January 2012 Archives

Prosecutors charged a Utah man Tuesday with child abuse homicide in the death of his teenage baby sitter, the Associated Press said.

Suspect Eric Millerberg faces charges of having sex with a minor, obstructing justice and desecration of a body. Millerberg's wife, Dea, was charged with desecration of a body also.

The body of 16-year-old Alexis Rasmussen was found in a shallow grave more than a month after she was reported missing. Rasmussen was babysitting for the Millerbergs at their North Ogden home on Sept. 10, which is the night she disappeared. Her body was found Oct. 18 off a nearby interstate.

Documents reveal that Rasmussen was much more involved with the Millerbergs than mere babysitting, the Standard-Examiner reports. She had also slipped into drug use with the Millerbergs, and even sold narcotic painkillers to a friend the night she was last seen.

Shaun White managed to outdo himself once again Sunday night at the Winter X Games in Aspen.

White scored a perfect score of 100 in the Men's Snowboard SuperPipe finals, winning his fifth consecutive gold medal, ESPN said.

No competitor had ever received a perfect score in the event, but White did it in grand fashion on the final run of the competition. The Colorado Springs Gazette said that the "Flying Tomato" overcame an injured left ankle to win his 12th career gold medal.

White scored a 94 on his first run and was the last person left to attempt his 2nd run, but by then it was already determined that he had won gold. With the outcome already determined, White decided to go big in front of the X Games crowd.

The epic battle between two tennis superstars Sunday morning is what sparked ESPN to write a feature story on the event.

The lead to the story begins, "Novak Djokovic ripped off his shirt and let out a primal scream, flexing his torso the way a prize fighter would after a desperate, last-round knockout.", which includes the "who" and "what" of a traditional news lead. Also important, the story sets the scene of triumph, as they describe the emotions shown by Djokovic after he had just won the match. By using a detailed analogy, the lead opens with something deeper than just the facts from the match.

It was clear that the writer of this story went away from a hard-news lead because the act of Djokovic ripping his shirt off in celebration was too juicy to pass up. The writer uses detail to capture the attention of the reader, but also lets us know the result of the match at the same time.

The more detailed lead serves as a connector toward a deeper meaning than the simple facts of the event and its' result.

A Prior Lake man recently won $59, 800 on a recent stint as a contestant featured on the show Jeopardy, the Pioneer Press reported.

The episodes of the show that aired this week featured Kirby Burnett of Prior Lake, who won $27,600 in the first game and $30,200 in the second. However, he failed to win on his third attempt and was given $2,000 for taking second place.

Burnett qualified for the show after completing an online quiz and another quiz in person in Kansas City. He was chosen as a contestant and appeared on taped segments in November, the Star Tribune said.

He describes himself as an always competitive person, winning a national chess tournament and a Canterbury Park poker tournament in the past.

Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in five sets after 5 hours, 53 minutes to win his third Australian Open title Sunday, ESPN reported.

In the longest Grand Slam singles final ever, Djokovic also became the fifth man to win three straight Grand Slam finals.

Djokovic has now won four of the last five major tournaments, while Nadal became the first man to lose three consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, The New York Times said.

Djokovic has beaten Nadal seven straight times after Sunday's match. Nadal lost the match after winning the first set, which is only the second time that has happened in his last 134 matches.

A 34-year-old Zimmerman man was found dead Saturday in rural St. Louis County after a cabin fire, the Duluth News Tribune reported.

The Star Tribune said that the fire happened Saturday afternoon about 15 miles southeast of Hibbing. The fire destroyed the entire cabin.

A 35-year-old woman from Buhl was able to escape the cabin without injury, but first responders found the man dead inside the cabin. The name of the man was not immediately released pending the notification of his family.

The fire is being investigated by the Minnesota State Fire Marshal's Office.

Representatives of Egypt's first freely elected Parliament in six decades met Monday for the first time.

It did not take long for a democratic dispute to arise over choosing a speaker, which escalated into a shouting match that overshadowed the day, The New York Times reported.

Saad el Katatny, of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, was eventually named the speaker as expected. The decision came after some last minute bickering, which further revealed the tension between the only elected body of Egypt's unfinished revolution, reported The Miami Herald.

The newly appointed assembly's main cause for action is to lead the selection of drafters for a new constitution, but some legislators have already promised to use their power to challenge the transition to democracy.

For the revolutionaries, their No. 1 goal is a smooth transition from military to civilian rule, but for now the generals are pushing for authority to be distributed after presidential elections in June.

The parliamentary session began with a prayer for the "martyrs", who were killed during protests in the past year. The session was held to administer the oath of office and to name a speaker of Parliament, but both topics drew an emotional debate.

Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passed away in State College, Pa. Sunday at the age of 85 after a fight with lung cancer, ESPN reported.

Paterno was relieved of his duties as head football coach earlier this year amid a child sex abuse scandal that tarnished his sparkling legacy.

Aside from the scandal, Paterno won 409 games as coach of the Nittany Lions, which is the most in Division I history. He became head coach at Penn State in 1966, and went on to win 37 bowl games, including two national championships.

The coach known as "JoePa", built his program on the motto "Success with Honor", which yielded impressive results in player graduation rates and academic success.

Family friend Larry Foster told The New York Times that Paterno simply lost his will to live, because Penn State was everything to him.