By ERIK SCHELZIG of Associated Press 

Tennessee brings back the electric chair-

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — As the rest of the nation debates the feasibility and humanity of lethal injections against a backdrop of scarce drugs and botched executions, Tennessee has come up with an alternative: the electric chair.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill into law Thursday allowing the state to electrocute death row inmates in the event prisons are unable to obtain the drugs, which have become more and more scarce following a European-led boycott of drug sales for executions.
Tennessee lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the electric chair legislation in April, with the Senate voting 23-3 and the House 68-13 in favor of the bill.

Tennessee is the first state to enact a law to reintroduce the electric chair without giving prisoners an option, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that opposes executions and tracks the issue.

"There are states that allow inmates to choose, but it is a very different matter for a state to impose a method like electrocution," he said. "No other state has gone so far."

Dieter said he expects legal challenges to arise if the state decides to go through with an electrocution, both on the grounds of whether the state could prove that lethal injection drugs were not obtainable and on the grounds of constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Republican state Sen. Ken Yager, a main sponsor of the electric chair measure, said in a recent interview that he introduced the bill because of "a real concern that we could find ourselves in a position that if the chemicals were unavailable to us that we would not be able to carry out the sentence."
The decision comes as lethal injection is receiving more scrutiny as an execution method, especially after last month's botched execution in Oklahoma.

In that case, convicted killer Clayton Lockett, 38, began writhing, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow after he had supposedly been rendered unconscious by the first of three drugs in the state's new lethal injection combination. The execution was halted, and Lockett died of an apparent heart attack 10 minutes later, authorities said. They later blamed a collapsed vein, not the drugs themselves.
But concerns about lethal injection also have risen at a time when Tennessee and many states — including Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas — obtain execution drugs in secret from unidentified compounding pharmacies. Death penalty opponents say the secrecy raises the risk of something going wrong. Read more

By ABC NEWS | Good Morning America

Katharine McPhee Files for Divorce from Nick Cokas,

Katharine McPhee's marriage is over. The actress and her husband, Nick Cokas, are getting divorced.
"After six years of marriage, and having been separated for the past year, Katharine McPhee has filed for a dissolution of marriage from Nick Cokas. The two have an amicable relationship and will remain friends. They ask that people respect their privacy during this time," a rep for the "Smash" star told People.
 
Katharine McPhee Gets Personal

Last year, McPhee, 30, was photographed kissing her "Smash" director, Michael Morris, who is married to actress Mary McCormack. However, a source told the magazine that the split has nothing to do with the controversial pictures.
It was just time," the source said. "They'd grown apart and weren't right for each other anymore."
Also Read

Fox news anchor arrested-MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Fox News weekend anchor who was arrested after he allegedly became combative with police at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport may have taken a drug that didn't mix well with alcohol, a police report released Thursday suggests.

Gregg Jarrett, 59, was arrested Wednesday after police were called to the Northern Lights Grill in the airport's main terminal on a report of a customer who was "acting very intoxicated," the report said.

Officers arrived to find Jarrett sitting at the bar — swaying back and forth and using the bar for support — and unwilling or unable to answer questions.

The bar employee told police Jarrett seemed very intoxicated after just one drink. Jarrett allegedly told another customer he'd taken medication before his flight, but he denied that when questioned by police. He told police he'd been drinking vodka since 9 a.m., the report said.

Jarrett was taken to a holding cell for possible detoxification and evaluation, and while there he became agitated, grabbed an officer's arm, and began struggling with police. It took more than one officer to handcuff him, the report said.

Officers found gabapentin pills in his pocket. A search of Jarrett's bag showed he was just released from an alcohol and chemical dependency treatment facility, the report said.

Gabapentin is approved for treating seizure disorders and pain that occurs after shingles, though it is prescribed for a number of other reasons. Side effects can include drowsiness, dizziness and loss of coordination. Jarrett was charged with one count of obstructing the legal process/interfering with a peace officer. He posted $300 bond and was released from the Hennepin County Jail early Thursday. He is scheduled to appear in court June 6.

Court records don't list a defense attorney, and Jarrett did not return an email seeking comment. A person who answered the phone at Fox asked that The Associated Press call back for him at another time.Read more

Arizona Wildfire Grows Along Highway Between Sedona, Flagstaff-Hundreds of firefighters were working to protect communities from a wildfire chewing up a scenic Arizona canyon early Friday that had turned entire trees to ash. The human-caused fire north of Slide Rock State Park grew to about 7,500 acres since Tuesday, as about 900 firefighters and personnel were finally able to get about 5 percent of the blaze's southern end contained, officials said.

The fire is concentrated in and around Oak Creek Canyon, a scenic recreation zone along a highway between Sedona and Flagstaff. Flagstaff Fire Capt. Bill Morse said Friday that the number of burned acres will continue to grow, but so will the containment numbers. “It is important to understand this is all within our catcher’s mitt,” Morse said, adding, “We’re going to be here for a while.” The fire grew tenfold from Wednesday and from 7-1/2 square miles earlier Thursday.

There have been no reports so far of injuries or structures burned. Fire incident commander Tony Sciacca said Thursday night that crews have made good progress and some containment was expected soon but he added, "We are not out of the woods yet." The fire still was 3 to 3-1/2 miles away from the residential areas of Forest Highlands and Katina Village, where 3,200 residents remained under pre-evacuation warnings.

Officials were mindful of the fire's dangers, as they looked at giant flames shooting up the walls of the canyon and saw how hot the fire was burning in the tinder-dry drought conditions. "The fuels are just so dry, entire trees are turning to ash," said Dick Fleishman, a spokesman for fire managers. A primary focus of firefighting efforts will be to pinch off the fire where it has reached the top of the canyon's northeast corner to keep it from burning northward toward residential areas, he said. Read more

Louis Ojeda Jr. FOX Sports Southwest

 Structural problems close Texas high school's $60 million stadium,The $60 million high school football stadium in the Dallas suburb of Allen is officially closed for the 2014 season after engineers found major structural problems.

Eagle Stadium made national headlines when it opened just two years ago, raising eyebrows with its big price tag. In March, the school district announced it had discovered "extensive cracking" in the concourse and would close for repairs.

After further investigation, Alllen ISD says it won't be a quick and easy fix. "Our commitment to Allen students and taxpayers remains firm that the stadium be repaired properly at the expense of those responsible for the failure: the architect and the builder," superintendent Lance Hindt said.

The two-time defending 5A Division I Texas State Football Champions won't get to enjoy its 18,000-seat palace this upcoming season as the Eagles will be forced to shuffle their schedule and play their home games in Plano. "While we are extremely disappointed that the stadium will remain closed this fall, we recognize that our priority must be to provide a safe venue for our students and the public," Allen ISD Board of Trustees President Louise Master said. The stadium was financed as part of a $119 million bond issue in 2009 and opened for the 2012 football season.

The Shield' Actor Michael Jace Arrested Over Wife's Murder, Police arrested actor Michael Jace early Tuesday morning on suspicion of murder in connection with the shooting death of his wife in their Los Angeles home.

Officers responded to the 5400 block of Brynhurst Avenue in Hyde Park around 8:30 p.m. Monday after neighbors reported the sound of gunshots. They were met by Michael Jace, and discovered April Jace, 40, dead inside the house, according to Detective Sal LaBarbera. He said investigators were not looking for any additional suspects, and believe the incident was isolated to the Jace home. LAPD confirmed Jace, best known for playing an LAPD officer in the TV series "The Shield," was booked on suspicion of murder around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

LaBarbera said Jace and his wife have been married for nine years.

The couple's two children, both boys under the age of 10, were in the home at the time of the shooting. The LAPD has not confirmed whether the children witnessed the shooting.

Toni Guinyard contributed to this report.

NBC Los Angeles, Read more on this story at NBC Los Angeles

Halle Berry's miracle baby, Halle Berry never expected to get pregnant again and think her daughter Nahla's constant prayers for a sibling were answered. Halle Berry thinks she got pregnant because of her daughter's prayers.

The 47-year-old actress - who has daughter Nahla, six, with former boyfriend Gabriel Aubry and seven-month-old son Maceo with husband Olivier Martinez - thinks it is a miracle she had a second child because she was ''premenopausal'' shortly before she learned she was expecting another baby.

She said: 'I mean, I didn't think it was possible to have another baby and I thought for sure I had a need never to get married again. So, I've learned never to say never.

''Nahla prayed and prayed for him for like a year and a half for a baby and a bunk bed and she got both of those things.

''Only her prayers could have done this I didn't think it was possible at my age, honestly. They call it a geriatric pregnancy.''

''I was, you know, on my way. This is probably way TMI, but I was kinda premenopausal, so to have this happen was huge.''

The 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' star says her daughter dotes on her little brother, and loves nothing better than changing his outfits.

She told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres: ''He's like one of her dollies that came to life.

''You know and all she wants to do is change his clothes. Like she'll purposely like throw something on his shirt and say, 'Oh mommy, he's got to change his shirt. He has a mess on him!' She just likes to change his clothes, change his diapers...''

By John Heilprin, Associated Press, Russian oligarch faces $4.5 billion Swiss divorce, Russian 'fertilizer king' ordered to pay $4.5 billion to ex-wife in Swiss divorce settlement, A Swiss court has ordered a Russian billionaire to pay more than $4.5 billion to his ex-wife in what could become the biggest divorce settlement in history.

In papers delivered Monday to both parties, the Geneva Tribunal of First Instance said Dmitry Rybolovlev, an owner of the French soccer club AS Monaco, must pay 4,020,555,987.80 Swiss francs ($4,509,375,184.80) to ex-wife Elena Rybolovleva of Geneva. Both are aged 47.

The judgment also granted his ex-wife property worth 130.5 million francs ($146 million) in property in Gstaad, Switzerland, where the couple owned two swanky chalets. It awarded his ex-wife two other pieces of real estate in the ultra-wealthy area of Geneva known as Cologny, where the couple once lived together, but listed no value for either address. And it confirmed her custody of their 13-year-old daughter, Anna. The couple also has an adult daughter, Ekaterina.

Her lawyer Marc Bonnant called it "the most expensive divorce in history," an unheard-of amount for Switzerland and for Russian oligarchs.

But Rybolovlev's lawyer said that the judgment's cash order was likely to be whittled down in coming appeals.

"There will definitely be a new appellate review and therefore this judgment is not final given the existence of two levels of appeal in Switzerland," said Tetiana Bersheda.

A separate statement by Bonnant and two other lawyers in the case, Corinne Corminboeuf Harari and Caroline Schumacher, called the record judgment "a complete victory" for her and said that under Swiss law she was entitled to half the fortune he made during their marriage. Most of that fortune was transferred to Cyprus-based trusts in 2005.

The three lawyers said Monday's ruling demonstrated that "no one — not even a Russian tycoon who put his fabulous fortune into legal structures such as trusts and offshore companies — is above the law."

But Rybolovlev's lawyer suggested the opposite, praising the judgment for "confirming both the validity of the trusts created by Mr. Rybolovlev and the validity of the asset transfer to them that occurred long before his wife initiated divorce proceedings."

His ex-wife had demanded $6 billion from the man known as the "fertilizer king," whose fortune from potash mining once made him the world's 79th richest person. He is now ranked 147th on the Forbes list of billionaires, with an estimated fortune of $8.8 billion.

The couple met as university students in Perm, Russia, and married there in 1987. Divorce proceedings began in 2008, when Forbes estimated his worth at $12.8 billion.

Robert Copeland Resigns, uccumbing to the many demands to step down after he uttered a racial slur in reference to President Barack Obama.

Copeland stepped down from his office with a simple email that read "I resign" to Wolfeboro Commission Chairman Joseph Balboni Jr.,  according to the Concord Monitor. According to the local paper, Balboni approached the 82-year-old Copeland Sunday night and asked to him to step down from his post.

"He was very nice, very polite. I said, 'Bob, you’ve gotta step down, everybody says you have to resign,'" Balboni said. He kept saying, 'I’ll think about it,’ and I said, 'Bob, we gotta be serious now.'"

The controversy stemmed from Copeland referring to Obama as a "f***ing [N-Word]" while speaking to friends at a New Hampshire restaurant in March. The racial slur was overheard by another patron, Jane O'Toole, who recently moved to the community four months earlier. O'Toole subsequently informed other town officials of what she heard.

Copeland acknowledged in an email to fellow police commissioners that he had used the slur, writing, "I believe I did use the 'N-word' in reference to the current occupant of the Whitehouse (sic). For this I do not apologize — he meets and exceeds my criteria for such."

The controversy catapulted the sleepy lakeside community of Wolfeboro, which is said to have just 6,300 residents, into the national spotlight. Even former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has a home in Wolfeboro, weighed in and demanded that the police commissioner resign from his post.

"The vile epithet used and confirmed by the commissioner has no place in our community: He should apologize and resign," Romney said in a statement this week.

By Joe Mcdonald, Associated Press ,China warns US cyber charges could damage ties, China warns US cyber spying charges could damage military ties, says US source of hacking,

 China on Tuesday warned the United States was jeopardizing military ties by charging five Chinese officers with cyberspying and tried to turn the tables on Washington by calling it "the biggest attacker of China's cyberspace."

China announced it was suspending cooperation with the United States in a joint cybersecurity task force over Monday's charges that officers stole trade secrets from major American companies. The Foreign Ministry demanded Washington withdraw the indictment.

The testy exchange marked an escalation in tensions over U.S. complaints that China's military uses its cyber warfare skills to steal foreign trade secrets to help the country's vast state-owned industrial sector. A U.S. security firm, Mandiant, said last year it traced attacks on American and other companies to a military unit in Shanghai.

The charges are the biggest challenge to relations since a meeting last summer between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Sunnylands, California.

Ties already were under strain due to conflicts over what Washington says are provocative Chinese moves to assert claims over disputed areas of the East and South China Seas. Beijing complains the Obama administration's effort to shift foreign policy emphasis toward Asia and expand its military presence in the region is emboldening Japan and other neighbors and fueling tension.

Beijing has denied conducting commercial spying and said it is a victim of computer hacking, but has given little indication it investigates foreign complaints.

"The Chinese government and Chinese military as well as relevant personnel have never engaged and never participated in so-called cyber theft of trade secrets," said a foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, at a news briefing. "What the United States should do now is withdraw its indictment."

The Ministry of Defense warned that the U.S. accusations would chill gradually warming relations between the two militaries.

"The United States, by this action, betrays its commitment to building healthy, stable, reliable military-to-military relations and causes serious damage to mutual trust," it said.

Despite the pointed language, damage to U.S.-Chinese relations is likely to be limited, with little change in trade or military links, because Beijing realizes the indictment of the five officers is symbolic, said Shen Dingli, a director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University. He has close ties to China's foreign policy establishment.

Beijing is unlikely to engage in tit-for-tat retaliation such as issuing its own indictments of American soldiers and probably will go ahead with plans to take part in U.S.-hosted naval exercises next month, Shen said. He said cybersecurity cooperation is likely to be suspended indefinitely, but that should have little impact because the joint group achieved little in its three meetings.

"Political, security and commercial espionage will always happen," Shen said. "The U.S. will keep spying on Chinese companies and leaders, so why can't China do the same?"

The Cabinet's Internet information agency said Chinese networks and websites have been the target of thousands of hacking attacks from computers in the United States.

"The U.S. is the biggest attacker of China's cyber space," Xinhua said, citing a statement by the agency. "The U.S. attacks, infiltrates and taps Chinese networks belonging to governments, institutions, enterprises, universities and major communication backbone networks."

Monday's indictment said the People's Liberation Army officers targeted U.S. makers of nuclear and solar technology, stealing confidential business information, sensitive trade secrets and internal communications. The targets were Alcoa World Alumina, Westinghouse Electric Co., Allegheny Technologies, U.S. Steel Corp., the United Steelworkers Union and SolarWorld.

The Justice Department said the charges should be a national "wake-up call" about cyber intrusions. American authorities have previously announced details of cyberattacks from China but Monday's indictment was the first accusation to name individuals. The Justice Department issued wanted posters with the officer's photos on them.

The new indictment attempts to distinguish spying for national security purposes — which the U.S. admits doing — from economic espionage intended to gain commercial advantage for private companies or industries. Read more

Angelina Jolie Kids Planning Wedding : Angelina Jolie: 'Our kids are planning the wedding'---It seems like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been planning their wedding forever, but it may be closer than we realize.

Jolie will grace the cover of People this week, and has started to talk about wedding planning and marrying her best friend. The actress explained that her and Pitt's children — Maddox, 12, Pax, 10, Zahara, 9, Shiloh, 7, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 5 — will be having more input than anyone else on the wedding planning. "We are discussing it with the children and how they imagine it might be," she told People.

"Which is verging on hysterical, how kids envision a wedding." In the interview, Jolie called her children "the wedding planners," and said that means "it's going to be Disney or paintball‚ one or the other!" Although there have been plenty of rumors the couple would be married in the past, they have yet to announce a wedding date or location. Back in 2011, she told Vanity Fair that there was "no secret wedding" being planned.

She also squashed another rumor, saying there would be no more children in their immediate future. "I'm not pregnant. I'm not adopting at the moment," Jolie said at the time. Although both Jolie and Pitt continue to have wildly successful careers, she admits the couple is most concerned with their family before anything else. Read more...

Casey Anthony Almost $800,000 in Debt, Casey Anthony is bankrupt, WPBF 25 News has learned. She said she's $792,000 in debt. About $500,000 of that sum is from attorney fees from her high-profile trial.

She was acquitted in 2011 of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

Anthony also owes the Orange County Sheriff's Office more than $145,000 to cover investigative fees. A judge has said he will take 30 days to decide whether the rights to Casey Anthony's life story can be sold by her trustee to pay off debt as part of her bankruptcy proceedings.

Miss Anthony, who was acquitted almost two years ago of killing her daughter Caylee, filed for bankruptcy in January and appeared in court last month, claiming that she has debts of almost $800,000.

Woman driver trapped for 20 HOURS after car careers off road and plunges 400ft before stopping on cliff edge.Driver, 56, tells rescuers she 'missed the road By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

This is the moment a woman driver was pulled to safety after spending 20 hours trapped in her car balancing on a cliff edge.

The car careered halfway down the 400 ft cliff face in St Agnes, Cornwall yesterday after 56-year-old driver Lyn Venton, lost control.

But the Vauxhall Vectra was only spotted at 9.30am this morning after passing jogger Ben Stafford, who also became stranded when he went to her rescue, raised the alarm.

Rescue operation: The driver is winched to safety after her car careered off the road in St Agnes

A suspected right-wing Christian gunman in police uniform killed at least 84 people in a ferocious attack on a youth summer camp of Norway's ruling Labour party, hours after a bomb killed seven in Oslo.

National police Chief Oystein Maeland said the attack had reached "catastrophic dimensions."

Witnesses said the gunman, identified by police as a 32-year-old Norwegian, moved across the small, wooded Utoeya holiday island on Friday firing at random as young people scattered in fear.

Police detained the tall, blond suspect, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, and charged him for the island killing spree and the Oslo bomb blast.

Norway's national news agency, NTB, reported Saturday that witnesses told police two people were involved in the shooting on the island and that police were looking into this. The report said the second man was not disguised in police uniform.

There are thought to have been hundreds of children on the island, aged from 11 or 12 to 18 or 19.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, capturing the shock the attacks have caused in this normally quiet nation of 4.8 million, said he had been to the island every summer since 1979, saying "my youth paradise, and now it's been changed to hell," according to a simultaneous translation provided by Sky News.

LONDON (AP) — Amy Winehouse, the beehived soul-jazz diva whose self-destructive habits overshadowed a distinctive musical talent, was found dead Saturday in her London home, police said. She was 27.

Winehouse shot to fame with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse — with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos — one of music's most recognizable stars.

Police confirmed that a 27-year-old female was pronounced dead at the home in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death was not immediately known. London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene.

An ambulance could be seen parked beneath the trees outside her London home, and the whole street was cordoned off by police tape. Officers kept onlookers away from the scene.

Last month, Winehouse canceled her European comeback tour after she swayed and slurred her way through barely recognizable songs in her first show in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Booed and jeered off stage, she flew home and her management said she would take time off to recover.

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician."

Troubled British singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her flat in north London, police said. She was 27 years old.

The Grammy award-winning soul singer struggled with well-documented drink and drug addictions. Her death is being treated as unexplained.

"Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 4:05 pm (1505 GMT) today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased," a police statement said.

"On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained."

London Ambulance Service had been called to the flat at 3:54 pm (1454 GMT) and sent two ambulances.

Winehouse rocketed to fame after winning five Grammy awards off the back of her 2006 second album "Back to Black" and the hit single "Rehab".

In the run-up to her live return, Winehouse spent a week at an addiction treatment clinic in London, reportedly at the suggestion of her father, Mitch, over concerns that she was drinking too much before her shows.