Slain TSA Officer Died Just Minutes After Being Shot, According To Coroner

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Transportation Security Administration officer who was killed in a gunman's attack at Los Angeles International Airport died two to five minutes after he was shot, coroner's officials said Wednesday.
Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said the autopsy report isn't finalized, but the detail was released after pressure to clarify when TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez died. The final report is expected to be released later this week, he said.
Hernandez was shot multiple times in the Nov. 1 shooting inside Terminal 3.
A preliminary coroner's report said a bullet hit Hernandez's aorta, the main artery in the body, which would have caused massive bleeding, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the findings. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
That official and another law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly said Hernandez didn't receive aid until 33 minutes after the shooting, when he was wheeled to an ambulance by police because the area wasn't declared safe for paramedics to enter.
Officers had subdued the gunman in less than five minutes, they said.
The head of the TSA union said he was appalled by the delay. American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox Sr. called the situation "very concerning" and said there should be a serious reexamination of TSA security policies.
It's not known if immediate medical attention could have saved Hernandez's life, but officials were examining what conversations took place between police and fire commanders to determine when it was safe enough to enter, and whether paramedics could have gone into the terminal earlier, one of the officials said. Formal conclusions could take months.
Officers from multiple agencies bent down to check on Hernandez before moving on within minutes of him being shot until he was taken outside; no officers rendered first aid on scene, according to surveillance video reviewed by the law enforcement officials.
Union officials had speculated that a more timely response might have saved Hernandez's life.
Marshall McClain, who represents the airport police union, said medical response was delayed by a Los Angeles police officer who told responders that Hernandez was dead. McClain said an airport police officer told him he might have felt a faint pulse and immediately ran Hernandez in a wheelchair to paramedics 150 yards away, outside.
It's unclear how the LAPD officer determined Hernandez was dead or if he was qualified to do so. The coroner's finding indicates Hernandez was probably already dead when the officer checked on him, five minutes after he was shot.
A recent audit by Los Angeles Police Commission inspector found that the LAPD had a zero percent compliance rate for state mandated first aid and CPR refresher training, excluding its Metropolitan Division.
LAPD said it would investigate whether the veteran officer hindered efforts to rescue Hernandez, as it always examines allegations against officers.
The man charged with the shooting, Paul Ciancia, was transferred from a hospital into U.S. Marshals custody of Tuesday. He could face the death penalty if convicted of a federal murder charge.
Authorities say Ciancia targeted TSA workers in a vendetta against the federal government when he pulled a semi-automatic rifle out of a duffel bag and shot Hernandez, along with two other TSA workers and a teacher who survived.

Carrot Top On Plastic Surgery Rumors: 'I'm Sorry That I Look Good'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/carrot-top-plastic-surgery_n_4284388.html?ref=topbar

With his wild and curly red hair, comedian Carrot Top (whose real name is Scott Thompson) is known for his distinct look. In the past, he's been accused of undergoing plastic surgery and abusing steroids -- but he scoffs at such rumors.
"People think I've had plastic surgery -- no, it just takes a lot of makeup to make me look good," the comedian jokes in a new episode of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?"
In the above clip from the episode, Carrot Top recalls a Comedy Central roast where his looks became the butt of jokes. The comedians were actually there to roast Flavor Flav, but "they love picking on me," Carrot Top says. "And one of the comics says, 'Jesus, Carrot Top, when are you gonna stop with all the plastic surgery? You look like the guy from 'The Mask' or something.'"
Carrot Top remembers his reaction at the time. "I'm sorry that I look good," he says. "I don't think I look anything different than I did when I started [in comedy]."
As for his physique, Carrot Top says he's just always been fit. "I get a lot of grief because I've always been in shape and I think for comedy in general, they don't expect comics to be in shape," he says.
"When I first started, I had my little Nissan pick-up truck and my two teeny, barely funny trunks of stuff, and I used to bring dumbbells with me, literally, to the hotels," he says.
When he began his comedy show, "Carrot Top Live at the Luxor" in Las Vegas -- now in its eight year -- he really started to bulk up. "I worked out more, I really got into that training stuff, where I'm like, 'Holy crap. I'm big.' You really forget how big you can get," he says. "So people would say, 'My God, you're huge.'"
Also in the video, the self-proclaimed "King of Props" takes cameras on a tour of his home and introduces viewers to his "best friend" -- his blow dryer -- and drawer full of products. "Mousse and gels and crap," he says. "Every five seconds, I'm putting something in there," he adds, gesturing to his curls.
In the video below, Carrot Top joins OWN executive producers Jill Van Lokeren and Julie Simpson on HuffPost Live to talk more about the episode.
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on OWN.

Hulk Hogan On Considering Suicide And The New Year's Eve When Everything Changed

For decades, Terry Gene Bollea ignited "Hulkmania" around the world as the wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. After his professional wrestling career ended, he earned new fans with his reality show, "Hogan Knows Best," where viewers met his wife, Linda, and two children, Brooke and Nick. The show was canceled in late 2007, and it was shortly after that Hogan says everything around him began to crumble.
"After the show I kinda hit rock bottom," Hogan says in the above clip from "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" on OWN. "Everything got dark, everything happened at once. I was drinking alcohol very heavily. It just all kept piling up, it all kept mounting and mounting I didn't know how to handle it. I always wondered how could someone possibly take their own life, and so I got to that point where I said, 'You know what, maybe this would be easy. You know, maybe this would be an easy way to fix things.'"
On Aug. 27, 2007, Hogan's son Nick lost control of his sports car, severely injuring his passenger and best friend, John Graziano. Nick pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to eight months in jail.
Hogan also says his marriage at the time was "crashing and burning."

"There was incident in Miami on New Year’s Eve where I was with my family and a bunch of my friends at a table," he says. "And there's a bunch of negativity about the food being bad, you know the champagne didn't work, even though it was all consumed. And when I walked outside, some kid ran up and hugged me and was like, 'Oh I grew up watching you. I didn't have a dad, you're like a dad to me.' And there was another person that said 'Hey Hulk, we love you.'"
"And I went, 'Oh my God' -- it was right then. I didn't understand what was going on, but it hit me that there's clean air and that there's dirty air. And once I walked back inside again, I realized I couldn't take it anymore. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I got sick and tired of the hating, the negativity, the verbal abuse -- just everything that I was hearing."
"I now realize I had to go through all this stuff to be who I am today, to make me who I am today," he says.
Hogan and Linda's divorced was finalized in 2009, ending their 24 year marriage. He went on to marry girlfriend Jennifer McDaniel in 2010.
"Before, it was always, well you're supposed to be this wrestler, you're supposed to be this husband or father that makes this crazy money and travels and works and does this," Hogan says. "And life is tough and money's hard to make and all this fictitious stuff.
"And then I realized all that stuff -- the peace, love, the joy, that still, small voice, the energy, that God presence -- is part of who I'm meant to be," Hogan says.
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on OWN.

$1 Million In Gold Found In Jet Airways Toilet

Cleaners working on a commercial plane in eastern India have found 24 gold bars worth more than $1 million stuffed into a toilet compartment, officials said Wednesday.
India, which rivals China as the world's biggest gold consumer, has witnessed a spike in smuggling after import duties were hiked three times this year to try to dampen demand for the precious metal.
The plane belonging to Jet Airways was being cleaned at Kolkata airport on Tuesday after a trip from the eastern city of Patna. It had previously been flying on international routes.
"The cleaning staff of the airport were going though their routine duties and found two bags in the toilets of the plane," director of the airport B.P. Mishra told AFP.
The one-kilogram gold bars "have not been claimed by anyone. No arrest has been made as yet".
Senior customs official R.S. Meena estimated the value of the haul at about 70 million rupees, or $1.1 million.

Copyright (2013) AFP. All rights reserved.

President Obama to Award Presidential Medal of Freedom to Gloria Steinem, Oprah Winfrey

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." - Gloria Steinem
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, and on Wednesday November 20th, 2013 President Barack Obama will present the award to 16 recipients, including groundbreakers and MAKERS Gloria Steinem and Oprah Winfrey.
The Medal honors individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavor.
In its announcement, the White House writes that Gloria Steinem is “a leader in the women’s liberation movement, co-founded Ms. magazine, and helped launch a wide variety of groups and publications dedicated to advancing civil rights. Ms. Steinem has received dozens of awards over the course of her career, and remains an active voice for women’s rights.”  Steinem has been a controversial, good-humored, and inescapable public conscience on issues of equality and social justice for over five decades.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey will also be honored as one of the "world’s most successful broadcast journalists, best known for creating The Oprah Winfrey Show, which became the highest rated talk show in America for 25 years." Winfrey is also an active philanthropist, expanding opportunities for young women around the world. 
The 14 other recipients include Ernie Banks, Ben Bradlee, Bill Clinton, Daniel Inouye (posthumous), Daniel Kahneman, Richard Lugar, Loretta Lynn, Mario Molina, Sally Ride (posthumous), Bayard Rustin (posthumous), Arturo Sandoval, Dean Smith, Cordy Tindell "C.T." Vivian and Patricia Wald. 
Congratulations to all recipients and their families!
BROWSE more trailblazing women's stories. 

Categories: MAKERS, In the News

Tags: Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem

Kanye Isn't Going To Mention President Obama Anymore

Kanye West continued his impromptu 2013 radio tour on Monday, stopping by Philadelphia station Hot 107.9 for an interview with morning show hosts Shamara and Laiya. The 20-minute chat, available in three videos online, covered a wide array of topics, including West's current Yeezus Tour, his early rap influences ("Hammer, LL Cool J, Run DMC") and his profession:

People get mad at me saying that I am a creative genius, but it's just obvious. It's, like, factual. [...] I'm not a musician, I don't even know how to play the piano. I would write creative genius when I go through the airport -- and you have to put that in customs [forms], where you put what your title is -- except for two reasons: it takes too long to write and sometimes I spell the word genius wrong.

Toward the end of the Hot 107.9 interview, West was asked about his relationship with Barack Obama and whether he would ever "break bread" with the president:

Oh, you talking about how he use to come and visit me and my mama and tell me he's about to run for president? I just think that we're pop icons, and the president likes to use that type of thing just to be down. People was fine with me being everyone's punching bag for about five years. "This is the person we love to hate, so if you want to distract people from everything that's going on [...] just say you hate Kanye and there's going be 30 other people who say they hate Kanye." That was kind of my position in culture and he kind of used that too. "Oh, he's a jackass," because that's how the world felt. I don't care if someone's the president or not. I care about thoughts and how you helping people and what you bring to the world. My music brings joy to people. What I create brings joy to people. Me, I'm not about me. I'm about I've got an idea that people are going to like. Don't you get frustrated around Christmas time dealing with clothing? Don't you get frustrated with so many things? That's Steve Jobs made things easier for people in life.

Interrupted at that point, West was told to "leave Michelle alone" (even though he wasn't talking about the first lady in his answer).

Well, uh, I think he should mention my baby mama's name, because we both from Chicago. [...] But no, I'm not gonna mention him no more, I'm passed that. That's out my thoughts. That's lowering my priority of thinking at this point.

Listen to West's full interview with Hot 107.9 in three parts: Here, here and here.

Money Minute: Millions Stand to Lose Jobless Benefits; Money Pours into Mutual Funds

The haves and the have-nots in the economic recovery. That and more of the top money stories you need to know Monday.

Toby Talbot/AP

More than 2 million people could lose jobless benefits over the next few months if Congress doesn't extend an emergency aid program. Many jobless could end up receiving fewer weeks of benefits.

Meanwhile, a government report shows there are now more women in the job force than there were before the Great Recession began in 2008. That's not the case for men though. They are still nearly 2 million jobs below the peak level.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) start the week at record highs, and both have posted six straight weekly gains. Last week, the Dow gained 1.3 percent, the S&P rose 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC) rallied 1.7 percent. All three major averages are closing in on milestone levels, including 16,000 for the Dow and 4,000 for the Nasdaq.

With stocks are record highs, mom and pop investors are pouring money into stock mutual funds. The research firm TrimTabs says stock funds took in more than $34 billion in new money over the past month.

Boeing (BA) shares are set to take off securing a series of big orders for its new 777X jet from Middle Eastern airlines. Those orders were valued at more than $100 billion, based on list prices, making it Boeing's best-ever product launch. This is significant for the whole U.S. economy, as Boeing is one of the nation's biggest exporters. But it's still not known where the new plane will be built. Workers in Washington State last week rejected a labor pact, and Boeing says it will look elsewhere for a manufacturing plant.

Sony (SNE) also reported strong demand for the rollout of the PlayStation4 video game console. It sold more than 1 million units Friday, the first day it was available. However, online forums suggested there may be serious technical problems with the new consoles. Microsoft (MSFT) rolls out its new Xbox this coming Friday.