Online Pretty News

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Former NFL Player Aaron Hernandez Sentenced To Life In Prison

Former New England Patriot Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being found guilty of first degree murder in 2013.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Aaron Hernandez, a former tight end for the New England Patriots, was found guilty today of first degree murder. The judge immediately sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Craig LeMoult was in court today and has covered the case for WGBH. Craig, welcome to the program.

CRAIG LEMOULT, BYLINE: Thank you.

CORNISH: The victim was named Odin Lloyd, and his family was in the courtroom. The family of Aaron Hernandez was in the courtroom. And it seemed very emotional. Talk about what happened.

LEMOULT: It was emotional when the verdict came out. Hernandez's fiancee, whose name Shayanna Jenkins, was sobbing. She'd actually testified earlier in the trial. Prosecutors said she had gotten rid of the murder weapon at Hernandez's request. And then across the courtroom was her sister, Shaneah, and she was the victim, Odin Lloyd's girlfriend; that's how Lloyd and Hernandez knew each other. And throughout the trial, there's been this sort of weird dynamic of these two sisters on opposite ends of the case. Shaneah was surrounded by Lloyd's family, who have been a consistent presence in the courtroom throughout the trial. And, of course, they were also very emotional.

CORNISH: What kind reaction was there from Aaron Hernandez?

LEMOULT: Not much of any really - he was pretty much stone-faced as he waited for the jury to read the verdict. And then when they said he was guilty of first-degree murder, his expression just didn't change at all. It was pretty much the same emotionless demeanor that he showed throughout the trial when the jury was present in the room.

CORNISH: Craig, Odin Lloyd's mother actually spoke. She gave a statement before sentencing. Tell us what she had to say.

LEMOULT: Yes, she spoke powerfully about how much she loved her son, how much she missed him, what a wonderful person he was. And remarkably, she had this to say about the people who killed him.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

URSULA WARD: I forgive the hands of the people that had a hand in my son's murder, either before or after. And I pray and hope that someday everyone out there will forgive them also.

LEMOULT: Again, that's the victim's mother, Ursula Ward. And her daughter was asked if she also forgive Hernandez. And she said she's not as strong as her mom is, but she said maybe someday she will be.

CORNISH: Craig, afterwards, the jurors actually got together and held basically a press conference. How did they feel about the verdict?

LEMOULT: Yes, they were there to give a statement, and they wound up taking questions. And it was actually kind of a funny feel to that press conference, because, I think, they were all just really relieved it was over. They seemed like a pretty cohesive group, and they actually laughed about a number of moments throughout the trial. They said they felt strongly that they'd made the right decision.

During the trial, Patriots owner Robert Kraft testified that Hernandez told him shortly after the killing that he hoped that the time of the murder would come out, because he was in a club then. But the jury members said they didn't understand how he could know where he was if the time of the murder hadn't come out. They said they were also really surprised when the defense acknowledged in their closing argument that Hernandez was at the scene of the murder. And they didn't buy the claim that two other men charged in the murder killed Lloyd when they were high on PCP and that Hernandez was in shock and didn't know what to do about it.

CORNISH: What's next for Aaron Hernandez?

LEMOULT: Well, he faces life in prison without parole, but he's actually not done with court yet. He's facing charges in a 2012 double murder in Boston. That trial is being rescheduled right now, and he's actually also facing a civil lawsuit from a former friend who says Hernandez shot him in the face when he was in Florida.

CORNISH: That's Craig LeMoult of WGBH. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

LEMOULT: You're welcome.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2015/04/15/399937672/former-nfl-player-aaron-hernandez-sentenced-to-life-in-prison

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Rita Wilson has breast cancer, undergoes double mastectomy

By Liz Raftery,

Actress Rita Wilson was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and has undergone a double mastectomy, she tells People.

Wilson, 58, has taken a leave from the Broadway play in which she was starring, Larry David's Fish in the Dark, to have the procedure, which was done last week. She says she expects to make a full recovery.

Angelina Jolie reveals she underwent a double mastectomy

Wilson says she only caught the cancer because she sought a second opinion.

"I have had an underlying condition of LCIS, (lobular carcinoma in situ), which has been vigilantly monitored through yearly mammograms and breast MRIs. Recently, after two surgical breast biopsies, PLCIS (pleomorphic carcinoma in situ) was discovered," she says in a statement. "I was relieved when the pathology showed no cancer.

"However, a friend who had had breast cancer suggested I get a second opinion on my pathology and my gut told me that was the thing to do," she continues. "A different pathologist found invasive lobular carcinoma. His diagnosis of cancer was confirmed by, yet, another pathologist. I share this to educate others that a second opinion is critical to your health. You have nothing to lose if both opinions match up for the good, and everything to gain if something that was missed is found, which does happen. Early diagnosis is key."

Wilson also thanked her husband, Tom Hanks, as well as family, friends and her doctors for their support.

"I am the beneficiary of advances in the field of breast cancer and reconstruction. I am getting better every day and look forward to renewed health," she tells People. "I hope this will encourage others to get a second opinion and to trust their instinct if something doesn't 'feel' right."

View original Rita Wilson Has Breast Cancer, Undergoes Double Mastectomy at TVGuide.com

Olivia Munn joins 'X-Men: Apocalypse; Will Play Psylocke's Role

Olivia Munn will be joining the X-men team of mutants for upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. The announcement came out in Bryan Singer's Instagram on Monday, Varietysaid.

Like Us on Facebook

The 34-year old actress-model will be playing the telepath heroine, Psylocke that has a minor role in the 2006 movie installment, X-Men: The Last Stand. She is in Magneto's camp and is once played by Mei Melanon.

"Excited to welcome @oliviamunn as Betsy Braddock! #Psylocke #XmenApocalypse #XMEN," the director posted on Instagramtogether with the actress' photo.

Munn will be joining the other newcomer, Lara Condor who will play Jubillee's role. They will be included other performers James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Rose Byrne, Oscar Isaac and Kodi Smit-McPhee whose roles are reprised for the next franchise.

First class heroes, Magneto and Professor X played by Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are previously reported not to be joining the next movie sequel. However, Jennifer Lawrence, who played a major role in "Apocalypse" as Mystique will be returning for the 2016 X-Men movie.

According to CNN, The Mortdecai actress will play Psylocke's role (who is originally named Betsy Baddock). Psylocke's character is expected to have a complex transformation from a Caucasian supermodel to a Japanese ninja.

Psylocke's character is created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe and became popular in the 70s and 80s in the British "Captain Britain" comic book series. She first appeared in the 1987 X-Men and "Uncanny X-Men."

Further details of the role are not available yet as of writing.

Olivia Munn has also appeared in other films like "Magic Mike" "Deliver Us From Evil" and HBO's "The Newsroom." She also had a minor role in "Iron Man" and has experienced being a co-host in G4's "Attack of the Show!" from 2006 to 2010, Comic Book Resourcessaid.

Source: http://www.newseveryday.com/articles/13748/20150415/olivia-munn-x-men-x-men-apocalypse-bryan-singer-instagram-marvel.htm

Fidelity's Timmer: Fed's 'Caution' Bullish for Stocks

While the Federal Reserve has dropped the word "patient" from its policy statement, all indications are that it will wait until at least September to begin raising interest rates.

And that's good for stocks, says Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro strategies at Fidelity Investments.

"I wasn't as comfortable six months ago, because the Fed seemed determined to go a certain route no matter what anybody said, but I think they are heeding the message of the market now and are erring more on the side of caution," he told the Financial Post.

"The Fed is getting the message. The gap between what the Fed was saying and what the market was saying has shrunk."

Many economists believe the Fed will indeed move on rates in September. The central bank has kept its federal funds rate at a record low of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008.

The Fed's massive easing program has played a major role in the stock market's six-year bull run that has seen the S&P 500 index triple.

"Global easing continues unabated and in the context of a modestly positive economic backdrop, it should be bullish for risk assets," he noted.

Plenty of economists criticize the Federal Reserve for its massive easing program, saying it's raising the risk of asset bubbles without helping the economy much.

But Richard Salsman, president of InterMarket Forecasting, put his criticism in particularly colorful terms.

"Slowly but surely, the U.S. Federal Reserve has institutionalized a similar type of monetary fiscal prostitution" as Japan, he writes in a commentary. "The Eccles Building [the Fed's headquarters] in Washington, D.C. has become a mere marbled house of ill-repute."

Salsman sees no end to the Fed's low interest-rate policy. "The Fed will keep mimicking the low-rate policy launched by the Bank of Japan and keep the fed funds rate below 3 percent indefinitely," he states.

Many experts think the fed funds rate will top out at 2 percent for the next few years, a far cry from the 4 percent norm of recent history before the 2008 financial crisis.

Falcon9 Reached The Barge But Did Not Survive The Landing [Updating]

Today's launch of Falcon9 and Dragon was a rousing success as essential supplies are now making their way to the ISS. As for the Falcon9 rocket, it reportedly "landed" on the droneship, but with considerable force.

Image: SpaceX

Today's launch happened at 4:10 PM ET/1:10 PM PT. The attempting landing occurred about eight minutes later.

SpaceX and Elon Musk are reporting that the rocket made its way to the barge, but landed way too hard:

Ascent successful. Dragon enroute to Space Station. Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival.

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2015

We falcon punched the barge... @SpaceX CRS-6

SpaceX Engineer (@SpaceXEngineer) April 14, 2015

Here's quick gif of the lift off.

Here's the launch in all it's glory:

To recap, this will be the third attempt to land the rocket (not including yesterday's scrub), though the second attempt was called off due to high seas. For today's launch, the rocket will be loaded with more hydraulic fluid, which ran out during the first attempt. The barge has also been upgraded to handle rougher seas.

The un-occupied SpaceX rocket will be taking off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It's headed for the International Space Station where it will deposit its cargo (payload details here). Among the various items going up are several zero-g coffee cups to go with the new espresso maker.

Additional reporting by Mika McKinnon

All images SpaceX

Source: http://io9.com/watch-live-as-spacex-tries-once-more-to-land-a-rocket-o-1697725749

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

When was the first mail delivered via the Pony Express? 155 years ago today.

The Pony Express is a legendary service ... that only lasted for 18 months.

The first mail delivered via the Pony Express was sent on April 3, 1860 when it left St. Joseph, Missouri. Near midnight on April 14, 1860, the mail reached its destination in San Francisco. It was 155 years ago, but that first journey remains memorable today, even though the service only operated until October 1861 closing just 81 weeks after it began, killed off by the telegraph and other factors.

"In The american Memory, That Man Is Still Riding..."

Oddly enough, though, most of us don't think of the Pony Express as a flash in the pan. "In the American memory, that man is still riding across the country," says Christopher Corbett, author of Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express.

So why do we remember the Pony Express at all? Partly because it was a genuine breakthrough in mail delivery. But also because it fits with our romantic ideas about the Old West.

Before the Pony Express, moving information was a huge pain

The 1850s saw a population explosion in California, as settlers from the Oregon Trail and California gold rush flooded into the West. But getting mail across the continent took about three weeks. In The Pony Express, author Tim McNeese describes the arduous delivery process for a typical letter: down a river, on a stagecoach to Arkansas, and then along poor roads on a stagecoach to El Paso and all the way across the desert.

The only other option was even more indirect: shipping from New York to Panama, then across Panama via train, and then onto another boat to San Francisco.

The Pony Express was a breakthrough in a few key ways

A Pony Express rider speeds across the country. (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

The Pony Express began when three freighters, Alexander Majors, William Russell, and William Waddell, devised a relay system of a series of riders that would gallop across the country as quickly as possible.

What made the Pony Express new were the stations that dotted the route to switch out horses and riders. Each rider went for an average of 50 miles, day or night, and then handed off his pouch of letters to the next rider and horse for the next leg.

The company bought strong horses and ponies to ride, and the riders matched the pedigree of the animals. They were the 19th-century equivalent of bike messengers young, skinny guys who wanted to ride fast and make cash. Weight was far more important than Hollywood-famous cowboy skills like gunslinging, because a light rider could move faster.

The route from East to West was dangerous, but passable. According to Fred Reinfeld's book on the Express, only one rider died on route and his horse still made it to the next station with the mail. Conflicts with Native Americans were greatly exaggerated in later years the weather posed the greatest obstacle. You can hover to zoom over the map below orsee a larger version here:

A map of the Pony Express. (Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

One persistent myth is that the Pony Express tried to hire as many orphans as possible. Though the rumor can't be verified, it does illustrate the ethos of the company: speed at any cost.

The telegraph and a bad business model killed the Pony Express in just 18 months

The electric telegraph soon killed off the Pony Express. On October 24, 1861, the first transcontinental electric telegraph was completed, reaching from the Eastern United States to Sacramento, California. Two days later, the Pony Express ceased.

the business lost up to $30 for every letter it carried

But the telegraph was not the only reason the Pony Express went under. By all accounts, the Pony Express never made a profit because of its failure to secure a government contract to deliver letters, as well as interference from other conflicts, like the Paiute War, which disrupted much of travel across the West.

The business was always doomed. "It hemorrhaged money from the first day," Corbett says. "It was a bit of a madcap idea from the get-go ... the structure of the business was deeply flawed."

Some ledgers say the investors lost $200,000 in the venture and only made $90,000 in revenue. As the Postal Museum notes, the business lost up to $30 for every letter it carried.

The Pony Express became an American myth because of how we want to remember the West

An illustration of the first Pony Express rider's departure. (Ed Vebell/Getty Images)

The Pony Express was never just a business idea. Thanks to the public relations savvy of the owners and the enthusiasm of settlers who wanted their mail delivered quickly, the Pony Express ignited the public imagination.

A crowd greeted the first rider to reach Sacramento, and such crowds occasionally waited for and applauded speedy riders. For settlers searching for a quicker connection to the East Coast, it was a breakthrough.

That strong public reception continued after the Pony Express went out of business. It was boosted by champions like Buffalo Bill, who (falsely) claimed he rode for the service and promoted it in his Wild West show. Mark Twain mythologized the show as well, recording the Express in Roughin' It as an American tradition.

"It's A Benign Memory"

Dime novels leapt at the story and exaggerated the heroics of the already-bold riders. Later, in 1948, Hollywood jumped into the saddle with movies like Fort Apache, which strained credulity to insert a Pony Express rider into the action. Together, all these figures served to popularize the Pony Express myth.

Corbett says the appeal of the Pony Express is obvious: it's an American myth without American tragedy. The bloodshed, suffering, and seediness of the Wild West aren't part of the myth of the short-lived delivery service. "It's a benign memory of the Old West," he says. "It's a powerfully romantic figure on the back of a fast horse."

WATCH: 'Meet the enormous boats that carry your stuff'

Source: http://www.vox.com/2015/4/14/8406721/pony-express-delivery

Christy Mack Opens Up About Brutal Attack By Ex-Boyfriend War Machine

By now, everyone has heard the story of the brutal assault on adult film star Christy Mack by her former boyfriend MMA fighter War Machine, AKA Jon Koppenhaver, that left her mutilated and nearly dead. If you havent, on August 8, 2014, War Machine broke into her Las Vegas home and flew into a rage after catching her hanging out with friend, Corey Thomas. The attack on Mack left her hospitalized with 18 broken bones, missing teeth, a ruptured liver, deep bruises throughout her body, and a broken nose.

Koppenhaver also allegedly cut off her trademark black mohawk with a dull knife during the attack.

For the first time since the attack, Christy Mack spoke out about it in an interview with ESPN yesterday, opening up about herself, her healing, and the surgeries she needed in order to fix the damage that had been done. Mack tells ESPN writer Jane McManus that although she has physically healed, her face is so changed from all the surgeries that sometimes, she doesnt even recognize herself.

I didnt look in the mirror for weeks. Just feeling my face, I knew it wasnt right, so when Id look in the mirror, its not me that person wasnt me. Its so hard to go every day without being you anymore.

In order to fix the damage, Mack had to have multiple bones reset, which left her with small, but noticeable changes in her appearance. Christy now needs to wear glasses due to the way the muscles around her eyes healed; so many of Macks teeth were broken, her mouth is now a different shape uneven veneers allow her to eat normally.

Christy Mack admitted that this wasnt the first time War Machine had been abusive, he became abusive about four to five months in, she said, but by that time I was totally in love with him. Christy wants everyone to know, though, that just because she stayed after the first time, or just because she was a p**n star, or just because he was an MMA fighter, or any other of the myriad of reasons people like to throw out there, doesnt mean she deserved it, or was asking for it, as is the common sentiment in cases of victim blaming. It wasnt OK for people to say I got what I deserved when they had no idea what my struggle was, Mack says in regards to the responses she got after posting pictures of the attack to her personal Twitter account.

Im not going to sit around in my hospital bed and have people say that I did something wrong. This is what happened, so I decided to put it out there. I did nothing wrong it wasnt like I said, Please hit me again,'

War Machine, who has pleaded not guilty to 32 felony charges, including the attempted murder of Christy Mack, awaits his trial which is set to begin in the fall from solitary confinement, after having tried to commit suicide on October 14. If found guilty of all 32 charges, he could face life in prison. He still maintains he is innocent of the attack on Christy Mack, though one would think if he was in fact innocent, he would feel some sort of empathy for a woman he was supposed to love, rather than laugh during her emotional testimony.

Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/2008542/christy-mack-opens-up-about-brutal-attack-by-ex-boyfriend-war-machine/