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Tony Scott, director of blockbusters Top Gun and Days of Thunder, jumped to his death Sunday from the Vincent Thomas Bridge – authorities said.
According to the Associated Press, Scott (68) climbed a fence on the bridge and jumped around 12:30 p.m. One report quoted a coroner’s report that said Scott jumped “without hesitation.”
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Jennifer Osburn told the Daily Breeze that a suicide note was found inside Scott’s black Toyota Prius, which was parked on one of the eastbound lanes of the bridge.
Authorities used sonar equipment to find Scott’s body in the port’s murky waters. Divers recovered his body about 4:30 pm.
Scott was director of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun, as well as Beverly Hills Cop II and the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

Tony Scott.

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On Friday, after something of a show trial, three young women in a Russian punk band were found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison for an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral earlier this year.
But, despite its high profile, the Pussy Riot trial was just one on a long list of crackdowns on freedom of expression that human rights activists and observers have compiled since Putin returned to the Russian presidency in May.
Pussy Riot, an all-female band, had performed their song, Madonna, Drive Putin Away at a Russian Orthodox cathedral on February 21. The performance was uploaded to YouTube.
On the eve of the March 4 presidential vote, the first arrests took place and on March 15 they were charged with hooliganism.
Even before the trial began, the case was proceeding with dubious legality. “The case is full of procedural violations and they are trying to speed up the hearing to ensure that we don’t have time to respond to them all” – a lawyer for one of the accused said July 4.

Pussy Riot.

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Joey Kovar – a native of Evergreen Park who appeared in “Real World: Hollywood” and “Celebrity Rehab 3″ – was found dead this morning in south suburban Chicago Ridge, according to family and police.
Chicago Ridge police and paramedics were called to an apartment building in the 9800 block of South Sayre Avenue shortly before 9 a.m. and found the 29-year-old Kovar dead – authorities said.
Police said they were conducting a death investigation but indicated no foul play was suspected. An autopsy is expected to be performed Saturday.
Kovar continued to live in Evergreen Park as he appeared in the reality television shows. The former personal trainer and body builder had battled drug and alcohol abuse.
Joey Kovar told the Tribune in 2009 that he believed his honesty about using drugs and partying, combined with his personality, were reasons why he got picked for “Real World: Hollywood.”

Joey Kovar.

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Actor Ron Palillo (who played nasal-voiced delinquent Horshack on “Welcome Back, Kotter”) died of a heart attack this morning in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 63.
Palillo’s New York-accented Horshack was best known for the stretched-out pronunciation of his last name when greeting people with his signature line “Hello. How are ya. I’m Arnold Horshack!”
Palillo’s “Kotter” co-star Robert Hegyes died earlier this year.
After “Kotter,” the actor continued his career on TV and in film but never regained the high profile he enjoyed during the run of the successful ABC sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan.

Ron Palillo.

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Adored by generations of Red Sox fans, Johnny Pesky was so much a part of Boston baseball that the right-field foul pole at Fenway Park was named for him.
Pesky, who played, managed and served as a broadcaster for the Red Sox in a baseball career that lasted more than 60 years, died Monday. He was 92.
“The national pastime has lost one of its greatest ambassadors” – baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. “Johnny Pesky, who led a great American life, was an embodiment of loyalty and goodwill for the Boston Red Sox and all of Major League Baseball.”
Pesky died just more than a week after his final visit to Fenway, on Aug. 5 when Boston beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4.
Yet for many in the legion of Red Sox fans, their last image of Pesky will be from the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park on April 20, when the man known for his warmth, kindness and outstanding baseball career was moved to tears at a pregame ceremony. By then the former shortstop was in a wheelchair positioned at second base, surrounded by dozens of admiring former players and a cheering crowd.
“I feel like part of the Red Sox tradition just died because when I think of Johnny I think of him hitting fungos at spring training. We will all miss him so much” – ex-pitcher Pedro Martinez said in comments provided by the Red Sox. “He was such a representative of everything that happened in Boston. It’s hard to think of the success, defeat, and all we went through without Johnny. You couldn’t do anything without Johnny Pesky.”

Johnny Pesky.

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Former “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston is engaged to marry her actor and screenwriter boyfriend Justin Theroux – People magazine reported on Sunday.
“Justin Theroux had an amazing birthday on Friday, receiving an extraordinary gift when his girlfriend Jennifer Aniston accepted his proposal of marriage” – Theroux’s representative told the celebrity magazine.
Aniston’s publicist Steven Huvane confirmed the engagement.
Aniston (43) and Theroux (41) have been dating for more than a year and appeared in the comedy “Wanderlust” in February.
No wedding date was announced.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux.

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Police say Dolphins receiver Chad Johnson has been arrested on a domestic violence charge, accused of head-butting his newlywed wife during an argument in front of their home in Davie, Fla.
Davie police Capt. Dale Engle says Johnson and his wife were at dinner Saturday night and she confronted him about a receipt she had found for a box of condoms. His wife (Evelyn Lozada) is on the reality show – “Basketball Wives,” and the couple married last month.
Engle says when they arrived at their driveway, Lozada says Johnson head-butted her. She was treated at a hospital for a forehead cut.
Engle says Johnson is in the Broward County Jail where he will remain until he can appear before a judge, which Engle says might not be until Monday.

Chad Johnson.

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David Rakoff, a humorist whose cynical outlook on life and culture earned him the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor, died Thursday in New York City after a long illness. He was 47.
The statement from Doubleday and Anchor Books announcing his death did not give a cause but Rakoff had long written about his battles with cancer.
He won the Thurber prize (named for legendary humorist James Thurber) for “Half Empty” (2010), his third collection of essays. They veered from sarcastic to poignant and expounded on such topics as optimism, mortality and the bohemian myth of artists.
His other bestselling books are “Fraud” (2001) and “Don’t Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems” (2005).
One essay in “Fraud” was a memoir of his battle with Hodgkin’s disease. Ostensibly the story of his tracking down the sperm sample he banked in Toronto before undergoing chemotherapy 12 years earlier, it begins in typical Rakoff fashion – “I cannot escape the feeling that I was, at best, a cancer tourist, that my survival means I dabbled.”
He was born November 27, 1964, in Montreal to psychiatrist Vivan Rakoff and his physician wife, Gina Shochat-Rakoff.

David Rakoff.

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The U.S. women’s soccer team won its third straight Olympic gold medal Thursday, beating Japan 2-1 in a rematch of last year’s World Cup final and avenging the most painful loss in its history.
Carli Lloyd scored early in both halves, Solo leaped and dived to make saves, and the entire roster found the redemption it had been seeking since that penalty kick shootout loss in Germany last summer.
Before 80.203 at Wembley Stadium, a record crowd for a women’s soccer game at the Olympics, the teams put on a back-and-forth, don’t-turn-your-head soccer showcase, proving again that these are the two premier teams in the world. Women’s soccer is still in its formative stages in Britain, but the match proved more than worthy for the hallowed grounds of the beautiful game.
And the Japanese perhaps played just as beautifully as the Americans, using their speed and discipline to dominate possession and scoring chances for long stretches before finally cutting a 2:0 deficit in half with about a half-hour to go.
Back home, America was paying attention – just as it was last year and despite the rest of the Olympic events. Even President Barack Obama, during a campaign speech at Colorado College during the second half of the game, noted that: “The women are doing pretty good right now in soccer.”

USA beet Japan 2-1.

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Allyson Felix won the women’s 200 meters at the London Games in 21,88 seconds, adding a gold medal to her previous two Olympic silver medals and highlighting a medal haul for the United States in track and field on Wednesday night.
In four events at the Olympic Stadium, the U.S. came away with three gold medals, two silvers and two bronzes. Brittney Reese won the long jump and Aries Merritt won the 110-meter hurdles.
At the U.S. Olympic trials, Felix (26) had run 21,69, history’s fourth-fastest performance, to become the favorite in London. She finished fifth in the 100 meters on Saturday, an event she used to help her prepare for the speed and endurance required in the 200.
It paid off on Wednesday, as Felix crossed the finish line with a smile of relief on her face after settling for silver in the 200 meters in 2004 and 2008.
“I mean, finally” – she said after the race. “It’s been a long time coming. I am so overjoyed.”

Allyson Felix.

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