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An eastern grey squirrel seems to be enjoying the attention after disrupting two straight NLDS games. Or maybe it’s two squirrels — I can’t tell, they all look alike.
Either way, he’s taking to the interwebs, tweeting under the handle @BuschSquirrel:
The plane carrying Amanda Knox and her family departs from Rome’s ‘Fiumicino – Leonardo da Vinci’ airport for London on their journey back to Seattle on October 4, 2011 in Rome, Italy. (Getty Images)
Amanda Knox’s new life starts Tuesday afternoon when her flight touches down in Seattle.
After disembarking from the London-to-Seattle flight, Knox’s family will speak briefly to reporters. Then they want some time alone.
In this image made from amateur video accessed by APTN, Amanda Knox, right, embraces an unidentified person at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011. (AP photo)
Family spokesman David Marriott said Knox doesn’t have concrete plans for the future after landing in Seattle.
“They’ve all been so focused on the appeal,” Marriott said Tuesday. “They’re going to take some time and see what normal looks like now. It’s certainly different than what it was. They’ll take a look at the next steps. Obviously, there’s been a million requests for interviews.”
Knox is likely to be a hot commodity for some time — especially if Donald Trump has any say in future plans. Some news agencies are reporting she started work on a book in prison and already has hundreds of pages written.
“She’ll write, because that’s her way of dealing with things,” stepfather Chris Mellas told the Guardian.
But he said she hasn’t started the project yet. Already, some are speculating about how much a book deal could net for Knox.
Also looming in the future for Knox: Prosecutors say they’ll appeal Monday’s acquittal.
“Let’s wait and we will see who was right,” Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini told the Associated Press. “The first court or the appeal court.”
He added: “This trial was done under unacceptable media pressure. The decision was almost already announced; this is not normal.”
Experts say an appeal could be difficult, since the court’s finding that DNA evidence was compromised.
Knox supporter Tom Wright told CBS a celebration is forthcoming in Seattle, but it will be “at a time and place of (Knox’s) choosing.”
He added these words of support: “Way to go, kid.”
Vanessa Ho contributed to this report. Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Amanda Knox news. Contact Amy Rolph at amyrolph@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @amyrolph and @bigblog.
Trump, via Getty Images
When Amanda Knox returns home to the U.S. Tuesday, she’ll have no shortage of so-called friends in high places. But her highest friend might be the real-estate mogul sitting at the top of New York’s Trump Tower.
Donald Trump thinks the newly-acquitted Knox has some star potential, and he wants to help her find a way to pay her legal fees. He told new CNN anchor Erin Burnett Monday that Knox could “become a big star and build some dividends” from her ordeal in Italy.
Trump has long been a supporter of Knox, urging Americans to boycott Italy until her release. (Looks like the Donald might finally be lifting that ban.)
“I’ve been supporting the (Knox) family,” Trump said. “I’ve been helping the family and will continue to help them.”
Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Amanda Knox news. Contact Amy Rolph at amyrolph@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @amyrolph and @bigblog.
Amanda Knox arrives from Rome at Heathrow Airport London, Oct. 4, 2011. (AP photo)
Amanda Knox sightings were elusive Tuesday, but the former student was briefly spotted at an airports in Rome and London just before boarding a plane to Seattle with her family.
Knox, newly acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher, appeared in high spirits. The 24-year-old smiled at supporters as she carried her bag through the airport and gave one man a hug.
In this image made from amateur video accessed by APTN, Amanda Knox, right, embraces an unidentified person at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011. (AP photo)
Meanwhile, the family of Meredith Kercher released a statement saying they are disappointed with the verdict:
“We respect the decision of the judges but we do not understand how the decision of the first trial could be so radically overturned. We still trust the Italian justice system and hope that the truth will eventually emerge.”
More Knox news:
Globe and Mail: “Amanda Knox headed home to U.S.; search continues for Kercher’s killer.”
seattlepi.com: “Donald Trump: Amanda Knox could ‘become a big star.”
Fox News: ”Amanda Knox’s Story Could Net Her Tens of Millions of Dollars, Experts Say.”
Associated Press: “Kercher family perplexed by verdict freeing Knox.”
Guardian: “Mail falls foul of preparing a fictional tale about Amanda Knox verdict.”
Seattle Times: “Outcome rewards vigilance of family, friends.”
ABC: “Amanda Knox’s First Words Since Regaining Freedom.”
Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Amanda Knox news. Contact Amy Rolph at amyrolph@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @amyrolph and @bigblog.
Amanda Knox cries after hearing a verdict that acquits her of murdering Meredith Kercher. (Getty Images)
As Amanda Knox was led crying out of an Italian courtroom Monday following her acquittal, a tidal wave of information erupted online.
Some of it was incorrect.
Several news organization got the court’s decision wrong at first, publishing pre-written stories saying Knox “looks stunned” as her appeal was overturned and that she would be “returned to jail in Perugia, Italy.” One AFP story (lately removed from the Internet) even quoted prosecutors saying they were “delighted” with the verdict.
Wrong,wrong and wrong. Besides the stunned look, the exact opposite happened.
Errors aside, here are a few interesting (and correct) Amanda Knox headlines from around the world.
CNN: “Amanda Knox freed, but truth about student’s slaying elusive.”
Mail Online: “As Amanda Knox walks free, now DNA evidence is on trial.”
The Guardian: “Amanda Knox: police under fire over botched investigation.”
MSN: “What’s next for Amanda Knox? Interview requests.”
Telegraph: “Amanda Knox cleared of Meredith Kercher murder: she-devil, dominatrix, Venus in furs?”
New York Times opinion: “Justice in Perugia.”
seattlepi.com: “Local supporters: ‘Amanda is going to need a lot of help.’”
seattlepi.com: “Lifetime will update, replay Amanda Knox movie.”
Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Amanda Knox news. Contact Amy Rolph at amyrolph@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @amyrolph and @bigblog.
Amanda Knox (L) takes place for the last day of her appeal trial on October 3, 2011 at Perugia’s court. (Getty Images)
When the Lifetime channel aired its movie “Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial in Italy,” Knox was still wading through the Italian appeals process.
The movie ended after Knox’s conviction, with actress Hayden Panettiere playing the horrified student on her way to prison.
Now that Knox has been acquitted of murdering her British roommate, Lifetime is planning a few updates to the controversial movie. A brief epilogue added at the start of the movie, and an updated coda will reflect recent developments, reports TV Guide.
But that’s not all that’s in store for Knox — far from it.
Knox, 24, might be the most sought-after interview in the country.
Just minutes after her acquittal, Knox was bombarded with interview requests from media. “KQMV Has A Job For Amanda Knox,” was the headline from one Seattle radio station.
“We’re glad you’re free Amanda and look forward to welcoming you home!” a statement from the station. “We believed in you all along, so much so, that we would like to extend an offer of $10,000 to you to come host our morning show for one week with Brooke and Jubal in the morning! We would all love to hear what you have to say and maybe help a little with the legal bills. Once again, welcome home!”
But the big money comes from talk shows, book deals and movie rights.
“I think that anything with her name on it and her face on it will create an interest,” Gene Grabowski, a crisis management expert with Levick Strategic Communications, told MSNBC. “This is the United States of Entertainment. There’s a constant market for entertainment.”
Already, some are speculating about the payday Knox might get if she signs a book deal.
Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Amanda Knox news. Contact Amy Rolph at amyrolph@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @amyrolph and @bigblog.
Holy Smoke lets families honor hunters by putting their remains in ammunition. (Fotolia)
The latest way you can honor loved ones is to have them locked and loaded, their cremated remains inserted into live ammunition by an Alabama company called Holy Smoke.
“This isn’t a joke. It’s a job that we take very seriously. This is a reverent business. We take the utmost care in what we do and show the greatest respect for the remains,” said Clem Parnell, the conservation enforcement officer who co-founded the company, in a USA Today article.
Holy Smoke markets itself as a memorial service for hunters that’s cheaper and more eco-friendly than large-scale funeral arrangements.
Families mail a pound of cremated ashes to the company to use in the shot shells, which are returned within 48 hours for hunting use or display. Prices start at $850 for 250 shotgun shells or 100 rifle rounds.
“Holy Smoke realized there was a need for an individual’s choice in how his or her life could be remembered or celebrated. What better way to be remembered than in a celebration of a life well spent,” the company’s website says. “Now you can have the peace of mind that you can continue to protect your home and family even after you are gone.”
Although most Americans still prefer burial, the proportion of Americans choosing cremation had been expected to rise to about a third by 2010, compared to just 5 percent four decades before, according to research in the book Death and Religion in a Changing World.
“Many faith communities have adapted their funeral liturgies to the absence of a body and burial and devised new liturgical forms appropriate for cases of cremation,” wrote religious studies professor Kathleen Garces-Foley. “Grieving family and friends have also created rituals surrounding cremation, such as scattering ashes at sea or installing a plaque on a park bench, and new industries have formed to facilitate these rituals.”
Holy Smoke is a particularly niche and unusual such industry, creating new, customized traditions for modern-day memorials. The company began this summer and sent out its first orders last month, according to USA Today.
(H/T to the Religion News Service’s daily roundup. Post originally appeared here.)
When I lived in Phoenix in the ’90s, it was hard to avoid seeing Don Lapre’s face on TV at least a couple times a day.
The boyish-looking pitchman would enthusiastically tell viewers his rag-to-riches story, claiming to have made millions by running tiny classified ads in thousands of newspapers.
“That’s how I generated over $50,000 a week from my one-bedroom apartment,” he would say breathlessly.
The infomercial king became so popular, he was parodied by David Spade on “Saturday Night Live” and became fodder for a David Letterman bit.
On Sunday, the 47-year-old Arizona pitchman was found dead in a cell while in custody at a federal-contract facility in Florence.
He reportedly committed suicide by slashing his femoral artery when federal marshals arrived to arrest him, but officials are still investigating the circumstances of his death.
Lapre was arrested in June shortly after a grand jury indicted him in a $52 million fraud scheme linked to his latest venture, a vitamin-selling business. He was to begin trial Tuesday on 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and promotional money laundering.
The indictment claims Lapre received millions between 2004 and 2007 while operating his “The Greatest Vitamin in the World” company. He allegedly tricked at least 220,000 people to invest in what essentially was an Internet-based pyramid scheme to sell vitamins that did not provide the health benefits he promised.
The huckster had previously attempted suicide. He slashed himself in the groin just before his arrest in June.
Copyright © 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
