Abortion doctor George Tiller is killed; suspect in custody

The late-term abortion provider was shot at church in Wichita, Kan. A suspect was arrested three hours later about 170 miles away, police say. Tiller, 67, had been a victim of violence in the past.
By Robin Abcarian
4:17 PM PDT, May 31, 2009
Dr. George Tiller, one of the few American physicians who performed late-term abortions, was shot to death in the lobby of his church today in Wichita, Kan., according to his attorneys.

A 51-year-old suspect was arrested three hours after the shooting at 10 a.m. Central time in a Kansas City suburb about 170 miles from Wichita, police said. They did not release his name, but said he would probably be charged Monday with one count of murder and two counts of aggravated assault.



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Doctor acquitted by Kansas jury in late-term abortion trial
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Abortion provider's trial opens in Kansas

For years, Tiller, 67, was a lightning rod in the struggle over legalized abortion.

He had previously been the victim of violence. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion protester as he drove away from his clinic. In 1986, his Women's Health Care Services clinic was severely damaged in a bomb blast. In 1991, the clinic was blockaded for six weeks by anti-abortion protesters.

And this month, Tiller's attorneys told the Associated Press, the doctor had asked the FBI to investigate an incident where vandals cut wires to security cameras, cut holes in the roof and plugged downspouts, resulting in thousands of dollars in damage to the clinic.

In addition to fending off abortion protesters for years, Tiller had been pursued by public officials opposed to abortion.

In March, he was acquitted of charges that he broke a Kansas law requiring a second doctor to affirm that a late-term abortion was necessary to preserve the health of the woman. That second doctor must be financially and legally independent from the first physician.

In a trial that lasted five days -- and in which the jury took less than an hour to return its verdict -- Tiller was cleared of charges that he had improper ties to Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus.

Today, Neuhaus said that she had expected further violence after Tiller's acquittal. "I knew it was going to antagonize these people that he quote, unquote, got off the hook," she said. "Dr. Tiller really was a warrior. He was a quiet, persistent, capable visionary, a true leader. Even if he had known it was going to end up this way, he wouldn't have been deterred."

During his trial, when his attorney asked why he stayed in practice despite years of harassment, Tiller told the jury, " 'Quit' is not something I like to do."

The Associated Press reported that parishioner Adam Watkins, 20, said he was sitting in the middle of the congregation at Reformation Lutheran Church when he heard a small pop at the start of the service.

"We just thought a child had come in with a balloon, and it had popped, had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped," Watkins said.

Another usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, then escorted Tiller's wife out. "When she got to the back doors, we heard her scream, and so we knew something bad had happened," Watkins said.

Later, Tiller's attorneys released a statement from Tiller's wife, Jeanne, his four children and 10 grandchildren.

"Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather," it said. "Today's event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George's friends and patients. This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace. Our loss is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality healthcare despite frequent threats and violence. We ask that he be remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather and a dedicated servant on behalf of the rights of women everywhere."

Phill Kline, the former Kansas attorney general whose investigations led to the charges being filed against Tiller, decried the killing.

'"I am stunned by this lawless and violent act which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law," said Kline in an e-mailed statement.

But Warren Hern, a Colorado physician and close friend of Tiller's who said he is now "the only doctor in the world" who performs very late-term abortions, said Tiller's death was predictable.

"I think it's the inevitable consequence of more than 35 years of constant anti-abortion terrorism, harassment and violence. George is the fifth American doctor to be assassinated. I get messages from these people saying, 'Don't bother wearing a bulletproof vest, we're going for a head shot.' "

When President Obama was elected last fall, Hern predicted that antiabortion violence would increase, he said. Because Obama supports legalized abortion, said Hern, its foes "have lost ground. . . . They want the doctors dead, and they invite people to assassinate us. No wonder that this happens. . . . I am next on the list."

NCAA baseball regional: Beavers stay alive with 13-5 win over Texas A&M

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Oregon State's Koa Kahalehoe had five hits and drove in three runs to highlight an 18-hit attack that carried the Beavers to a 13-5 victory over Texas A&M in Sunday's NCAA regional elimination game at Texas Christian University's Lupton Stadium.

Beavers starter Jorge Reyes scattered nine hits and had five strikeouts, helping lift OSU (37-18) into Sunday's 5 p.m. match-up with the host TCU Horned Frogs.

Texas A&M of the Big 12 Conference finished the season with a 37-24 record

Sophomore left-hander Tanner Robles (1-3, 5.01) will start for the Beavers against TCU junior right-hander Tyler Lockwood (4-1, 4.33).

If OSU wins today's second game, the Beavers would force a deciding game on Monday at 5 p.m. for a Super Regional Berth. If TCU wins, the Beavers season will be over and the Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference will head to their first Super Regional in school history.

The Beavers sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning and jumped on Aggies starter Clayton Ehlert for six runs on six hits, giving Reyes some early breathing room.

Leadoff hitter Michael Miller started the first-inning uprising when he reached safely on a strike-three wild pitch. Consecutive singles by Adalberto Santos, Kahalehoe and Ryan Ortiz gave the Beavers a 1-0 lead. Then came a two-run double by Jared Norris, a RBI-groundout by John Wallace, and RBI-doubles by Joey Wong and John Tommasini that made it 6-0.

The Beavers made it 7-0 in the second when Ortiz sent a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a two-out homer, chasing Ehlert from the game in favor of reliever Esteban Uriegas.

Uriegas lasted one inning, giving up a run in the third when Romero led off with a walk and scored on Tommasini's single to left, pushing the lead to 8-0.

Kahalehoe capped a three-run fifth inning with a two-run double to left that scored Miller and Santos to make it 11-0.

Reyes, making his 14th start for the Beavers, took a five-hit shutout into the sixth when A&M's Joe Patterson hammered a 1-1 pitch off the scoreboard in right field for his 12th home run of the season the Aggies' 85th of the season, cutting OSU's lead to 11-1.

The Beavers added a run in the seventh when Kahalehoe singled - his seventh hit of the double-elimination tournament - and scored on a Norris groundout to make it 12-1.

In the eighth, Texas A&M scored twice, but Kahalehoe singled home pinch-hitter Brett Casey to make it 13-3.

The Aggies scored a couple unearned runs in the ninth after a throwing error by Romero at third and a field error by Tommasini at second. Reyes then closed out his first complete game by get Patterson on a called third strike.source

Are You Getting Value For Your Digital Camera Dollar?

The speed of change in the digital cameras area is fast and new models show up on a regular basis. Yes, you might feel inclined to buy the latest gadgets that are launched, play with the latest options and then show off the photos you just took, but do you actually need the latest digital camera or will the current one work for a while longer.

If you already own a compact digital camera and you already master it, you might want to upgrade and get a DSLR. A DSLR will allow you to take your photos to a whole new level, both in quality and level of detail. DSLR’s also let you change their lenses. For example you can use a wide lens to catch more of a landscape in a photo, or you can use a telephoto lens to take a photo of some lions that are resting.

Unless you have money to burn, impulse buying can be fraught with future disappointment. Digital cameras are complex instruments by nature, and require some level of understanding. You need to do at least some homework. Especially if this is your first camera.

Today however, things have definitely changed. Digital cameras mean more megapixels, image stabilization, face recognition, software menus, LCD screens, memory cards and firmware upgrades. These are all features driven by or completely impossible without CPU’s and software. Meaning, that cameras are not just cameras anymore, they’re actually little miniature computers that just happen to take pictures.

Basically, when you buy a new camera, you lose the value of the old one since you’re not using it.

The point I’m trying to make here, is that with the rapid fire release of new digital cameras, there is a plethora of good used digital cameras available at great prices. I have a couple old digital cameras (like my Canon PowerShot s40) sitting at home that I paid top dollar for a few years ago. Today they still work brilliantly, and can be had on eBay for a disturbingly low fraction of what I paid for mine.

Point and shoot cameras are still by far the more popular choice by the masses. They’re simple, inexpensive, and quite often take great pictures. Like I said earlier, it’s the person behind the lens that really decides how good the final picture is.

Buying something shiny and new doesn’t guarantee quality, it just guarantees that it’s new. With our over consuming western culture, that is slowly becoming aware of the planetary benefits of recycling and reusing, maybe we need to think a little harder about buying used instead of new all the time. It’s good for all of us.

Selecting A Good Digital Camera Can Be Fun

A few days ago I saw this Canon A590IS camera that seems to be the best choice so far. This camera is powered by NiMH rechargeable batteries and its menu boasts an optical image stabilizer, a viewfinder and obviously auto focus.

SLR digital cameras have an extensive scope of focal length of lens. This means that you would not need to buy costly lenses required for different kinds of photography.

A lot of photo enthusiasts find the SLR cameras as the best digital cameras. The mentioned feature of SLRs allows photographers to stick to a single lens which results to speedier work.

If you do not understand the terminology of the digital camera, you will need to look up the terms in a digital camera glossary before you can make any decisions. This is a scary thought for many people who are looking to upgrade from a film camera to a digital camera. The list goes on. There are over a thousand digital cameras to choose.

If you keep the batteries charged and you won’t delete files all the time you’ll keep the memory card away from any damages. Before removing the card you must wait to turn off the camera only after the lights stop flashing. If you use a card reader you have to double click the Safely Remove Hardware and follow the instructions.

Fixed lens digital - The lenses of these SLRs are permanent. The adaptability is also limited. However, you can be sure that this digital camera will be dust free forever. You can add some gadgets like a non-moving mirror to enable your viewfinder to get some light thru a sensor. The Olympus E-20N carries this kind of fixed lens digital SLR camera.

SLR-like or SLR-style- This is the normal digital camera that uses an electronic viewfinder (EVF) that is usually a small LCD in lieu of the pentaprism of SLRs. One of the feature of this style is the tremendous long zoom lenses that are often referred to as megazooms. The Canon PowerShot S51S is one brand that carries this type of camera.

Google announced new GOOGLE WAVE

Google announced new GOOGLE WAVE on May 28 2009. Google Wave is a new model for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. A wave is equal parts conversation and document. A wave is shared. A wave is live.

From Offical Google Blog:

"Here's how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave and see how it evolved."

Diet Trends of the Decades

[Image source]

In any field, there are always trends, fads, and followings at different periods of time. The health field has been no exception. Americans spend an estimated $50 billion dollars a year on weight-loss products. Today’s Hot Topic post will feature some of the top diet trends of the past millennium.

• 1930’s to 1940’s: Smoking and The Master Cleanse

Can you believe that Lucky Strike Cigarette ad campaign actually ran an ad that said “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet.”? Horrifying, isn’t it?

• 1950’s: Praying for weight loss

“Pray Your Weight Away,” which was published in 1957 was a best-selling book.

• 1960’s: Cabbage Soup Diet and Support Groups

Overeaters Anonymous was formed in the early 60’s as well as Weight Watchers in 1963. The Cabbage Soup Diet was also the most popular diet fad at that time.

• 1970’s: Atkins Diet Revolution and Diet Pills

Dexatrim was a hugely popular pill of the era. The appetite suppressant contained the drug PPA (phenylpropanolamine), and in 2000 it was pulled from shelves. Dr. Atkins published the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution in the 70’s and the protein craze began the world’s misguided hatred for carbs. Carbs’ reputation has never quite recovered from this diet fad!

• 1980’s: Scarsdale Diet

This two-week high-protein, low-carb and super-low-calorie diet (1,000 calories or fewer per day!) touted that you could lose up to 20 pounds per week without any long-term deprivation of any vitamins or minerals. The diet was restrictive though: no butter, no salad dressing (except lemon and vinegar) and no alcohol. Your snack choices were either raw carrots or celery! Umm, I think I’ll pass, thanks.

• 1990’s: Low-carb diet

Damn that Dr Atkins! His diet resurfaced with a vengeance in the 1990’s. Suddenly, in every grocery store and in every magazine you saw food that was promoted as low-carb and high in protein. Many people followed this diet consuming massive quantities of protein and very few vegetables and fruits. Dr. Atkin failed to mention that consuming large amounts of protein is actually very harmful for your body.

[Source]

So what are the top diet trends of today? Well, according to Glamour magazine, here they are:

1. Celebrity-endorsed diets: Stars like Jessica Simpson and Eva Mendes swear by Harley Pasternak’s 5-Factor plan.

2. Portion control: 100-calorie pack, anyone?

3. Organic diets: Followers believe that organic foods, without the preservatives and additives of their nonorganic counterparts, may help the body’s digestive system run more smoothly.

4. Diet delivery: Services like Chefs Diet and NutriSystem deliver either fresh or frozen prepackaged meals right to your door.

5. Sweet and savory diets: Think Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet (which originally began in 1975) —Jennifer Hudson is reportedly a cookie-diet fan — or the eat-croissants-for-breakfast-and-veggies-for-lunch philosophy of “French Women Don’t Get Fat.”

[Source]

My take:

Diet fads and trends aren’t going anywhere. Unfortunately, the majority of society still believes that a quick fix solution to their weight loss problems is out there! It is much more difficult to ‘sell’ people on the concept of making a lifestyle change for the rest of their life. Many people don’t want to do that. Instead, they want a 30 day diet they can follow, lose the weight, and then resume their lives the way they were. I think that is why so many diets fail- many of them require that you cut out food groups all together and it just isn’t realistic for most people. Your body will not thank you for cutting out fruits and vegetables!

Today’s Hot Topic Questions:

Do you agree with the diet trends of today? Can you think of any more?

What do you think about some of the diet trends of past decades?

Do you think that society will look back at the early 2000’s diet trends and gasp in horror much like we do with the earlier decades?

What do you think the up and coming diet trends will be of the 2010’s?

Did you ever follow a diet that worked and you have maintained the weight loss? What was the diet?

Will Barrow Biography

Will Barrow
# 23
M - M
Height: 6-0 Weight: 184
Junior
High School/Previous College
Baldwin
Previous Experience

Hometown
Baldwin, N.Y.
Printable Page

CAREER SUMMARY: As a senior in 2008, Barrow was a captain of a squad that advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships. He was considered one of the top defensive midfielders in the country throughout his career. During his senior season, he finished with a career-high 28 ground balls, while scoring six goals and adding three assists. Following the season he was selected in the second round (11th overall pick) of the Major League Lacrosse draft by the Chicago Machine and appeared in five games during his rookie year. He appeared in 63 games during his UVa career and scored 18 goals with seven assists.

AT VIRGINIA: 2008—Team captain ... rated the nation’s No. 48 player, and second-best defensive midfielder, by Inside Lacrosse ... had a tremendous season on the defensive end, while contributing on the offensive side, too ... career-high 28 ground balls, second among the team’s shortstick defensive midfielders ... scored six goals and added three assists, primarily in transition ... finished with a career-high seven ground balls vs. Stony Brook ... scored an important goal vs. Syracuse late in the NCAA tournament semifinals following a marvelous coast-to-coast dash ... rated the nation’s No. 48 player, and second-best defensive middie, by Inside Lacrosse ... preseason first-team All-American and preseason first-team All-ACC by Face-Off Yearbook.

2007—Saw action in 14 games, primarily as a defensive midfielder ... scored three goals and had an assist ... snagged 16 ground balls ... scored once vs. Princeton ... called the team’s MVP by Dom Starsia in the 7-5 win over Johns Hopkins when he scored an important goal and was all over the field ... tied the Binghamton game with a late goal and also had an assist in a 10-7 win ... season-high three ground balls in back-to-back games vs. Dartmouth and Maryland.

2006—Appeared in every game ... scored seven goals and added two assists ... shared the team lead with a career-high two goals against VMI ... had three ground balls vs. Syracuse and Mount St. Mary’s ... tallied twice against North Carolina ... scored in the quarterfinals of the playoffs vs. Georgetown.

2005—One of three freshmen to play in every game ... 20 ground balls were second among team’s rookies ... had a season-high four ground balls in his debut vs. Drexel ... scored a goal and an assist against Albany in the NCAA Tournament.

HIGH SCHOOL: Standout in both lacrosse and football ... earned three letters in lacrosse ... honorable mention All-American as a senior when he scored 40 goals ... team captain and MVP as a senior ... All-Long Island ... all-county ... played in the 2003 Empire State Games ... three-year starter at wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner on the football team ... team captain and MVP as a senior ... MVP of the Empire Challenge all-star football game following his senior season ... All-Long Island ... all-state as a junior ... twice all-county ... won the Dragon Award as a junior as Nassau County's best wide receiver ... set a school record with 22 interceptions ... named his school's best athlete ... National Honor Society member.

PERSONAL: Son of Rita and George Barrow ... born 5-14-86 in Queens, N.Y. ... has a younger brother, Trevor, and a younger sister, Sabrina ... sociology major.

 

BARROW STATISTICALLY

Year	GP	GB	Sh	G	A	Pts	Pen
2005	15	20	7	1	1	2	1-0:30
2006	17	16	22	7	2	9	4-5:00
2007	14	16	15	3	1	4	0
2008	17	28	23	7	3	10	3-2:00
Career	63	80	67	18	7	25	8-7:30

Good Point And Shoot Digital Camera

The most important piece of equipment when it comes to taking good pictures has nothing to do with anything you can buy at a store. It’s actually your own two eyes and your brain. Being able to see what you want to take a picture in your mind is the first step to taking a great picture.

How do you distinguish the flood of technical specifications between important features, and marketing hype? Knowing what to look for and what to ignore can help ease your buying decision. And save you money.

First things first. Let me just say, that megapixels (MP) don’t mean a damn thing anymore. I know, I know. The biggest print on the digital camera ads and packaging next to the manufacturers name is the number of megapixels the camera can store. The first thing some salesman is going to tell you about, is the number of megapixels.

They were shown a dozen or so beautiful and artistic photographs. Their task was to determine which photographs were taken by some very expensive SLR cameras, and which were taken by some very inexpensive point and shoot cameras. The end result? Their success rate was about as good as if they had just randomly guessed.

In fact, cramming too many megapixels into a camera with too small an image sensor can seriously degrade your image. You end up with too much noise in your pictures. In addition, more megapixels means you need bigger memory cards, and more room on your computer to store your pictures. That’s just an added expense for you the consumer. Image sensor size (CCD) would be a better specification to judge your buying decision on, but your going to have to dig through the fine print to find that.

It doesn’t really matter. What does matter, is that you make a decision, and start taking pictures. The more pictures you take, the better your next set of pictures will be.

In the spirit of saving batteries, and keeping your costs down, make sure your camera has an optical viewfinder. That way, you don’t have to use the LCD screen all the time. Many LCD screens don’t work well outside in bright sunlight anyway. A lot of digital cameras these days (especially the least expensive) exclude the viewfinder.

Take your time looking around, and you’ll be sure to find plenty of cheap canon digital cameras. Online prices can be very competitive, but sometimes it’s nice to hold on to a camera before you buy it.

If your a little more ambitious with your photography, then start with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi SLR camera. For under $600 you’ve got plenty of room to grow. That’s it, go get one, and start taking pictures. Your not getting any younger.

Google Revises Trademark Policy

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has revised its trademark policy to make it easier for advertisers to include brand names in the text of their ads. Until now, it would have been difficult for companies to run ads with a brand name in the text if …

See the rest here:

Google Revises Trademark Policy To Allow Brand Names In More Ads …

Guatemalan Twitter User Arrested for "Inciting Financial Panic"

Don't try starting a run on the bank using Twitter -- at least if you're in Guatemala.

According to user-gen news site Demotix, Twitter user @Jeanfer was arrested for telling followers in his tweets to take their funds out of Guatemalan bank Banrural.

This isn't the first time someone's been arrested for causing financial panic using social media. Last year, South Korea arrested the pseudonymous blogger "Minerva" for allegedly destabilizing the economy. Alas, Minerva was eventually found not guilty. (image via BoingBoing)

Grey's Anatomy season finale

"Grey's Anatomy" ended Thursday night with two characters' lives in jeopardy. Viewers will have to wait until next season to see if Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) are alive.

Izzie, who suffered a brain tumor this season, underwent a risky surgery that threatened to take away her memory. Prior to the surgery, she told new husband Alex Karev she wanted to put a do not resuscitate order in place if anything went wrong. Izzie came out of the surgery and suffered short-term memory problems, which eventually disappeared. As she hugged Karev to celebrate gaining memory, she lost consciousness. Despite the DNR she requested, Karev urged doctors to try to resuscitate her and they did.

George, meanwhile, was inspired early in the two-hour episode to become an Army doctor. Later, friends planned to change his mind with an intervention. In the meantime, they tended to a dramatically wounded John Doe, who was bloody and near death after literally sweeping a woman off her feet to save her from an approaching bus. As Dr. Meredith Gray prepared to operate on the mysterious hero, he drew a "007" into her palm. With that, she realized with horror that John Doe, tragically, was George.

* External Link Grey's Anatomy

The two-hour show ended Thursday with the doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital scrambling to save both lives. Izzie entered a flashback in which she stepped inside an elevator. The elevator doors opened and she was greeted by George in his Army uniform.

Categorized | Network Press Releases “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Biggest Loser: Couples,”

via NBC press release:

‘CELEBRITY APPRENTICE,’ ‘BIGGEST LOSER,’ ‘THE OFFICE’ AND ‘SVU’ ARE AMONG THE STANDOUTS IN NBC’S PRIMETIME WEEK OF MAY 4-10

THREE-HOUR ‘CELEBRITY APPRENTICE’ FINALE ATTRACTS NBC’S BIGGEST OVERALL AUDIENCE IN ITS SUNDAY TIME PERIOD SINCE THE NIGHT OF THE SUPER BOWL

‘CELEBRITY APPRENTICE’ BUILDS 81 PERCENT IN 18-49 FROM ITS FIRST TO ITS FINAL HALF-HOUR, TO WIN THE FINAL HOUR OF PRIMETIME IN ADULTS 18-49, ADULTS 18-34, ADULTS 25-54, TOTAL VIEWERS AND OTHER KEY MEASURES

ON TUESDAY, ‘THE BIGGEST LOSER’ GAINS 52 PERCENT IN 18-49 AND 35 PERCENT IN TOTAL VIEWERS FROM ITS FIRST HALF-HOUR TO ITS FOURTH, TO WIN ITS FINAL HALF-HOUR IN ADULTS 18-49 AND OTHER KEY MEASURES

‘LOSER’ IS UP 8 PERCENT IN ADULTS 18-49 AND 12 PERCENT IN TOTAL VIEWERS VERSUS ITS YEAR-AGO CYCLE, AND IS THE BIGGEST ‘LOSER’ CYCLE IN TOTAL VIEWERS SINCE THE FIRST ‘BIGGEST LOSER’ IN 2004-05

‘LAW & ORDER: SVU’ WINS ITS HOUR IN ALL KEY DEMOGRAPHICS – ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54 – AND MATCHES THE ABC-CBS DRAMA COMPETITION COMBINED IN ADULTS 18-34

ON THURSDAY ‘PARKS AND RECREATION’ BUILDS ON ITS LEAD-IN FOR THE FOURTH STRAIGHT WEEK, GAINING 24 PERCENT IN ADULTS 18-49 AND 50 PERCENT IN ADULTS 18-34

‘THE OFFICE’ AND ‘30 ROCK’ WIN THEIR TOUGH THURSDAY TIME PERIODS IN MEN 18-49 AND 18-34, TOPPING ‘GREY’S ANATOMY’ AND ‘CSI’ IN THOSE DEMOS

‘THE OFFICE’ IS TV’S #1 SCRIPTED SERIES SEASON-TO-DATE IN THE VALUABLE ADULT 18-34 DEMO

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – May 12, 2009 – Strong ratings from the season finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” and the penultimate episode of “Biggest Loser: Couples,” as well as more solid numbers from NBC’s Thursday comedies and Tuesday’s slot-winning “SVU” paced NBC’s primetime ratings week of May 4-10. For the week NBC averaged a 2.0 rating, 6 share in adults 18-49 and 6.4 million viewers overall, according to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Primetime averages for the week of May 4-10 in adults 18-49 were Fox (3.2/10), CBS (2.7/8), ABC, (2.6/7), NBC (2.0/6), Univision (1.5/4), CW (0.8/2) and Telemundo (0.5/1). In overall total viewers the weekly averages were CBS (10.8 million), Fox (8.8 million), ABC (8.7 million), NBC (6.4 million), Univision (3.7 million), CW (1.9 million) and Telemundo (1.1 million).

Through the first 33 weeks of the 2008-09 season, NBC is the only one of the major broadcast networks to decrease its median age versus the prior season. NBC is the “second youngest” of the major broadcast networks, with a median age of 47.4 years (versus 48.3 years at this point last season), 2.3 years “older” than Fox (45.0 years). By comparison, ABC’s median age this season is 49.4 and CBS’s median age is 53.9.

Season to date, NBC is running within 0.8 of a rating point of first place in primetime’s key demographic of adults 18-49, versus a deficit of 1.4 points at this time last season.

NBC highlights for the week of May 4-10:

* On Sunday, the three-hour finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice” delivered NBC’s biggest overall viewership in the time period since February 1, the night of the Super Bowl.

* “Celebrity Apprentice” grew substantially over the course of its three-hour telecast, building to a first-place finish in the climactic 10-11 p.m. hour in adults 18-49, adults 18-34, adults 25-54, total viewers and other key measures, topping the season finales of ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” and CBS’s “The Unit” in the final hour of primetime.

* In its concluding hour from 10-11 p.m. on Sunday, “The Celebrity Apprentice” averaged a 3.9/11 in adults 18-49 and 10.6 million viewers overall. This is an increase of 22 percent in 18-49 and 32 percent in total viewers versus the one prior Sunday “Apprentice” finale (a 3.2/8 in 18-49 and 8.0 million viewers from 10-11 p.m. on Sunday, April 22, 2007).

* On Thursday, “Parks and Recreation” built on its “My Name is Earl” lead-in by 24 percent in adults 18-49 and 50 percent in adults 18-34, marking the fourth week in a row that “Parks” has built versus its 18-49 lead-in. This is NBC’s biggest build in this slot following a first-run 8-8:30 episode of “Earl” in two years.

* “Parks and Recreation” won its time period in adults and men 18-34, topping CBS’s “Survivor,” Fox’s “Bones, ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and CW’s “Smallville” in those demos

* Also on Thursday, “The Office” and “30 Rock” won their tough time periods in men 18-49 and 18-34, topping ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” CBS’s “CSI” and Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” in those demographics.

* Additionally on Thursday, “Southland” ranked #1 or tied for #1 among the broadcast networks in all key adult-male demos. From half-hour to half-hour, “Southland” built in all key ratings categories, gaining 11 percent in adults 18-49, 8 percent in total viewers and 21 percent in men 18-34.

* On Wednesday, “Law & Order” apprehended its highest 18-49 rating and biggest total viewership since February 4.

* On Tuesday, “The Biggest Loser: Couples” gained 52 percent in 18-49 rating and 35 percent or more than 2.8 million persons in total viewers from its first half-hour to its fourth, which propelled “Loser” to a first-place finish in adults 18-49 in the 9:30-10 p.m. half-hour over such competition as Fox’s “Fringe,” ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” results show and CBS’s “The Mentalist.” “Loser” gained 0.4 to 0.6 of an 18-49 rating point in each successive half-hour on Tuesday

* “The Biggest Loser: Couples” is up 8 percent in adults 18-49 and 12 percent in total viewers versus its year-ago cycle. The current, seventh cycle of “The Biggest Loser” is the biggest “Loser” cycle in total viewers since “The Biggest Loser 1″ in the 2004-05 season.

* Also on Tuesday, “Law & Order: SVU” locked up a time-period win in all key demographics – adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 – and matched the ABC-CBS drama competition combined in adults 18-34.

* On Monday, a two-hour “Medium” grew from its first half-hour to its fourth by 33 percent in adults 18-49, by 38 percent in adults 25-54 and by 33 percent or nearly 2.0 million persons in total viewers.

Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date figures are averages of “live plus seven day” data except for the two most recent weeks, which are “live plus same day.”

Additional NBC highlights for the week of May 4-10:

On Monday, May 4 from 8-9 p.m. ET, “Deal or No Deal” averaged a 1.2 rating, 3 share in adults 18-49 and 4.4 million viewers overall. From its first half-hour to its second, “Deal” increased by 18 percent in adults 18-49 (to a 1.3 from a 1.1).

Monday from 9-11 p.m. ET, “Medium” (2.2/6 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall) increased from its first half-hour to its fourth by 33 percent in adults 18-49 (to a 2.4/7 from a 1.8/5), by 38 percent in adults 25-54 (to a 3.3/8 from a 2.4/5) and by 33 percent or nearly 2.0 million persons in total viewers (to 8.0 million from 6.1 million).

On Tuesday, May 5 from 8-10 p.m. ET, “The Biggest Loser: Couples” (3.6/10 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall) again exhibited dramatic growth from its first half-hour to its fourth, propelling “Loser” to a #1 finish in 18-49 in the 9:30-10 p.m. half-hour over such competition as Fox’s “Fringe,” ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” results show and CBS’s “Mentalist.” From its first half-hour to its fourth, “Loser” gained 52 percent in 18-49 rating (to a 4.4/11 from a 2.9/9) and 35 percent or more than 2.8 million persons in total viewers (to 10.6 million from 7.8 million). “Loser” increased 0.4 to 0.6 of an 18-49 rating point in each successive half-hour. For its full two-hour time period, “Biggest Loser” ranked #2 in adults 18-49 and other key measures, behind only “Idol”-boosted Fox.

“The Biggest Loser: Couples” is up versus its year-ago cycle by 8 percent in 18-49 (4.0 vs. 3.7, “most current”) and 12 percent in total viewers (10.1 million vs. 9.0 million), while the Tuesday edition of “Idol” is down 12 percent in 18-49 rating (to 9.9 from 11.3, “most current”) and down 9 percent in total viewers (to 26.3 million from 29.0 million).

The current, seventh cycle of “The Biggest Loser” is the biggest “Loser” cycle in total viewers (10.1 million) since “The Biggest Loser 1″ in the 2004-05 season.

Tuesday from 10-11 p.m. ET, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (3.7/10 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall) won its time period in all key demographics – adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 – and matched the ABC-CBS drama competition combined in adults 18-34. In adults 18-49, the “SVU” margin of victory was 42 percent (3.7 vs. a 2.6 for CBS’s “Without a Trace” in second place).

From its first half-hour to its second, “SVU” increased by 11 percent in 18-49 rating (to a 3.9/11 from a 3.5/9) and by 9 percent in total viewers (to 10.3 million from 9.4 million), while the rival dramas on ABC and CBS declined from half-hour to half-hour in both categories.

NBC ranked #2 on Tuesday night in adults 18-49, adults 18-34 and other key demographics, behind only “Idol”-boosted Fox.

On Wednesday May 6 from 8-9 p.m. ET, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) generated NBC’s highest 18-49 rating in this time period since March 11 and its biggest overall viewership in the hour since February 25.

Wednesday from 10-11 p.m. ET, “Law & Order” (2.3/6 in 18-49, 8.1 million viewers overall) apprehended its highest 18-49 and total-viewer scores since February 4. “Law & Order” ranked #2 in the time period in adults 18-49, total viewers and all other key categories, having built by 109 percent in 18-49 rating and 80 percent or 3.6 million persons on its lead-in from the previous hour – a 1.1/3 in 18-49 and 4.5 million viewers overall for a rebroadcast of “Law & Order: SVU” from 9-10 p.m. From half-hour to half-hour, “Law & Order” increased 9 percent in adults 18-49 (to a 2.4/7 from a 2.2/6).

On Thursday, May 7 at 8 p.m. ET, “My Name is Earl” averaged a 1.7/6 in 18-49 and 4.5 million viewers overall.

Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET, “Parks and Recreation” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall) built on its “Earl” lead-in by 24 percent in adults 18-49 and by 50 percent in adults 18-34 (2.4 vs. 1.6). This is the fourth week in a row that “Parks” has built versus its 18-49 lead-in.

This marks NBC’s biggest build following an original 8-8:30 episode of “Earl” in two years (since “The Office” on April 12, 2007 increased 37 percent). Prior to the debut of “Parks & Recreation,” NBC this season had averaged a 12 percent fall-off in 18-49 versus original “Earl” lead-ins with regular programming in this time period

“Parks & Recreation” ranked #1 in its time slot in adults 18-34 and men 18-34, topping CBS’s “Survivor,” Fox’s “Bones,” ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and CW’s “Smallville” in those demos.

Thursday from 9-9:31 p.m. ET, “The Office” (3.9/11 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) won its highly competitive time period in men 18-49 and 18-34, topping ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” CBS’s “CSI” and Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” in those demographics. In adults 18-49, “The Office” ranked #2 in its time period, topping “CSI” head-to-head for the fifth straight week.

Season-to-date, “The Office” is the #11-ranked primetime program in adults 18-49, despite airing in head-to-head competition with the #1 show on the CBS schedule (”CSI”) and one of the two top shows on the ABC schedule (”Grey’s Anatomy”). Among adults 18-34, “The Office” is primetime television’s #3 show and #1 scripted series (averaging a 5.6/15 season-to-date in that demo), behind only the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of “American Idol.”

Thursday from 9:31-10:01 p.m. ET, “30 Rock” (2.9/8 in 18-49, 6.1 million viewers overall) ranked #1 in the time period in men 18-49 and men 18-34 versus the concluding half-hours of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “CSI” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”

Thursday 10:01-11 p.m. ET, “Southland” (2.0/6 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall) ranked #1 in the time slot in men 18-34, topping ABC’s Michael J. Fox: An Incurable Optimist” and CBS’s special encore “CSI” encore. “Southland” tied for #1 among men 18-49 and men 25-54.

From half-hour to half-hour, “Southland” increased in every key ratings category, gaining 11 percent in adults 18-49 (to a 2.1 from a 1.9), 8 percent in adults 25-54 (to a 2.6 from a 2.4) and 8 percent in total viewers (to 6.9 million from 6.3 million). Among men 18-34, “Southland” jumped 21 percent from half-hour to half-hour (1.7 vs. 1.4).

On Friday, May 8 from 8-8:29 p.m. ET, an encore telecast of “Howie Do It” averaged a 0.8/3 in 18-49 and 2.7 million viewers overall. From 8:29-9 p.m., a second rebroadcast of “Howie Do It” delivered a 0.8/3 in 18-49 and 2.3 million viewers overall.

Friday from 9-11 p.m. ET, “Dateline NBC” (1.4/5 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) ranked #2 in its time period in adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and other key measures. From its first half-hour to its fourth, “Dateline” increased by 64 percent in 18-49 rating (to a 1.8/6 from a 1.1/4) and 48 percent or more than 2.0 million persons in total viewers (to 6.2 million from 4.2 million).

On Saturday, May 9 from 8-9 p.m. ET, a rebroadcast of “Law & Order: SVU” averaged a 0.7/3 in 18-49 and 3.5 million viewers overall. From its first half-hour to its second, “SVU” increased by 33 percent in adults18-49 (to a 0.8 from a 0.6) and by 43 percent in women 18-49 (to 1.0 from 0.7). From 9-10 p.m., an encore “Southland” averaged a 0.6/2 in 18-49 and 3.8 million viewers overall. From its first half-hour to its second, “Southland” increased its 18-49 rating by 17 percent (to a 0.7 from a 0.6) and its overall viewership by 10 percent.

Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, a rebroadcast of “Law & Order” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) built from half-hour to half-hour by 38 percent in adults 18-49 (to a 1.1 from a 0.8).

On Sunday, May 10 from 7-8 p.m. ET, “Dateline NBC” averaged a 1.0/4 and 4.2 million viewers overall. From its first half-hour to its second, “Dateline” increased in 18-49 rating by 11 percent (to a 1.0/4 from a 0.9/4) and in overall viewership by 16 percent (to 4.6 million from 3.9 million).

Sunday from 8-11 p.m. ET, the season finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice” attracted NBC’s biggest overall viewership in this time period since February 1, the night of the Super Bowl. “The Celebrity Apprentice” (3.1/9 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall from 8-11 p.m.) grew substantially over the course of its three-hour telecast, building to a first-place finish in the climactic 10-11 p.m. hour in adults 18-49, adults 18-34, adults 25-54, total viewers and other key measures, topping the season finales of ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” and CBS’s “The Unit” in the final hour of primetime. From its first half-hour to its sixth, “Celebrity Apprentice” grew by 81 percent in 18-49 rating (to a 3.8/10 from a 2.1/6) and by 61 percent or more than 3.9 million persons in total viewers (to 10.4 million from 6.5 million).

In its final hour from 10-11 p.m., “Celebrity Apprentice” averaged a 3.9/11 in 18-49 and 10.6 million viewers overall. Versus the average of the one prior “Apprentice” Sunday finale (a 3.2/8 in 18-49 and 8.0 million viewers from 10-11 p.m. on Sunday, April 22, 2007), this was up 22 percent in 18-49 rating and up 32 percent in total viewers.

WEEKLY AVERAGES
Average rating, share and audience in each category

ADULTS 18-49

Fox 3.2/10, 4.2 million
CBS 2.7/8, 3.5 million
ABC 2.6/7, 3.5 million
NBC 2.0/6, 2.7 million
UNI 1.5/4, 2.0 million
CW 0.8/2, 1.1 million
TEL 0.5/1, 0.7 million

Each rating point equals 1.32 million viewers

ADULTS 25-54

Fox 3.8/10, 4.7 million
CBS 3.6/10, 4.5 million
ABC 3.2/8, 3.9 million
NBC 2.5/7, 3.1 million
UNI 1.4/4, 1.8 million
CW 0.8/2, 1.0 million
TEL 0.5/1, 0.6 million

Each rating point equals 1.24 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

CBS 3.7/10, 10.8 million
Fox 3.0/8, 8.8 million
ABC3.09/8, 8.7 million
NBC 2.2/6, 6.4 million
UNI 1.3/4, 3.7 million
CW 0.7/2, 1.9 million
TEL 0.4/1, 1.1 million

Each rating point equals 2.90 million viewers

2008-09 SEASON-TO-DATE AVERAGES
Average rating and audience in each category

ADULTS 18-49

Fox 3.6/10, 4.7 million
CBS 3.1/8, 4.2 million
ABC 2.9/8, 3.8 million
NBC 2.8/8, 3.7 million
UNI 1.6/4, 2.1 million
CW 0.9/2, 1.2 million
TEL 0.5/1, 0.7 million

Each rating point equals 1.32 million viewers

ADULTS 25-54

CBS 4.1/10, 5.1 million
Fox 4.1/10, 5.1 million
ABC 3.4/8, 4.2 million
NBC 3.2/8, 4.0 million
UNI 1.5/4, 1.9 million
CW 0.8/2, 1.0 million
TEL 0.5/1, 0.6 million

Each rating point equals 1.24 million viewers

TOTAL VIEWERS

CBS 4.0/10, 11.7 million
Fox 3.3/8, 9.7 million
ABC 3.1/8, 8.9 million
NBC 2.7/7, 7.9 million
UNI 1.4/3, 3.9 million
CW 0.7/2, 2.0 million
TEL 0.4/1, 1.2 million

Each rating point equals 2.90 million viewers

Frontier Comm CEO: Proven Track Record Of Integration

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Frontier Communications Corp. (FTR) has a proven track record of integration, and should be able to quickly absorb Verizon Communications Inc.'s (VZ) rural assets, according to Frontier Chief Executive Maggie Wilderotter.

While the deal is structured as a tax-free spin-off and merger, Frontier will have to raise roughly $3.3 billion in funds through a debt offering, the proceeds of which will be paid to Verizon. Even though Frontier is raising debt, the acquisition of Verizon's assets allows the company to approach investment grade rating, she said during a conference call on Tuesday.

Verizon Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said he sees the deal creating value for both sides, noting that he expects approval to happen in a year.

Verizon has paid less attention to the rural areas as it focuses on wireless, FiOS and its global enterprise businesses. Chief Financial Officer Donald Shassian said he does expect revenue decline in the 3.5% to 4% range with the Verizon territories before the company takes over.

Wilderotter noted that the deal will be accretive to Frontier on a free cash flow basis by the second year, noting the $500 million in merger cost savings.

Further value could be created by building out high-speed Internet access to Verizon's territory, which could yield more revenue for the company, Wilderotter said.

"Rural America is our business," she said, noting the company's "manical focus on local."

One of the biggest integration hurdles is the conversion of billing systems from Verizon to Frontier. Wilderotter said she is confident that the conversion will be smooth. She added that ahead of the deal closing, Frontier will set up its products, promotions and offerings in the Verizon system.

"We can hit the ground running," she said.

Wilderotter said she doesn't foresee any problems with the unions representing the 11,000 Verizon employees moving to Frontier.



-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; roger.cheng@dowjones.com







(Updates with additional executive comments)

By Roger Cheng
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Frontier Communications Corp. (FTR) has a proven track record of integration, and should be able to quickly absorb Verizon Communications Inc.'s (VZ) rural assets, according to Frontier Chief Executive Maggie Wilderotter.

While the deal is structured as a tax-free spin-off and merger, Frontier will have to raise roughly $3.3 billion in funds through a debt offering, the proceeds of which will be paid to Verizon.

Verizon Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg on Wednesday said he sees the deal creating value for both sides, noting that he expects approval to happen in a year.

Verizon has paid less attention to the rural areas as it focuses on wireless, FiOS and its global enterprise businesses. Chief Financial Officer Donald Shassian said he does expect revenue decline in the 3.5% to 4% range with the Verizon territories before the company takes over.

Even though Frontier is raising debt, the acquisition of Verizon's assets allows the company to approach investment grade rating, Wilderotter said during a conference call on Wednesday. Shassian added that the company is changing its credit strategy in actively pursuing an investment grade rating.

Wilderotter noted that the deal will be accretive to Frontier on a free cash flow basis by the second year, noting the $500 million in merger cost savings.

As a result of the deal, Frontier is lowering its dividend payout ratio. Wilderotter said the move was designed to sustain its long-term dividend strategy, and frees up some cash for investment into Verizon's territories.

Further value could be created by building out high-speed Internet access to Verizon's territory, which could yield more revenue for the company, Wilderotter said. Improving the local presence in those regions will be key, she added.

"Rural America is our business," she said, noting the company's "manical focus on local."

Frontier can also tap into the stimulus package's focus on broadband investment.

"It's clear the Obama administration has a focus on bring broadband to rural America," she said.

One of the biggest integration hurdles is the conversion of billing systems from Verizon to Frontier. Wilderotter said she is confident that the conversion will be smooth. She added that ahead of the deal closing, Frontier will set up its products, promotions and offerings in the Verizon system.

"We can hit the ground running," she said.

Wilderotter said she doesn't foresee any problems with the unions representing the 11,000 Verizon employees moving to Frontier.

Wilderotter added that she approached Verizon on pursuing a deal. The company said talks had gone on for the past two months.

Twitter Spam Method on Hot Trends

It was only a matter of time: Twitter trending topics are now being exploited by spammers. Now that trending topics – the most talked about items on Twitter at a given point in time – are integrated as part of Twitter’s web experience, marketers are quickly realizing that these can be exploited to generate traffic.

How? Simply include the trending term in your tweet. Then, anyone who clicks the trending topic will see your ad, for free. Today’s example comes in the form of “Apple Shampoo,” which is apparently a new song from Blink 182, being shared aggressively today because of the meme #musicmonday, which is also trending.

Here’s an example. Most of the tweets below really have nothing to do with the band, the song, or #musicmonday, but are rather an ad for some sort of affiliate marketing scheme. Visiting the offending user’s account on Twitter, it’s clear that they’re simply using Twitter to push affiliate links, and now exploiting trending topics to gain more traffic.

Putting yourself in the mind of the spammer for a moment, here’s why this is so attractive: unlike typical Twitter spam, which involves mass following in hopes of gaining return followers, this is far more convenient and harder for Twitter to police. As opposed to needing to build up a following in order to get traffic for your message (Twitter has been doing a much better job of stopping this), now all you need to do is include a trending topic in your tweet.

It’s an ugly new twist on Twitter spam that is going to de-value Twitter search until the company figures out a way to stop it. For now, the best way to help stop the problem is probably to utilize the @spam Twitter account

Posted on 10-05-2009 Panasonic Camera Review

by Jonathan Summers

The Panasonic FX580 is a very unique camera indeed. It has a three inch touch screen, but it’s actually a “hybrid” touch screen, meaning some functions are touch and others are buttons. With that being said there has been a lot of confusion when starting to use the buttons.

Usually while going through the menus, you’re using the buttons, but often you get moved over to the touch screen. Since the touch screen works pretty well, a lot of people wish it could just be used simultaneously. It feels random when Panasonic forces you to use one or the other, but you get used to it.

The camera has an all-metal body, so it feels sturdy; it is also almost one inch thick, but still portable. They added some interesting features like face recognition, which basically means you can store a face you take pictures of regularly and then you can give that face focus priority when you’re shooting.

Weirdly enough, normal light pictures are incredibly grainy; normally, outdoor shots are the ones that look good on any camera, but Panasonic used a really small image sensor and it shows. Low light is surprisingly good, though. Anything with a flash shows up clear.

The going price for The Panasonic FX580 is $400.00 USD. The camera in my opinion is not quite worth the price, I have seen much better image quality on cameras that are less than half this price. Reason for this is plain and simple, the confusion between using the buttons, then the touch screen

Maybe if they enhanced the user interface to either use the buttons or the touch screen I would think differently. But the most confusing thing is the fact that the normal light pictures are grainy, and the low light is good. How that makes sense, the world may never know.
About the Author:
Jonathan Summers Specializes in Debt Collection Solutions and works for a certified Collection Agencey

KFC coupon customers ask: Where's the chicken?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Customers at a New York City KFC hoping to redeem coupons for a free meal were disgruntled when the fast-food restaurant ran out of its new grilled chicken, but Internet rumors of a riot were unfounded, a Kentucky Fried Chicken spokeswoman said Wednesday.

"Some customers were upset because they couldn't get their chicken, but there was no riot," said Laurie Schalow.

Schalow said the Manhattan restaurant on East 42nd Street plans to begin honoring the coupons again Thursday after it resupplies the kitchen.

The coupons were available on Oprah.com for 24 hours beginning Tuesday after Oprah announced the meal promotion on her show. Each downloadable coupon can be redeemed for two pieces of grilled chicken, two individual sides and a biscuit.

KFC, owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., introduced its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken about three weeks ago. The new menu item is being touted as lower in fat, calories and sodium than the traditional deep-fried chicken for which KFC is known the world over. It even has its own secret recipe, kept under lock and key near the original 11 herbs and spices recipe for fried chicken created by KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders.

Schalow said the grilled chicken has been a huge success, and the combination of a bad economy and Oprah's popularity created a "perfect storm."

"We prepared for it," Schalow said, noting that a KFC restaurant can only serve so many people during the lunch and dinner hours. "We didn't prepare for this extreme."

But Schalow said customers have until May 19th to redeem their coupons, Mother's Day excluded, and she encouraged the public to return later.

A spokewoman for Oprah's Harpo Productions in Chicago said they are not aware of any problems with the coupons.

Schalow said KFC restaurants across the United States were bustling on Wednesday because of the coupon offer.

"A lot of restaurants experienced very, very heavy traffic with people trying to redeem the coupons." she said, though KFC headquarters did not hear of any other problems with customers other than the those at the New York City franchise. "All stores are very busy today, very long lines, that's what we're hearing."

Schalow said some KFC stores may have run out of some products, such as mashed potatoes and gravy or cole slaw, "but they are substituting as best they can."

Allison Iraheta going home; No Doubt, Chris Daughtry perfom on 'American Idol'

Photo Courtesy of FoxAllison Iraheta performs Wednesday night.

So far, 22 percent of people who've taken the current lehighvalleylive.com Entertainment Poll -- which of the four remaining "American Idol" finalists do you pick to win it all? -- got it wrong.

Allison Iraheta is going home.

The teenager rocker got the boot tonight, leaving Kris Allen, Danny Gokey and frontrunner Adam Lambert to battle for the title of "Idol" king. This is the first time in the show's eight-year history that there's been an all-male final trio.

The voters' decision undoubtedly came as a shock for our Marcia White, who earlier today predicted that Iraheta would make it through tonight's elimination on the strength of her "electric" duet with Lambert. The two performed Foghat's "Slow Ride."

It looks like the judge's response to her solo performance of Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby" had a bigger impact on Iraheta's vote-getting ability than White anticipated. They described the 17-year-old California resident's take on the classic as unoriginal.

Danny Gokey was in the bottom two with Iraheta. Last week, to everyone's surprise, Lambert was in the bottom two with Matt Giraud, who got sent home. He was back on top this week after a standout rendition of Led Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love."

Sixty-six percent of poll takers think Lambert will be the next "Idol," followed by Gokey and Adam, who got 6 and 5 percent of the vote, respectively. It's not too late to add your 2 cents. Click here to take the Entertainment Poll or post a comment; look for it in the left rail.

"Idol" alum Chris Daughtry and No Doubt, led by Gwen Stefani, performed on the show. Watch their performances here.

Marijuana odor in car leads to drug arrest

A South District police lieutenant who stopped a car on Seneca Street charged the driver with drug possession after the lieutenant smelled marijuana inside the vehicle.

Lt. James O’Donnell arrested Francisco Florez, 20, of the first block of Laird Avenue, with criminal possession of a controlled substance after Florez told him he had cocaine and pot hidden behind an ashtray in the vehicle’s center console.

The arrest occurred at 9:30 p. m. Monday in the 1400 block of Seneca Street.

BlackBerry Throws iPhone Sales a Curve

The iPhone lost its spot as top-selling phone to the BlackBerry Curve in the first quarter of 2009, but that doesn’t necessarily spell the end of the iPhone’s market dominance, said Ross Rubin, an analyst for researchers The NPD Group.

BlackBerry Curve

According to an NPD survey, the five top-selling smartphones between January 1 and March 31 were the BlackBerry Curve, the Apple iPhone 3G, the BlackBerry Storm, the BlackBerry Pearl (not including the Pearl Flip) and the T-Mobile G1 with the Android operating system.

The Curve was the big winner for two main reasons, said Mr. Rubin. One was Verizon’s “Buy one, get one free” deal for the BlackBerry. “That promotion pushed it over the top,” he said. Another reason is that the Curve was available through four major carriers, while the iPhone remains exclusive to AT&T.

Not to take anything away from the capabilities of the Curve, however. “It’s lightweight, inexpensive and thin, and it embodies the characteristics that makes the BlackBerry a popular phone,” said Mr. Rubin.

House Prices May Be Crushed For A Generation

Whenever we discuss the gloomiest forecasts for housing, we inevitably hear from readers who believe that house prices will have have to start rising again very soon because demand for having a roof over one's head isn't going down. There's some truth in this: we're not giving up lifestyles in stationary shelters any time soon. The United States won't become a nation of nomads that shuns houses.

But don't take this too far. While individuals may continue to desire to live in houses, overall demand for houses may decline. That's because of something that no meddling with interest rates can repair. You see, the huge baby boom generation didn't reproduce itself at the same rate it was produced, which means that the so-called Generation X is much smaller than the generation that preceeded it.  And not only are they smaller, for a variety of reasons they probably won't generate the same demand for single family homes their parents did.

• College Debt Burden. Generation X is afflicted with an unprecedented amount of debt thanks to the boom in higher education. Wages haven't kept up with this mounting debt, which means that it takes even longer to work off this debt. It seems unlikely that banks with higher credit standards will be willing to lend to Gen X the way they did to the Boomers; and it's unlikely that debt stricken Xers will want to accumulate even more debt by taking out big mortgages.


• Dearth of Births. Only 44 million people were born into Generation X. There are currently 19 million empty homes in the US. That means that if Gen X pairs up through marriages, cohabitation or roommating, they can live in the empty homes without ever buying a new one.



• Boomers Trading Down. As John Wasik of Bloomberg points out, it's not just that Gen X is smaller. The Boomers are changing too because they are getting older. "Although we may not be headed for a 1930s-style Depression, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that boomers are dumping their four- and five-bedroom suburban homes for two- and three- bedroom condominiums," he writes.


• Housing Scars May Last. The Boomers had a spectacular confidence in the strength of the housing market, built in large part on their historical experience of ever rising house prices. Gen Xers have had a quite different experience, one that is likely to make them far more wary of investing in homes.

The good news is that there's a slightly larger population group rising up behind the Gen Xers. Eventually, they may actually drive up housing demand, and prices may rise as well. But that's a long, long way off.

U.K. Denies Entry to Islamic, Baptist Preachers, Michael Savage

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. radio broadcaster Michael Savage
and the pastors of a Baptist church are among those barred from
entering the U.K. for allegedly stirring-up hatred and fostering
extremism, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said.

Savage, whose real name is Michael Alan Weiner, has
authored books such as “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” and
was one of 22 foreigners named by Smith as ineligible to visit
Britain. She published a list of those banned between October
2008 and March 2009 for “fostering extremism or hatred.”

Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, which preaches
against homosexuals, and fellow church spokeswoman Shirley
Phelps-Roper, were also banned for “unacceptable behavior”
that might stir up “inter-community violence” in the U.K.

“Coming to the U.K. is a privilege, and I refuse to extend
that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values
to undermine our way of life,” Smith said in an e-mail today.
“I will not hesitate to name and shame those who foster
extremist views. They are not welcome here.”

Britain has toughened measures to exclude so-called
preachers of hate after the bombing of the London Underground
and bus network in 2005. The rules also target Islamic clerics
and people with links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government now is banning
about five people a month under the current policy, more than
double the previous rate.

Preachers Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Yunis Al Astal, Safwat
Hijazi and Amir Siddique were also banned, the U.K. said. Also
on the list were Mike Guzovsky, the leader of a violent group,
and the creator of a white supremacist Web site Stormfront,
Stephen Donald Black.

Web radio broadcaster Eric Gliebe was also denied entry as
was Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, who lead a gang accused of
beating migrants.