mimblr.com

BARABOO, Wis. - A man charged with stealing art from a sculpture park and selling it for scrap was sentenced Thursday to eight months in jail.
Investigators say Howard J. Henn, 55, took metal used in the art of Lodi artist Tom Every, known as Dr. Evermor, at his outdoor sculpture studio.
Every’s “The Forevertron” was recently featured in “Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists.”
It was organized by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center last year and featured outsider art. It displayed more than 2,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs from 22 artists at its center and at five locations around the state, including North Freedom where “The Forevertron” sits.
It is a 300-ton sculpture that stands some 50 feet high and spans about 7,200 square feet.
That was untouched, but Henn was accused of stealing tons of valuable bronze, copper and brass scrap metal from the studio on Highway 12 across from the Badger Army Ammunition Plant between Baraboo and Prairie du Sac last July.
Henn appeared in Sauk County Circuit Court Thursday, where he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge and a count of receiving stolen property was dismissed, but used as a factor in sentencing.
A judge ordered Henn to Sauk County’s jail for eight months and to pay about $2,000 in fines, fees and restitution.
Every has previously said he is concerned thieves are melting down history and art.
“The metal came from breweries and power plants and recently, in the last four years, I got a lot of metal from the Badger Ordnance Plant,” he said in an interview last year. “Metal is metal. It has historic value for the shape and form it was in. So it isn’t just like now it’s worth $3 a pound for copper or $2 a pound for brass; we never looked at it that way at all.”

chicagotribune.com

MEMPHIS - Brad Nelson belted a two-out grand slam in the top of the twelfth inning, his second home run of the evening, and the Nashville Sounds withstood a three-run Memphis rally in the bottom of the frame to post a dramatic 8-7 victory over the first-place Redbirds on Sunday evening at AutoZone Park.
Nelson, who hadn’t homered in a month entering the contest, drilled former Sound John Wasdin’s first offering over the right field wall for his eighth home run of the year and Nashville’s second slam of 2008. Ozzie Chavez, who opened the twelfth with a double, and Adam Heether and Laynce Nix, who each drew a walk, all scored on the game-winning blast.
Memphis didn’t go down without a fight, however, as Josh Phelps made it a one-run contest in the bottom of the inning when he belted a towering one-out, three-run homer to left off Sounds reliever Erasmo Ramirez, his eighth longball of the season. Ramirez recovered to retire the next two hitters in order to preserve the victory.
The teams had exchanged a pair of tenth-inning runs earlier in the extra frames. The contest was the fourth extra-inning affair for Nashville this season (2-2).
The Sounds (21-28) took their second straight from the Redbirds after losing four in a row to the division frontrunners.
Redbirds right fielder Joe Mather gave the home team a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he belted a two-out solo homer to left-center off Sounds starter Lindsay Gulin. The roundtripper was his team-leading 12th of the year and third in the last three games.
Memphis starting pitcher Anthony Reyes helped his own cause in the third when he slugged a one-out solo homer to straightaway center off Gulin, doubling the Redbirds’ lead to 2-0.
The Sounds broke through in the fifth as an inning-opening walk to Eric Munson came back to haunt Reyes. Ozzie Chavez halved the Memphis lead to 2-1 when he plated the third baseman with a one-out RBI single to right, only the second hit in the shortstop’s last 18 at-bats.

oursportscentral.com

B uckle up for network TV’s version of a highway pileup.
Nine prime-time series end their seasons Thursday night. You could fry your remote trying to keep up.
Spare yourself the aggravation. Here’s a look at the departing shows, with some advice: See it as it airs, tape it for later or skip it.
“My Name is Earl” (Thursday night at 8 on WHDH, Ch. 7). Earl in prison, Earl in a coma, Earl with Alyssa Milano. What did we do wrong to deserve this season of hell? Where’s that sweet, funny show we fell in love with? Skip.
“Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” (Thursday at 8 p.m. on WFXT, Ch. 25). More apt title: “60 Minutes and Four Brain Cells of Your Life You’ll Never Get Back.” Skip.
“Smallville” (Thursday at 8 p.m. on WLVI [website] , Ch. 56). Here’s the year’s best example of a series that collapsed on itself creatively. The moment I finally gave up: When Clark (Tom Welling) even refused to try to fly. Man of Steel? Man of Mopes is more like it. Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum make their last appearances as series regulars. Oh, and Brainiac attacks. Again. Skip.
“Don’t Forget the Lyrics” (Thursday at 9 p.m. on WFXT, Ch. 25). I forgot this show is still on. Skip.
‘‘The Office” (Thursday at 9 p.m. on WHDH): Last week’s intern fair was a rare outing for “The Office”: a dud. That does nothing to quell expectations for this one-hour episode, expected to bring all sorts of life-changing news for our favorite cube dwellers. Is Toby really leaving Dunder Mifflin? Will Jim finally propose to Pam? Is Jan pregnant? Don’t make the mistake many did last year and skip the closing credit tag. See.
“Supernatural” (Thursday at 9 p.m. on WLVI): Is Dean (Jensen Ackles) going straight to hell? “Supernatural” has been on a tear since the writers strike ended, but it’s up against “The Office.” Tape.

bostonherald.com

FORT WORTH — Forty-one percent of Fort Worth eighth-graders failed the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills — an exam they must pass to be promoted to ninth grade.
But the number of eighth-graders who didn’t pass on the first try is down 5 percentage points from last year, when 46 percent, or 2,200, students didn’t pass.
“It’s a statistically significant gain,” Superintendent Melody Johnson said.
At 47 percent, Everman schools’ failure rate was higher.
Both districts fared worse than the state as a whole, according to figures released Tuesday.
Twenty-five percent of Texas eighth-graders didn’t pass the test on the first try, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Eighth-grade passing rates are critical because this is the first year that the state requires middle school students to pass the math and reading TAKS to be promoted.
They have three chances to pass.
Some 309,822 eighth-graders across Texas took the math test April 8.
“A majority of our fifth- and eighth-grade students deserve our congratulations because they have met this important promotion requirement, but clearly we have more work to do to help all students pass the math exam,” Education Commissioner Robert Scott said in a statement Tuesday.
Northeast Tarrant results
Districts in Northeast Tarrant followed similar trends as the state’s, with most holding steady or showing slight decreases in fifth-grade math and all districts showing improvement in the eighth grade. All districts’ rates were higher than the state averages.
“We’re pleased with the progress that we’re seeing,” said Mark Thomas, a spokesman for the Birdville school district, which saw an 8-percentage-point jump to 76 percent on the passing rate for eighth-grade math. “That is one of the areas of concentration for us, math and science.”
The Keller district also saw an 8-percentage-point increase in eighth-grade math.

star-telegram.com

FIRST ON KOLO 8 — Biometric scanning technology needed to enroll passengers in the Registered Traveler program, and verify their identities at security checkpoints, has been shut down in Reno, according to the manufacturer. The equipment is provided by a private company called, Unisys, which says at the moment no one else can fully join the rtGo program in Reno.
Unisys says its technology was turned off in Reno on Tuesday. RtGo Program Director Bryan Ichikawa says there was an “issue” with the technology. He declined to elaborate, citing business proprietary information.
Unisys’s scanners are used to take iris and finger print scans at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. If a person submits to the scans, and passes a background check, they can become a Registered Traveler. If you enroll in Reno, you get an rtGo Registered Travler card. According to rtGo’s Web site, at security checkpoints, passengers insert their cards into the machine. They then have their eyes and fingers scanned, and scans are compared against the data from when they enrolled — that allows Registered Travelers to stand in shorter security lines.
Airport spokesman Brian Kulpin says people who already have rtGo cards won’t experience additional delays. He says cardholders can still stand in shorter security lines and simply display their cards — but they will also have to show ID and a boarding pass.
Ichikawa says the company hopes to get the technology running again in Reno as soon as possible. He says in the meantime, discounts will be offered to some passengers. Ichikawa says it costs about $100 a year to participate in rtGo.
A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration declined to research details of the scanner shut down in Reno until Monday. She says it is up to private industry to prove its technology meets security standards. However, Ichikawa says the issue with the technology in Reno is not one of security.

kolotv.com

B3yond the Report 04.08.08
This week I rate the top PlayStation Network games. Also, news on things like the new PlayStation Store, the DualShock 3 controller, Metal Gear Solid 4, WarHawk, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Echochrome, Motorstorm 2, Haze, Mercenaries 2, and more when we go B3yond the Report!
Welcome to B3yond the Report, where we keep our hands warm with the damn patriot act! Sorry, I’ve got to stop listening to rap while trying to write a news report. Any who it’s time for your favorite news report once again *I’m going to get hate for that one, then again everyone refuses to acknowledge my request for a 411 games war*. I got a lot of positive reader feedback in regards to the new changes, so thanks guys I’ll be sure to keep raising the bar in the future. Any who it’s time to get back to what I do best *or arguably worst, I don’t know*, so stand up if you’re broke and you ain’t ever givin’ up *sorry I couldn’t resist, good song*.
Thanks to Ashish for letting me leave the title as “B3yond the Report” instead of “B3yond the Report Gaming News Report”.
Down with rumble since day 1, it’s B3yond the News of the Week
Rumble fans rejoice! The DualShock 3 controller has finally been released in the US at a price of $55. The wait was long *and it seemed as if it would never come at times*, but rumble has finally returned to the console that could. It appears as if Sony will cease production on the SIXAXIS controllers, so once they’re gone they’re gone for good. While $55 is expensive for a controller, it’s still only $5 more than the 360 controller and is actually $5 less than a Wiimote and Nun chuck.

411mania.com

When the organizers of Calle Ocho — the massive street festival that organizers predict will draw 1.4 million revelers on its 30th anniversary Sunday — were tossing around ideas for a cultural event on Southwest Eighth Street, somebody proposed holding a bicycle race.
But members of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, a service club made up exclusively of Cuban Americans, weren’t looking to create competition. They were looking to promote inclusion.
”The idea was to bring people together,” says Leslie Pantin, then Kiwanis Club president, who is credited with being the father of the street festival.
A packed mass of partygoers will salsa, merengue, or just slowly elbow their way down Little Havana’s main drag on Sunday, stopping to listen to a smorgasbord of music, from Puerto Rican salsa diva La India to Miami-bred rapper Pitbull; to munch on seafood paella or arepas; and to grab free samples of everything from Lipton’s mango cream tea to free AT&T phone cards. There will be energy drinks, beer promoted by major breweries and even full-service bars. A one-block walk at peak hours might take an hour.
In the end, it’s not just a day of Latin cultural immersion for the mostly Hispanic revelers. It’s one of the nation’s biggest Hispanic marketing events, as every corporation that targets Spanish-speaking communities, the advertising agencies that fashion those pitches, and the Spanish-language media that deliver them descend on Miami to market with unabashed zeal.

read_more

Every year, it seems, there’s one artist who captures the popular imagination and becomes the de facto singer of choice at the American Idol auditions. It’s usually someone popular and it’s usually someone that no Idol wannabe, not even the eventual winner, can match for high notes.
This year, that singer was Celine Dion. Every time a would-be Idol walked in the door and answered the question, “What are you going to sing?” with, “Power of Love/I’m Your Angel/fill-in-the-blank by Celine Dion,” you could practically see Simon Cowell’s eye-roll before it happened.
Of course, Dion is the flavour of the moment.
Tonight, in Dion’s first concert since wrapping her five-year run in Sin City, Dion serenades the crowd at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles with some of her greatest hits, including The Power of Love, River Deep Mountain High and, from her new album, Taking Chances.
Tonight’s concert special is called Celine Dion: That’s Just the Woman in Me, and as the title suggests, it’s a little more intimate than the usual chest-thumping arena show. Dion even takes time to answer questions from the audience, though it’s a safe bet the questions won’t get too pushy. There’s only so much ground that can be covered in an hour, after all. 9 p.m., CTV, CBS
Nip/Tuck, FX’s cutting-edge cable drama that is easy to admire but hard to like, settles into its regular Friday home after debuting on a Sunday.
Tonight’s episode, the third of Nip/Tuck’s fifth and most recent season — 14 episodes will air in all — first aired on FX in November, and is being shown here for the first time.
Dr. Sean (Dylan Walsh) fends off the increasingly heated advances of Eden Lord (AnnaLynne McCord), while juggling Julia’s (Joely Richardson) emotional needs. Nip/Tuck has always been something of a high-wire act. It’s clever and well-written, but it might just be one of the most emotionally violent dramas on TV. Few programs are more sexually explicit, or disturbing, which makes it all the more remarkable that it is airing on a mainstream, mass-audience broadcast network. 10 p.m., CTV
Three to see:
- Wedding bells, they are a-ringin’ on a two-hour outing of Las Vegas that might be the five-year-old series’ last. It isn’t all roses and tiaras, however. This is a wedding Vegas-style, which means Danny (Josh Duhamel) and Piper (Camille Guaty) are taken hostage in an art heist gone wrong — don’t they always? — and before it’s over, one of the cast regulars is being fitted for a funeral suit. Bummer. 9 p.m., Global, NBC
- Turner Classic Movies continues its month-long salute to Oscar with the offbeat 1970 western Little Big Man, in which Salish Chief Dan George landed a supporting-actor Oscar nomination. A classy performance in a classic film. 5 p.m., TCM
- A beauty queen, Cassandra Whitehead tests her wits against 100 trivia buffs in tonight’s pop culture-themed 1 vs. 100. The supposed pop culture experts include Ross the Intern from The Tonight Show, Richard Rubin from Beauty and the Geek and a trio of Playboy Playmates. 8 p.m., E!, NBC