Will Dana, Rolling Stone’s Managing Editor, to Depart

By RAVI SOMAIYA
photo by Richard Perry
The New York Times

Will Dana, the managing editor of Rolling Stone, will leave the magazine, just months after a controversial article about a supposed gang rape at the University of Virginia was retracted.

Mr. Dana, whose planned last day is Aug. 7, is not leaving for another job, and his successor has not been named. When asked if the departure was linked to the controversy over the discredited article, Rolling Stone’s publisher, Jann S. Wenner, said, via a spokeswoman, that “many factors go into a decision like this.”

In a statement, Mr. Dana said, “After 19 years at Rolling Stone, I have decided that it is time to move on.” He added: “It has been a great ride and I loved it even more than I imagined I would. I am as excited to see where the magazine goes next as I was in the summer of 1978 when I bought my first issue.”

Mr. Wenner, a founder of the magazine, said that Mr. Dana was “one of the finest editors I have ever worked with.”

Mr. Dana and Mr. Wenner both declined to be interviewed.

Rolling Stone and Mr. Dana had been widely criticized after the publication late last year of the article titled “A Rape on Campus,” which reported that a brutal gang rape occurred in 2012 at a fraternity party at Virginia. The article helped prompt a national conversation about sexual assaults on college campuses and sent the University of Virginia into turmoil.

In the weeks after publication, the article, which was based largely on the account of one student, named only as Jackie, fell apart. Police in Charlottesville, Va., said that after exhausting all leads they had found “no substantive basis” to support the article’s depiction of the assault.

The magazine commissioned an analysis of the article by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and its report in April cited failures at every stage of the reporting process. After the report was made public, Rolling Stone retracted the article.

The magazine has since been the target of lawsuits from an assistant dean at the university and by three members of the fraternity at the center of the article, who filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday.

Mr. Dana joined Rolling Stone in 1996 as a senior editor and became managing editor in 2005. He had also been editorial director of Rolling Stone’s sister publication, Men’s Journal.

A version of this article appears in print on July 30, 2015, on page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Rolling Stone Managing Editor to Depart

Brandon Graham: Tebow Will Make Team, ‘Play A Lot’

PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 7: Linebacker Brandon Graham #55 of the Philadelphia Eagles 
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

By Andrew Porter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Fans and media members are skeptical of the most polarizing Philadelphia Eagle Tim Tebow, who was seen shirtless doing an unorthodox summer workout via Twitter on Wednesday.
 
Many do not expect Tebow to make the team, but Eagles linebacker Brandon Graham is not one of those people. In fact, Graham says Tebow will contribute.

“Tim Tebow is going to shock a lot of people, because he is going to make the team,” Graham told Detroit radio host Lauren Beasley, “And I think he will play a lot.”
 
In his first offseason with personnel control, Eagles coach Chip Kelly signed Graham to a four-year extension. Graham is expected to start at linebacker for the first time in his career this season.
 
“Coach Kelly he just made me get back into my comfort zone, as far as like standing up,” said Graham. “Because I know I can rush the pass rusher, it’s just all about now I’m standing up. Being able to take off from a standing position.
 
“I want to breakout this year and show them what they been missing,” Graham continued. “I’ve just been working so hard. Yesterday was so hard, I almost passed out. I was just going too hard because I was just thinking about a lot, as far as I just can’t wait to get out there.
 
“I just really thank Chip Kelly because he got my mind right.”
 
Expectations for the season?
 
“Just to help the team, get to the Pro Bowl, and hopefully get to the Super Bowl,” Graham said.
 
That’s all.

Related Tags: Brandon Graham, Eagles, Tim Tebow

Legendary Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons Has Died

by Saving Country Music - concert photos by Ray Tharaldson
One of the most important and influential steel guitar players in the history of country music has died. 

Buddy Emmons, known as the “The World’s Foremost Steel Guitarist” passed away Wednesday evening (7-28) according to reports. He was 78-years-old.

Buddy Gene Emmons was born on January 27, 1937, in Mishawaka, Indiana, and started playing lap steel guitar at the tender age of 11. At the time, the steel guitar was considered just as much an instrument of Hawaiian music as country, but along with other early steel players such as Jerry Byrd and Don Helms, Buddy Emmons helped bring the steel guitar to the forefront of the definable country music sound.

Emmons’ work with “Little” Jimmy Dickens is where he first began to be recognized at large for his steel guitar prowess. Joining Jimmy’s band at the age of 18, Buddy became a star in his own right, and penned two instrumentals while in Jimmy’s band—“Raising the Dickens” and “Buddie’s Boogie” —that have since become standards of the instrument. The complex working of the steel guitar’s pitch bending pedals and levers made steel guitar players like Buddy Emmons the wizards of country music, wooing crowds with lonesome notes that cried and moaned along with the stories of the song.

Later Buddy Emmons played with two of the most legendary backing bands in country music: Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours, and Ray Prices’ Cherokee Cowboys. During his time in the Cherokee Cowboys, Buddy rubbed elbows with future stars such as Willie Nelson and Roger Miller. 

Appreciating Buddy’s tasteful style and deep understanding of music, Ray Price eventually named Buddy bandleader—a position he remained in for many years until leaving the band after Ray began to favor a more pop-oriented sound.

Buddy Emmons, with Darrell McCall and Ray Price

Afterwards Buddy joined his old Cherokee Cowboy buddy Roger Miller in California for a while before relocating back to Nashville in 1974. Emmons had experienced martial problems and issues with alcohol, but moved back to Music City with his third wife Peggy who he credited for getting him to settle down. Back in Nashville, Emmons resumed his session work, and put together a long legacy of records and songs his signature steel guitar sound can be found on. Emmons played studio sessions all of the way into the 90’s, finding his way on to records from George Strait, John Hartford, and Ricky Skaggs to name a few.

Buddy ended most if his studio session work around 1998, but would continue to play in the studio and on stage, most notably with a reincarnation of The Everly Brothers between 1998 and 2001.

Buddy Emmons not only contributed to the sound to the steel guitar, but the design and manufacture of the instrument. In 1956, Emmons joined with Shot Jackson to develop the now legendary “Sho-Bud” pedal steel guitar, and the two men set up a company to sell the instruments to the world. 

Emmons was also instrumental in developing the “split-pedal” setup of the steel guitar during his time at Sho-Bud. Buddy eventually left the company in 1963 to start the Emmons Guitar Company, but the name “Sho-Bud” can still be seen on many country music stages around the country today, while Emmons steel guitars are considered by many as the industry standard of the instrument.

Emmons never officially retired, and continued to play at steel guitar shows and other functions, and was known to frequent NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion. However repetitive motion injury meant he had to stop playing full time in 2001.

Buddy’s wife Peggy died in 2007. He is survived by two granddaughters Crystal and Brittany, and two grandsons, Levon and Buddie III.

Buddy Emmons was not just a king of the steel guitar, but one of the most influential and important instrumentalists in the history of country music.

Boddy Emmons, dead, died, Don Helms, Ernest Tubb, Jerry Byrd, Little Jimmy Dickens, obituary, Ray Price, Roger Miller, Sho-Bud, Shot Jackson, Willie Nelson

NFL upholds 4-game suspension for Tom Brady in Deflategate case

by Everett Rosenfeld

Getty Images

Tom Brady during the Super Bowl last February.

 
This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.

The NFL said Tuesday that it has upheld its four-game suspension of New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady.

The decision, made by Commissioner Roger Goodell, was made in part because of "important new information" disclosed by Brady and his representatives during the appeal hearing, the NFL said.

This includes the June 18 disclosure that Brady had "directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed" despite investigators' request to access information stored on that device.
 

Journalist accuses Mexico coach of punching him

By AFP

Mexico coach Miguel Herrera Monday denied punching a journalist at the Philadelphia airport, one day after Mexico clinched the Gold Cup with a 3-1 win over Jamaica.

Christian Martinoli of TV Azteca told AS Mexico that he ran into the Mexico team after clearing security at the airport.

Martinoli, who had been critical of Herrera during Mexico's run to a seventh title in the biennial North American football championship, said the coach punched him in the neck after threatening him in the security line.

'HE THREATENED ME'

"He threatened me, he challenged me to fight and he told me 'this is how it is going to be every time I see you,'" Martinoli said.

Herrera, however, denied striking Martinoli, admitting only to pushing him.

"I pushed him," Herrera told El Universal newspaper. "We were arguing and I pushed him."

Speaking to a reporter from the Televisa network, Herrera again denied hitting Martinoli.

"I'm not that stupid," he said.

Bobbi Kristina Brown, Daughter of Whitney Houston, Has Died

A representative for the Houston family has said Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of the late entertainer Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown, has died, about 7 months after she was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub. She was 22 years old.
 
Kristen Foster said Sunday, "Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away July, 26 2015, surrounded by her family. She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."

Police said she was found Jan. 31 in the suburban Atlanta townhome she shared with Nick Gordon, the man she called her husband. A police report described it as a "drowning."
 
Bobbi Kristina was the only child between Houston and Brown.

Several people shot at movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana

BREAKING NEWS! UPDATE: Third person has died. 7 injured. Shooter was 58 year old white male.

by David Mitchell
Lafayette , La. — A shooting was reported at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana Thursday night.
 
KATC reported on its website several people were shot and the suspect may have been injured as well. It reported that state police confirmed the shooting at The Grand 16 Theater.

Several sources said the shooting happened during the movie “Trainwreck.” There were reports that at least seven people were hurt.

State police said there was no longer an active shooter situation.

This story is developing: Six shot, two dead including the gunman.

Country singer Daron Norwood found dead in Hereford apartment

Provided by the Ft. Worth Star Telegram/Associated Press
Police say country singer Daron Norwood has been found dead in his Texas apartment.

Hereford police spokesman Capt. Kirsten Williams said Thursday that investigators do not suspect foul play in Norwood's death. He was 49.

Williams says a cause of death was pending. Norwood's landlord found his body Wednesday afternoon.

Norwood was last seen Tuesday night with friends. The landlord stopped to check on Norwood, let himself in and found the singer's body in a bedroom. Williams says the body had no signs of trauma.

The singer had a 1994 self-titled album, "Daron Norwood." His 1995 album was, "Ready, Willing and Able." Norwood's songs included "If It Wasn't For Her I Wouldn't Have You," and "Cowboys Don't Cry." Norwood was born on September 30, 1965 in Tahoka.

Hereford is 40 miles southwest of Amarillo.

Link to his music page: https://daronnorwoodmusic.wordpress.com/.

Settlement offer in Tom Brady case met with NFL 'silence'

by Bob Hille (Getty Images)
The NFL met with "silence" a settlement offer made last week by the NFL Players Association regarding Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for his role in Deflategate, ESPN reported Thursday, citing an unidentified source.

Brady appealed the NFL's suspension June 23 in New York, but commissioner Roger Goodell, serving as the arbitrator in that appeal, has yet to announce a ruling.


According to multiple media reports, Brady is refusing to accept any suspension, but, according to ESPN, he would consider accepting a fine.

Meanwhile, Pro Football Talk, citing an unidentified source, reported Wednesday that Goodell has encountered pressure from a loud minority of team owners who want the commissioner to maintain Brady's original punishment. According to the site, progress toward an out-of-court settlement has been minimal.

The NFLPA reportedly will challenge in federal court a suspension of any length. 

The Patriots open the season Sept. 10 against the Steelers. Under the terms of Brady's current suspension, he wouldn't return until the team's game Oct. 18 against the Colts. 

On Tuesday, Goodell said he has no definitive timetable for a decision on Brady's appeal.

"There is no timeline," he said at a charity luncheon. "We want to make sure we have a fair and open process." 

California freeway bridge collapses, blocking Ariz. traffic

 

By ANDREW DALTON and TAMI ABDOLLAH Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An elevated section of Interstate 10 collapsed Sunday amid heavy rains in the California desert, injuring one driver, stranding many others, and halting travel for thousands by cutting off both directions of a main corridor between Southern California and Arizona.

"Interstate 10 is closed completely and indefinitely," said Terri Kasinga, spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation.

A bridge for eastbound traffic about 15 feet above a normally dry wash about 50 miles west of the Arizona state gave way and ended up in the flooding water below, the California Highway Patrol said, blocking all traffic headed toward Arizona.

The westbound section of the freeway near the tiny town of Desert Center also closed. The roadway was intact but extremely undermined by flooding and could need just-as-extensive rebuilding, Kasinga said.

No timeframe was given for when either side would reopen as crews were diverted from other projects to examine the site.

"They won't even be able to begin assessing the damage until Monday," Kasinga said.

That means those seeking to travel between California and Arizona would be forced to go hundreds of miles out of their way to Interstate 8 to the south or Interstate 40 to the north.

Busy I-10 is the most direct route between Phoenix and parts of Southern California, including Los Angeles.

Transportation officials recommended travelers on the east side of the collapse use U.S. Highway 95 in Arizona to get to the other freeways, and that in California drivers use state routes 86 and 111 to get to Interstate 8 into Arizona.

One driver had to be rescued from a pickup truck that crashed in the collapse and was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, the Riverside County Fire Department said. A passenger from the truck was able to get out without help and wasn't hurt.

Hundreds of other cars were stranded immediately after the collapse, but the California Highway Patrol was working to divert them in the other direction off the freeway and it wasn't clear if any remained, Kasinga said.

Pamala Browne, 53, and her daughter were driving from Flagstaff, Arizona to Palm Desert, California when they got stranded when the westbound lanes were shutdown.

"Oh my God, we are so stuck out here," Browne told the Desert Sun newspaper. "There's no end to the cars that are stuck out here."

The rains came amid a second day of showers and thunderstorms in southern and central California that were setting rainfall records in what is usually a dry month.

Rain fell Sunday afternoon in parts of Los Angeles County's mountains, the valley north and inland urban areas to the east. The city also was expected to get a late repeat of Saturday's scattered showers and occasional downpours as remnants of tropical storm Dolores brought warm, muggy conditions northward.

"We have a chance of some more heavy rain in LA County this evening, thunderstorms, lightning, possibly some localized street flooding," said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Sirard.

The showers forced the Los Angeles Angels' first rainout in 20 years and the San Diego Padres' first rainout since 2006.

Saturday's rainfall broke records in at least 11 locations, including five places that had the most rain ever recorded on any day in July, Sirard said.

July is typically the driest month of the year in Southern California. Because of that, Saturday's 0.36 inch of rain in downtown Los Angeles exceeded the 0.24 inch recorded July 14, 1886, which had been the wettest July day in nearly 130 years.

The record is especially significant, Sirard said, because downtown Los Angeles has the longest recording climate station, dating back to July 1, 1877.

Saturday's storm brought flash floods and power outages and turned Los Angeles County's typically packed coast into empty stretches of sand when the threat of lightning forced authorities to close 70 miles of beaches.

Signs warned beachgoers to avoid storm drain flows into the ocean because of Saturday's sometimes heavy rain. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health recommends people avoid swimming within 100 yards of a storm drain for 72 hours after heavy rain.

Warnings were also in place for high surf and strong rip currents on all south-facing beaches, including Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu, Zuma, Newport and Huntington, officials said.

Meanwhile, the summer storm has helped firefighters advance on two wildfires that broke out Friday.

Muggy, moist conditions were expected to persist through Monday.

Hearse stolen during local funeral

By George Richert
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB
For one local son, a funeral which took a wrong turn was hardly a fitting farewell to his father.

Joe Brown of South Buffalo was carrying the casket with his father’s remains to the steps of the church after his funeral Wednesday morning, when the funeral director stopped the pallbearers in their tracks, and notified them that the hearse was gone.

“It’s disgusting,” said Brown, who can’t believe that the last memory he’ll have of his father’s farewell is one of disrespect.

The family had to wait an extra 30 minutes at the church for another hearse to arrive. The Cadillac hearse was rented out by Mertz & Sons Funeral Home on Englewood Avenue in the Town of Tonawanda. Funeral Director, James Mertz said he was appalled at the theft.

“We are deeply saddened that while serving the Brown family, a crime was committed beyond our control,” he said.

The hearse was stolen late Wednesday morning from Washington Street, while a funeral was taking place inside St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, so the remains of Brown’s father was inside the church.

Police in North Tonawanda recovered the vehicle roughly two hours later on Frederika Street. Buffalo Police say they arrested 28-year-old Michael Healing in connection with the theft. Healing is a Niagara Falls native.

Healing stands charged with criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
 
Folks passing by the church on Wednesday evening couldn’t believe what they heard about this story.

“It’s just very unappreciated and disrespectful to the people that are experiencing the loss,” said Caitlyn McCoy, who’s visiting Buffalo from Indianapolis.

“It’s more baffling than anything else,” said Jonathan Bullis “Why would someone want to take a hearse, something you would assume that if you found on Craigslist or Ebay? It’s pretty readily identifiable.”

The stolen hearse is now impounded by Buffalo Police for evidence.

Tharaldson Hospitality Management plans second Stapleton site

by Burl Rolett

The site of a future Stapleton Residence Inn on Central Park Blvd. in Stapleton. Photo by Burl Rolett.

A year after its first venture into Stapleton, an out-of-town hotel developer is closing a reservation for 112 more rooms.

Tharaldson Hospitality Management hopes to break ground this month on a $16 million Residence Inn at 4667 N. Central Park Blvd. in Stapleton. It’s the second Stapleton hotel for Tharaldson, which last year opened the Staybridge Suites at 8101 Northfield Blvd.

“It’s a growing area, and in general Denver is a really solid market with a diverse economy,” said Joe Blagg,Tharaldson’s development manager. “It has lots of corporate headquarters and other things we look for with an extended-stay hotel.”

Tharaldson bought the land for its planned hotel last month from Stapleton master developer Forest City Enterprises for $1.5 million, city records show.

Plans call for a four-story building with 112 guest rooms. Blagg said Tharaldson is working through the permitting process right now and hopes to open the new hotel in late summer or early fall of next year.

Las Vegas-based Design Cell Architecture is designing the Residence Inn and South Dakota-based Dacotah Bank is financing the project. Tharaldson’s in-house construction firm is the general contractor and the company’s own management team will operate the hotel.

The project will carry Marriott’s Residence Inn brand. The concept is similar to Staybridge Suites, an IHG hotel, and Blagg said rates at Stapleton’s Staybridge Suites and Residence Inn would average about $120 per night.
 
“Both brands have similar demographics, the same type of guests,” he said. “The room products and everything else is quite in line – they’re the upper-end, upper-scale extended-stay brands.”

Tharaldson Hospitality owns about 30 hotels nationwide, according to its website. The majority of those are extended-stay hotels. Blagg said the North Dakota-based developer also is working on development projects in California and New York, and is looking for more deals in the Denver area.

The Staybridge Suites at Stapleton, which opened last July, is Tharaldson’s only hotel in the Denver market. Blagg said that hotel has done slightly better in its first year than Tharaldson anticipated, but the company was bullish on Stapleton even before the Staybridge got out of the ground.

“Since really even before we were opening the Staybridge, we liked the area and the market, and worked with Forest City to identify some potential other sites for hotels,” he said. “We looked at a few Forest City had and this one made the most sense for what they wanted to do.”