Here’s The Things You’ll Want To See, Hear and Know Today.
The Big Picture
Cornell Wrestler Kyle Dake has been named Sports Illustrated’s Male College Athlete of the Year!
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There was a really gruesome terrorist attack in London yesterday. Two men ran another guy down in a car, and then jumped out and hacked him to death with meat cleavers. Apparently they were trying to cut his head off. Then they walked up to witnesses on the street and asked if they could record a video message to the world. (Watch it here. Really bizarre and terrifying. The guy’s hands are soaked in blood and he’s carrying a cleaver and a chopping knife, both covered in blood. But he’s completely calm and sober while he talks.)
Lois Lerner appeared before a Congressional committee yesterday to talk about the IRS scandal. But she didn’t do a lot of talking. She started by saying she hadn’t done anything wrong, and then she invoked the Fifth Amendment until they let her go. (Lerner is the head of the tax-exempt unit at the IRS. She was the one who first revealed that her division had treated certain conservative groups unfairly when they applied for tax-exempt status. Some Congressmembers are saying she waived her Fifth Amendment rights when she gave her opening statement.
FBI agents shot and killed a friend of the Boston bombers Tuesday in Florida. They say he confessed to helping Tamerlan Tsarnaev kill three people back in 2011, in a botched drug deal. And then he attacked an agent and they shot him to death.
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The government just admitted for the first time that four American citizens have been killed by drones so far, all in Yemen and Pakistan. Only one of them was targeted on purpose. (Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to Congress yesterday that revealed the deaths. Now Obama is getting ready to give a speech on counterterrorism where he’ll pledge to limit the use of drones and put the military in charge of them, instead of the CIA.)
Showbizzy Newz
Matt Damon might be sleeping on the couch this week. On Monday he told “Extra” that Angelina Jolie is the sexiest woman on Earth. But then he had to go home and FACE HIS WIFE. (He was talking about Angelina’s decision to go public with her double mastectomy, and he wanted to make the point that she would probably inspire other women facing difficult health decisions.)
Now Matt’s REALLY going to have some explaining to do. First he said someone other than his wife was the sexiest woman alive, and then he said making out with Michael Douglas in their Liberace movie was a GOOD THING for him. (He said Michael’s a good kisser, and their make-out scenes opened him up to new things, quote, “in a good way.”)
Jennifer Aniston co-hosted “Ellen” yesterday, and she did a funny promo for it where she reunites with the whole cast of “Friends”. She goes to Matthew Perry’s house to ask for advice about hosting the show, because he just did it a few weeks ago. And she finds the rest of the cast there, and apparently they’ve all been meeting up behind her back.
Q Country Closeup
Brad Paisley made an appearance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Nashville’s new MusicCityCenter. He tried to sing “Welcome to the Future” for the crowd, but he forgot the lyrics. Over and over again. He had to stop and start about four or five times.
http://youtu.be/F3sfGZi2VA4
Brad Paisley had a cameo on last night’s season finale of “Nashville”. He played himself, singing with Rayna James on an awards show. (Rayna James is one of the main characters, played by Connie Britton. Brad’s wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley has a supporting role on the show, and Brad says he can’t watch it because it’s too weird to see his wife playing someone else.)
BLAKE SHELTON is helping put together a benefit concert for the victims of Monday’s tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. He said, quote, “I’m hoping it will raise a lot of money. It will be televised and will happen really quickly.” The benefit will air on NBC but there’s no word yet on the date, location, or lineup.
Ronnie Dunn just posted a preview of a new song called “Peace, Love and Country Music” online.
The Backside of the News
In Minnesota, a 34-year-old man bought an abandoned house for $10,100 to remodel and flip it. And when he busted into the walls, he found a copy of the most valuable comic book of ALL TIME . . . the 1938 comic with the first appearance of SUPERMAN. It’s worth at least $2 MILLION in mint condition, and this one’s in really bad shape. But the bidding is already over $135,000.
See the bidding
Last October, a 51-year-old man in England shoplifted an $18 package of beef from a grocery store. And at his trial this week, he explained why. When he was a little boy, he and his grandmother would go to the grocery store and he would help HER shoplift. She’s been dead for decades, but he was reminiscing about her and shoplifted in her honor. He was sentenced to two years of probation.
Jimmy Shao just got arrested for abusing the 911 system in Sacramento, California. He called 911 more than 100 times in one month. And he says he’s going to keep doing it . . . because he wants the government to stop controlling his brain with satellite signals. (He actually keeps a detailed log of all his 911 calls.
Randoms
Tuesday’s “Dancing with the Stars” finale attracted 14.9 million viewers, which made it the lowest-rated finale in the show’s 16-season history. And the “New York Post” reports that there could be a judge shakeup next season, with CARRIE ANN INABA and LEN GOODMAN leaving the show.
Justin Bieber makes his house guests sign a waiver that among other things, protects him if someone gets killed.
Alex Jones is a pretty well-known conspiracy theorist who has some radical ideas about the government. On his radio show “The Alex Jones Show” on Tuesday, he talked about the Oklahoma tornado, and basically said the government could have created the harsh weather and that’s why it caused so much destruction.
There’s a video making the rounds of a bus driver pranking a bunch of students by stopping the bus . . . saying a water main broke at the school . . . and letting them know school was canceled. The kids all screamed and high-fived each other, then he told them it was an April Fool’s prank. (This did happen on April Fool’s Day, but the video just now found its way onto YouTube.)
