As the bad news continued to roll in for the Seattle Mariners, manager Eric Wedge was comforted by sending ace Felix Hernandez to the mound yesterday afternoon. Only Hernandez couldn't stop the wave this time. Felix was knocked around for 10 hits, and the Braves completed a three-game sweep with a 5-3 win over the Ms. The loss was the capper to a miserable day for Seattle, which announced right before the first pitch that starting pitcher Erik Bedard was headed to the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left knee. That announcement came on the heels of backup catcher Chris Gimenez going on the DL with a strained oblique after being forced to play six innings with the injury the night before because starter Miguel Olivo was having leg problems. About the only good news on the injury front was Olivo is considered day to day, and the Mariners are off today. Catcher Josh Bard was recalled yesterday to replace Gimenez. A bright spot continues to be prized rookie Dustin Ackley. He reached base for the 12th straight game to begin his major league career and capped his day by hitting a two-run homer in the eighth inning. An off day for the Ms today (they have a golf tournament) and they resume interleague play tomorrow night with the San Diego Padres. It's Turn Back the Clock Night -- '80s Night -- as the Ms and the Padres will be wearing their 1984 uniforms. By the way, that's catcher Miguel Olivio and first baseman Justin Smoak all duded up in the image to the right.

The Tacoma Rainiers had an off day yesterday. They’re back at Cheney Stadium tonight hosting the Fresno Grizzlies. First pitch at 7:05.

President Obama welcomed the Seattle Storm to the White House yesterday to honor their WNBA championship and thank them, as a basketball fan and a part-time coach, for “setting a good example for every young girl with big dreams.” The president commended the players for their community spirit and active involvement in their community. The Storm is back in action at Connecticut tomorrow. .

The Seattle Sounders return to MLS action as they spend the 4th in Los Angeles. They battle the Galaxy on Monday.

This summer, one person will get paid to live out what would be most travelers' worst nightmare: 80 days -- and nights -- stuck at the airport. Canada's Vancouver International Airport turns 80 in July, and to celebrate, the airport authority is holding a contest to pick one person who will live onsite for 80 days and create short daily videos, post updates on Facebook and Twitter and provide other reports about their experience.

Charlie Sheen has admitted to using steroids for his role as a baseball player in 1989’s Major League. He told Sports Illustrated, “I did them for like six or eight weeks.” He goes on to say he got off the juice after filming and has never used ‘roids since.

China has announced plans to count panda droppings to determine the population of the endangered species. I'm thinking your job's not looking so bad right about now.

Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts is holding his first Coffee With the Chief event tomorrow morning from 8:00 to 10:00 at Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters at 516 Capitol Way South. You’re invited to stop by to have a cup of coffee with the Chief. He is looking forward to meeting members of the community and hearing views and concerns regarding our community. He’s available to answer questions, chat about the Police Department, and talk about current issues in both Olympia and law enforcement in general. The event is open to anyone wishing to stop by.

P!nk has opened up about the name of her new baby, Willow Sage. In an interview with Hello! magazine, Pink says she and husband Carey Hart decided to name her daughter Willow because she “grew up near one,” and that “it is the most flexible tree and nothing can break it,” and she wants her child to posess that attribute.

Bruce Springsteen has posted a lengthy eulogy to his late bandmate and friend, Clarence Clemons. In his 16-hundred word piece about the saxophonist, The Boss wrote things like, “I leaned on Clarence a lot; I made a career out of it in some ways… Together, we told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that transcended those I’d written in my songs and in my music. Clarence carried it in his heart.” Read the entire, moving eulogy at BruceSpringsteen.net.

David Duchovny and Tea Leoni have separated … again. The Hollywood couple has been married since 1997 and had briefly separated back in 2008. It was that same year that the Californication star entered rehab for sex addiction.

Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler have both confirmed that they’ll be back as judges on American Idol next season. Jennifer Lopez is reportedly still on the fence, but Randy recently said he thinks she’ll be back as well.

Lindsay Lohan got an early birthday present! The actress, who turns 25 on July 5th, served her last day of house arrest yesterday. Sometime last night, Lohan’s ankle monitoring bracelet was removed and she’s now free to leave her house.

A 14-year-old Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix named Yoda recently earned the distinction of World’s Ugliest Dog at the 23rd annual event held in Northern California. Yoda may be ugly, but he’s not ungrateful. The aesthetically challenged pooch has come a long way since he was first found abandoned behind an apartment complex. When Yoda’s owner first saw him, she thought he was a rat. The judges of the contest took a liking to Yoda’s hairless legs, tufts of hair and protruding tongue. Princess Abby, a one-eyed Chihuahua, took home the title last year.

A Florida couple smells a skunk. In fact, they smell 15 of them. Don and Brenda Hoch are part of the skunk rescue program in Florida, helping to find shelters for a few homeless skunks. In the market for your very own “Pepé Le Pew?” You’ll be happy to hear their skunk funk won’t take over – Don says their anal scent glands are removed when they turn one-month-old. The pair also mentions skunks love to eat and even though they make great pets, they tend to have their own personality and can be a bit mischievous. The Hochs also warn against families with children adopting skunks.

Trivia Answer: The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution standardized the voting age to 18. It was adopted in response to student activism against the Vietnam War. Section 1 states "The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age." Congress and the state legislatures felt increasing pressure to pass the Constitutional amendment because of the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to fight in the war. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote," was a common slogan used by proponents of lowering the voting age. The slogan traced its roots to World War II, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the military draft age to eighteen. Our state was one of the first states to ratify the amendment. Washington joined Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, and Tennessee in ratifying it on March 23rd of 1971. After its adoption, four more states voted to ratify the amendment: Oklahoma, Virginia, Wyoming, and Georgia. Interestingly, states that have never ratified it include Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Nonetheless, as of this date in 1971, it is the law of the land.

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart (nice name!) had a song out called L.U.V. (Let Us Vote). It was the official campaign song for the Let Us Vote movement to lower the voting age to 18.

The Atlanta Braves rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Mariners 5-4 last night. The Ms and Braves wrapped up that series this afternoon and the Braves completed the sweep with a 5-3 win.  Atlanta beat the Mariners' best starting pitchers: Michael Pineda last night and Felix Fernandez today. The Ms are off tomorrow before hosting the San Diego Padres for three starting Friday..

After winning 19-5 the night before, the Tacoma Rainiers last night fell to the Las Vegas 51s 11-4. That's why they play the game. The loss ended Tacoma's five-game winning streak and knocked the club down to 38-42 on the year. Tacoma was trying to sweep the 51s but now still hasn't swept a series this season The Rainiers have an off day today. They're back home with Fresno tomorrow night.

The Seattle Storm is in the other Washington to meet President Obama today. Friday, they're back in action at Connecticut.

The Seattle Sounders began their pursuit of a third straight US Open Cup with a 2-1 victory against the Kitsap Pumas last night. The Sounders have won back-to-back Open Cups since joining Major League Soccer in 2009. The Sounders return to MLS action as they spend the 4th in Los Angeles. They battle the Galaxy on Monday.

Lady Gaga's peeps yesterday denied claims of a scam over sales of Gaga's wristbands for Japan's earthquake relief efforts. They described a lawsuit targeting the pop star and other companies involved in the sale and marketing of the $5 white and red We Pray for Japan rubber bracelets as misguided and without merit. Michigan legal network, 1800LAWFIRM, filed a lawsuit last week alleging that not all of the proceeds from the wristband sales were going to help victims of the March earthquake and tsunami, as Lady Gaga had pledged on her website. The federal class action also claimed that shipping costs were inflated. The lawsuit was filed on Friday while Gaga was in Japan for a benefit concert. Yesterday's statement from the Gaga camp said, "The entire $5 donation made with the purchase of each bracelet is going to support the disaster relief. No profit is being made on shipping costs. Sales tax charges were made in accordance with local legal requirements. Lady Gaga has personally pledged her own funds to this cause and continues to support the victims of the disaster,"

Tom Petty has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, demanding that she stop using his song American Girl at campaign appearances. Bachmann used the track during her Monday stop in Waterloo, Iowa. It was a rough day for Bachmann in Iowa. She also confused movie legend John Wayne with serial killer John Wayne Gacy and John Adams with John Quincy Adams. According to Rolling Stone, Petty also asked George W. Bush not to use his song I Won't Back Down during his 2000 campaign. He did, however, allow Hillary Clinton to use American Girl during the 2008 campaign. You get a pretty idea of where Tom's political associations lie. Republicans, as might be expected, have had a tough time getting permission to use pop songs during campaigns. The Rolling Stone article points out that in 2008, Sarah Palin used the song Barracuda by Heart as she strode onto the stage at the Republican National Convention. Heart issued a statement that said, "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song Barracuda no longer be used to promote her image. Also in 2008, Jackson Browne sued John McCain's campaign for using Running on Empty in a commercial. McCain was also asked by John Mellencamp to stop using Little Pink Houses and Our Country.

Tonight's finale of The Voice has Miranda Lambert, Train's Pat Monahan, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, and Stevie Nicks. All are performing duets with the four finalists. The finale of The Voice tonight on NBC.

Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart and James Durbin each have new American Idol EPs available now, only at Walmart and Walmart.com. The EPs feature favorite songs from American Idol's top four finalists from this past season and will contain an exclusive track from the season, never before available for purchase. Each EP contains five tracks and sells for five dollars. Scotty McCreery's American Idol EP contains his versions of I Love You This Big, The River, Amazed, and Gone. Lauren Alaina's EP contains her versions of Like My Mother Does, Flat On The Floor, The Climb, and I'm The Only One. Haley Reinhart's contains her versions of House Of The Rising Sun, Bennie and the Jets, Rolling In The Deep, and What Is And What Should Never Be. James Durbin's EP contains his versions of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Maybe I'm Amazed, Uprising, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and Good Riddance.

It seems that George Michael and Elton John have put whatever beef they may have once had behind them. According to British paper The Sun, Michael joined John on stage at the Rocket Man's AIDS fundraiser in England over the weekend, performing the tune Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, which they last sang together at Live Aid in 1985. A guest said that "everyone went mad" and that it was a "special moment." The two apparently had barely spoken since 2004, when John said that Michael was "in a strange place."

Ryan Tedder has been so busy working with different artists from David Cook to Gavin DeGraw to Carrie Underwood, that it may seem to some as if he let his band, OneRepublic, go by the wayside. Well the singer/producer insists that isn't true. He told Billboard.com that the group is planning to have a single out by "the beginning of 2012, or sometime in the early portion" of the year, that they're starting the "writing process" for the follow-up to 2009's Waking Up "in about two weeks."

Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows is trying to get himself off of medication for what he calls "severe mental illness." According to TMZ, Adam wrote on his Twitter page that he was "f***ing crazy," and that he "needed meds" to deal with it. He went on, saying that he's now "less crazy," so he needs "less meds" and he wants to stop using them completely. He added that he's going through withdrawals, but has already cut his Lithium dosage in half. The Counting Crows do the Puyallup on September 22nd.

Lenny Kravitz's first album in three years, Black and White America, is due out on August 30th, so get ready to see him on TV a ton right around that time. According to a press release, Lenny is performing on Letterman and Fallon and is set to be a part of the Toyota Concert Series on Today. Get details at LennyKravitz.com.

Emma Watson has revealed a childhood crush she had on the set of the early Harry Potter movies. Watson told Seventeen magazine that Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the series, was her first crush. She says that she and Tom laugh about it now and are good friends.

Last week President Obama tweeted for the first time. Then yesterday, Pope Benedict tweeted for the first time. The 84-year-old pontiff tweeted: "Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI." News.va is the new Vatican news portal. If you're keeping track, the Pope tweeted using an iPad.

Today is Waffle Iron Day.

A poll by Men's Health names Lexington, Kentucky, as America's most sedentary city.

A new survey on health care found that between 2005 and 2009, 5% of us accounted for 47.5% of all health care spending.

The City of Lacey reminds those celebrating the Independence Day in the city to do so in a safe and enjoyable manner -- that is within the law. Back In 2005, Lacey voters approved Proposition No. 1, which prohibited the sale and discharge of fireworks within the city limits. Prohibited fireworks include those that are typically referred to as safe and sane, including sparklers (when sparklers are outlawed, only outlaws will have sparklers). Novelty devices such as snakes, glowworms, and party poppers are permitted. Meanwhile, the South Sound Center Independence Day Celebration is coming up Sunday night starting at 6:00. The 45th Annual celebration includes youth activities, food, music and fireworks. The American Legion Band plays from 7 to 9 with the fireworks set to go 10:15.

A California man who went to court Monday for an appearance on a stolen vehicle charge. He was arrested later in the day.  He had driven a stolen pickup to court. He also had a suspended driver's license. 

Cookie the Cockatoo doesn't look a day over 50, and visitors of the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago would never guess how old she really is. The bird recently celebrated her 78th birthday, earning herself the distinction of the oldest living Major Mitchell cockatoo in any zoo. Cookie is the only original inhabitant of the Chicago zoo since its opening in 1938. She was born in Australia in 1933 and was sent to the United States a year later. A few wallabies and a kangaroo took the jump across the pond with Cookie all those years ago, but she has outlived them all. 

Trivia Answer: Colin James Hay who turns 58 today. He was the lead vocalist for the Australian band Men at Work. In February of 2009, former Men at Work band member, Ron Strykert, was arrested for allegedly making death threats against Hay. Strykert, who co-wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including Down Under, left the group in the mid-'80s but always claimed that Hay screwed him over on royalties. In 2009, Men at Work were named in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement by Larrikin Music, who owns the rights to the Kookaburra song. Larrikin Music claims that part of a flute riff from the band's 1981 single Down Under was copied from Kookaburra, originally written by music teacher, Marion Sinclair, who died in 1988. In February 2010, a court ruled in favor of Larrikin Music. Although the petition from Larrikin Music requested 40 to 60% of royalties dating back to 1981 and future royalties, in July 2010 a judge awarded the plaintiff only 5% of royalties dating back to 2002 and the same amount of future royalties.

The Seattle Mariners have messed around and let the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim blow by them in the standings. Last night, the Atlanta Braves' Freddie Freeman saw first-pitch fastballs in his first two at-batst. He guessed right that Seattle starter Erik Bedard was going to throw him a third. Freeman became just the second Atlanta batter to get a hit off Bedard and his tie-breaking, two-run homer in the seventh inning gave the Braves a 3-1 win over the Mariners. So now, the Ms are a game under .500, a half-game behind the Angels and two games behind the AL West leading Texas Rangers. Ms and Braves again tonight at 7:10 at Safeco.

For Tacoma, the hits just kept on coming. The Rainiers unleashed an offensive onslaught in the desert last night. The Rainiers wasted no time setting the tone for the game after taking a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning. They crushed their way to a 19-5 win over the Las Vegas 51s in Las Vegas. That series wraps up tonight.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have filed for bankruptcy. According to ESPN, the team's owner, Frank McCourt, is blaming Major League Baseball after commissioner Bud Selig refused to approve a TV deal with FOX Sports that could have netted them three-billion dollars. The Dodgers and McCourt have been in turmoil for quite some time due to a dramatic divorce with his ex-wife, Jamie. ESPN baseball writer Buster Olney wrote on Twitter that this is "a moment that ranks among the most embarrassing in the history of Major League Baseball."

The Seattle Storm is in the other Washington to meet President Obama tomorrow. Friday, they're back in action at Connecticut.

The Seattle Sounders are spending the 4th in Los Angeles. They battle the Galaxy on Monday.

Lady Gaga is being sued over sales of her wristbands for Japan's earthquake relief efforts in a class action that claims that not all the proceeds went to victims as she had promised. Michigan legal network 1800LAWFIRM also alleges that Gaga and other companies involved in the sale and marketing of the $5 white and red We Pray for Japan wristbands overcharged buyers on shipping costs and "artificially inflated reports of total donations". An attorney from the Michigan organization says, "While we commend Lady Gaga for her philanthropic efforts, we want to ensure that claims that 'all proceeds will be donated to Japan's earthquake' are in fact true. Our intention via this lawsuit is to uncover any improprieties committed by Lady Gaga and appropriate the full donations assumed to the victims in Japan." The federal class action lawsuit was filed in Michigan as Gaga was in Japan for a benefit concert for victims of the March earthquake and tsunami. Gaga is reported to have donated about $3 million to Japan disaster relief through sales of the wristbands and other ventures. The lawsuit claims that a slew of federal racketeering and consumer protection laws were broken by what it calls deceptive advertising and profits from the sale of the bracelets.

An eight-foot statue of rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry was approved yesterday in St. Louis over the opposition of some local residents including one who said the Hall of Fame singer/songwriter should not be honored because he is a "felon and not a friend of women." The council that has jurisdiction over the spot where the statue is to be installed, rejected a last-minute petition drive by opponents, who gathered 100 signatures in a bid to block or delay the statue. The leader of the opposition is Elsie Glickert, an 86-year-old former city council member. She said the city had ignored procedure in allowing the statue to be built on a new public bikeway that intersects a strip of restaurants, shops and clubs that includes Blueberry Hill, where Berry has played over 160 shows in past 15 years. Joe Edwards is the owner of the club. He helped raise over $100,000 in private funding for the statue, which depicts a young Berry wailing away on his guitar. The plaza where the statue is going be installed will also feature illuminated walls with laser-engraved musical notes of "Johnny B. Goode," Berry's signature 1957 hit. Concrete strips in the sidewalk will be etched with the lyrics of Berry songs. Edwards says the statue is being installed later this week and dedicated at a July 29th ceremony that will feature an appearance by the 84-year-old Berry. No formal vote was taken, but a majority of the council members spoke in favor of the installation. The mayor said it would be an "appropriate, positive" addition to the strip. Glickert and her supporters opposed the statue because of Berry's 1962 conviction for violating the Mann Act, accused of transporting a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. Glickett said, "This man is a felon and not a friend of women. It is a misuse of tax dollars to honor him on public property."

Rolling Stone reports that U2 is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album Achtung Baby, as well as their Zoo TV tour and 1993 follow-up, Zooropa, with reissues, unseen video footage, and rare recordings. The band says they are likely to reissue both albums separately in the fall along with a box set containing both albums and video and audio from the Zoo TV tour.

SuperHeavy -- that's Mick Jagger's supergroup with Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and composer A.R. Rahman – is releasing its debut album in September. According to Billboard.com, there's no exact release date yet but the first single is called Miracle Worker and the five musicians are making a video for it. Mick and Dave co-produced the album, which was created in several studios around the world but mostly in LA. The quintet wrote 22 songs in their first six days together.

Best of luck to Vicci Martinez on The Voice tonight. Vicci is 26, from Tacoma, and has played around these parts for years. I first met her when she opened for Jonny Lang at Little Crrek Casino Resort a few years ago. What a nice and very talented young woman. She is in Cee-Lo's corner tonight so vote early and vote often for Vicci on The Voice.

Word from TMZ is that Charlie Sheen's last goddess has left him, leaving the former Two and a Half Men star single. Natalie Kenly was the final goddess remaining in Sheen's posse and she moved out of his home last week.

Radar Online, meanwhile, is reporting that Charlie has signed a deal with Lionsgate Television to star in a new TV show. It'll apparently be a sitcom where he'll get to play a character very similar to the one he played on Two and a Half Men, except this new show will be a lot edgier. It's being reported Sheen won't get paid as much for this series as the two-million bucks per episode he got from CBS, but he's set to make some serious loot all the same.

Last year, during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, there was a lot of confusion as to whether the athletes could tweet, blog or otherwise use social media. This time around, at next year's London games, those athletes will have all but free rein. The International Olympic Committee, which governs the Olympics, has posted a new set of social media guidelines for athletes. The biggest part? Tweet away.

One out of every 10 people in the entire planet is now on Facebook. If that doesn't sound like a lot, keep in mind that that there are currently more than 7 billion people in the world.

In an appearance on a British TV show Monday to discuss his latest film, Larry Crowne, Tom Hanks may have prematurely spilled the beans on a fourth Toy Story movie. When asked if there will be a Toy Story 4 for his granddaughter to see, Tom replied, "I think there will be, yeah. I think they're working on it now."

Katy Perry has been having so much chart success recently that she's approaching sacred ground -- she could soon tie a record set by the late Michael Jackson. According to Billboard.com, the pop star's latest, Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) off of her album, Teenage Dream, is sitting at number four on the Hot 100 chart. If it reaches number one, she'll become only the second person, and first woman, to score five number one songs off of one album in the chart's 52-year history. The other, of course, being MJ, who had five number ones off of 1987's Bad.

A deceased Tennessee man won't be resting in peace quite yet. Why? The 76-year-old was buried with something that doesn't belong to him: his roommate's dentures. The roommate was an intensive care patient at the same hospital as the man. After being buried for a nearly two weeks, his casket will be dug up to retrieve the false teeth that don't belong to him. The hospital is taking the blame for the mix-up and plan to pay for new dentures, reburial costs and attorney's fees.

Trivia Answer: Mel Brooks -- born Melvin Kaminsky -- who turns 85 today. His three films in the AFI top 100 comedies are Blazing Saddles at number 6, The Producers at number 11, and Young Frankenstein at number 13. Brooks is one of the few artists to have received an Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy. He was awarded his first Grammy award for Best Spoken Comedy Album in 1999 for his recording of The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 with Carl Reiner. His two other Grammys came in 2002 for Best Musical Show Album, for the soundtrack to The Producers, and for Best Long Form Music Video for the DVD Recording the Producers -- A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks. He won his first of four Emmy awards in 1967 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety for a Sid Caesar special. He went on to win three consecutive Emmys in 1997, 1998, and 1999 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Uncle Phil on Mad About You. He won his three Tony awards in 2001 for his work on the musical, The Producers. He won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Original Musical Score, and Best Book of a Musical. Additionally, he won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Young Frankenstein.

An interesting weekend at Safeco on a number of fronts. It started Friday night as Felix Hernandez allowed two hits and a run over eight innings and Franklin Gutierrez delivered a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh and the Seattle Mariners went on to a 5-1 "road" victory over the Florida Marlins. It was considered a home game for the Marlins, who relocated the three-game series to Seattle due to a conflict at Sun Life Stadium because of a U2 concert. It was the first time since the inception of the designated hitter in 1973 that National League rules were used in an American League ballpark. Each starting pitcher batted for the first time in Safeco Field history. The Mariners, wearing their road grays, started the game at the plate. Hernandez walked two and struck out 10. Saturday, Jason Vargas and the Ms lost 4-2. Then the Marlins and Mariners closed out their unique interleague series with the latest Sunday night start in Safeco Field history. It was another pitchers' duel and strange finished ... uhm ... weird. Tied at 1-1, Dustin Ackley led off the top of the 10th inning with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly, then raced home with the go-ahead run when Florida reliever Steve Cishek threw a wild pitch during an intentional walk giving Seattle a wacky 2-1 win. The Ms are now back at .500, in sole possession of second place in the AL West, and just a game-and-a-half behind the Texas Rangers. Interleague play continues at the Safe tonight at 7 as the Atlanta Braves are back in the Northwest for the first time since 2003.

The Tacoma Rainiers spent the weekend in Las Vegas. They knocked off the 51s Saturday 12-2, and then did it again yesterday, 9-4. They play in Vegas again tonight and tomorrow night before an off-day on Wednesday.

Tyson Wahl and Alvaro Fernandez scored six minutes apart late in the first half yesterday afternoon to rally the Seattle Sounders to a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution. The Sounders are now 8-4-and-7. They won their season-high third straight game and are unbeaten in their last six. The Sounders are back in action next Monday in Los Angeles.

The Seattle Storm showed that they are ready to keep on winning even without three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson. Jackson will be out of the lineup for at least three weeks with a hip injury. Camille Little scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures and the Storm beat the Minnesota Lynx 65-55 Friday night despite playing without Jackson. Wednesday, the Storm is in the other Washington to meet President Obama. Friday, they're back in action at Connecticut.

The critics didn't like it but that didn't stop movie goers. Cars 2 judged by critics to be the worst movie produced by Pixar, sped to the front of the pack at the weekend box office. According to studio estimates, the cartoon earned about $68 million over the weekend. The first Cars opened to $60 million back in 2006. The only other new release in the top 10, the raunchy Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher, opened at No. 2 with a better than expected $31 million. Last weekend's champion, the underwhelming superhero film Green Lantern, slid to No. 3. Super 8 was No. 4 and Mr. Popper's Penguins rounded out the top five.

An asteroid buzzed Earth today -- about 10 this morning our time. 'Asteroid 2011 MD' is estimated to be 25 to 55 feet across. It was expected to pass less than 8,000 miles above the Earth's surface.

A video of bright disc-shaped objects dashing through the blue skies over central London has been posted on YouTube. 

News coming out of the Supreme Court this morning. The Court has struck down a California law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to children. The Court has agreed to decide if police need a warrant to use GPS tracking devices, and the justices say they'll review the constitutionality of FCC regulations regarding indecency on broadcast TV.

This past weekend marked the two year anniversary of the sudden death of Michael Jackson. A leather jacket worn by MJ for his Thriller video sold for $1.8 million at an auction yesterday to a Texas gold trader who plans to use it to raise money for children's hospitals worldwide. The black and red calf leather jacket with winged shoulders was one of two used for the shoot. The other one, in scuffed condition, is owned by the Jackson estate.

Apparently, when you're the king of the Playboy Empire, being dumped just days before your wedding doesn't faze you. Hugh Hefner recently tweeted that his new "best girl" is Anna Sophia Berglund, a 25-year-old who's a good friend of Crystal Harris, his former fiancée.

Google's list of the 50 Most Popular Women on the Web has been announced. No surprise who is number one. Lady Gaga topped the list after being searched 578-million times, far and away the most. Others in the top five included Rihanna, Cher, Nicki Minaj and Britney Spears, with Katy Perry coming in sixth. Gaga topped the list last year as well.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was convicted today on 17 of the 20 public corruption charges against him related to his attempt to sell the US Senate seat held by Barack Obama before he resigned to become president. The 11 women and one man reached the verdicts on their 10th day of deliberation. Blagojevich was found guilty of all 10 counts involving wire fraud -- each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The other 10 involved extortion and bribery. Most of the counts have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The jury acquitted Blagojevich on one count of bribery and was unable to reach verdicts on two counts of attempted extortion.

Lindsay Lohan failed a drug test last week, when the results showed she'd consumed alcohol. According to Lindsay, she never had any booze, only Kombucha tea, which contains a very, very small amount of alcohol. In the end, the excuse wasn't needed though – a judge ruled that Lindsay is allowed to drink while on house arrest, she just can't have house parties.

A study of more than 100-thousand patients' records has found that married individuals have a much higher chance of surviving colon cancer. Here's the reason: generally, married people were diagnosed at earlier stages of the disease and sought more aggressive treatment. The study's author thinks spouses serve as informal caregivers during critical times. That emotional support may translate into better disease management and better outcomes.

A North Carolina couple came across an unlikely find in a very unlikely spot. In a seriously startling discovery, the pair found a grenade inside an antique sewing machine they were restoring. Deputies gave it a look and confirmed that it was indeed a grenade… and it appeared to be live. Officials retrieved the military explosive and neutralized it. The couple later found out it was a German grenade from the World War One era.

In South Dakota a tourist was shot in the leg as she watched a mock old west gunfight that was supposed to use blanks. Word is she was taken to the office of the town doc who gave her a slug of whiskey before digging out the bullet with rusty pen knife.

Trivia Answer: Henry Ross Perot who turns 81 today. In 1974 Perot gained some press attention for being "the biggest individual loser ever on the New York Stock Exchange" when his EDS shares dropped $450 million in value in a single day in April 1970. He sold EDS to GM in 1984. In 1988, he founded Perot Systems Corporation, Inc. in Plano, Texas. His son, Ross Perot, Jr., eventually succeeded him as CEO. In September 2009, Perot Systems was acquired by Dell for $3.9 billion. Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing in the early 1990s, Ross Perot began speaking out about what he described as the failings of the United States government. Perot asserted that the United States "had grown arrogant and complacent after the War" [referring to World War II] and was no longer the world's greatest nation. Instead of looking into what was to come, he argued, America was "daydreaming of [its] past while the rest of the world was building its future." Since 2000, Perot has been largely silent on political issues, refusing to answer most questions from the press. When interviewed, he usually remains on the subject of his business career and refuses to answer specific questions on politics, candidates, or his past activities. One exception to this came in January of 2008, when Perot publicly came out against Republican candidate John McCain and endorsed Mitt Romney for President.

Pinch-hitter Laynce Nix hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Washington Nationals a 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners yesterday in an appropriately close game between a pair of .500 teams. The Nationals swept the Mariners with three one-run victories, putting Seattle at 37-and-38 -- back below .500 for the first time since May 25th. The Mariners return home for some away games starting tonight. Their three-game series against the Florida Marlins was moved to Seattle because Sun Life Stadium is preparing for a U2 concert. Florida is the home team and is batting last, and the series is being played under NL rules, without a designated hitter. Manager Eric Wedge said, "Being a visiting team in your home ballpark, that'll be a different feel."

It apparently was singles night at Cheney Stadium last night. Five consecutive first-inning singles set the tone for the Tacoma Rainiers, producing a 3-0 lead and opening a game in which each of their 10 hits was good for one base. It may have been unintentional small ball, but it gave the Tacoma Rainiers enough to beat the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, 4-2. They wrap up the series tonight at 7:00.

The Seattle Seahawks, the Seattle Sounders, and CenturyLink made their formal, press-conference announcement yesterday that Qwest Field is now CenturyLink Field. They even unveiled a logo and all that jazz. But the biggest piece of news to come from the press conference is the announcement that CenturyLink has agreed to a five-year extension on the existing naming-rights deal, meaning the stadium will bear the CenturyLink name through at least the 2018-19 season.

Roger Levesque sat on top of the advertising boards surrounding CenturyLink Field, pinched his nose and leaned back to fall toward the crowd of 46,065 last night. Substitute Levesque scored twice in the second half, only outdoing his play on the field with his celebration -- simulating diving into the water -- as the Seattle Sounders beat Red Bull New York, 4-2. Seattle extended its unbeaten streak to five, and improved to 4-2-and-3 at home in front of the largest MLS crowd in Sounders history. Seattle moved into a tie with FC Dallas for second in the Western Conference. New York lost for the first time in its last seven games. The Sounders are back in action Sunday afternoon at 1:00 when they host the New England Revolution.

The Seattle Storm is back home tonight hosting the Minnesota Lynx. Tip-off at the Key is at 7:00.

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of the sudden death of Michael Jackson.

The City of Aberdeen may rename a bridge and park after Kurt Cobain. Kurt grew up there. The Aberdeen Park Board suggested the city rename the Young Street Bridge the Kurt Cobain Bridge. A small park next to the bridge would be called Kurt Cobain Landing. Councilwoman Alice Phelps said some people are likely to complain about renaming the bridge. The public will have a chance to comment before any names are changed.

P!nk gave an exclusive "first shot" of her daughter, Willow Sage, to People magazine, and the singer took to her blog to explain why she did it. On PinksPage.com, she wrote a scathing open letter about the paparazzi in the United States – how they're worse than any other country in the world with the measures that they'll go to get a picture – and that she did an official "first shot" so the photogs would stop "stalking" her and her husband, Carey Hart. She added that she's donating "all of the money" they were paid for the pictures to charity.

The Spin Doctors are re-releasing their hit debut album, Pocketful of Kryptonite, in honor of its 20th anniversary. It was just announced that Pocketful of Kryptonite: 20th Anniversary Edition is a two-CD set featuring songs like Two Princes and Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, and is available starting August 30th. Beginning July 2nd, the guys are heading out on a tour in honor of the anniversary.

Adele's Rolling in the Deep scores a seventh week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Of course, there was disappointment when Adele cancelled all the remaining dates on her tour because of serious issues with her voice. Now, it's been announced on the singer's official website that all shows have been rescheduled, and there were even a few extra dates added. Adele is at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, BC on August 9th, at the Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon on August 11th (that's a venue change for the Portland area show), and then at the Paramount in Seattle on Friday, August 12th. Get all the dates at Adele.tv.

Katy Perry is on the cover of next month's Rolling Stone magazine, and in the article inside, she speaks about a number of topics, including her body. The pop star said that she "started praying" for breasts when she was 11, and was answered "above and beyond." She goes on to talk about kids making fun of her, calling her "Over-the-Shoulder Boulder Holder." Apparently it wasn't until she was about 19 that she realized that she didn't have to be ashamed of her looks, and that she's okay after all the teasing -- she says she doesn't have "any psychological pain because of it." On the cover of the issue, Katy is wearing a silver shirt, and where it covers her breasts, it's made to look like two Hershey's Kisses.

A new study suggests that humans may have a sixth sense, the ability to sense magnetic fields.

A lost penguin got happy feet this week and ended up on a remote island in New Zealand. It's been 44 years since a penguin has been spotted in the country. One resident said, "It was out-of-this-world to see it...like someone just dropped it from the sky." Officials are guessing the aquatic bird came ashore for rest after taking a wrong turn looking for a bite to eat. Not to worry, though – the bird can survive several weeks without a meal, so officials are planning to let nature take its course. Eventually, its march will lead it home to Antarctica.

An art teacher in Scotland learned the hard way that some people are mean when she was locked in a school closet and verbally assaulted. No, this wasn't the shenanigans of a few unruly students. Believe it or not, the school bully was the woman's boss at the prestigious private school. The teacher resigned in 2009 when her boss got away with his bullying. This week, a court finally sided with the teacher and now she's waiting on a settlement hearing where a judge will decide how much compensation she will be awarded.

Trivia Answer: Kenneth Arnold made what is generally considered the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States. Arnold was regarded as a skilled and experienced pilot, with over 9,000 total flying hours, almost half of which were devoted to Search and Rescue efforts. On this date in 1947, while flying near Mt. Rainer, Arnold claimed to have seen nine unusual objects flying in the skies. Arnold originally described the objects' shape as "flat like a pie pan", "shaped like a pie plate", "half-moon shaped, oval in front and convex in the rear", "something like a pie plate that was cut in half with a sort of a convex triangle in the rear", or simply "saucer-like" or "like a big flat disk." He also described their erratic motion being "like a fish flipping in the sun" or a saucer skipped across water. From these, the press quickly coined the new terms "flying saucer" and "flying disc" to describe such objects, many of which were reported within days after Arnold's sighting. The US Air Force formally listed the case as a mirage. This is one of many explanations that have been disputed by critics. Researchers Jerome Clark, author of The UFO Book (1998) and Ronald Story, editor of The Encyclopedia of UFOs (1980). both argue that there has never been an entirely persuasive conventional explanation of the Arnold sighting. After his UFO sighting, Arnold became a minor celebrity, and for about a decade thereafter, he was somewhat involved in interviewing other UFO witnesses or contactees. By the 1960s, Arnold had little to do with UFOs, and eventually declined all interviews. On June 24, 1977, however, attended the First International UFO Congress to mark the 30th anniversary of the "birth" of the modern UFO age. Some of his comments there reflect his displease at the general ignorance concerning the matter:

" … well, right here we've seen something, I've seen something, hundreds of pilots have seen something … in the skies. We have dutifully reported these things. And we have to have 15 million witnesses before anybody is going to look into the problem seriously? Well this is utterly fantastic. This is more fantastic than flying saucers or people from Venus or anything as far as I am concerned. "

Arnold died in 1984 up in Bellevue.

The Washington Nationals moved up to .500 while the Seattle Mariners dropped back to .500 after the Nats knocked off the Ms last night, 2-1 on a pair of unearned runs off Erik Bedard. The Nationals scored in the first and fourth with the help of errors. Bedard got a hard-luck loss for his superb night's work. He allowed three hits over six innings, and his 10 strikeouts were his most since May 2008. The series wrapped up earlier today. Another loss for the Ms. The Nationals scored in the bottom of the ninth to beat Seattle 1-0 and complete the sweep. The Mariners now head back home. Home being a relative term. Seattle is hosting the Florida Marlins for the weekend but the Marlins are the home team for the series starting tomorrow night. The Mariners are even wearing their traveling uniforms. U2 is playing at the Marlins place this weekend so the series was shifted to Seattle. National League rules will be in effect (no designated hitter) and Florida bats last. All three games in the series are night games starting tomorrow night at 7:10 at Safeco.

Veteran minor league catcher Eliezer Alfonzo who spent part of last season with Tacoma came back to haunt his old team last night. Alfonzo with a three-run home run and a grand slam, leading Colorado Springs Sky Sox to a 9-6 win over the Rainiers at Cheney Stadium last night. The Rainiers and Sky Sox match up again tonight at 7:00.

The Seattle Storm is back home tomorrow night hosting the Minnesota Lynx. Tip-off at the Key is tomorrow night at 7:00. Next week, the Storm will be in the other Washington. President Barack Obama is honoring the WNBA champions at the White House. The White House says team members are also holding a basketball clinic for local kids during their visit next Wednesday.

The Seattle Sounders host the New York Red Bull at the field formerly known as Qwest Field tonight at 7:00

Today's the day we lose Qwest Field and according to Art Thiel, the Twitterverse is alive with dismissal of the official name, CenturyLink Field, and adoption of Clink. Thiel points out that headline writers will be compelled to describe the first grim defeat by the Sounders or Seahawks as, "Clunk at the Clink." The proximity to Puget Sound will provoke some awkward efforts with "Clink by the Drink" and so forth. The nation's third-largest telecommunications company is largely unheard of in these parts, and also tumbles clumsily off the tongue. But tongues begin re-training today following a ceremony earlier today at which one of Seattle's most prominent buildings switched phone service and showed off a new logo to mark the semi-auspiciousness.

Basketball season may be over, but you can still get your NBA fill tonight. It's the 2011 NBA draft. It all kicks off at 4:30 this afternoon on ESPN.

A memorial service was held for E Street Band saxophone great Clarence Clemons in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday. According to The Palm Beach Daily News, Bruce Springsteen delivered an emotional eulogy at the gathering after performing a "softened" solo version of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," moving many to tears. The Boss even reportedly broke down at one point when he spoke about meeting Clarence 40 years ago. Jackson Browne and fellow E Street Band members Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent were also in attendance.

Flags in New Jersey are flying at half-staff today in honor of Clarence. New Jersey governor Chris Christie said that Clarence's partnership with Bruce Springsteen and the rest of the band "brought great pride to our state and joy to every fan of this music around the world." Governor Christie also said, "On a personal note, when I heard about the Big Man's passing on Saturday night, I was struck with an overwhelming feeling that the days of my youth were now finally over."

Police have revealed that Jackass star Ryan Dunn was driving drunk when he crashed his car and died this week. The 34-year-old and his friend, Zachary Hartwell, are said to have been driving as fast as 140 miles-per-hour when they crashed, and toxicology reports show that Dunn was twice the legal limit while driving his Porsche.

The Washington State Liquor Control board has announced that starting at the end of next week all state liquor stores will be open the same hours. This means expanded hours for all 166 stores. The new hours are: Monday to Thursday from 10 to 9; Friday and Saturday from 10 to 10, and 58 stores open Sunday, from Noon to 5.

Selectmen in Greenwood, Maine, voted unanimously this week against changing the name of a road after hearing from residents who said they enjoy living there. Several residents of Alcohol Mary Road rallied around the memory of Alcohol Mary and said they were proud of her alcohol-making activity during Prohibition.

George Clooney and his girlfriend announced that they have split.

A Florida couple spent their first day as newlyweds telling the story of their honeymoon to police. The pair celebrated their nuptials by partying the night away at a swanky hotel club. But the occasion took a turn when the hubby found his new wife dancing with another man. The neglected groom made his way back up to their room, followed shortly thereafter by his drunk missus. That's when the woman reportedly pushed the man and bit him in the arm. The next day the woeful wife was arrested on a domestic violence charge. The judge hopes this instance is just "a small bump in the road" for the couple.

The seven Harry Potter novels become available as ebooks in October. That announcement from author J.K. Rowling this morning at the launch of a new interactive online website that will allow readers to navigate through the wizard stories. Rowling gave her clearest indication yet that she would not write an eighth Harry Potter story to follow the final installment published in 2007. She said , "I do have closure with Harry." The comments came at launch of the Pottermore website (www.pottermore.com). The unveiling of Pottermore and its online store comes three weeks before the release of the eighth and final Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, also an event likely to generate huge media and fan interest. Rowling said she had been working on the Pottermore project for around two years. The site opens for registration on July 31st, the fictional Harry Potter's birthday, and the first million people to register get early access to the website and the chance to help put the final touches to the experience. The site opens to all users in October.

People magazine has just unveiled the first official photo of P!nk and husband Carey Hart's newborn daughter, Willow Sage. It's an adorable picture of both parents cradling their sleeping baby. In an article that accompanies the photo, P!nk says she finally understands what people mean when they say life "changes so drastically" after having a child, and that it's "beautiful." The issue hits stands tomorrow.

American Idol winner Scotty McCreery recently spent about 12 hours in a Nashville studio, recording cuts for a new album that's due out sometime in the fall. He's anxious to get the new music out and says he hopes to stay true to his roots on the project. Scotty is back in LA now, rehearsing with the other Top 11 American Idol finalists for the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2011, which begins on July 6th and lands at Comcast Arena in Everett on Friday, July 8th.

TV premier: Expedition Impossible, a new competition reality show from producer Mark Burnett (of Survivor fame) airs on ABC tonight. It follows 13 teams as they race across the desert of Morocco.

A new poll of grandparents over the age of 60 finds 22% are active on social networking sites. Of those, Facebook is used by 71 percent, 34 percent are on Twitter, and 9 percent on LinkedIn.

Flea announced the title and release date for the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album on Twitter, so it should come as no surprise that he used the site to reveal their record's tracklist. I'm With You will feature songs like Monarchy of Roses, Annie Wants a Baby, Goodbye Hooray, The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie, and more. I'm With You is out on August 30th.

Adele's latest album, 21, has taken the whole world by storm, and producer Rick Rubin thinks the effort is just getting started. Rubin, who produced five tracks for the record, told Billboard that the year's top selling album is just in its "beginning" stages, as there's only been one single released and , he says, there will probably be "five" when everything is said and done. Rubin went on to call Adele an "incredible singer."

Trivia Answer: Edward Peter McMahon, Jr. -- Ed McMahon -- who is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. McMahon and Johnny Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? from 1957 to 1962. McMahon and Carson left the show to join The Tonight Show in 1962. For more than 30 years, McMahon introduced the Tonight Show with that drawn-out "Here's Johnny!" Entertainment Weekly named McMahon one of the greatest "sidekicks." McMahon annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. He performed in numerous television commercials, most notably for Budweiser. In the 1970s and 1980s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High, and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of Bewitched. By the way, it was American Family Publishers not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House for which Ed worked. McMahon died on this date two years ago shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. His nurse said he went peacefully. No formal cause of death was given, but McMahon's publicist attributed his death to the many health problems he had suffered over his final months. Then Tonight host Conan O'Brien paid tribute to McMahon on his show later that night, saying "It is impossible, I think, for anyone to imagine 'The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson' without Ed McMahon. Ed's laugh was really the soundtrack to that show." O'Brien added that McMahon, with Carson, created "the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history. There will never be anything like that again".

The Mariners wasted a brilliant outing by Doug Fister last night. Fister left with a 5-1 lead after eight innings.  The Washington Nationals then put together a five-run ninth inning off of the bullpen and beat the Ms 6-5. Wilson Ramos ended it in dramatic fashion, hitting a drive deep to center for a 3-run home run. Fister had allowed one run and three hits in his eight innings. He even had a hit and an RBI. Game two of the three game series is this afternoon at 4:05.

It took them 14 innings to do it, but the Colorado Spring Sky Sox beat the Tacoma Rainiers 5-4 at Cheney Stadium last night. It was the first of a four-game set. Game two is tonight at 7:00.

Sue Bird scored 21 points, Swin Cash had 17, and the defending champion Seattle Storm rallied for an 82-77 victory over the Tulsa Shock last night. The Storm outscored the Shock 30-13 in the third quarter after trailing by six at halftime. Three-time MVP Lauren Jackson finished with four points. She suffered an apparent hip injury in the first half and didn't return after halftime. The Storm hosts Minnesota on Friday.

Qwest Field, the home of the Seahawks and Sounders, is officially being renamed CenturyLink Field. The announcement and unveiling of the new logo is scheduled for tomorrow. CenturyLink bought Qwest earlier this year. Qwest Field was originally called Seahawks Stadium when it opened before the 2002 NFL season. It was renamed in 2004 when Qwest Communications bought the naming rights for $75 million for 15 years. The adjacent Qwest Field Event Center is being renamed as well.

The Seattle Sounders host the New York Red Bull at … CenturyLink Field ... tomorrow night at 7:00

Today is National Onion Ring Day.

President Obama addresses the nation tonight at 5:00 about his plans for a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Is it irony that as we get that word, we also get word that about 600 Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers are preparing for a year-long deployment in Afghanistan? The Army says the 14th Engineer Battalion will clear roads of improvised explosive devices and other obstacles. This is the first deployment for the battalion to Afghanistan. It has deployed three times to Iraq. A flag ceremony for the departure is being held tomorrow at Memorial Stadium at JBLM.

What's going on in Puget Sound? A long-beaked dolphin has been spotted in Boston Harbor. Annie Douglas is a biologist with Cascadia Research. She says she's seen it there three times. So how long has it been here, and why? Douglas says a fisherman told her he started seeing it more than a year ago. She says she's looking into why it's so far north.

In the annals of May-December romances -- heck, early April-late December romances -- we have this: a 16-year-old beauty queen from Ocean Shores has married an actor older than her father. Internet entertainment sites are all abuzz over the nuptuals of Courtney Alexis Stodden, who is trying to put together a singing career, and Doug Hutchison, best known for playing prison guard Percy Wetmore in The Green Mile. As an actor, Hutchison specializes in creepy, underhanded types. He's 51. The two married May 20. In Las Vegas, of course. The former Miss Stodden was a tad young to tie the knot. But got the OK from her parents, according to Radaronine. In fact, Courtney's father, who at 47 is four years younger than his new son-in-law, even went so far as to tell RadarOnline that: "Every father can only pray to have such a man behind their daughter." The former Miss Stodden says on her website that she lives in Ocean Shores and Hollywood, began modeling at age 12 and appeared in the Miss Washington USA contest at age 15. She's also putting together a three-song demo CD.

Lindsay Lohan is still under house arrest, but that didn't stop her from shooting a commercial this week. Lohan shot a video for the website BeeZid.com, and reportedly got paid over 25-thousand dollars for the day's work.

Crystal Harris canceled her wedding to Hugh Hefner just days before it was set to happen, but Hef doesn't seem to care that much. The 25-year-old Crystal is being allowed to keep her 90-thousand dollar engagement ring and the Bentley she was given from the Playboy mogul.

According to TMZ, Harry Potter star Emma Watson was spotted in a Dallas honky-tonk late last week. Eye witnesses who were at the bar report that Hermione even tried a little line dancing. TMZ has now posted pictures of Watson on the dance floor. Several Dallas-area residents on Twitter say the bar she was dancing in is called The Round-Up.

Harry Potter fans find out tomorrow what Pottermore.com is. It's J.K.Rowling's site but that's about all we know about it. The Internet is crazy with rumors.

An 18-year-old German hacker has been sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention after admitting to stealing songs from a number of the biggest artists in the world, including Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Justin Timberlake. According to the BBC, the teen, who isn't having his name released due to legal reasons, earned close to 20-thouand dollars selling the stolen music. NME.com reports he's already written to Gaga to apologize for his actions.

Adele has put to rest some of the rumors that are flying around about why she had to cancel her US tour. In her blog on her official website, the singer-songwriter said that she did indeed have to rest her voice or risk "permanent damage," but she says she hasn't been told to not speak for a month, nor is she taking "singing lessons." She did mention that she's "on the mend," has managed to give up smoking, and that she's just enjoying her time at home, cooking and watching DVDs.

You might not get to see Amy Winehouse perform for a very, very long time. The singer – who just had to cancel her European tour after a disastrous first performance – has reportedly been forced to retire "indefinitely" by her manager to concentrate on getting healthy. British paper The Sun reports that a source close to Amy said that she's "going away" and that this time "it could be for years."

After taking some time to go to rehab, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora is once again touring with the band. Now, Jon Bon Jovi is talking about his bandmate. The rocker told Seven Days magazine that "it was great for Richie to go and take care of himself knowing full well he was not being fired or punished. He needed and wanted to seek help." Jon added, "Now he's focused, re-energized and everything is great. Our partnership is as strong as ever." The band plays in Scotland tonight.

Jack in the Box has pulled toys from its kids' meals. The move comes as fast-food companies are under pressure to stop using toys to market children's meals that are high in calories, sugar, fat and salt.

A recent study by Texas researchers proves what single men have known for a long time: Chicks dig hot cars. Men who wear expensive clothes and drive flashy cars are more successful at having flings and staying single than their financially conservative counterparts.

In an uncommon chain of events, an Iowa woman is dead after protecting her grandson from a cranky cow. Authorities aren't positive why the heifer attacked the 60-year-old woman, as it is unusual for a cow to be aggressive. The woman's husband went inside for a drink when he heard her screams. He came out to find the woman on the ground. The family believes the cow hit the woman with its head, stopping her heart. She was airlifted to the local hospital where she later died.

Then there's the 44-year-old Illinois man who wanted some company so he called up his ex-girlfriend one night recently and invited her over to his place. She took the offer but arrived with a surprise: her new boyfriend. The pair proceeded to beat up the man with nunchuks, clocking him twice in the head. Minutes later, police responded to the victim's call and found him drenched in his own blood. After being transported to the local hospital, he identified his crazy ex-girlfriend and her new beau as his attackers. The woman was charged and booked in the county jail, but her new boyfriend and partner in crime is still unaccounted for.

Trivia Answer: Erin Brockovich-Ellis who turns 51 today. Her work in bringing litigation against PG&E is the focus of the 2000 feature film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin. Erin herself had a cameo role as a waitress named Julia R. The name Julia R. was selected to parody the fact that Julia Roberts was playing Brockovich. Since the release of the film, Erin has hosted Challenge America with Erin Brockovich on ABC and Final Justice on Zone Reality. She is the president of Brockovich Research & Consulting. She's currently working as a consultant for Girardi & Keese on the east coast, the New York law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, which has a focus on personal injury claims for asbestos exposure, and Shine Lawyers in Australia.

Today is the official beginning of summer. It began at 10:16 this morning. Those who have lived in the Pacific Northwest for any length of time, however, can only snort and ask for a heavy jacket. That skepticism may be well-placed. The months ahead, says the National Weather Service, could prove to be a normal summer. Or they could be cold and wet. Or perhaps they will be hot and dry. Dennis D'Amico at the National Weather Service in Seattle says, "There's no clear climate indicator for us right now. It's sort of a crap shoot." University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass says not to worry. Or at least, don't panic. Mass says that after what he calls the worst spring in Northwest history, we ought to have a normal summer. First, of course, we'll have to endure more June gloom of cool temperatures, cloudy skies, and some rain. So he figures summer is most likely to arrive in the second week in July. He says, "So just hold on through the July 4th weekend....we may have some real summer yet." Note the hedging "may." Go ahead, break out the sunblock and beach umbrella. But don't put those sweaters in storage just yet.

An off day for the Mariners yesterday while they traveled all the way across the country. The Ms are in the other Washington. Doug Fister takes the mound for the Mariners in the opener of a three-game Interleague set against the Nationals this afternoon at 4:05.

The Salt Lake Bees beat the Tacoma Rainiers 9-6 last night Pacific Coast League play. With the victory, the Bees won three of four in the series at Tacoma. Tonight, the Rainiers host the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

The Seattle Storm raod trip continues. They're at Tulsa to face the Shock. Tip-off tonight at 5.

The Sounders are back in action Thursday when they host New York at CenturyLink Field. Yep, CenturyLink Field. See the next paragraph.

Qwest is becoming CenturyLink, and that applies to the Seattle stadium where the Seahawks and Sounders play. The company says the new logo for CenturyLink Field is being unveiled at a news conference Thursday at the stadium. CenturyLink is the third-largest telecommunications company in the United States. It purchased Qwest in April.

Here's a shocker for Northwest sports fans: In a somewhat scientific analysis of professional sports franchises in the four major sports, Seattle teams don't score a whole lot of points. Part of the reason is that Seattle teams don't score a lot of points, but ESPN's index considers more than just on-field performance. The Seahawks were No. 61 and the Mariners were No. 108 in the Ultimate Standings. The rankings consider eight criteria to determine standings: bang for the buck, fan relations, ownership, affordability, stadium experience, players, coaching and title track. The Green Bay Packers were No. 1, moving up from the ninth spot after their Super Bowl victory. Not surprisingly, the Cincinnati Bengals were last at No. 122. The Seahawks were No. 12 among NFL teams, scoring particularly high in stadium experience and coaching. The franchise's score was weighed down by affordability and bang for the buck, which measures wins in relation to revenue directly from fans. The Mariners were No. 28 out of 30 major league franchises. The team's highest score came in stadium experience. The Mariners were near the bottom for all sports in fan relations, players, coaching, and title track. The team's surprising 2011 season should help them in next year's list.

At the inaugural Critics Choice TV Awards yesterday the critics picked Mad Men as best drama. Modern Family won best comedy.

Scientists at Samsung and the University of California, San Diego, are working on scented television. It's a device that could not only create potentially thousands of odors at will, but also fit onto the back of a TV. Advertisers would love it.

We lost E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons over the weekend. Now, as fans grieve they are left wondering what will happen to the band. Clarence isn't the first member to pass on -- in 2008 keyboardist Danny Federici died of melanoma -- but Clarence was one of the biggest presences on the stage, so his absence will certainly change the group's dynamic. No word yet if Bruce Springsteen will attempt to find someone to fill Clarence's shoes.

Tom Cruise is starring as Stacee Jaxx in the upcoming Rock of Ages movie and the first picture of him in costume has come out. Director Adam Shankman helped to describe it, telling USA Today that Cruise's character "has elements of Axl Rose, Keith Richards and Bret Michaels." Stacee is an aging musician whose glory days are long passed. The movie is due out in June of 2012 and also stars Paul Giamatti, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and many others.Tom has been working with Axl Rose's vocal coach to prepare for his role. In the flick, Cruise performs the Scorpions' Rock You Like a Hurricane, Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive and Styx's Renegade.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced their first set of tour dates for this year. Sadly, they're all overseas. The band kicks off a tour on October 7th in Cologne, Germany then trek across Europe until December 17th, when they wind down in Madrid, Spain. The jaunt is to support the group's new album, I'm With You, which is due out in August.

Adele has been put on extremely strict vocal rest, just weeks after she had to cancel the tail end of her US tour. She has reportedly been ordered by doctors to "stop talking or singing for a month to avoid causing serious damage to her voice." Apparently, if she doesn't do this, she's runs a serious risk of permanent damage.

Amy Winehouse has had to cancel a number of dates on her European tour after a disastrous first show in Belgrade, Serbia over the weekend. According to People.com, the embattled singer appeared on stage over an hour late and seemed to be under the influence, slurring her words. She also addressed the crowd of more than 20-thousand by saying, "Hello, Athens," when in reality, she was actually nowhere near Greece. Winehouse has now canceled all scheduled appearances.

The lawsuit over Ed Helms' Mike Tyson tattoo in The Hangover Part II has been settled. Ed's tattoo will be staying on his face for the DVD release of the film.

In Michigan, police were called about two teenagers who were looking into vehicles. The teens, 13 and 14, were apprehended, but claimed they didn't steal anything. But police found them with some items, including a smartphone. Police got a pretty good idea it was stolen when the two boys didn't know the phone's password. The teens' parents told police they didn't recognize the phone either.

Sing it with me, "Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground." A star University of New Mexico athlete is becoming less of a footballer and more of a felon. Airport officials weren't having it last week when 20-year-old Deshon Marman boarded a flight with baggy pants exposing his boxer shorts. A worker asked the athlete to pull up his britches, but according to Marman, he didn't have a free hand to do so at the time. He took his seat on the flight and officials asked all boarded passengers to leave the plane because Marman still hadn't yanked up his pants. After 15 minutes, the pants-on-the-ground hardhead left the plane and was cited for trespassing. The footballer's mother thinks her son was a victim of stereotyping and wants airport officials to apologize.

A Missouri ice cream parlor got a rousing response from customers when they introduced their brand-new cicada ice cream. But health officials aren't racing to get in line for the wacky dessert. In fact, an environmental health chief is bugging out and advising against using the interesting ingredient in ice cream. Reportedly, to cook the dessert, the cicadas' wings are removed and then the bugs are boiled and covered in brown sugar and milk chocolate. Within one hour, the parlor sold out an entire tub of cicada ice cream.

The only thing you would expect to see hanging from a power line is maybe a tree branch or perhaps a tied-together pair of old tennis shoes. Well, not anymore. One woman looked up at the power line outside her Montana home to find one very unlucky member of the wildlife community -- a deer. No, the unfortunate fawn wasn't a distant cousin of Rudolph. Rather, authorities suspect an eagle dropped the deer from the sky and couldn't retrieve it. The lineman removed the carcass and said he'd never seen anything like it.

Trivia Answer: Elvin Bishop. The tune featuring Mickey Thomas was Fooled Around and Fell In Love. Elvin is still out doing it. He just spends most of his time these days in the Blues neighborhood. In 2008, he released The Blues Roles On. He was supported by B.B. King, Derek Trucks, George Thorogood, and Tommy Castro. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album.

A good weekend for the Mariners. They hosted the best team in baseball -- the Philadelphia Phillies -- and took two out of three. Yesterday, Jason Vargas tossed a three-hitter for his second shutout of the season, outdueling Philadelphia left-hander Cole Hamels to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 2-0 win. Vargas not only kept pace with Hamels, he exceeded and outlasted him in his third career complete game. The Mariners now have eight shutouts on the season. It was the fifth time the Phillies have been shut out. It's also the fifth time they have been held to three hits or fewer. The Mariners once again find themselves two games over .500 and just a half game out of the lead -- behind the Texas Rangers -- in the AL West. What a weekend for new call-up Dustin Ackley. He made his big league debut Friday night and got his first big league hit. Saturday, he got his first big league home run, and yesterday got his first big league triple. By the way, yesterday's crowd of 45,462 was the second sellout at Safeco Field this year and the first since Opening Day. A travel day for the Mariners today. They're in the nation's capital for the next few days facing the Washington Nationals. Game one tomorrow afternoon at 4:00.

The Tacoma Rainiers hosted the Salt Lake Bees over the weekend. Tacoma lost Friday, won Saturday, and then lost 3-2 yesterday. They wrap up that series tonight at 7:05 at Cheney Stadium.

People have said repeatedly that the WNBA better than its ever been as it turns 15. Games like the Los Angeles Sparks' 74-50 beating of the Seattle Storm last night only reinforces that notion. The Storm, widely assumed to be the favorite to win the WNBA title for a second consecutive year prior to the season, simply didn't have the firepower to match the Sparks' hot shooting in their first road game of the season. The Storm continue their road trip tomorrow with a game against the Tulsa Shock.

Fredy Montero scored on a free kick in the 90th minute to lift the visiting Seattle Sounders to a 1-0 win over Toronto FC on Saturday night. Toronto is the owner of a lowly 2-6-9 record at the halfway point of the Major League Soccer campaign, after seeing their season-high winless streak extended to eight consecutive matches (five draws and three losses). Seattle played Vancouver to a 2-2 draw last weekend at home, improved to 6-4-7. The Sounders are back in action Thursday when they host New York.

Every time Rory McIlroy lined up a shot yesterday, there was some sort of record on the line, some kind of history to be made. That was this year's U.S. Open version of suspense. There was never any doubt that the kid from Northern Ireland was going to win it. In complete control of his emotions and his game, McIlroy never slipped. He won his first major championship by shooting a 2-under 69 and closed his four-day onslaught at 16-under 268, eight shots ahead of Jason Day and four shots better than the U.S. Open scoring record formerly held by four players, including two named Woods and Nicklaus.

The Roxy Boat raced over the weekend. The Unlimited Light Miss 94Five Roxy was at Chamberlain, South Dakota taking part in the River City Racin's Hydroplane Races. Saturday, the Roxy Boat placed first in the first heat, and second in the second heat. In the final on Sunday, it placed second despite a one minute penalty. The Miss 94Five Roxy is scheduled to appear in the Tumwater 4th of July parade and to be a part of the Seafair Unlimited Light Hydroplane races the first weekend in August.

Clarence Clemons, the larger-than-life saxophone player for the E Street Band and one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen's life and music through four decades, has died. Clemons was hospitalized about a week ago after suffering a stroke at his home in Singer Island, Fla. He died Saturday night of complications from the stroke. Known as the Big Man for his imposing 6-foot-5-inch, 270-plus pound frame, Clemons and his ever-present saxophone spent much of his life with The Boss, and his booming saxophone solos became a signature sound for the E Street Band on many key songs, including Jungleland and Born To Run. In recent years, Clemons had been slowed by health woes. He endured major spinal surgery in January 2010 and, at the 2009 Super Bowl, Clemons rose from a wheelchair to perform with Springsteen after double knee replacement surgery. But his health seemed to be improving. In May, he performed with Lady Gaga on the season finale of American Idol, and performed on two songs on her Born This Way album. An original member -- and the oldest member -- of the E Street Band, Clemons also performed with the Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia Band, and Ringo Starr's All Star Band. He recorded with a wide range of artists including Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, and Jackson Browne. He also had his own band called the Temple of Soul. Born in Norfolk, Va., Clemons was the grandson of a Baptist minister and began playing the saxophone when he was 9. He is the second member of the E Street Band to pass away: In 2008, Danny Federici, the keyboardist for the band, died at age 58 of melanoma. Clarence Clemons was 69.

One of the stars of MTV's Jackass films and TV series, Ryan Dunn, was killed in a fiery car crash on a Pennsylvania highway early this morning. A passenger in Dunn's 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 was also killed, but investigators have not positively identified the body. The red-bearded Dunn was famous for his pranks and dangerous stunts on the show, which evolved into a successful film franchise. Police were called to the wreck scene at 2:30 this morning. Police reports indicate that when officers arrived, they located one vehicle off the road and in the woods and fully engulfed in flames. Police said speed may have been a contributing factor to the accident, although the investigation is in its preliminary stages. MTV issued a short statement through its Twitter account this morning: "We're deeply saddened by the passing of a member of the MTV family, Ryan Dunn. Our hearts and thoughts are with his friends and family." Jackass star Johnny Knoxville tweeted his message this morning, as well: "Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan, I love you buddy." Ryan Dunn was 34.

Jennifer Lopez may come back for a second year as a judge on American Idol. Or she may not. Last week in a BBC interview, when asked if she's be back, she said, "You know, this is the question of the hour. I don't know, I don't know. I had an amazing time doing it and I loved it but I have a lot of other things happening and it's gonna come down to making a choice of really what I want to do for the next year." J-Lo recently wrapped up a one-year deal with the show, for which she was reportedly paid $12 million.

Ryan Reynolds is the latest superhero to rule the weekend box office. Reynolds' Green Lantern debuted at No. 1 with $52.7 million, a fair but unremarkable opening stacked up against other comic-book adaptations. Green Lantern brought up the rear among superhero movies to open so far this summer, behind the $65.7 million debut of Thor and the $55.1 million launch of X-Men: First Class. Opening this coming Friday are Cars 2 and Bad Teacher. One more movie note: Michael Caine has described the plot to Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises as "really extraordinary."

Alyssa Campanella, a 21-year-old redhead representing California, was named Miss USA at the annual beauty pageant in Las Vegas last night. The full-time model was born and raised in New Jersey which she represented at the Miss Teen USA contest in 2007. She was considered among the favorites by pageant experts. She will represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 12th.

Meanwhile, Larry Jackson from Dunn, North Carolina, was the winner over the weekend of the National Hollerin' Contest in Spivey's Corner, North Carolina.

Today is the first day of Lightning Safety Week

President Barack Obama sent his first tweet yesterday. Obama's re-election campaign staff has been running his @BarackObama account but said a few days ago that any tweets ending in "-BO" would be from the big man himself.

We've all heard it: Before making decisions of any magnitude, we should sleep on it. A new study from a University of Massachusetts Amherst psychologist backs that up. The study indicates a good night's sleep gives us an increase in our cognitive skills and the ability to reason.

Forbes has released their latest list of the highest-paid musicians. U2 comes in at number one after earning 195-million dollars, followed by Bon Jovi at 125 mil and Elton John with 100-million bucks. Coming in fourth, none other than Lady Gaga, who made 90-million bucks, followed closely by Michael Buble in fifth with 70-mil. See more at Forbes.com.

Madonna is set to appear on a forthcoming episode of Inside The Actors Studio on Bravo with host James Lipton. According to MadonnaTribe.com, it's to promote her recently-wrapped film, W.E. No word on when exactly the show is taping or airing.

Meredith Viera recently left her gig as the Today Show anchor and now, Oprah Winfrey is trying to swoop her up for her network. Perez Hilton reports that Oprah wants Vieira to head over to OWN where she can host a show.

Police in Savannah, Georgia, released a 911 call this week of a woman who called because of a wrong Chinese food order. Officers were eventually dispatched to the restaurant because the the woman was getting disorderly.

Trivia Answer: Robert J. Vila -- Bob Vila -- who turns 65 today. He hosted This Old House from 1979 to 1989, Bob Vila's Home Again from 1990 to 2005, and Bob Vila from 2005 to 2007. Vila also appeared on various episodes of Home Improvement as himself, where main character and cable TV host Tim Taylor (played by Tim Allen) saw him as a rival and went to great lengths to try to beat Vila at things, which -- of course -- he never succeeded in doing. Vila has written ten books, including a five-book series titled Bob Vila's Guide to Historic Homes of America.

An off day for the Mariners yesterday bu they still gained some ground in the AL West race. The Yankees knocked off the Rangers 3-2. Seattle gained a half-game in the chase of the Rangers and are now half a game back. The best team in baseball, however, is in the Northwest for a three-game interleague series this weekend. The Ms host the the Philadelphia Phillies starting tonight.

The Rainiers stumbled in the final game of their marathon, yet successful road trip. Despite losing 8-4, to a rehabilitating Barry Zito and the Fresno Grizzlies last night, Tacoma finished the 12-game trip with eight wins. The Rainiers launch an 8-game homestand tonight as they host the Salt Lake Bees. A Friday night home game means post-game fireworks.

The Seattle Storm is back in action tonight as they host the Indiana.Fever. Tip-off at the Key at 7:00. Sunday, they're at Los Angeles.

Tomorrow afternoon at 4:00, the Sounders are at Toronto.

Hours after that crushing Stanley Cup defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins, Vancouver residents yesterday were trying to come to terms with the reasons their city had again exploded in riots. One bar manager pointed out that "It's totally unlike Vancouver." She said, "I'm a little ashamed to live in Vancouver right now." Vancouver Police are blaming "criminals and anarchists" who, they say, disguised themselves as Canucks fans for the riots. Nearly 100 people were arrested, almost 150 people required hospital treatment overnight, and fifteen vehicles were damaged. Police say they have more than 100 tips that include video and photographs of the individuals involved in the riot. Police said it was mostly young thugs responsible for the mayhem overnight, but an equally young crew turned up yesterday in jeans and rubber gloves, some with Canucks jerseys, all carrying plastic garbage bags. Among unofficial Facebook pages set up after the violence was one soliciting cleanup help and another asking readers to report riot "morons."

Livermore, California, is celebrating the 110th birthday of the nation's longest-burning light bulb today. The 4-watt Centennial Light, which hangs from the rafters of Livermore's Fire Station No. 6, is being appreciated this weekend.

The Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival begins today. This three-day event celebrates duct tape, its enthusiasts and its wacky and fun uses. The festival also honors the history and heritage of the city that is proclaimed the "Duct Tape Capital" of the world -- Avon, Ohio -- the home of Duck brand duct tape. From sculptures and fashion to games and a parade, everything at the festival revolves around duct tape.

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner heeded calls from across the political spectrum by resigning from office yesterday, saying the sexting scandal he first lied about and then admitted caused such a distraction that it was impossible for him to continue his work in Congress.

Crystal Harris was set to marry Hugh Hefner tomorrow, but she has since called off the wedding. She was also set to appear on the July cover of Playboy magazine as Mrs. Crystal Hefner, but now Playboy has covered each issue with a large Runaway Bride In This Issue! sticker.  That's the new version to the right.  Check yesterday's post for the original.

It's been announced that Prince Harry is being deployed to serve in Afghanistan with his squadron. In the summer of 2012, Prince William's 26-year-old brother will head overseas and will serve as a helicopter pilot. Back in 2008, Harry had to take a break from serving in the British military after the foreign media reported secret information about his location.

Paul McCartney's birthday tomorrow. He's 69. His song Yesterday is the most covered song in history and has been played more than seven-million times on American TV and radio

We know Adele's sophomore album, 21, is doing great on the charts, but just how well it's doing is interesting. MTV.com put up an in-depth look at the numbers, and 21 has been in the top three of the Billboard 200 chart for 16 weeks, and at number one for ten. Also, she's managed to sell 2.2-million copies of the effort while only releasing one single thus far. That song, Rolling in the Deep, has also done really well. It's been the number one tune in the country for eight consecutive weeks.

This week, there were some rumors that Joe Perry is suffering from partial deafness, but the Aerosmith guitarist's wife took to Twitter to dispel those reports. Billie Perry wrote that Joe just had his hearing checked and he was given a clean bill of health. She wrote that her husband "does not have tinnitus nor does he have any hearing loss," then lamented over the false reports writing, "More rumors. Ugh!!" Next month, Aerosmith is to gather at their Massachusetts studio to record their first album in six years.

After only three weeks, Scotty McCreery's debut single, I Love You This Big, has landed a spot in the top 25 of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. The track made history by having the highest debut on the chart for a new artist since 1984. The new song has Scotty's fans asking for more and he says it's coming soon. He's hoping for a Fall release. In the meantime, Scotty is back in LA with the other Idol finalists, rehearsing for the American Idol Live Tour that kicks off July 6th. A couple of nights later, on Friday, July 8th, that tour lands at Comcast Arena in Everett.

Linkin Park says their next album will "polarize" people. Singer Chester Bennington says they've been working on the record for the past two months and says, "It will probably get a very polarized reaction. Which pleases me. As an artist, I want a reaction." He says the band is writing about serious matters this time out like politics and faith. But he explains the group's goal is not to be preachy saying, "You need to learn to talk to people and not at people."

A Canadian woman is hoping for the safe return of something that was stolen from her – her front lawn. Add this one to the list of bizarre burglaries. The lady and her family entered their home through the back door and didn't notice the ransacked yard until later. When the woman opened the blinds to the front window, she was anything but blind to the stretch of dirt that replaced her luscious, green grass. After the incident, she said, "Now my place looks like I'm a farmer who just plowed." Neighbors noticed a white van in the area but thought it was just another landscaping job.

Trivia Answer: Joseph Charles John Piscopo -- Joe Piscopo -- who turns 60 today. Piscopo was best known for his impressions of celebrities such as Frank Sinatra. He actually wrote Sinatra a letter asking his permission. Frank agreed and jokingly dubbed Joe the "vice-chairman of the board." Piscopo left SNL in 1984, but unlike Murphy he did not find major success. He appeared in a few successful films such as Johnny Dangerously and in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, he also had his own HBO comedy special, but was regarded more as a punch line to a bad joke about the doomed careers of most SNL alumni.

The Boston Bruins had waited 39 long years for another drink from the Stanley Cup, and Tim Thomas was awfully thirsty. When the Bruins and their brilliant goalie barged into a hostile Canadian rink surrounded by another 100,000 screaming fans outside for Game 7, they emerged with the championship they wanted. Thomas made 37 saves in the second shutout of his landmark finals performance, and the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 last night for their first championship since 1972. The Bruins are the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 three times in the same postseason. During a two-week Stanley Cup finals that ranks among the NHL's weirdest in recent years, the only predictable aspect had been the home teams' dominance. Vancouver eked out three one-goal victories at home, while the Bruins won three blowouts in Boston. And then the Canucks lost the big one on their home ice.

After the loss, angry, drunken fans in Vancouver ran wild, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles. Later, looters smashed windows and ran inside department stores. Vancouver's mayor said, "We have a small number of hooligans on the streets of Vancouver causing problems. It's absolutely disgraceful and shameful and by no means represents the city of Vancouver. We have had an extraordinary run in the playoff, a great celebration. What's happened tonight is despicable."

The Seattle Mariners salvaged the final game of their series with the Los Angeles Angels last night. The future of the Mariners was on display everywhere as they did it. From Mike Carp's homer-robbing catch, to Carlos Peguero's go-ahead single, to Greg Halman's first major league homer. The biggest piece of that youth movement, second baseman Dustin Ackley, is about to make his major league debut. Peguero's lucky-bounce, two-run single in the seventh inning put Seattle in front, Halman added a solo homer in the eighth, and Erik Bedard threw seven shutout innings in the Mariners 3-1 win over the Angels. The Mariners are back over .500 at 35-and-34 and just one game behind the AL West leading Texas Rangers. The best team in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies, arrives in the Northwest for a three-game interleague series starting tomorrow. The Mariners announced after last night's game that Dusitin Ackley is being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma and Luis Rodriguez would be optioned. In Ackley's last game with the Rainiers, he collected a couple of hits and drove in a late run in Tacoma's 11-4 win over the Fresno Grizzlies last night. It was Tacoma's fourth straight win and the team is now an impressive 8-3 with one game remaining on a 12-game trip. That game is at Fresno tonight at 7:05.

Tomorrow night, the Seattle Storm is hosting the Indiana.Fever. Tip-off at the Key at 7:00.

Saturday afternoon at 4:00, the Sounders are at Toronto.

Lots of players are pursuing other interests while the NFL has been in the middle of their long lockout, and Green Bay Packers quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers is no different. According to the Sporting News, the California native is setting up shop with a band named The Make from his hometown of Chico to form an alternative rock record label titled Suspended Sunrise Recordings. Rodgers is apparently a self-taught guitarist with an interest in all music genres. Who knew?

Here's a shocker: New York Congressman Anthony Weiner today announced his resignation from Congress.

Today is National Fudge Day

Yesterday, a judge sent Charlie Sheen's lawsuit against Warner Bros. to arbitration, in a ruling that denies the actor an open court hearing over his firing from Two and a Half Men. The judge's ruling was seen as a victory for the studio behind the sitcom and for producer Chuck Lorre, who also was a target of Sheen's lawsuit. Sheen, who claims in the suit that he was fired after criticizing producers, is seeking more $100 million in damages. The ruling puts off the opportunity for Sheen to present his accusations in open court, which could save the parties involved from potential embarrassment. Marty Singer is an attorney for Sheen. He says the arbitrator could send the case back to open court. Singer said, "We feel very confident our client will prevail in the case. That's what matters at the end of the day, it's who wins and who loses, not who wins in the preliminary skirmishes."

Today, the National Concrete Canoe Competition begins at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. The event, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers, provides students with a practical application of the engineering principles they learn in the classroom, along with important team and project management skills they will need in their careers.

As it turns out, the same state that brought us Albert Einstein, The Sopranos, and The Jersey Shore is also dishing out the smartest government. Believe it or not, New Jersey has the nation's highest percentage of lawmakers with a graduate degree. More than 60 percent of the Jersey legislature boasts either a master's, a law, or a doctorate degree. However, only 13 percent of the general population in New Jersey has earned such an education.

For years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences only chose five films for Best Picture. Then for the past two years, they've nominated 10 films. Well, the Academy has announced that they'll vary the number of movies chosen for Best Picture this coming year. Now, between five and ten movies can receive a nod for the biggest prize in the biz. The actual number of nominees will not be revealed until nominations are announced on January 24.

Hugh Hefner's ex-fiancee has revealed she ended her engagement with the Playboy boss because she didn't feel right becoming his wife. Playmate Crystal Harris, who ironically graces the cover of the new Playboy magazine, was scheduled to exchange vows with Hefner on Saturday, but instead called off the nuptials on Tuesday and has since parted ways with the publisher. In an interview yesterday morning, Harris said, "I called it off because I didn't think it was the right thing for me to do. ... For a while I've been having second thoughts about everything. I haven't really been at peace with myself lately. I didn't think it was really fair to him." The model insists Hefner is "doing great" and they plan to stay good friends: "I feel happy and at peace that everything will be OK, and I respect him more than anything, and we're still going to be really close." Harris now has to make sure relatives who had already booked flights to Los Angeles for the wedding don't have a wasted trip: She says, "I have about 15 relatives flying in from London so I have to find something for them to do."

Want your marriage to last? Well, several studies have shown that men with high levels of testosterone make the worst husbands and fathers. They are more likely to cheat and get divorces. The rub here is that other studies have shown that the more financially independent women become, the more they're attracted to hot guys, and the dudes that ladies deem as "hot" often have higher levels of testosterone. Moral of the story? Date the hot ones, marry the average looking and nice ones. HuffingtonPost.com has more.

Back in 1976, Paul McCartney and John Lennon almost reunited on Saturday Night Live and now, Paul is talking about what happened. He told Access Hollywood that he was in New York visiting John when SNL producer Lorne Michaels offered them three-thousand dollars to reunite on the show. Lennon was for it, figuring it was a quick way to make some money, but they ultimately decided against it since, as Paul said, "It would have been work and we were having a night off." He added though that they "nearly did it." That night, by the way, was the last time Paul and John saw each other.

It's been rumored that Jennifer Lopez is still on the fence about returning to American Idol next season, but Randy Jackson says J-Lo and Steven Tyler will be back. We're still, of course, awaiting official word. Randy says he really likes this panel of three judges, and hopes the show's producers don't add a fourth judge.

When the job is the same, some women do make more than their male counterparts. The Hollywood Reporter says Christina Aguilera pulls down $225,000 per episode on The Voice, while the three male judges make $75,000 per episode.

Adele's new album, 21, has reclaimed its place on top of the Billboard 200 chart after getting knocked off for two weeks by Lady Gaga's Born This Way. This past week, 21 sold 114-thousand copies while Born This Way sold 100-thousand. Adele has now sold more than 2.2-million copies in the US alone.

Lady Gaga has announced on her Twitter page that during tonight's brand new episode of So You Think You Can Dance, she's unveiling the video for The Edge of Glory.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is exhibiting the hand-sewn meat dress Lady Gaga wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards as part of its Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power exhibit. Gaga wore her famous meat dress onstage during her acceptance for Best Video of the Year for Bad Romance at the MTV Video Music Awards back on September 12th of 2010.

Trivia Answer: The Monterey International Pop Music Festival.  It was held June 16th, 17th, and 18th of 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The Monterey Pop Festival embodied the themes of California as a focal point for the counterculture and is generally regarded as one of the beginnings of the Summer of Love in 1967. Monterey became the template for future music festivals, notably the Woodstock Festival two years later. The festival was planned in seven weeks. The festival board included members of The Beatles and The Beach Boys. The Monterey location had been known as the site for the long-running Monterey Jazz Festival and Monterey Folk Festival; the promoters saw the Monterey Pop festival as a way to validate rock music as an art form in the way jazz and folk were regarded. The artists performed for free with all revenue donated to charity, except for Ravi Shankar, who was paid $3,000 for his afternoon-long performance on the sitar. Although already a big act in the UK, Monterey was the concert that propelled The Who into the American mainstream. At the end of their frenetic performance of My Generation, the audience was stunned as guitarist Peter Townshend began smashing his guitar, amid smoke bombs, and frightened concert staff rushing onstage to scurry expensive microphones to safety. The Who, after a coin toss, performed before Jimi Hendrix, as Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix each refused to go on after the other -- both having planned an instrument-demolishing conclusion to their respective sets. Hendrix ended his Monterey performance with an unpredictable version of Wild Thing, which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pouring lighter fluid over it, setting it aflame, and then smashing it. This produced unforeseen sounds and these actions contributed to his rising popularity in the US. Monterey Pop was also one of the earliest major public performances for Janis Joplin, who appeared as a member of Big Brother and The Holding Company. Joplin was seen swigging from a bottle of Southern Comfort as she gave a provocative rendition of the song Ball 'n' Chain. Columbia Records signed Big Brother and The Holding Company on the basis of their performance at Monterey.

Several acts were also notable for their non-appearances:

• The Beach Boys, who had been involved in the conception of the event and at one point scheduled to close the show, failed to perform.
• The Kinks were invited but could not get a work visa to enter the US due to a dispute with the American Federation of Musicians.
• Donovan was refused a visa to enter the United States because of a 1966 drug bust.
• According to Eric Clapton, Cream didn't perform because the band's manager wanted to make a bigger splash for their American debut.
• Dionne Warwick and the Impressions were advertised on some of the early posters for the event, but Warwick dropped out due to a conflict in booking that weekend: she was booked at the Fairmont Hotel and it was thought that if she canceled that appearance it would negatively affect her career.
• Although The Rolling Stones did not play, guitarist and founder Brian Jones attended and appeared on stage to introduce Hendrix.
• The promoters also invited several Motown artists to perform and even were going to give the label's artists their own slot. However, Berry Gordy refused to let any of his acts appear, even though Smokey Robinson was on the board of directors.
• The Doors did not appear because the coordinators forgot to invite them.

Those who did show up and performer:

Friday, June 16

• The Association
• The Paupers
• Lou Rawls
• Beverly
• Johnny Rivers
• Eric Burdon and The Animals
• Simon and Garfunkel

Saturday, June 17

• Canned Heat
• Big Brother and the Holding Company
• Country Joe and the Fish
• Al Kooper
• The Butterfield Blues Band
• The Electric Flag
• Quicksilver Messenger Service
• Steve Miller Band
• Moby Grape
• Hugh Masekela
• The Byrds
• Laura Nyro
• Jefferson Airplane
• Booker T. & the M.G.s
• Otis Redding

Sunday, June 18

• Ravi Shankar
• The Blues Project
• Big Brother and the Holding Company
• The Group With No Name
• Buffalo Springfield
• The Who
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• The Grateful Dead
• Scott McKenzie
• The Mamas & the Papas

Doug Fister had a horrendous first inning giving up 4 runs to the Los Angeles Angels. That was enough. Those were the only runs scored by either team the rest of the night and the Angels down the Ms 4-0 dropping the Ms back to .500 at 34-and-34. The Ms and Angels again tonight at 7:10 at Safeco,

Meanwhile in Fresno, the Tacoma Rainiers defeated the Grizzlies 6-2 last night. Tacoma has won five of its past six games. The same two teams again tonight at 7:05.

Stanley Cup Game 7 is tonight as the Vancouver Canucks host the Boston Bruins in a winner-take-all contest.

Also Friday, the Seattle Storm is hosting the Indiana.Fever.

Saturday, the Sounders are at Toronto.

Not to worry, he's fine, but Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana had a scare over the weekend. According to TMZ, the former 49er had to get "several" stitches to close a cut above his eye after crashing an ATV that he was riding at his Northern California ranch.

It was on this date in 1992, that Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a Trenton, New Jersey, elementary school student to spell potato as "potatoe" during a spelling bee.

Glee has had everyone from Stevie Nicks to Britney Spears to Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Groban to Olivia Newton-John and John Stamos as guest stars on the show. Producers have their eyes set on someone even bigger for the upcoming season -- Bruce Springsteen. While writing for the third season hasn't started yet, according to E Online, the folks behind the series want The Boss to play a motivational speaker on an upcoming episode. Time will tell if Bruce is into the idea.

Meanwhile, Bruce has released a statement about Clarence Clemons following the E Street Band member's stroke this past weekend. The Boss wrote, "While all initial signs are encouraging, Clarence will need much care and support to achieve his potential once again." Bruce goes on to say that the saxophonist has tons of support from his wife and great doctors. He also thanked fans for their "prayers and positive energy and concern." Springsteen also said fans can send notes of encouragement to Clarence by emailing NotesToClarence@ClarenceClemons.com.

Hugh Hefner and his 25-year-old playmate fiancée have called off their wedding. TMZ reports the couple got into a fight over the weekend and Crystal Harris, the bride to be, moved out of the Playboy mansion and called off their wedding. The nuptials were set to happen Saturday with more than 300 people expected to attend. There are skeptics among us that point out she got what she was after.  After two years at Hef's elbow, she has numerous connections.  And isn't it ironic that the kabosh was put on the wedding the same day her new record was released?

According to a new study, when wives are unable to fall asleep at night, marital interactions of both partners are impacted the following day, while sleep issues of husbands have little bearing on marital woes.

45% of women say they have a hard time finding a bathing suit that fits properly.

The Angry Birds games now have been downloaded 250 million times across all mobile platforms.

A few Everett police officers never thought they'd become the target of some real-life angry birds. The black crows have taken over the parking lot of the officers' police precinct, swooping in and taking out some aggressive behavior on the luckless lawmen. So what's gotten these angry birds' feathers in a wad? According to a biologist, the crows are protecting their offspring, who have already been pushed out of their nearby nests. The biologist also mentions crows remember individual characteristics of their intended victims – so because the cops wear the same uniform, they all get the brunt of the birds' blitz.

It's been confirmed that Billie Joe Armstrong is headed to the big screen. The Green Day frontman is taking on the role of St. Jimmy in the film version of the 2004 album, American Idiot. Michael Mayer is directing and Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone Productions, is developing the project.

While most teens celebrate being legal on their 18th birthday, one man is celebrating being short. Junrey Balawing from the Philippines received a Guinness World Record for "World's Shortest Person" on the day of his age milestone. Measuring in at a tiny 23.6-inches, Balawing was born a normal size and his parents didn't notice anything unusual until he turned four. His parents are too poor to investigate what has kept their son from growing anymore. When he was asked if he had a girlfriend, Balawing was quick to assume Mr. T mode and respond with a "You fool! Don't even ask!"

Researchers say a smile can work magic. It can heal emotional pain and remove physical pain. When you smile at another person you not only let them feel that they are wanted, accepted and appreciated, but that smile can also offer encouragement too. That one simple smile has the power to calm fear, insecurity, hurt, and anxiety.

Trivia Answer: Harry Edward Nilsson III -- or Harry Nilsson -- or quite often simply Nilsson -- who would have been 70 today. Among Nilsson's best-known recordings are Without You, Jump into the Fire, Everybody's Talkin' (theme from the movie Midnight Cowboy composed by Fred Neil) and Coconut. Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1 1992 when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to sing Without You with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. Afterwards, an emotional Ringo Starr embraced Nilsson on stage. Nilsson's health had deteriorated, and he suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album on January 15th of 1994, and then died that night of heart failure.

The Mariners dropped their homestand opener. Vernon Wells hit the Angels' first homer in a week with a solo shot in the third inning, then hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh to give Los Angeles a 6-3 win over the Mariners last night. If there was a sign of hope for Seattle's offense it was Chone Figgins and Ichiro combining for three hits and both hitting balls hard. Ichiro is now 8 for 13 since getting his first day off last Friday. Ms and Angels again tonight at 7:10.

The Tacoma Rainiers rolled by the Fresno Grizzlies 8-3 last night in California n the opener of a four-game series. Game two tonight at 7:05.

Another strong showing in Boston earned the Bruins a trip back to Vancouver for tomorrow night's Game 7. After another home scoring spree last night, the Bruins are making one last trip west for the big finish to these dramatic Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins emphatically evened the finals with a 5-2 victory in Game 6.

Friday, Storm hosts Indiana.

Saturday, the Sounders are at Toronto.

Obviously, the people in Dallas are thrilled that their Mavericks beat the Miami Heat to win their first NBA championship on Sunday night. But if there's a city in the country that may be equally excited, it would have to be Cleveland, Ohio, who of course were spurned almost exactly a year ago by LeBron James, who left the city's team, the Cavaliers, in a tough spot when he opted to sign to play in Miami. Well according to Deadspin.com, the Governor of the state of Ohio, John R. Krasich, is so excited about the Mavericks winning, that he issued a proclamation saying that "friends, family and fans" of the Mavs are all now "honorary Ohioans" because of the team's victory. It's signed, sealed, and everything.

We're still waiting for an official statement about Clarence Clemons' condition following his stroke on Sunday, good news has been trickling in. A "close friend" of the E Street Band saxophonist recently told the Springsteen fanzine Backstreets that his condition is improving. "Yesterday, it did not look good at all," the source said. "Today . . . miracles are happening. His vital signs are improving. He's responsive. His eyes are welling up when we're talking to him. He was paralyzed on his left side, but now he's squeezing with his left hand. This is the best news we've heard since [the stroke] happened -- it's nothing short of miraculous. The next five days will still be critical. But he's a fighter."

Laura Ziskin, who has produced the likes of Pretty Woman, Fight Club, As Good As It Gets and more, has passed away at the age of 61 from breast cancer.

Today is Flag Day.

This don't seem right. Lindsay Lohan -- under house arrest -- threw a house party over the weekend on the roof of her home. The 24-year-old and ten of her friends had a barbeque celebration while she serves her sentence for pleading no contest to stealing a necklace. While she's not allowed to leave her house, except for medical reasons, Lohan is allowed to invite visitors over with no restrictions.

iPhone owners should work on their passcodes. The most popular 4-digit code is ... 1234.

While ongoing economic news doesn't seem to be improving much, Father's Day should be a bright spot for retailers. Father's Day spending's on the rise this year. The National Retail Federation projects that spending to reach almost $10 billion

Adele was forced to cancel the rest of her North American tour --  including her stops in Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland -- due to problems with her voice.  Now, she's enlisted the help of a vocal coach to ensure that it won't ever happen again.

Emma Watson is preparing for the next chapter of her life. The Harry Potter actress acknowledges that she needs to find her way out of the bubble, which she describes in part as the safe world of life on the set of the successful film franchise. Watson says in the July issue of Vogue magazine that she wants to explore more of her creative side, and cites Patti Smith as a role model. She said of the singer-songwriter, visual artist and poet, "I want to live like Patti," The 21-year old Emma remains close with co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, and recently flew to New York to see Radcliffe perform on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Watson plays Hermione Granger for one last time when the franchise's final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, is released next month.

Lady Gaga is the highest paid star under the age of 30. According to Reuters, the 25-year-old took home 90-million dollars in 2010, putting her well ahead of the second place finisher, Justin Beiber, who made 53-million. Other notable names on the list include Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, who finished fifth and sixth, making 45 and 44-million bucks, respectively.

Jessica Simpson is mentoring aspiring designers in a new NBC reality series called Fashion Star. Contestants compete for a multimillion-dollar contract. Elle McPherson is hosting.

Tori Spelling and her husband, Dean McDermott, are waiting to find out the sex of their third child. Spelling is due in October and told Us Weekly magazine that her third pregnancy has been a little more difficult than her first two, but that she's doing well.

From Astoria, Oregon, a paraglider who jumped off the Astoria Column and posted video of his stunt on YouTube was arrested yesterday after he was spotted at a beach on the Oregon Coast. 41-year-old Dell Schanze launched himself off the column on June 11th and made a quick exit after making his landing. But video of the event was posted on YouTube and police sent it to the media in the hopes of finding the man. And it didn't take long. On Monday, a beachgoer told police they had seen Schanze and officers soon found the man operating a power paraglide. Schanze was taken into custody and charged for violating city code, a misdemeanor. He is being held at the Clatsop County Jail on $10,000 bail. Astoria has an ordinance that specifically prohibits certain acts at the Astoria Column, including descent from, scaling or ascension of the exterior, and climbing over the railing of the viewing platform. The law was adopted in response to a 1998 incident during which several people rappelled from the column's viewing platform.

Airline passengers here in the US paid out $3.4 billion to check baggage last year, a 24% increase from 2009. Delta made the most money off your checked luggage.

It seemed like an innovative way to buy a beer company: Start an online campaign to purchase the iconic Pabst Brewing Co. and sell shares on Facebook and Twitter to cover the $300 million cost. Michael Migliozzi II and Brian William Flatow found 5 million people who said they would invest a total of $200 million. But the federal government halted the venture after it informed the two men of one major oversight -- they neglected to register the public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a violation of federal law. The SEC said last week that it reached a settlement with the two advertising executives. The men, who never collected any money, agreed to stop selling shares to the public. The case spotlights a growing challenge for regulators, who must patrol business ventures on the Internet and ferret out scams disguised as stock offerings. Migliozzi and Flatow neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the SEC's "cease-and-desist" order. They launched their campaign to buy Pabst in November 2009, according to the SEC. The company that sells Schlitz, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Milwaukee had been owned for about a decade by a charitable foundation and was seeking a buyer at the time. Migliozzi and Flatow turned to crowdsourcing, the use of the Internet and social media to organize a large group of people, to raise capital. They also created the BuyaBeerCompany.com web site, which included a countdown timer showing how much money had been pledged toward. Prospective investors were told to hold off sending money until the company had $300 million in pledges. Once they reached that goal, promoters would contact them to collect the money and proceed to buy Pabst. In return, investors would receive a certificate of ownership and beer equal in value to what they had contributed, according to the SEC. The campaign drew quick interest. The web site reported receiving pledges of $14.75 million in just the first three weeks, according to the SEC. The BuyaBeerCompany web site continued to seek pledges until it was taken down in April 2010. Pabst, by the way, was sold to a food industry executive, in June of 2010.

Steven Tyler is one busy man. He just wrapped his first season as a judge on American Idol, he's a best selling author, and he's busy working on that new Aerosmith album, but according to Women's Wear Daily, he's also helping to inspire a clothing line. Steven is serving as the face of the new Andrew Charles rock and roll men's wear line. No further details about the clothes are out yet but an announcement is expected in the coming days.

The Prairie State of Illinois has passed a bill saying it's okay to use its finished furry friends. Before the law, drivers couldn't stop and scoop up the roadkill for their own purposes. It was the privileged job of the state or contracted workers to collect the carcasses. Now, as long as they're fur-bearing, in-season mammals, the use or consumption of roadkill by passersby is legal. In other words…roadkill -- it's what's for dinner.

Trivia Answer: Eric Heiden, who turns 53 today. His victories are notable as few speed skaters (and athletes in general) have won competitions in both sprint and long-distance events. Heiden is the only athlete in the history of speed skating to have won all five events in a single Olympic tournament. He is considered by some to be the best overall speedskater (short and long distances) in the sport's history. Heiden ranked No. 46 in ESPN's SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century in 1999, the only speed skater to make the list. Today, he is Dr. Heiden. After starting his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Heiden earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford in 1984 and earned his M.D., also from Stanford, in 1991. He completed orthopedic residency training at UC Davis in 1996. He has served as team physician for the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA. In 2002, 2006 and 2010, he was the team physician for the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team.

For Dirk Nowitzki, the resume is complete. He's an NBA champion. For LeBron James, the agonizing wait continues for at least one more year. Avenging what happened five years ago in perfect turnabout style, the Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA title by winning Game 6 of these finals in Miami 105-95 last night -- celebrating on the Heat's home floor, just as Dwyane Wade and his team did to them in the 2006 title series. The Mavericks won four of the series' last five games, a turnabout that couldn't have been sweeter. Did you see the Cavs for Mavs t-shirts that were being sold in Cleveland?

For four innings yesterday, the Seattle Mariners couldn't hit a ball out of the infield. Then Miguel Olivo hit one out of the park. In fact, Olivo hit two home runs and Felix Hernandez pitched eight innings to lead the Mariners to a 7-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Ichiro, by the way, had two hits for a second straight game after sitting out Friday night. The Mariners are back home tonight hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the first of four.

The Tacoma Rainiers wrapped up their stay in Sacramento knocking off the Rivercats 4-0 yesterday. The Rainiers are now in Fresno for a four-game series starting tonight at 7:00.

The shot came from an angle where chances just aren't taken, where it's foolish in most circumstances to even make an attempt. Having seen Seattle score twice in about 180 seconds to take a stunning lead, Vancouver's Eric Hassli turned and fired a half-volley from a nearly impossible angle and outside the penalty area. The result was a goal that will be hard for anyone in Major League Soccer to match and a 2-2 draw as the rivalry between Vancouver and Seattle renewed Saturday night.

NHL resumes play tonight in the Stanley Cup Final. The Vancouver Canucks are up 3-games-to-2 over the Boston Bruins. Game six tonight at 5:00 in Boston.

According to a pair of media reports yesterday, Clarence Clemons has suffered a stroke. The news was broken by entertainment gossip website showbiz411.com, which said Clemons was "seriously ill" after suffering the stroke at his Florida home. Rolling Stone magazine said it independently confirmed the stroke, but not its severity. The 69-year-old Clemons started playing with Springsteen in 1971, and had notable solos on such tunes as Born to Run, Thunder Road and Badlands. Away from the E Street Band, Clemons enjoyed a hit single in 1985 with You're a Friend of Mine, a duet with Jackson Browne. He also dabbled in acting, and worked with other artists including Ringo Starr, Aretha Franklin and most recently Lady Gaga.

Adele would rather her voice sound like "s***" than give up smoking. The singer-songwriter told British magazine Glamour that she managed to give up cigarettes for two months, but found it "f***ing grim," and that it was just "boring." She added that she knows she sounds "better" when she doesn't smoke, but that she'd rather have her "voice be a bit s***" so she "can have a f***ing laugh."  Boy, the girl has a potty mouth.

It turns out moviegoers will show up for the rare summer film that features real actors, an original story, and some genuine thrills. The new sci-fi mystery Super 8, directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Abrams' idol Steven Spielberg, easily claimed the top spot at the weekend box office in North America after selling about $38 million worth of tickets. Industry pundits had forecast a three-day opening in the $25 million to $30 million range, while some movie theater executives had worried it might struggle to hit $20 million. In a summer of familiar sequels and superheroes, Super 8 is the first original, live-action non-sequel to take the No. 1 slot in almost three months.

The Bonnaroo quote of the weekend came from Stephen Stills who said, "If Woodstock had been like this, we'd never have left." Instead of the famed mud from the 1969 New York festival, Bonnaroo Music and Art Festival attendees were covered in Tennessee dust. A haze of it rose 30 feet into the air on Saturday, making a bandana worn over the nose and mouth the weekend's top fashion accessory. Saturday's artists included Alison Krauss & Union Station, Bootsy Collins, Eminem, Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Buffalo Springfield feat Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Lil Wayne, Robert Plant, The Strokes, Dr. John, Scissor Sisters, Gregg Allman, Mavis Staples. Bruce Hornsby, Loretta Lynn, Neon Trees, and more.

Lady Gaga's new album Born This Way was inspired by both Madonna and Prince. Gaga told NME that the Queen of Pop was a "big inspiration" to her, and that she "was thinking about Prince" while writing for the record.

Tomorrow, Owl City releases a new album, titled All Things Bright and Beautiful. It was originally scheduled to be out in May, but was pushed back a few weeks, which wasn't too big a bother for Adam Young, the man behind Owl City. He said June is actually a better time because "with school finally out for the summer, it'll be a perfect time to sit back and watch the fireworks."

Also tomorrow, Paul McCartney releases two more albums from the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II are being reissued as the remastered original albums and as a double-disc special edition package that includes the remastered album as well as seven bonus audio tracks and a DVD.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are getting set to release their tenth studio album. I'm With You slated to be out on August 30th.

At the San Diego County Fair Saturday a dog set a new world's record for the longest jump off a dock. The 3-year-old Belgian Shepherd jumped 31 feet, 5 inches during Saturday's Purina Incredible Dog Challenge.

A Florida resident has become the oldest man ever to complete a sanctioned USA Triathlon event. Ninety-year-old Charles Futrell completed Saturday's Central Florida Triathlon Series in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 38 seconds.

The owner of La Oaxaqueña Bakery and Restaurant in San Francisco is outraged that the Health Department is forbidding him from selling his local specialty: grasshopper tacos. One restaurant-goer says the meal is crunchy and like a chicken nugget, while another devotee says it tastes like a potato chip with a hint of chicken. But the problem is the grasshoppers aren't FDA-approved – the owner imports the crunchy bugs from Mexico. Until he can find an approved source to provide him with grasshoppers, the owner is considering raising his own.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is doing great according to her husband Michael Douglas. Douglas tells US Weekly that his wife is down in Miami right now filming Rock of Ages, the musical and she's been doing really well. Earlier this year, Zeta-Jones announced that she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and was seeking treatment for it.

Jason Mraz and his fiancée, Tristan Prettyman, are no longer together. The singer-songwriter told The Daily Beast that the two have decided to go their separate ways as "two halves don't make a whole, two wholes make a whole," and that he felt he was giving too much of himself in an effort to make the "relationship better." He added that they're still "super friends."

If a computer repairman tells you to take your laptop into the bathroom while you're showering, be skeptical. Extremely skeptical. Trevor Harwell is a 20-year-old computer repairman in Fullerton, California. He is charged with installing spyware on dozens of computers, then recording his customers without their knowledge or consent. In several instances, he captured footage of women showering. How would he do that, you might wonder? Harwell told them the computers needed to be in a steamy environment — for cleaning purposes, of course. He also worked on friends' computers and downloaded thousands of lurid photos of people (usually women) in various states of undress. The LA Times sums up what led to his arrest: The lurid repair ploy first came to light last summer when a Fullerton resident contacted police about suspicious messages appearing on his daughter's computer. One message mimicked the appearance of a system message and read: "You should fix your internal sensor soon. If unsure what to do, try putting your laptop near hot steam for several minutes to clean the sensor." The message led many victims to take their laptops into the bathroom while taking a shower."

A teenager claimed a lakefront mansion in New York as his own to impress his girlfriend and her parents but when the home's real owners showed up, the 19-year-old's cover was blown. Even when he was caught, the teen stood by his story that he had inherited the home from his deceased grandfather, signing a sworn statement claiming he was telling the truth. One resident of the neighborhood said, "There are a lot of strange people in this world who are pretty creative I guess on their stories." The boy is being charged with not only burglary and providing a false statement in this case but for sexual assault as well since his girlfriend was just 15 years old.

Something for you to ponder.  This year, July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. This only happens once every 823 years. While we're dealing with the calendar, note that this year we have already had 1/1/11, and 1/11/11. Still to come are 11/1/11 and 11/11/11. Now, just for fun, take the last two digits of the year in which you were born, add the age you turned or are turning this year. The result? 111.

Trivia Answer:  Sam Aaron Adams, Jr. -- Sam Adams -- who turns 38 today. After being selected by the Seattle Seahawks, he made several starts during his rookie year. In his second season, he sacked Mark Brunell of the Jacksonville Jaguars for a safety, scoring his first points of his professional career.He played several more years for Seattle, making the AFC Pro Bowl team as an alternate in 1997. In 2000 he signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Ravens, and helped lead the most dominating defense in the league to a victory at Super Bowl 35. That season he was also named as a starter to the Pro Bowl for the first time, a feat he would repeat the following season. In 2002 he was a free agent once again, and this time he signed with the Oakland Raiders. He started 14 of the 16 games that season, missing one due to injury and played in the other game he did not start. He was on the team that went to Super Bowl 37I; unfortunately, the result was not the same, as the Raiders lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2003, Adams signed with the Buffalo Bills as a free agent. In March of 2006, he was released by the Bills because of salary cap issues. Later that month, he signed a three year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. The next year, in what the team called "a very difficult decision", the Bengals released Adams. The team said "the timing is such that it provides Sam the opportunity to obtain a roster spot with another team." That other team would end up being the Denver Broncos, whom Adams officially signed with in June of 2007. Adams was released in December of that year and has not signed with another team since.

Detroit's Justin Verlander went eight strong innings, and the Detroit Tigers took a 4-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a four-game set last night. Verlander racked up 10 strikeouts and allowed just five hits and one run. Greg Halman scored the lone run for the Mariners. Seattle has now lost four of their last six. The good news is that the Texas Rangers keep losing when the Mariners lose so the gap remains 2.5 games. Game two for the Ms and Tigers is this afternoon at 4:00.

The Rainiers are at Sacramento for a four-game series. So far so good. They won the opener last night 8–4. Game two tonight at 7:05.

Rebekkah Brunson had 22 points and 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double in four games, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the defending champion Storm 81-74 last night. The Lynx snapped Seattle's 18-game regular season home winning streak. The Storm was 17-0 at home last year and won their opener on Saturday. Sue Bird scored 24 points and Swin Cash had 18 to lead Seattle. Three-time MVP Lauren Jackson was held to nine points.

Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks finally have the lead in these ultra-close NBA finals, and now it really is "now or never" for LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Nowitzki scored 29 points, and the Mavericks beat the Heat 112-103 last night take a 3-games-to-2 lead in the NBA finals. The Mavs can wrap up their first championship in Game 6 at Miami on Sunday night.

The Stanley Cup Final is now all knotted up at two games each, Game 5 is in Vancouver tonight at 5:00.

Tomorrow night at 7:00, for the first time as members of MLS, the Seattle Sounders host the Vancouver Whitecaps.

An Olympian photographer's home was tagged and his car's tires were slashed as vandals targeted the city's newspaper overnight Wednesday. The Olympian reports that vandals found where photographer Tony Overman lives in Tumwater. The newspaper reports that the perpetrators left a message with black paint on its building that said: "Overman snitch." Acid or a corrosive liquid was also dumped on the newspaper's windows. Overman, an award-winning photographer, has been attacked before. In 2010, as he photographed an "anti-police brutality" march in the city, a female participant spray painted his face and camera lens as he attempted to take a photo of the rally. Overman thinks he was targeted because police have used pictures published in the Olympian to press charges on protesters. He says the Olympian has refused many police requests from law enforcement agencies for his unpublished photos. Damage at the newspaper is estimated to be $10,000 to $12,000.

A note for our friends at Capital Medical Center and at St. Peter's -- and everybody else, for that matter -- today is Nursing Assistants Day.

Ever since Anthony Weiner's messages on Twitter went public, according to a study by a site which monitors active feeds from members of Congress -- a site called TweetCongress -- there's been a noticeable drop in Twitter usage by other members of Congress. Go figger.

The Black Eyed Peas were forced to cancel their Central Park benefit concert last night. According to Billboard.com, fans showed up for the event, but due to severe thunderstorms they pulled the plug on the show at 8:15. The concert, which was a benefit show for the Robin Hood Foundation, was also set to feature Taylor Swift, Natasha Bedingfield and many more. There is no word on when or even if the event is being rescheduled.

Last month William Shatner's show (Blank) My Dad Says was canceled but Shatner rolls on. William returns to TV this fall in a guest-starring role on USA's Psych.

Social media gone terribly wrong … or rather, the use of social media. Police have arrested a Marysville woman who allegedly sold her food stamps to an undercover investigator with the state Department of Social and Health Services. The department's Fraud and Accountability Office received a tip in May about the woman who was reportedly trying to sell her EBT card. The woman was advertising the card, which had $200 in credit, for sale on her Facebook page at the price of $100. An undercover investigator contacted the woman and arranged to purchase her card. During the videotaped transaction, the woman told the buyer she had another EBT card that had been issued in South Carolina. DSHS later learned the woman had been receiving aid in both Washington state and South Carolina since February. The woman was arrested on an outstanding warrant. She's been booked into the Snohomish County Jail on charges related to the alleged fraud, including trespassing and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Magnum P.I. actor Tom Selleck was almost Indiana Jones. According to England's The Daily Mail, back in 1981, Tom did a screen test for Raiders of the Lost Ark and was offered the part, only problem was Universal wouldn't let him out of his contract with Magnum P.I. to do it. Harrison Ford went on to play Indiana and the rest, they say, is history.

When The X Factor airs this fall on Fox, there's one thing you won't be hearing -- the sound of booing. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Simon Cowell and the rest of the show's execs have banned the audience from making negative noises like "boos" during performances. The X Factor is set to premiere in September.

A very rich dog, which inherited $12 million from hotelier Leona Helmsley, has died. Helmsley, who owned the Helmsley hotel chain, left $12 million in her will to care for her beloved Maltese named Trouble when she died in 2007. Don't know who the dog willed the money to.

Kim Kardashian and her groom-to-be, Kris Humphries, have signed a prenuptial agreement. In the deal, if the pair divorces, Kim keeps her home and all of her assets, not giving anything to Kris. It's reported that Kardashian makes about 12-million a year, while Humphries, who plays for the Nets, makes about 3.2-million.

Paul McCartney has announced a new show. It's at New York's Yankee Stadium and marks the first time the Beatle great has performed there. The concert takes place July 15th and according to promoter Live Nation, it's set to run for three hours and features classic hits, deep cuts and some surprises. The top ticket price for the show is $279.50. Paul previously played at New York's old Shea Stadium and new Citi Field, but never at Yankees Stadium.

The new Red Hot Chili Peppers album will be out in August and Rolling Stone had a listen to the record's first single, The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie. They describe the song as "a hard-pop spin on classic Chili Peppers funk, with a creeping bass line and a marching-disco rhythm in the chorus reminiscent of the late-Seventies Rolling Stones." I'm With You is the title of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album and it's out on August 30th.

Lady Gaga is at the top of the Billboard 200 chart for the second week in a row with her latest album, Born This Way, but it seems that her short reign may be coming to an end next week. Billboard.biz is reporting that Adele's 21 is set to be back at the summit come next Wednesday.  If that does happen, it will mark Adele's 10th non-consecutive week at the top.

A Pennsylvania high school teacher is being charged with trespassing on his ex-wife and children and leaving random deer parts in their home. The guy says the deer parts were meant as gifts for his former family, not to terrorize them. Reportedly, the man recalled hearing his daughter mention she wanted a deer hoof. So when the opportunity presented itself, the man picked up an ear and a hoof from a road-kill harvested dear. The children said their mother was "extremely upset." The teacher is now on leave from his position at his high school. He's being charged with two counts of criminal trespassing, one count of alleging criminal threatening and one count of stalking.

When Charlie Sheen made a recent appearance in Washington, D.C., two lucky police officers were assigned to escort the former Two and a Half Men star to his one-man show. And a few weeks later, they lost their job. Problem number one: the police officers picked up Sheen from the airport without permission. Problem number two: on their ride into D.C., Sheen tweeted a picture, bragging the group was speeding at about 80 miles per hour with lights blaring and sirens screaming. After an internal investigation, the police chief demoted the officers to school security detail. They went from escorting celebrities to keeping their eyes on rowdy kids. Same thing, right?

Trivia Answer: Daniel Francis Fouts -- Dan Fouts -- who turns 60 today. That team that drafted him was the San Diego Chargers. He was one of the most prolific passing quarterbacks during the Golden Age of the 70s and 80s. Fouts helped lead the Chargers to the playoffs from 1979 to 1982 and twice to the AFC title game (1980 and 1981). He led the league four times in passing yards; ending his career with over 40,000, the third player to surpass that landmark. The Chargers were unable to make it to the Super Bowl during his fifteen year career. Fouts was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. He is currently a color commentator for NFL games on CBS.

After losing 10 in a row on the south side of Chicago, the Mariners finally got that monkey off their collective back last night. Miguel Olivo drove in three runs, including a go-ahead two-run double in the 10th inning, and the Mariners avoided the sweep.  They beat the Chicago White Sox 7-4. The Mariners are now off to Detroit for a 4-game weekend series starting this afternoon at 4:00.

The Oakland Athletics fired manager Bob Geren today in the midst of a nine-game losing streak that has sent them tumbling to the bottom of the AL West standings. Former Arizona Diamondbacks manager (and former Mariner manager) Bob Melvin is taking over for the rest of the season as interim manager in the first midseason managerial change for the organization in a quarter century.

The Rainiers were off yesterday. They open a four-game series at Sacramento tonight.

Tonight at 7:00, the Seattle Storm hosts Minnesota.

The NBA Finals are all even at two-games each. Game 5 is tonight in Dallas.

Speaking of even series, the Stanley Cup Final is now all knotted up at two games each after the Boston Bruins shut out the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 last night. Game 5 is back in Vancouver tomorrow night at 5:00.

Then this weekend, it's the next chapter in the Northwest soccer tri-valry. Saturday, the Sounders host Vancouver.

Oprah Winfrey had more than 16 million viewers for her final episode last month.

A movie in the works about Beatles manager Brian Epstein has been given the rights to the band's songs by Sony. The flick is called The Fifth Beatle and while the band members and their survivors' estates have not endorsed it, they have signed off on a script. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the flick will boast six to ten of the group's songs including All You Need is Love, A Day in the Life, Help!, and Yesterday. The movie will describe how Brian, a closeted homosexual, lived as an outsider as the band he managed became hugely famous. No word yet on when the movie will be out.

Lady Gaga is at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with her album Born This Way for a second week in a row. She sold right around 175-thousand copies, which is, of course, far less than her first week sales of 1.1-million, but she's now just shy of 1.3-million total units moved in two weeks in America, which is a pretty impressive number. It was also a big week for Adele, who moved up to second on the chart with 21, and sold another 120-thousand copies, putting her over two-million copies sold here in the US and officially double-platinum.

Coldplay is once again denying plagiarism accusations. According to New York Magazine, Coldplay's new single, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, has been likened to Mystic's Ritmo de la Noche, but Coldplay actually paid songwriters Pete Allen and Adrienne Anderson for using I Go to Rio, the song both Mystic and Coldplay borrowed from.

Duncan Sheik has had to cancel the first week of his tour to deal with an alcohol abuse problem. According to the New York Observer, the Barely Breathing singer's publicist issued a statement that Duncan is "seeking treatment" and that his tour resumes June 20th in Los Angeles. His June 26th at The Triple Door in Seattle is apparently still a go.

A couple of sources yesterday were reporting that Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, are expecting their first child. Abedin is in the early stages of pregnancy. She left yesterday for a trip to Northern Africa with her boss, Hillary Clinton.

A group of Stanford University scientists have concluded that parts of the Northern Hemisphere could experience "the permanent emergence of unprecedented summer heat." Within the next 20 years, tropical areas of Africa, Asia and South America could see a shift in extreme summer temperatures, while middle latitudes of Europe, China and the United States could be heating up within 60 years. Current record-breaking summer temperatures will pale in comparison to the heat waves that could be coming. The effects could be as drastic as the hot weather that killed 40-thousand people in Europe in 2003.

While most of us don't trust spam emails, if you order something advertised through it it will probably end up at your door, according to research on products sold in spam emails.

Some Americans prefer exploring the edgier, less snug parts of culture. Some are repulsed at even the thought of five-star comfort. Then, there's Jordan Harbinger, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur, who says he's "attracted to the forbidden." Harbinger has already visited Serbia and is planning a trip to North Korea this summer. The US State Department has warned that Americans who, even accidentally, cross the North Korean border "have been subject to arrest and long-term detention." But that doesn't scare Harbinger – in fact, he calls North Korea a "Marxist Disneyland."

Trivia Answer: Michael J. Fox who turns 50 today. He was born Michael Andrew Fox in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In that first film Letters from Frank, he was credited under the name "Michael Fox." He intended to continue to use the name, but when he registered with the Screen Actors Guild, which doesn't allow duplicate registration names to avoid credit ambiguities, he discovered that Michael Fox, a veteran character actor, was already registered under the name. As he explained in his autobiography, Lucky Man, he needed to come up with a different name. He didn't like the sound of "Andrew" or "Andy" Fox. He decided against using his middle initial because he didn't want to fit into a Canadian stereotype, as in Michael "Eh?" Fox, and because he did not want teen fan magazines referring to him as "Michael, A Fox!" He decided to adopt a new middle initial and settled on "J." Sometimes he jokes that the J stands for "Jenius" or "Jenuine". His most famous roles include Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982-1989), for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996-2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an advocate for research towards finding a cure. 

The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners and Felix Hernandez 5-1 last night. The White Sox own the Ms in Chicago. They've won a club-record 10 straight home games against Seattle, and 14 of their last 15. Hernandez gave up five runs on eight hits in 6 2-3 innings, including four runs in the third. It was Felix's shortest outing since May 11th at Baltimore and his first loss since May 17th against Minnesota. Seattle, which came in tied for the fewest runs scored in the American League, threatened several times early but was unable to piece together a rally. Ichiro was hitless in four at-bats and has just three hits in his last 27 plate appearances. The Ms wrap up the series with the White Sox this afternoon at 5:00 before moving on to Detroit for a four-game series with the Tigers.

Mike Carp is finally going to get his chance this season with the Mariners. The team recalled Carp and his hot bat after last night's loss in Chicago, and optioned outfielder Mike Wilson to Tacoma. Carp has been abusing minor league pitching all year, hitting .348 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI for Tacoma this season. Carp has appeared in parts of two seasons for the Mariners, and has a .264 batting average in the Major Leagues. He'll attempt to revive a struggling Mariners offense that has gotten essentially zero production from its left fielders this season. That's likely where Carp will play, along with some time at designated hitter. Either way, it's obvious the Mariners need to make an effort to see if he can continue his incredible offensive pace at the next level.

After beating Tucson 24-3 the night before last, the Tacoma Rainiers turned around and lost to the same team 9-1 last night. That's why they play the game. The Rainiers are off today. They open a four game series at Sacramento tomorrow night.

Congrats are in order for Olympia's Adam Conley. Adam was selected in the second round yesterday by the Florida Marlins in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. The left-handed pitcher, considered the state's top prospect in this year's draft, was the 72nd overall pick. The Olympia High School graduate just finished his junior year at Washington State University where he recorded a team-leading six victories and struck out 83 with a 3.50 ERA in 2011. The 6-foot-3, 186-pound southpaw is the seventh-highest Cougar selected in the June Amateur Draft since its inception in 1965. Originally selected in the 32nd round of the 2008 draft, Conley decided to attend WSU.

The NBA Finals are all even at two-games each after Dallas topped Miami 86-83 last night. Game 5 is tomorrow night in Dallas,

Tomorrow night at 7:00, the Seattle Storm hosts Minnesota.

The Stanley Cup Final continues tonight at 5:00 in Boston. The Vancouver Canucks hold a 2-games-to-1 lead over the Bruins.

Then this weekend, it's the next chapter in the Northwest soccer tri-valry, the long-standing rivalry between the Portland Timbers, the Vancouver Whitecaps, and the Seattle Sounders. All three teams are part of MLS now. Saturday, the Sounders host Vancouver.

If you want to watch either the Winter or Summer Olympics from now until 2020, it'll be on NBC. The network reportedly paid an astounding 4.38-billion dollars for the rights to broadcast the games for the next eight-plus years.

Today is National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day.

And so it begins. Tropical Storm Adrian formed in the Eastern Pacific last night. It's the first of the 2011 hurricane season.

Why tattoo the name of a single loved one upon your person when you can permanently stain your arm with the faces of 152 forgettable acquaintances? A woman in the Netherlands had every single one of her Facebook friends inked into her flesh.

Congressman Anthony Weiner is in some hot water. Well, before all this mess, Cosmo magazine picked him as one of their bachelors of the year in 1996. In the article, Weiner talks about his desire to become President of the United States. People.com is rehashing the 1996 write-up.

Donald Trump has posted a YouTube video expressing his opinions on Weinergate. In his video, he calls congressman Anthony Weiner a "psycho." Is it me or does the kettle look black from you're sitting, too?

American Idol winner Scotty McCreery signed a major-label deal with Mercury Nashville/19 Recordings/Interscope. He's also made a bit of history with his debut single, I Love You This Big. The country ballad is the highest-charting debut for a new artist in more than two decades. The song bowed on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart at number 32 last week, the best first-week showing since the chart's inception back in 1990. It also hit number one on iTunes and number three on the Billboard Digital Songs chart. The 17-year-old is in Nashville this week to begin recording his debut album. Meanwhile, Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina also signed with Mercury Nashville and is set to begin recording her album this week. Both will be on hand when the Idols Live! Tour kicks off July 6th in Utah. A couple of days later, on Friday, July 8th, that tour lands at Comcast Arena in Everett.

Now that Steven Tyler has finished the season as a judge on American Idol, he is returning to his day job with Aerosmith. Guitarist Joe Perry said yesterday that Steven and his four bandmates plan to reunite next month with veteran producer Jack Douglas to kick-start work on their long-delayed album. The album is being recorded in the Massachusetts studio the band built six years ago expressly to work with Douglas, Perry said last month. The band, sans Perry who had a prior commitment, held an eight-day writing session earlier this year. Aerosmith hasn't released an album of new material since 2001's Just Push Play. Attempts to record a follow-up have been interrupted by bickering and a litany of health problems affecting most of its members. Tyler has found himself at odds with his bandmates in recent years as he looked to pursue various solo projects. He was a popular addition to the American Idol lineup this season, and used the show's high profile to promote his debut solo single and autobiography. Aerosmith will take a break from recording to kick off a South American tour in Peru on October 22nd. Joe Perry says a U.S. trek -- as well as a stop on American Idol -- is planned once the new album is done.

Andy Grammer has a top ten hit with his song Keep Your Head Up. Andy's self-titled debut album is in stores on Tuesday.

Lady Gaga had the most played song in all of the United Kingdom in 2010. According to figures released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Gaga's tune Bad Romance got the most spins on UK radio last year.

No Doubt is set to make a big announcement this Friday, likely about their new studio album. Gwen Stefani told Entertainment Weekly that she is focused on No Doubt now and won't be making any more solo albums. Sad news for Stefani fans, but she explained, "That was a moment in time. It went on a little longer than we all thought it would, because it was inspired and you have to do with wherever you're at in that time of your life…But everything works out as it should."

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale had a pretty scary experience late last week. According to gossip rag the National Enquirer, the couple's younger son, Zuma, had to be rushed to the hospital after he fell off a countertop in their Beverly Hill home, which resulted in a broken arm. Apparently the two-year-old had to have a pin placed in his wrist, but an insider reveals that he "is now back home and on the mend."

She's been in more movies than you have and she's only just graduated high school. 17-year-old Dakota Fanning graduated from Campbell Hall Episcopal High School in California on Monday. You can next see the actress in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, which hits theaters November 18th.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson says that a follow-up to this year's Fast Five is likely to be made. Dwayne says he is certain the writers are already at work.

An elderly Houston couple reported missing was found safe in Florida. Authorities say 73-year-old Lorenza Gasca and her 78-year-old husband Salomon took a wrong turn, then drove 524 miles before they were found at a gas station in Pensacola, Florida.

Police officers came to the rescue at a New York playground this week when a teenager reported a cougar on the prowl. The cougar – a 44-year-old woman who allegedly walked up to the 19-year-old boy, put her arms around him and grabbed him in a sexual way. When authorities arrived, the teen pointed out the cougar and said he wanted her arrested. When the officers approached the woman, she stood up and exposed her breasts. She was arrested for forcible touching, exposure of a person and resisting arrest.

Trivia Answer: He was Rob Pilatus who was born on this date in 1965. He and Fabrice Morvan were the faces of Milli Vanilli. That first Milli Vanilli album was Girl You Know It's True. The three number one singles were Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Baby Don't Forget My Number and Blame It On The Rain. When Pilatus and Morvan demanded to sing on the next album, the producer revealed the truth to reporters on November 15th of 1990, The truth being that Pilatus and Morvan did not actually sing on the records and their voices were dubbed. Milli Vanilli's Grammy Award was withdrawn four days later, and Arista Records dropped the act from its roster and deleted their album and songs from their catalog, making Girl You Know It's True the largest-selling album to ever be taken out of print. A court ruling in the United States allowed anyone who had bought the album to get a refund. In 1993, the guys signed with a new label and released Rob & Fab, an album featuring their real voices, but the album sold an embarrassing 2,000 copies; to make matters worse, the label went bankrupt shortly thereafter. In the years following the demise of Milli Vanilli, Pilatus struggled with substance abuse and suicide attempts. After the duo's unsuccessful comeback attempt, they stopped speaking to each other. In 1996, Pilatus served three months in jail for assault, vandalism, and attempted robbery. He also spent six months in drug rehabilitation, before returning to Germany from the United States.

The Chicago White Sox got by the Seattle Mariners 3-1 last night. The White Sox beat the Mariners for the ninth straight time at U.S. Cellular Field and are 13-1 at home against Seattle dating back to to August 18th of 2008. The White Sox also matched a club record for the most consecutive home wins against the Mariners. Seattle rookie starter Michael Pineda was the hard luck loser. He allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked two. Pineda has pitched seven innings and allowed two runs or fewer in four of his five last starts. Game two -- with Felix pitching -- is tonight at 5:10.

The Tacoma Rainiers kept their big inning deal rolling. In fact, they had four of 'em last night. They scored 5 in the second, 8 in the third, 6 in the seventh, and another 5 in the ninth on their way to a 24-3 win over Tucson. It was the highest-scoring game for Tacoma since the team affiliated with the Mariners prior to the 1995 season. The teams wrap up that series in the desert tonight at 7.

The Boston Bruins made a statement and got back in the Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins rocked the Vancouver Canucks in Game 3, 8 to 1. Vancouver still holds the series lead at 2-games-to-1. Game four is tomorrow night at 5:00 in Boston.

Kelly Clarkson performs the National Anthem, prior to Game 4 of the NBA Finals tonight in Dallas. The Miami Heat have a two games to one lead over the Dallas Mavericks.

The Seattle Storm is back in action Thursday as they host Minnesota.

The Seattle Sounders are home hosting Vancouver Saturday night.

Singer/songwriter Andrew Gold, who enjoyed chart success in the 1970s with the songs Lonely Boy and Thank You For Being a Friend, has died in his sleep. The Los Angeles Times said he died at his home on Friday. He had been undergoing cancer treatment but was responding well to treatment. Andrew got his break in 1973 when he joined Linda Ronstadt's band. He played a key role on such tunes as You're No Good and When Will I Be Loved? He launched a parallel solo career in 1975 with a self-titled album on which he played most of the instruments. The following year he went to No. 7 on the singles chart with Lonely Boy. With an opening line that went "He was born on a summer's day 1951," the resentful song about an elder son overshadowed by his baby sister seemed to mirror milestones in his own life, although Gold denied any autobiographical similarities. His third album and personal favorite, 1978's All This and Heaven Too, yielded the top-40 hit Thank You For Being a Friend, a decidedly more optimistic tune. A cover version became the theme song for the 1980s sitcom Golden Girls.Andrew Gold is survived by his mother, wife and three daughters from his first marriage. Andrew Gold was 59.

The company that's sucking time out of your day with games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars has unveiled Hanging With Friends, a new take on Hangman. You play it on your iDevice.

Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day.

A new poll of 30,000 people reveals Germans to be the least funny. Social networking site Badoo.com said users were asked to choose the funniest and least funny nationalities from a list of 15 and they chose people from the United States as the funniest and Germans as the least funny

Script writing has begun on a sequel to Salt. Angelina Jolie is likely be back for her role as Evelyn Salt.

On the red carpet at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night, Twilight star Nikki Reed showed off some new bling and told E! Online that Paul McDonald is "the one." A source confirmed to E! that the couple is engaged and Nikki said Paul, who finished in the Top 8 of American Idol this season, has been writing songs for her. Awwwww.

Richie Sambora is out of rehab and ready to join back up with Bon Jovi on their European tour. According to TMZ, the guitarist was spotted in New York City over the weekend and was in a great mood, signing autographs for fans. He told the TMZ photog that he was actually just stopping over in the Big Apple on his way to Croatia, as the band is scheduled to play there tomorrow.

Katie Couric has signed a deal with ABC television to host and produce her own syndicated daytime talk show starting in September of 2012. That word from ABC yesterday. Katie will also contribute to other ABC News programs starting this summer, anchoring specials, and contributing interviews. The daytime show is as yet untitled but will be produced by Jeff Zucker --  Couric's old boss from her days as host of NBC's top-rated morning show Today. Katie ended a five-year stint on May 19th as anchor of rival network CBS Evening News. On her appointment in 2006, she was the first woman to serve as a solo U.S. network evening news anchor. The new daytime series will be based in New York.

Lady Gaga's new album, Born This Way, has been banned in the country of Lebanon. According to the Christian Post, thousands of copies were shipped to the Middle East, but Lebanon is not allowing it within their borders as the record has been deemed "offensive to Christianity" by officials.

Weird Al has gotten permission to have two different Lady Gaga parodies on his forthcoming album, Alpocalypse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, besides doing a version of Born This Way, titled Perform This Way, which he already cleared with the pop star, Al will now also use her song Poker Face in a medley that he's calling Polka Face. Alpocalypse is due out on June 21st.

Actor Wesley Snipes, serving a three-year prison sentence for failing to file income tax returns, suffered a legal setback yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case. Snipes was convicted in 2008 in a Florida court for willful failure to file federal tax returns from 1999 through 2001. Snipes has served nearly one year of his three-year term. He was accused of not filing personal income tax returns and not paying any taxes from 1999 through 2004 despite earning more than $37 million as an actor and producer. Attorneys for Snipes said the case was improperly brought in Florida and should have been moved to New York, but the trial judge and a U.S. appeals court rejected those arguments. The high court rejected the appeal without any comment, refusing to hear the case.

The Go-Go's had to postpone two shows over the weekend due to singer Belinda Carllisle being ordered by doctors to go on "immediate full vocal rest." According to a post on the group's website, they are "making every effort" to reschedule the gigs. The tour resumes tonight in Westbury, New York. The gals are scheduled to play Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle on August 14th.

NME reports that the first single off the Red Hot Chili Peppers new album is a song called The Adventures of Raindance Maggie and it comes out next month. The song is off their tenth studio album, which was produced by Rick Rubin, I'm With You, and that's out on August 30th.

A Utah man has been cited on a charge of disorderly conduct after paying for a disputed medical bill with 2,500 pennies. The Deseret News of Salt Lake City reports Jason West went to Basin Clinic in Vernal on May 27th prepared to dispute an outstanding $25 bill. Assistant Vernal Police Chief Keith Campbell says that after asking staff members whether they accepted cash, West dumped 2,500 pennies on the counter and demanded that staff count them. Campbell says the incident upset staff because pennies were strewn about the counter and floor, and West's action served "no legitimate purpose." Police later issued the 38-year-old West a citation for disorderly conduct. That carries a fine of as much as $140 ... or 14,000 pennies.

Trivia Answer: Ken Osmond who turns 68 today. He's best known for his role as Eddie Haskell on the original Leave It to Beaver television show which ran on CBS from October 4, 1957, to 1958 and then on ABC from 1958 to June 20, 1963. Osmond returned to acting in 1983 reprising his role as Eddie Haskell in the made-for-television movie Still the Beaver, which followed the adult Cleaver boys, their friends, and their families. The Still the Beaver television movie was a success and lead to the revival comedy series The New Leave It to Beaver which premiered the following year. The show ran for four seasons from 1984 to 1989. On the show, Osmond played Eddie Haskell, Sr. while his character's two sons, Freddie Haskell and Edward 'Bomber' Haskell Jr., were played by Osmond's two real-life sons, Eric and Christian. Osmond makes personal appearances at film festivals, collectors' shows and nostalgia conventions. He has been married to his wife Sandy since 1969. Since his retirement, Osmond handles rental properties in the Los Angeles area. On September 18, 2007, Osmond filed a class action lawsuit against the Screen Actors Guild, alleging that SAG has collected $8 million in foreign residuals for U.S. actors, but had not distributed them to the actors.

How about that weekend? It just reminds us, once again, why it is we live here. Thanks to everybody that attended Saturday night's Roxy Family Fun & Music leading up to the fireworks at this year's Mason County Forest Festival. Check the pictures on our Facebook page. You'll find pics of the hula hoop contest, the pie eating contest, and more. The Shelton Car Show-Off yesterday was awesome. Again, the weather certainly helped. There were over 400 cars registered for the show.

Miguel Olivo hit a tie-breaking three-run homer off Joel Peralta in the eighth inning yesterday and Seattle rallied for a 9-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Ichiro Suzuki and newcomer Greg Halman each drove in two runs for Seattle, which has won six straight series. It's the first time that's happened since 2001. The Ms have won 14 of 18 games overall. It was also the Mariners' 15th come-from-behind victory this season. The Mariners are now in Chicago for a three-game series with the White Sox. The first game is tonight at 5:10.

The Tacoma Rainiers have begun a trend of putting together big innings. They had a nine-run inning on Friday night, and a seven-run inning on Saturday. Last night, they wasted no time putting together a big inning. They scored six runs in the top of the first on the way to a 16-8 victory over the Tucson Padres. The same two teams again tonight and tomorrow night.

The Seattle Storm won their season and home opener Saturday. The defending champs knocked off the Phoenix Mercury 78-71 but the final score is deceiving. Seattle was up 19 points with 4:23 to go before they sat Lauren Jackson and took their foot off the gas. Thursday, the Storm hosts Minnesota.

In the NBA, the Miami Heat bounced back knocking off the Dallas Mavericks last night 88-86, taking a 2-games-to-1 lead. Game 4 is tomorrow night at 6 at Dallas.

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller got his fourth shutout of the season and the Seattle Sounders tied the Chicago Fire 0-0 on Saturday night. Chicago hasn't won a game since topping Sporting KC 3-2 on March 26th. The Sounders are back home hosting Vancouver next Saturday night.

It was the second-speediest overtime goal in NHL playoff history. Ales Burrows circled the net and scored a stunning goal right off the overtime faceoff, to give the Vancouver Canucks' a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Game 3 is tonight in Boston.

James Arness, who personified the tall, rugged lawman of the American frontier as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, died Friday. Arness died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, according to his business manager, Ginny Fazer. The actor was in relatively good health but had "just been fading" in recent years, according to Fazer. "No disease, nothing untoward, he just got tired, I guess," she said. Arness was best known for his 20 years on TV playing Matt Dillon, the U.S. marshal in the dusty wild-west town of Dodge City, Kansas, a role for which he was recommended by his showbiz mentor and friend, the film star John Wayne. Arness is survived by his second wife, Janet, two sons and six grandchildren. James Arness was 88.

U2 and 74,000 of their closest friends spent some quality time together Saturday night at Qwest Field. Bono dedicated Beautiful Day to Gabby Giffords -- the congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in January. Then he asked , "Imagine a man looking down on us from 200 miles up. Looking down at our beautiful crowded planet… What would he say to us…? What is on your mind, Commander Kelly?" Commander Kelly is Giffords' husband.  He's part of the 16-day mission with the Endeavour crew. He recorded the message aboard the International Space Station, "Hello Seattle… from the International Space Station," before finishing with a line from David Bowie's Space Oddity: "I'm looking forward to coming home. Tell my wife I love her very much… she knows."

This is National Fishing Week.

France has banned the names of Facebook and Twitter from being spoken on radio or television, unless they are part of a news story. The government thinks any other mention of the social media websites is free advertising.

Airline employees called a hazmat team to examine a substance found on a diaper-changing counter in a Frontier plane. A Milwaukee Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit showed up and discovered it was baby powder. There were two babies on the just-landed flight.

Identical twins Julian and Adrian Riester were born seconds apart 92 years ago. They died hours apart last week. The Buffalo-born brothers were also brothers in the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor. Professed friars for 65 years, they spent much of that time working together at St. Bonaventure University, doing carpentry work, gardening and driving visitors to and from the airport and around town. They died Wednesday at St. Anthony Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., Brother Julian in the morning and Brother Adrian in the evening. Both died of heart failure, according to Father James Toal, guardian of St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg, where the inseparable twins lived since moving from western New York in 2008. Julian and Adrian Riester were born Jerome and Irving on March 27, 1919, to a couple who already had five daughters. They took the names of saints upon their ordination in the Catholic church. After attending St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, the brothers were turned away by the military because of their eyesight, the university said. One had a bad left eye, the other a bad right eye. Eventually they joined the friars of Holy Name Province in New York City. They received separate assignments before reuniting at the seminary at St. Bonaventure from 1951 to 1956. After serving parishes in Buffalo for 17 years, they returned to St. Bonaventure in 1973 and spent the next 35 years there. Funeral services are scheduled for today at St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church in St. Petersburg. Afterward, the brothers' bodies are being flown to Buffalo and buried Wednesday at St. Bonaventure Cemetery, across the street from the university.

June is Dog Lover's Month. Just so you know you're not alone, almost seven out of 10 pet owners talk to their pets on the telephone when they're not home.

Nine-year-old Bobby Bradley became the youngest person to fly solo in a balloon yesterday. He took off dawn near Albuquerque, New Mexico, with just 10 gallons of fuel and three other balloons following.

Lady Gaga's Born This Way album sold 1.1-million copies in its first week in the US and is showing no signs of slowing down. According to Nielsen SoundScan, she is almost certain to spend yet another week on the top of the Billboard 200 chart as early estimates are saying that she's going to sell at least another 200-thousand copies, a good enough figure to remain at number one.

Adele canceled her Seattle and Portland shows last week and was supposed to resume her tour Saturday in San Francisco but instead cancelled the remaining dates on her sold-out North American tour. According to her website, the final 9 dates of the tour are cancelled due to ongoing illness. The singer visited with an Otolaryngology specialist who determined that she must take a few weeks off with absolute voice rest. Adele writes, "I'm really frustrated. I was hoping with a week's rest I'd be better to sing again straight away. However there is absolutely nothing I can do but take the doctor's advice and rest some more. I'm so sorry. See you soon, Love, Adele."

By now you hopefully seen Jimmy Fallon's Neil Young impression, but in his latest sketch as the legendary singer, he gets a little help from a few rock legends. Fallon, as Young, sings a down version of Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA, and is joined doing the harmonies by ... David Crosby and Graham Nash. Click here to check it out.

Trivia Answer: He was born Matthew Shafer but we know him as Uncle Kracker, a stage name adopted from his favorite snack producer, the Kraft Cracker Company of Flint, Michigan. Matt or Uncle turns 37 today. That first solo album was called Double Wide. It was released on June 30th of 2001 and made it to #7 on the Billboard 200 album chart and is his most successful and highest-selling album. Double Wide, by the way, was produced by Kid Rock. The first single taken off the album was Follow Me, which made it to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album spent ten months on the Billboard 200. Double Wide was certified 2-time multi-platinum in November of 2001. Shafer has been married to his childhood sweetheart, Melanie Haas, since 1998. They have three daughters.

The Seattle Mariners beat the heck out of Tampa Bay starter James Shields, hitting homers and scoring runs and looking like a real, live Major League offense last night. They scored an 8-2 win over the Rays at Safeco Field. It started in the second inning in which the Mariners scored five runs on four hits, two of them homers, both of which traveled impressively long distances. With Hernandez on the mound, that meant the game was already decided. And that his seven-inning, 11-strikeout performance seemed ho-hum in comparison to the support his offense finally provided. Jack Cust had a homer, Justin Smoak had one, and Carlos Peguero had two. Game two of the four-game set with the Ms and Rays is tonight at 7:00.

Most of the Mariners' bobblehead giveaways involve a certain starting pitcher or their Japanese right fielder. But this one plays neither position. In fact, he plays guitar. The team is giving away Mike McCready bobbleheads tonight. McCready is the lead guitarist for Pearl Jam. He's performing the national anthem tonight. The bobbleheads are available to fans buying their tickets through a special offer benefiting the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.

The Tacoma Rainiers fell to the Reno Aces 5-2 last night. The Rainiers host the Aces again tonight at Cheney Stadium (a Friday night home game means post-game fireworks). Tomorrow, the Rainiers are off to Tucson for a 4-game series.

The Seattle Sounders are in Chicago to face the Fire tomorrow night at 5:30.

The Seattle Storm begins the defense of their WNBA championship Saturday as they get the regular season underway. They're hosting Phoenix at the Key, tomorrow at noon.

The Dallas Mavericks stunned the Miami Heat 95-93 last night to tie the NBA Championship series at one game apiece. The series resumes Sunday at Dallas.

Today is National Doughnut Day and National Egg Day.

Jane Lynch has been tapped to host the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards! The Glee comedienne emcees the event when it airs live September 18th.

Fear Factor is coming back to NBC. The gross-out reality competition originally ran from 2001 to 2006.

Didja hear about this? U2's Bono and his assistant went out to take a walk Tuesday and it started to rain. So there was Bono stuck on the side of the road near Vancouver, BC, his thumb extended in hopes of catching a lift. His chariot arrived in the form of a ride that took him to his destination and turned the self-described rugby player on to Canada's favorite sport. Bono told a concert crowd in Edmonton, Alberta Wednesday night, "I like ice hockey, because people who play ice hockey are the kind of people who pick up hitchhikers. I know this from personal experience." The guy that pulled over to give Bono a ride was Edmonton Oilers player Gilbert Brule – who along with his girlfriend -- had set out for a local park to walk their German shepherd. "He was very cool," Bono said of Brule, describing him as a "very modest man." "He said, 'Where do you want to go?' And I said, 'Just take me to where The Edge is'."

Detroit has achieved its dream -- for one month, anyway. It knocked Japan's four best-selling cars out of the Top 10 best-sellers in the US in May according to results out this week. The Honda Accord and Civic, and Toyota Camry and Corolla are always grouped behind the two best-selling pickups, Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado, on the list of top 10. Last month, they fell into the teens, according to Autodata figures. A year ago, Camry was the nation's third best-selling vehicle for May. Last month it was 12th. The fourth-place Civic moved to 13th. The fifth-place Accord is now 15th. And the sixth-place Corolla fell to 16th. It wasn't due to fading popularity. Rather, plants both in the U.S. and Japan have been operating at reduced levels because of parts shortages in the wake of the disaster in Japan. The result, for the moment, is the kind of world that General Motors and Ford could only imagine. Their cars, not just trucks, outdistanced head-to-head Japanese rivals in sales in May. Chevrolet Malibu was the nation's best-selling vehicle. Ford's midsize Fusion was fifth and the new, heavily touted Chevrolet Cruze compact was eighth. The Motor City's good times may not last: Toyota and Honda say their plants are closer to returning to normal and they expect supplies to start showing up in the next couple months. But for now, it must feel like the 1960s all over again in Detroit.

Lady Gaga sold 1.1-million copies of her new album Born This Way in its first week, and that was partly due to the fact that she offered the record for just 99-cents on two separate days on Amazon.com. She tells the Wall Street Journal that the cheap price was justified because digital music is worth much less than the physical copy of an album. She said that MP3's are "invisible" and "in space" and she applauds the website for "giving the opportunity to everyone to buy music."

Good news for matchbox twenty fans. It apparently is all starting to come together. Band frontman Rob Thomas wrote on his Twitter page yesterday that the guys are all heading to "the studio" to begin recording their next album, and guitarist Paul Doucette confirmed the news on the band's Twitter, saying that it's all going down in Nashville. Still no official word on when the band hopes to have the album ready.

Gavin Rossdale is no stranger to acting, having starred in movies and on television before, and now Mr. Gwen Stefani is giving it yet another go. According to Us Weekly, Rossdale will be appearing as a villain on the USA series Burn Notice. He'll be in the eighth episode of the new season, which kicks off on June 23rd.

In a very sad story, Billy Bob Thornton's estranged daughter, Amanda Brumfield, has been convicted of aggravated manslaughter in the death of 1-year-old child. The 32-year-old was babysitting the child back in October of 2008 and during that time, the baby girl got a three and a half inch fracture in her skull, which resulted in her brain bleeding and swelling. Amanda said the child fell out of her playpen, but a court ruled the injuries couldn't have resulted from a simple fall. Brumfield is being sentenced in July.

The California Medical Board voted to revoke the license of the Octomom's fertility doctor.

A 17-year-old Chinese teen sold one of his kidneys for $3,400 so he could buy an iPad 2. The teen confessed to his mother that he had sold the kidney after spotting an ad online offering cash to organ donors.

A Pennsylvania woman got her hand stuck in an ATM and had to be free by firefighters.

Get ready to see Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner a lot during the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. They're nominated for Best Male Performance and Best Female Performance, respectively, while The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is up for Best Movie, Best Fight, and Best Kiss. Watch the 2011 MTV Movie Awards Sunday on MTV.

As we head into the weekend, remember "Thumbs up for rock and roll."

Trivia Answer: Anderson Hays Cooper who turns 44 today. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; Cooper, however, often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. Warner Bros. and Telepictures announced in September last year that Cooper had signed an agreement to host a nationally syndicated talk show. The New York Times' reported that the new day time talk show will be named: "Anderson," and it's due to begin this coming September. As part of negotiations over the talk show deal, Cooper signed a new multi-year contract with CNN to continue as the host of Anderson Cooper 360°. Cooper has been a correspondent for the CBS News program 60 Minutes since 2007 while concurrently working at CNN. 

There was no decision to be had for Michael Pineda against the Baltimore Orioles yesterday, though the 22-year-old threw another gem to provide more evidence of hope for the Mariners' future. The cause of the Ms 2-1 loss to the Orioles was more about the past than anything else. And the present, too, as in Seattle's continued failure to spark consistent offensive rallies. Former Mariner Adam Jones, the centerpiece of the team's trade for Erik Bedard prior to the 2008 season (wasn't that a Bavasi deal?), ensured that Baltimore wouldn't leave Seattle without a win, first making a sensational, over-the-shoulder catch against the wall in dead center in the fourth inning and then belting the deciding home run in the eighth. Jones added a pair of singles, as well. So yes, the Mariners have still won 11 of 14 and 12 of 16. They're still above .500. But it's not lost on anyone, that this is a dangerous way for a Major League team to live. The Mariners wrap up the homestand hosting the Tampa Bay Rays for four starting tonight at 7:05.

The Reno Aces shut out the Tacoma Rainiers yesterday 3-0 at Cheney Stadium. The series continues tonight.

Coming up Saturday, the Sounders are at Chicago, and the Seattle Storm is thinking repeat as the 2011 WNBA season begins. The Storm begins defending their WNBA title as they host Phoenix at the Key, Saturday at noon.

Shaquille O'Neal has decided to call it quits from professional basketball. He made the announcement yesterday on his Twitter. The Los Angeles Lakers now say thet plan to honor their former self-proclaimed Superman, Shaq, by raising his No. 34 jersey to the rafters. The team says there is no specific timetable but that we can be assured they will retire Shaq's jersey.

ESPN is carrying the entire semifinal and final rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee today and tonight.

What's with the weather this year? We actually had a tornado in Napavine a week ago. Tornados killed four in Massachusetts last night. They had tornado watches in Rhode Island last night. Now the weather gods are smiling on the Northwest this weekend. They're predicting the warmest temps of the year on Saturday and Sunday. Some places could make it to 80 or better. Should be a great weekend for the Mason County Forest Festival, the Lacey Rotary Duck Dash, and everything else happening around the Sound.

Today, is National Bubba Day and -- more importantly (to everybody but Bubba) -- it's National Leave The Office Early Day.

Clarice Taylor – she played Bill Cosby's mother on The Cosby Show -- died Monday at the age of 93. People reports she passed away due to heart failure and was surrounded by her family when she died. Clarics was nominated for an Emmy back in 1986 for her work on The Cosby Show.

The secret is out -- Americans don't want small, fuel-sipping econo-cars for a reason. Automakers have long tried to figure out how to get us to buy them but, well, our butts are too big and we demand a bigger ride. Seriously -- that's the real reason. Researchers interviewed a bunch of Americans -- 67% of us are overweight now -- and they say our growing waste-lines and need for comfort are what keeps many of us out of econo-cars.

Gwyneth Paltrow joined Twitter yesterday. You can follow her @GwynethPaltrow. Her first post was a video message of the actress walking down the street, looking for a cab. In under three hours, Paltrow had almost 15,000 followers.

Adele's latest album, 21, is taking the world by storm, but apparently the singer-songwriter is already gearing up for the release of her third record. She told British paper The Sun that she has "five tracks ready to go" for her next effort, one of which is a cover of INXS' Never Tear Us Apart, which she calls "probably" her "fave song of all time." She plans on releasing the album in May 2012.

Justin Timberlake is featured in the new issue of Vanity Fair magazine. In the interview, JT talks about his exes, early fame, future music plans and his new movie Friends with Benefits. Justin said that Jessica Biel is the "most significant person in my life." He also talked about his ex-Britney Spears saying he hasn't spoken to her in 9 or 10 years, but wishes her the best. The most shocking news was that Justin said he would not go as far to say that he will never put out another album, but said he wouldn't bet on it being any time soon. He added that he can see doing "one more big tour." It's clear that Justin is focusing on his film career. You can see him in Bad Teacher, which opens on June 24th and then you can see him in Friends with Benefits, which arrives in theaters on July 22nd.

A casino in New Zealand is crawling with fleas. So what's the fix? Workers are warding off the incessant insects by donning flea collars around their ankles. It seems that the peculiar precaution is working because so far, the facility has had no reports of bug bites. Management claims the casino floor is cleaned daily despite employee complaints that the fleas have pestered them for years. Health authorities warned against humans wearing flea collars after a nearby hospital first used the toxic treatment to be rid of the pesky pests.

Trivia Answer: Gerald Patrick Mathers -- Jerry Mathers as the Beaver -- who turns 63 today. The show, of course, was Leave It to Beaver which was originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963. Beaver was the son of June and Ward Cleaver (played by Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont), and the brother of Wally Cleaver (played by Tony Dow). After the series, Mathers remained close to Billingsley for over 45 years, until her death in October last year. Mathers was the first child actor ever to make a deal to get a percentage of the merchandising revenue from a television show. The Leave It to Beaver show still generates merchandise revenue today, 48 years after its original production run ended. The original sitcom has been shown in over 80 countries in 40 languages. Mathers has noted that the Leave It to Beaver phenomenon is worldwide. He says he can go anywhere in the world, and people know him.

Justin Smoak hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning off Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie, giving the Seattle Mariners a stunning 3-2 win over the Orioles last night. Seattle did nothing against Guthrie for seven innings and did just enough to keep the eighth inning alive, using an error by the pitcher and Brendan Ryan's two-out single to keep the inning alive. Smoak then belted an 0-1 pitch 408-feet into the right field seats. Seattle won for the 11th time in 14 games and is now two games over .500. Everybody else in the AL West lost yesterday so you look up and the Mariners are a just a half game behind the first place Texas Rangers. The Ms and Os wrap up the series with a matinee today.

Last night's crowd of 11,692 was the smallest in Safeco Field history. Since moving into the stadium midway through the 1999 season, Seattle never had a crowd under 12,000.

Meanwhile in Tacoma, left fielder Mike Carp was 4 for 5 with a home run but his Tacoma Rainiers fell to the visiting Reno Aces 11-10 in PCL play at Cheney Stadium. The two teams combined for 27 hits. They're also doing the matinee thing as the Rainiers and Aces face off again today.

Coming up Saturday, the Sounders are at Chicago, and the Seattle Storm gets their regular season underway as they host Phoenix at the Key, Saturday at noon.

A lot of people like Lady Gaga, but former professional baseball player Jose Conseco may like her a little more than most. Jose recently wrote to Gaga on Twitter, asking for her hand in marriage and calling himself "her knight in baseball armor." Apparently, Jose has since deleted the tweets. By the way, Conseco used to date Madonna years ago.

Gaga, meanwhile, sold more than one million copies of her new album to top the US pop chart for the first time, according to sales data published yesterday by Billboard magazine. Fans scooped up 1.11 million copies of her much-hyped release Born This Way during the week ending May 29th, with a bit of help from a hugely popular 99-cent promotion by Amazon.com. 'N Sync holds the first-week record with 2.4 million copies for its 2000 album No Strings Attached. Billboard estimated that Amazon downloads accounted for upward of 440,000 downloads of Born This Way. Overall digital downloads totaled a record-breaking 662,000 copies, according to Billboard. Lady Gaga's 2008 debut album The Fame peaked at No. 2 and has sold 4.2 million copies to date in the United States. An eight-track follow-up EP titled The Fame Monster reached No. 5 and has sold 1.5 million copies. Gaga's new album has also taken the UK by storm. According to Billboard, the record sold 215-thousand copies, more than the rest of the top ten albums on the UK chart combined. And what might be most interesting is that it sold seven-thousand more copies in its first week than Adele's 21, which had spent 16 of the last 17 weeks at the top of the chart.

Speaking of Adele, she's been sick with laryngitis, and because of that, she's cancelled a number of shows. Adele had to back out of shows in Minnesota and Salt Lake City last week; Vancouver, BC last night; and as a precautionary measure, is skipping gigs in Seattle and Portland tonight and Friday. The tour is set to resume Saturday in San Francisco. The Minnesota tour date was rescheduled and added to the end of her trek. No word on if she'll do the same with the other shows.

American Idol winner Scotty McCreery's new country single, I Love You This Big, is breaking records, earning him the highest chart debut for a country newcomer since 1990. His song debuted at number 32 on Billboard's Country Songs chart. Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina's country single, Like My Mother Does, entered the charts at number 49. The Boston Herald reports that Scotty is set to receive a 250-thousand dollar advance for winning Idol and recording his first album. Lauren could earn more than 87-thousand dollars for her second-place finish and more if she records an album. Contracts for both Scotty and Lauren state that Idol producers will deposit 15-percent of their gross earnings into a trust account that the teens won't have access to until they're 18-years old.

The Beatles' three remastered Anthology collections are being made available digitally for the first time ever on June 14th. You can pick up Anthology Vols. 1-3 exclusively on iTunes, as well as an Anthology Box Set which boasts all 155 tracks from the three volumes. Also available – Anthology Highlights, a collection of stand-out tracks from the set. iTunes is now streaming a special Anthology video introduction and a 50-minute Meet the Beatles radio show for free. See it at iTunes.com/TheBeatles.

Nineteen -- that's the number of named storms during the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Some of these never made it to full hurricane status. The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season begins today. Today is also National Running Day.

Remember Balloon Boy? Well, his dad, Richard Heene, is selling the infamous balloon that thrust him into the international spotlight. He wants a million bucks for the balloon, and says every penny will go to Japan tsunami relief.

Patrick Dempsey is leaving after the next season of Grey's Anatomy.

So it seems the hottest girl on TV could be Pippa Middleton, sister of Princess Kate. Oprah and Barbara Walters expressed interest in setting up Pippa with her own talk show.

A Pennsylvania babysitter is being accused of spreading marijuana butter on toast and feeding it to three small children. The children's mother discovered the marijuana margarine in an I Can't Believe It's Not Butter tub in her refrigerator. The sitter is claiming it wasn't Mary Jane at all – she says it was nothing other than a little parsley. A judge will make the final decision in this crazy case.

Do you wear the pants? The caffeine-laced pants? If not, then you're not losing weight, according to one clothing manufacturer. With a lining of caffeine patches and Shea butter, the pants, they claim, will boost your metabolism and, in turn, trim your waist. Dietary experts aren't as convinced though, pointing out the amount of caffeine in the bizarre britches would have to be astronomical. Nonetheless, the confident company promises a trimmer waist in just three weeks. Where's the FDA and/or FTC on this one?

The maker of Angry Birds says the game has been downloaded over 200 million times across all platforms. There are three separate Angry Birds games: Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio.

In Michigan a guy in a car struck a rabbit crossing the road, injuring, but not killing it. He completed the killing but was also pulled over by a nearby cop, who smelled booze and arrested him. The guy told he judge he pulled a U-turn "to go perform a mercy killing."

It was like a scene straight from Law & Order when an Iowa criminal defense lawyer received a suspicious letter and found himself the victim of cat-and-mouse game…well, almost. The attorney received a hand-written letter at his office and opened it to find white powder inside the envelope. Like any good legal eagle, the attorney called the cops, who immediately brought in a HazMat team and the US Postal Inspectors to determine what the hazardous material was. In fact, it turned out to be a piece of lifesaver candy, likely crushed in transit. Police would later find a note inside the envelope from a man believed to be a life insurance salesman that read "Our meeting could be a lifesaver."

Trivia Answer: Lisa Hartman who turns 55 today. In 1991, she married country music superstar Clint Black, so technically she's Lisa Hartman Black. She and Clint have a daughter, Lily Pearl Black, who born in 2001.: