ionline

In the late Nineties, Helm – whose singing anchored Band classics like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Rag Mama Rag,” and “The Weight” – was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent 28 radiation treatments, eventually recovering his voice. In recent weeks, however, Helm had canceled a number of shows, including one at the New Orleans Jazz Fest on April 27th and another in Montclair, New Jersey. A note posted to his website on Tuesday from his daughter Amy and wife Sandy said that Helm was in the “final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey. Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration…he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage.”

No, it wasn’t for a movie. Actor George Clooney, long a political activist, was arrested and handcuffed outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington for protesting the country’s blockage of food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains area of the country, as well as its treatment of its people.

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Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

Lake Drive Chicago

The Thousand Oaks teen is reported to be in good health after being plucked from her damaged vessel 2,000 nautical miles off western Australia.
Reporting from Sydney, Australia — —
Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old solo sailor who ran into trouble in the middle of the Indian Ocean this week, has been rescued.

Sunderland was reported to be in good health after being plucked from her damaged vessel 2,000 nautical miles off western Australia by the crew of the French fishing ship the Ile De La Reunion at 7.45pm AEST.

The crew of the Ile De La Reunion, a considerably larger vessel than Sunderland’s Wild Eyes, dispatched a smaller boat to pick her up.
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The Pouges Shane MacGowan and Kristy McColl “Fairytale New York”

Let me help. It starts:

“It was Christmas eve babe. In the drunk tank….”

UTRECHT, Netherlands – A Dutch court ordered authorities to take temporary guardianship of a 13-year-old girl on Friday, delaying her plan to sail solo around the world until psychologists can assess her capacity to undertake such a risky voyage.

Judges said Laura Dekker would face both mental and physical risks if she were allowed to go ahead with the two-year trip in her 26-foot (8-meter) boat named Guppy.

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Crash

A keyboardist for the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd has died at his northeast Florida home.

Keyboard player Billy Powell called 911 about 12:55 a.m. Wednesday saying he was having trouble breathing. Rescue crews performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m., said Orange Park Police Lt. Mark Cornett.

Powell, 56, who has a history of heart problems, missed a Tuesday appointment with his doctor for a cardiac evaluation. A heart attack is suspected. No autopsy will be performed because Powell’s cardiologist will sign the death certificate, Cornett said.

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The Giants suspended superstar Plaxico Burress for the rest of the season yesterday, ending any chance for the troubled wide receiver to help his teammates repeat as Super Bowl champs.

Burress, who shot himself in the leg while drinking in a Manhattan nightclub Saturday morning, is ineligible to play in the team’s remaining four games or the postseason.

“This is an important time for him to take care of his body and heal up, and also deal with the very serious legal consequences and other issues in his life,” Giants President John Mara said.

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As Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was arraigned Monday on two separate counts of a weapons charge, harsh reactions and new questions arose about the events early Saturday morning, when Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub with an illegal handgun.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Police Department criticized the Giants, who they said neglected to notify the authorities of the shooting, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where Burress was treated, for failing to call the police about his gun-related injury, as state law requires.

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GOLFER John Daly’s life continues to unravel after the dual major winner spent the night in jail after police responded to calls for assistance with an intoxicated person at a Hooters restaurant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Daly, who had earlier lost consciousness, refused to go to a hospital, leading emergency medical personnel to summon police at 2.17am on Sunday, according to the police report.

Daly “appeared extremely intoxicated and unco-operative,” police said in their report of the incident. Daly is a “regular” at Hooters, one of his sponsors, according to the golfer’s website.

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