MLK holiday: 'Selma' stars including Oprah march in Alabama

SELMA, Ala. (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey and fellow actors from the movie "Selma" marched with hundreds in a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., one of many events around the nation ushering in Monday's federal holiday for the slain civil rights leader.

Remembrances of the King legacy come amid somber reflection by many on incidents in which unarmed black men were killed by police in recent months, spurring protests and heightening tensions in the U.S. In Ferguson, Mo., where one fatal shooting caused weeks of violent protests, leaders urged reforms to the criminal justice system in the name of equality.

"We need to be outraged when local law enforcement and the justice system repeatedly allow young, unarmed black men to encounter police and then wind up dead with no consequences," said U.S. Rep. William Clay, a St. Louis Democrat. "Not just in Ferguson, but over and over again across this country."

The King holiday, meanwhile, was being met with activities nationwide, including plans for a wreath-laying in Maryland, a tribute breakfast in Boston and volunteer service activities by churches and community groups in Illinois. In South Carolina, civil rights leaders readied for their biggest rally of the year.

Winfrey helped lead a march by hundreds on Sunday with "Selma" director Ava DuVernay and actor David Oyelowo, who played King in the movie.

"Selma" chronicled turbulent events leading up to the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and the subsequent passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Winfrey played activist Annie Lee Cooper in the movie, which was nominated for two Oscars, in categories of best picture and best original song.

A producer on the film, Winfrey praised the 1965 marchers for their courage in meeting fierce opposition on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma - scene of Sunday's remembrance march.

"Look at what they were able to do with so little, and look at how we now have so much," Winfrey said. "If they could do that, imagine what now can be accomplished with the opportunity through social media and connection, the opportunity through understanding that absolutely we are more alike than we are different."

White officers used clubs and tear gas on March 7, 1965 - "Bloody Sunday" - to rout marchers intent on walking some 50 miles to Montgomery, the Alabama capital, to seek the right for blacks to register to vote. King led a new march later that month that reached Montgomery, with the crowd swelling to 25,000.

Elsewhere, King's legacy was being celebrated with days of events in Atlanta, especially at the church he once pastored. The current pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, said the annual King holiday is a time when "all of God's children are busy spreading the message of freedom and justice."

On Monday, Oyelowo planned to deliver a holiday tribute to King at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where church members over the weekend sang the civil rights anthem, "We Shall Overcome."

Calls for unity were heard during the events surrounding the King holiday.

During Sunday's march in Selma, Common and John Legend performed their Oscar-nominated song "Glory" from the film as marchers crested the top of the bridge as the sun set. Common had a part in the movie and said that song sought to show the link between the struggle of the past and today's injustices.

"We are the ones that can change the world," Common said afterward. "It is up to us, and it takes all us - black, white, Latino, Asian, native-American, whatever nationality or religious background. There is a certain togetherness that we've got to have."

Seahawks rally stuns Packers 28-22 in OT for NFC title

SEATTLE, WA - JANUARY 18: Jermaine Kearse #15 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates with Luke Willson #82 of the Seattle Seahawks after catching a 35 yard game-winning touchdown in overtime against the Green Bay Packers during the 2015 NFC Championship game at CenturyLink Field on January 18, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

SEATTLE (AP) - Never doubt the resilience of the Seattle Seahawks.
Plagued by turnovers and outplayed much of Sunday by Green Bay, the Seahawks staged an improbable comeback and beat the Packers 28-22 in overtime. Russell Wilson, who struggled until the final minutes, hit Jermaine Kearse for a 35-yard touchdown 3:19 into the extra period on the only possession.
The Seahawks became the first defending champion to make the Super Bowl in 10 years, and will play the winner of the AFC title game between Indianapolis and New England. How they got there was stunning.
Seattle (14-4) trailed 19-7 with about four minutes remaining and had been ineffective on offense all game. Wilson finally put a drive together with passes to Doug Baldwin and Marshawn Lynch - initially ruled a touchdown but called back because he stepped out. Wilson finished with a 1-yard scoring run to cut the lead to 19-14 with 2:09 left.
Seattle recovered a bobbled onside kick at the 50, and Lynch sped and powered his way to a 24-yard TD run. Wilson's desperate 2-point conversion pass was hauled in by Luke Willson to make it 22-19.
Then Aaron Rodgers led the Packers (13-5) to Mason Crosby's fifth field goal, from 48 yards with 14 seconds to go to force overtime.
Then Wilson and Kearse struck, with Kearse - the target on all four interceptions Wilson threw - beating Tramon Williams on the winning pass. Kearse caught the winning TD in last year's conference title win over San Francisco, too.
"Just making the plays at the end and keep believing," said Wilson, who was overwhelmed and sobbing after the game. "There was no doubt ... we had no doubt as a team."

 http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/18/seahawks-rally-stuns-packers-28-22-in-ot-for-nfc-title/21131492/

Allenby beaten, bruised and stunned over Hawaii robbery

HONOLULU (AP) -- His left eye bruised and swollen shut, Australian golfer Robert Allenby is still shaking over a beating and robbery that left him unable to remember anything except being dumped in a gutter near a park of homeless people.
"You think ... that happens in the movie, not real life," Allenby told The Associated Press by phone Sunday. "I'm just happy to be alive."
Allenby posted a photo to his private Facebook account showing a bloodied scrape on his forehead and the bridge of his nose. He said that came from being tossed from the trunk of a car. He said the bruise on his left eye must have come from being beaten in the car.
"I don't know what they hit me with between the eyeballs, whether a fist or a baseball bat," he said. "Whatever it was, it hurts."
Allenby missed the Sony Open cut and then went to Amuse Wine Bar in Honolulu on Friday night with his caddie and a friend from Australia. He had been to the bar earlier in the week, thought it was a trendy spot and wanted to try the restaurant. Allenby remembers having dinner, a few glasses of red wine and that was about it.
"There was a couple of hours where I was out cold," Allenby said.
Even after he returned to the bar on Saturday with police and watched tape from a surveillance camera that showed him leaving with four people, he doesn't know who they were or even leaving the bar. Allenby said he has no recollection until getting kicked and prodded by homeless people searching for whatever he had left.
Allenby said his wallet, cash, driver's license, PGA Tour badge and cellphone were taken. All he had on him in the gutter were two receipts, the American Express card to pay for dinner that he put loosely in his pockets and a watch.
He said the receipt showed that he paid for dinner at 10:06 p.m. Friday, and paid for the wine at 10:48. He said the restaurant closed at 11 p.m.
Allenby said he was checked out by the doctors, but he did not have a blood test to determine if he was drugged.
"I did ask to get a blood test, but they said it was probably out of your system," he said.
The Honolulu Police Department did not return repeated calls. TV station KHON2 in Honolulu reported Saturday that the matter was being investigated as second-degree robbery.
The image of Allenby's face, which he posted to Facebook, was a jarring image in the middle of a golf tournament. Webb Simpson ran into Allenby went he got back to the hotel last night.
"I could believe what happened to him," Simpson said.
Allenby said surveillance cameras showed his friend Anthony Puntoriero talking to someone in the bar.
"I think that was a decoy, a distraction," Allenby said. "I went to the bathroom, came out of the bathroom and was told that Anthony had left and was downstairs waiting for me. I go downstairs and then, bang! They knock me out and take me six or seven miles away."
He said the tape showed one man put a hand on Allenby's shoulder.
"I seriously don't even remember meeting these people," he said. "That's what is weird. All I know is that I was walking very quietly with them and normal. It didn't make any sense at all."
Allenby said a homeless woman told him he was thrown out of the car, but the ordeal wasn't over just yet. He said several homeless were "kicking me to see if I was alive, and then trying to steal everything else from me."
He said a man who said he was in the Army came to his aid. Instead of calling an ambulance or the police, Allenby said he wanted to go back to the Kahala Resort at Waialae Country Club because "I just wanted to be in a safe place."
Allenby said he called daughter Lily, who turned 13 on Saturday, and she was sobbing.
He said his body felt fine except for the swollen left eye and scrapes on his face. He was hoping to make his flight Sunday night to Los Angeles, and then he would decide if he was fit to play the Humana Challenge next week in La Quinta, California.
Allenby has 22 wins worldwide, including four on the PGA Tour, the last one in 2001. He has played in the Presidents Cup six times.
"I'm still shaking, still scared," he said. "It's just so surreal, just amazing. How does that happen to me? I went from one area where I could have died to another area where I got dumped and homeless people are trying to mug me even more. Sometimes we're all naive. We only think this happens in the movies."

 http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/18/allenby-beaten-bruised-and-stunned-over-hawaii-robbery/21131478/

Donations pour in for Phoenix quadruplets after mother dies

 

#Phoenix woman dies after giving birth to quadruplets: http://t.co/ZfwbzJI4fE #abc15 http://t.co/KYOKJRlqd3

(Reuters) - Thousands of dollars of donations have poured in from around the world to help pay for the care for newborn quadruplets of a Phoenix mother who died after giving birth to them, a fundraising website set up in the woman's name announced on Saturday.
The story of Erica Morales drew international attention when the 36-year-old died shortly after giving birth to three girls and a boy on Thursday, according to a report on television station KSAZ in Phoenix.
"She never got to hold them; she never got to see them," Morales' cousin, Nicole Todman, told the station. "It is so hard to know she fought so hard for her children."
After years of trying and finally getting pregnant with the help of doctors, Morales, a real estate agent, died at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, leaving behind her husband, Carlos, according to Todman.
Todman set up a GoFundMe.com page, "Erica's Memorial Fund" on Friday to raise money for the family.
In the first day after the page was set up, it was shared through social media more than 17,000 times, and about $19,000 had been raised from more than 600 donors.
The goal of the page is to raise $50,000 to help the family.
Todman was not available to comment on Saturday afternoon.
Hospital officials released a statement on Saturday expressing condolences for the family but declined to provide any cause of death, or condition of the quadruplets, citing patient privacy laws.
On Morales' personal Facebook page, the mother chronicled a happy pregnancy, including the discovery of four heartbeats on an ultrasound last fall and a joyous baby shower in December.
Her doctor "said I did phenomenal," she wrote last week. "A poster child for quads."
But Morales also wrote that, at 31 weeks pregnant, she was being hospitalized because her blood pressure was too high, noting that "u can stroke out with bad blood pressure."
In one of her last postings, on Tuesday, she said doctors administered medications to help her babies' lungs mature.
"Sometimes you just have to sit back and thank God for blessing (sic) up to this point and put it fully in his hands," she wrote.