Puppeteer John Henson, the son of the late Muppets creator Jim Henson, has died in New York. He was 48.
Cheryl Henson says her brother died of a "massive heart attack" at his home in Saugerties on Friday. She says it happened after he had been building an igloo in the snow with his daughter.
Henson followed in his famous father's footsteps as a puppeteer, performing as Sweetums the ogre in several films, including "Muppet Treasure Island" and "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie."
Cheryl said her brother also made appearances in the original Coca-Cola Polar Bear suit. She described him as an "artist who also loved working the land."
Henson was a shareholder and board member of The Jim Henson Company.
Henson leaves behind his wife Gyongyi and two daughters, ages 10 and 15. A private funeral service is planned.
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — A 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck South Carolina on Friday night, jolting residents in the Midlands and in two other states.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake hit at 10:23 p.m. about seven miles west-northwest of Edgefield, S.C. It occurred three miles underground.
Thousands of people reported feeling a heavy shaking for several seconds. The tremor was felt across South Carolina, and as far away as downtown Atlanta and Greensboro, N.C.
"I thought a train was passing through," Marie Wade wrote in an e-mail to WXLT. "I live in Cope S.C., and I have a crack in the bedroom ceiling and below my kitchen cabinets."
While the earthquake was relatively minor, one of this size isn't a common occurrence in the state.
"It's actually fairly rare," said William Doar with the South Carolina Geological Survey. "We usually get ones and twos...every decade or so we get one of these bigger ones ... The way the crust is, the actual rock, the land that we have on the East Coast, doesn't leave us susceptible to lots of big earthquakes."
The Edgefield County Sheriff's Department told WLTX on Friday night that no damage has been reported there. There have also been no serious damage reports from any other areas.
"I felt my house shake and called the police ... to find out if I was losing it," PJ Sims wrote in an e-mail to WXLT. "I have never felt a earthquake in my sixty five years. It shook my bed and chairs."
Another resident who felt her house shaking thought it was a twister.
"I felt the house shaking and heard a roaring noise," wrote Brenda Streett. "I thought it was a tornado so I ran to the door and looked out, but not even the wind was blowing."
Governor Nikki Haley's office said they'd been in touch with state emergency officials and state police and were evaluating the situation. They said they were a step ahead since the state was already in emergency mode from the winter storm.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation sent crews out to survey roads and bridges for any possible damage. A spokesman for SCE&G said they were doing a walk through at the Lake Murray Dam as a precaution. At the Savannah River site, officials there say there is no damage.
The South Carolina Emergency Management Division Spokesman Derrec Becker says this is the strongest quake in South Carolina since a 4.4 magnitude quake struck near Charleston on Nov. 11, 2002. It's also the 13th earthquake in the state in the last year.
The strongest earthquake in recorded history in South Carolina was a 7.3-magnitude tremor near Charleston in 1886. That quake killed 60 people.
It looks like Christina Aguilera had a Valentine's Day to remember.
The "Beautiful" singer and "The Voice" coach gave fans an eyeful of a huge engagement ring in a playful message on Twitter.
"He asked and I said……" the tweet says along with a photo showing Aguilera and longtime boyfriend Matthew Rutler hand in hand with a large rock on the singer's hand. The setting? A terrace overlooking a tropical-looking beach. Check it out:
Aguilera and Rutler have been an item since 2010 after meeting on the set of the film "Burlesque," where he was working as a production assistant. At the time the diva was going through a divorce with then-husband Jordan Bratman, the father of her son Max, 6.
Based on Mark Helprin’s bestseller, ‘Winter’s Tale’ is a romantic fantasy staring Colin Farrell as a petty thief who is on the run from a crime boss.
While robbing her house, he meets and falls in love with a young woman who is dying of consumption, played by Jessica Brown Findlay.
Farrell says he fell in love with the story: “I just went with it. Maybe I’m a big, old softie, a hopeless romantic, I don’t know. I did. It just gripped me from the start. I love the period and I just completely went for it and bought it.”
“Yeah, and for that reason, I loved it. I suppose I loved it for the boldness that that is and what it takes for a story like that to be made now,” agreed co-star Jessica Brown Findlay.
The film has received mostly negative reviews, but its director Akiva Goldsman said he was not worried about cynics who may not appreciate its message.
“For me, being open-hearted and hopeful and looking for a reasonableness behind the world is important. It’s not easy. I think life gives you endless reasons to be cynical but I choose to try to find the hope of purpose,” said Goldsman.
Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, ‘Winter’s Tale’ is a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil.
It also featured Russell Crowe as the demonic crime boss and Will Smith as Lucifer.
‘Winter’s Tale’ is in cinemas from Valentine’s Day.
Lil' Kim took to the stage at The Blonds Fashion Week after-party hosted by MAC Cosmetics at Gilded Lily in New York City on Wednesday night, Feb. 12, to announce her pregnancy. "I'm a mom, but I can turn it up a little!" she said as she rubbed her belly.
Indeed, the 39-year-old rapper doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon. "I'm still going to work," she tells Us. "I'm still going to be hardcore. The baby has made me even more of a beast!"
Right before performing "Lighters Up" she made sure to pay tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G., telling the crowd, "It's also going to be Biggie's birthday and the anniversary of his death soon so we [as she points to her belly] love you."
Lil' Kim has chosen to keep the identity of the unborn baby's father private at this time.
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Associated News The Supreme Court guessing game is over, but the drama may just have
begun.
The court's Thursday ruling upholding most of President Obama's health care
law, sparked a frenzy of reaction from political figures, business leaders,
medical professionals and ordinary Americans. By Friday, with the dust starting
to settle, the debate is sure to intensify over the political, economic and
medical ramifications of a landmark 5-4 decision that will affect the lives of
virtually every American.
The ruling is a victory for the president, ensuring for now that his
signature domestic policy achievement remains mostly intact. It also
ensures that the law will play a prominent role in the general election
campaign, as Republican candidate Mitt Romney vows to repeal the law if
elected.
The so-called individual mandate, requiring that all Americans have health
insurance, takes effect in 2014, at the same time that the law would prohibit
insurance companies from denying coverage to people with existing health
problems. Most experts had said the coverage guarantee would balloon costs
unless virtually all people joined the insurance pool.
Most Americans already are insured. The law provides subsidies to help
uninsured middle-class households pay premiums and expands federal health care
for poor people.
"Whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all
over this country," Obama said, speaking on national television from the
White House.
"It should be pretty clear by now that I didn't do this because it was
good politics," he said. "I did it because it was good for the
country."
Romney pinned the court's decision to the election and asking voters to
render their own ruling.
"If we want to get rid of ObamaCare," he said, "we're going
to have replace President Obama."
Democrats, many of whom were bracing for the court striking down the mandate
for individuals to buy health insurance, celebrated the decision
Thursday. Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., told Fox News that the ruling
"gives us the opportunity to re-sell the bill, which we did not do
before."
But Republicans vowed to re-double their campaign to repeal the
still-controversial law.
The ruling "underscores the urgency of repealing this harmful law in
its entirety," House Speaker John Boehner said in a written statement.
"Republicans stand ready to work with a president who will listen to the
people and will not repeat the mistakes that gave our country ObamaCare."
Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed during a Republican
administration, joined the four left-leaning justices on the bench in crafting
the majority decision.
The ruling relied on a technical explanation of how the individual mandate
could be categorized. Roberts, in the opinion, said the mandate could not be
upheld under the Constitution's Commerce Clause. However, it could be upheld
under the government's power to tax.
"The Affordable Care Act is constitutional in part and unconstitutional
in part The individual mandate cannot be upheld as an exercise of
Congress's power under the Commerce Clause," Roberts wrote. "That
Clause authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce, not to order
individuals to engage it. In this case, however, it is reasonable to
construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain
amount of income, but choose to go without health insurance. Such legislation
is within Congress's power to tax."
Roberts stressed that the decision does not speak to the merits of the law.
"We do not consider whether the act embodies sound policies. That judgment
is entrusted to the nation's elected leaders," he said.
The ruling did rein in one element of the law -- the expansion of Medicaid
across the country to take in millions of low-income Americans. The opinion
allows Washington
to offer more funding to states to expand the program, but says the federal
government cannot penalize states for not participating in the new program by
withholding existing Medicaid funds.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was thought to be the swing vote on the
decision, joined the minority in describing the whole law as invalid.
"The act is invalid in its entirety," Kennedy said from the bench.
He went on to say the administration went to "great lengths to structure
the mandate as a penalty, not a tax" -- challenging the majority's rationale
for upholding the mandate.
Despite the persistent resistance to the law and the possibility that it
could still be repealed, the historic decision Thursday will offer some measure
of vindication for Obama, who devoted the first half of his term to pushing it
through Congress.
The overhaul was one of the central planks of Obama's 2008 run for
president. The faltering economy only later took a leading role in the race as
the financial markets spiraled around the time of the party conventions. Obama,
after taking the oath of office, dispatched with his administration's recession
response by swiftly passing through the roughly $800 billion stimulus
package.
The president immediately pivoted back to health care. He tasked allies in
Congress with working out the specifics of a proposal, a process that would
play out on the national stage over the course of a year, until its passage
with a series of deals by Democrats, who went on to sustain losses in the 2010
midterm elections.
The decision Thursday virtually guarantees the health care law will remain
at the forefront of the 2012 campaign.
