an elementary school and a possible attempt to steal a new car to continue the chase from the Jacksonville International Airport parking lot.

Jacksonville, FL Sheriff’s Chief Tom Hackney gave a detailed description of the dramatic car chase, saying that it all started when SWAT officers closed in on a stolen Ford Crown Victoria. Instead of surrendering peacefully, the car of young men sped off, apparently performing evasive maneuvers and eventually ending up in the busy airport’s rental car return area.


The officers tried to block the Ford with two of their own vehicles, but the driver began to slam both cars by backing up and then slamming back.

You’d think it would only work in a movie, but the powerful Crown Victoria — which is frequently also the choice of law enforcement — broke free.

Officers fired. However, even though they hit the fleeing car three times, the suspects got away.

The chase widened. A call came in that someone heard shots near an elementary school, and the school was briefly put on lockdown.

The police eventually tracked the car to a Jacksonville apartment complex, where they captured a 17-year old and a 27-year-old suspect. The older man was the car’s owner, and the younger man was shot in the ankle, putting him on the scene.

At least one other suspect, identified by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department as 20-year-old Rodney Lorenzo Addison, is still on the run.

Hackney wanted to emphasize that the three — or possibly four — suspects aren’t terrorists. They are wanted on possible auto theft and cocaine charges.

However, they should be considered armed and dangerous, willing to use deadly force, including charging at police officers with a vehicle that “weighs several thousand pounds.”

In a video provided by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department office, Chief Tom Hackney explains the detailed sequence of events, including why the officers decided that they had no choice but to use deadly force at JAX airport: