Peanut Butter News

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Santiago, Chile (CNN) — As the sun set in Chile on Saturday, a picture of the immense structural damage wrought by an early morning earthquake had come clearly into focus, with the nation’s president estimating that 2 million people had been affected in some way.

More than 300 people were killed, according to Chile’s Office of Emergency Management, and 15 are missing.

The carnage from the 8.8-magnitude quake didn’t begin to approach that unleashed by January’s earthquake in Haiti, which left 212,000 people dead and more than a million homeless, even though it was considerably less forceful, with a 7.0 magnitude.

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(CNN) — The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl for the first time in their 43-year history with a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts at the Sun Life Arena in Miami on Sunday night.

The NFC champions recovered from a slow start to deny Indianapolis a repeat of their Super Bowl success against Chicago Bears in the same stadium three years ago.

Inspired by MVP Drew Brees, who won his head-to-head with fellow star quarterback Peyton Manning, the Saints took command after trailing 17-16 going into the final quarter.

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A newly released video shows the mother of the 6-year-old boy purported to be in a runaway balloon finally acknowledging to authorities it was all a hoax — contrary to her husband’s repeated public denials just before reporting to jail.

The video interviews obtained by the Fort Collins Coloradoan Friday show Mayumi Heene telling sheriff’s officials that the Oct. 15 event was a hoax that she and her husband orchestrated to gain notoriety and land a reality TV show.

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(CNN) — About 70 students at UC Santa Cruz in California avoided arrest early Sunday morning when they surrendered the administration building they had occupied for three days, according to a school spokesman.

But, school officials said in a statement, “students who participated in this incident face possible criminal and/or student judicial sanctions.”

Kerr Hall, the Santa Cruz campus’ administration building, won’t be ready for its normal duties Monday, the officials said, because some areas — particularly the second floor, which school officials said might not be ready for several days — were damaged and left in disarray.

Full Story at msnbc.com

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether two people can do the work of five when it comes to resolving labor-management disputes in the workplace.

The National Labor Relations Board, which for decades has had the responsibility to police many of these disputes, has operated with only two members — and three vacancies — for more than a year. The reason for this is that Democrats who retook control of Congress in 2006 objected to President George W. Bush’s labor policies, and thus refused to confirm his nominees.

But the two NLRB members still in place have continued to issue decisions, making about 400 in the last 16 months.

Full Story at msnbc.com

NEW YORK – Verizon Wireless’ answer to the iPhone — the Droid — will go on sale for $200 next week as the company taps into the growing appetite for smart phones that go far beyond making calls.

The Droid could help Verizon retain its status as the nation’s largest wireless carrier and contribute to a turnaround of its manufacturer, Motorola Inc., which hasn’t produced a hit since the wildly popular Razr phone in 2005.

The new device also could give a boost to Google Inc., which used the Droid to unveil new mapping software that could challenge standalone navigational devices, sending GPS gadget maker Garmin Ltd.’s stock plunging after Wednesday’s announcement.

Full Story at msnbc.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A prototype version of NASA’s newest rocket is ready for its planned Tuesday launch, mission managers said Friday.

NASA is set to test the design of its next-generation rocket, Ares I, during a demonstration liftoff called Ares I-X. The launch, slated for 8 a.m. ET on Oct. 27 from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center here, will be a suborbital flight of the new rocket’s first stage, with a dummy second stage and mock crew capsule on top.

NASA officially gave the go-ahead for Tuesday’s launch after a Flight Test Readiness Review meeting among mission managers.
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“The team is ready to go fly,” said Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager, at a briefing following the meeting. “The vehicle is actually ready to go fly.”

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Heene is the storm-chasing father whose giant Mylar balloon ascended into the sky late last week, sparking fears that his 6-year-old son Falcon was aboard.

A dispatcher with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department declined to release any information about the search, but said the office will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. ET Sunday. Calls to the department’s spokeswoman were not immediately returned.

“We anticipate criminal charges will be filed sometime in the near future,” Sheriff Jim Alderden told CNN late Saturday.

Speculation over whether Thursday’s incident, which prompted a widespread search, was a hoax has mounted against Heene, father of three young boys. Explainer: How ‘balloon boy’ drama began »

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“We saw nothing,” he said.

Samuels is vice president of the Fremont Peak Observatory near Monterey, California, which had invited members of the public to watch Friday’s NASA mission through its telescopes.

The lunar strike happened shortly after 4:30 a.m. on the West Coast (7:30 a.m. ET).

NASA had encouraged everyone around the country to host “impact parties,” saying the plume of dust generated by the lunar impact would be visible through “mid-sized backyard” telescopes 10 inches or larger. It said the chances of seeing the plume were greater for people living in areas that were still dark.

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The reason for CBS was obvious. The “Tiffany Network” had the most renowned television news division in the country, and its heart, soul and face was the man whose carefully modulated tones defined its propriety. That man was called — without irony — “the most trusted man in America.”

Walter Cronkite.

In the splintered, frantic, snark-happy, 500-channel multimedia universe in which we now live, it’s hard to imagine one man with the kind of almost universal regard Cronkite, who died Friday at the age of 92, had in the 1960s and ’70s. In retrospect, Cronkite seemed a little taken aback by his status; in his 1996 memoir, “A Reporter’s Life,” he is consistently self-deprecating and rarely fails to mention a writer, producer or CBS staffer who helped him nail a story.