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Trailing the leaders by 200 yards when the Boston Marathon slogged through Heartbreak Hill, Wesley Korir passed them one by one until he took the lead on his way out of Kenmore Square.
That’s when leg cramps forced him to slow down and relinquish the lead.
“It’s hot out there, in case you didn’t know” – he told reporters after enduring temperatures in the mid-80s to win the 116th Boston Marathon yesterday. “I knew it was going to be hot, and one important thing that I had to take care of today … was really hydrate as much as possible. I guess my biology degree kicked in a little bit.”
Singing religious songs as he trudged along the scorching pavement, the native Kenyan — a permanent resident of the United States — retook the lead from Levy Matebo in the final mile to cross the finish line in 84,8-degree temperatures with a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, 40 seconds.
It was almost 10 minutes behind the world best established here a year ago by Geoffrey Mutai and the second-slowest Boston victory since 1985. Mutai, who was hoping a repeat victory would earn him a spot on the Kenyan Olympic team, dropped out after 18 miles with stomach cramps.
Instead, it was Korir who may have won a ticket to the London Games.
“To me, I think running the Boston Marathon is an Olympic event” – he said. “I don’t care what comes up after this, but I’m really, really happy to win Boston.”

Boston Marathon.

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LaTroy Hawkins has heard the stories from his 87-year-old grandfather, about his days of picking cotton in Mississippi, about the times when there were no black players in big league baseball.
And about what it meant when Jackie Robinson broke the game’s color barrier.
“Without Jackie, I wouldn’t be in front of you” – the Los Angeles Angels pitcher told several dozen kids at a Bronx ballfield Sunday. “Jackie’s role in my life has been tremendous.”
From Dodger Stadium to Fenway Park, there were ceremonies as Major League Baseball honored Robinson and his legacy. Video tributes and on-field celebrations at every ballpark included his family, his former teammates, players from the Negro Leagues and NBA great Bill Russell.
Players, managers, coaches and umpires all wore No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day to remember the 65th anniversary of the day the future Hall of Famer first took the field with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Markers on each base noted the occasion.
“I’m very happy the players feel that connected” – said his daughter, Sharon Robinson. “Back in 1997, players were saying: ‘Jackie who?’ So we’ve come a long way.”
Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, Hawkins and several former players joined Sharon Robinson at a youth clinic in a park where the old Yankee Stadium stood. Smiling boys and girls from the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program in Harlem eagerly showed off their gloves and jerseys for two-time All-Star Harold Reynolds.

Jackie Robinson.

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Wichita was under a tornado emergency late Saturday as a large twister, part of a series of severe storms in the Great Plains, moved through south-central Kansas and threatened to destroy homes.
The “confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located just east of Conway Springs and moving northeast at 35 mph” – toward the Wichita area, the National Weather Service reported Saturday night. “This is a particularly dangerous situation.”
Major damage to houses and buildings were likely, “and complete destruction possible” – the weather agency said. But by 10 p.m. (11 p.m. ET), Kansas authorities had reported no serious damages.
Earlier in the day, a possible tornado struck a hospital Saturday evening in Creston, Iowa, according to a dispatcher with the Union County Sheriff’s Department. A search-and-rescue operation was under way.
“We have been hit. We are triaging and moving patients” – a spokeswoman at Greater Regional Medical Center in the south-central Iowa city confirmed.
City Council member Randy White told CNN he was aware of no serious injuries. “A lot of windows have been broken out and some cars have been flipped over. We can’t see a lot right now because the power is out.”
A temporary hospital was set up at Southwestern Community College, White said.

Tornado.

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Lionel Richie reportedly owes over $1,1 million in unpaid tax.
The soul singer, who resides in Los Angeles, has been hit with a lien – an official claim against his property – for the payment of his debt which totals $1,130,609 – according to TMZ.com.
The musician has racked up a huge number of hits over the years, including Hello, Dancing On The Ceiling and Easy Like Sunday Morning, and according to legal documents he is worth a reputed 200 million dollars.
If Lionel (who recently released a duets album, Tuskegee, featuring new versions of his greatest hits) fails to pay the bill then the American government could repossess his property to clear the debt.
The 62-year-old star (the father of Nicole Richie) will next appear alongside Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke as judges on new TV show Duets. His representative is yet to comment on the claims.

Lionel Richie.

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Ann Romney (the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) on Thursday fired back at a prominent Democrat who said she didn’t understand the economic concerns of women because she had “never worked a day in her life.”
In a sharp rejoinder to Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney took to Twitter to defend her decision to be a stay-at-home mom to the couple’s five sons.
“I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work” – Romney tweeted.
Later, on Fox News, Romney said her “career choice was to be a mother” and it was important to respect the choices all women make.
“I will tell you that Mitt said to me more times than you would imagine, ‘Ann, your job is more important than mine’ ” – she said.
“He was making money and doing the things, raising funds and investing, and helping other companies, and he would come home and say: ‘Ann, your job is more important than mine.’ ”
The tempest began Wednesday when Rosen, speaking on CNN, denounced the presumptive GOP nominee for relying on his wife for advice on the economic challenges facing American women.
“Guess what? His wife has never actually worked a day in her life” – Rosen said.
“She has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and why do we worry about their future.”

Ann Romney.

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The massive earthquake off Indonesia surprised scientists: Usually this type of jolt isn’t this powerful.
The biggest earthquakes tend to occur in subduction zones where one plate of the Earth’s crust dives under another. This grind produced the 2004 magnitude-9,1 Indian Ocean disaster and the magnitude-9 Japan quake last year.
Wednesday’s magnitude-8,6 occurred along a strike-slip fault line similar to California’s San Andreas Fault. Scientists say it’s rare for strike-slip quakes, in which blocks of rocks slide horizontally past each other, to be this large.
“It’s clearly a bit of an odd duck” – said seismologist Susan Hough of the US Geological Survey in Pasadena, Calif.
As one of the world’s most seismically active places, Indonesia is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Pressure builds up in the rocks over time and is eventually released in an earthquake.
Wednesday’s quake was followed by a magnitude-8,2 aftershock. Both were strike-slip quakes.

Indonesia.

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Last night’s “Rock Week” edition of “Dancing with the Stars” was marred by an apparent celebrity injury that required immediate medical treatment.
Host Tom Bergeron announced at the end of the show that actress Melissa Gilbert went to the hospital after she and pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy received their scores for their paso doble. Video of the routine showed Melissa apparently hitting her head on the dance floor near the end of her routine.
“(Melissa) had some concussion-like symptoms after she got her scores” – Maksim’s brother, Val Chmerkovskiy, told CNN after the show. “She was a little nauseous and dizzy, so she decided to go to the hospital.”
Maksim also fell during the routine, which Judge Len Goodman blamed on a slippery floor. Melissa and Maksim received a 22 out of a possible 30 from the three-judge panel, and the actress is now recovering.
“As a result of hitting her head during the dance [Monday], Melissa has a mild concussion and whiplash. She is at home, resting comfortably and looking forward to her next dance” – her rep told CNN.
As far as the other celebrities, Sherri Shepherd was the first performer up to bat, and she did a tango to a Quiet Riot song. To be honest, the tune didn’t fit with the dance, and Sherri looked slow and robotic, a far cry from the enthusiasm we’ve seen in previous weeks.

Melissa Gilbert.

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Facebook on Monday announced a billion-dollar-deal to buy the startup behind wildly popular smartphone photo sharing application Instagram.
The big ticket purchase was seen by some as a move by Facebook to strengthen defenses against Google and blazingly hot newcomer Pinterest in the weeks ahead of what promises to be a history-making stock market debut.
“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family” – Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in announcing the deal.
“Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”
Zuckerberg called the acquisition “an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users” but promised it was a rare acquisition.
An Instagram application tuned to Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices has been downloaded more than 30 million times since the first version was released in late 2010 by the San Francisco startup.
A version of the application tailored for smartphones power by Google-backed Android software racked up more than a million users in the 24 hours after its release last week.

Facebook.

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Mike Wallace (who spent four decades as a hard-hitting) provocative news correspondent on “60 Minutes,” has died, CBS reported Sunday. He was 93.
Wallace died Saturday night “peacefully surrounded by family members at Waveny Care Center in New Caanan, Connecticut, where he spent the past few years” – CBS said in a statement.
“For half a century, he took on corrupt politicians, scam artists and bureaucratic bumblers” – CBS News said on its website. “… Wallace took to heart the old reporter’s pledge to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. He characterized himself as ‘nosy and insistent.’”
During Sunday’s night episode of “60 Minutes,” Morley Safer called Wallace “a one-man truth squad with a remarkable gift for getting to the very core of a story.”
“More than anyone else, he was responsible for the continuing success of ’60 Minutes’” – Safer said. “We’re all in his debt.”
Hours earlier, Safer described his longtime colleague to CNN as someone who was “never dull,” “fearless” and “tenacious,” driven to get a scoop and to the heart of events, issues and people that shaped the world.
“Mike was irrepressible. You could never … knock him down, he would bounce right back up” – said Safer, expressing a deep admiration for a man whom he’d often jostle against for stories. “The fact is he was nosier than everybody else and more insistent, and more successful at being nosy.”

Mike Wallace.

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Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light” and one of the most popular artists in America, died suddenly Friday at his Los Gatos home. He was 54.
His family said in a statement that his death appeared to be from natural causes.
“Thom provided a wonderful life for his family” – his wife, Nanette, said in a statement. “We are shocked and saddened by his death.”
His paintings are hanging in an estimated one of every 20 homes in the United States. Fans cite the warm, familiar feeling of his mass-produced works of art, while it has become fashionable for art critics to dismiss his pieces as tacky. In any event, his prints of idyllic cottages and bucolic garden gates helped establish a brand – famed for their painted highlights – not commonly seen in the art world.
“I’m a warrior for light” – Kinkade told the Mercury News in 2002, alluding not just to his technical skill at creating light on canvas but to the medieval practice of using light to symbolize the divine. “With whatever talent and resources I have, I’m trying to bring light to penetrate the darkness many people feel.”
His Media Arts Group company surged to success, taking in 32 million dollars per quarter from 4,500 dealers across the country 10 years ago, before it went private in the middle of the past decade. The cost of his paintings range from hundreds of dollars to more than 10,000 dollars.

Thomas Kinkade.

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