Clydesdale star of Super Bowl ad is newborn foal

Essential News from The Associated Press

AAA??Feb. 1, 2013?12:18 PM ET Clydesdale star of Super Bowl ad is newborn foal AP A young Clydesdale foal walks around the feet of her mother at Warm Springs Ranch Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Boonville, Mo. The foal, born Jan, 16, 2013 at the ranch, is the star of a Budweiser commercial set to air during Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) A young Clydesdale foal walks around the feet of her mother at Warm Springs Ranch Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Boonville, Mo. The foal, born Jan, 16, 2013 at the ranch, is the star of a Budweiser commercial set to air during Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) Darla, a 7-year-old Clydesdale, top, watches over her young, as yet unnamed foal, at Warm Springs Ranch Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Boonville, Mo. The foal, born Jan, 16, 2013 at the ranch, is the star of a Budweiser commercial set to air during Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) Darla, a 7-year-old Clydesdale, top, watches over her young, as yet unnamed foal, at Warm Springs Ranch Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Boonville, Mo. The foal, born Jan, 16, 2013 at the ranch, is the star of a Budweiser commercial set to air during Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) BOONVILLE, Mo. (AP) ? For decades, Anheuser-Busch has used its famous Clydesdales in Super Bowl ads for Budweiser. The latest star is barely two weeks old. A foal born Jan. 16 at Anheuser-Busch's Warm Springs Ranch near the mid-Missouri town of Boonville is featured in an ad that will appear in Sunday's game between the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and AFC champion Baltimore Ravens. The 60-second ad chronicles the bond a Clydesdale foal shares with his trainer. The foal was just a week old when the ad was filmed. It marks the 23rd Super Bowl ad featuring the Clydesdales. Budweiser recently launched its first-ever Twitter account, using the occasion to tweet the first photo of the newborn. Watch the video here: http://bit.ly/WD8oEz Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-01-Clydesdale%20Super%20Bowl%20Star/id-391bd4a4501747bebee92f571e217a60

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UW linguist given title of national linguistics society president | The ...

Linguistics President -

Linguistics professor Ellen Kaisse stands in her office in Padelford Hall. Kaisse was recently elected president of the Linguistic Society of America.

Photo by Joshua Bessex

Ellen Kaisse, a linguistics professor at the UW, has spent almost 30 years studying the intricacies of sound patterns in human speech. Now she is president of a national organization that strives to share knowledge about language with the world.

Kaisse began her term as the president of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) this month. She is the second UW faculty member in a decade to be elected president of the society.?

?Being president of [the LSA] is the greatest honor you can receive as a linguist,? said Julia Herschensohn, chair of the linguistics department at the UW.?

The LSA is the largest linguistic society in the world, with more than 4,000 members globally, said Frederick Newmeyer, former LSA president and emeritus faculty member of the UW linguistics department.?

Kaisse said linguists are the authority on language and language policy, seeking to understand the scientific aspects of language. She said the society has found evidence of the benefits of bilingual education.

?[Linguistics] looks at one of the most interesting characteristics of humans that separates us from other species,? Kaisse said.?

Kaisse said she will expand the journals produced by the LSA in order to spread knowledge about areas of linguistics that have not been explored as deeply as others during her term.?

While linguistics is not a well-understood field, the LSA has helped clarify common misconceptions about language, including the notions that American Sign Language is not a language and that English-only movements are justified.?

Kaisse specializes in phonology, the study of sound patterns in language. She has edited journals on the subject for more than 20 years and taught classes at the UW that help students learn the sounds of a second language, which she said has been beneficial to international students.?

?If you wanted to know something about chemistry, you would find out what chemists think about it,? Kaisse said. ?But for some reason, people think they?re experts in language whether they?ve studied it scientifically or not.?

Kaisse will serve as president of the society for one year.

Reach reporter Amy Busch at news@dailyuw.com.?Twitter: @AmyBusch2

Healthy schools: Goodbye candy and greasy snacks

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Goodbye candy bars and sports drinks. Hello baked chips and diet sodas.

The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful, a change that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus.

Under new rules the Department of Agriculture proposed Friday, school vending machines would start selling water, lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas and baked chips instead. Lunchrooms that now sell fatty "a la carte" items like mozzarella sticks and nachos would have to switch to healthier pizzas, low-fat hamburgers, fruit cups and yogurt.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have made improvements in their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunch rooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. And food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has not been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in high schools and middle schools, and 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce. portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says surveys done by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/healthy-schools-goodbye-candy-greasy-snacks-201407838--finance.html

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2 children, 1 adult die in Detroit freeway pileup

A section of multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 is shown in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A section of multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 is shown in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A firefigher holds a dog as emergency personnel responds to a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, David Coates)

A firefighter helps a woman out of a car as emergency personnel responds to a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, David Coates)

A section of multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 is shown in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A section of multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 is shown in Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Snow squalls and slippery roads led to a series of accidents that left at least three people dead and 20 injured on a mile-long stretch of southbound I-75. More than two dozen vehicles, including tractor-trailers, were involved in the pileups. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

DETROIT (AP) ? It took only seconds for the light snow to turn into a blinding curtain of white. Drivers slammed on their brakes, others swerved to avoid tractor-trailers jackknifed across a busy Detroit freeway that quickly turned into a mile-long string of wrecks.

Three people were killed, including two children. The maze of mangled vehicles closed Interstate 75 for several hours after the Thursday morning chain-reaction wrecks that sent more than a dozen people to hospitals.

Ken Czarnecki recalled quickly swerving to avoid a stopped truck in his lane, then glancing off the side of a car wedged beneath another truck before striking the back of a semi-trailer. The falling snow, he said, took only moments to thicken.

"It was a total white sheet," Czarnecki said. "You couldn't see past the front of your car."

The children who died, a 7-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl from Windsor, Ontario, were believed to be siblings whose parents were injured in the accident, Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw. An adult also was killed, though no other information about the victims has been released.

Police estimated that as many as 30 cars, SUVs and semi-trailers were crushed, buckled or damaged along the freeway, which cuts through a heavily industrialized part of the city and nearby communities. Semi-trailers and tankers dominate the interstate, some hauling loads and liquids to a nearby refinery and steel companies.

The freeway's surface was slick Thursday as temperatures in the Detroit area dropped by about 30 degrees from the previous day ? to only 24 degrees at the time of the pileup, along with strong winds. The accidents happened near an elevated stretch of expressway where the road surface can cool quickly and make driving hazardous, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Tilley.

Conditions for drivers went from "clear to total whiteout in a matter of seconds," Shaw said. "All of a sudden, they couldn't see anymore."

Motorists and passengers who were able to climb out of their vehicles huddled together on the side of the road, some visibly distraught, others looking dazed. A man and woman hugged under the gray, cloud-filled skies, a pair of suitcases next to them and a bumper on the ground behind.

"It happened so fast. I've never seen anything like it," said Czarnecki, a 47-year-old who was headed to Toledo, Ohio, to train kitchen and bath salespeople on a new computer system. "I actually controlled my speed pretty well. I don't think anyone was really speeding. People weren't zipping by me."

Marc Milam said his all-wheel drive car allowed him to maneuver among "all the cars that were crashing" around him.

"It happened really fast, and it was over with," said Milam, who was headed to work for an auto supplier when the pileup started.

Authorities quickly called in as many ambulances that were available to transport victims to area hospitals. Rescue crews went vehicle to vehicle in the search for survivors and to provide aid.

At least 13 people were transported to hospitals, while others were treated at the scene, Shaw said.

It took more than six hours before the freeway's southbound lanes were reopened. Shaw said it could be a day or more before investigators identify which vehicles were involved in the initial wreck that spawned the other crashes.

The bad weather also was blamed for at least two other pileups Thursday in the state. U.S. 23 in Mundy Township near Flint was closed for hours after about 33 vehicles crashed during a sudden snow squall. In southwest Michigan, eight tractor-trailers and six cars crashed on I-94, closing the westbound lanes to traffic for hours at Paw Paw.

A similar pileup west of Indianapolis involving more than 40 vehicles that closed Interstate 70 in both directions. Authorities said five people remained hospitalized Thursday night, including on in critical condition.

___

Associated Press writers Mike Householder, David N. Goodman, Jeff Karoub and David Aguilar in Detroit, and Pamela Engel in Plainfield, Ind., contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-01-Freeway%20Crash-Detroit/id-5db9984dc0cc4a36a6bd35de61c352cc

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'30 Rock's' 30 best guest stars

Chris Parnell, Oprah Winfrey and Will Arnett all guest starred on "30 Rock."

By Will Harris, TODAY contributor

When ?30 Rock? rides into the sunset Jan. 31, viewers will be left with countless hilarious memories of the core cast ? Tina Fey (Liz Lemon), Alece Baldwin (Jack Donaghy), Tracy Morgan (Tracy Jordan), Jane Krakowski (Jenna Maroney), Jack McBrayer (Kenneth Parcell) and all the behind-the-scenes talent of ?TGS With Tracy Jordan.? But one of the most consistent reasons to love the series was the diversity of its guest stars. Given the talent pool involved, everyone?s list of the 30 best ?30 Rock? guests is likely to be different, but here are our picks in no particular order.

1. Ghostface Killah as himself (Season 1)
As the very first celebrity to play himself on ?30 Rock,? the Wu-Tang Clan man rapped his way through Jenna Maroney?s episode-ending performance of ?Muffin Top? and set the tone for the show?s slightly askew sensibilities when selecting guest stars.

2. Chris Parnell as Dr. Leo Spaceman (Seasons 1 ? 7)
Although he now serves the greater good as the United States Surgeon General, Leo Spaceman spent much of ?30 Rock?s? run offering medical advice of dubious merit to the cast and crew of ?TGS.?? Although he is purportedly a graduate of the Ho Chi Minh City School of Medicine and appears in the Writers Guild Health Manual under fertility, meth addiction and child psychiatry, there are numerous reasons to suspect that the ?Dr.? that appears before Spaceman?s name is in quotation marks, not least of which is his credo, ?Science is whatever we want it to be!?

3. Dean Winters as Dennis Duffy (Seasons 1 ? 7)
Liz Lemon?s longest-running ex-boyfriend consistently proved to be equal parts bad cold and bad penny, regularly lingering for extended periods of time and, after inevitably getting the boot from Liz, reappearing when his presence was neither requested nor desired. On the other hand, he briefly made beepers cool again and was semi-successful in turning the word ?dummy? into a term of endearment, so he wasn?t without his merits.

4. Paul Reubens as Prince Gerhard Messerschmidt Ramstein Von Hap (Season 1)
In a 2011 GQ interview, Tina Fey described the episode featuring Reubens, who turns in a thoroughly disconcerting performance as an inbred Austrian prince who dies before the closing credits roll, as a pivotal one in the series? history. ?It was the last episode that we shot before we were supposed to get our (season 2) pick-up,? said Fey. ?When we were on-set, we were joking that the episode was called ?Black Tie? but should be called ?Good-bye, America!??

5. Isabella Rossellini as Bianca Donaghy (Season 1)
During her all-too-brief two-episode stint as Jack Donaghy?s ex-wife, the ?Blue Velvet? star?s gift of gravitas transformed the line ?Dammit, Johnny, you know I love my Big Beef and Cheddar!? into comedy gold.

6. Will Arnett as Devon Banks (Season 1 ? 7)
Jack Donaghy?s boss may have changed over the years, shifting from Don Geiss (Rip Torn) to Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) to Hank Hooper (Ken Howard), but his nemesis has remained the same from start to finish. With a lust for both power and Kenneth Parcell, Devon Banks rarely missed an opportunity to try and gain any sort of advantage over Jack, shifting his allegiances at the drop of a hat if it would help him gain the upper hand. Sadly, it never does.

7. Elaine Stritch as Colleen Donaghy (Seasons 1 ? 7)
It?s hard to say who suffered more in the mother/son relationship between Colleen and Jack, but from the character?s first appearance to her indisputably epic funeral, Colleen Donaghy proved to be one of TV?s funniest ? and bitchiest ? mothers.

8. Carrie Fisher as Rosemary Howard (Season 2)
Although Fisher gamely delivered the obligatory Princess Leia riff (?Help me, Liz Lemon, you?re my only hope?), as one of Liz?s comedy-writing heroes, her real role was to deliver a message about how comedy doesn?t always translate well from one generation to the next.

9. Paul Scheer as Donny Lawson (Season 2)
Jack isn?t the only ?30 Rock? character with a nemesis: During season 2, Kenneth regularly tussled with fellow NBC page Donny. Alas, their ?page-off? was broken up by Pete before a true victor could be declared.

10. David Schwimmer as Jared a.k.a. Greenzo (Season 2)
After ?Friends? left the air in 2004, the actor formerly known as Ross Geller stepped away from the small screen in a big way, but he made a memorable one-off return to the world of sitcoms to play an in-your-face mascot for global warming awareness whose sudden success causes him to develop a planet-size ego.

11. Al Gore as himself (Seasons 2 and 4)
When Greenzo grew too big for his britches, Jack tried to trick the former vice president to step in, but other matters attracted his attention, necessitating a hasty departure. (?A whale is in trouble! I have to go!?) A few seasons later, Gore reappeared to assist the ?TGS? offices in their effort to go green by switching out a few light bulbs and transforming a dirty snack table into a lush garden. As is only befitting for an environmentalist, Gore also recycled his ?a whale is in trouble? exit line. While an admirable gesture, it was funnier the first time.

12. Buck Henry as Dick Lemon (Seasons 2 and 5)
Given ?30 Rock?s? premise and its creators? pedigree, it?s hardly surprising how many former ?Saturday Night Live? cast members have turned up as guests. But Tina Fey added an extra touch of class by bringing in 10-time ?SNL? host ? and, lest we forget, co-creator of ?Get Smart? and screenwriter of ?The Graduate? ? Buck Henry to play her dad.

13. Andy Richter as Mitch Lemon (Season 2)
In further family matters, Fey also scored points for having Conan O?Brien?s longtime sidekick play her brother, then giving the character a neurological disorder where he perpetually believes he?s in high school circa 1985. This afforded him the opportunity to use pick-up lines such as, ?Do you like Wham? 'Cause I'm kinda like the George Michael of my school ??

14. Tim Conway as Bucky Bright (Season 2)
In another nod to her comedy roots, Fey called upon a star player from the ensemble of ?The Carol Burnett Show? to play ?a major TV star in the ?40s, ?50s and the fall of 1972? who turned out to be sexist, racist, anti-Semitic and several other unsavory adjectives.

15. Oprah Winfrey as herself ? sort of (Season 3)
After washing down a couple of Comanaprosil (?may cause dizziness, sexual nightmares, and sleep crime?) with a mixed drink to help her get through a flight, Liz hallucinated that her seatmate was none other than Oprah Winfrey. When the drugs wore off, the illusion was shattered in a big way ? ?Oprah? turned out to be a sassy ?tween named Pam who bore little resemblance to the talk-show queen.

16. Jennifer Aniston as Claire Harper (Season 3)
Adding another former ?Friend? to their roster of guest stars, Aniston turned up on in season 3 as an old friend of Liz?s whose hobbies included non-stop partying and bleeding men dry. Of course some might argue that the more impressive guest-star turns in the episode, which was entitled ?The One With the Cast of ?Night Court,? ? came courtesy of Harry Anderson, Markie Post and Charles Robinson.

17. Steve Martin as Gavin Volure (Season 3)
Martin played an eccentric and ostensibly agoraphobic businessman friend of Jack?s who fell for Liz, leading her to believe that she?d finally found the perfect anti-social soul mate. But he broke her heart when he revealed that he?s actually under house arrest for arson and fraud.

18. Peter Dinklage as Stewart (Season 3)
Although his stint playing one of Liz?s boyfriends was short ? stop it! ? the future ?Game of Thrones? star nonetheless made a big impression in his one appearance.

19. Jon Hamm as Dr. Drew Baird (Seasons 3 to 5)
In a recurring role referred to by TV historians as ?that time when the dude from ?Mad Men? showed everybody that he was both hot and hilarious,? Hamm played Liz?s pediatrician neighbor who, she soon discovered, was so unbelievably handsome that he would unconsciously manipulate everyone around him in order to live a life of perfection. Naturally, Liz popped the bubble in which he?d been residing, sending him into the real world, a place that ultimately led him to lose both his hands (one in a fireworks explosion, the other in a helicopter accident). Even handless, though, he?s still pretty hot.

20. Alan Alda as Milton Greene (Seasons 3 and 5)
After years of mystery about the identity of his biological father, Jack was horrified to learn that he shares DNA with Milton Greene, a decidedly liberal professor at Bennington College. Greene?s greatest moment on the show occurred when his failing kidney inspired Jack to hold a charity concert featuring a roster of performers including Clay Aiken, the Beastie Boys, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Cyndi Lauper, Michael McDonald and many more. (It?s revealed a few seasons later that Elvis Costello, ever the soft touch, ended up giving Greene one of his kidneys.)

21. Jeff Dunham as Rick Wayne (Season 4)
Hipsters may not admit to enjoying Jeff Dunham?s ventriloquism act, but even the cool kids can appreciate his appearance on ?30 Rock,? where his redneck dummy Bubba J ? or Pumpkin, as he?s called in the episode ? spewed a foul-mouthed tirade at Liz when she started heckling him. Pumpkin ended up getting a serious stomping from Jack ? like, to the point of decapitation. Good times.

22. Buzz Aldrin as himself (Season 4)
In an effort to top his accomplishments as the lunar module pilot of Apollo 11, Aldrin turned up on ?30 Rock,? where, as it turns out, he?d preceded his mission to the moon by being the first love of Liz Lemon?s mother, Margaret (Anita Gillette).

23. Matt Damon as Carol Burnett (Seasons 4 and 5)
No, not that Carol Burnett, silly. Damon played an airline captain who began a relationship with Liz that started out strong, but ended up falling apart when they realized that they?re both too stubborn for things to work out.

24. Elizabeth Banks as Avery Jessup (Seasons 4 to 6)
Jack?s list of former girlfriends is a mile long and includes a former secretary of state (Condoleeza Rice), an art dealer (Emily Mortimer), a Democratic congresswoman (Edie Falco), his mother?s nurse (Salma Hayek) and, of course, the inevitable high-school crush for whom he still harbors feelings (Julianne Moore). But the MVP of the bunch has to be conservative CNBC commentator Avery Jessup. That?s not because they ended up getting married and having a child together, but? because Elizabeth Banks had the longest stint of any of Jack?s romantic interests, and in turn delivered more laughs than any of the others.

25. Will Forte as Paul L'Astnam? (Seasons 4 to 7)
Although he first appeared on the show as a different character, Forte made his greatest impression as a Jenna Maroney impersonator who goes on to actually marry Jenna Maroney, and at Jack?s mother funeral, no less! (Accordingly, he takes both her first and last names.)

26. Michael Keaton (Season 5)
The star of ?Night Shift,? ?Mr. Mom? and ?Multiplicity? hasn?t had nearly enough comedic roles in recent years, so it was a real treat to see him turn up on the series? hour-long 100th episode spectacular as a maintenance man battling a gas leak at 30 Rock.

27. John Slattery as John Austin (Season 5)
After getting good returns from one ?Mad Men? star, why not bring in another one? Slattery played a Rhode Island political candidate who had Jack Donaghy?s support until Jack realized the man was a complete nut job, with a platform revolving around a return to the Founding Fathers? sensibilities, including unpaved roads and legalized slavery. Even then, Jack was so intent on seeing Regina Bookman (Queen Latifah) lose that he threw Austin a fundraiser anyway. Stay classy, Jack.

28. Weird Al Yankovic as himself (Season 6)
Jenna entered into a feud with Al when he parodied one of her songs, inspiring her to team up with Tracy and write a new track that would prove impossible to parody. But the end result sounded so ridiculous that Al responded by turning it into a serious song, which infuriated her further.

29 and 30. Bryan Cranston and Catherine O?Hara as Ron and Pearline (Season 7)
Some couplings are just too strong to separate, so we?re closing with a twofer and letting these ?Breaking Bad? and ?SCTV? icons share the spotlight as Kenneth?s mom, Pearline, and her ?friend? Ron, who turns out to have been Kenneth?s stepfather for the past seven years. The real highlight? is the short but oh-so-sweet duet between Cranston and O?Hara. It just doesn?t get any better than that.?

Who was your favorite guest star in "30 Rock's" run? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/01/31/16756726-30-rocks-30-best-guest-stars?lite

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Texas City: Marathon on track to take over BP refinery on Friday

by T. J. Aulds/ The Daily News

khou.com

Posted on January 28, 2013 at 10:48 AM

TEXAS CITY ? This likely marks the final week that the 475,000-barrel-per-day refinery at 2401 Fifth Ave. South will operate under the BP name. Marathon Petroleum, which purchased the nation?s fourth largest refinery as part of a $2.5 billion deal, is scheduled to take over the 1,200-acre refinery on Friday.

The two companies are expected to finalize the sale of the refinery this week.

Once the deal is closed, Marathon will own two refineries in Texas City ? its existing 80,000-barrel-per-day refinery and BP?s 475,000-barrel-per-day facility.

The new acquisition will be called Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery.

Marathon?s take over ends 14 years of BP?s ownership of the refinery, which it acquired in a merger with Amoco Oil in 1998.

Ray Brooks, who will be the manager of Marathon?s new acquisition, set up his management team; many already are top managers at the Texas City refinery.

Click here to read more at the Galveston County Daily News.

Source: http://www.khou.com/news/neighborhood-news/Texas-City--Marathon-on-track-to-take-over-BP-refinery-on-Friday-188680021.html

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Detroit freeway crashes kill at least three

DETROIT (AP) ? Blinding snow squalls, high winds and a slick highway led to a mile-long series of crashes in Detroit that left at least three people dead, including two children, and 20 more injured.

Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said visibility was extremely poor when the mass of crashes happened on Interstate 75 on the southwest side of the city. The injured, also including children, have been taken to hospitals, Shaw said.

A similar pileup west of Indianapolis involving more than 40 vehicles closed Interstate 70 in both directions. There was no immediate word on injuries, but the roadway was expected to be closed for several hours.

In Detroit, SUVs with smashed front ends and cars with doors hanging open sat scattered across the debris-littered highway, some crunched against jackknifed tractor-trailers and tankers. Rescue crews went vehicle to vehicle in the search for survivors and to provide aid.

Motorists and passengers who were able to climb out of their vehicles huddled together on the side of the road, some visibly distraught, others looking dazed. A man and woman hugged under the gray, cloud-filled skies, a pair of suitcases next to them and a bumper on the ground behind.

Conditions went from "clear to total whiteout in a matter of seconds," Shaw said. "All of a sudden, they couldn't see anymore."

More than 40 vehicles were involved in two other chain-reaction crashes in Michigan.

U.S. 23 in Grand Blanc Township near Flint was closed Thursday after more than 20 vehicles crashed during a sudden snow squall. In southwest Michigan, eight tractor-trailers and six cars crashed on I-94, closing the westbound lanes to traffic at Paw Paw in Van Buren County.

About 30 vehicles were involved in the pileups in Detroit and scores more were trapped on the freeway behind the accident scene for hours. Shaw expected the freeway to be fully reopened sometime in the afternoon.

Greg Galuszka was driving a fuel truck along I-75 when white-out conditions quickly materialized.

"I looked on my driver's side mirror, and I could see the trucks piling up back there," Galuszka said, pointing to a mass of twisted metal where vehicles had smashed into each other a short time earlier.

"Then, when I looked in my passenger side (mirror), is when I saw the steel hauler coming up," he said. "I just said my prayers from there and said, 'Please don't hit me.'"

Phillip Bost was driving a semi-truck loaded with auto parts when the snow squall hit. Bost said he rushed to help the injured when alerted by the terrific sound of the crashes.

"I heard booms and bangs behind me. Boom, boom, boom, boom," said Bost of Ypsilanti.

There were "people bleeding, people limping, people shaken up. It was a bad ordeal," he recalled several hours later. "I'm quite shaken up."

Shaw said many people had to be pulled from their vehicles. Numerous fire engines and ambulances were at the scene.

The crash happened as snow and strong blustery winds reduced visibility across southeastern Michigan, said Bryan Tilley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oakland County's White Lake Township.

"There was a pattern of snow showers moving through the area in the midmorning hours," Tilley said. Nearby Detroit Metropolitan Airport had west winds at 20 miles per hour, with gusts to 33 mph around the time of the crash. The temperature of 24 degrees was about 30 degrees colder than a day before.

The crash happened near an elevated stretch of expressway where the road surface can cool quickly and make driving hazardous, Tilley said.

Lisa Czarnecki said she hurried to the crash scene from her office in downtown Detroit after her husband, Ken, called to say he had been involved in the crashes. Ken was driving at about 30 miles per hour when the vehicles in front of him suddenly stopped but he wasn't able to stop too, leaving "the front of his car under that white semi," she said, pointing to the highway.

"After I identified the car to one of the (emergency) workers, I asked them to go tap on the window and ask him to wave out the door," Lisa Czarnecki said. "They managed to get him out of the vehicle and he stood up and waved."

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Associated Press writers Mike Householder, David N. Goodman, Jeff Karoub and David Aguilar contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-children-1-adult-die-detroit-freeway-pileups-185114727.html

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