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How does one start to sum up the sequence of events that just unfolded this evening? Let’s stick with the most important information. The Tampa Bay Rays, who were trailing, 7-0, heading into the eighth inning of their game against the Yankees, came back to win in 12 innings and are in the playoffs. The Boston Red Sox, who took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning of their game against the Baltimore Orioles, had their hopes dashed and lost, 4-3, when their closer, Jonathan Papelbon, couldn’t close it out. Keep in mind, this all happened within minutes of each other. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves saw their season come to an end in heart-breaking fashion when their closer, Craig Kimbrel, blew his third save of September in the ninth. The Braves would eventually fall to the Phillies in 13 innings, missing a chance to play the Cardinals in a one-game playoff on Thursday after St. Louis dominated the Houston Astros, 8-0, behind nine shutout innings from Chris Carpenter. As a res...

WASHINGTON - Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks. So far, the outbreak has caused at least 72 illnesses -- including up to 16 deaths -- in 18 states, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade. The heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said consumers who have cantaloupes produced by Jensen Farms in Colorado should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn't eat it. Neither the government nor Jensen Farms has supplied a list of retailers who may have sold the fruit. Officials say consumers should ask retailers about the origins of their cantaloupe. If they still aren't sure, they should get rid of it. "If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC. "But if you can't con...

They called him Sweetness, but Chicago Bears great Walter Payton had a dark side, according to a biography to be released Oct. 4. An excerpt of "Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton," by Jeff Pearlman will appear in the Oct. 3 issue of Sports Illustrated and describes the Hall of Famer as suicidal, abusing pain medication and dealing with a crumbling family situation. Payton, who retired as the then-all-time leading rusher in NFL history after the 1987 season, was depressed and suicidal in the mid-1990s. Pearlman cites a letter to a friend in which Payton said he imagined himself killing those around him and then turning a gun on himself. "Walter would call me all the time saying he was about to kill himself, he was tired," Payton's longtime agent Bud Holmes said, according to SI.com. "He was angry. Nobody loved him. He wanted to be dead." Payton's executive assistant, Ginny Quirk, echoed those sentiments. "He would call and ...

Behold the real visage of Johnny Depp’s vampire from Dark Shadows ! Last week, long-range paparazzi shots of the actor wearing ghostly white makeup, large sunglasses and a pulled down fedora made fans of the original 1966-71 supernatural soap opera bristle nervously, with complaints he looked simply too strange. Nevermind that he’s playing a 200-year-old vampire, which is strange enough. As you can see from this cast shot, Depp’s bloodsucking pater familias Barnabas Collins actually borrows heavily from the aged-little boy look of original Dark Shadows star Jonathan Frid — not that anyone would be happy to see this guy show up as your prom date either. Still, this official First Look may reassure those die-hard fans of the original series, memorably offbeat ABC daytime drama about a vampire whose extended family are bedeviled by ghosts, witches, and other gothic woes. Depp, who fought for years to make this movie, is one of those fans. “I do remember, very vividly, practically s...

Rob Bell, the Michigan megachurch pastor whose bestselling book on hell sparked nationwide controversy earlier this year, has left his church. Bell’s departure was announced on a website for 3,000-member Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville. “Feeling the call from God to pursue a growing number of strategic opportunities, our founding pastor Rob Bell has decided to leave Mars Hill in order to devote his full energy to sharing the message of God's love with a broader audience,” the statement read. No other details about his departure were made public. Bell’s book “Love Wins” questioned the traditional Christian view of hell. Bell argued that hell was not eternal. He wrote that people could choose to leave hell if they wanted too. That view angered conservative evangelicals like the Rev. John Piper, an influential writer and pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. After seeing a video promoting "Love Wins," Piper tweeted “Farewell Rob Bell” on his Twit...

The physics world is abuzz with news that a group of European physicists plans to announce Friday that it has clocked a burst of subatomic particles known as neutrinos breaking the cosmic speed limit — the speed of light — that was set by Albert Einstein in 1905. If true, it is a result that would change the world. But that “if” is enormous. Even before the European physicists had presented their results — in a paper that appeared on the physics Web site arXiv.org on Thursday night and in a seminar at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, on Friday — a chorus of physicists had risen up on blogs and elsewhere arguing that it was way too soon to give up on Einstein and that there was probably some experimental error. Incredible claims require incredible evidence. “These guys have done their level best, but before throwing Einstein on the bonfire, you would like to see an independent experiment,” said John Ellis, a CERN theorist who has published work on the speeds of the g...

There is one thing that kept the series premiere of Prime Suspect from descending into mediocrity: Maria Bello. Never before have I watched someone who wanted something so badly. Bello, as Jane Timoney, is able to keep up with the boys and beat them at their own game of being a detective in New York City. While the “Beef Trust” is content to sit around, only going after the suspects that seem guilty and spending the rest of their time drinking and keeping Jane off lead detective work, Jane is dedicated to being an actual detective, even after one of their own died of a heart attack. And that is what keeps Prime Suspect from being just another show about women being held down in a traditionally male-dominated field. The Beef Trust doesn’t have a problem with women coming in and being detectives, they have a problem with Jane , specifically because they believe she slept her way to the top. What sets Timoney apart from most procedural heroines - and something that will probably hel...

We begin with the sound of seagulls and the sight of breezy curtains. Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) is sexily shirtless and canoodling in bed with a pretty young woman. His voice is musing about how it is when you meet the right person… Cut to Reese in a NYC subway car, and now he’s shaggy-haired and in need of a shower. His voice asks: but when the right person is taken from you, what do you become then? Some thugs who are up to no good enter the car and their leader, Anton, tries to filch Reese’s bottle of whiskey. In a display of supersharp reflexes, Reese grabs hold of Anton’s wrist and scares the bejeesus out of him. But does Anton walk away? No, he taunts some more until Reese flips out and displays straight kung fu style: he knocks three of the thugs out and has Anton in a chokehold, all in the span of five seconds. The screen fades to fuzzy black and white, revealing that the entire scene has been filmed on security camera. And here we encounter one of the show’s major the...

Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, is 19 years old, and she has stepped into the spotlight on her own. Can you even believe that adorable baby girl is now a grown up young woman? Photographer Hedi Slimane recently took stunning black and white photos of Frances Bean Cobain showing how much she looks like both her late father and her mom. The girl's eyes are simply striking, and she has a beautifully tattooed back. On her back, she has inked "Art is the solution to chaos." Does she feel that her father's work helped create a solution? The late rocker's daughter even recorded backup vocals for Evelyn Evelyn, so perhaps she will make her own music joining her mom and dad in the world of rock and roll. How great would that be? Unfortunately Frances Bean Cobain and Courtney Love have a strained relationship, which must be difficult for the teen. Even without either of her parents, she has managed to turn into an incredible young wom...

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman plans to stick by strategies set in motion by her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, betting that investors prefer steady leadership to another unsettling change of course. Whitman, in her first interview as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, said the company stands by plans to acquire U.K. software marker Autonomy Corp. for $10.3 billion. The company also will continue to explore whether to sell or spin off the personal-computer division, she said. Those moves were announced on Aug. 18. “It does not signal a change in the strategy,” Whitman said yesterday of her appointment. “We are behind the actions that were taken on Aug. 18. We are firmly committed to Autonomy.” Whitman is hewing to those plans to avoid alienating shareholders who were fed up with the about-faces that characterized Apotheker’s reign. Still, Hewlett-Packard is overpaying for Autonomy and it shouldn’t have announced a possible PC unit sale without a concrete plan in place...

Don't ask, don't tell" is over Tuesday. The ban against gays serving openly in the military has been repealed. Starting Tuesday, gay service members cannot be discriminated against for their sexual identity. But the policy has affected the lives of thousands of people during the 18 years it was in place. NPR spoke with two of them: one who was discharged from the military under the law eight years ago; the other a gay Marine who has been keeping his sexual identity a secret for 14 years. The Former Sergeant Major First, Stacy Vasquez, who describes herself this way: "I like to say that I'm a government-certified homosexual." Vasquez was a 30-year-old Army sergeant major when she was discharged under don't ask, don't tell. Someone said they saw her kissing a woman at a gay bar, and that was the end of her career. "It ended right in front of my eyes that day," she said. "That was a hard day." But it was the beginning of her ve...

Draft day drama is no stranger to the Sacramento Kings over the past few years. In 2008, it was “who the heck is Jason Thompson?” In 2009, it was “Tyreke Evans over Ricky Rubio?” In 2010, it was “Can DeMarcus Cousins actually behave himself?” Despite all the drama over the past few years, Sacramento fans may forever look back at draft day 2011 as the one to remember, mainly because there were so many questions raised. The Kings started the day with the 7 th overall selection, and ended the day with BYU Superstar Jimmer Fredette coming in at No. 10, small forward John Salmons and the departure of veteran guard Beno Udrih. Of course, nothing is more fun in the midst of this lockout-created NBA desert than taking a look at what-ifs—so let's get to it.

Controversy and sequins collide tonight, folks. The premiere of Dancing with the Stars . And by controversy, I mean Nancy Grace’s décolletage . WOW, y’all. New stage and an awkward new intro. Our celebs have to stumble down a flight of stairs in tight shoes, even tighter dresses and pants. Awkward. Whose idea was that ? OK, here we go. A dozen dances, and one couple heads home Tuesday. Ron Artest & Peta Murgatroyd: Cha-cha-cha. It takes him about 10 seconds to hit full-on annoying. What’s with channeling Dennis Rodman? What’s with the tongue? What’s with the bowtie? He’s way too bad to be this cocky. Not liking this at all. I foresee a quick exit. And what’s with the belly? If you have one, it should be covered up. Always. 14 out of 30 points. Rob Kardashian & Cheryl Burke: Viennese waltz. So what is his claim to fame, exactly? His sisters? Oh, “talent managing.” Who’s talent? Certainly not his own. The dance is frenetic and clumsy and just wrong. No flow or rhythm. He ...

Washington D.C.— The repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) United States Military policy was official as of 12:01 a.m. September 20, 2011. For the first time gay and lesbian service members can now serve free from the threat of being fired on the basis of sexual orientation. "Today marks the official end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and is an historic milestone along the journey to achieving LGBT equality in America’s military. Thanks to veterans, active duty, leaders, allies and supporters everywhere, this is a monumental day for our service members and our nation. Indeed, we have taken a tremendous leap forward for LGBT equality in the military," said Army Veteran and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis. "Our work is far from done, but today we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of our patriots as we look forward to a new era of military service – one that honors the contributions of all qualified Americans who have ...

Chaz Bono cha cha'd onto the floor on the season premiere of "Dancing With The Stars" along with his partner Lacey Schwimmer, shimmying and shaking his way into millions of homes across America. The judge's verdict when the duo completed their number Monday night? A respectable 17 out of 30, with judge Carrie Ann Inaba telling Bono: "I think people have been waiting all night to see you Chaz and you did not disappoint. You can dance!" "It felt good. It was fun. I really wanna enjoy every second of this, even the tough times," Bono told "Nightline" anchor Cynthia McFadden. "You're in a state of nervousness all night. You don't get to sit back and enjoy it … I had a great time doing it I think it was entertaining. I was in a total daze -- you don't think about the crowd," he added. "I'd like to be back as long as I can." Controversy has surrounded Bono, 42, since producers of the hit ABC dancing real...

Dolores Hope, who throughout her 69-year marriage to comedian Bob Hope oversaw their charitable giving and played a key role in establishing the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. , has died. She was 102. Mrs. Hope died Sept. 19 at her home in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles , publicist Harlan Boll said. No cause of death was reported. (Courtesy of LA Times) - Bob and Dolores Hope. In the late 1960s, the Hopes donated 80 acres near their future Palm Springs estate for the medical center, which opened in 1971. They became “the driving forces behind the creation and long-term growth” of the medical facility, the center said on its Web site. She served as chairwoman of the center’s board for years, and he raised millions of dollars for the center through the annual golf tournament that used to bear his name and is now known as the Humana Challenge. When her husband died in 2003 — two months after turning 100 — Mrs. Hope declined to estimate how many ...

Jennifer Ferri, owner and operator of Florida and Fort Myers escrow provider, Title Junction is going behind bars to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The Cape Coral notary provider aims to raise $3,200. /EINPresswire.com/FORT MYERS, FL - Jennifer Ferri, the owner and operator of Fort Myers and Cape Coral title insurance agency, Title Junction is going behind bars for “good.” Ferri is going into lockup in an attempt to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). She needs to raise $3,200 to bail her out of jail. The funds collected will be used to help adults and children in the community who have been stricken with muscular dystrophy. “Title Junction is a community business and this is one of our ways of giving back to people within our community who need help and support. It’s a unique and fun way to do something charitable and I’m confident I will make the bail money and get out of jail,” said Jennifer Ferri, owner and operator of Title Junction (...

Julianna Margulies of the CBS series "The Good Wife" has won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama. Margulies stars as Alicia Florrick, a mother of two that returns to work as a Chicago defense attorney after her husband Peter’s sex and political corruption scandal. While her husband tries to recoup his image in politics, she triumphs as an attorney Margulies was nominated for the Emmy last year but didn't win. Her co-star, Archie Panjabi, did win a supporting actress award for performance as Kalinda Sharma, an investigator at the law firm who is Florrick’s friend on the show. Before "The Good Wife," Margulies was best known for her work in "ER." She last won an Emmy in 1995 (supporting actress) for her potrayal of nurse Carol Hathaway. She was the only regular cast member to do so in the show’s history, other Emmys going to guest actors. That was her first nomination, but she has been nominated seven times since, five times for ER, twice...

Philadelphia Eagles vs Atlanta Falcons Stay Surging -- http: //www. freestream-tv. biz. On the. Whenever there is virtually any question around the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Michael jordan Vick to complete once deciding upon his or her huge post paid, he's removed this morning. With Sunday, your dog is at Atlanta intended for just the 2nd occasion can be an Eagles Hat. Vick accomplished 17 associated with 32 intended for 187 meters plus a couple of touchdowns to visit, as well as 97 yards hastening on top of that. You possibly can hope him in order to mild it upwards within Atlanta versus his or her past team. Matt Ryan, whom got over the purpose to think about the actual district within Atlanta, soon after Vick traveled to penitentiary intended for incidents involving dog struggling with includes established he's this person for Atlanta. Ryan concluded 31 subsides to get 319 back yards, but the staunch protection with the contains hasn't been the actual pa...

The 1950s drama Mad Men and a firmly 21st century comedy, Modern Family, won the top drama and comedy prizes at the Emmy Awards, with the British period piece Downton Abbey scoring an unexpected hat-trick. After failing to score in the categories for which it was nominated, Mad Men took the Emmy for best drama in a final-act cliffhanger. Modern Family made the biggest haul in the comedy category, as well as the top comedy award. Downton Abbey took six awards in total, including best miniseries, best director, and best actress for Maggie Smith. The show, whose second series started on ITV in Britain on Sunday night, has been a critical success on the US network PBS. Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet won her first Emmy, for her lead role in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce. "I didn't think we were going to win anything!" Winslet said. On a night of surprises that brought a slew of newcomers to the Emmy podium, Mad Men won best drama series for a fourth straight year b...

ATLANTA -- Michael Vick wobbled off the field with an aching neck late in the third quarter, all done in his return to Atlanta as a starting quarterback. This is Matt Ryan's city now, and he led the Falcons back with their former quarterback sitting in the locker room. Ryan threw a career-high four touchdown passes, shaking off all the hoopla over Vick coming back to face his old team, and rallied Atlanta from a 10-point deficit for a 35-31 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. Two of Ryan's TD throws went to ageless tight end Tony Gonzalez, who went past Terrell Owens into the fifth spot on the NFL's career receiving list. Then, Ryan hooked up with Ovie Mughelli on a 1-yard score that brought Atlanta to 31-28 with just over 6 minutes remaining. The Falcons (1-1) completed the comeback with Michael Turner breaking off a 61-yard run, then powering over from the 3 with 3:24 remaining. Turner finished with 114 yards on 21 carries. "It was a wild...

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The Emmys keep buying what “Mad Men” is selling. The 1960s Madison Avenue saga won its fourth consecutive best drama series award Sunday, while big-hearted romp “Modern Family” claimed its second best comedy trophy. “Modern Family” producer Steve Levitan, whose picture of the American family today includes gay couples and interracial families, told of being approached during shooting by a real-life gay couple who wanted to say thanks. “They said, `You’re not just making people laugh, you’re making them more tolerant,”’ said Levitan, whose show received a total of five awards. While “Mad Men” gained the top comedy award, it couldn’t pull honors for stars Jon Hamm or Elisabeth Moss. Kyle Chandler was the surprise winner in the best drama actor category for the last season of Texas football drama “Friday Night Lights,” blocking odds-on favorites among his fellow nominees, including Hamm. “I knew for a fact I would not be standing here. I did not write anything ...

A galaxy far, far away is about to look and sound better than ever. Today marks the debut on Blu-ray disc of George Lucas' epic Star Wars sci-fi saga. The series will be made available in three editions, a complete, six-film version and three-film versions of the original and prequel trilogies. Local Star Wars fanatics had mixed reactions to the films' release on the latest video format. While they said they appreciate technical improvements such as remastered audio and video, fans pointed to leaked information about tweaks to scenes and characters as unnecessary changes that detract from the spirit of the original films. "I've seen some of the changes they've made on the Blu-ray versions, and ... I find myself wondering if Lucas is now doing these changes just for the sake of change," said Jeff Hickey, historian of Chattooine, a local Star Wars costuming group. Hickey says he was introduced to Star Wars at age 5. Throughout the history of the series and...