Fans Cheer as Michael Vick Makes Eagles Debut

Fans Cheer as Michael Vick Makes Eagles Debut

KYW Newsradio Team Coverage

Michael Vick made his debut as a Philadelphia Eagle on Thursday in a pre-season game against the Jaguars. He received a warm welcome from fans inside the stadium, while both supporters and protesters peacefully demonstrated outside the stadium.

Oh, yeah -- the Eagles won, 33-32.

KYW's Ed Benkin reports that Michael Vick didn't know what to expect when he took the field for the first time on Thursday night. He said the ovation he received from the crowd was overwhelming:

"Yeah, I didn't think it was going to be that positive. I really didn't know what to expect. I was running out there on the field, you know, I was listening to see what the reaction was going to be and I was very pleased."

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

New Junior Ranger Program at Germantown White House

New Junior Ranger Program at Germantown White House

by KYW's Karin Phillips

A new junior ranger program has been developed for the Germantown White House, designed to make the newly restored historic site more accessible to children.

Tawanda Morgan, 26, is a third year divinity grad student from Washington DC. But in the summers, she works as an intern for the National Junior Ranger Ambassador program.

She has spent this summer developing a new Junior Ranger program for the newly restored Germantown White House, the oldest official presidential residence.

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Cheyney vs. Lincoln on Saturday in the Wade Wilson Classic

Cheyney vs. Lincoln on Saturday in the Wade Wilson Classic

by KYW's Matt Leon

Cheyney and Lincoln universities are getting their college football seasons underway on Saturday at Northeast High School, as they battle in the Wade Wilson Classic.

Cheyney is coming off an 0-11 season, but junior defensive back Demel Chambers says they are ready for better things in 2009:

"The team is gelling right now -- everybody is coming together. We have an understanding of what's going on, we've been working hard all summer."

Lincoln won just once last season in their first year since reviving their football program, and head coach OJ Abanishe (above left) feels his teams made a lot of progress:

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Pa. Casino Board Tells Foxwoods: Go Back to South Philly, and Quit Stalling

Pa. Casino Board Tells Foxwoods: Go Back to South Philly, and Quit Stalling

by KYW's Tony Romeo

State gambling regulators are telling the owners of a proposed slot-machine casino in Philadelphia in no uncertain terms that they expect the facility to be built on the South Philadelphia riverfront site (above) that was original approved.

The Foxwoods group asked the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Friday for an additional 21 months to build a facility with at last 1,500 slot machines. The original deadline passed in May.

For full story go to:

http://www.kyw1060.com/

California governor declares wildfire emergency

California governor declares wildfire emergency

A Los Angeles County fire helicopter drops on a hot spot during a wildfire, Friday, Aug. 28, 2009, in the Rolling Hills section of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Los Angeles County fire officials say at least 2,000 people have been forced to leave their seaside homes in the upscale city.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Monterey counties as wildfires burn large areas and threaten homes.

The order Friday comes as firefighters battle two blazes in the Angeles National Forest above Los Angeles' northeastern suburbs and mop up the remnants of an overnight fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that singed six houses. The fires have forced the evacuation of numerous homes.

In Monterey County, a wildfire near Soledad has reached 5,000 acres, or nearly 8 square miles. About 100 homes are under evacuation orders.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Wildfires threatened hundreds of homes in the seaside hills and foothill canyons near Los Angeles early Friday, feeding on bone-dry brush in the midst of a heat wave expected to drive temperatures into triple digits.

As many as 1,500 people had to leave the wealthy seaside community of Rancho Palos Verdes overnight, while residents of about 870 homes were urged to voluntarily leave La Canada Flintridge, a dozen miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Water-dropping helicopters worked through the night, as the ominous red glow of flames illuminated the darkness. A lack of wind let the helicopters operate in the canyons, Los Angeles County fire Inspector Steve Zermeno said.

The Rancho Palos Verdes fire erupted late Thursday and spread rapidly. Hundreds of firefighters and their engines were deployed to protect homes in the fire's path.

"The fire was stopped right at the backyards of those homes," said county fire Chief Deputy John Tripp.

Six homes had minor exterior damage, and an outbuilding and a gazebo were destroyed, he said.

Daybreak revealed an ash-covered landscape with no flames apparent. The burn area was officially listed at 100 acres with 35 percent containment, but Tripp said both numbers were expected to significantly rise when mapping was complete.

One end of the fire remained open in an inaccessible area and Tripp said that remained a concern.

"As the heat comes up today, it could cause that fire to come out of there and come back into the neighborhoods," he said. "We are not out of the woods yet."

Fire crews waged a fierce overnight fight to protect expensive homes standing on ridges above finger canyons.

"They were doing battle from the word go. It was a struggle," said fire Capt. Mike Brown. "They were dealing with some treacherous terrain ... the fire moving up canyon and dry brush. They had to make a stand."

The wealthy communities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula south of Los Angeles are in an area known for horse trails, spectacular Pacific Ocean views, pricey real estate and exclusive golf clubs, including the Trump National Golf Club owned by Donald Trump.

The Terranea Resort, a luxury hotel a couple miles from the fire, opened its door to locals who had to evacuate, but only two families had taken advantage of the offer by midnight, said hotel spokeswoman Wendy Haase.

The fire near La Canada Flintridge began to kick up late Thursday afternoon, a day after it began in the Angeles National Forest, and flames moved slowly down the slopes of the San Gabriels. By early Friday it was estimated to cover more than 2 square miles and was about 10 percent contained.

The fire jumped a highway overnight and moved near homes in the Arroyo Seco, said Jennifer Sanchez, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

The arroyo, a miles-long watercourse that runs from the mountains south through neighboring Pasadena, is the location of luxury neighborhoods, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Rose Bowl.

Zermeno said the fire was being fought mainly from the air because the terrain was too steep for firefighters to reach it easily.

Still air meant the fire was growing slowly rather than being pushed, but "we'll see if nature is still on our side" later in the day, Zermeno said.

The National Weather Service predicted a third day of red flag conditions of extreme fire danger for many of California's central and southern mountain ranges because of because of low humidity and triple-digit heat that sapped moisture from grass and brush. However, there were no predictions of significant winds in the fire areas. The notorious Santa Ana winds often associated with the region's worst wildfires don't usually occur until the fall.

The smell of smoke from the forest fire tinged the air in a wide area of Los Angeles, which hit 101 degrees downtown on Thursday.

To the east, another fire in the San Gabriel Mountains was 60 percent contained late Thursday after burning across more than 3 square miles, Sanchez said.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters aided by bulldozers and a fleet of water- and fire retardant-dropping aircraft worked the fire's northeastern edge.

The fire, believed caused by human action began Tuesday near a dam and reservoir in San Gabriel Canyon, a half-dozen miles above the city of Azusa.

Farther north in Monterey County, 100 homes were evacuated about four miles from the community of Soledad. The fire burned more than 2,000 acres of steep grasslands, or more than 3 square miles, since it started Thursday afternoon, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. James Dellamonica said. The blaze has not been contained.

To the west, in the San Bernardino National Forest in Riverside County, another fire had blackened about 1 1/2 square miles by Thursday evening and prompted authorities to issue a voluntary evacuation of 12 homes in the area near Hemet, said Forest Service fire spokeswoman Anabele Cornejo. She said about five people had left and that the fire was 5 percent contained.

Stepdad: Girl held 18 years enjoys 'happy' reunion

Stepdad: Girl held 18 years enjoys 'happy' reunion

This family photo released by Carl Probyn on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, shows his stepdaughter, Jaycee Lee Dugard who went missing in 1991. The woman who was snatched from a bus stop as an 11-year-old child in 1991 turned up at a California police station after 18 mysterious years, and a convicted sex offender and his wife were arrested in the kidnapping.

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- A man suspected of snatching an 11-year-old girl and hiding her for nearly two decades in his backyard faced a Friday court appearance, as the woman's family reunited with their daughter and met the two children fathered by her alleged abductor.

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 when she was abducted from a South Lake Tahoe street in 1991, was kept behind a series of fences, sheds and tents, even giving birth to her suspected abductor's children in the suburban backyard compound less than 200 miles from her childhood home.

Dugard's stepfather told CBS' "Early Show" Friday morning that he spoke to his wife late Thursday after she reunited with Dugard and everyone was "doing great."

"I think they're pretty happy," Carl Probyn said, noting six people were at the reunion - Jaycee Dugard, her two daughters, her sister, mother and another relative.

He said the most surprising thing to his wife was that Dugard looks almost like she did when she was taken.

"She looks very young, she looks very healthy," Probyn said. "She told me that Jaycee feels really guilty for bonding with this guy. She has a real guilt trip."

Phillip Garrido, 58, is being held for investigation of various kidnapping and sex charges. Authorities said his 54-year-old wife, Nancy Garrido, was with him during the kidnapping in South Lake Tahoe and she also has been arrested.

Dugard was taken directly to the house and sheltered from the world in a secret, leafy backyard, investigators said Thursday. Her abductor, investigators said, raped her and fathered two children with her, the first when Jaycee was about 14. Those girls, now 11 and 15, also were kept hidden away in the backyard compound behind the Antioch home.

"None of the children have ever been to school, they've never been to a doctor," El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said. "They were kept in complete isolation in this compound."

Even a parole agent who visited Garrido's home didn't have an inkling about the hidden compound, Kollar said. Garrido is a registered sex offender on federal parole for rape and kidnapping convictions.

"The way the house is set up, the way the backyard is set up, you could walk through the backyard, walk through the house, and never know," Kollar said.

But neighbors said there were clues even before a parole agent on Wednesday noticed Dugard, now 29, who accompanied Garrido, his wife and the children to a parole office.

Neighbor Diane Doty said she could see the tents and often heard children playing in the backyard, the corner of which abuts her own backyard. She said she even suspected the children lived in the tents, but her husband said she should leave the family alone.

"I asked my husband, 'Why is he living in tents?'" she said. "And he said, 'Maybe that is how they like to live.'"

Dugard's stepfather, who witnessed her abduction and was a longtime suspect in the case, said he was overwhelmed by the news after doing everything he could to help find her.

"It broke my marriage up. I've gone through hell, I mean I'm a suspect up until yesterday," a tearful Probyn, 60, told The Associated Press at his home in Orange, Calif. He said her family felt troubled by learning the facts of how she was forced to live for 18 years.

The case broke after Garrido was spotted Tuesday with two children as he tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley, campus to hand out religious literature. Officers said he was acting suspiciously toward the children. They questioned him and did a background check, determined that he was a parolee and informed his parole officer.

Garrido was ordered to appear for a parole meeting and arrived Wednesday with Dugard, who identified herself as "Allissa," his wife, and two children. During questioning, corrections officials said he admitted to kidnapping Dugard.

Investigators said he did not yet have an attorney.

Police said they had no evidence that Dugard had ever reached out to anyone beyond the compound walls.

"She was in good health, but living in a backyard for the past 18 years does take its toll," Kollar said.

The backyard compound had electricity from extension cords and a rudimentary outhouse and shower, "as if you were camping," Kollar said.

Authorities said they do not know if Garrido also abused his daughters, but they are investigating.

Garrido's compound was located in Antioch, a city of 100,000 about 170 miles from the Dugard family home in South Lake Tahoe.

People who knew Garrido said he became increasingly fanatic about his religious beliefs in recent years, sometimes breaking out into song and claiming that God spoke to him through a box.

"In the last couple years he started getting into this strange religious stuff. We kind of felt sorry for him," said Tim Allen, president of East County Glass and Window Inc. in Pittsburg, Calif., who bought business cards and letterhead from Garrido's printing business for the last decade.

Three times in recent years, Garrido arrived at Allen's showroom with two "cute little blond girls" in tow, he said.

In April 2008, Garrido registered a corporation called Gods Desire at his home address, according to the California Secretary of State. During recent visits to the showroom, Garrido would talk about quitting the printing business to preach full time and gave the impression he was setting up a church, Allen said.

"He rambled. It made no sense," he said.

In a blog that appears to have been maintained by Garrido, he wrote that he had hired a private investigator to verify his ability to speak to people using only his mind. In an "affadavit" posted there, he said he had the ability to "control sound with my mind and have developed a device for others to witness this phenomena."

Garrido gave a rambling, sometimes incoherent phone interview to KCRA-TV from the El Dorado County jail Thursday in which he said he had not admitted to a kidnapping and that he had turned his life around since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago.

"I tell you here's the story of what took place at this house, and you're going to be absolutely impressed. It's a disgusting thing that took place from the end to the beginning. But I turned my life completely around," he said.

In addition to kidnapping allegations, court records showed both Garridos were being held for investigation of rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and kidnapping someone under 14 with intent to rape. Phillip Garrido also faces allegations of sexual penetration.

The AP, as a matter of policy, avoids identifying victims of alleged sexual abuse by name in its news reports. However, Dugard's disappearance had been known and reported for nearly two decades, making impossible any effort to shield her identity now.

Garrido has a long rap sheet dating to the 1970s.

He was convicted of kidnapping a 25-year-old woman whom he snatched from a South Lake Tahoe parking lot, handcuffed, tied down and held in a mini-warehouse in Reno, according to a November 1976 story in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

He also has a conviction for rape by force or fear stemming from the same incident, and was paroled from a Nevada state prison in 1988, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 1991, police believe he was trolling for victims in South Lake Tahoe in a Ford Granada when he snatched Dugard from a bus stop outside her home. The case attracted national attention and was featured on TV's "America's Most Wanted," which broadcast a composite drawing of a suspect seen in the car.

Probyn said his wife, from whom he is separated, was devastated by the kidnapping. He said for 10 years after the crime, she would take a week off work at Christmas and on the anniversary of the abduction and spend the time crying at home.

Jaycee Lee Dugard has retained custody of her children and was staying at a Bay area motel, authorities said.

Flat incomes raise doubts about economic recovery

Flat incomes raise doubts about economic recovery

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2009 file photo, potential new car buyers look through the Galpin Ford dealership lot in Los Angeles, the final day of the federal government's Cash for Clunckers program. Consumer spending edged up in July with help from the popular Cash for Clunkers program, but household incomes, the fuel for future spending increases, were flat.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Household income in the U.S. is essentially stagnant, raising doubts about whether consumers already hurt by job losses can sustain an economic recovery.

The now-ended Cash for Clunkers program helped lift consumer spending last month and is expected to provide an even bigger boost in August. But any rebound could falter if shoppers don't boost their buying, which makes up about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

"Consumers just don't have the financial firepower to go out and spend more," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Unless businesses curtail their job cuts, the recovery could very well peter out."

Stronger consumer spending is the key to a sustained recovery. For spending to rise, analysts said, income growth has to resume.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that personal incomes were flat July, the eighth month out of 10 in which incomes have either fallen or failed to grow. Americans have been hammered by massive layoffs and efforts by some companies to restrain costs by forcing workers to take unpaid days off.

With incomes flat in July as spending rose, the personal savings rate dipped slightly to 4.2 percent from 4.5 percent in June. The savings rate was 2.6 percent a year ago.

Economists expect the savings rate to rise in coming months to around 6 percent as workers try to rebuild depleted nest eggs. The process of rebuilding savings is one of the factors expected to depress consumer spending and weaken the broader recovery.

The 0.2 percent rise in spending last month followed a 0.6 percent jump in June, a gain driven by a surge in gasoline prices. Adjusting for inflation, spending also rose 0.2 percent in July, and 0.1 percent in June.

The slight rise in spending reflected a 1.3 percent jump in purchases of durable goods such as cars, a gain propelled by the clunkers program that started at the end of July. Purchases of nondurable goods such as clothing actually fell 0.3 percent last month.

The unchanged reading for personal incomes followed large swings in the previous two months that reflected payments to individuals from the government's $787 billion economic stimulus program. Those payments pushed incomes up 1.4 percent in May and their absence in June caused incomes to fall 1.1 percent.

Even households with sufficient income to hit the shopping malls have trimmed their purchases and boosted savings to cope with a severe financial crisis which sent the stock market into a nosedive last year.

The Federal Reserve has pushed a key interest rate to a record low near zero in an effort to boost the economy and is pledging to keep rates low for a considerable period even as the economy begins to grow again.

The Fed is able to make that pledge because inflation is not a problem. A price gauge tied to consumer spending was unchanged in July after a 0.5 percent jump in June that had reflected a big rise in energy prices. Excluding food and energy, the price gauge showed a 0.1 percent rise, and over the past year increased 1.4 percent, well within the Fed's comfort zone for inflation.

The government reported Thursday that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, fell at an annual rate of 1 percent in the April-June quarter. It marked the fourth consecutive decline in GDP, the longest stretch on records that go back more than six decades.

Many economists believe GDP in the current July-September quarter will rebound to growth above 3 percent and remain at that level in the fourth quarter. The economic growth likely will reflect a boost from the highly successful clunkers program to boost car sales and other government stimulus efforts.

But the fear is that economic growth will slip back in the early part of 2010 as the impact of the government programs fade and unemployment rises. The 9.4 percent jobless rate in July is expected to edge up to 9.5 percent in August and keep rising until it tops 10 percent. That will be a tough environment to see strong gains in consumer spending.

Some analysts worry that the country could be headed for a double-dip recession in which the economy resumes growing for a brief period only to fall back into a downturn.

The troubles consumers face have meant tough times for the nation's retailers. A survey of big retail chains showed that shoppers remained tightfisted in July, a development that raised worries about back-to-school sales and the holiday shopping season later this year.

In July, mall-based apparel stores fared the worst with Macy's Inc. and teen retailers Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Wet Seal Inc. reporting disappointing results.

However, apparel discounters like Ross Stores Inc. and TJX Cos. both reported sales gains that exceeded Wall Street estimates. TJX operates the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains.

Tens of thousands pay tribute to Ted Kennedy

Tens of thousands pay tribute to Ted Kennedy

Members of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library staff hold vigil in front of the flag draped casket of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy before the doors of the library opened to mourners wanting to pay their respects in Boston, Friday morning, Aug. 28, 2009. Kennedy died late Tuesday night of brain cancer.

BOSTON (AP) -- Tens of thousands of people are paying tribute today to Sen. Edward Kennedy, who lay in repose for a second day in a flag-draped casket at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Members of the Kennedy family, including his daughter Kara Kennedy Allen, nephew Tim Shriver and 81-year-old Jean Kennedy Smith, the senator's sister and the last surviving Kennedy sibling, greeted visitors.

Smith, the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, choked back tears. "This is a hard time for me," she said when asked to talk about her brother. She was joined briefly by her son, William Kennedy Smith.

"It's a wonderful tribute to Teddy and the lives that he touched," he said of the line of thousands.

A five-person military honor guard stood at attention around the casket in a high-ceilinged room with a spectacular view of Boston Harbor.

Large photos of Kennedy with his family greeted mourners on their way into the room, including one of Kennedy as a boy with his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, and a 1960s-era shot of Kennedy with his slain brothers, John and Robert.

The library was supposed to close at 11 p.m. Thursday, but the doors were left open until 2 a.m. Friday as 21,000 people paid their respects. Visitors resumed before 8 a.m. Friday and was to continue until 3 p.m., at which point the viewing was to end to make preparations for a collection of big political names converging for a private "Celebration of Life" service Friday night.

Scheduled speakers include Vice President Joe Biden; Sens. John McCain, Orrin Hatch and Christopher Dodd; and niece Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy. Performances will include "God Bless America" and Kennedy's favorite song, "The Impossible Dream."

Among visitors Friday morning was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said Kennedy helped change the country through his work for minorities, the disabled and the poor.

"As a rich person, no one reached back further for the poor or exalted them higher," Jackson said.

Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a longtime civil rights leader, noted Kennedy's substantial influence on the movement.

"He's one man that changed America forever," Lewis said. "He made America a better place. ... Sen. Kennedy was our champion. He was our leader. He was our shepherd."

Visitors represented a cross-section of race and class, and many of them said they had benefited directly from Kennedy's 47 years of work in the Senate.

Fred Foster, 51, of Boston's Brighton neighborhood, said he was helped by Kennedy's work on COBRA, the federal program that allows people to retain their former company's health benefits under some circumstances.

"A few years ago I was laid off and I continued to have my health insurance because of COBRA, and that's a direct result of what Sen. Kennedy did," Foster said.

George Thomas, a member of Connecticut's Pequot tribe, arrived Friday wearing an otter turban and said he brought prayers and condolences for Kennedy's family from 40 tribes across the Northeast and Southwest.

If a tribe had a dispute over land or water rights, "a simple call to his office would resolve it," Thomas said.

As she waited in line, retired nurse Frances Murphy Araujo, 66, recalled piling into an old Chevy with six college friends and driving all night to go to John F. Kennedy's funeral in 1963.

"There's a real admiration and affection for the Kennedys in my family," she said.

"Ted Kennedy rolled up his sleeves and got the work done," she added. "He was very down to earth. You felt like you could approach him."

A funeral Mass is scheduled for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston on Saturday. President Barack Obama is expected to deliver the eulogy.

All the living former presidents are expected to attend except for George H.W. Bush. Spokesman Jim McGrath said Friday that the 85-year-old Bush feels his son's presence will "amply and well represent" the family.

Kennedy's body was delivered to the library Thursday by a motorcade of family members and friends who had celebrated a private Mass at the family compound in Hyannis Port, 70 miles away, where Kennedy spent his final days.

Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his brothers at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia.

Technical Retail Therapy - Apple's Snow Leopard by Tracey Johnson traceyzipporahonyx@gmail.com

Technical Retail Therapy - Apple's Snow Leopard by Tracey Johnson traceyzipporahonyx@gmail.com


Tracey Johnson

I am proudly a self-proclaimed techie, I try to stay up on the latest and greatest. I love all the Apple products and support the jet setter lifestyle to include all portable items such as: Mac laptops, Apple TV, ipods, itouch and all the applications. I can’t however convert to the iPhone because I am so in love with Blackberry smart phones. I have a constant internal battle as to if I should abandon my Blackberry ways and embrace the seemingly unlimited world of applications offered by the iPhone.

As much as I love technology, I don’t love running with the pack. Everyone is grabbing at the newest, latest and greatest; I have to somehow make it mine without being like everyone else. But it has become a full time job keeping track of the upgrades. Introducing Apple’s Snow Leopard available tomorrow, Friday, August 27^th for the low, low cost of $25 on Amazon and $29 in the Apple stores, only until Monday, August 31^st.

The question is do we “Mactized” individuals need this new application for our machines? I mean really I feel like my Sam’s Club Membership that is renewed annually or my membership dues in my professional societal Association because every year there is a new upgrade, a faster, better, smarter version of the original that came out last year. Does it make sense to run out and get it as soon as it comes out that year knowing that it will be drastically reduced when the newer model comes out? This is not just Apple but my beloved Blackberry Smart Phones have come a long way from the original and I must have each one!

Now we understand that the upgrades are faster, with more memory, more applications, better navigation etc, etc, but do we have to have it? Thanks to the Internet there have been many wonderful reviews on what we can expect from the Snow Leopard. The funny thing is that I was in the Apple store just yesterday customizing a new Mac for my Mother, installing iWork 08, getting Dr. Dre ear cans, external hard drives and such only to find out that the Snow Leopard doesn’t work for those with the Tiger operating system. That kicks it out for me. I have had my Mac for three years strong and loving it! It has never crashed, never glitched, never lagged, and never spammed. I have recorded music, edited movies, written books, crafted blogs, approved designs, oovoo’d, skyped, research and done everything I feel big and bad enough to do that supports my lifestyle occupation and my beautiful little black MacBook takes everything I dish out!

So when the new Macs came out I checked them with little interest. The new ipods came out I checked it with little interest, the new applications came out iWork 08, no interest. I am happily content with all the offerings of my Mac, the applications are perfect for me if anything I would love more memory but that works with all the external hard drives that I have. Now back to this Snow Leopard. Is it all that? I have done a little research to find out what the newbies are to this Snow Leopard:

This Snow Leopard is faster than it’s predecessor. What we experienced is the opening of applications are significantly faster and for those us that close and open applications throughout the day, opening them a second and third time, it opens in half the time.

The menu bar shows the date and time, which is excellent for bloggers and writers.

This new system adjusts the time clock on the Mac when changing time zones. For us jet setters that is a wonderful feature. Right now I am on the east coast with a west coast time showing on the desktop, which is quite annoying.

There is a ‘put back’ command that allows you to pull items out of the trash and restore them to your memory.

The track pad turns into a backlit touch screen

Within the iDVD application there is a youtube command built in!

There is Mac exchangeability between Mac’s address book (which I love), email, icalendar and your own contact management legacy software.

The Snow Leopard runs on Mac machines purchased since 2006, (yay! I made it), which is different from what the Apple Specialist told me in the store yesterday. See what a little research can do? The end result is this; if you have a Leopard operating system already the upgrade is definitely something you should consider. If you have a Tiger operating system then the investment for you will be $170 giving you all the new applications plus all the goodies in the Snow Leopard system. Either way it has my recommendation as a self-proclaimed techie!

Be on the look out for Microsoft’s new system that they have coming out a month from now entitled Windows 7, we will have to see how that one works when the time comes. Happy Retail Therapy!

HoopGurlz at Phila. Front Page News

HoopGurlz at Phila. Front Page News

With the first ever USA Basketball U16 National Team competing in Mexico City, Elizabeth Williams and Co., pushed the team to gold and a spot in next summer's U17 World Championships.

Not everyone gets a chance to be part of a country's first, but the USA Basketball U16 team laid claim to two on Friday.

After a 103-52 defeat of Canada, the USA team claims the country's first U16 gold medals in basketball by winning FIBA America's first U16 tournament in Mexico City.

"That was something we'd talked about as a team and the girls really latched on to," coach Barbara Nelson said Friday night by phone. "Getting the opportunity to be FIBA America's first U16 gold medalists and not only that but the first USA U16 team to win gold? It's a great experience for the young ladies."

It was quite the week for the USA team, as it won Group B with convincing victories against Argentina, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic before a semifinal win against Brazil and the championship victory versus Canada. In each win, a different player stepped forward to lead the USA team while nearly everyone scored as USA averaged 108-plus points per game.

Elizabeth Williams is awarded the tournament MVP at the FIBA Americas U16
tournament in Mexico City.

"We focused on defense, which we talked about for every game," Elizabeth Williams said. "We just picked it up and dominated."

With the championship, USA qualified for FIBA's U17 World Championships in France next year. Canada also qualified, as did Argentina, which finished third.

Williams, who garnered tournament MVP honors, led the charge against Canada, scoring 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds, while four other players scored in double digits. Justine Hartman scored 14 points, Betnijah Laney added 13, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis posted 12 and Jordan Adams added 10. Nirra Fields led Canada with 12 points.

"There was a pretty big USA crowd," Williams said. "And eventually we got a lot of the other teams to cheer for us, too."

Canada hung with USA early, as Team USA finished the first quarter with just a seven-point lead, but USA outscored Canada 29-9 in the second quarter. The USA's suffocating defense allowed for the blowout final score by forcing 28 turnovers, while an equally dominating 80 points in the paint made for a proud coach after the final buzzer.

"We were really able to use our size and ball movement to run to floor," said Nelson, who coaches at Wingate University. "Elizabeth Williams and Breanna Stewart were really just dominating in the paint all week, but we had different heroes every night and tonight was no different. I'm really proud of them."

Off the court, the girls also got quite the life experience, getting a chance to visit an open-air market where they could test their bartering skills, going to local restaurants and taking in other games during the tournament. All eight teams stayed in the same dormitory and, despite multiple languages spoken, were able to communicate and bond during their week in Mexico City.

"It's amazing how the young people could get past the language barriers," Nelson said. "The girls really developed bonds across the borders, especially with the team from Brazil, even though none of them spoke Portuguese."

Learning to break language barriers was just one more first for many of the girls, adding to their list from a successful week of international competition.

Powell Funeral Home View: Grief by Janet Powell powellservices.net (215) 868-9221

Powell Funeral Home View: Grief by Janet Powell powellservices.net (215) 868-9221


Janet Powell, Mortician

Upon the death of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and now, Edward Kennedy, we all feel the pangs of grief. There have been many deaths recently. Most deaths are void of publicity leaving the process of mourning to the family members and friends. Their celebrations are without fanfare but just as excruciatingly painful. The deaths of a public person, results in grief within their family structures as well as those fans that made them a part of their lives.

All losses are painful for anyone who is in the throes of a death. Pain has no class or monetary structure. Some deaths do result in national or global grief. The nation mourns together and recovers together.

This week’s death of Kennedy presents a loss for a generation that witnessed the childhood of Michael, the emancipation of the female through Farrah and the fantasy of the older adult Kennedy. Each covered three generations of our lives making their deaths, personal. Each covered a music genre, style of clothing and political agenda. Each life covered a war. Each was fraught with personally challenged losses and addictions. Each suffered losses of character but initiated reverses for posterity.

The funeral services are reflective of the lives they chose and they allow the families and the public to share’ When we grieve we make ourselves better because of the inclusion. At death, star power and money are reduced to fodder. As all of us do, we mourn loss. As we mourn we forget minor flaws.

We bury seeds to raise flowers and we simply remember the love.
More after death than before, we smile with glee when Michael Jackson’s music plays. The theme song to “Charlie’s Angels”, takes us to a carefree, prosperous time that we want back. Senator Edward Kennedy reminds all of us who look up to a mentor for guidance and wisdom to seek another. Soon!

Pa. Budget Crisis Has Area Non-Profits on Brink of Collapse

Pa. Budget Crisis Has Area Non-Profits on Brink of Collapse

by KYW's Steve Tawa

Hundreds of people rallied on Wednesday in front of the Media, Pa. (Delaware County) courthouse to remind state officials that their budget impasse is devastating some of Pennsylvania's most vulnerable people.

Representatives from more than 70 non-profit agencies say they're on the brink of collapse. Organizer Joseph Rogers is with Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania:

"They've extended their credit lines, what resources they had in reserve. As the weeks pass, they're going out of business."

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

All Eyes on Michael Vick in Eagle's Debut

All Eyes on Michael Vick in Eagle's Debut


by KYW's Paul Kurtz and Kim Glovas

Michael Vick is expected to make his debut as an Eagle on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field against the Jaguars. His participation in the pre-season game was expected to be a lightning rod of protests both for and against the convicted felon.

Civil rights groups were planning a rally in support of Michael Vick on Thursday evening, but reports say those groups made an arrangement with the team and have since backed off or scaled back their plans for demonstrations.

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Crime story author Dominick Dunne, 83, dies in NYC

Crime story author Dominick Dunne, 83, dies in NYC

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2008 file photo, celebrity crime writer Dominick Dunne, left, looks at his son Griffin Dunne during O.J. Simpson's trial in Las Vegas. Dunne, who told stories of shocking crimes among the rich and famous through his magazine articles and best-selling novels such as "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," died Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Author Dominick Dunne, who told stories of shocking crimes among the rich and famous through his magazine articles and best-selling books including "Another City, Not My Own," about O.J. Simpson's murder trial, died Wednesday in his home at age 83.

Dunne's son, Griffin Dunne, said in a statement released by Vanity Fair magazine that his father had been battling bladder cancer. But the cancer had not prevented Dunne from working and socializing, his twin passions.

In September 2008, against his doctor's orders and his family's wishes, Dunne flew to Las Vegas to attend Simpson's kidnap-robbery trial, a postscript to his coverage of the football great's 1995 murder trial, which spiked Dunne's considerable fame.

In the past year, Dunne had traveled to Germany and the Dominican Republic for experimental stem cell treatments to fight his cancer. He wrote that he and actress Farrah Fawcett were in the same clinic in Bavaria but didn't see each other. Fawcett, a 1970s sex symbol and TV star of "Charlie's Angels," died in June at age 62.

Dunne discontinued his Vanity Fair column to concentrate on finishing another novel, "Too Much Money," which is to come out in December. He also made a number of appearances to promote a documentary film about his life, "After the Party," which was being released on DVD.

Dunne, who lived in Manhattan, was beginning to write his memoirs and until recently had posted messages on his Web site commenting on events in his life and thanking his fans for their support.

Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter praised Dunne as a gifted reporter who proved as fascinating as the people he wrote about.

"Anyone who remembers the sight of O.J. Simpson trying on the famous glove probably remembers a bespectacled Dunne, resplendent in his trademark Turnbull & Asser monogrammed shirt, on the court bench behind him," Carter wrote in a statement released Wednesday. "It is fair to say that the halls of Vanity Fair will be lonelier without him and that, indeed, we will not see his like anytime soon, if ever again."

Earlier this summer, Dunne was well enough to attend a Manhattan party hosted by Tina Brown. Chatting with an Associated Press reporter, he spoke of Michael Jackson, who recently had died, and remembered lunching with the singer and Elizabeth Taylor. Jackson was so excited to see her, Dunne said, he presented her with a diamond necklace just for the occasion.

Dunne was part of a famous family that also included his brother, novelist and screenwriter John Gregory Dunne; his brother's wife, author Joan Didion; and his son Griffin.

A one-time movie producer, Dunne carved a new career starting in the 1980s as a chronicler of the problems of the wealthy and powerful.

Tragedy struck his life in 1982 when his actress daughter, Dominique Dunne, was slain - and that experience informed his later fiction and journalistic efforts.

"If you go through what I went through, losing my daughter, you have strong, strong feelings of revenge," Dunne said in 1990 in discussing his novel "People Like Us," in which the protagonist shoots the man convicted of killing his daughter.

"I intended for Gus (the character in the book) to kill the guy. But when I got to that part I couldn't write it. He wounds him and goes to prison himself for a couple of years," Dunne said.

He was as successful a journalist as he was a novelist and spent many of his later years in courtrooms covering high profile trials. Writing for Vanity Fair, he covered such cases as the William Kennedy Smith rape trial in 1991 and the trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, accused of murdering their millionaire parents, in 1993.

As riveting as those trials were, they were far overshadowed in 1994, when Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. With a trial that stretched out over a year and cable TV outlets providing endless coverage, Dunne became a familiar face to millions.

"I especially like to watch the jurors," Dunne explained to Fox TV during the trial. "I always pick out about four jurors who become my favorites. I sort of try to anticipate what they are thinking and how they are reacting."

He called his book on the Simpson trial, "a novel in the form of a memoir." It, too, became a best seller.

From the gritty world of the courtroom during the day, he would move into the glamorous realm of high society at night, dining with the rich and famous, charming them with his inside stories of the Simpson trial.

He was a colorful raconteur and his stories mesmerized listeners. He was a much sought after dinner guest on both coasts and in the glamour capitals of Europe, where he frequently traveled. He was a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, interviewing members of royalty and movie stars.

His assignments took him to London to cover the inquest into Princess Diana's death and to Monaco to look into the mysterious death of billionaire Edmond Safra.

He continued appearing regularly on television, and in 2002 debuted a weekly program on Court TV, "Power, Privilege and Justice." The show gave him an added dose of celebrity when it was distributed in foreign countries.

He had already been working on "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," a fictionalized retelling of a sensational 1950s society murder, when his 22-year-old daughter was strangled by her former boyfriend, John Sweeney, shortly after she had completed her first movie, "Poltergeist."

Sweeney was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, not murder, and was freed after serving less than four years of a six-year sentence. The verdict was seen as a major victory for the defense, and Dunne bitterly told the judge in court, "you withheld important information from this jury about this man's history of violent behavior." He later told the Los Angeles Times the sentence was "a tap on the wrist."

In a 1985 AP interview, Dunne said he nearly stopped writing when his daughter was slain because he didn't want to do a book that dealt with murder, but his editor wouldn't let him quit.

"She was incredibly sympathetic and lenient on time," he said. "I'm glad now that she didn't let me quit."

Among his other books were the 1993 "A Season in Purgatory," which helped revive interest in the 1975 slaying of teenager Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Conn. A Kennedy relative, Michael Skakel, was convicted in the killing in 2002.

Dunne also wrote "An Inconvenient Woman" and "The Mansions of Limbo."

In 1999, Dunne published a memoir called "The Way We Lived Then," a compilation of photographs of him and his family with famous people and his recollections of the glamour life he and his wife enjoyed for many years.

Dunne was born in 1925 in Hartford, Conn., to a wealthy Roman Catholic family and grew up in some of the same social circles as the Kennedys. The memoir traced his fascination with Hollywood to a childhood trip he took "out West" with an aunt. They took one of those homes of the stars bus tours and he vowed to come back and be part of the glamorous world he had glimpsed.

He served in the Army during World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism in 1944 for carrying two wounded men to safety at the Battle of Merz in Feisberg, Germany. "Winning a medal was the only thing I can ever remember doing that won any admiration from my father," he later wrote.

At Williams College in Massachusetts, he and a fellow student, Stephen Sondheim, appeared in plays together. After graduating in 1949, he went to New York where he landed a job in the fledgling TV industry as stage manager of the "Howdy Doody" show. NBC took him to Hollywood to stage manage the TV version of "The Petrified Forest" with Humphrey Bogart.

Among his producer credits were the TV series "Adventures in Paradise" and "The Boys in the Band," a pioneering 1970 drama about gay life. His brother and sister-in-law co-wrote two of his films, "The Panic in Needle Park" and "Play It As It Lays."

Dunne and his wife, Ellen Griffin Dunne, known as Lenny, were married in 1954. They divorced in the 1960s but he wrote that afterward they remained close nonetheless. She died in 1997.

Beside Dominique, they had two sons, Alexander and Griffin. Griffin has acted in such films as "An American Werewolf in London" and "After Hours." He branched into directing and producing, with "Fierce People" and "Practical Magic" among his credits.

August tied for deadliest month in Afghanistan

August tied for deadliest month in Afghanistan

A vehicle used by the Kunduz justice ministry director burns after an explosion in Kunduz province north of Kabul, Afghanistan Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009. Sayed Jahangir, the justice ministry director for Kunduz province, was killed when his car exploded while driving to work in the provincial capital, said Ahmad Sami Yawar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

KABUL (AP) -- A U.S. service member died Thursday in a militant attack involving a roadside bomb and gunfire, a death that pushed August into a tie with July as the deadliest months of the eight-year war.

The death brings to 44 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan this month. But with four days left in the month, August could set a new record.

More than 60,000 U.S. troops are now in the country - a record number - to combat rising insurgent violence. The number of roadside bombs deployed by militants across the country has skyrocketed, and U.S. forces have moved into new and deadlier areas of the country this summer, in part to help secure the country's Aug. 20 presidential election.

Violence is on the rise in Afghanistan even as it falls in Iraq, where nearly twice as many U.S. troops are still based. Five U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month, three fewer than in July.

A statement from the NATO-led force in Kabul said the U.S. service member died in southern Afghanistan when the troop's patrol responded to the bombing and gunfire attack. No other details were released. Thousands of new American troops are operating for the first time in Helmand and Kandahar, two of the country's most dangerous provinces, in part to secure the country's Aug. 20 presidential vote.

Afghan election officials have released two batches of vote tallies that show President Hamid Karzai with 44.8 percent of the vote and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah with 35.1 percent, based on returns from 17 percent of polling stations. The next partial results are expected Saturday.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Afghan forces battled Taliban militants at a medical center in eastern Afghanistan after a Taliban commander sought treatment there, and a U.S. helicopter gunship fired on the clinic after militants put up resistance.

Reports of the militant death toll from Wednesday's firefight varied widely. The spokesman of the governor of Paktika province said 12 militants died, while police said two were killed. The U.S. military did not report any deaths. It wasn't clear why the tolls differed.

The fighting began after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment at a clinic in the Sar Hawza district of Paktika. Afghan forces went to the center and got in a firefight with militants. U.S. forces later provided backup.

Hamidullah Zhwak, the governor's spokesman, said the Taliban commander was wounded Aug. 20, election day. Militants brought him and three other wounded Taliban to the clinic at noon Wednesday. Afghan forces were tipped off to their presence and soon arrived at the scene, he said.

Insurgent snipers fired from a tower near the clinic, and troops called in an airstrike from U.S. forces, Zhwak said. Fighting between some 20 militants and Afghan and U.S. forces lasted about five hours, and 12 Taliban were killed in the clash, he said.

"After ensuring the clinic was cleared of civilians, an AH-64 Apache helicopter fired rounds at the building ending the direct threat and injuring the targeted insurgent in the building," a U.S. military statement said.

A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said the clinic's doctor gave U.S. troops permission to fire on the clinic. After the battle, Afghan and U.S. forces met with villagers and discussed rebuilding the clinic, a U.S. summary of the meeting said.

Villagers expressed "disgust" that militants used the medical center to fire from and that they understood that the action by Afghan and coalition forces was necessary, the summary said.

"The local villagers thanked the Afghanistan National Security Forces for ensuring all civilians were out of harms way before they were forced to use Coalition helicopters to engage the enemy," the summary said.

Seven insurgents - including the wounded commander - had been detained, the U.S. statement said.

Gen. Dawlat Khan, the provincial police chief, said two militants died in the encounter.

The Taliban have gained control of large segments of Afghanistan's south and east over the past few years, prompting the U.S. to send an additional 21,000 troops to the country this year.

The latest clash comes as the war-torn country awaits results from last week's election. The lengthy vote count, coupled with ongoing accusations of fraud, threatens to undermine hopes that Afghans can put together a united front against the insurgency.

Mourners gather in Mass. for Kennedy memorial

Mourners gather in Mass. for Kennedy memorial

A large flag flies at half staff outside the house used by President John F. Kennedy as the "summer White House" near the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 26, 2009. President Kennedy's youngest brother Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., died of brain cancer late Tuesday night.

HYANNIS PORT, Mass. (AP) -- Mourners lined up early Thursday outside Boston's John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's body will lie in repose after traveling more than 70 miles from his Cape Cod home.

Austin Howe, 15, a high school student from Laurel, Md., came with his father to see the museum and joined about 20 others before it opened its doors Thursday morning. Father and son planned to pay their respects to Kennedy after the statesman's body arrived in the afternoon.

"He is someone who made a difference," Howe said. "This is a person who served the people of Massachusetts and served the people of the United States."

His father, Scott Howe, 46, said he admired how Kennedy related to the people he served.

"He seemed to really care about his constituents," Scott Howe said. "The Kennedy family - despite the money they had - had a big streak of altruism."

Family members will attend a private Mass at Kennedy's Hyannis Port compound at noon, and the motorcade is scheduled to leave around an hour later. It will pass sites that were significant to the senator on the way to the library, which he helped develop, and his body will lie in repose there until Friday, a Senate office statement said.

The motorcade will go by St. Stephen's Church, where his mother, Rose, was baptized and her funeral Mass celebrated; cross the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the Boston park that he helped create and that is named after his mother; pass historic Faneuil Hall, where Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will ring the bell 47 times, once for each year Kennedy served in the Senate; and then move by the site of Kennedy's first office as an assistant district attorney.

A military honor guard will join members of his family, friends and current and former staff to stand vigil around the clock as anticipated thousands file past the closed casket to pay their respects, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday. Several large photographs will be in the room, showing the senator at different stages of his life.

An invitation-only memorial service will be held at the library Friday evening. On Saturday, President Barack Obama will speak at a private funeral Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica - commonly known as the Mission Church - in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood.

A church official said former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush also are expected to attend the Mass at the cavernous basilica, built in 1878.

Kennedy prayed there every day in 2003 as his daughter, Kara, was successfully treated for lung cancer at a nearby hospital. The church eventually became a place of hope and optimism for the senator, especially during his yearlong battle with brain cancer before he died Tuesday at age 77.

Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his slain brothers - former President Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy - at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia. Other family members buried on the famous hillside include former first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and the former president's baby son, Patrick, who died after two days.

Kennedy is eligible for burial at Arlington because of his service in Congress, as well as his two years in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He was a private first class and served in the military police at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, located at that time in Paris.

On Wednesday night, the Lightship Nantucket - the vessel that marked limits of the dangerous Nantucket Shoals in Massachusetts for more than 150 years - pulled up outside the Kennedy compound as dusk fell and illuminated the late senator's schooner as a tribute.

Deathlist 2009 by Tracey Johnson traceyzipporahonyx@gmail.com

Deathlist 2009 by Tracey Johnson traceyzipporahonyx@gmail.com



Tracey Johnson

Deathlist 2009 is a real title, not just the title of this article but is a website that lists out by the month the names, dates, occupations and cause of death of prominent Americans. After reading almost everything that I could find on the death of Democratic Senator and Kennedy Family Patriarch, Ted Kennedy, I had to research the deaths of this year. I think that we can all agree that this has been the year of the shocking celebrity deaths. I have been surprised almost monthly over the death of a well-known individual who has impacted some segment of our Nation. Whether they were fighting a terminal disease, sudden death or homicide this has still been the year of surprising deaths.

Let’s start with Bea Arthur known for her beloved character Maude in the show Maude from the 1960’s era. Best known in my generation for her quick witted dry humored role as Dorothy in the Golden Girls. She was well respected with a long career in theatre. Equally as long was her battle with cancer, when she passed away though it was surprising to me.

Another shocking passing was Billy Mays, the Oxy Clean, loud talking, energetic, informative salesman/spokesman who was the singular force behind me getting OxyClean for laundry and Orange Glow for household cleaning. I believed Billy Mays when he endorsed a product because the products he spoke on really worked! There was also Walter Cronkite, evening Newscaster, John Updike, Author of the Witches of Eastwick, which also made into a movie staring Bette Midler – it was rather enjoyable. Dom Deluise, Actor from the Smokey & The Bandit movies as well as being known for Italian cuisine and condiments. Then there was Edward McMahon, the voice announcer known for saying “heeeerrrreee’s Johnny!”

Now for the younger audience we will remember him as being the host of Star Search and the spokesman for the million dollar prize commercials. Also there was the astonishing death the adoring Farrah Fawcett from the Charlie’s Angels series and a plethora of other movies. Farrah trail blazed the fashion industry with her thick beautiful blonde hair, her blue eyes and amazing smile. She was stunningly beautiful and in all of that external beauty she sought to make movies, television and other media that would display the deeper aspects of her emotional intelligence, basically showing her ability to be more than a beautiful Woman. The impression she left on the entertainment industry was a serious one. Her battle with cancer was highly documented, followed tightly by the media up until her last day.

And the most unsettling passing of the year for everyone around the world was the sudden passing of King of Pop Michael Jackson. The world was waiting for his return to the music industry; he was literally rehearsing for his tour that would be going on now I believe when he died under his Physician’s care. Every generation has an event that they remember. I used to hear questions “where were you when Kennedy was shot?” or “where were you when Martin Luther King was shot?” For us it will be “where were you when Michael Jackson died?” I was in Atlanta preparing for my daughter’s photo shoot with Drexina Nelson when it came over the news. It felt like a cruel prank was being played as text messages came in, twitter and facebook updates flooded the Internet making it even more unreal. Then we were glued to the television for hours waiting for the truth to be revealed only for our greatest fears to be realized. That Michael Jackson was not only rushed to the hospital but he died there. For many of us it took days to take root. For others it hit immediately. My friend & love cried for ten hours straight while it didn’t hit me truly until two weeks later at his Memorial Service where I cried through the entirety of it and a few hours afterwards.

I could talk about this forever but there is another passing that I didn’t expect and like Michael Jackson is rather iconic in the fact that the Family is well known, legendary in fact. I am speaking of Edward M. Kennedy also known as Ted Kennedy. The successful Democratic Senator who has kept the Family going in the realm of politics is the oldest Brother to live to die of natural causes. He is the Patriarch of the Family now leaves his family reeling to determine what happens next. Very much like the passing of Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy’s family is feeling to decide who will manage the lineage from here. Who will carry the torch? Of all the surprising deaths this year I feel for the families that are left behind and I think frequently on how they are handling things, what is next for them, how they will fill the huge void left behind by the passing of their Brother, Sister, Father, Mother, Aunt, Uncle, Son, Daughter and Friend. This year has been so shocking when it comes to the deathlist…and we are only in the month of August.

b@peace

Main Branch of Free Library Opens New Senior Citizens' Area

Main Branch of Free Library Opens New Senior Citizens' Area

by KYW's Karin Phillips

Senior citizens now have their own space at the central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The new gathering space for seniors at the library at 19th and Vine, just off Logan Circle, is called "Central Senior Services."

Free Library president and director Shiobhan Reardon says the new center is in a large, comfortable room that will offer specialized health programs, computer and tech support, even large-print books:

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http://www.kyw1060.com/

Phila. NAACP Chapter Backs Michael Vick's Return to Pro Football

Phila. NAACP Chapter Backs Michael Vick's Return to Pro Football

by KYW's Paul Kurtz

Civil rights groups are planning a rally in support of Michael Vick on Thursday evening, just before Vick (above) makes his preseason debut with the Philadelphia Eagles.

NAACP Philadelphia chapter president Jerry Mondesire says his organization, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia, and several other groups will gather outside Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night to counter the protests of animal rights groups:

"There's been a lot of haranguing and breastbeating on the radio, one store has refused to sell (Vick) jerseys, and another establishment claims it's not going to show the games. So it's time for the other side to be vocal."

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Senate OKs Phila. Budget Bill

Senate OKs Phila. Budget Bill

A bill the city of Philadelphia is counting on to overcome its budget woes -- and to avoid a complete collapse of the government -- has passed in the state Senate.

The Senate voted 38-9 on Wednesday to approve the measure, which still requires action by the House.

The vote came after legislators approved some changes to an amendment that calls for an overhaul of the state's municipal pension funds.

The Senate amendment goes much further than the House version of the bill, which dealt exclusively with Philadelphia's problems.

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

McCutchen's 2-run homer rallied Pirates, 6-4

McCutchen's 2-run homer rallied Pirates, 6-4



Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins, left, hits a solo home run
in front of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit in the third
inning of the baseball game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009.

PITTSBURGH -- Andrew McCutchen made up for a defensive gaffe earlier in the ninth inning by hitting a game-ending two-run homer off closer Brad Lidge and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 on Tuesday night.



Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins, right, is greeted
by third base coach Sam Perlozzo after he hit a solo
home run on the first pitch of the game against the
Pittsburgh Pirates in the baseball game in Pittsburgh,
Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. Rollins also hit another solo
homer in the third inning.

In a game in which both closers couldn't hold leads, the Pirates tied it against Lidge (0-6) on singles by Luis Cruz and pinch-hitter Brandon Moss, and right fielder Jayson Werth's error for misplaying Moss' hit. McCutchen then won it by hitting Lidge's pitch into the seats in center for his eighth homer.

The Phillies lost for only the second time in nine games despite two homers by Jimmy Rollins on the first two pitches he saw from Pirates starter Ross Ohlendorf. Steve Pearce hit a two-run shot and Ryan Doumit added a solo drive for the Pirates against Joe Blanton.

Lidge allowed hits to all three batters he faced to blow his ninth save in 33 attempts, the most such failures in the majors. Matt Capps (3-7) won it for the Pirates despite being roughed up in the ninth for the second time in as many games against the Phillies, giving up two runs.

After Carlos Ruiz and pinch-hitter Ben Francisco doubled to tie it at 3 in the top of the ninth, Shane Victorino hit a line drive that McCutchen looked ready to run down in center. But McCutchen broke in rather than back and couldn't make the catch as the ball sailed over his head for a go-ahead triple. Capps hadn't faced the Phillies since giving up five runs and six hits in one-third inning of an 8-7 loss on July 11 in which he inherited a 7-3 lead in the ninth.

Despite McCutchen's misplay, the Pirates won their sixth in seven games since losing 12 of 13.

The Phillies, cheered on by a sizable number in the crowd of 17,049, had won 11 of 13, plus five in a row against the Pirates dating to last season. The Phillies also had won eight of 10 on the road.

Ohlendorf withstood Rollins' two leadoff home runs to pitch into the seventh inning.

Rollins got the Phillies off to a 2-0 lead, hitting Ohlendorf's fastball into the right-center seats for his 31st career leadoff homer in the first and a changeup into the right-field stands in the third -- his 17th of the season.

Ohlendorf got Rollins on a line drive to center in the fifth, but wasn't allowed to pitch to him following pinch-hitter Eric Bruntlett's one-out double in the seventh. Joel Hanrahan came on to strike out Rollins and get Victorino on a fly ball to right.

Blanton took a 2-1 lead into the sixth before walking Doumit with one out. Pearce followed one batter later by hitting his third homer, giving the Pirates their first lead at 3-2.

NOTES: Pirates SS Ronny Cedeno was a last-minute scratch as he missed a third consecutive game with a broken right pinky finger. Luis Cruz replaced him. ... OF Jose Tabata will be among seven Pirates prospects in the Arizona Fall League. He is currently at Triple-A Indianapolis. ... There appeared to be as many red-shirted Phillies fans in the lower grandstands as there were Pirates fans, and Philadelphia's rally in the ninth drew big cheers. This is Philadelphia's first visit to PNC Park since April 2008. ... The Pirates were 0 for 7 with a runner on third base in the first three innings.

Chris Brown sentenced in Rihanna assault case

Chris Brown sentenced in Rihanna assault case

Chris Brown, left, stands alongside attorney Mark Geragos at his sentencing for assaulting girlfriend Rihanna, at Los Angeles County Superior Court in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. Brown was sentenced to five years probation and 180 days of community labor.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A judge on Tuesday sentenced Chris Brown to five years' probation and six months' community labor for the beating of Rihanna and ordered the R&B singer to stay away from his former girlfriend for the next five years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to state prison if he violated any terms of his sentence, including an order to stay 100 yards away from Rihanna unless they're attending music industry events.

A probation report prepared for Tuesday's sentencing describes two previous violent incidents. It said the first happened about three months before the February beating while the couple was traveling in Europe; Rihanna slapped Brown during an argument, and he shoved her into a wall. In the second instance, Brown allegedly broke the front and passenger side windows on a Range Rover they were driving while visiting Barbados, Rihanna's home country. Neither attack was reported, the probation report states.

Brown will serve his sentence in his home state - Virginia - and his community labor will be overseen by the police chief in Richmond.

The judge said she wanted to ensure that Brown, 20, performs physical labor instead of community service, such as mentoring young people. He will also undergo a year of domestic violence counseling.

Rihanna did not attend Tuesday's sentencing.

At one point, Brown, who was accompanied by his mother, agreed to the terms of the sentence before Schnegg had finished going through them all.

The hearing had been planned for Thursday afternoon, but Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, asked to move up the singer's sentencing to Tuesday. A previous attempt to sentence Brown was postponed when Schnegg said she hadn't received adequate assurances that Brown would perform physical labor if allowed to serve probation in Virginia.

The judge said she was satisfied with a letter presented by Geragos that Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood will directly oversee Brown's labor program.

After Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in June, Schnegg ordered the pair to stay away from each other and to not contact one another. Her order Tuesday essentially extended that until Brown completes his sentence.

Donald Etra, Rihanna's attorney, has said he didn't think the strict rules were necessary, but that he and Rihanna favored a less-stringent ruling that simply ordered Brown not to annoy, harass or molest the 21-year-old pop singer. He said after Tuesday's hearing that Rihanna did not object to the stay-away order, which allows the former couple to be within 10 yards of each other if they are attending music industry events.

Schnegg said she was aware of reports that Brown had been spotted on several occasions in the same places as Rihanna.

"I am not amused with the chatter that has been on the airwaves and any violation of your probation in this case comes with the potential for state prison," Schnegg told Brown.

A felony charge of making criminal threats was dropped during Tuesday's sentencing.

"We feel that the sentence for Mr. Brown is an equitable one," said Sandi Gibbons, a district attorney's spokeswoman. "He has his future in his hands. He has control of his fate."

Gibbons said Brown's charge could eventually be reduced to a misdemeanor if he completes his sentence.

Brown was arrested Feb. 8, hours after he was accused of beating Rihanna.

The attack occurred in Los Angeles' Hancock Park neighborhood as Brown drove a rented sports car. A Los Angeles police detective described a brutal attack in a search warrant affidavit filed in the case, stating Brown hit, choked and bit Rihanna and tried at one point to push her from the car.

Brown's career suffered after his arrest, with sponsors dropping him and radio stations refusing to play his music. Both he and Rihanna had to cancel several high-profile appearances, including planned performances at the Grammy Awards the day of the attack.

In a probation report released after the sentencing, Brown is quoted as saying he was "depressed" since the attack and that he "'does not want to carry on that cycle.'"

The report included letters of support for Brown from RCA/Jive Label Group Chairman Barry Weiss as well as an entertainment lawyer and a pastor.

Republicans join Democrats in mourning Kennedy

Republicans join Democrats in mourning Kennedy

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 1994 file photo, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., left, and Republican challenger Mitt Romney argue while answering a question concerning welfare during a televised debate Oct. 27, 1994, at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, Mass. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate, has died after battling a brain tumor. He was 77. Kennedy's family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009.

BOSTON (AP) -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was a Democrat's Democrat, so much so that he became a rallying point for those in his party and an object of derision for Republican opponents.

Yet his affability and capability to span the partisan divide on an array of legislative matters prompted an outpouring of condolences from those in the GOP as well as the Democratic Party following his death Tuesday at age 77 from brain cancer.

President Barack Obama led the Democrats, saying in a statement: "For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts."

Former President George H.W. Bush spoke for his son, former President George W. Bush, in expressing sympathies from members of the Republican Party.

"While we didn't see eye to eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service," said a statement issued by the elder Bush, who noted that his library gave the senator a public service award in 2003.

"Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the U.S. Senate - a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body's history," he said.

The widow of another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, echoed those sentiments.

"Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family," Nancy Reagan said in a statement from Los Angeles.

"But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him."

Her husband died in June 2004 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

For the governor of her home state, the loss was personal.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, was Kennedy's niece, came to politics after careers as a bodybuilder and actor and credited Kennedy with helping him in his current role.

"I have personally benefited and grown from his experience and advice, and I know countless others have as well," the governor said in a statement. "Teddy taught us all that public service isn't a hobby or even an occupation, but a way of life and his legacy will live on."

Kennedy's death came just two weeks after that of Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of the senator's siblings.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 GOP presidential contender, recalled losing to Kennedy in a Senate race. Nonetheless, the two joined forces in 2006 to help pass a universal health insurance law in Massachusetts.

"In 1994, I joined the long list of those who ran against Ted and came up short. But he was the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary," Romney said.

The Senate's top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., labeled Kennedy the "patriarch" of the party.

The Senate majority leader promised that Congress, while mourning Kennedy's loss, would renew the push for the cause of Kennedy's life - health care reform.

"Ted Kennedy's dream was the one for which the founding fathers fought and for which his brothers sought to realize," Reid said in a statement. "The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die."

Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who visited Kennedy on Cape Cod this summer to discuss strategy on the health care overhaul, said he would miss his friend for the rest of his time in Congress.

"I'm not sure America has ever had a greater senator, but I know for certain that no one has had a greater friend than I and so many others did in Ted Kennedy," Dodd said.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who beat out Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination, called him "an unwavering advocate for the millions of less fortunate in our country."

"The courage and dignity he exhibited in his fight with cancer was surpassed only by his lifelong commitment and service to his country," Carter said in a statement.

Kennedy's junior colleague, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., lauded him for his cancer fight.

"He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action, and in these last fourteen months, he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time," Kerry said.

"No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger than life presence who was simply the best - the best senator, the best advocate you could ever hope for, the best colleague and the best person to stand by your side in the toughest of times."