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Thursday, January 24, 2013

NCAA announces problems with Miami investigation

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) ? The NCAA has found what it calls "improper conduct" committed by former members of its own enforcement program during the Miami investigation, and will not deliver the long-awaited notice of allegations against the Hurricanes until an external review is completed.

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced the findings Wednesday. The sports governing body said former enforcement staff members worked with the criminal defense attorney for former Miami booster and convicted Ponzi scheme architect Nevin Shapiro "to improperly obtain information ... through a bankruptcy proceeding that did not involve the NCAA."

The NCAA did not name the attorney involved. Shapiro has been represented by Maria Elena Perez, a Miami graduate. Perez did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press on Wednesday.

One key person in the investigation has been former Miami equipment-room staffer Sean Allen, who was deposed by Perez as part of Shapiro's bankruptcy proceedings. If the NCAA found that it could not use the information gleaned in that particular deposition, that would figure to be a major victory for the Hurricanes.

Miami had no immediate comment.

"I have been vocal in the past regarding the need for integrity by NCAA member schools, athletics administrators, coaches, and student-athletes," Emmert said. "That same commitment to integrity applies to all of us in the NCAA national office."

The Hurricanes' athletic compliance practices have been probed by the NCAA for nearly two years. Allegations of wrongdoing involving Miami's football and men's basketball programs became widely known in August 2011 when Yahoo Sports published accusations brought by Shapiro, who is serving a 20-year term in federal prison for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

This would figure to be another significant issue for the NCAA and its enforcement department. Among the others pending:

? A California case filed by former Southern Cal assistant football coach Todd McNair, who said the NCAA was "malicious" in its investigation into his role in the benefits scandal surrounding Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller said he was convinced the actions of NCAA investigators were "over the top."

? Earlier this month, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, represented by Gov. Thomas W. Corbett, claimed the NCAA overstepped its authority and "piled on" when it penalized Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky scandal last summer. The governor asked a federal judge to throw out the sanctions, arguing that the measures have harmed students, business owners and others who had nothing to do with Sandusky's crimes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ncaa-announces-problems-miami-investigation-180419822--spt.html

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Porn Fans Aren?t What They Used To Be

Best Oral Sex Scene Award at the Adult Video News Awards 2013

Courtesy Adult Video News Awards.

The first time I traveled to Las Vegas for the Adult Entertainment Expo, America?s largest gathering of porn stars and their fans, I found myself sitting on the ground near the elevator bank at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with a blue-eyed, gravelly voiced girl who performs under the name Katie St. Ives. She lit a cigarette and sank into the carpet. St. Ives was coming off an eight-hour shift perched on a pair of platform heels and running her mouth dry in repetitive conversation with strange men. I asked her if she was having a good time.

?Uh. Yeahhhh,? she said. ?Sorry. That sounded ? not convincing.? Hours of posing and autographing had bottomed her out, but what really got to her were the legions of pornography fans who had attempted to pry past her ?Katie? exterior to access the regular girl underneath. ?Fans will get comfortable with me because I can act very friendly. They start to expect things of me. They seem offended when I don?t get up and give them a hug.? As St. Ives spoke, a pack of twentysomething polo shirts pooled around her, waiting for an elevator to skyrocket them to their room. One of them recognized St. Ives. He plucked a novelty penis drink stirrer from his cocktail and flicked it at her freckled face. ?You want this cock?"

She did not want that cock, but the offer illustrated how drastically the relationship between porn stars and fans has changed in the past few years.

When David Foster Wallace chronicled porn?s biggest fan show back in 1998?at the height of VHS and DVD sales?he observed a sweaty, trembling mass of shy guys who appeared both thrilled and ashamed to make first contact with their favorite pornographic actors. But the Internet crumbled all that, and last year I watched a man wait 30 minutes to grope a porn star?s breasts and announce, ?That?s going on Facebook later!? Another languished in line to see if his favorite star was nice; act too aloof, and ?I?ll never want to see her again,? he told me. ?Not even in porn.?

In an age when every conceivable permutation of pornography is immediately accessible for free online, the power dynamic between viewer and star has shifted. Most porn viewers are still quietly accessing the material from the privacy of their own homes, but because it?s so easy to get, the reverence has faded. And when a man actually uses up his vacation days, books a plane ticket to Las Vegas, secures a hotel room off the strip, and drops between $35 (one-day access) and $325 (the VIP treatment) to celebrate porn in person, he is no longer content to gawk at a porn star standing on a pedestal. He expects an intimate affair.

Stoya, 26, is something of an Internet phenomenon. Fans know her for her thoughtful Tumblr that takes on issues like street harassment and sexual health; her wink-nudge public romance with porn it-boy James Deen; and the work she has done having sex on-camera. As we perch in the convention?s pressroom at this year?s expo last weekend, Stoya details the classes of fans she meets at shows. There are the ?very socially awkward guys??Foster Wallace?s quiet, sweaty types. There are the ?douchebags??the grabby guys who get oiled up enough at the bar to ask, ?Do you think I could do porn?? And now the ?hipsters??guys drawn to Stoya?s alternative pornographic aesthetic who nonchalantly sidle up to her booth. ?Those guys don?t pay for it,? Stoya tells me.

Those guys are the industry?s biggest problem?people who like to watch porn but also situate themselves as above it all. Today, most viewers don?t count themselves as ?fans? at all. Clarissa Smith, a researcher at the University of Sunderland in northeastern England, has spent years collecting data on thousands of Internet porn users. When she crunched some preliminary numbers from a voluntary online questionnaire of 5,490 men and women, she noticed a schism between young and old consumers. Both male and female users in their teens and 20s viewed porn frequently but not passionately. They accessed it through downloads and tube sites and amateur portals when they were either horny or bored. And out of all porn viewers, those aged 18-25 rated pornography as least important to their lives. When porn is free, we want it more, and we value it less.

It?s ironic that the omnipresence of porn in our homes is now backfiring on the porn industry. For a while there, figuring out new ways to deliver porn straight into the consumer?s home was the name of the game. The porn industry has managed to successfully leverage the erotic potential of every new technology, from the printing press to the telephone to the VCR to the camcorder, to facilitate that process. Throughout the ?80s and ?90s, America?s foremost porn convention even shared floor space with the Las Vegas outpost of the International Consumer Electronics Show. Back then, the adult show functioned a little bit like CES?s dad?s basement?it was the darkened exhibition hall you and your friends could sneak into after-hours to pop in a racy film. For reluctant porn fans, the tech conference provided the perfect cover for an explicit outing. For tech types, it was a legitimate business opportunity: a place where DVD distributors could shake hands with content producers, and their busty starlets, too. The alliance was a success.

But now, the conference?s techie contingent has all but withered. DVD distributors and pornographers have less to chat about. Technophiles have little incentive to hop over to the porn convention to peruse the newest titles; they can just dial them up on their smartphones. It?s gotten to the point where Dan O?Connell, founder and president of the lesbian-focused porn company Girlfriends Films, can spy a likely customer by the quality of his cellphone. If he?s packing a dinosaur of a flip-phone, perhaps O?Connell can interest the guy in some DVDs. But it?s all over when the iPhone comes out.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=2dc5c1d01d1322165557ec90f128419d

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"Home Improvement" co-creator Matt Williams enters first-look TV deal with Lionsgate

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Matt Williams, the co-creator of the '90s sitcom "Home Improvement," has aligned with Lionsgate for a first-look television deal, Lionsgate and Williams' company, Wind Dancer Films, said Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Williams and Wind Dancer Films will develop scripted comedies and dramas with Lionsgate.

Williams' other television work includes the groundbreaking comedies "Roseanne" and "The Cosby Show." On the film side, he's produced the Mel Gibson-Helen Hunt comedy "What Women Want" and the Jack Black-Shirley MacLaine offering "Bernie."

Lionsgate Television Group President Kevin Beggs praised Williams and Wind Dancer as "masterful producers, known for creating and developing distinctive original material with great success."

Beggs added that the deal has already yielded potential projects.

"We've already discussed a number of exciting ideas and can't wait to get started," Beggs said.

Williams enthused that the agreement with Lionsgate "feels like a great match," adding, "we look forward to this collaboration."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/home-improvement-co-creator-matt-williams-enters-first-084417015.html

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Monday, January 7, 2013

NHL lockout over, but why did it take so long?

Labor agreements tend to be about protecting the little guy, but the NHL's chronic labor troubles spring from owners' inability to save themselves from themselves.

By Mark Guarino,?Staff writer / January 7, 2013

A Zamboni floods the ice as preparations proceed for the start of a shortened NHL season at the Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, on Monday.

Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press/AP

Enlarge

Even as Zambonis across the United States and Canada are being dusted off for a shortened professional hockey season, the question remains: What took so long?

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When the National Hockey League and its Players' Association produced a new labor deal early Sunday, following a 16-hour negotiating session in New York City, the lockout had taken 113 days and claimed nearly half the 2012-13 season. This after lockouts consumed the entire 2004-05 season and part of the 1994-95 season. Surely, there must have been a good reason?

Analysts tracking the stalemate say it was relatively simple, and it points to a chronic problem made worse by the NHL's ill-advised expansion in the 1990s: Many of hockey's owners are repeatedly drawn into spending more money than they have in a bid to be competitive, meaning the once-a-decade labor negotiations become a desperate attempt to persuade players to help save the owners from themselves.

This time, one of the core disagreements was about a new breed of absurd contracts that owners sanctioned to get around their own salary cap. Take the New Jersey Devils' Ilya Kovalchuk, who in 2010 signed a 15-year, $100 million deal that would have him playing until he is 42.

The idea was to spread a player's salary over a huge span of time so the average annual salary ? which is what is counted against the cap ? can be relatively low, even as teams front-load the contracts to give players the majority of the money in their prime.

Just this offseason, the Minnesota Wild signed the top two free agents to such "supercontracts." Zach Parise and Ryan Suter each received $98 million contracts, which would be paid in a massive upfront bonus ($25 million) and then in incremental installments over 13 years.

Yet even before Wild owner Craig Leipold signed the contracts in April, he was complaining about them. He told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune his team is ?not making money? and that long-term contracts represented ?one reason we need to fix our system.? The revenue that we?re generating is not the issue as much as our expenses. And?[the?Wild's]?biggest expense by far is player salaries.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/9tX1aMVcJcc/NHL-lockout-over-but-why-did-it-take-so-long

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'Downton Abbey': Fans struggle to avoid spoilers

'Downton Abbey' coming to the US after it airs in the UK means spoiler-phobic fans have to stay away from news articles and websites.

By Lynn Elber,?Associated Press / January 5, 2013

Maggie Smith (l.) and Shirley MacLaine (r.) star on 'Downton Abbey.'

Nick Briggs/PBS/AP

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There are many delicious reasons to watch the returning "Downton?Abbey" and an exasperating one to skip it: The cover's been blown on major plot twists.

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In what may be outsized revenge for the American Revolution ? or payback for years of exporting lousy U.S. TV and fast food ? the Brits are sharing "Downton?Abbey" with us, but only after first airing each season.

That wouldn't matter much in the drama's early 20th-century setting but we're not there, are we, PBS and U.K. network ITV? A little gimmick called the Internet makes it impossible to keep story developments from spreading like germ warfare.

As with sports fans who must avoid all media and big-mouthed friends to keep game scores a surprise, "Downton?Abbey" addicts are forced to shun rude news reports and blogs about what happens to character A, B or C (no spoilers here, promise).

Heedlessly type in "Downton?Abbey season three" online and you risk stumbling into the startling truth that ... well, never mind. If you know, you have our sympathy. If you don't, live in blessed ignorance and careful isolation from Sunday's debut until the Feb. 17 season finale.

"It is unfair that England gets to see 'Downton?Abbey' before us because we beat them in a war" was the saucy comment posted on Twitter by producer Damon Lindelof of "Lost" fame.

It's certainly a development galling enough to draw insults. But as Downton's courtly master, Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), once rebuked a blunt-spoken visitor: Steady on, sir, the ladies have suffered quite enough of a shock!

Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of PBS' "Masterpiece" showcase that's home to "Downton," contends it's premature to assess the impact here of the U.K. airing that wrapped Christmas Day. Will ratings be dented by dampened enthusiasm or piracy?

"It will be difficult to say until it airs in this country," Eaton said, with the size of the audience providing a key measurement.

The bar is high compared with last year, when "Downton?Abbey" became the most-watched series ever for "Masterpiece" with more than 17 million viewers across seven episodes. With its swooning, buzz-worthy romances, the drama also fed social media and gave PBS a new veneer of cool.

But what's to be done if the season endgame is stuck in your brain? As a famous Brit said in more dire circumstances, never surrender! Go along for the ride that the beautifully produced soap opera-cum-fairy tale offers, admiring how the devilishly clever Julian Fellowes, its creator and writer, foreshadows the events to come.

As Downton's residents adjust to post-War War I England, "there are chills and spills involved in that for all the characters, some laughs and some tears," as Fellowes neatly summed it up.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/PvrJe2oPdd4/Downton-Abbey-Fans-struggle-to-avoid-spoilers

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Banks reach $8.5B settlement on mortgage abuse

3 hrs.

John W. Schoen , NBC News

Ten of the biggest U.S. mortgage companies have agreed to an $8.5 billion settlement with federal regulators that will end a case-by-case review program to identify victims of widespread foreclosure abuses.

With the latest multi-billion-dollar settlement, the nation?s giant mortgage lenders are hoping to put the mortgage mess ?behind them. But critics of the deal fear it may also leave behind millions of foreclosed homeowners who got little or no relief from the lenders that created the mortgage mess in the first place. ?

"I have serious concerns that this settlement may allow banks to skirt what they owe and sweep past abuses under the rug without determining the full harm borrowers have suffered," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, ?D.- Md., a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and a vocal critical of the government regulators handling of the mortgage crisis.?

OCC officials said Monday the consumers will be better served under the settlement because claims will now be paid more quickly and that the cost of the review process was diverting funds that could have been used to pay claims. More than $1.5 billion has already spent on case-by-case reviews, officials said.?

?When we began the Independent Foreclosure Review, the OCC pledged to fix what was broken, identify who was harmed, and compensate them for that injury,? Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said in a statement. ?While today?s announcement represents a significant change in direction, it meets those original objectives by ensuring that consumers are the ones who will benefit, and that they will benefit more quickly and in a more direct manner.??

Under the agreement, banking giants JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and six other mortgage lenders will provide $5.2 billion in mortgage assistance and $3.3 billion in direct payments to wronged borrowers, according the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.?

?The other seven lenders include Aurora, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, and U.S. Bank.

The banks were among 12 lenders and two mortgage servicing companies cited by regulators in 2011 for widespread foreclosure abuses following claims that they had improperly seized homes in the wave of foreclosure filings that swamped the industry after the 2007 housing collapse.?

OCC officials said that the 10?lenders have agreed to the settlement in principal, but that the terms will not be disclosed until they are finalized. ?They said talks are continuing with other institutions ordered to review foreclosures, which include EverBank, OneWest, HSBC and Sovereign Bank.?

When industry-wide foreclosure abuses surfaced nearly two years ago, federal banks regulators required banks and servicing companies to hire consulting firms to contact borrowers and review their cases. Some 4.4 million letters were sent to potential claimants, of which about a half million applied by the Dec. 31 deadline to have their cases reviewed.?

Consumers groups working to head off foreclosures have criticized the review program from the start, in part because the consulting firms conducting the reviews were hired and paid by the financial institutions cited for wrongful practices. Since then, critics have cited slow progress in reviewing cases and compensating ?wrongful foreclosure victims.

Federal regulators said in June that the lenders conducting reviews would have to pay as much as $125,000 to borrowers whose homes were wrongly seized. But so far, no borrowers have been paid, according to regulators.?

Critics of Monday?s settlement argued that it will leave many wronged homeowners with no further recourse and that it substantially reduced the amount lenders will ultimately have to pay.?

?For many people this will be the end of the line," said Diane Thompson, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. ?This is a much lower number for the banks compared compare to what they were at risk for.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/banks-reach-8-5b-settlement-mortgage-abuse-1B7863650

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Bankruptcy Tips and Advice | Saving Without A Budget

by Justin Weinger on January 4, 2013

Many people, for whatever financial reason, are forced at one time or another in their lives to file for bankruptcy. This doesn?t mean that they?re ?bad? people or that they have made particularly bad decisions (although let?s be honest, many times it?s the case).? Whatever the reason there are certain things that you should do and, more importantly, should not do when filing for bankruptcy to make sure that you don?t open yourself up to more liability.

With that in mind we have put together some Tips and advice for those of you that are facing this financial hurdle so that you can get over it with the least amount of damage. Read on and then use them with our blessings.

Possibly the most important Tip when declaring bankruptcy is do NOT lie.? If you don?t qualify for whatever reason you?d be best to use any other options first before declaring and then having to hide the facts.
Don?t leave out any income, no matter how insignificant it may seem.? Even the income your daughter earned from a part-time waitressing job on the weekends should be declared if you?re going to include her as a dependent in your bankruptcy.
Don?t forget to include every car you own. The best way to lose it is to not list it, which many people mistakenly think is the opposite. Also don?t transfer the car to another family member?s name before filing as this is a good way to lose it also. This goes for car loans also.
Leaving out creditors is a big no-no. The simple fact is that, even if you don?t notify them, they will find out that you?ve filed. Credit Union accounts are a bit different however and may be kept in certain instances so check before you file.
Transferring assets before you file is not only illegal but unnecessary in many cases.? A competent lawyer should be able to protect your assets in most cases.
Paying back family members in the 12 months prior to filing isn?t a good idea and can negatively affect your filing.? Check before you file to make sure.
If you?re in the middle of litigation to get money owed to you this is considered an asset so don?t forget to include it. This can become an asset in a bankruptcy case and may be significant. Let your lawyer handle this.
Gambling losses in the 12 months prior to your bankruptcy can negatively affect your case so do your best to stay away from the casinos and the track at all costs.
Running up credit card balances before filing bankruptcy is a bad idea. Your credit card company can dispute these charges if they think you did it on purpose and you?ll end up owing the money anyway.
By all means do not wait until your credit is a total mess and your wages are being garnished to file.? If you know that you?re going to be in trouble (and most do) file right away to give your lawyer the chance to help you as much as possible.
Lastly don?t let bankruptcy get you down.? It happens to a lot of people and the best thing that you can do is get through it and learn from it so that it never happens again.? Best of luck.

Source: http://www.savingwithoutabudget.com/what-to-do-with-your-money/bankruptcy-tips-and-advice/

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