Rutgers fires coach Mike Rice after video release

Rutgers head coach Mike Rice calls out to his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul at the Big East Conference tournament, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Rutgers head coach Mike Rice calls out to his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul at the Big East Conference tournament, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

FILE - In this May 6, 2010, file photo, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti, right, presents Mike Rice with a jersey after Rice was introduced as the school's men's basketball coach during a news conference in Piscataway, N.J. The airing Tuesday, April 2, 2013, of a videotape of Rice using gay slurs, shoving and grabbing his players and throwing balls at them in practice over the past three seasons has Pernetti reconsidering his decision not to fire the coach. Pernetti was given a copy of the video in late November by a disgruntled former employee, and he suspended Rice for three games, fined him $50,000 and made him undergo anger management classes for inappropriate behavior after investigating it. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2012, file photo, Rutgers coach Mike Rice reacts to play during an NCAA college basketball game against Connecticut in Piscataway, N.J. The airing Tuesday, April 2, 2013, of a videotape of Rice using gay slurs, shoving and grabbing his players and throwing balls at them in practice over the past three seasons has Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti reconsidering his decision not to fire the coach. Pernetti was given a copy of the video in late November by a disgruntled former employee, and he suspended Rice for three games, fined him $50,000 and made him undergo anger management classes for inappropriate behavior after investigating it. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz, File)(AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2012, file photo, Rutgers coach Mike Rice waves as he holds a ball presented to him for his 100th career win after Rutgers defeated Cincinnati in an NCAA college basketball game in Piscataway, N.J. ESPN's airing on Tuesday, April 2, 2013, of a videotape of Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice using gay slurs, shoving and grabbing his players and throwing balls at them in practice over the past three seasons has the university's athletic director reconsidering his decision not to fire the coach. Scarlet Knights AD Tim Pernetti was given a copy of the video in late November by a disgruntled former employee, and he suspended Rice for three games, fined him $50,000 and made him undergo anger management classes for inappropriate behavior after investigating it. (AP Photo/Mel Evans,file)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) ? Fueled by outrage from even the governor when the video went public, Rutgers fired basketball coach Mike Rice on Wednesday after deciding it didn't go far enough by suspending and fining him for shoving, kicking and throwing balls at players along with spewing gay slurs.

Athletic director Tim Pernetti was given a copy of the tape by a former employee in November and, after an independent investigator was hired to review it, Rice was suspended for three games, fined $75,000 and ordered to attend anger management classes. University president Robert Barchi signed off on the penalty.

But on Wednesday, Rutgers referred to new information and "a review of previously discovered issues" as the reasons for Rice's termination.

"Yesterday, I personally reviewed the video evidence, which shows a chronic and pervasive pattern of disturbing behavior," Barchi said in a statement. "I have now reached the conclusion that Coach Rice cannot continue to serve effectively in a position that demands the highest levels of leadership, responsibility and public accountability. He cannot continue to coach at Rutgers University."

The video shows numerous clips of Rice at practice firing basketballs at players, hitting them in the back, legs, feet and shoulders. It also shows him grabbing players by their jerseys and yanking them around the court. Rice can also be heard yelling obscenities and using gay slurs.

Rice, in his third season with the Scarlet Knights, addressed reporters outside his home in Little Silver, N.J., and apologized for his actions:

"As I stated three months ago after I watched the video how deeply regrettable those actions (were). I also stated I was going to try to work on changing. I think I've accomplished a lot of that," Rice said. "I can't say anything right now except I'm sorry and there will never be a time where I'm going to use any of that as an excuse or there will be any excuse.

"I've let so many people down: my players, my administration, Rutgers University, the fans. My family, who's sitting in their house just huddled around because of the fact their father was an embarrassment to them. It's troubling, but at some time maybe I'll try to explain it. But right now there's no explanation for what's on those films. There is no excuse for it. I was wrong. I want to tell everybody who's believed in me that I'm deeply sorry for the pain and hardship that I've caused. "

Gov. Chris Christie, who said he was appalled when he saw the video on Tuesday, supported the firing at the state's flagship public university.

"This was a regrettable episode for the university, but I completely support the decision to remove Coach Rice," he said in a statement. "It was the right and necessary action to take in light of the conduct displayed on the videotape.

"Parents entrust their sons to the Rutgers athletic department and the men's basketball program at an incredibly formative period of their lives. The way these young men were treated by the head coach was completely unacceptable and violates the trust those parents put in Rutgers University. All of the student-athletes entrusted to our care deserve much better."

Rice, who helped Robert Morris to two NCAA tournament appearances, was one of the hot coaching candidates in the spring of 2010. But he wasn't able to push Rutgers into the upper echelon of the Big East Conference, and went 44-51. Rice was 16-38 in the Big East, after going 73-31 in three seasons at Robert Morris. The Scarlet Knights went 15-16 this season and 5-13 in the league.

Pernetti took responsibility for trying to rehabilitate Rice instead of firing him.

"Dismissal and corrective action were debated in December and I thought it was in the best interest of everyone to rehabilitate, but I was wrong. Moving forward, I will work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community," he said.

Rice was Pernetti's first major hire after getting the AD's job.

Pernetti said his decision to only suspend Rice was made in part because the coach was remorseful. Rice had a reputation as being "a fiery guy with an edge" before coming to Rutgers and Pernetti said the two talked about it for five hours before he was hired.

The video was made by Eric Murdock, the former NBA player who was hired by Rice to be director of player development.

The two had a falling out over Murdock's appearances at a camp, and Pernetti said Murdock's contract was not renewed. Murdock, who said he was fired, then compiled the video, splicing together the practice lowlights of Rice's first three years as coach.

Pernetti said about 60 percent of the incidents happened in Rice's first season. He also was upset with Rice using a certain gay slur at a university where student Tyler Clementi committed suicide after a roommate used a webcam to see him kissing a man.

"I would tell you that that word was at the core of the suspension," Pernetti said. "It absolutely concerns me. It's not acceptable."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-03-Rutgers-Rice/id-c560f9ecd8484138a127c3a1eaf1af6c

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Two inmates flee Texas jail, possibly only in underwear

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - An inmate suspected of strangling a man with shoelaces escaped with a fellow prisoner from a Texas jail on Tuesday, triggering a manhunt for what authorities described as two dangerous fugitives, possibly clad in nothing but their underwear.

"They squeezed their way through the fence somehow," said Sergeant Brad Cummings, a spokesman for the Hopkins County Sheriff's office in Sulphur Springs, Texas, about 80 miles northeast of Dallas.

The men escaped from the county jail recreation yard and their black-and-white prison uniforms were later found on the outskirts of the detention facility, which has a capacity to house about 200 inmates, he said.

"Officers were notified that the two subjects had left the jail, and we immediately set up a command post and notified all surrounding agencies, and all schools within our county are on lockdown," Cummings said.

He said one of the escapees, Brian Allen Tucker, 44, was awaiting trial for capital murder stemming from the 2011 killing of an acquaintance, 63-year-old Bobby Riley, who was strangled with shoelaces before being robbed.

John Marlin King, 39, a burglary suspect in another case unrelated to the shoelace killing, escaped along with Tucker.

"We do not know if they have weapons of any kind at this point, but they should be considered extremely dangerous," Cummings said.

Since the men discarded their jail uniforms, Cummings said they may have fled with nothing but their prison-issue white T-shirts and boxer shorts to protect them from the elements.

"It could be that they're possibly just in their underwear," he said.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth and Tom Brown, editing by Scott Malone and Gunna Dickson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-inmates-flee-texas-jail-possibly-only-underwear-174228216.html

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NASA climate scientist James Hansen retires to join global warming fight full time

James Hansen, a devoted activist against climate change, announced his retirement from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and plans to challenge federal and state governments over carbon dioxide emissions.

By Tanya Lewis,?LiveScience / April 2, 2013

James Hansen at the Energy Crossroads conference in Denmark on March 12, 2009.

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Climate scientist James Hansen is retiring from NASA this week to devote himself to the fight against global warming.

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Hansen's retirement concludes a 46-year career at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, but he plans to use his time to take up legal challenges to the federal and state governments over limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

In recent years, Hansen, 72, has become an?activist for climate change, which didn't sit well with NASA headquarters in Washington. "As a government employee, you can't testify against the government," Hansen told?The New York Times.

Supporting his "moral obligation" to step up to the fight now, Hansen adds in the Times article that burning a substantial fraction of Earth's fossil fuels guarantees "unstoppable changes" in the planet's climate, leaving an unfixable problem for future generations.

The distinguished NASA scientist has spent his career at the Goddard Institute on the campus of Columbia University. He has testified in Congress dozens of times, and has issued warnings and published papers that drew criticism from climate-change skeptics. [The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted]

Hansen was arrested in February while protesting?the proposed construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would carry heavy crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. "We have reached a fork in the road," he told?the Washington Post?at the time, adding that politicians must understand they can "go down this road of exploiting every fossil fuel we have ? tar sands, tar shale, off-shore drilling in the Arctic ? but the science tells us we can't do that without creating a situation where our children and grandchildren will have no control over, which is the climate system."

With his departure from NASA, Hansen told the Times he plans to lobby European leaders to institute a tax on?oil derived from tar sands, whose extraction leads to more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil. He could not have done these things as a government employee, he said.

Hansen will probably work in a converted barn on his farm in Pennsylvania, but may possibly set up a small institute or take an academic appointment, according to the Times. He will continue to publish papers in academic journals, but will not run the powerful computers and other resources NASA provided for tracking and forecasting global warming and its effects.

Raised in a small town in Iowa, Hansen initially studied the planet Venus, but switched to studying the effect of human greenhouse gas emissions on Earth during the 1970s.?

He was one of the first scientists to?raise alarm about global warming?and its effects on climate and the environment. After testifying at a Congressional committee in 1988?that man-made global warming has begun, Hansen was quoted widely as saying, "It is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here."

Hansed joined NASA's Goddard Institute as a post-doctoral scholar in 1967 and became a federal employee in 1972. He became director in 1981, and was?the longest-serving director in the intistute's history. "He has pushed forward the frontier of our knowledge of Earth's climate system and of the impacts that humanity is having on Earth?s climate," Nicholas E. White, director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at Goddard, said in a statement.

Climate scientists applaud Hansen for leading the predictions of climate change's effects. But some say these predictions were exaggerated. For example, he has said in recent years that vast carbon dioxide emissions might ultimately cause a runaway greenhouse effect like on Venus that would boil the oceans and make Earth uninhabitable, the Times reported. Other scientists say this hasn't happened in the past and that Hansen overstated the risk.

Hansen was embroiled in a political fight in 2005, when a young political appointee in George W. Bush's administration tried to muzzle Hansen in the press. But Hansen revealed this to the public in an interview?reported by the Times, and the administration lifted its restrictions.

Despite his environmentalist stance, Hansen has also criticized the environmentalist movement. He strongly opposed a failed climate bill in 2009, because he said it would have given the federal government billions of dollars without truly limiting emissions.

Hansen, who is registered as an independent, believes carbon dioxide emissions should be taxed, but that the money should be returned to the public as a rebate, instead of going to the goverment.

Hansen told the Times he senses a mass movement on climate change is beginning, led by young people, which he plans to support.

Follow?Tanya Lewis?on?Twitter?and?Google+.?Follow us?@livescience,?Facebook?&?Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013?LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/mT0VrkRp0bg/NASA-climate-scientist-James-Hansen-retires-to-join-global-warming-fight-full-time

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Palestinians protest after prisoner dies in Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Palestinian prisoners rioted Tuesday following news of a fellow inmate's death of cancer, and Israeli prison guards fired tear gas to quell the disturbances, an Israeli official said.

Palestinian officials said Israel was responsible for the death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, charging medical negligence. The 64-year-old was serving a life sentence for his role in a foiled attempt to bomb a busy cafe in Jerusalem in 2002.

As news of Abu Hamdiyeh's death spread, Palestinian prisoners in several jails began banging on their cell doors and hurling objects. Later, protests spread to Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank.

Prisons Authority spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said three prisoners and six guards were evacuated for medical treatment after inhaling tear gas.

She said Abu Hamdiyeh was treated well by Israeli specialists and died in a hospital in Beersheba.

Weizman said the prison service asked the parole board for the prisoner's early release after his cancer was diagnosed as terminal last week, but the appeal was still being processed at the time of his death.

Palestinian prisoner affairs minister Issa Karakeh blamed Israel. "This is a serious, ugly crime committed against the prisoner Maysara due to medical negligence and reluctance to release him," Karakeh said.

In Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was working to free Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

"We were surprised with the death of our brother prisoner," Abbas said. "We attempted to have him released and take him for treatment, but the Israeli government refused to release him, which led to his death."

Later Tuesday, protests spread to the West Bank city of Hebron, where protesters threw firebombs and rocks at Israeli soldiers. The troops responded with tear gas and other riot dispersal means, the military said.

Tensions are high in Israeli lockups, where thousands of Palestinian security prisoners are being held. Some have held hunger strikes and Palestinians have held large protests demanding their release.

After decades of conflict with Israel, the issue of prisoners is emotionally charged in Palestinian society. Inmates are highly esteemed regardless of the reasons for their incarceration, which range from mass murder to throwing rocks.

Later Tuesday, the military reported that Gaza militants fired a rocket toward southern Israel. No one was hurt and no damage was caused. The attack was the first since rockets were fired during President Barack Obama's visit to Israel two weeks ago.

Rocket fire has been rare since an informal cease-fire was reached last November after a fierce exchange of rocket fire and airstrikes between Gaza militants and Israel.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-protest-prisoner-dies-israel-181236602.html

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Pattycake, Elderly Resident of Bronx Zoo, Dies

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Pattycake, who is survived by 10 offspring, was described by the director of the Bronx Zoo as ?an institution in New York City.?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/nyregion/pattycake-elderly-resident-of-bronx-zoo-dies.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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South Korea vows fast response to North

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will strike back if the North stages any attack on its territory, the new president warned on Monday, as tensions ratcheted higher on the Korean peninsula amid shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang and the U.S. deployment of radar-evading fighters.

North Korea says the region is the brink of a nuclear war in the wake of United Nations sanctions imposed for its February nuclear test and a series of joint U.S. and South Korean military drills that have included a rare U.S. show of aerial power.

North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea in response to what it termed the "hostile" military drills being staged in the South.

But there have been no signs of unusual activity in the North's military to suggest an imminent aggression, a South Korean defense ministry official said last week.

"If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," President Park Geun-hye told the minister of defense and senior officials at a meeting on Monday.

The South has changed its rules of engagement to allow local units to respond immediately to attacks, rather than waiting for permission from Seoul.

Stung by criticism that its response to the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010 was too slow, Seoul has threatened to target North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and to destroy statues of the ruling Kim dynasty in the event of any new attack, a plan that has outraged Pyongyang.

Seoul and its ally the United States played down Saturday's statement from the official KCNA news agency as the latest in a stream of tough talk from Pyongyang.

North Korea stepped up its rhetoric in early March, when U.S. and South Korean forces began annual military drills that involved the flights of U.S. B-2 stealth bombers in a practice run, prompting the North to puts its missile units on standby to fire at U.S. military bases in the South and in the Pacific.

The United States also deployed F-22 stealth fighter jets on Sunday to take part in the drills. The F-22s were deployed in South Korea before, in 2010.

On its part, North Korea has canceled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.

CALLS FOR RESTRAINT

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said North Korea's announcement that it was in a state of war followed a "familiar pattern" of rhetoric.

Russia, which has often balanced criticism of North Korea, a Soviet-era client state, with calls on the United States and South Korea to refrain from belligerent actions, said a recurrence of war was unacceptable.

"We hope that all parties will exercise maximum responsibility and restraint and no one will cross the point of no return," Grigory Logvinov, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official, told Interfax news agency.

France said it was deeply worried about the situation on the Korean peninsula while NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said the alliance hoped "that this is more posturing than a prelude to any armed hostilities."

Even the new pope has joined in the calls for peace.

China has repeatedly called for restraint on the peninsula.

However, many in South Korea have regarded the North's willingness to keep open the Kaesong industrial zone, located just a few miles (km) north of the heavily-militarized border and operated jointly by both sides, as a sign that Pyongyang will not risk losing a lucrative source of foreign currency by mounting a real act of aggression.

The Kaesong zone is a vital source of hard currency for the North and hundreds of South Korean workers and vehicles enter daily after crossing the armed border.

It was still open on Monday despite threats by Pyongyang to shut it down.

"If the puppet traitor group continues to mention the Kaesong industrial zone is being kept operating and damages our dignity, it will be mercilessly shut off and shut down," KCNA quoted an agency that operates Kaesong as saying in a statement.

Closure could also trap hundreds of South Korean workers and managers of the more than 100 firms that have factories there.

The North has previously suspended operations at the factory zone at the height of political tensions with the South, only to let it resume operations later.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in WASHINGTON; Editing by David Chance and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-vows-fast-response-north-u-deploys-043826040.html

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Jerry "The King" Lawler opens a wrestling museum in Memphis, Tenn.

Jerry Lawler's career is already celebrated for the WWE Hall of Famer's myriad accolades and accomplishments, but now "The King" can add another jewel to his crown: He's opened his own museum.

Originally intended as a small display of the WWE Hall of Famer's personal memorabilia in Memphis, Tenn.'s Wynn Automobile, Lawler's endeavor expanded into a full-fledged archive located inside the shop. The museum (which opened this past Saturday with an autograph signing from "The King" himself) houses both personal treasures like Lawler's AWA World Heavyweight Championship and other exhibits devoted to the broader history of professional wrestling. Admission is free to any sports-entertainment fans who make the pilgrimage and the museum offers some memorabilia of its own, such as signed photos of Lawler, for anyone who wishes to purchase a memento.

For any members of the WWE Universe looking to take the trip down to the museum, it is located at 1831 Getwell Road in Memphis, Tenn., and operates from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/outside-the-ring/jerry-lawler-opens-wrestling-museum

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