david tarloff

NEW YORK (AP) Investigators in New York have arrested a suspect in the vicious slaying of a psychologist who was hacked in her office with a meat cleaver and knife. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says David Tarloff was taken into custody after investigators matched his fingerprints with prints found at the bloody crime scene.

RENO, Nev. (AP) Police in Reno, Nevada, say they fear that a serial rapist who strangled an abducted college student may strike again. Police say an autopsy has confirmed that a dead woman found in a field on the city's south side was Brianna Denison. Police say they have several cases linked through DNA.

ACCOKEEK, Md. (AP) Police in Maryland say eight people are dead after a car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race. Police say at least five others were injured. The car was not involved in the street race but drove into the crowd of about 50 people, apparently by accident.

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) A hotel manager near Northern Illinois University says a gunman who shot and killed five students earlier this week checked into the hotel three days before the shootings.

Authorities say they found a duffel bag, with the zippers glued shut, that the shooter had left in the room.

JOHNSON, Ark. (AP) A college student is being taken back to Arkansas to answer a theft charge after being arrested for allegedly stealing a briefcase containing more than $140,000.

Police say the briefcase was taken from the home of the chairman of Tyson Foods.

jessica zednik

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik has left the hospital and returned to Florida less than a week after he was slashed in the throat by a teammate's skate. Zednik went home Friday after being released Thursday evening, officials at Buffalo General Hospital said. Zednik lost five pints of blood when he was accidentally sliced by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen in a game against the Sabres.

The 32-year-old forward said he barely felt the skate slice into his carotid artery, but with blood gushing from his neck he knew he was in trouble. "I was like, Whoa. I knew I had to get to the bench."

He was quickly put in an ambulance, and Dr. Leslie Bisson put pressure on his neck to help slow the bleeding as the ambulance headed toward the hospital.

"I remember everything," Zednik told The Buffalo News. "I remember the doctor holding my neck and telling him, 'Don't push so hard. I can't breathe.' I talked to my trainer (Dave Zenobi). I remember them saying, 'OK, go to surgery.'"

Dr. Sonya Noor repaired the artery that had been sliced open but not completely severed.

"One week happened so much. Everything just went so well," Zednik said. "You look at it like that, and I was lucky. They saved my life. After surgery, they were amazing."

Zednik spent Valentine's Day night with his wife, Jessica, who had flown to Buffalo from Florida.

Jessica Zednik spent all day Sunday at Delray Medical Center in South Florida with their 4-year-old daughter, Ella. Ella, who had been battling a high fever, was well enough to go home later that evening.

Jessica Zednik had been home for 10 minutes when injured left wing Jozef Stumpel, a friend who didn't make the road trip with the Panthers, called about her husband's injury.

"Life is so fragile, and you don't own it," she told the newspaper. "You never know and take everything for granted. Not anymore, believe me. It's a reality check."

Zednik thanked all the people who have helped in his recovery, from medical personnel to well-wishers, in a statement released through the team Saturday.

"I want everyone to know that I am recovering and feeling well and hope to return to the ice as soon as I feel medically fit," he said.

alcan highway

FAIRBANKS -- There's not a better feeling in the world than racing a snowmachine down an empty highway in the middle of the Yukon territory at 140 mph, according to the man who does it better than anyone else.

"It's hard to describe," said Craig Hill, Fairbanks' resident snowmachine speed freak. "It's tons of fun."

Hill won the Alcan 200 snowmachine race for the third straight year by averaging more than 117 mph over the 160-mile course that follows the Haines Highway, which is shut down by the Canadian government each year so the race can be held.

While Hill wasn't able to top the record average speed of 120.08 mph he set in winning the race last year, he described his run as "pretty smooth" and was satisfied with a third-straight Alcan 200 title.

"No hitting the guardrail or anything," he said with a laugh in reference to the guardrails lining bends in the road.

Besides, there's not much difference between 117 mph and 120 mph, he said.
"That's still plenty fast," said the 37-year-old Hill, who owns Northern Power Sports with his older brother, Colby, a three-time champ himself.

Led by Craig Hill's overall victory, Fairbanks racers dominated the 39th annual running of the race. Fairbanks riders captured top honors in all six race classes, which are determined by engine size.

George Juhlin of North Pole finished second overall with an average speed of 112.5 mph and won the 551-650cc class riding a 1999 Yamaha SRX 600.

Juhlin had a close call about 20 miles from the finish when he went off the road after failing to make a turn. Juhlin figures he was going somewhere between 110 and 115 mph coming into the turn.

POLE, BERM IN THE WAY

"I was pushing it really hard to make up some time, and I just pushed it too hard into a corner and didn't make it," said Juhlin, a 27-year-old heavy-equipment mechanic for Alyeska Pipeline Co. "I was headed right for a snow pole and decided I was going to have to go off the road so I didn't hit that pole."

With a deep snow berm looming, Juhlin thought his race was over.

"I figured I was going to get stuck in the snow and fly over the handlebars," he said. "I didn't know what was going to happen."

But Juhlin managed to ride it out and get back on the road. He still isn't sure how he did it.

"I was somehow able to get back on the road without incident," he said.

Course conditions this year weren't as fast as in the previous two years, Hill said. He averaged just more than 119 mph two years ago and topped the 120 mph mark last year.

"Everybody kind of slowed down a little bit," said Hill, who finished the race in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 31 seconds.

There was more snow and not as much ice on the road this year.

"We want ice so that the studs in our tracks and the carbides on our skis will dig in," said Hill.

The snow caused tracks on machines to spin more than usual, he said.

"It was a little more challenging," Hill said of this year's course conditions. "You didn't have total control all the time.

"There was a lot more sliding this year than normal. You're sliding sideways at 120 mph instead of going straight ahead."

Hill has used the same sled, a 2001 Yamaha SRX 700, the past three years to win the race. He didn't do any major modifications.

"I put a new track on it each year, put new bearings on it and rebuild the motor," he said. "I just freshen it up."

Hill's biggest scare came on the return leg when he missed the first gas stop.

"There's supposed to be a cone out in the road so we know to stop, but the guys didn't put the cone out," said Hill.

As a result, Hill, who was in first place at the time, ended up sliding about 100 yards past the gas stop along with five other racers. Race rules won't allow racers to return to a gas stop, so Hill and the other racers had to jog back to the stop to retrieve gas cans.

"I'm not a jogger," the heavyset Hill said, laughing. "There were a lot of guys who were a lot faster runners than I was."

One racer managed to get ahead of Hill during the gas stop, but Hill passed him a few minutes later and stretched out his lead.

Juhlin, who averaged 115 mph last year, said racers have a hard time figuring out how fast they are going during the race.

'MY TIME' NEXT YEAR

"You've got a speedometer but the needle only goes to 120 mph and most of the time the needle is pegged," he said.

"The only time you have to slow down is going into the corners."

This was Juhlin's third Alcan 200. He finished third last year and moved up to second this year. He's aiming to displace Hill next season in the winner's circle.

"I told him at the end of the race, next year it's my time," said Juhlin, who was just more than three minutes behind Hill this year.

"I need to learn how to corner it a little better and carry it through the corners better," Juhlin said.

Charlie Dawson of Fairbanks repeated as champion of the 440cc fan-cooled class with an average speed of 86.7 mph. Greg Peede of North Pole captured the open fan-cooled class with an average speed of 95.8 mph.

Lila Young of Fairbanks won the fastest-woman trophy for the second year in a row.

Young, the lone entrant in the 441-550cc liquid-cooled class, was the fastest of three women to finish the race with an average speed of 84.7 mph.

Forty-one riders started the race and only 23 finished.

ainsley earhardt

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications named Ainsley Earhardt McKinney the 2007 Outstanding Young Alumna.

Earhardt McKinney is a correspondent for FOX News Channel. She joined the network in 2007 and provides live news cut-ins during the overnight hours.

Before joining FOX, Earhardt McKinney served as a morning/ noon anchor for CBS affiliate, KENS-5 in San Antonio, Texas. She also was a morning / noon anchor for WLTX- News 19 in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2004, while at WLTX- News 19, viewers voted her “Best Personality of the Year” in the Columbia Metropolitan Magazine.

Earhardt McKinney is a South Carolina native and a 1999 graduate of the University of South Carolina where she received a degree in journalism. She now resides in New York.

In addition to receiving the School's award, Earhardt McKinney was also named the University's 2007 Outstanding Young Alumni.

Ainsley Earhardt is a correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). She joined the network in 2007 and provides live news cut-ins during the overnight hours.

Prior to her current position, Earhardt served as a morning/noon anchor for CBS affiliate, KENS-5 in San Antonio, Texas. Earhardt also was a morning/ noon anchor for WLTX- News 19 in Columbia, South Carolina. In 2004, while at WLTX-News 19, viewers voted Earhardt "Best Personality of the Year" in Columbia Metropolitan Magazine.

Earhardt is a South Carolina native and a graduate of University of South Carolina where she received a degree in Journalism.

milana dravnel

Sadam Ali, Canarsie's beleagured U.S. Olympic boxer who is on voluntary suspension for testing positive for high levels of the stimulant cathine, has retained the services of noted New York attorney Salvatore Strazzullo.

Strazzullo currently is representing Milana Dravnel in her $100 million lawsuit against Oscar De La Hoya over the legitimacy of lurid photos she took of the boxer in lingerie.

The 19-year-old Ali is awaiting the results of a B sample test to see if he will be allowed to participate in an Olympic qualifier March 10-18 in Trinidad and Tobago. Although Ali, a lightweight, is on the U.S. Olympic boxing team, he must qualify to compete in the 2008 Games. The third and final qualifier is in Guatemala in April.

An antihistamine Ali took to treat a head cold at a test event in Beijing from Nov. 17-22 may have been responsible for the elevated levels of cathine in Ali's system, according to Jim Millman, CEO of USA Boxing.

"I am 100% confident that he will not only be vindicated, but there will probably be some sort of apology that we'll get when this is all done," said Strazzullo, who has also represented rapper Foxy Brown. "It's sad what Sadam is going to be put through in the next month or so, but this will make him understand how delicate being a public figure is and how to handle fame. Even though he's not to blame for what happened, he has to watch out who he trusts for now on."

Milana Dravnel, the stripper suing boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya for $100 million, showed up to court Friday to begin her case against him.
Naturally, she provided a full photo shoot in front of the courthouse.
But, when it came time to start the actual proceedings, Dravnel totally chickened out and couldn’t bring herself to walk into the courtroom!
Oscar De La Hoya was not even present.
Salvatore Strazzullo, the lawyer for Milana Dravnel, told TMZ she was “too nervous” to face the federal court judge, even though very little went down.
Milana Dravnel wants $100 million from De La Hoya for defamation, after he claims she fabricated drag photos showing him wearing women’s lingerie in a Philadelphia hotel. Which, from the looks of it, aren’t fabricated …