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By The Associated Press – May 19, 2008
Today is Tuesday, May 20, the 141st day of 2008. There are 225 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
One hundred years ago, on May 20, 1908, actor James Stewart was born in Indiana, Pa.
On this date:
In 1506, explorer Christopher Columbus died in Spain.
In 1861, North Carolina voted to secede from the Union.
In 1902, the United States ended a three-year military presence in Cuba as the Republic of Cuba was established under its first elected president, Tomas Estrada Palma.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo flight to France.
In 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. (Because of weather and equipment problems, Earhart set down in Northern Ireland instead of her intended destination, France.)
In 1939, trans-Atlantic mail service began as a Pan American Airways plane, the Yankee Clipper, took off from Port Washington, N.Y., bound for Europe.
In 1961, a white mob attacked a busload of Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Ala., prompting the federal government to send in U.S. marshals to restore order.
In 1969, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces captured Ap Bia Mountain, referred to as “Hamburger Hill” by the Americans, following one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
In 1988, Laurie Dann, 30, walked into a Winnetka, Ill., elementary school classroom, where she shot to death 8-year-old Nicholas Corwin and wounded several other children. After wounding a young man at his home, Dann took her own life.
In 1993, an estimated 93 million people tuned in for the final first-run episode of “Cheers” on NBC.
Ten years ago: The government unveiled the design for the new $20 bill, featuring a larger and slightly off-center portrait of Andrew Jackson. In Beverly Hills, Calif., Hollywood royalty bid farewell to Frank Sinatra, who had died almost a week earlier at age 82, in a private, invitation-only funeral.

ap.google.com

The best-laid family planning of women in their 30s oft goes awry, in general, and in “Then She Found Me,” in particular.
Kindergarten teacher April Epner is not just thirtysomething. She’s thirty-nine-plus-something, which makes it so much the worse for an already high-strung person with one eye glued to her biological clock. It’s ticking louder than a wind-up alarm clock, and when it goes off, there’ll be no doubt for whom that baby bell tolls.
Right off the bat, April (Helen Hunt) has trouble with her new husband of less than a year. “I made a mistake!” says Ben (Matthew Broderick). He dumps her — just when she’s bought that sexy new lingerie to seduce him with.
Next off the bat, her Jewish mother dies. If April doesn’t look too Jewish, it’s because she was adopted. But no matter. She’s very Jewish by upbringing. And her late mom is about to be replaced by her suddenly surfaced birth mother. Drum roll for the always-grand entrance of — Bette Midler!
Bette plays irrepressible Bernice, the popular Oprah-esque local TV show host, who has finally decided to showcase her own case on her own show. But April is not pleased. She’d rather this mother-and-child reunion stay more than a motion picture away. But Bernice won’t be denied instant intimacy from the moment they meet:
Bernice: “Tell me something about yourself!”
April: “Um, I like Fleetwood Mac.”
Bernice: “I’m very verbal during sex.”
April: “I’m afraid of drowning.”
April is very cranky. She has enough trust issues already. “You’re sitting on anger,” says Bernice. April demands to know who her real father was. Bernice confides the shocking secret: he was Steve McQueen.
April rushes out and rents “The Getaway,” examining McQueen’s every pore, until informed that Steve was making “Sand Pebbles” in China when April was conceived.

post-gazette.com

ESPN is taking over all of sports. Need proof? Now the World Wide Leader is competing against … itself. Richard Deitsch, the first-rate media writer at Sports Illustrated, reported over the weekend that Hannah Storm — the former CBS morning host and former NBC Sports broadcaster before that — will anchor a new weekday morning SportsCenter on ESPN. Right now, ESPN just shows the replays of the late SportsCenter from the night before. In addition to Storm’s SportsCenter, there could be additional live SportsCenters in the morning.
What’s odd is ESPN’s stiffest sports competition will be over on ESPN2 where the mornings are filled with the Mike & Mike radio show and First Take, the revamped version of Cold Pizza. Strange ESPN is adding competition for itself, but give the network kudos for hiring the talented Storm.
Maybe it all means nothing, but if ESPN is going to throw a bunch of money at producing fresh SportsCenters, could that mean the ESPN2 lineup is in danger of getting cut? I kind of like First Take, but quite frankly, I’m not sure anyone would miss it or Mike & Mike, especially if the new SportsCenters add the latest in analysis and interviews.
Watching fans boo Kyle Busch after he won Saturday night’s race at Darlington, NASCAR must have been giddy. NASCAR fans’ hatred of Jeff Gordon has faded a bit in the past couple of years, partly because Gordon isn’t winning enough to hate anymore. The sport needs somebody new to hate. Busch is just that guy.
The Rays are no longer our little secret. On Fox’s coverage of the Yankees-Tigers Saturday, analyst Eric Karros said, "They’re going to be a factor all year.” Meantime, former Ray Eduardo Perez was singing the Rays praises on Baseball Tonight, even if he is still referring to them as the Devil Rays. Come on, Eduardo, it’s only been like six months since the name change.

blogs.tampabay.com

I first met James Nesbitt eight years ago when I accompanied him on a trip back to his home town of Portrush, an hour west of Belfast, for the filming of an episode of the drama that first made his name, Cold Feet. It was a revelatory experience; up until that point, I had never truly comprehended the meaning of the term “local hero”.
One minute, Nesbitt was taking calls from the mayor begging him to attend a grand ceremony to accept the freedom of the city; the next, he was being bought a seemingly endless supply of drinks at the jam-packed Harbour Bar by the ecstatic regulars, every single one of whom claimed to be “a friend of Jimmy’s”. Never has one man posed for so many photos with so many random strangers. Eventually, the attention became too overwhelming and we had to bail out of the pub.
The mêlée outside was so chaotic that we were unable to reach our taxi back to the hotel, so what was then the Royal Ulster Constabulary, who had been happily watching on, stepped in, clearing a passage through the throng and ushering us into a police van for a trouble-free ride back to the hotel. Such are the perks of being the homecoming king.
But what impressed me was that throughout the mayhem, Nesbitt retained an unflappable affability. He also had a sharp awareness of the inherent absurdity of the situation. “I get an awful lot of people coming up and saying they went to school with me,” he smiled knowingly. “There must have been 80,000 pupils at that school!”
In the intervening years, Nesbitt has not lost his ability to raise a quizzical eyebrow at the world. I have interviewed him many times since that mobbing in Portrush, and he has always maintained a capacity to send himself up. Most importantly, and in contrast to many more narcissistic members of his profession, Nesbitt possesses a rare sense of self-knowledge.

independent.co.uk

G LOUCESTER - The alleged drunken driver involved in a head-on collision with an SUV carrying actress Sandra Bullock failed four field sobriety tests and had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit, police said.
Lucile P. Gatchell, 64, of Gloucester was described in a police report as “dazed and confused” after her 2001 Subaru Forester station wagon collided head-on with Bullock’s vehicle outside the East Gloucester Square Laundry at about 9:50 p.m. Friday night.
The accident brought gawkers with flash cameras into the streets of Gloucester and prompted global headlines. Many expressed relief that the sweetheart actress avoided injury in the ugly episode.
“I immediately detected the strong odor of liquor coming from her person as she sat inside of the damaged motor vehicle,” Officer Kevin Mackey wrote of Gatchell in a police report. “Her eyes were bloodshot and glassy. Her speech was extremely slurred as she spoke.”
Bullock, 43, and her husband, Jesse James, 39, star of the TV series “Monster Garage,” were riding in a 2008 Chevy Suburban driven by Mark Hussey, 55, of Londonderry, N.H., police said. Bullock is on Cape Ann filming “The Proposal.”
Hussey “was trying to avoid her car, but it was in his lane,” Mackey said yesterday. During sobriety tests, Gatchell nearly fell over three times while trying to walk nine steps and turn, the report states.
Mackey stopped the test for Gatchell’s “safety and well-being.”
A Breathalyzer test recorded Gatchell’s blood-alcohol level as .20, more than twice the legal limit of .08, the report states.
Gatchell told police she was at a friend’s house and had two glasses of wine prior to the crash, according to the report and Mackey. A motorist traveling behind Gatchell said he saw the station wagon cross the yellow lane several times and was calling 911 when the accident occurred, the report states.

news.bostonherald.com

LEGISLATURE: Joyce’s tie to spa owners prompts call for inquiry
By Mark Scheer/scheerm@gnnewspaper.com
A group of Niagara County lawmakers want a board of inquiry to review the connections between county Coroner James Joyce and the owners of several local massage parlors raided by federal law enforcement agents last year.
A draft resolution sponsored by three members of the Legislature’s Majority Caucus calls into question Joyce’s business dealings with Che Ngan ’Alan’ Tsui, who is under federal indictment for allegedly operating an illegal prostitution ring out of four spas he owned with his wife in Niagara County.
One of sponsor’s of the measure, Legislator Paul Wojtaszek, R-North Tonawanda, said the proposed board of inquiry would allow the county to investigate whether Joyce, as coroner, committed any ethical or penal violations while serving as an ’intermediary’ between Tsui and potential business investors and elected officials in the community.
’We think we owe it to the voters of Niagara County to look into this,’ Wojtaszek said.
Joyce, a Democrat, is in his 30th year serving as county coroner. Last year, he retained the job by defeating the former representative of the Legislature’s 3rd District, Rebecca Cuddahee, a Democrat who regularly voted with the Republican Majority.
The resolution calls into question Joyce’s involvement with Tsui as an associate of the massage parlor owner who not only introduced him to local elected officials, but also partnered with him in a business designed to draw Asian investors to Niagara Falls.
Joyce declined comment Thursday.
County law allows the Legislature to form boards of inquiry to investigate possible wrongdoings on the part of county employees. Such boards are given the power to access relevant records and to subpoena witnesses to testify. Wojtaszek said the makeup of the board itself is still to be determined.
The resolution, co-sponsored by Legislators John Ceretto, R-Lewiston, and Andrea McNulty, a Democrat who serves as an adherent to the Republican Majority, is expected to be recommended for approval by the full Legislature during its next scheduled meeting, April 15.

niagara-gazette.com

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The adult daughter told a jury that sexual activity was so frequent in their communal lifestyle in Cleveland and Chicago in the 1980s that "I didn’t feel there was necessarily anything wrong with it."
Her testimony came on the first day of Bevel’s trial in Loudoun Circuit Court on a charge that, if proved, could send the 71-year-old Christian minister and confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to prison for up to 20 years.
Bevel yesterday pleaded not guilty to a single charge of incest with one of his daughters on an unknown date when they lived in Leesburg between Oct. 14, 1992, and Oct. 14, 1994. Virginia does not have a statute of limitations for felonies.
The incest charge was prompted by a discussion some of his grown daughters had at a family reunion about experiences with their father when they were younger, prosecutors have said. The daughters confronted their father, who said he performed sex acts to guide and train them, prosecutors said. In September 2005, one daughter filed a complaint with Leesburg police.
The Washington Post generally does not identify people who have alleged they were sexually abused. The accuser testified she is one of Bevel’s 14 children, including nine daughters.
In an opening statement, Bevel’s court-appointed attorney, Bonnie H. Hoffman, urged the jury to "close your eyes, take a deep breath and get rid of your preconceptions about how things ought to be," seemingly preparing them for what she warned would be graphic testimony. And it was.

washingtonpost.com

The little room is lit softly by candles flickering from a cross on the floor and electric stars hung in the prayer closet. A dozen people sit in silence, eyes closed, until Chip Youmans’ rugged voice calls out to God.
“Father, I want to lift up my brother tonight,” he says. “Tomorrow, he’s gonna be in a place he doesn’t want to be. As much as it’s gonna hurt, I just commend my brother to you. Take care of him.”
Next to Youmans, Marv Hite sits with his head buried in his arm. He is scheduled to return to Kalamazoo County Jail the next day for violating parole. He hurts knowing he will have to leave this place, the Stockbridge Boiler Room, where he has lived since New Year’s Day.
Youmans knows his pain more than most. He has been in jail. He is a former cocaine addict, while Hite is a recovering alcoholic. Here, in a house of prayer on Grand Rapids’ West Side, they have found a home as spiritual brothers.
Tony Tendero and his wife, Jennifer DeGraaf Tendero, transformed the house at 713 Fifth St. NW into a neighborhood ministry.
This night, as every night, they pray, sing and read Scripture for an hour. They are joined by other Boiler Room residents, college students and whoever else shows up.
For Youmans, the prayer tonight is a little more intense.
“It hurts to see him go, and we’ll wait for his triumphal return,” prays Youmans, 38, putting his hand on Hite’s shoulder. “We’ll be there to pick him up.”
“You better be,” Hite says.
The others laugh softly.
Tony Tendero holds a Bible in his hand, quotes Scripture and praises God’s faithfulness. He and his wife founded this modern-day monastery centered on daily prayers.
“Perfect love drives out fear,” Tendero says. “I want to praise you for the way your love is emerging, even in the teeth of it.”

mlive.com

I’m not surprised the Washington-based indie rock duo Georgie James is performing on Late Night With Conan O’Brien tonight.
But it still feels pretty weird to type it.
I interviewed them for Baltimore Unsigned more than a year ago, before their first album Places came out.
I thought Places was one of the best albums of 2007, and I’m glad they’re getting some recognition for it.
Last year they signed to Saddle Creek Records, and tonight they’ll be on national television.
(Photo by Shervin Lainez)
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I’ve been The Sun’s nightlife and local entertainment reporter for a couple years, and it’s surprising how much the scene has grown in that time. Most of Baltimore’s bars and clubs are unpretentious places with fairly cheap drinks and plenty of character. I like dancing and think this city needs more clubs, but nothing beats having a cold, locally brewed beer with friends in a comfortably full corner bar.
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