Family seeks answers in death near Hernandez home

BOSTON (AP) ? Family members of the man found slain a mile from New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's house said Friday they are looking for answers about what happened the night he died.

Police have searched in and around Hernandez's sprawling home in North Attleborough, not far from where the Patriots practice. The Bristol County District Attorney has not released any information, other than saying the death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd is being treated as a homicide.

A jogger found Lloyd's body in an industrial park Monday. Family members said Friday that Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend and the two men were friends who were together at some point the night that Lloyd died.

Family members have said Lloyd, a semi-pro football player, was never in trouble and that many things are puzzling about the case. But they also said Friday that they can see progress in the investigation.

"I want the person that killed my son to be brought to justice," said Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward. "That's my first-born child, my only boy child, and they took him away from me. ... I wouldn't trade him for all the money in the world. And if money could bring him back I would give this house up to bring my son back. Nothing can bring my son back."

Hernandez attorney Michael Fee has acknowledged media reports about the state police search of his client's home but says he wouldn't have any comment on it.

Mark E. Sturdy, clerk magistrate of Attleboro District Court, said three search warrants were issued in the investigation earlier in the week, but they have not yet been returned, meaning they're not public. He said no arrest warrants had been filed in state courts as of Friday morning.

Lindsay Lague, a spokeswoman for the police department in Providence, R.I., said officers had assisted Massachusetts police with the Hernandez investigation at a Providence strip club, but she could not say what they were doing there. A woman who answered the phone Friday afternoon at the business, Club Desire, said no one was available to answer questions.

Media have been camped out for several days at Hernandez's home, near the Rhode Island state line. A news helicopter followed along Thursday as Hernandez drove in a white SUV from his home to the Patriots' stadium, then got out and went inside.

Patriots spokesman Stacey James said the team had no comment on why Hernandez was there. He said earlier that the team did not anticipate commenting publicly during the police investigation. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is waiting for the legal process to take its course.

Hernandez has already lost an endorsement deal. CytoSport, the Benicia, Calif.-based company that makes Muscle Milk and other supplements for athletes, said in a statement Friday that it was ending Hernandez's endorsement contract, effective immediately, because of the investigation.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez out of Florida in 2010. Since then, he has combined with Rob Gronkowski to form one of the top tight end duos in the NFL. He missed 10 games last season with an ankle injury and had shoulder surgery in April but is expected to be ready for training camp. Last summer, the Patriots gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

Hernandez said after he was drafted that he had failed a drug test while with the Gators and had been upfront with NFL teams about the issue.

Earlier this week, a 30-year-old man filed a lawsuit in South Florida claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after they argued at a strip club.

Alexander Bradley's lawsuit accuses Hernandez of negligence, among other things, suggesting that the shooting may have been accidental. Bradley said he lost his right eye and suffers many other lingering effects from the shooting.

Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, said Friday that investigators would need to speak directly with Bradley in order to move forward with a criminal investigation and cannot rely on the claims he made in his lawsuit. She said Bradley repeatedly refused to cooperate in the criminal probe after he was shot in February, telling detectives he didn't know who shot him.

"If he contacts us, we would move forward with the investigation," Barbera said. "He needs to reach out to us and he has not done so."

Hernandez's attorney did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

___

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in Miami and Michelle R. Smith in Attleboro, Mass., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/family-seeks-answers-death-near-hernandez-home-160343672.html

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Rangers hire new coach Vigneault with 5-year deal

NEW YORK (AP) ? Alain Vigneault wasn't out of work for long.

Just more than four weeks after he was fired by the Vancouver Canucks, Vigneault took over as coach of the New York Rangers on Friday ? replacing the blustery John Tortorella three weeks after his dismissal.

Vigneault edged out former Rangers captain Mark Messier, longtime former Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff and others in landing the job as New York's new bench boss.

He was given a five-year deal.

"I was thinking about the opportunity to coach the New York Rangers, one of the Original Six teams," the 52-year-old Vigneault said. "There is not a chance I could pass that up. Honored and privileged I feel at this moment."

In 11 seasons as an NHL head coach with Montreal and Vancouver, Vigneault is 422-288-35-61 in 806 games.

He was officially introduced during a morning news conference at Radio City Music Hall, which had his name up on the famous marquee outside.

Vigneault was interviewed last week during the Rangers' organizational meetings in California and then met with team owner James Dolan in New York. Messier also had an interview during the club meetings out West.

"We had a list of 13 candidates and I narrowed it down to nine," said Glen Sather, Rangers president and general manager. "I interviewed two in person and four over the phone. It wasn't just between A.V. and Mark."

It is unknown if Messier will remain with the Rangers. He is currently a special assistant to Sather. Messier, a Hockey Hall of Fame player, lacks the coaching experience that Vigneault is loaded with.

Tortorella was fired after 4? seasons with New York on May 29 ? four days after the Rangers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by Boston in five games. A year ago, the Rangers reached the Eastern Conference finals before bowing out against New Jersey.

In an ironic twist, Tortorella was reportedly offered the job on Friday to replace Vigneault in Vancouver.

Speculation that Vigneault was about to be hired by the Rangers increased greatly last weekend, especially after he removed himself from consideration to become coach of the Dallas Stars.

"I want to win," Vigneault said. "Given the opportunity to come here, it was just something that I couldn't turn down. I did find out, though, that it is a lot easier to negotiate yourself a contract when you've got two teams that are after you than just one."

With that, he gave Sather a hearty pat on the back as those in the room broke out in laughter.

"I didn't particularly enjoy that part," Sather said with a smile.

Vigneault posted impressive credentials with the Canucks, ranking first on the franchise list in coaching wins, earning the Presidents' Trophy twice for having the most points in the NHL, winning six Northwest Division titles, and getting within one win of capturing the Stanley Cup in 2011.

In seven seasons as Vancouver's coach, Vigneault was 313-170-57 in the regular season but only 33-32 in the playoffs.

His final two seasons ended in disappointment as Vancouver was knocked out in the first round in both years ? including a sweep by San Jose last month.

The Canucks hadn't been swept in the playoffs in 12 years. The early-round exits when they were the higher-seeded team, and losses at home at the starts of the series were cited by Vancouver president and general manager Mike Gillis as reasons for Vigneault's firing on May 22.

"I am coming here to win," Vigneault said. "There is no doubt in my mind that this organization is committed to winning the Stanley Cup. We've got a lot of great pieces here and we're going to try to improve so that we all get to where we want to be."

Messier captained the Rangers past the Canucks in the seven-game Stanley Cup finals series in 1994. Vancouver lost another Game 7 in the finals against Boston in 2011 ? the Canucks' first trip back to the championship series since the loss to New York 17 years earlier.

Vigneault had a quick lesson in Rangers history as he toured the team's suburban practice facility.

"I saw some of the pictures from the last time this city won the Cup," he said. "It's real clear to me that there is no better place to win the Stanley Cup than here in New York."

Tortorella reached the playoffs in all but one of his five seasons with the Rangers, but his failure to get New York back to a championship level along with his combative nature were likely key factors that led to his firing.

Sather declined to give specifics for the dismissal, saying only that it wasn't one thing or particular incident that caused it.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rangers-hire-coach-vigneault-5-deal-171240817.html

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Supreme Court: Anti-prostitution pledge in AIDS law violates free speech

A 2003 US law providing funding to fight AIDS required recipients to explicitly oppose prostitution. The Supreme Court, by a 6-2 margin, rejected the pledge of 'allegiance to the government's policy.'

By Warren Richey,?Staff writer / June 20, 2013

The US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as a violation of free speech a portion of a 2003 federal law that required recipients of government money in an international anti-AIDS program to embrace and advocate a US policy explicitly opposing prostitution.

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In a 6-to-2 decision the high court ruled that the government-imposed requirement violated the First Amendment by forcing US aid recipients to adopt a position that extended beyond the administration of the anti-AIDS program.

?The policy requirement goes beyond preventing recipients from using private funds in a way that would undermine the federal program. It requires them to pledge allegiance to the government?s policy of eradicating prostitution,? Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

He quoted former Justice Robert Jackson?s famous opinion in a landmark First Amendment case: ?If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.?

In a dissent, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas said the government was free to seek out those who agree with its ideas and enlist their assistance in effectively spending government money to achieve its goals.

?In the end, and in the circumstances of this case, compelling as a condition of federal funding the affirmation of a belief is no compulsion at all,? Scalia said.

?It is the reasonable price of admission to a limited government-spending program that each organization remains free to accept or reject,? he said.

The central issue in the case was whether the government could force participants in a federal program to espouse a certain policy position as a condition of receiving US funding.

?This decision is a victory for human rights,? Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, said in a statement. ?The anti-prostitution loyalty oath was based on discrimination against one of the groups most at risk of HIV infection, and had nothing to do with evidence or best practices.?

?This will allow organizations fighting HIV to address the epidemic in the most effective way possible,? Ms. Sippel said.

In passing the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, Congress found that HIV/AIDS had reached pandemic proportions. More than 65 million individuals had been infected by HIV, and 25 million had died. HIV/AIDS was the fourth largest cause of death worldwide, Congress found.

In sub-Saharan Africa, alone, more than 19 million had died of AIDS, with projections that a quarter of the population would die of AIDS in the next decade.

The Leadership Act was designed to put in place a comprehensive, multi-billion-dollar US response to the unfolding tragedy ? including an attempt to address the underlying causes of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Key in that goal was a strong policy opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. As a result, the law included two conditions:

First it prohibited recipients from using Leadership Act funds to ?promote or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution or sex trafficking.?

Second, the law barred any organization from receiving Leadership Act funds ?that does not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/IyCNeI4M-jo/Supreme-Court-Anti-prostitution-pledge-in-AIDS-law-violates-free-speech

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If necessary, they can also be 'Big Fast Bruins'

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, left, of Finland, watches the puck caroms from the net on a shot by Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, not shown during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston. Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) celebrates as Bruins defensemen Andrew Ference (21) and Dennis Seidenberg (44), of Germany, watch. Chicago won 6-5 to even the series 2-2. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, left, of Finland, watches the puck caroms from the net on a shot by Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, not shown during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston. Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) celebrates as Bruins defensemen Andrew Ference (21) and Dennis Seidenberg (44), of Germany, watch. Chicago won 6-5 to even the series 2-2. (AP Photo/Harry How, Pool)

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33), of Slovakia, Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40), of Finland, Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (44), of Germany, and Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) leave the ice after their 6-5 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks during the first overtime period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston. Chicago won 6-5.(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON (AP) ? From Eddie Shore to Bobby Orr to Raymond Bourque, the Boston Bruins have played a certain way ? and been pretty successful at it.

The bruising and often belligerent style was best embodied by the "Big Bad Bruins" of the 1960s and '70s. And it helped establish the way Boston teams are still expected to play.

After the 6-5 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals Wednesday night, Boston coach Claude Julien said it just wasn't a "Bruins type of game." Trading scoring chances has never been the way Julien likes to play.

But don't get him wrong: He doesn't mind scoring five goals, he'd just rather lock down the defense so his team doesn't give up six.

Bruins forward Chris Kelly said the scoring shows Boston "can skate with anybody."

The best-of-seven series is 2-2, with Game 5 is Saturday night in Chicago.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-20-HKN-Stanley-Cup-Bruins/id-d93d16447cc14c7db63ba218062c3e0d

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Yankees top Dodgers in Mattingly's Bronx return

By HOWIE RUMBERG

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:02 p.m. ET June 19, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) - Yankees fans showed Don Mattingly the love from the moment he took the lineup card to home plate Wednesday. Hiroki Kuroda, though, wasn't feeling nostalgic when facing his old team.

Kuroda shut down Los Angeles into the seventh inning, Ichiro Suzuki homered and drove in three runs, and the New York Yankees spoiled Mattingly's return to the Bronx with a 6-4 victory over the sloppy Dodgers in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

"Once the game started I didn't really focus too much on who I was facing," Kuroda said through a translator. "I was trying to contribute for the Yankees."

Lyle Overbay hit a two-run double against South Korean rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) in the first game in New York between the old October rivals since Los Angeles clinched the 1981 World Series title with a win in Game 6 at the original Yankee Stadium. The teams that have met in a record 11 World Series - eight won by the Yankees - never faced off in interleague play at the Stadium before this week.

Baseball's two injury battered $200 million teams have to pack a two-game series into one day because rain postponed Tuesday night's opener. Los Angeles' Chris Capuano was activated off the disabled list after the first game and was scheduled to start the nightcap against New York's Phil Hughes.

Cuban rookie Yasiel Puig put on quite a show for a vocal contingent of Dodgers fans. He led off the eighth by daringly stretching a liner to left-center into a double - he got thrown out trying a similar play in the first. He also tried to throw a runner out at first on a single to right field in the second inning and struck out to end the game against Mariano Rivera.

"His talent's great and his aggressiveness we love, because you love the way he plays," Mattingly said. "But we've got to make sure that we continue to teach, and for him to understand the right times to take those chances."

Suzuki made a leaping catch at the wall in right field for the first out of the eighth before Hanley Ramirez connected for a two-run homer off Preston Claiborne for his fourth hit of the game to cut the lead to 6-4. The Yankees had scored three times in the seventh thanks in part to reliever Ronald Belisario's two errors on one play. The Dodgers made four errors overall.

David Robertson relieved Claiborne and walked his first two batters before ending the inning without further damage. Rivera was perfect in the ninth for his 25th save, ending hopes that Mattingly's return to the city where No. 23 starred from 1982-95 would be a success.

He may be wearing the wrong shade of blue now but Yankees fans still love Mattingly.

There was the "Donnie Baseball!" chant from the Bleacher Creatures for the 1985 AL MVP ahead of the bottom of the first and a video tribute for a career enshrined with a plaque in Monument Park before the Yankees scored twice in the second. Both times Mattingly answered the applause with a wave of the cap from the visitors' dugout.

"It means a lot. It's always been part of me," Mattingly said. "I played my whole career here, so it's obviously a good feeling when people appreciate the way you played and acted."

The Yankees quickly turned the attention back onto the field, scoring twice in the second against Ryu. After Neal and Suzuki led off with singles and advanced on David Adams' sacrifice, Overbay laced a line drive over center fielder Andre Ethier's head for the 2-0 lead.

Kuroda (7-5), who began his Major League career with the Dodgers in 2008 and won 41 games for them before coming to New York for 2012, limited Los Angeles to five hits and helped himself by catching a liner to start a double play with runners on second and third in the fourth before the seventh. He was lifted after giving up A.J. Ellis' sacrifice fly and former Yankees utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr.'s two-out, RBI pinch-hit single in the seventh.

Kuroda allowed eight hits overall and two runs.

The Yankees added three more in the bottom half of the seventh, helped when, with runners on first and second, Belisario let Vernon Wells' meek pop in front of the mound drop for an error. Jayson Nix advanced to third on the drop and scored when Belisario threw the ball into center field trying to get Robinson Cano at second base. Belisario hit Neal with a pitch, then Suzuki greeted Paco Rodriguez with a blooped two-run single to make it 6-2.

"It was just a combination of us not executing when we needed to make the plays," Ellis said of the loss.

Suzuki homered for the first time this season in the sixth off Ryu, who gave up three runs and five hits.

Suzuki had three hits for his fourth multihit game in his last six games, but is not sure he's finally done with a season-long slump.

"I have no idea," Suzuki said through a translator. "Ask a fortune teller."

NOTES: The Dodgers and Yankees split six games in two interleague series in Los Angeles. ... The Yankees acquired OF Fernando Martinez late Tuesday night from the Houston Astros for Class-A right-hander Charles Basford. Martinez, a former Mets prospect, will go to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. ... Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully will live tweet at (at)Dodgers for the second game of the doubleheader. It's his first foray into Twitter. ... Yankees SS Derek Jeter took on-field batting practice for first time since returning to the team's minor league complex in Tampa, Fla. He took 21 swings and hit balls to all fields.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Lawmakers try to save student loan deal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A handful of senators struggled Thursday to hold together a bipartisan deal to keep student loan rates from doubling on July 1 while their colleagues traded political barbs with little more than a week to go before the deadline.

Top White House officials, meanwhile, told lawmakers they were open to changes in President Barack Obama's student loan proposal if a compromise could be reached that would win congressional approval.

The behind-the-scenes negotiations were an attempt to head off a rate hike that Congress' Joint Economic Committee estimated would cost the average student borrower an extra $2,600. Both parties rushed to microphones to point fingers at the other for the potential hike but kept in touch with back-channel efforts that would prevent them from being blamed for adding to already high college costs.

"There's no question there are discussions going on in the Senate right now, bipartisan discussions. Whether it bares fruit in the next 10 days is going to be a nail biter," said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn.

The bipartisan deal, which would link undergraduate student loans' interest rates with the financial markets, would save the government more than $8 billion over the next 10 years, according to an unpublished Congressional Budget Office report.

Democratic and Republican Senate aides insisted on anonymity in discussing the budget office report because it has not been released to the public yet and they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The compromise plan was similar to one Obama included in his budget and House Republicans passed. That put pressure on the Senate, where a competing partisan proposal came up short last week.

The new bipartisan proposal's $8 billion sum was unlikely to win much support from Democrats, who insist that student loans should not be a source of profit for the government. Students loans issued this year were set to bring in $51 billion net gain over the next decade.

The projections, though, could win votes from Republicans who do not want the popular student loan programs to add to the deficit.

The lawmakers who helped craft the deal ? Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine ? have not publicly announced the proposal. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the plan and officials stressed that work on it was still underway.

Senate aides involved in the bipartisan negotiations suggested the plan could be revised to make student loans less profitable but still not add to the deficit.

Separately, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, education adviser Miguel Rodriguez and deputy Domestic Policy Council director James Kvaal met with lawmakers Thursday and told them the White House was open to changing Obama's plan in favor of a compromise that can pass.

For instance, the White House had intended for its student loan proposal to neither raise money for the government nor cost taxpayers more. Democrats worried the White House proposal would, in fact, generate profit. Also, the president's plan did not cap interest rates that Democrats preferred.

With little more than a week before the deadline, lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on Obama to negotiate a deal before he leaves next week for Africa.

"Listen, the president's failed to talk about this issue and he hasn't lifted a finger to push his own party to pass his own proposal," Republican House Speaker John Boehner told reporters at the Capitol. "The time for games is up. I think our kids deserve better. The president and Senate Democrats need to get their act together so that we can prevent these interest rates from doubling on July 1."

Democrats, meanwhile, kept pushing a plan that would extend interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4 percent for another two years. It has failed to get the needed votes to clear a procedural threshold in the Democratic-led Senate or make its way out of the education committee in the Republican-led House.

"If we can't get long-term solution, we should get a deal that prevents rates from doubling," said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., continuing her push for that proposal.

Among some Democrats, Obama's proposal remained no more popular than when he included it in his budget.

"His proposal does try to get us out of this box that we're in right now," Courtney said during an interview scheduled to air on Sunday on C-SPAN. "It's a good starting point, in my opinion, but it's not a finished product."

___

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-try-save-student-loan-203014972.html

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Google Q1 2013 earnings: $14 billion in revenue, $3.35 billion net income

Google's out with its first quarter earnings this afternoon, and it's reporting an even $14 billion in revenue, with net income clocking in at $3.35 billion. That's a 31 percent increase year-over-year on the revenue side, and nearly a half billion dollar increase in net income (up from $2.89 in the same quarter of 2012). Compared to more recent quarters, though, the growth is a bit more flat: both Q3 and Q4 of 2012 were also around the $14 billion mark. In a statement, CEO Larry Page nonetheless characterized the numbers as a "very strong start to 2013," adding that Google is "working hard and investing in our products that aim to improve billions of people's lives all around the world." As for how the company's Motorola acquisition is working out, that division has seen a fairly steep drop in revenue, from $1.51 billion in the last quarter of 2012 to just over $1 billion this quarter, with it reporting an operating loss of $271 million. You can dig through all the numbers yourself in the press release after the break and at the source link below.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/18/google-q1-2013-earnings-14-billion-in-revenue-3-35-billion/

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