AP source: FBI eyes possible extortion at Rutgers

The FBI is investigating whether a former Rutgers basketball employee tried to extort the university before he made videos that showed ex-coach Mike Rice shoving and kicking players and berating them with gay slurs.

Meanwhile, Robert Morris University is expected to report in coming days what it has learned in its own inquiry on the three years Rice spent as head coach there.

A person familiar with the FBI's probe told The Associated Press on Sunday that investigators are interested in Eric Murdock, who left his job as the men's basketball program's player development director last year and later provided the video to university officials and ESPN.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry has not been announced. The investigation was first reported last week by ESPN and The New York Times.

A spokeswoman for the FBI's Newark office said the agency would not say whether there is an investigation. Murdock's lawyer did not return a call to the AP on Sunday. A Rutgers spokesman referred questions to the FBI.

A December letter from Murdock's lawyer to a lawyer representing Rutgers requested $950,000 to settle employment issues and said that if the university did not agree by Jan. 4, Murdock was prepared to file a lawsuit. The letter was obtained last week by the AP and other media outlets.

No settlement has been made. The video became public last week, and Murdock on Friday filed a lawsuit against the university, contending he was fired because he was a whistleblower trying to bring to light Rice's behavior.

The video's release last week set off a chain reaction that led to Rice's firing and the resignations of athletic director Tim Pernetti, the university's top in-house lawyer and an assistant basketball coach. Some critics want the university's president, Robert Barchi, to resign.

Barchi will hold a town hall meeting Monday at the school's Newark campus, where he is expected to face some students and faculty who say they lost confidence in him even before the controversy over Rice's firing. They have said his plan to reorganize the state's higher education system shortchanges the Rutgers campuses in Camden and Newark.

At a news conference last week, Barchi said the firing and resignations likely never would have happened unless Murdock provided the video to ESPN. Barchi said he did not see the video himself until after it had been made public.

Murdock, a New Jersey native who played for seven NBA teams from 1991 to 2000, was on the initial staff Rice assembled when he became the Rutgers coach in 2010. He left the team last year, though there are conflicting stories about the circumstances.

Murdock has said Rice fired him after he skipped a session of Rice's summer basketball camp, but has said he was targeted because he had spoken with others about Rice's conduct at practice. The university found in a report that Murdock was not actually fired and that he could have continued working at the school.

After Murdock left, he spoke with university officials about his allegations against Rice. He also used an open public records request to obtain hundreds of hours of videos of basketball practice. It's not clear who shot the original footage, but it was edited into the half-hour video later given to the university that touched off a scandal last week.

The university report on Rice, which was completed in December but not made public until Friday, criticized the video provided by Murdock as taken many situations out of context. While the report found fault with Rice's behavior in several instances, it also said he did not create a hostile work environment, as Murdock had suggested.

The report also said that Murdock had claimed some violations of NCAA rules ? including that he and others in the program paid players ? but he did not provide evidence.

After a review, university officials agreed to suspend Rice without pay for three games, fine him $50,000, send him to anger-management counseling and monitor his behavior.

Barchi said when he first saw the video last week he immediately decided Rice could not continue as coach.

Robert Morris officials said athletic director Craig Coleman could speak about the matter Monday or Tuesday. Rice coached there before leaving for Rutgers in 2010.

Murdock told ESPN in an interview last week that coaches brawled with players during Rice's time at the Pennsylvania college. Robert Morris officials initially said that the video of Rice at Rutgers was not representative of how he acted at Robert Morris.

____

Associated Press writer Katie Zezima in Newark and AP sports writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-fbi-eyes-possible-extortion-rutgers-171147758--spt.html

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Colo. suspect slipped ankle bracelet

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows paroled inmate Evan Spencer Ebel. A clerical error allowed Ebel, suspected of killing Colorado?s prisons chief, to be released from custody about four years early, officials said Monday, April 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections, File)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows paroled inmate Evan Spencer Ebel. A clerical error allowed Ebel, suspected of killing Colorado?s prisons chief, to be released from custody about four years early, officials said Monday, April 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections, File)

DENVER (AP) ? The ex-convict suspected in the killing of Colorado's prison chief slipped off his electronic monitoring bracelet and escaped before anyone noticed he was missing ? all after he was mistakenly released from prison four years early.

A corrections computer system recorded that Evan Spencer Ebel's bracelet stopped working on March 14, according to documents released Tuesday. Officers learned he had fled on March 19, the day Tom Clements was fatally shot as he answered the front door at his home.

The detail is the latest example of how Ebel fell through the cracks of the criminal justice system in the years before his January release. On Monday, court officials acknowledged that a clerical error allowed Ebel to leave prison four years early because his most recent felony conviction was incorrectly recorded on his record.

"We have to do better in the future," said Tim Hand, director of the Department of Correction's parole division.

Ebel, who died after a March 21 shootout with Texas deputies, had been a model parolee until his electronic monitoring bracelet stopped working. Before that, he called in daily, even once calling in alarm because no one had requested his weekly random urinalysis test to show he hadn't been using drugs.

His father provided him housing and a job at his law firm, but on the afternoon of March 14, a "tamper alert" automatically went to a prison computer system showing the bracelet had stopped working, records show. Two days later, corrections officials called Ebel and told him to come in to repair the bracelet. He did not show up.

On March 17, Nathan Leon, a father of three and Domino's delivery man, was shot to death after responding to an order for pizza in Denver. Ebel is suspected in the killing.

It was not until March 18 that parole officers spoke to Ebel's father, who told them he feared his son had fled and gave them permission to search his apartment. The next day, two parole officers saw Ebel had taken a large amount of clothing and apparently fled. That night, Clements was shot.

An arrest warrant for Ebel's parole violations was issued March 20. The following day he became a suspect in both killings after dying in a shootout with authorities in Texas. The gun Ebel used was the same one used to shoot and kill Clements.

Ebel had been flagged as a high-risk parolee and went straight from solitary confinement back out onto the streets in late January. But parole officials said they were impressed with his first six weeks out of custody. While many high risk offenders slip up and violate parole in their first months, Ebel complied with all the terms of his agreement.

"From the 28th of January to the middle of March, we had an individual who was calling in every day, who was employed, who showed no indication that he would do the kind of things that we now know" he did, Hand said.

Judicial officials acknowledged Monday that Ebel shouldn't have been released in January.

In 2008, Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison officer. In the plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind bars in 2005, according to a statement from Colorado's 11th Judicial District.

According to court transcripts released Tuesday, Ebel told the judge he'd be 33 when he was released, and asked for a more lenient sentence. The judge told him that four years on top of his previous sentence was fair.

The judge, however, didn't say the sentence was meant to be "consecutive," or in addition to, Ebel's current one, so it went to the prison system as a sentence to be served simultaneously. Prison officials say they had no way of knowing the intention had been for Ebel to remain behind bars long after his Jan. 28 release date.

Charles Barton, chief judge of the 11th Judicial District, and court administrator Walter Blair, said in a statement that the court regrets the oversight "and extends condolences to the families of Mr. Nathan Leon and Mr. Tom Clements."

Leon's widow said the apology wasn't going to cut it. "How do I tell my 4-year-olds: 'Daddy was murdered because of a clerical error,'" Katherine Leon told KUSA-TV in Denver.

Leon's father-in-law told AP he had no immediate comment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-02-Corrections%20Director%20Killed/id-fd6f75567aba4f398567d9a47a471234

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The Corsair : The art of war

A man opens the door for a woman at the entrance to The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles on the on the opening day of the war photography exhibit on March 23. War Photography is an exhibition displaying images of armed conflict and its aftermath and will be showing through June 2. (Photo by Daniel McCarty)

Ryan Sindon
April 2, 2013
Filed under Arts & Entertainment

A solider in his helmet was covered in dirt and grime. His eyes looked like they told a story only another solider would understand, with a cigarette in his mouth, clean and ready to burn.

That scene and others were on display at the opening of the Annenberg Space for Photography?s new exhibit, ?War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath.?

The gallery had paintings and war photographs dating as far back as the late 19th century. The photos went beyond soldiers, dead bodies, guns, and bombs, with the display broken up into twelve different subsections, each portraying an aspect of war.

The subsections were Advent of War, Recruitment, Training and Embarkation, The Wait, Patrol and Troop Movement, The Fight, Aftermath, Death, Refugees, and Civilians.

To the right of the entrance, four pictures depicted the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001 before they fell. The photos of the twin towers were next to a television screen that played clips from World War II.
?I had a such strong feeling in the exhibit,? said Ellie Smith, a former photography teacher at Beverly Hills Adult School who attended the opening. ?The pictures have a lot to do with the philosophy of the decisive moment.?

Photojournalist Trishna Patel said that the images are ?powerful and leave you speechless.?

?I?m curious to see the Vietnam photos because that is the war I have heard a lot about, but I don?t know so much about it,? attendee Dina Rivas said before walking into the exhibit.

One of the Vietnam photos on display was the image of the ?flower child? Jan Rose Kasmir placing a flower in the barrel of a gun held by a United States solider during the October 1967 march on the Pentagon.

In the center of the gallery, there was a short film played called, ?The War Photographers,? which is specific to the Los Angeles exhibit, according to the Annenberg?s website.

The documentary features over 500 photographs from six war photographers.

?It opens your eyes to another world,? amateur photographer Nick Filby said of the film. ?You never think about the person behind the camera.?

Jason Stabile, an employee for the Annenberg, said he is impacted by the people who come see the exhibit.

?It?s not the pictures that affect us the most,? Stabile said. ?The emotional impact of the pictures are there, but it?s the people?s reactions that affect us.?

The photos in the war exhibit are open to the public, but they are not censored.

The Annenberg is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City. Admission is free. The space is open Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Source: http://www.thecorsaironline.com/arts-entertainment/2013/04/02/the-art-of-war/

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Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Filming This Summer

As Brendan said last month, Hot Tub Time Machine had the reputation of being a flop based on a mediocre $14 million opening weekend, but the movie had legs, reaching $50 million domestic and it is exactly the kind of R-rated comedy that finds a second life on DVD and cable reruns.? This explains why MGM has been developing a sequel with director Steve Pink.? While we previously reported that?Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke were set to reprise their roles in the sequel, the big story was that?John Cusack might not be coming back.

However, when I spoke to Robinson earlier today at WonderCon for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg?s This Is The End, he told me ?negotiations are still going? with the cast and he made it sound like Cusack might be coming back.? In addition, he said filming begins this June and he?s seen an early version of the script.? Since the first film featured a tremendous amount of improv, I?d imagine whatever script he?s seen will have a lot of changes on set.? Hit the jump to see what Robinson had to say about the sequel and to watch the trailer for the first film. ?Look for more of my interview with Robinson soon.

?

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927151/news/1927151/

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Why Justin Bieber Spent His Birthday at McDonald's

Justin Bieber had big plans for his 19th birthday, reserving the VIP section of a swanky London club. So how did he end up at McDonald's instead?

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/who-ruined-justin-biebers-19th-birthday/1-a-525130?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Awho-ruined-justin-biebers-19th-birthday-525130

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Netanyahu: Iran using nuclear talks to 'buy time' for bomb

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Renewed international efforts to negotiate curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program have backfired by giving it more time to work on building a bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

His remarks on the inconclusive February 26-27 meeting between Iran and six world powers signaled impatience by Israel, which has threatened to launch preemptive war on its arch-foe, possibly in the coming months, if it deems diplomacy a dead end.

Senior U.S. diplomat Wendy Sherman flew in to brief Israel about the Kazakh-hosted talks, in which Tehran, which denies seeking nuclear arms, was offered modest relief from sanctions in return for halting mid-level uranium enrichment.

There was no breakthrough. The sides will reconvene in Almaty on April 5-6 after holding technical talks in Istanbul.

"My impression from these talks is that the only thing that is gained from them is a buying of time, and through this time-buying Iran intends to continue enriching nuclear material for an atomic bomb and is indeed getting closer to this goal," Netanyahu told his Cabinet in remarks aired by Israeli media.

Extrapolating from U.N. reports on Iran's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, a short technical step from weapons-grade, Netanyahu has set a mid-2013 "red line" for denying the Islamic republic the fuel needed for a first bomb.

Iranian media reported on Sunday the country was building around 3,000 new advanced enrichment centrifuges, a development that could accelerate the nuclear project.

The prospect of unilateral Israeli strikes, and the likely wide-ranging reprisals by Iran and its regional allies, worries Washington, which wants to pursue diplomacy as it winds down costly military commitments abroad.

OBAMA VISIT LOOMS

In an attempt to make their proposals more palatable to Tehran, the United States and five other world powers appeared to have softened previous demands in Almaty - for example regarding their requirement that the Iranians ship out their stockpile of the higher-grade uranium.

A senior Israeli official said that while the Netanyahu government had hoped for a tougher line by the so-called P5+1, it was resigned to awaiting the results of this round of talks.

"At the end of the day, what matters is that the Iranians end their enrichment, whether it's through shutting down their facilities or through more nuanced technical safeguards," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

The official would not comment on how or if the latest diplomacy had affected the readiness of Israel, which is widely assumed to have the region's only nuclear arsenal, to go to war.

Iran may have warded off that threat by turning some of its 20 percent-pure uranium into fuel rods for a research reactor.

The international standoff and shifting timelines are expected to dominate U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Israel later this month. The Israelis urge a tougher posture on Iran from their ally, which has a hefty military presence in the Gulf and says it is poised to use force as a last resort.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in a speech in Washington to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, echoed Netanyahu in voicing doubt that diplomacy would stop Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"Therefore, all options must remain on the table," he told the pro-Israel lobby group. "We expect all those who say it to mean it. We mean it."

Israel's dovish president, Shimon Peres, sounded more upbeat after meeting Sherman last Thursday. Peres said he had "total faith in the Obama administration, in its commitment and its actions in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons".

Obama's Israel visit has been overshadowed by local politics too, given the rightist Netanyahu's failure so far to build a new coalition government after he narrowly won a January 22 ballot.

Appealing to potential party allies to rally to him in the name of national security, Netanyahu told his cabinet: "To my regret this is not happening, and in the coming days I will continue my efforts to unify and galvanize forces ahead of the major national and international challenges that we face."

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing by Dan Williams; editing by Andrew Roche and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-says-iran-using-nuclear-talks-buy-time-022018990.html

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Yahoo to shut down seven products, including Blackberry app

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc is shutting down seven products, including its mobile app for Blackberry smartphones, as new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer takes a page from Google Inc's Playbook by eliminating unsuccessful products en masse.

The product shutdowns, which Yahoo announced on its official company blog on Friday, are part of what the company said are regular efforts to evaluate and review its product lineup.

"The most critical question we ask is whether the experience is truly a daily habit that still resonates for all of you today," wrote Jay Rossiter, Yahoo's executive vice president of Platforms.

The announcement represents Yahoo's second group shutdown of products since Mayer, a former Google executive, became CEO of the struggling Web portal in July. So-called "spring cleaning" announcements, in which multiple products are shut down, have become a regular feature at Google in recent years.

Mayer signaled the company would prune its line-up of mobile apps at an investor conference last month, noting that Yahoo would reduce the 60 to 75 disparate mobile apps it currently has to a more manageable 12 to 15 apps.

Yahoo said its app for Blackberry smartphones would no longer be available for download, or supported by Yahoo, as of April 1.

Yahoo also said that on April 1 it will stop supporting Yahoo Avatars - the cartoon-like digital characters that consumers create to depict them on Web services such as Yahoo instant messenger and Facebook. Consumers who want to continue using their avatar on Yahoo's online services must download the avatar and then re-upload the information to their personalized Yahoo profile.

The other Yahoo products set to be terminated include Yahoo App Search, Yahoo Sports IQ, Yahoo Clues, the Yahoo Message Boards website and the Yahoo Updates API.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yahoo-shut-down-seven-products-including-blackberry-app-001111816--sector.html

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