Paris Rocks a New Ring – from Benji May 8, 2008

Photo by: Bill Davila / Startraks

Always one to keep the public talking, Paris Hilton showed up to talk about her new hair extension line with Sally Beauty Supply wearing notable new accessories: two stacked diamond bands on her ring finger.

Asked if the baubles were an engagement ring from boyfriend Benji Madden, Hilton told PEOPLE, “No, it’s just a present. He’s sweet.”

Still, the duo have already discussed marriage. “We want to stay together forever,” she said Thursday. “I wouldn’t do a Vegas [wedding]. I don’t know where or when but I do want it to be romantic.”

Betting that Nicole Richie and Joel Madden will beat them to the altar, Hilton doesn’t mind following in her best friend’s footsteps another way, as well. “Nicole is our first friend to have a baby … Seeing Harlow, it really makes me want one. I’ve always wanted to have a baby.”

Until then, she’s content on practicing her mommy skills on Harlow. “I’m definitely ‘Aunt Paris.’ ” As for Benji? “He’ll babysit. I can tell he’s gonna be an incredible father. He loves babies.”

With memories of dancing on tables in clubs still fresh in her mind, Hilton, 26, acknowledges how much she has grown since she started dating the Good Charlotte rocker four months ago.

“When I was younger I loved to go out, but now that I’m in a really great relationship it’s so much more fun to stay at home,” she says, “We don’t really like to go out. We have game night, friends come over and play Monopoly. It’s chill.” She also loves pampering her man with some homemade food. “I love to cook for him, I cook great lasagna.”

“I’ve grown up a lot. I’m at peace,” she added. “He’s changed my life in every way. I’m happy.”

Laughing about her beau’s rocker look, she says her she follows some words of advice from her dad to look past it. “My dad said you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” she said. “He doesn’t act at all like someone who has tattoos everywhere! I love him so much that I don’t pay attention. I don’t even look at the tattoos anymore.”

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Blogger critical of Cuba wins Spanish prize, but can’t pick it up May 8, 2008

MADRID, Spain (AP) – A Cuban woman who has gained worldwide acclaim with a blog that voices stinging criticism of the Havana government received a major journalism award Wednesday, and said it gave her a “small protective shield” to keep pressing for democracy in her country.

Yoani Sanchez, pictured at home in Havana, uses a blog called “Generation Y” to lash out at Cuba’s government.

Yoani Sanchez, 32, was denied permission to travel to Madrid to accept her Ortega y Gasset Prize in digital journalism for creating a now year-old blog called “Generation Y,” which gets more than 1 million hits a month, mostly from abroad.

Time magazine deemed Sanchez this month as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Sanchez’s blog has drawn a wide audience with her wry comments on life on the Caribbean island and frequent digs at the communist government.

A Cuban friend, essayist Ernesto Hernandez Busto, accepted the award on her behalf. Sanchez addressed the ceremony through a recording, saying the fact that she had to do so was “the clearest evidence of the defenselessness of the Cuban people with respect to the State.”

“Nothing of what I have written in these 13 months speaks as loudly as my absence from this ceremony,” Sanchez said in the recording.

She said this international recognition will not give her “immunity, because in Cuban society one is never immune from the State. But it does allow me to carry on more strongly with this small protective shield that the prize gives me.”

All Cubans seeking to leave the island need an exit permit, and Cuban authorities did not approve Sanchez’s request to travel to Madrid for the award ceremony.

In a blog entry dated May 3, Sanchez said that as she awaited word from the authorities, she felt like “a baby in diapers.”

“Before, it was my parents who watched out to make sure I did not swallow a screw or stick my fingers in an electrical outlet. Now, the supervision comes from the State,” she wrote.

Cuban authorities have made no sustained effort to shut down Sanchez’s blog, although pro-government sites accuse her of accepting money from opposition groups.

On Sanchez’s site and others, anonymous Cubans lash out at their government.

Sanchez said Wednesday that the prize, handed out by the top-selling newspaper El Pais, obliges her to maintain Generation Y, which she said “went from being a hobby, or a kind of exorcism, to a motivation for staying here” in Cuba.

Last year, Cuban dissident poet Raul Rivero, who now lives in Spain, also won an Ortega y Gasset prize. They are named for the late Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset.

This year, Mexican journalist Sanjuana Martinez received one for a series of investigative reports on sexual abuse of children by Mexican clergy; they were published in the Mexican daily La Jornada.

For an entire body of work, another prize went to the Mexican magazine ZETA for its work rooting out corruption and organized crime. The publication was founded in 1980 and is based in Tijuana.

The photography award went to Spaniard Gervasio Sanchez for a photo that is part of a series called “Vidas Minadas,” on the toll wars take on civilians. The winning photo, titled “Sofia and Alia,” shows an African woman with artificial legs — hers were blown off by landmines — asleep next to her baby daughter.

Homeless man slips past security, gets on plane at Lambert Airport May 8, 2008

Bridgeton, MO (KMOV) — Security changes are underway at Lambert Airport following a major breach.

 

A homeless man managed to sneak onto a plane on Wednesday morning.

 

The man slipped past security guards at a perimeter check point while guards were inspecting a vehicle.

 

He was found sleeping on a regional jet that was being worked on.

 

No passengers were onboard at the time.

 

The Lambert police chief is calling this incident a “hiccup” in the system.

Massive Sinkole in Texas Continues to Grow May 8, 2008

DAISETTA, Texas — A massive sinkhole that has swallowed everything in its path is continuing to grow, officials told KPRC Local 2 Thursday.

Slideshow: Massive Sinkhole In Liberty County

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The sinkhole, which is the size of almost seven football fields, is located in a rural area near FM 770, just north of Daisetta in Liberty County

It’s stabilized as far as coming towards the road,” said Cpl. Hugh Bishop with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. “There’s other pieces that have dropped off there, but as far as getting towards the road, we’re still comfortable with where it is right now.”

It started as a crack in the road and grew into the sinkhole starting at about 10 a.m. Wednesday. It grew to at least 400 yards wide, 600 yards north to south and 150 to 250 feet deep.

Officials said they were worried that the sinkhole would get closer to FM 770 overnight, but it did not grow too much in that direction. Officials said it has grown in all directions, but they are most concerned about its progress to the east.

Construction equipment, tanks, trees and everything else in its path fell into the hole. Crews drained tanks in that could be consumed by the hole.

Daisetta was built on salt domes and experts believe the oil taken from the wells caused the land to cave in.

Oil gathered at the bottom of the sinkhole. The property it consumed was described as a disposal well.

“They inject salt water when they’re drilling oil wells in the area. They store the salt water and inject it back into the ground,” said Chief Les Hulsey of the Daisetta Police Department. “That well is still pressured up and holding pressure. The sinkhole hasn’t affected it.”

The Texas Railroad Commission is at the scene of the sinkhole. That agency oversees oil and gas production and transportation in Texas.

The nearest home to the sinkhole is about a quarter-mile to a half-mile away. No evacuations were ordered, but residents said they were nervous that they may have to leave their homes.

“If it gets to it, I’ll get ready,” one resident said.

Bishop said about 100 homes were fairly close to the hole.

Families watched closely as the hole inched closer and closer to their homes. “They told us they would get us if it becomes dangerous. Our daughter is worried,” said Mary McCann.

City officials said they have a plan if they have to order evacuations.

“The fire department, everybody, is going to get out,” Daisetta Mayor Lynn Wells said.

Bishop said residents should not try to go near the sinkhole to get a first-hand look.

“We don’t know what parts will drop off or when, so it’s best just to stay back,” he said.

No injuries have been reported.

Highway 770 was closed on Wednesday and not expected to reopen on Thursday. Traffic was diverted to FM 834. All schools and businesses remained open. Officials have not yet placed a monetary value on the destruction.

 Daisetta is about 50 miles northeast of Houston. It has a population of about 1,000.

Country Music Legend Eddy Arnold Dies At 89 May 8, 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The legendary country crooner that Billboard Magazine ranked the number one country artist of all time, Eddy Arnold, died at the age of 89 at 4:40 a.m. on Thursday at an assisted living facility in Franklin, Tenn.

 

 

Dwight Schrute for Vice President May 8, 2008

 the Democratic presidential candidates, would Republican John McCain rather take on Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton?

“You know, Ron Paul is still in the race,” McCain joked Wednesday during a taping of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

McCain deadpanned about the marathon race between the Democrats: “I hate to watch it. It’s terrible. My heart goes out to them.”

During the taping, McCain pretended to walk off the set when Stewart pressed him on whether President Bush is more of a liability for him than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is for Obama. Then
McCain fiddled with his microphone and mouthed “technical difficulties” into the camera.

The all-but-certain Republican nominee did reveal a few tidbits. His Secret Service code name, he thinks, “is ‘jerk,”‘ and his choice for a vice presidential running mate is Dwight Schrute, a character on the NBC sitcom, “The Office,” played by Rainn Wilson.

Rapper DMX Arrested in Phoenix May 8, 2008

This undated booking photo provided Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by the Arizona Department of Public Safety shows rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons. DMX was arrested Tuesday, May 6, 2008 after speed-enforcement cameras captured him in his bright yellow 1966 Chevrolet going 114 mph on a suburban Phoenix freeway.

Tornado Supercell Picture May 8, 2008

 A supercell that became a Tornadic vortex signature (TVS) lights up the night sky with lightning over Amarillo, Texas, late May 6, 2008.

Tony Romo Misses Cut for the U.S. Open May 8, 2008

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo played in a U.S. Open qualifying event Wednesday in Dallas, Texas and finished nine over par - just missing the cut.

“I hadn’t played golf in a week or so,” Romo explained in a clip played on ESPN. “I played nine holes last week, and tried to get in game shape, but obviously that wasn’t enough it comes and goes.”

Romo continued, “Well, I didn’t make the next round. You come out here and try to advance. I found a good rhythm on back side, but it just took too long to get started. I just haven’t been able to practice or prepare. I got a lot of football stuff. So that’s part of it.”

Another possible distraction? Girlfriend Jessica Simpson. Simpson gushed in the June issue of Glamour magazine, that she is “in love” with Romo, whom she says helped her gain more confidence. “Tony taught me that because he loves me [as me]. He made me feel comfortable (being myself) again,” she adds.