Obama to honor Medal of Freedom recipients
L.A.'s Afternoon News: Maggie McKay and Michael Shappee, Celebrity,KFWB News
(AP Photo)
(AP) – President Barack Obama will honor a diverse cross-section of political and cultural icons – including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, astronaut John Glenn, basketball coach Pat Summitt and rock legend Bob Dylan – with the Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony Tuesday.
The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. It’s presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the national interests of the United States, to world peace or to other significant endeavors.
Other recipients this year include:
- Toni Morrison, author of such novels as “Song of Solomon” and “Beloved.”
- John Paul Stevens, former Supreme Court Justice.
- Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts.
- Shimon Peres, president of Israel.
- John Doar, who handled civil rights cases as assistant attorney general in the 1960s.
- William Foege, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped lead the effort to eradicate smallpox.
- Gordon Hirabayashi, who fought the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
- Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II.
- Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America.
Albright was the first woman to hold the top U.S. diplomatic job, while Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. Summitt led the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team to more NCAA Final Four appearances than any other team. And Dylan’s vast catalog of songs includes such rock classics as “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
Ga. woman battling flesh-eating bacteria speaks
L.A.'s Afternoon News: Maggie McKay and Michael Shappee, KFWB News
(AP) – The father of a young Georgia woman battling a flesh-eating disease says his daughter has spoken for the first time since she was taken to an Augusta hospital weeks ago for treatment.
Andy Copeland said in an interview with The Associated Press Monday that he was in church Sunday morning and missed his daughter Aimee’s first words. But his other daughter, Paige, told him Aimee said, “Hello. Whoa. Wow, my mind is blown.”
Writing on his Facebook page, Andy Copeland said: “Our baby can talk.”
Twenty-four-year-old Aimee Copeland developed necrotizing fasciitis after cutting her leg in a May 1 fall from a homemade zip line over a west Georgia river. Her left leg, other foot and both hands have been amputated.
She began breathing on her own last week.
(AP) – A statue in the likeness of a Pennsylvania native whose quiet leadership was chronicled in the World War II book and television miniseries “Band of Brothers” is being unveiled in France.
Maj. Dick Winters was a lieutenant when he led his troops during the D-Day invasion of France. Beginning June 6, a statue of him will survey the Normandy landscape that saw the crucial operation that helped end the war.
The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News reports that the monument is dedicated to all junior military officers serving that day. World War II Foundation chairman Tim Gray says that helped convince Winters to agree to the project.
Winters died last year at age 92.
The exploits of Winters and his “Easy Company” were featured in the Stephen Ambrose book and HBO miniseries.
(AP Image)
(AP) – At 6 years old, Lori Anne Madison is the youngest person ever to qualify for the National Spelling Bee.
At a glance, she seems like a child that age: She talks at 100 mph and wears a T-shirt that says “Little Miss Sunshine” on it. But she can spell with the best of them, in this case kids twice her age already considered prodigies.
The bee doesn’t have a lower age limit, but no one younger than 8 had ever qualified for the nationals. Spellers can compete until they’re 15, or until they’ve completed eighth grade.
No one is expecting Lori Anne to win. But just being there is a unique accomplishment, and making it beyond the preliminaries on Tuesday and Wednesday would be another stunning development.
LAPD cops in West LA accident
L.A.'s Morning News: Phil Hulett and Penny Griego, Audio,KFWB News,L.A. News
Two Los Angeles Police Department officers are hospitalized after an SUV turns right in front of them, in turn forcing them to crash into some bus benches. KFWB’s Pete Demetriou was on the scene at Washington and Pacific in Venice with this report for Penny Griego and Phil Hulett. Click the play button to listen:
You will be paying record gasoline prices over the Memorial Day weekend even with the recent drop at the pumps .
KFWB’s John Brooks talks to drivers at a gas station in Hollywood.
You have probably heard or seen commercials for something called, “The Hopper.” It’s a new service offered by Dish Network that allows you to skip commercials when you watch your favorite TV shows. Now, the major TV networks are suing Dish, and in turn, Dish is suing the networks.
KFWB Legal Analyst Royal Oakes explains:
AP Image
(AP) — A Wisconsin man whose camcorder was briefly stolen has found a way to get back at the suspected thief: He uploaded to YouTube a video that the suspect took with the camera, a clip in which the man reveals his name, shows his face and admits he stole the camera.
Chris Rochester, 25, of La Crosse, said his camera was stolen a few weeks ago from the car of his boss, Republican state Senate candidate Bill Feehan. Police eventually arrested the suspect and returned the camera to Rochester, who set it aside.
Then, when Gov. Scott Walker made a recent visit to La Crosse, Rochester used the camera to film the event. When he went back to retrieve the video, he found 20 other segments the suspect apparently recorded.
Most were uneventful, generally 15- to 20-second clips of television screens. But one video caught Rochester’s eye.more
(AP) — European researchers are planning to use new techniques to analyze DNA that could help crack the mystery of whether Bigfoot exists.
In a project announced this week, Oxford University and Lausanne Museum of Zoology scientists appealed to museums, scientists and Yeti aficionados to share hair samples thought to be from the mythical ape-like creature.
New genetic tests will be done on just a few strands of hair and should be completed within weeks. Even if the sample is judged to come from an unknown species, scientists should be able to tell how closely it is related to other species, including apes or humans.
Bryan Sykes of Oxford University said the group had already received many offers of samples to test, including blood, hair, and items supposedly chewed by Bigfoot. Sykes and colleagues plan to sift through the samples for the next few months before deciding which specimens to test. They will then publish their results in a peer-reviewed journal.more
(AP) – Two cheetah cubs have been transported to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to be raised by hand after a risky birth last month at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in northern Virginia.
When the cubs’ mother, 5-year-old Ally, gave birth to the first cub in late April, problems quickly developed. Ally is a first-time mother and abandoned the first cub. Then Ally’s labor stopped, even though she had three more cubs waiting to be born.
Zoo veterinarians performed an emergency cesarean section and saved one more cub and the cheetah mother. Two other cubs died.
Now the zoo is offering a first look at the genetically valuable surviving cubs in their new home Wednesday. The zoo is part of an effort to save this endangered species where “every cat counts.”
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