Video: Smerconish: We all have embarrassing family stories

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Video: 'What Happened to Phoebe Prince?', Part 1

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

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Taylor Swift's absentee awards show date is cancer patient - latimes ...

While accepting her second consecutive entertainer of the year award to cap Sunday?s Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony, Taylor Swift probably left more than a few viewers scratching their heads at her remark from the stage about her date who couldn?t join her.

After thanking fans whose votes landed her the ACM?s top honor, she said, ?We work hard and we try to give back. Recently, I have been aware of a different struggle that is going on. My date tonight was supposed to be a high school football player named Kevin McGuire, and he is not here. But I promised him I?d give him a shout-out. So Kevin and all your family and friends, thank you for wanting to take me to the ACMs.?

She was talking about McGuire, a Somerdale, N.J., 18-year-old who has leukemia. His sister, Victoria,?had launched a Facebook page in February hoping to persuade Taylor to attend his high school prom.

Swift responded with a post that said, "Kevin, I'm so sorry but I won't be able to make it to your prom. But I was wondering, the ACM Awards are coming up. Would you be my date? Love, Taylor."

On Saturday, his sister posted an update that her brother was too ill to attend.

"I am so sorry to announce this devastating news, but Kevin was admitted to the hospital last night, and is unable to attend the Academy of Country Music Awards with Taylor Swift,? she wrote. ?As we should all live by the motto 'live for today,' a cancer patient feels the impact of these words far too hard. We appreciate everything you have done for us, and we know you are all hurt from this too. ... As for Taylor, she is just as depressed as all of us to miss out on this date, and we are so thankful for the opportunity she has given us."

Following that announcement, Swift tweeted, "Just talked to Kevin McGuire. He's not well enough to join me at the ACMs. Please keep him in your thoughts. I'll make it up to you, Kevin!"

McGuire, who was out of the hospital?by Sunday and watched the show with family members at an Applebee's restaurant,?told the Cherry Hill, N.J. Courier-Post, "I was perfectly fine the last two months. I didn't [get] sick or even sneeze. Before my flight I got sick. Someone out there, somehow, didn't want me going." Following a week of chemotherapy, he explained, "I had a fever and low blood counts. They're still pretty low. I'm trying to stay away from people."

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Taylor Swift with her second?consecutive entertainer of the year award from the Academy of Country Music.?Credit: Isaac Brekken / Associated Press.

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Battered racing yacht, crew limp toward SF Bay

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Air National Guard parajumpers, from the 129th Rescue Wing prepare medical supplies to be dropped from a Coast Guard aircraft to a 67-foot sailing yacht with three injured persons aboard, the Clipper Venture Six which is sponsored by Geraldton Western Australia, in the Round the World Yacht Race, Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Coast Guard's Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda, Calif. is coordinating the efforts to rescue the three injured persons 400 miles west of San Francisco. (AP Photo/Seaman David Flores, U.S. Coast Guard)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Air National Guard parajumpers, from the 129th Rescue Wing prepare medical supplies to be dropped from a Coast Guard aircraft to a 67-foot sailing yacht with three injured persons aboard, the Clipper Venture Six which is sponsored by Geraldton Western Australia, in the Round the World Yacht Race, Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Coast Guard's Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda, Calif. is coordinating the efforts to rescue the three injured persons 400 miles west of San Francisco. (AP Photo/Seaman David Flores, U.S. Coast Guard)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Air National Guard a Coast Guard drop master prepares to drop medical supplies to the Clipper Venture Six, a 67-foot sailing yacht, Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda, Calif. is coordinating the rescue efforts of three injured boaters. (AP Photo/Seaman David Flores, U.S. Coast Guard)

ALAMEDA, Calif (AP) ? A Coast Guard cutter returned to port Monday after rescuing two injured members of a racing crew whose yacht was smashed by a giant wave in the Pacific Ocean during an around-the world race.

The ship docked at Coast Guard Island in Alameda around 3 p.m. Monday, a day after it plucked two British crew members from the Geraldton Western Australia about 400 miles west of San Francisco.

Jane Hitchens, 50, and Nik Brbora, 29, carefully walked off the Coast Guard ship and waved to reporters before they were put on stretchers and taken to a hospital in separate ambulances. Brbora was welcomed by his partner, who was sailing on a competing yacht that arrived earlier.

Hitchens, a doctor from Kent, England, appears to have suffered broken ribs, while Brbora, a software engineer from London, injured his pelvis, said assistant race director Justin Taylor, who met with them after they arrived in Alameda.

It was unclear whether they would rejoin the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which resumes April 14 when crews set sail for Panama and then New York.

"I think if they could get back on the boat tomorrow, they would," Taylor said. "But it's very much up to the doctors whether they're going to get signed off as medically fit to come back."

The two crew members were hurt Sunday when a huge wave smashed over their 68-foot yacht's stern with such force that it carried away the boat's steering wheel and knocked the crew about like bowling pins.

"Every once in a while that wave will come out of nowhere, it's got your name on it and it's going to slam you," said Taylor, a two-time skipper in the contest. "And that's exactly what happened."

The crew managed to quickly replace the steering wheel with a tiller and got the yacht under control by pulling down "the remains of our main sail" and raising a much smaller "storm jib," slowing the boat's progress considerably, captain Juan Coetzer told race organizers in comments posted online.

"The sea was alive with rage," Coetzer said. "Then at our watch change, just before the sun came up (Saturday), a monstrous foaming swell broke over our stern."

The wave pushed the helmsman Mark Burkes into the steering wheel and its pedestal in gale-force winds of more than 50 knots.

"The water had so much force in it that it pushed Mark into the helm, snapping the pedestal clean off," Coetzer reported. "We had no steering and crew were falling all over the boat."

After the Coast Guard removed the two injured members Sunday, the remaining 11 sailors decided to press on to finish the longest leg of the global race. They were expected to reach the Port of Oakland early Tuesday and become the last of 10 boats to complete a 5,680-mile trek across the Pacific.

The U.S. Coast Guard sent out a long-range HC-130 Hercules aircraft on Saturday for a rescue effort, but the rough seas and strong winds thwarted an attempt to lower rescuers. Instead, medical supplies were dropped on board and a cutter dispatched to meet the stricken vessel.

Two others who suffered minor injuries decided to continue sailing, race spokeswoman Dee-Dee Taft said. Max Wilson, 62, a farmer from Queensland, Australia, also may have suffered broken ribs, and Burkes, 47, the helmsman at the time, sustained a back injury.

The crew planned to fix the yacht and continue two more legs of the race, which began in Southhampton in England and will finish there July 22 after nearly a year at sea.

The first boat arrived Friday at Jack London Square in Oakland, Calif., where the entire fleet is expected to stay for the next 12 days to make repairs, restock, rest and take part in a sailboat show before embarking for Panama.

Crossing the North Atlantic is typically the hardest leg of the race, and ocean rescues are not uncommon, Taylor said.

"To get this close to the finish is a tough one to swallow," Taylor said. "I'm disappointed for them."

____

Associated Press Writer Paul Elias contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Sixth Sense Studio ? Homeowners insurance and flood insurance?

i have a bank of america loan of 72,000 wondering how much should i be paying for insurance coverage. i pay both insurances separate 400 a year for homeowners coverage amount of 190,000 with my chosen insurance and bank of america is asking for coverage amount of 180,000 (1,900 a year)in flood insurance they placed. legally shouldn?t i pay less than what my mortgage is worth. bank an gent said i have to talk to homeowners insurance to lower my coverage in order to lower there purchasing flood insurance.they said they re goingby the homeowners insurance i have. So i will be visitingthe agent insurance soon to make changes , so how much coverage should i be purchasing and exactly be paying yearly.

The loan balance has absolutely NO connection to how much you "should be paying" for house and flood insurance.

Your house insurance and flood insurance are BOTH based on the "cost to rebuild" your house ? not the loan balance, not the market value.If you have a kitchen fire, would you be happy if the insurance paid you 1/6th the policy limit, if you insured your house for $72,000?Probably not ? you?d PROBABLY want them to FIX YOUR KITCHEN.

What you have to do, is get a written estimate from a general contractor, of how much they?d charge you, detailed, to REBUILD YOUR HOME.And THAT is the amount of insurance you have to cover, while you have a loan.

AFTER you pay your house off, you can flat out cancel your insurance if you want.Or, you can pay a much, much higher rate, to get a low value policy.

Most people who want to lower their coverage limit, don?t actually want LESS coverage ? they want LOWER INSURANCE costs, but they want that kitchen fire to STILL be fully covered!Go figure.

Remember that your home insurance is the amount it would cost to replace your home and entire contents of your house. That is why your insurance coverage amount is different than your loan amount and even your tax value.So the real question is, will 180k cover getting your house rebuilt?

Your amount of insurance depends on the replacement value not the sale value. You should have the insurance company evaluate the coverage need based on their models. However- if you do not trust it, get multiple opinions.

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HCL intros trio of Android 4.0 tablets aimed at Indian classrooms

HCL, previously known for launching those budget-friendly MiLeaps, is now getting ready to take its low-cost approach to the tablet market. Earlier today, the Indian outfit announced a trifecta of ICS-packed slates, all of which are aimed squarely at the education sector. Aside from running the freshest version of Android, these 7-inch (800 x 480) slates feature an unspecified 1GHz CPU alongside 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD) as well as full and mini-USB ports. Additionally, the K-12 and HE MyEduTabs are being bundled with bonus educational content, including free NCERT books and an extra SD card on the former. The trio is set to hit the shelves later this month in India, with the ME U1 priced at 7,999 rupees (approximately $162), while the K-12 and HE are 11,499 and 9,999, respectively.

[Thanks, Rakesh]

HCL intros trio of Android 4.0 tablets aimed at Indian classrooms originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Communications Strategy: CEO Transitions | Business 2 Community

It seems we read daily about CEO transitions ? last week alone, it was announced that Jim Skinner of McDonald?s was stepping down and Gary Pruitt was named CEO of the Associated Press. And, according to FTI Consulting?s recent study, ?Communicating Critical Events: CEO Transitions and the Risk to Enterprise Value,? these changes, and how they are handled, can have an enormous impact on the company?s performance. Read the full study here.

Over the three-year period between July 2007 and June 2010, over one-third (39%) of North American companies announced a CEO transition ? which FTI Consulting attributes to particularly strong pressure from Wall Street. This means that communications professionals are triply challenged ? tasked with mitigating the impact of the former leader?s departure, helping the new CEO develop a personal brand, and communicating his/her company vision.

These tasks are vital because a large part of investor opinion reflects a CEO?s reputation ? according to the research, 32% of investment decisions are based on the perception of the company?s CEO. And, there is considerable downside potential, as investors are 2.6 times more likely to sell vs. buy a company?s stock because of a CEO.

So what are the takeaways for communication professionals? The research gives insight into audience and message:

• Audience ? Most important sources influencing investors? initial opinion of a new CEO are customers (78%), former colleagues (69%), industry analysts (55%) and other CEOs (50%) ? yet most companies focus on more conventional, yet less influential sources, including sell-side analysts (40%) and the media (27%). It?s critical to direct messages about the new CEO towards these emerging audiences.
• Message ? The most important opinion driver of a new CEO, by far, is a track record of execution ? while just 4% of respondents say that experience at the company is most important. So in communications, highlighting the new CEO?s track record at former positions or companies is essential.

What is your experience? What are companies that you think have handled CEO transitions particularly well?

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