SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Supreme Court today gave a thumbs up to Gov. Pat Quinn’s showcase $31 billion public works program and the video poker that’s supposed to help pay for it.

The 7-0 ruling allows state lawmakers and the governor to exhale after an appellate court had thrown out the deal earlier this year. You can read the state Supreme Court opinion here.

More than just bricks-and-mortar projects involving schools, roads and sewers were at stake in the ruling by the seven Illinois justices. Also at issue were new and controversial sources of state revenue: Increases in driver’s license and license plate fees, higher taxes on alcohol, candy, soft drinks and beauty products, and the video gambling. All were targeted to cover the cost of construction bonds plus interest.

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Illinois Senate President John Cullerton hailed today’s court ruling.

“This ruling serves as a reminder of just how important the 2009 jobs program was and what the General Assembly can accomplish when politics is set aside and people participate” said Cullerton, D-Chicago, a reference to Democrats and Republicans coming together on the construction deal.

The appellate court had sided with an argument that the law creating the construction program had too many different issues tied together.

The state Supreme Court, in a decision written by Justice Anne Burke, maintained the General Assembly’s actions were valid and dealt with a single matter rather than several unrelated matters.

The laws all fell within the boundaries of an overall effort to put together a “capital plan” for the state, she wrote.

The state has borrowed roughly $4 billion to get the construction projects started, said Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for Quinn’s budget office. Kraft said $1.3 billion of that is left to spend.

Since the construction program began, the state has raked in more than $640 million from the increases in driver fees and additional taxes, according to documents on the state treasurer’s website.

The increased taxes and fees have been collected for a little less than two years, and it was possible that a ruling against the state would have required expensive refunds. That in a state that already carries a multibillion-dollar backlog of overdue bills.

The legalization of video gambling at bars, restaurants and truck stops was the most controversial element and promised the most money to the state. But the new gambling hasn’t materialized because the state Gaming Board is still working to create a large new regulatory program. In the meantime, dozens of municipalities have rejected the new form of legal gambling.

A recently approved expansion of casino gambling, which is not part of the lawsuit, would require regulators to expedite video gambling.

The case before the Supreme Court involved a multifaceted challenge to a series of bills approved by lawmakers in 2009 and signed by Quinn that created and funded the public works program. Rocky Wirtz, best known as owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, also heads his family’s liquor distributorship empire and he alleged in a lawsuit that various provisions of the law were unconstitutional.

A circuit court rejected the Wirtz allegations. Then in January a state appellate court issued a narrow but potentially devastating decision for Quinn and state lawmakers: The law was unconstitutional because it violated the “single-subject rule,” a provision that prohibits combining various unrelated subjects into the same bill. The appeals court stayed enforcement of its ruling  while it was appealed to the Supreme Court.

The “single-subject rule” was designed to prevent bundling less popular initiatives into more palatable bills to make them easier to pass, a process known as logrolling.

Logrolling was a popular legislative tool from the state’s beginnings. Legislation that then-state Rep. Abraham Lincoln pushed in 1837, linking a massive public works program with a move of the capital to Springfield, was the inspiration for the “single-subject rule” being adopted in the Illinois Constitution. The state later defaulted on its debt from the 1837 public works plan.

The appellate court ruled the various aspects of Quinn’s public works program did not fit within a single broad category of “revenue” and that the state’s arguments were “unconvincing.”

The appeals court said provisions that included mandating a University of Illinois study on the effects on Illinois families of purchasing lottery tickets, a required quarterly accounting by the state of public works expenditures and a change in truck-weight limits had “no natural and logical connection to revenue to the state.”

But Attorney General Lisa Madigan, on behalf of the Quinn administration, argued to the Supreme Court that the law’s provisions fell under a single umbrella of “capital projects,” not the subject of “revenue” that the appeals court used.

Pressing the necessity of keeping the public works program intact, Madigan’s appeal to the Supreme Court noted it was passed by lawmakers “when the state’s economy was suffering the effects of the severe recession gripping the entire nation.” She noted that in the 15 months prior to passage of the plan, the state’s unemployment rate rose from less than 6 percent to more than 10 percent.

Quinn had forecast the public works program would create or retain 439,000 jobs over six years.

Lawyers for Wirtz and his distributorship, Wirtz Beverage Illinois LLC, also alleged that the state improperly raised taxes on beer at a lower rate than those on wine and spirits.

His lawyers said Wirtz and his firm “seek to have the constitution enforced as written, rather than ignored for purposes of expediency as it was in the legislation challenged here.”

An FBI spokesman said Monday that it does not appear a stun gun found aboard a JetBlue plane that landed late Friday in Newark was intended to be used in an attack.

Bryan Travers, a spokesman for the FBI’s Newark office, said information from the investigation so far suggests that no attack was imminent. He would not detail why investigators think that.

The stun gun was found by a crew that was cleaning Flight 1179 from Boston around 10:20 p.m. Friday, after the flight had landed and all 96 passengers were off the plane.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police removed the stun gun from the plane and handed it over to the federal Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for screening passengers.

The investigation, being led by the FBI’s office in Boston, is focusing on how the stun gun got onto the plane, Travers said.

“People get caught bringing stuff to the checkpoint all the time,” he said.

Travers said that by Monday morning it was not clear who may have brought the gun aboard.

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said there were no indications the stun gun was fired.

JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said the plane’s next flight was slightly delayed.

Mitt Romney’s Jewish supporters find solace in the fact that, like them, Mitt Romney comes from a “religious minority.”

An “emphasis for Romney in his appeal to Jewish backers is the shared experience of being in a religious minority,” the Jerusalem Post wrote Monday morning. “Romney, 64, is a Mormon. ‘Mitt and I can appreciate coming from another heritage,’ his wife, Ann, told the Republican Jewish Coalition in April.”

The Post cites Romney’s “readiness to compromise in order to seal a deal” as another prominent Team Romney selling point for Jewish backers.

Gallup released polling last week showing Pres. Barack Obama’s approval rating is falling among Jewish voters. During June 2011, 60 percent of Jewish Americans liked the job Obama is doing — a figure 14 percent higher than Americans in general, but still a significant drop from Obama’s 68-percent favorability rating among Jewish voters in May 2011 or the 78-percent approval rating Jews gave Obama at the time of his 2008 election.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency examined two competing schools of thought regarding the cause of Obama’s falling Jewish numbers in an article published Sunday.

“The question is whether Obama’s Jewish popularity dip since ’08 stems from the same cause of his fall generally — America’s persistent economic problems — or whether it has to do with the president’s policies on Israel. Apparently the interpretation depends on who is answering: Democrats and Gallup say it’s the economy; Republicans say it’s Israel.”

EMAIL: jaskar@desnews.com twitter: askargo

Tiger Woods to Make ‘Special Announcement’ Monday

Published July 11, 2011

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AP

May 12: Tiger Woods hits from the second fairway during the first round of The Players Championship golf tournament in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

LOS ANGELES –  Fourteen-time major champion Tiger Woods is set to make a “special announcement” Monday on the Golf Channel, but details on what he would be addressing were a mystery.

The 35-year-old announced last week that he was pulling out of this week’s British Open as he continues to recover from knee and Achilles injuries, and the unknown nature of this latest address sparked speculation across the web that he would be taking an extended break from the game.

There was even some suggestion that he may retire, although Woods only said last week, “I think my best years are still ahead of me and I’m very confident and optimistic about the future.”

Woods has been out of action since the middle of May after pulling out of the Players Championship with a mild medial collateral ligament sprain to his left knee and a mild strain to his left Achilles tendon, suffered while hitting a shot from under a tree at the Masters in April.

The three-time British Open champion said last week that he would be more careful and take his time in coming back this year so as to fully get over his injuries.

Woods has not won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open and remains winless overall since late 2009, shortly before it emerged that he had multiple affairs, ultimately ending his marriage with Swedish model Elin Nordegren.

The announcement will take place Monday at 11:00am ET, when he will sit down with the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman.

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After a three-day hiatus, jury selection resumes Monday morning in the trial of Roger Clemens, the former star pitcher accused of lying to Congress about taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Before we start exploring the nitty-gritty of today’s crop of potential jurors, I thought I would point out a story that ran Sunday about the selection process.

Among my favorite moments so far, all reported in that story, were the response of Roger Clemens’ attorney to a potential juror who said she was a Redskins fan; a juror who said baseball players all spit and scratch themselves; and another who disclosed only going to Nationals Park to catch the opera.

Oh, and federal prosecutors have asked many potential panelists to rate their sporting zeal on a scale of one to 10.

The box score so far: The judge has selected 18 potential jurors to sit on a final pool of 36 people eligible to sit in judgment of Clemens. Prosecutors and defense lawyers will then winnow that pool down to the final12. (There will also be four alternates.)

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton started on Wednesday with a group of 50 eligible D.C. residents. If he strikes more than three other potential jurors from that bunch, he must call in another 50 D.C. residents and read them all an 82-item questionnaire. That is a time-consuming process to say the least, and he is hoping to avoid having to do that. Still, Walton hopes to have jury selection wrapped up by Tuesday afternoon.

The trial is expected to last at least a month. Clemens is accused of committing perjury, obstructing Congress and making false statements when he testified before a House committee that he never took steroids or Human Growth Hormone.

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SANDWICH, England — Coming off a record-breaking win at the U.S. Open, Rory McIlroy is paired with Ernie Els and Rickie Fowler for the first two rounds of the British Open.

England’s Justin Rose tees off on the 14th hole during a practice round at Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, England, Monday, July, 11, 2011. The British Open Golf Championship will be held at the course from July 14-17th 2011. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Germany’s Martin Kaymer tees off on the 15th hole during a practice round at Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, England, Monday, July, 11, 2011. The British Open Golf Championship will be held at the course from July 14-17th 2011. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland had a 16-under score last month at Congressional. He’s favored to make it two majors in a row at Royal St. George’s.

Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa will play the first two rounds with American star Phil Mickelson and defending PGA champ Martin Kaymer.

The world’s top-ranked player, England’s Luke Donald, is paired Thursday and Friday with Ryo Ishikawa and Sergio Garcia. Donald solidified his spot in the rankings with a four-stroke victory this past weekend at the Scottish Open.

___

July 11, 2011 10:41 AM EDT

Copyright 2011, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

What would you do if you were suddenly in possession of the home run ball that Derek Jeter sent over the wall for his 3,000th hit? Knowing you, the scene would probably go something like this, below:

But 23-year-old Yankees fan Christian Lopez, who snagged the home run ball on Saturday, chose to be a good Samaritan rather than a happy miser. As you probably know by now, Lopez elected to give the ball to Jeter, albeit after the Yankees promised him a bunch of signed gear, free luxury box tickets for the rest of the season, and (drum roll here) free parking.

What would you have done? Sports Collectors Daily estimates that the ball could have earned Lopez as much as $300,000, or perhaps more if he held onto it for awhile. But Lopez contends that some things are more important than money.

DAFFY: What? Are you crazy?

Lopez says he has a bunch of student loans to pay off, and he’s probably going to be on the hook for taxes on the free stuff the Yankees gave him. So, was he honorable or foolish? Our operators are now taking your calls.

***
ABOUT LAST NIGHT

What you missed while dressing up for a night on the town …

• Only two hours until Tiger Woods’ big announcement. What could it be? There are some interesting guesses in the comments here.

• One of the greatest U.S. soccer goals ever, as called by Gus Johnson.

• Phillie Phanatic vs. Billy Idol.

***

TODAY IN MARK TRAIL …

Mark Cuban’s evil plans are endless, it seems.

Let’s take a moment to discuss a professional sport that isn’t locked out. On behalf of gmenhq.com, congratulations to Derek Jeter on  joining the 3,000 club on Saturday. In case you missed it, here is a link to the solo home run shot into left field.

Jeter had a monster game going 5 for 5 against the Rays, and I tip my hat to them, who showed the captain a great deal of respect after his home run shot by applauding with the rest of the crowd. I have watched Jeter since his rookie season, where he has truly been the face of the modern day Yankees. There are so many great memories of this team over the past 15 or so years, and he was always at the forefront leading his team to victory.

This day was so special that fellow professional New York sports players have come out to congratulate him on this accomplishment. Several Giants players, alumni and front office workers took to their computers to congratulate Jeter, check out Giants 101 to read on.

Even Giants captain Eli Manning had a few things to say to Jeter, who has served as an inspiration on how to lead a team in the tough New York market. You know it’s a special day in sports when members of other leagues take time to watch and comment on a historical feat. Congratualtions Derek!

U.S. women’s soccer team give fans thrills, chills

Social media lit up Sunday afternoon as the shorthanded U.S. women made an incredible late-game comeback to defeat favored Brazil. Along the way, they picked up some new fans of soccer and delighted those who already love the beautiful game. See if your reaction matches those below. (Did you miss it or want to see it again? Watch it on ESPN3 now.)

On ESPN.com Conversations

35cham: It was not just a victory. It was a victory extracted from the jaws of defeat. Well done USA world Cup team!

SGTRJ: One of the most thrilling sporting events, period, in any sport, men or women’s. … Really, if you didn’t watch the game, you’d swear some hyper sentimental Hollywood director dreamed the whole thing up. Just a thrilling win for US women’s soccer.

OSegura19: I’m so glad that non-American people were cheering for the U.S. in the stadium. It gave me chills when people started chanting USA! USA! USA!

Cster0905: Seriously, the class and execution of Megan Rapinoe’s cross could never be overstated. That was a thing of beauty – and exceptionally accurate. Abby was the emotional engine of the team today but, Rapinoe’s cross was the reason we tied the game.

trhyne: If they intended the re-kick on the second-half penalty to be due not to Solo but another player, she WOULDN’T have been given a yellow card. The attempt to retroactively rationalize a missed call is iffy.

SJansen22: As a fan of the United States, I’d say the referees weren’t that bad. I think the Red Card was a bit over the top but it’s plausible at full speed. I could see giving a penalty there but no red card. The encroachment call was technically right and the ref showed consistency in being very tight on penalties.

Tratu: Marta may be the best player right now, but she is also the best complainer on the field. I think that is why she was booed. I expected to see a great player and all I saw was a great complainer most of the time.

pjreiter: Way to go U.S.A.! We definitely needed this as a country. However, let’s please stop the lame “Team of Destiny” stuff. Soccer has nothing to do with destiny. It’s about skill and a little luck.

potsos76: One of the greatest games of football I’ve ever seen and certainly the most dramatic. Brazil has the individual talent, the USA has the fitness. The referee and her crew couldn’t help but insert themselves into the outcome with a truly amateur display of of officiating with terrible calls and omissions on both sides. Excellent display by the US team to come back and win it.

Chonch McSomething: I’m glad people won’t let Brazil’s poor sportsmanship/gamesmanship die. I’m a guy and I can only watch women’s soccer because they actually play rougher than men. I’ve become increasingly annoyed with the USMNT because of their increased use of diving as a way to eliminate a perceived disadvantage when playing European and South American teams and it’s been steadily pushing me away from the sport. It was a pleasant surprise to see the non-US fans rally to support our team for playing honorably and with heart and determination. I think it clearly shows how hungry the rest of the world is to return to a more honest style of play.

cjkinger: Ah sweet justice: Erika flopping, then getting a yellow card for it, but the best part is the USA gets the equalizer in EXTRA TIME as a result of Erika’s flop.

More Women’s World Cup on ESPN.com

On Twitter

JulieFoudy (@JulieFoudy) … Two moments where I had to collect myself. Ahhh. What a night.

sethmeyers21 (@Seth Meyers21) I will be petitioning @ESPYs to add a 5th nominee for “Best Play” on Wednesday. #Wambach

LeBron James (@KingJames) USA!! #HopeSolo. Congrats ladies

Candace Parker (@Candace_Parker): We gotta win the world cup after that comeback win!!!!

blakegriffin (@BlakeGriffin) This will probably be my only tweet about women’s soccer but Hope Solo has serious swag. Congrats to the us women’s team

Matt Barkley (@MattBarkley): Just saw the USA game on my DVR!!!! Wowwww I have goosebumps alll over! Unbelievable! Go USA!!!

brandichastain (@BrandiChastain) 2011 World Cup has been an amazingthe best is yet to come.Abby Wambach and Co. were just stellar tonight.How do you say winner? U-S-A

Eric LeGrand (@BigE52_RU) When I get better I may have to try out some of these soccer skills. After watching that game. Extra hyped right now. Team USA

Larry Fitzgerald (@LarryFitzgerald) Watching the World Cup and seeing these women play w/ so much heart and determination make me so proud 2 b an American! #heartofchampions

Follow us @ESPN

On Facebook

Keith Cunningham: I know little about soccer, but anyone who cannot appreciate the athletic achievement displayed by this team doesn’t really understand. It’s not about the sport really it’s about the athletes. If you don’t get it, stick to your video games. Well done USA ladies!

Charles Sowell: That should definitely win an ESPY next year! In fact, I want to be the first to nominate this victory for the comeback of the year ESPY for 2012!

Cory Seitzinger: Best female soccer match I’ve ever seen!! What perserverence, despite the officials trying to take the game from them! UNBELIEVABLE

Chris Ellerbe: don’t like “football” that much buuutt..yea that was awesome! with the ref tripping every two mins. , bad calls, 10 on 11, and Brazil faking injuries to waste time..which came back to bite them in the butt. very impressive ladies.

Roberto Tinajero: Best soccer game I have ever watched. Men or women it’s been absolutely amazing.

Comment on http://www.facebook.com/ESPN

Thanks to her ubiquitous hit “Friday,” Rebecca Black quickly went from YouTube sensation to starring in a Katy Perry video for that singer’s equally ubiquitous hit “Last Friday Night.” Now Black is ready to take her career to the next level.

She’ll release a new song, “My Moment,” on July 18, according to The Hollywood Reporter The song was written by Brandon “Blue” Hamilton (Justin Bieber) and Quinton Tolbert and the production credits include Charlton Pettus.

The video is less kitschy (but perhaps just as literal) than her “Friday” video. It will include footage of her attending red-carpet events and receiving an award at her junior high school. It will “tell the story of her sudden rise to fame,” according to a statement. “It’s a fairy tale story, but it happened in real life.”

Black is also working on finishing up her five-track EP, which will be released in August. “We’re thinking about it; we have so many different options right now. We’re trying to decide which route we should take,” Black told MTV News earlier this year about her career plans and following up her viral smash.

“I really like Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez; all just the fun upbeat stuff, teenager songs,” she said of her musical inspirations. “My dream duet would be Justin Bieber. Even just doing something with Taylor Swift, or any of my favorite artists would be so cool.”

Are you looking forward to Rebecca Black’s next single? Tell us in the comments!

Emily Maynard

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When a couple get engaged on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, “I get caught up in the moment just like our viewers do,” host Chris Harrison tells PEOPLE.

But when a couple part ways, like Bachelor Brad Womack and his fiancée, Emily Maynard, recently did – well, that’s a different story.

“I believed Brad and Emily would work,” says Harrison, whose one-on-one chat with Maynard will air during The Bachelorette Monday, 8 p.m. on ABC. “I knew the interview was going to be very difficult for her and for me.”

From the moment her car pulled up in front of the Bachelor mansion, the single mom from Charlotte, N.C., couldn’t conceal her heartbreak, Harrison says.

“She saw the house and she saw me, and from there on it was really an emotional roller coaster for her. It was tough for her to be back in that house where it all started,” he says.

“She thought she’d be planning a wedding or even be married to Brad. She told me in the interview, ‘I never thought I would be this girl coming on this show saying why we broke up and why it couldn’t work.’ ”

Harrison says that if Maynard had her way, she never would have appeared on camera to confirm the split.

“I want people to know she was very reluctant to come on,” Harrison says. “Because of all of the media attention, all the tabloids, all the paparazzi and this insatiable appetite for information on the relationship, she kind of bit the bullet and was the one to step forward and it was incredibly brave of her to speak up all by herself.”

He added, “In a way, it wasn’t an interview, but this was her saying it out loud for the first time and making it real.”

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  Wow. Where to even begin?

So, Jason Stackhouse is still tied to that bed frame up in Hotshot, and now, thanks to some certainly illegal Mexican Viagra, that old, stained mattress is the site of — yes, I’ll just go ahead and call it — the most unsettling sex scene in the history of the show this side of Bill’s head-turning romp with Lorena last year. Midway through his migration from human to werepanther, Sookie’s brother is called on to begin his child-fathering duties by a desperate Crystal, who’s excited to replenish the ranks of her pack with some outsider blood. But really, did the young ‘uns have to stand in the background and watch the procreatin’ take place? That’s just not anything you want to see.

Better to think about our newly amnesiac Eric Northman, who agrees not to bite Sookie — or touch her without her permission — after she offers to help him recover his sense of himself. She takes Eric back to her home (which, of course, he doesn’t recollect having purchased) and invites him in — admonishing him not to track mud on the rug. She offers to find him something of Jason’s to wear, which, of course, seems silly as there’s no possible way Eric and Jason are the same size, but I digress.

In any case, Sookie phones Pam to tell her about Eric’s condition, and the vampire arrives at the house terrified for the safety of her maker. Pam is convinced that Bill sent Eric to deal with the witches’ coven, knowing full well that he might not make it out of the encounter alive (or is that undead?). Pam convinces Sookie that she needs to hide Eric for the immediate future, and Sookie reluctantly agrees.

As for the witches who cast that spell, Lafayette believes his best course of action is to go to Fangtasia and beg Eric’s forgiveness, though Jesus and Tara are convinced that doing any such thing is tantamount to suicide. Ignoring their advice, he ducks out of his shift at Merlotte’s and heads to the club, where Pam intends to torture whatever information Lafayette might have out of him. But before long, Tara and Jesus arrive to rescue him, Tara brandishing a gun loaded with wooden bullets as Jesus suggests that the circle might be able to reverse the spell if Lafayette is released unharmed. Pam tells them they have 24 hours to bring Marnie, the leader of the coven, to her or face, well, rather dire consequences.

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With the last edition of Britain’s News of the World tabloid in hand, Rupert Murdoch descended on the U.K. Sunday to face the growing phone-hacking scandal that prompted the paper’s closure. (July 10)

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It was a weekend of babies in the celebrity world, as Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy welcomed a baby boy into the world on Saturday night.  A rep confirmed that the Oscar-nominated actress gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Los Angeles, who weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz.  This little bundle of joy is Hudson and Belamy’s first baby together, and he’ll join big brother Ryder, Hudson’s 7-year-old son with ex-husband Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes (Kate certainly likes those musician types doesn’t she?).

Hudson and Bellamy officially announced their romance in late spring 2010 and confirmed Kate’s pregnancy in January 2011.  Hudson initially shot down rumors of tying the knot with her Grammy-winning beau, stating, “I don’t feel it necessary to get married,” on the British chat show The Graham Norton Show.  Yet on April 27th the mother of two debuted an engagement ring (worth an estimated $200,000) on the Today show that nearly knocked poor Matt Lauer out of his seat.  Hudson slyly remarked, “I haven’t really announced it, I was waiting for someone to notice.”  Who wouldn’t notice that thing?

Does the couple plan on having more kids in the future?  It’s highly likely.  Hudson told Marie Claire last month that “I love being pregnant…. I could be pregnant all the time.”  But for now it’s just the start to a wonderful family with a brand new baby for Grandma Goldie to spoil.  Hudson, Bellamy and the baby are expected to spend time together at Bellamy’s home in London while he records a new album.  Congrats to the happy parents!

Source: US

By CHARLES WILSON, Associated Press
–
1 hour ago

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy accused of shooting a former classmate at a central Indiana school last spring has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Morgan Superior Court Judge D. Thomas Gray issued his verdict Monday after a brief trial in which accused shooter Michael Phelps of Martinsville and victim Chance Jackson were the only two to testify.

Phelps was accused of shooting the 15-year-old Jackson at Martinsville West Middle School on March 25. Jackson survived but is still recovering.

Phelps testified he intended to kill Jackson when he shot him.

Phelps had previously waived a jury trial, and prosecutors and defense attorneys waived opening arguments Monday.

Gray scheduled sentencing for Aug. 12.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By CHARLES WILSON, Associated Press
–
1 hour ago

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy accused of shooting a former classmate at a central Indiana school last spring has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Morgan Superior Court Judge D. Thomas Gray issued his verdict Monday after a brief trial in which accused shooter Michael Phelps of Martinsville and victim Chance Jackson were the only two to testify.

Phelps was accused of shooting the 15-year-old Jackson at Martinsville West Middle School on March 25. Jackson survived but is still recovering.

Phelps testified he intended to kill Jackson when he shot him.

Phelps had previously waived a jury trial, and prosecutors and defense attorneys waived opening arguments Monday.

Gray scheduled sentencing for Aug. 12.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Bachmann leads Romney in new Iowa survey

How to honor former first lady Betty Ford

Bachmann leads Romney in new Iowa survey

How to honor former first lady Betty Ford

(CBS News) 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge dazzled this weekend in Southern California.

From polo to shining with the stars, Prince William and his new bride, Catherine, had a full schedule for their one stop in the U.S. – their first official visit to the States.

CBS News Royal Contributor Victoria Arbiter said on “The Early Show” the stop was an enormous success for the couple, as well as the British royal family as a whole.

Pictures: William Kate wrap up California tour

“(The trip) really promoted their interests, put them right back at the forefront of media coverage, and so I think William and Kate can go home very happy, having also raised – early estimates are saying – $5 million for charity.”

The trip to the U.S. included a polo match. William’s team won, and the prince himself scored four points. A good thing, too, according to Arbiter, because William is a “terrible, shocking loser.”

“He’s very competitive, but he’s a good player, he and (his brother Prince) Harry,” Arbiter said. “I’m delighted to say his team did win. … It was nice for us, because Kate was presenting the prize, the Tiffany and Co. cup, which meant we did get to see a little royal kiss. We haven’t gotten to see one of those since the wedding day on the balcony.”

“Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill said, “It did feel a little royal, though. It was the kiss on two cheeks. Not a kiss-kiss, (but) still very nice!”

Pictures: Newlyweds attend BAFTA gala
Pictures: William and Kate at charity polo match
Pictures: William and Kate arrive in California

The couple also attended an event for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, of which William is president. And the stars, for once, Hill noted, seemed star-struck themselves.

Arbiter agreed, saying, “Nicole Kidman was positively giddy at the idea of meeting the prince. She thought she might be too shy to even speak with him, but her mother was very proud she was going. The idea was to take 42 up-and-coming British artists, whether they were writers, actors, set designers and put them in among Hollywood’s movers and shakers to give them a head start. And William is very keen to focus on the needs of young people and give them a chance in life.”

The couple also visited inner-city children on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, the homeless capital of the world. Arbiter explained that 30,000 at-risk kids live within a three-mile radius of the center.

Arbiter said, “William is so focused on the needs of the homeless — he took on Princess Diana’s patronage of (the United Kingdom charitable organization) Centrepoint. Much of what they do in city arts compliments the work of Centrepoint. … Kate painted a fabulous red snail and William, he was asked to help with a giant red tortoise. He got clay all down his suit and hand prints.”

Hill noted the couple also flew home on a commercial airline.

“People are often surprised to learn the royal family does, every now and then, fly commercially,” Arbiter said. “They would have had their entourage with them, flew first class. They were in the front first two seats, and the entourage would have acted as a buffer between the rest of the passengers. But they’re very proud to fly British Airways. And for Kate’s mother, who’s a former British Airways flight attendant, it’s quite a nice full-circle moment.”

Arbiter added, “They need to get home just like everyone else. (There’s) no need for them to fly a private jet all that way when British Airways has a flight going in the same direction. It’s another way to support British industry, which was the whole idea of this trip.”

(CBS News) 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge dazzled this weekend in Southern California.

From polo to shining with the stars, Prince William and his new bride, Catherine, had a full schedule for their one stop in the U.S. – their first official visit to the States.

CBS News Royal Contributor Victoria Arbiter said on “The Early Show” the stop was an enormous success for the couple, as well as the British royal family as a whole.

Pictures: William Kate wrap up California tour

“(The trip) really promoted their interests, put them right back at the forefront of media coverage, and so I think William and Kate can go home very happy, having also raised – early estimates are saying – $5 million for charity.”

The trip to the U.S. included a polo match. William’s team won, and the prince himself scored four points. A good thing, too, according to Arbiter, because William is a “terrible, shocking loser.”

“He’s very competitive, but he’s a good player, he and (his brother Prince) Harry,” Arbiter said. “I’m delighted to say his team did win. … It was nice for us, because Kate was presenting the prize, the Tiffany and Co. cup, which meant we did get to see a little royal kiss. We haven’t gotten to see one of those since the wedding day on the balcony.”

“Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill said, “It did feel a little royal, though. It was the kiss on two cheeks. Not a kiss-kiss, (but) still very nice!”

Pictures: Newlyweds attend BAFTA gala
Pictures: William and Kate at charity polo match
Pictures: William and Kate arrive in California

The couple also attended an event for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, of which William is president. And the stars, for once, Hill noted, seemed star-struck themselves.

Arbiter agreed, saying, “Nicole Kidman was positively giddy at the idea of meeting the prince. She thought she might be too shy to even speak with him, but her mother was very proud she was going. The idea was to take 42 up-and-coming British artists, whether they were writers, actors, set designers and put them in among Hollywood’s movers and shakers to give them a head start. And William is very keen to focus on the needs of young people and give them a chance in life.”

The couple also visited inner-city children on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, the homeless capital of the world. Arbiter explained that 30,000 at-risk kids live within a three-mile radius of the center.

Arbiter said, “William is so focused on the needs of the homeless — he took on Princess Diana’s patronage of (the United Kingdom charitable organization) Centrepoint. Much of what they do in city arts compliments the work of Centrepoint. … Kate painted a fabulous red snail and William, he was asked to help with a giant red tortoise. He got clay all down his suit and hand prints.”

Hill noted the couple also flew home on a commercial airline.

“People are often surprised to learn the royal family does, every now and then, fly commercially,” Arbiter said. “They would have had their entourage with them, flew first class. They were in the front first two seats, and the entourage would have acted as a buffer between the rest of the passengers. But they’re very proud to fly British Airways. And for Kate’s mother, who’s a former British Airways flight attendant, it’s quite a nice full-circle moment.”

Arbiter added, “They need to get home just like everyone else. (There’s) no need for them to fly a private jet all that way when British Airways has a flight going in the same direction. It’s another way to support British industry, which was the whole idea of this trip.”

After years of bucolic images of New England and Iowa same-sex weddings, New York‘s gay couples are pushing the glamour factor as they race to the altar to legally wed at last, beginning July 24.

• 

  By Mario Tama, Getty Images

  Joe Bednar, right, and Phil Mason march in New York City’s pride parade June 26, two days after state lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage.

By Mario Tama, Getty Images

Joe Bednar, right, and Phil Mason march in New York City’s pride parade June 26, two days after state lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage.

Ceremonies are booked from the Four Seasons to Gracie Mansion, where the mayor himself will officiate at the wedding of two aides.

Yet even before New York joined five other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing these marriages, the trend’s economic and social impact was becoming visible since Massachusetts led the way in 2004.

It can be seen in impersonal statistics and in the deeply personal stories of gay couples, their supporters and the opponents of this cultural shift.

• MORE: N.Y. legalizes gay marriage

• BLOG: Gay marriage impact: Changing minds

An estimated 9% of the 581,300 same-sex couples in the USA have married in this country since 2004, according to studies by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

In several reports, drawn on data from state administrative offices, surveys and Census data, the institute finds:

Gay marriage status by state

Same sex marriage and civil union laws by state:

• Six states plus the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage: Connecticut (2008), Iowa (2009), Massachusetts (2004), New Hampshire (2010), New York (2011) and Vermont (2009).

• Five states permit civil unions: Delaware (2011), Hawaii (2011), Illinois (2011), New Jersey (2006) and, as of July 2, Rhode Island. Three of those states — Delaware,Hawaii and Illinois — also have laws restricting marriage to one man and one woman.

• Gay marriage and civil unions are still a legal battleground in New Mexico where no law currently forbids either.

• Forty-one states have laws or constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman.

Source: Human Rights Campaign

•About 50,000 same-sex couples have married in places where it is legal and during the time it was legal in California.

•An additional 30,000 couples who say they’re legally married may have wed in Canada or Europe.

•About 38% of same-sex couples living in states that allow them to marry are currently married.

•The divorce or dissolution rate for same-sex and opposite-sex couples remains about the same, about 2% of couples per year in any state that has marriage or civil union registrations.

Gay marriage appears to have had no measurable impact on the rates of marriages, divorces or childbirth among state residents who are not gay, says Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute.

Child custody and parental rights cases are too few and too scattered among the courts to establish any pattern, Sears says.

New York can expect a cloudburst of wedding confetti come July 24, Sears says. He estimates, based on other states, that about half of all same-sex couples will marry or have a civil union in the first three years after such ceremonies become legal.

The “I do” deluge in Massachusetts pumped about $100 million into the state economy from 2004 to 2007, the institute found.

One couple could turn up in two states’ tallies.

Keith Hershberger and Kevin Green, a Brooklyn couple who once planned to move to Massachusetts, were 32nd in line to get a marriage license in Cambridge Mass., the first day they were available in 2004.

They wed in Lynn, Mass., in a double ceremony with friends. Now they’re planning a recommitment ceremony in New York.

“Our experience has been all positive,” says Hershberger, who recalls how his father, who once shunned him for speaking about his gay life, is now “a quiet champion for gay marriage.”

That’s the kind of story that disturbs Kris Mineau, president of the 20-year-old Massachusetts Family Institute.

Over time, this trend, he says, has a “destabilizing effect on the values of our children and it is a threat to religious liberty and free speech.”

“Gays think this is a breakthrough to a new frontier, and we see it as a gateway to the breakdown of the family. If we don’t esteem the unique role of a man and a woman in committed matrimony, I fear for our nation,” says Mineau, who cites the Bible for his beliefs and describes himself as an evangelical Christian.

Most of the nation’s major religious denominations such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod as well as Mormons, Orthodox Jews and Muslims, do not permit their clergy to wed same-sex couples.

However, since 2004, several liberal denominations have begun to welcome gay clergy and agree to gay ceremonies.

Among them: the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Reform branch of Judaism.

The National Organization for Marriage — now revving up a campaign to drive New York Republicans who voted for gay marriage out of office — and the Alliance Defense Fund say religious protections in marriage-legalization bills are inadequate to protect individuals and damaging to religious institutions, particularly faith-based non-profit organizations.

Alliance attorney Austin Nimocks cites an example: The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston ceased offering adoption services because it would not allow gays to adopt children.

Posted | Updated

After years of bucolic images of New England and Iowa same-sex weddings, New York‘s gay couples are pushing the glamour factor as they race to the altar to legally wed at last, beginning July 24.

• 

  By Mario Tama, Getty Images

  Joe Bednar, right, and Phil Mason march in New York City’s pride parade June 26, two days after state lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage.

By Mario Tama, Getty Images

Joe Bednar, right, and Phil Mason march in New York City’s pride parade June 26, two days after state lawmakers legalized same-sex marriage.

Ceremonies are booked from the Four Seasons to Gracie Mansion, where the mayor himself will officiate at the wedding of two aides.

Yet even before New York joined five other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing these marriages, the trend’s economic and social impact was becoming visible since Massachusetts led the way in 2004.

It can be seen in impersonal statistics and in the deeply personal stories of gay couples, their supporters and the opponents of this cultural shift.

• MORE: N.Y. legalizes gay marriage

• BLOG: Gay marriage impact: Changing minds

An estimated 9% of the 581,300 same-sex couples in the USA have married in this country since 2004, according to studies by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

In several reports, drawn on data from state administrative offices, surveys and Census data, the institute finds:

Gay marriage status by state

Same sex marriage and civil union laws by state:

• Six states plus the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage: Connecticut (2008), Iowa (2009), Massachusetts (2004), New Hampshire (2010), New York (2011) and Vermont (2009).

• Five states permit civil unions: Delaware (2011), Hawaii (2011), Illinois (2011), New Jersey (2006) and, as of July 2, Rhode Island. Three of those states — Delaware,Hawaii and Illinois — also have laws restricting marriage to one man and one woman.

• Gay marriage and civil unions are still a legal battleground in New Mexico where no law currently forbids either.

• Forty-one states have laws or constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman.

Source: Human Rights Campaign

•About 50,000 same-sex couples have married in places where it is legal and during the time it was legal in California.

•An additional 30,000 couples who say they’re legally married may have wed in Canada or Europe.

•About 38% of same-sex couples living in states that allow them to marry are currently married.

•The divorce or dissolution rate for same-sex and opposite-sex couples remains about the same, about 2% of couples per year in any state that has marriage or civil union registrations.

Gay marriage appears to have had no measurable impact on the rates of marriages, divorces or childbirth among state residents who are not gay, says Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute.

Child custody and parental rights cases are too few and too scattered among the courts to establish any pattern, Sears says.

New York can expect a cloudburst of wedding confetti come July 24, Sears says. He estimates, based on other states, that about half of all same-sex couples will marry or have a civil union in the first three years after such ceremonies become legal.

The “I do” deluge in Massachusetts pumped about $100 million into the state economy from 2004 to 2007, the institute found.

One couple could turn up in two states’ tallies.

Keith Hershberger and Kevin Green, a Brooklyn couple who once planned to move to Massachusetts, were 32nd in line to get a marriage license in Cambridge Mass., the first day they were available in 2004.

They wed in Lynn, Mass., in a double ceremony with friends. Now they’re planning a recommitment ceremony in New York.

“Our experience has been all positive,” says Hershberger, who recalls how his father, who once shunned him for speaking about his gay life, is now “a quiet champion for gay marriage.”

That’s the kind of story that disturbs Kris Mineau, president of the 20-year-old Massachusetts Family Institute.

Over time, this trend, he says, has a “destabilizing effect on the values of our children and it is a threat to religious liberty and free speech.”

“Gays think this is a breakthrough to a new frontier, and we see it as a gateway to the breakdown of the family. If we don’t esteem the unique role of a man and a woman in committed matrimony, I fear for our nation,” says Mineau, who cites the Bible for his beliefs and describes himself as an evangelical Christian.

Most of the nation’s major religious denominations such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod as well as Mormons, Orthodox Jews and Muslims, do not permit their clergy to wed same-sex couples.

However, since 2004, several liberal denominations have begun to welcome gay clergy and agree to gay ceremonies.

Among them: the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Reform branch of Judaism.

The National Organization for Marriage — now revving up a campaign to drive New York Republicans who voted for gay marriage out of office — and the Alliance Defense Fund say religious protections in marriage-legalization bills are inadequate to protect individuals and damaging to religious institutions, particularly faith-based non-profit organizations.

Alliance attorney Austin Nimocks cites an example: The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston ceased offering adoption services because it would not allow gays to adopt children.

Posted | Updated

Mitt Romney’s Jewish supporters find solace in the fact that, like them, Mitt Romney comes from a “religious minority.”

An “emphasis for Romney in his appeal to Jewish backers is the shared experience of being in a religious minority,” the Jerusalem Post wrote Monday morning. “Romney, 64, is a Mormon. ‘Mitt and I can appreciate coming from another heritage,’ his wife, Ann, told the Republican Jewish Coalition in April.”

The Post cites Romney’s “readiness to compromise in order to seal a deal” as another prominent Team Romney selling point for Jewish backers.

Gallup released polling last week showing Pres. Barack Obama’s approval rating is falling among Jewish voters. During June 2011, 60 percent of Jewish Americans liked the job Obama is doing — a figure 14 percent higher than Americans in general, but still a significant drop from Obama’s 68-percent favorability rating among Jewish voters in May 2011 or the 78-percent approval rating Jews gave Obama at the time of his 2008 election.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency examined two competing schools of thought regarding the cause of Obama’s falling Jewish numbers in an article published Sunday.

“The question is whether Obama’s Jewish popularity dip since ’08 stems from the same cause of his fall generally — America’s persistent economic problems — or whether it has to do with the president’s policies on Israel. Apparently the interpretation depends on who is answering: Democrats and Gallup say it’s the economy; Republicans say it’s Israel.”

EMAIL: jaskar@desnews.com twitter: askargo

Mitt Romney’s Jewish supporters find solace in the fact that, like them, Mitt Romney comes from a “religious minority.”

An “emphasis for Romney in his appeal to Jewish backers is the shared experience of being in a religious minority,” the Jerusalem Post wrote Monday morning. “Romney, 64, is a Mormon. ‘Mitt and I can appreciate coming from another heritage,’ his wife, Ann, told the Republican Jewish Coalition in April.”

The Post cites Romney’s “readiness to compromise in order to seal a deal” as another prominent Team Romney selling point for Jewish backers.

Gallup released polling last week showing Pres. Barack Obama’s approval rating is falling among Jewish voters. During June 2011, 60 percent of Jewish Americans liked the job Obama is doing — a figure 14 percent higher than Americans in general, but still a significant drop from Obama’s 68-percent favorability rating among Jewish voters in May 2011 or the 78-percent approval rating Jews gave Obama at the time of his 2008 election.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency examined two competing schools of thought regarding the cause of Obama’s falling Jewish numbers in an article published Sunday.

“The question is whether Obama’s Jewish popularity dip since ’08 stems from the same cause of his fall generally — America’s persistent economic problems — or whether it has to do with the president’s policies on Israel. Apparently the interpretation depends on who is answering: Democrats and Gallup say it’s the economy; Republicans say it’s Israel.”

EMAIL: jaskar@desnews.com twitter: askargo

The Garridos pleaded guilty in April to kidnapping, raping and confining Dugard and were sentenced last month to long prison terms. The plea deal spared the victim from having to testify. During the trial, it was revealed that parole officials repeatedly visited the Garridos’ Antioch home but never ventured into the backyard, where they might have found Dugard.

She was discovered by police in 2009. When Dugard finally wrote down for police the name she had not used for 18 years, “it was like breaking an evil spell,” she said. “It was like a piece of me came back.”

–Martha Groves

ALSO:

Royal couple’s fans line up early for downtown L.A. appearance

Prince William, Catherine head to skid row to visit Inner-City Arts

Hollywood A-listers turn out for royal couple in L.A.    

Photo: ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, left, speaks with Jaycee Dugard in her first interview since being kidnapped near her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991, when she was 11.  (Jill Belsley, ABC News / July 1, 2011)

The Garridos pleaded guilty in April to kidnapping, raping and confining Dugard and were sentenced last month to long prison terms. The plea deal spared the victim from having to testify. During the trial, it was revealed that parole officials repeatedly visited the Garridos’ Antioch home but never ventured into the backyard, where they might have found Dugard.

She was discovered by police in 2009. When Dugard finally wrote down for police the name she had not used for 18 years, “it was like breaking an evil spell,” she said. “It was like a piece of me came back.”

–Martha Groves

ALSO:

Royal couple’s fans line up early for downtown L.A. appearance

Prince William, Catherine head to skid row to visit Inner-City Arts

Hollywood A-listers turn out for royal couple in L.A.    

Photo: ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, left, speaks with Jaycee Dugard in her first interview since being kidnapped near her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991, when she was 11.  (Jill Belsley, ABC News / July 1, 2011)

A contentious four-game series with the Boston Red Sox ended Sunday with four more ejections, Michael Gonzalez‘s not denying that he threw a purpose pitch behind David Ortiz, and Buck Showalter and Jeremy Guthrie criticizing the umpiring crew.

“I’ve said it before: Sometimes those who are in control of the game — I know the umpires have to control it — show a lack of feel by not understanding what is going on,” said Guthrie, who hit Kevin Youkilis with a changeup to load the bases with two outs in the fourth inning, resulting in plate umpire Marty Foster‘s warning both benches.

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“I think that’s … not having been in the situation, not having played the game at a high level, probably. You got first and third and you throw a changeup to the guy trying to get a ground ball, and I miss up and in. If they really had issues with people being hit, they could have warned the benches the second time one of our players were hit versus the third hit batsman of the game on a changeup on a situation where I clearly wasn’t intending to hit a gentleman. It’s difficult, but I’m sure nothing will happen and we’ll just keep going forward from there.”

Two days after Ortiz and Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg were the main combatants in a benches-clearing incident and one day after Red Sox starter John Lackey hit two Orioles, Boston right-hander Kyle Weiland and manager Terry Francona were ejected after the rookie hit Vladimir Guerrero in the right hand in the fifth inning. Weiland also hit Mark Reynolds in the right hand in the third.

“They lead all of baseball in hit by pitches. I lost two players today. I don’t think it was intentional from the young kid; location was a challenge for him,” Showalter said. “I don’t think there was any intent there on his part. I just know that we got hit four, five times here and it wasn’t particularly pleasant. You are looking at Mark Reynolds and Guerrero having broken hands at the time. It looks like we might have dodged the bullet with the initial X-rays, but you don’t know what could show up down the line. It doesn’t make you happy.”

Showalter did say he felt Lackey intentionally threw at Derrek Lee in the seventh inning Saturday night.

“I know the umpires are trying,” Showalter said. “I just wish they would have issued the warnings before the game started because Lackey should have been thrown out of the game for hitting Lee. That was [as] intentional as it gets. [It'll] be interesting to see if they hand down any punishment for Lackey.”

Gonzalez could face disciplinary action as he didn’t exactly deny that he was trying to send a message to the Red Sox by throwing behind Ortiz in the sixth inning. He and Showalter were ejected afterward.

“Very frustrated. I’ve seen our guys get hit accidently. It’s just how it is. It’s how the game goes. That’s about it with that,” Gonzalez said.

Hardy optimistic

With the Orioles and his agent engaging in semi-regular conversations about a potential contract extension, shortstop J.J. Hardy is hopeful that an agreement can be reached during the All-Star break.

“I hope it gets done during the break,” said Hardy, who is a free agent after the season. “I don’t know if it will. Right now, the ball is kind of in their court. That’s where it’s at.”

Hardy didn’t want to comment specifically on the negotiations, but he acknowledged that he was optimistic with the dialogue the two sides have had. If the Orioles can’t reach an extension with Hardy before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline, they would likely consider moving the sure-handed shortstop who is batting .278 with 13 homers and 33 RBIs. Hardy struggled on the road trip, going 5-for-40 (.125), though two of those hits were home runs.

Hardy has made it clear that his main goal is re-signing with the Orioles, who acquired him before the season in a trade with the Minnesota Twins for minor league relievers Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson.

“If it doesn’t get done during the break, hopefully we’ll make some good progress,” Hardy said.

As the rotation turns

Jeremy Guthrie pitched 31/3 innings in relief Sunday and Mitch Atkins‘ start lasted just 12/3 innings, which could again shuffle the Orioles’ second-half rotation. The original plan was for Guthrie to start the second-half opener Thursday against the Cleveland Indians, followed by Jake Arrieta, Alfredo Simon and Atkins, with the fifth spot to be determined.

However, Showalter might have to flip-flop Guthrie with Arrieta, and it’s unclear whether Atkins will get another start. Simon’s spot is set because he has to leave the team the day after his start to return to the Dominican Republic and attend a hearing related to the fatal New Year’s Day shooting in which he has been a primary suspect.

Hendrickson on Matusz

A contentious four-game series with the Boston Red Sox ended Sunday with four more ejections, Michael Gonzalez‘s not denying that he threw a purpose pitch behind David Ortiz, and Buck Showalter and Jeremy Guthrie criticizing the umpiring crew.

“I’ve said it before: Sometimes those who are in control of the game — I know the umpires have to control it — show a lack of feel by not understanding what is going on,” said Guthrie, who hit Kevin Youkilis with a changeup to load the bases with two outs in the fourth inning, resulting in plate umpire Marty Foster‘s warning both benches.

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  Orioles pictures: July

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    Sun archives: All-Star Orioles

    

    Your Orioles photos

    

    Photos: Orioles broadcasters through the years

    

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• Stories

• Insider: O’s react to benches-clearing incident

• The Schmuck Stops Here: ‘It’s not a tea party’

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  Benches clear as Red Sox beat Orioles 10-3

• See more stories »
• Topics
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  Baseball Statistics
  
• 
  Baseball
  
• 
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• See more topics »
• Maps

• Fenway Park, 4 Yawkey Way, Boston, MA 02215-3409, USA

“I think that’s … not having been in the situation, not having played the game at a high level, probably. You got first and third and you throw a changeup to the guy trying to get a ground ball, and I miss up and in. If they really had issues with people being hit, they could have warned the benches the second time one of our players were hit versus the third hit batsman of the game on a changeup on a situation where I clearly wasn’t intending to hit a gentleman. It’s difficult, but I’m sure nothing will happen and we’ll just keep going forward from there.”

Two days after Ortiz and Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg were the main combatants in a benches-clearing incident and one day after Red Sox starter John Lackey hit two Orioles, Boston right-hander Kyle Weiland and manager Terry Francona were ejected after the rookie hit Vladimir Guerrero in the right hand in the fifth inning. Weiland also hit Mark Reynolds in the right hand in the third.

“They lead all of baseball in hit by pitches. I lost two players today. I don’t think it was intentional from the young kid; location was a challenge for him,” Showalter said. “I don’t think there was any intent there on his part. I just know that we got hit four, five times here and it wasn’t particularly pleasant. You are looking at Mark Reynolds and Guerrero having broken hands at the time. It looks like we might have dodged the bullet with the initial X-rays, but you don’t know what could show up down the line. It doesn’t make you happy.”

Showalter did say he felt Lackey intentionally threw at Derrek Lee in the seventh inning Saturday night.

“I know the umpires are trying,” Showalter said. “I just wish they would have issued the warnings before the game started because Lackey should have been thrown out of the game for hitting Lee. That was [as] intentional as it gets. [It'll] be interesting to see if they hand down any punishment for Lackey.”

Gonzalez could face disciplinary action as he didn’t exactly deny that he was trying to send a message to the Red Sox by throwing behind Ortiz in the sixth inning. He and Showalter were ejected afterward.

“Very frustrated. I’ve seen our guys get hit accidently. It’s just how it is. It’s how the game goes. That’s about it with that,” Gonzalez said.

Hardy optimistic

With the Orioles and his agent engaging in semi-regular conversations about a potential contract extension, shortstop J.J. Hardy is hopeful that an agreement can be reached during the All-Star break.

“I hope it gets done during the break,” said Hardy, who is a free agent after the season. “I don’t know if it will. Right now, the ball is kind of in their court. That’s where it’s at.”

Hardy didn’t want to comment specifically on the negotiations, but he acknowledged that he was optimistic with the dialogue the two sides have had. If the Orioles can’t reach an extension with Hardy before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline, they would likely consider moving the sure-handed shortstop who is batting .278 with 13 homers and 33 RBIs. Hardy struggled on the road trip, going 5-for-40 (.125), though two of those hits were home runs.

Hardy has made it clear that his main goal is re-signing with the Orioles, who acquired him before the season in a trade with the Minnesota Twins for minor league relievers Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson.

“If it doesn’t get done during the break, hopefully we’ll make some good progress,” Hardy said.

As the rotation turns

Jeremy Guthrie pitched 31/3 innings in relief Sunday and Mitch Atkins‘ start lasted just 12/3 innings, which could again shuffle the Orioles’ second-half rotation. The original plan was for Guthrie to start the second-half opener Thursday against the Cleveland Indians, followed by Jake Arrieta, Alfredo Simon and Atkins, with the fifth spot to be determined.

However, Showalter might have to flip-flop Guthrie with Arrieta, and it’s unclear whether Atkins will get another start. Simon’s spot is set because he has to leave the team the day after his start to return to the Dominican Republic and attend a hearing related to the fatal New Year’s Day shooting in which he has been a primary suspect.

Hendrickson on Matusz

Report: Yao Ming Retires

BEIJING — Yao Ming‘s expected retirement could diminish the NBA’s once-burgeoning popularity in China, with many fans saying they would no longer watch games.

[+] Enlarge

“What’s the point of watching NBA now?” asked an online user called Lubingxia on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like site.

An online poll on Weibo by Monday lunchtime showed that 57 percent of respondents would stop watching the NBA after Yao’s retirement.

The 7-foot-6 center is expected to announce July 20 at a news conference that he’s retiring from the NBA after nine seasons because of leg and foot injuries.

He boosted the popularity of the basketball league in China and throughout Asia, spiking merchandise sales and TV ratings for games after the Houston Rockets made him the top overall pick in the 2002 draft.

“He is one of the most influential people in today’s society — especially to those born in the ’80s,” said Ren Bo, a 25-year-old sports trainer. “It’s probably going to be a while until we see another Yao Ming.”

Yao, who turns 31 in September, was the top overall pick in the 2002 draft, but his promising career was hampered by injuries. He has missed 250 regular-season games over the past six seasons.

He sat out the 2009-10 season, then lasted only five games in 2010-11 before sustaining a bone bruise and fracture in his left ankle. He underwent surgery in January, and was hopeful to return to Houston this season, even though his contract expired.

Injuries Hampered Yao’s Career

Yao Ming missed just two games in his first three seasons. But in the last five he missed a total of 225 games, including all of 2009-2010 and most of last season.

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Yahoo! Sports first reported that Yao is retiring. A person with direct knowledge of his decision confirmed to The Associated Press that Yao decided the risk of another injury and subsequent rehabilitation was too great.

“There is no way he will come back,” the person wrote in an e-mail. “His body can’t hold that, and if he plays again, there is risk to get hurt again. Yao does not want to take another surgery. He is done.”

John Huizinga, one of Yao’s American agents, would not confirm the early reports of Yao’s decision to retire, out of respect for Yao’s privacy.

“The guy has worked very hard, he’s put up with a lot, carried a lot of burden for a lot of people,” Huizinga said. “I think he would like to run this part of his life the way he’d like to run it. I understand other people don’t feel that way. I don’t like it, but I’m not going to be able to change it.”

The news upset fans in China, where he has been praised as a role model for the past decade, and strengthened that image by carrying his country’s flag during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“It is Yao Ming who makes the kids in China like basketball and it’s also Yao Ming who makes the kids know how a real professional basketball player should be,” said Xu Jicheng, a longtime basketball commentator.

Rockets’ Man

Despite missing so many games, Yao is still among the Rockets’ franchise leaders in a number of categories.

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“I’m not thrilled about his retirement, but I will still support him. Millions of Chinese still idolize him,” said 24-year-old Guo Ju Fei, a small business owner.

Some online comments conveyed sadness that his retirement would mean the end of a great era and that they would not get to see him at the 2012 London Olympics. There also was some anger that his injuries kept him from reaching his peak.

“I still haven’t recovered from the fact that Yao is retiring. The feeling is worse than being dumped,” wrote one online user going by the name of Xie Chen.

Others hoped a “miracle” would occur and that Yao would change his mind.

Many comments expressed gratitude to the player for being a Chinese icon and an athlete they could be proud of.

Online comments and newspapers also singled out his wit, humor and humility.

“Yao Ming is like an ambassador. With a basketball player’s height, a comedian’s humor, post-80s generation’s freshness … one does not know how many foreigners’ impressions of the Chinese he has changed,” wrote the Chinese Business Morning View, based in Shenyang city in northeastern Liaoning province.

Yao broke his left foot late in the 2007-08 NBA season, but hurried his recovery so he could play for his team in the Beijing Olympics. Yao guided China to the quarterfinals, averaging 19 points and 8.2 rebounds in six games.

Yao also donated $2 million to set up a foundation to rebuild schools destroyed by the earthquake in Sichuan province in May 2008.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Report: Yao Ming Retires

BEIJING — Yao Ming‘s expected retirement could diminish the NBA’s once-burgeoning popularity in China, with many fans saying they would no longer watch games.

[+] Enlarge

“What’s the point of watching NBA now?” asked an online user called Lubingxia on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like site.

An online poll on Weibo by Monday lunchtime showed that 57 percent of respondents would stop watching the NBA after Yao’s retirement.

The 7-foot-6 center is expected to announce July 20 at a news conference that he’s retiring from the NBA after nine seasons because of leg and foot injuries.

He boosted the popularity of the basketball league in China and throughout Asia, spiking merchandise sales and TV ratings for games after the Houston Rockets made him the top overall pick in the 2002 draft.

“He is one of the most influential people in today’s society — especially to those born in the ’80s,” said Ren Bo, a 25-year-old sports trainer. “It’s probably going to be a while until we see another Yao Ming.”

Yao, who turns 31 in September, was the top overall pick in the 2002 draft, but his promising career was hampered by injuries. He has missed 250 regular-season games over the past six seasons.

He sat out the 2009-10 season, then lasted only five games in 2010-11 before sustaining a bone bruise and fracture in his left ankle. He underwent surgery in January, and was hopeful to return to Houston this season, even though his contract expired.

Injuries Hampered Yao’s Career

Yao Ming missed just two games in his first three seasons. But in the last five he missed a total of 225 games, including all of 2009-2010 and most of last season.

powered by

Yahoo! Sports first reported that Yao is retiring. A person with direct knowledge of his decision confirmed to The Associated Press that Yao decided the risk of another injury and subsequent rehabilitation was too great.

“There is no way he will come back,” the person wrote in an e-mail. “His body can’t hold that, and if he plays again, there is risk to get hurt again. Yao does not want to take another surgery. He is done.”

John Huizinga, one of Yao’s American agents, would not confirm the early reports of Yao’s decision to retire, out of respect for Yao’s privacy.

“The guy has worked very hard, he’s put up with a lot, carried a lot of burden for a lot of people,” Huizinga said. “I think he would like to run this part of his life the way he’d like to run it. I understand other people don’t feel that way. I don’t like it, but I’m not going to be able to change it.”

The news upset fans in China, where he has been praised as a role model for the past decade, and strengthened that image by carrying his country’s flag during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“It is Yao Ming who makes the kids in China like basketball and it’s also Yao Ming who makes the kids know how a real professional basketball player should be,” said Xu Jicheng, a longtime basketball commentator.

Rockets’ Man

Despite missing so many games, Yao is still among the Rockets’ franchise leaders in a number of categories.

powered by

“I’m not thrilled about his retirement, but I will still support him. Millions of Chinese still idolize him,” said 24-year-old Guo Ju Fei, a small business owner.

Some online comments conveyed sadness that his retirement would mean the end of a great era and that they would not get to see him at the 2012 London Olympics. There also was some anger that his injuries kept him from reaching his peak.

“I still haven’t recovered from the fact that Yao is retiring. The feeling is worse than being dumped,” wrote one online user going by the name of Xie Chen.

Others hoped a “miracle” would occur and that Yao would change his mind.

Many comments expressed gratitude to the player for being a Chinese icon and an athlete they could be proud of.

Online comments and newspapers also singled out his wit, humor and humility.

“Yao Ming is like an ambassador. With a basketball player’s height, a comedian’s humor, post-80s generation’s freshness … one does not know how many foreigners’ impressions of the Chinese he has changed,” wrote the Chinese Business Morning View, based in Shenyang city in northeastern Liaoning province.

Yao broke his left foot late in the 2007-08 NBA season, but hurried his recovery so he could play for his team in the Beijing Olympics. Yao guided China to the quarterfinals, averaging 19 points and 8.2 rebounds in six games.

Yao also donated $2 million to set up a foundation to rebuild schools destroyed by the earthquake in Sichuan province in May 2008.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Getty Images/Michael HeilmanThe 3,000th hit was one of many magical baseball moments for Derek Jeter on Saturday afternoon.There’s one more thing I want to bring up pertaining to Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit.

This is one of those cases in sports in which the psychological aspect of the game overtakes the statistical aspect.

Think about the chances of Derek Jeter getting five hits in any game at this stage in his career, let alone the game in which he reaches a historic baseball milestone. The odds are significantly against him.

But sometimes, the mind can will the body to do extraordinary things.

I am a stories guy. I love a great story. Some stories are told best in numbers. Some are told best in words. Some are done justice by neither.

When I think of the story of Jeter’s 3,000-hit day, I am reminded of something obscure to you, but noteworthy in my sporting life– Game 7 of the 2001 East Coast Hockey League’s Northern Conference Finals between the Trenton Titans and Peoria Rivermen.

Long story short: The Titans, whom I covered for a local newspaper, had a coach,Troy Ward, who was a smart man when it came to both the statistical and the psychological. He coached his team to the best record in the league and the Titans had a 3-1 series lead on Peoria, on the verge of clinching the conference title.

But then, disaster. Trenton blew a lead in the final seconds of Game 5, lost that game in overtime and lost Game 6 to force Game 7.

In the final moments of regulation of Game 7, with the score tied, the puck ended up on the stick of a rugged Trenton defenseman, Kam White.

White was a physical enforcer with very limited skill, the stereotype that some might have for a minor league hockey player. If we were calculating his offensive value for Wins Above Replacement, it would have been a negative number.

The puck ends up on the stick of White with the clock ticking down. He executes the deke of the season around a Peoria defenseman, and feeds one of his teammates for the conference-championship winning goal.

After the game, I asked Ward what White was doing on the ice at such an important moment. He explained with this story:

After Trenton’s Game 5 overtime loss, Ward stormed out of the arena, composed his thoughts, and then gathered five players in his hotel room.

The five shared the common bond of being “Original Titans,” who played in the team’s first season and lost to Peoria in the conference finals the year prior.

Ward apologized to them for not putting them on the ice in the final seconds of regulation in that crushing defeat and promised he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

White was one of the Original Titans.

That promise meant something to him. The evidence of that was in the part he played in the victory.

As Ward said afterwards: “I knew it would mean more to (those five guys) to be on the ice than anyone else on the team.”

It was a case of the perfect form of motivation meeting the perfect opportunity, with a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure.

That brings us back to Jeter, who certainly had no shortage of motivation– quieting the whispers of his decline, his desire to win an inevitably unwinnable matchup against aging, and the wish to record his 3,000th hit at home.

Opportunity came Saturday in the form of an opposing pitcher, who (as his manager noted) didn’t have his best fastball, and chose to throw a slow breaking curveball on a 3-2 pitch because Jeter had shown he could catch up to the fastball, at least for one day.

It came four more times, the final time in the form of a pitcher who couldn’t bury a two-strike splitter in the dirt in a key moment and an opposing manager who couldn’t cover every opening on the diamond with which he was concerned.

The result was something that was both magical and appropriate given the player and the magnitude of the accomplishment. And it’s hard to use either numbers or words to try to explain it.

Getty Images/Michael HeilmanThe 3,000th hit was one of many magical baseball moments for Derek Jeter on Saturday afternoon.There’s one more thing I want to bring up pertaining to Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit.

This is one of those cases in sports in which the psychological aspect of the game overtakes the statistical aspect.

Think about the chances of Derek Jeter getting five hits in any game at this stage in his career, let alone the game in which he reaches a historic baseball milestone. The odds are significantly against him.

But sometimes, the mind can will the body to do extraordinary things.

I am a stories guy. I love a great story. Some stories are told best in numbers. Some are told best in words. Some are done justice by neither.

When I think of the story of Jeter’s 3,000-hit day, I am reminded of something obscure to you, but noteworthy in my sporting life– Game 7 of the 2001 East Coast Hockey League’s Northern Conference Finals between the Trenton Titans and Peoria Rivermen.

Long story short: The Titans, whom I covered for a local newspaper, had a coach,Troy Ward, who was a smart man when it came to both the statistical and the psychological. He coached his team to the best record in the league and the Titans had a 3-1 series lead on Peoria, on the verge of clinching the conference title.

But then, disaster. Trenton blew a lead in the final seconds of Game 5, lost that game in overtime and lost Game 6 to force Game 7.

In the final moments of regulation of Game 7, with the score tied, the puck ended up on the stick of a rugged Trenton defenseman, Kam White.

White was a physical enforcer with very limited skill, the stereotype that some might have for a minor league hockey player. If we were calculating his offensive value for Wins Above Replacement, it would have been a negative number.

The puck ends up on the stick of White with the clock ticking down. He executes the deke of the season around a Peoria defenseman, and feeds one of his teammates for the conference-championship winning goal.

After the game, I asked Ward what White was doing on the ice at such an important moment. He explained with this story:

After Trenton’s Game 5 overtime loss, Ward stormed out of the arena, composed his thoughts, and then gathered five players in his hotel room.

The five shared the common bond of being “Original Titans,” who played in the team’s first season and lost to Peoria in the conference finals the year prior.

Ward apologized to them for not putting them on the ice in the final seconds of regulation in that crushing defeat and promised he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

White was one of the Original Titans.

That promise meant something to him. The evidence of that was in the part he played in the victory.

As Ward said afterwards: “I knew it would mean more to (those five guys) to be on the ice than anyone else on the team.”

It was a case of the perfect form of motivation meeting the perfect opportunity, with a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure.

That brings us back to Jeter, who certainly had no shortage of motivation– quieting the whispers of his decline, his desire to win an inevitably unwinnable matchup against aging, and the wish to record his 3,000th hit at home.

Opportunity came Saturday in the form of an opposing pitcher, who (as his manager noted) didn’t have his best fastball, and chose to throw a slow breaking curveball on a 3-2 pitch because Jeter had shown he could catch up to the fastball, at least for one day.

It came four more times, the final time in the form of a pitcher who couldn’t bury a two-strike splitter in the dirt in a key moment and an opposing manager who couldn’t cover every opening on the diamond with which he was concerned.

The result was something that was both magical and appropriate given the player and the magnitude of the accomplishment. And it’s hard to use either numbers or words to try to explain it.

WASHINGTON—Beneath the legalese, the trial of Roger Clemens is a tale of two men: the baseball star and his trainer. The pair rose together to the heights of their professions only to become bitter enemies who destroyed each other’s reputations as stand-up family men who were the best at what they did.

The mutual damage is bound to get worse over the next few weeks as the retired pitcher is tried on charges he lied to Congress when he denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, says he repeatedly injected his big-name client with steroids and human growth hormone and even saved some of the needles and gauze.

Clemens says McNamee is a liar who fabricated the evidence with designs on blackmailing him. McNamee says Clemens “has led a full-court attack on my credibility.”

Since McNamee’s allegations were revealed in December 2007 with the publication of an investigative report for Major League Baseball, Clemens’ Hall of Fame prospects have been destroyed. His image as a devoted husband and father of four has been tarnished by reports of a list of other women on the road.

McNamee has been accused of worse than infidelity. Clemens’ lawyers claim they have evidence their client’s chief accuser sexually assaulted an unconscious woman after giving her a date rape drug.

“I trusted him, put my faith in him and brought him around my family and my children,” Clemens said in congressional testimony during his last public face-off with McNamee in 2008. Clemens’ denials of McNamee’s accusations under oath before Congress are what led to the criminal charges he faces at trial in federal court in the District of Columbia.

“McNamee was good at what he did—helping me exercise, diet and stay in shape,” Clemens told lawmakers. “We shared an interest in grueling, military-style workouts, but I never asked him nor did he ever give me steroids or human growth hormone. I had no idea that this man would exploit the trust I gave him to try to save his own skin by making up lies that have devastated me and my family.”

It’s a long fall from their decade-long friendship built in big league clubhouses and weight rooms. They were bound from the time after they first met in 1998, when McNamee got a job as the strength and conditioning coach for the Toronto Blue Jays, Clemens’ team at the time.

A lifelong Queens resident and one-time New York City police officer who worked undercover, McNamee had been a baseball catcher at St. John’s University. In 1993, McNamee got a job as a bullpen catcher and batting practice pitcher for the New York Yankees. That led to the job with the Blue Jays where he began working with Clemens.

Both men lived in the hotel attached to the team’s stadium. McNamee says in that first Toronto summer of 1998, Clemens gave McNamee needles and vials labeled as the steroid Winstrol and asked for his help injecting them. McNamee said he injected Clemens in the buttocks repeatedly over the next several weeks in Clemens’ hotel apartment and his performance showed remarkable improvement.

The next year, Clemens was traded to the Yankees and persuaded his new team to hire McNamee as the assistant strength and conditioning coach when his contract with the Blue Jays was up in 2000. McNamee needed to be a member of the team’s staff to ride on the team charters, but Clemens personally covered part of his salary and also paid him for personal training during the off-season at home in Houston.

McNamee says after he arrived Clemens made clear he was ready to use steroids again and the trainer suggested he also try human growth hormone. McNamee says during the latter part of the regular season, perhaps as Clemens began to tire, he injected the star pitcher repeatedly with both drugs at Clemens’ New York apartment. This time McNamee said he was supplying the drugs.

The next season, 2001, was Clemens best with the Yankees. He finished at 20-3, won his sixth Cy Young Award and reporters looking for his secret wrote about his intense training sessions with McNamee.

“It’s hard for any New York pitcher to be out of shape with McNamee’s regimen,” USA Today reported on July 13, 2001. The article described workouts including long-distance running, sprints, heavy legwork and 600 to 2,000 stomach crunches.

“The visible benefits on Clemens are thick legs that provide the drive to keep his fastball humming at 95 mph, and muscled arms that reduce the wear and tear of throwing a splitter,” the article said.

Newsday reported Sept. 10, 2001, that Clemens was lucky to have played for Toronto because it gave him the chance to meet McNamee, his “secret weapon” and “workout guru.”

“McNamee is a no-nonsense fellow who immediately hit it off with Clemens, possibly because of their common interest in avoiding small talk and wasting time” to get to work, Newsday said.

McNamee now claims that their “secret weapon” that summer included more steroid injections. But after that season McNamee said Clemens never asked for drugs again.

According to Clemens, 2001 was also the year their friendship began slowly unraveling because of events that he wouldn’t discover until much later after their relationship turned sour.

During Yankee road trip to play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in October 2001, police reports said McNamee was seen having sex with an incoherent woman in a St. Petersburg hotel pool. The woman told police she could not remember what happened. The date rape drug GHB was found in her system.

McNamee was never charged, but he lied to investigators, including denying he worked for the Yankees. His contract was not renewed. McNamee denied he assaulted the woman but instead told police he was trying to pull her out of the pool and rescue her from drowning.

McNamee says around this time he decided he needed to protect himself because “while I liked and admired Roger Clemens, I don’t think that I ever really trusted him.” He says he took some of the steroid vials, needles and gauze he used to wipe up Clemens’ blood, stuffed them inside a Ziploc bag and a Miller Lite can and saved it all in a FedEx box in his basement.

“Maybe my years as a New York City police officer had made me wary, but I just had the sense if this ever blew up and things got messy, Roger would be looking out for No. 1,” McNamee said during congressional testimony in February 2008, sitting a few feet from his former friend. “I viewed the syringes as evidence that would prevent me from being the only fall guy.”

Clemens’ attorneys say McNamee fabricated the evidence after the Florida investigation because he was worried about losing his Yankee job and wanted something to persuade Clemens to keep employing him. But they said Clemens believed his friend’s explanation of what happened in the pool and hired him as a personal trainer even though he was no longer allowed in the Yankee clubhouse.

In 2006, a newspaper reported that Clemens and McNamee were part of a criminal investigation into performance-enhancing drugs. Both denied Clemens used steroids, and Clemens told The New York Times, “I’ll continue to use Mac to train me. He’s one of a kind.”

That would change within a year.

Federal investigators discovered McNamee had been buying drugs

and pressured him to reveal the ultimate recipients to avoid prosecution. He said he supplied Clemens and other players, including Yankees Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch, both now retired. Pettitte and Knoblauch have acknowledged they got drugs from McNamee.

McNamee told Congress he didn’t want to expose the players but faced perjury charges if he lied. “I have no reason to lie and every reason not to,” McNamee said.

“My livelihood is in ruins, and it is painful beyond words to know that my name will be forever linked with scandal in the sport I love,” the trainer said.

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NFL Moving Toward Deal

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There is a growing belief inside league circles that the NFL and NFL Players Association will have an agreement in place that can be ratified during the July 21 league meetings in Atlanta, according to sources familiar with the state of negotiations.

As one NFL owner said this weekend, there’s “no reason to believe it won’t get done.”

Other people familiar with the talks now think an agreement in principle will be put in place in the next seven to 10 days, a handshake deal that would allow each side to ratify the deal to start the 2011 season.

However, one member of the players’ negotiating team who has been a constant presence at the table said that players feel they have made significant concessions and overtures “that have not been reciprocated.”

Dates could be moved back within the framework of an already-outlined plan by the NFL for how a July 1 deal would have resulted in preparations for a season, according to sources. In the adjusted calendar, the league year would start and free agency would begin July 28.

He stated that negotiations Wednesday and Thursday will be the most telling days on whether an agreement indeed will be finalized within the July 21 time frame because “we’ve basically reached the limits of compromise.”

The same source added that the players have agreed to cut rookie compensation in half but won’t agree to a deal that does not allow for the rookie class to become free agents at the end of four years.

The lone exception could relate to allowing a fifth year for quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round but their salary would have to be set at the average of the top-10 players at their position in year 5. The player source said that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones proposed such a solution but was shot down by his fellow owners.

While a rookie wage system has been identified as the most complex issue still to be resolved between the owners and players as they return to the negotiating table this week in New York, the level of overall confidence in reaching an agreement also is evident in a document known as “The Transition Rules” that NFL teams would follow if and when both players and owners ratify a new labor agreement.

The Transition Rules spell out an actual timeline for roster transactions under the July 21 deal scenario, including the start of the new league year during which free agents would become eligible for the open market on July 28.

With the tight timeline, teams will be scrambling to fill rosters that must be set at 90 players on roughly Aug. 3 — but all training camps would be able to open on time.

If the deal were to be ratified July 21, it would assure that almost all preseason games would be played, according to sources.

The one game in danger would be the Aug. 7 Hall of Fame matchup between the Bears and Rams. There are still mixed opinions and thoughts as to whether that game could or would be played.

The Transition Rules also would include a designated period for teams to sign undrafted free agent rookies, a pool that routinely provides productive and even star players.

If and when the final issues are resolved, the two sides will have closed enough ground in other key areas to have an agreement in principle that the courts, players and owners must ratify. But those steps are expected to occur in the days leading up to, and during, the July 21 owners meetings in Atlanta.

Once it is done, The Transition Rules will kick in. During the lockout, the NFL’s Chief Executive Committee, or CEC, have selected a group of team executives to compile a timeline for how the offseason would operate from the moment a labor deal was done. The group produced plans for the lockout ending in March, June, July and October.

The one now dated July 1 is likely to be applied to any deal done by July 21, and it would spell out how and when roster moves could and would be made. It doesn’t mean the new league year will unfold exactly like this; but it won’t be far off, either.

NFL Labor Negotiations and Lockout

The NFL lockout began on March 11, with no obvious end in sight. ESPN.com Topics keeps you up to date on all of the latest on the labor situation. More »

Here is how the outlined plan for a July 1 deal could be adjusted for a potential July 21 deal with what would be the corresponding dates, according to sources familiar with the document, which many teams in the league have not yet seen:

• July 1 (July 21) — Educate the clubs on the new league rules and allow voluntary training for teams and agents.

• July 5 (July 25) — Sign undrafted rookies, as well as give free agents a chance to re-sign with their teams.

• July 8 (July 28) — League year starts and free agency begins.

• July 13 (Aug. 2) — Rosters must be set at 90 players.

• July 14 (Aug. 3) — Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets.

• July 18 (Aug. 7 ) — A four-day match period for teams to match restricted free-agent offer sheets.

• July 23 (Aug 12) — Deadline for rookies to sign contracts (not yet agreed upon).

• July 27 (Aug. 16) — Signing period for restricted free agents ends, as does the signing period for franchise and transition tenders.

• Aug. 9 (Aug. 29) — Deadline for players to report to earned credit for an accrued season toward free agency.

Of the dates, the most significant is July 28, which would be the start of the league year and the multitude of roster moves that teams have been waiting for and planning for months.

The most intriguing is the deadline for rookies to sign their contracts. The NFL and NFLPA have discussed the idea of placing a deadline on rookies to sign to reduce the number of holdouts. Teams have expressed concern that the longer a rookie holds out, the higher his frequency for injury and failure are.

The two sides still must figure out this issue, as well as how much rookies will be paid and how long their contracts will be. Just as the NFL has insisted that there cannot be federal oversight in the next labor deal, the NFLPA feels just as strongly that all rookie deals be four years, according to sources.

But as one person close to the talks said this weekend, “We’re at the 10-, maybe the 15-yard line, and we’re marching down the field, and both sides want to score and I think we will.”

Yet the disagreement over a rookie wage system for those who were drafted in late April is now the darkest cloud hanging over negotiations that are nearly complete on most major issues.

“The rookie wage scale is the only part I’m worried about,” one source involved in the talks said this weekend. “They’ve finished the other important parts. The only issue left that can cause a problem is the rookie wage scale.”

Under the NFL’s proposal, the top pick’s contract value would go from $78 million over six years to $34 million over five years with the ability to renegotiate after three years.

Owner and management sources maintain that the rookie wage system the players have proposed does not represent the anticipated dramatic reduction in salaries — most notably for the top eight players chosen in the draft — which would result in redistributed money to veteran players and retirees.

Player sources countered by saying their proposed system provides considerable reduction to the 2010 rookie salaries and that the dispute is based on owners desire to not only cut salaries drastically but control players for five years, morphing into “a dramatic veteran wage scale, not a rookie scale.”

Aside from the rookie wage scale, the owners and players also have been stuck on a proposal by management that for the 2011 transition period, teams can exercise the right of first refusal on three free agents, in addition to their franchise-tag designees.

The players have rejected the proposal, which means teams could match any contract offer and retain their free agent player.

The two sides appear comfortable with a split of an all-revenue model in which players will receive about 48 percent of the money at the outset, and never less than approximately 46.5 percent as revenues are expected to grow significantly from $9.6 billion in 2011 over the term of an agreement that will be no less than seven years and couid go as long as 10.

But just as there is a roadmap for how this summer will work, there also is a roadmap for completing a deal that has taken football as hostage since March 11.

Chris Mortensen is a senior NFL analyst for ESPN. Adam Schefter is ESPN’s NFL Insider.

The Los Angeles Sparks have promoted Lakers
superstar Kobe Bryant’s father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, to head coach, the
team announced Sunday.

Bryant takes over for Jennifer Gillom, who guided the Sparks to a 4-6 start
this season. Los Angeles is in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

Gillom became head coach of the Sparks in December 2009. She led the team
to a 13-21 mark in 2010, a year that ended with a loss to Seattle in the
conference semifinals.

“I want to thank everyone in the Sparks organization for the opportunity to
serve as head coach, especially Penny Toler,” Gillom said. “I enjoyed coaching
the players and working alongside my staff, and am confident they will
accomplish great things this season.”

Bryant served as Los Angeles’ head coach from August 2005 through the 2006
season, leading the team to a pair of playoff appearances.

The Sparks brought Bryant back into the organization in March, making him an
assistant coach along with Sandy Brondello.

Bryant served as head coach of Raru Kamuy Hokkaido, a Japanese first division
men’s team, and taught at a private basketball academy in Japan before
returning to LA this off-season.

In 1975, Bryant was drafted (14th overall) out of LaSalle University by the

NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Over eight seasons, he made an impact as a
forward in 606 games playing with the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Diego

Clippers and the Houston Rockets. Following his successful career in the NBA,
Bryant moved to Italy where he played for eight years.

“This was a very difficult decision, but I felt it was necessary to take the
team in a different direction at this point in the season. Joe’s familiarity
with the Sparks organization puts us in the best possible position to compete
going forward, and should make for a seamless transition,” Sparks vice
president and general manager Penny Toler said.

Bryant will coach the team for the rest of the season.

Monday’s Sessions
• Politics: Chris Cillizza, 11
• Five Myths: Bruce Bartlett, 11
• Sports: Tom Boswell, 11
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The bass player for a rock band has been arrested and charged with robbing a Massachusetts pharmacy of prescription painkillers just hours before a show.

Attleboro police say Michael Todd, bassist for Coheed and Cambria, entered the Walgreen’s pharmacy after 1 p.m. on Sunday and showed the pharmacist a note on his phone saying he had a bomb.

Police say the 30-year-old Todd, of Anaheim, Calif., then made off with six bottles of Oxycontin and fled in a cab headed to the Comcast Center in Mansfield, where his band was to open for Soundgarden that night. He was arrested at the concert hall before the show, and the band played without him.

He’s scheduled to be arraigned today in Attleboro District Court.

The band’s website says the tour will continue.

‘Harry Potter’ Star to Launch Rap Career

Published July 11, 2011

| NewsCore

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Tom Felton at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards (Reuters)

The actor who plays Hogwarts villain Draco Malfoy is set to cast a spell over hip-hop fans — as a Snoop Dogg-style rapper, The Sun reported Monday.

Tom Felton, 23 — famed as the upper-class bully Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” films — is aiming for a music career now the schoolboy wizard’s filmed adventures have come to an end.

Felton, who has clinched a recording deal with an independent label, told The Sun, “I was thinking of doing some [British hip-hop group] N-Dubz-style stuff.”

“I’m going to change my image — backward caps, the lot,” he added.

Despite trying his hand at rap, Felton insisted he will not be giving up his acting career any time soon. He has five films in production — including a lead role in “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.”

The eighth and final “Harry Potter” film premiered in London last week.

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It was a big weekend for celebrity baby debuts. Two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Victoria Beckham and Kate Hudson, gave birth to their children over the weekend.

Kate Hudson and her fiancé Matthew Bellamy of the band Muse welcomed a baby boy. A rep for the actress confirmed the birth to People.com, saying that the couple “welcomed a healthy baby boy.” The baby’s name has not yet been announced.

It’s the first child for the couple, but the second for the actress, who has a 7-year-old son, Ryder, with ex-husband and Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson.

Hudson had incorrectly predicted that the baby would be a girl and laughed that she’s much more settled this time around when it comes to family. “This is a totally different pregnancy, completely,” the actress said in April, according to Us magazine. “It couldn’t be more opposite. … With Ryder, I didn’t even have a nursery. I didn’t really have a house until I was seven months pregnant.”

And Victoria Beckham and her superstar soccer player husband David Beckham added a baby girl to their already large family. Harper Seven was born Sunday morning. She’s the couple’s fourth child and first daughter.

“[The couple's sons] Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz are excited to welcome their new baby sister to the family,” the couple’s spokesperson Jo Milloy told People.com.

Earlier this year, the former Spice Girl announced, “Obviously, we’re very lucky to be expecting again, and this is the first time I’m going to say it: It’s a little girl.” Her husband added, “We’re still in shock. Obviously, having three boys, you kind of expect another one, so finding out a little girl is in there is surprising, but, obviously, we are over the moon. Our three boys are happy and excited.”