Recently in National News Category

Tiger Woods announced that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf on Friday. 

The announcement came two weeks after a car accident that set in motion a shocking downfall for the world's No. 1 player, which has included sordid allegations of numerous extramarital affairs. One woman even shared a voicemail she said Woods left her two nights before his Nov. 27 accident, according to the New York Times

"After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf," Woods said. "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.", Star Tribune,

The exact time that Woods will take away from golf is unclear, but he has made a strong point to stay out of the public eye since the inciddent.

The State Senate will vote today on whether New York will legalize gay marriage.

The Assembly passed the same-sex marriage bill just past midnight Wednesday, the third time the body has approved the bill since 2007, according to the New York Times.

The legislation needs 32 votes in the 62-member chamber to pass. If four Democrats vote no, that would put the Democratic vote at 28 in favor, meaning four Republicans would have to cross over to vote yes, states the BuffaloNews.

If the bill is approved, New York would join New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Iowa and Massachusetts with gay marriage statutes. The District of Columbia gave a preliminary approval to gay marriage rights on Tuesday. Buffalo News.

The outcome will be posted Wednesday afternoon.

Tiger Woods, the world's No. one golfer, is beginning to tie up lose ends for the media and with his family in his recent episode of crashing his car outside his home this past Friday.

Woods said he let his family down with "transgressions" he regrets "with all of my heart," and that he will deal with his personal life behind closed doors, according to the Star Tribune.

His statement follows a story that was written about him and an a cocktail waitress having an alleged 31-month affair.

So, while Woods admitted transgressions, he did not go into any further detail beyond apologizing to his family and supporters, New York Times.

A single mom with a medical condition that gives her up to 300 orgasms a day has finally met the man of her dreams.

Michelle Thompson, who suffers from Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome, thought she would never meet the partner of her dreams. She was just too demanding for all her previous lovers, according to News of The World.

She even had to quit her previous job because her medical condition was interfering.

But she has been with her neighbor Andrew Carr, 32, for the past six months and he's as keen for sexual intercourse as she is. They make love 10 times a day, states FoxNews.

Thompson has finally found a good match.

21-year-old Joe Cada won the World Series of Poker on Monday in Las Vegas.

Cada dropped out of college and pursued being a poker pro instead. His parents weren't happy about it but he did it anyway. But when he won Tuesday, his mom was "dumbfounded." according to the Daily Inquirer.

Cada has become the youngest to ever become a champion in the World Series of Poker.

Cada became fascinated with poker at an early age. He had older friends who played. He left community college after a few semesters to pursue it as a profession. Too young as a teen to play at U.S. casinos, where the minimum age is 21, he played online, traveled to Canada to play at 19 and made enough money to enter tournaments in the Bahamas and Costa Rica. He was successful before this, earning enough to buy a house, according to USA Today.

At such a young age, Cada has quite the career ahead of him.

A 13-year-old cat from Iowa was believed to be the first case of  H1N1 in felines.

      The cat was believed to have caught the disease from humans because two of the three

individuals in the home were diagnosed with the disease as well. 

       The cat was lethargic and not eating. So a clinic tested the cat and confirmed that it was H1N1. The feline is now getting better, according toa report on WCCO.

        To protect your pets, experts suggest taking the same precautions you would to prevent spreading the flu to other people, including getting the vaccine, wearing a mask, keeping some distance and washing your hands, states the USATODAY.

 

Gunman killed 11 soldiers and wounded 31 others on Thursday afternoon at Fort Hood in Texas. 

Authorities then killed the gunman, who was identified as Malik Nadal Hasan, an Army major who was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the New York Times. 

The site was immediately placed in lockdown as authorities worked on investigation.

There was no immediate word on a motive. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He said all the casualties took place at the base's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, according to the Star Tribune.

The military authorites are looking into further investigation on other possible gunman involved. 

Hip-Hop artist Lil Wayne is expected to received a one year jail sentence after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon charges on Thursday.

Police said a gun was found on Lil Wayne's tour bus in Manhattan in 2007. Lil Wayne acknowledged in court that there was a gun on the tour bus and identified it as a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, states the New York TImes.

When he was indicted in February 2008, Carter pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal possession of a weapon, the district attorney's office said. His guilty plea Thursday was to a reduced charge, according to CNN.

This grammy winning rapper also faces felony drug possession and weapons charges in Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, which is scheduled to go to trial in March, according to the New York Times.

 

Federal health officials said Friday that 11 more children have died in the past week because of the H1N1 virus.

Their have been at total of eight-six children that have died from the swine flu since its outbreak last spring, 43 of those 86 have been in September and October alone.

That's a startling number because in some past winters, the CDC has counted 40 or 50 child deaths for the entire flu season, she said, and no one knows how long this swine flu outbreak will last, according to The Star Tribune.

Also surprising, about half of the child deaths reported since Sept. 1 have been teenagers. Until now, much of the attention has focused on younger children, Fox News states.

These statistics are causing quite a panic across the country.

The house voted Thursday to make it a federal crime assault individuals because of their sexual orientation, expanding the hate crime laws. 

Democratics led the 281-146 vote, with 15 democrats and 131 republicans in opposition, according to the USA Today.

"It's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying hate crimes legislation was on her agenda when she first entered Congress 22 years ago.

It's been almost 11 years since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student, whose death has had a great influence on this bill to be passed.

The hate-crimes legislation allocates $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating such crimes, a process that can sometimes strain local police resources. It allows the Justice Department to assist in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes if asked to do so by local authorities, according to the New York Times.

The FBI says there are some 8,000 hate crimes reported around the country in a year. More than half of those are motivated by racial bias. Next most frequent are crimes based on religious bias at around 18% and sexual orientation at 16%, states the USA Today.

With these large numbers focused on sexual orietatation it does not come at as a suprise that this bill was so easily passed.