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gene chizik

Gene Chizik (born December 28, 1961 in Clearwater, Florida) is the head football coach at Auburn University (Though it is still unofficial, his departure from the same position at Iowa State University has been confirmed by the Iowa State Director of Athletics.) He was most recently the head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones, where he compiled a record of 5-19 in two seasons.

Chizik played linebacker for the University of Florida during the 1981 season, competing in the Peach Bowl. He graduated from Florida in 1985.

Personal

Gene is married to Jonna Chizik. They have identical twin daughters named Landry and Kennedy, who attended an acting camp in Austin, Texas, and a son named Cally.

Coaching career

Early years

He began his coaching career at Seminole High School (Pinellas County, Florida), serving as their defensive coordinator and inside linebacker coach from 1986-1988. He then became a graduate assistant at Clemson from 1988-1989, working with the outside linebackers. During his time at Clemson he coached in the 1988 Citrus Bowl and the 1989 Gator Bowl.
Chizik begins at Iowa State.

His initial full-time coaching job was as the defensive ends coach at Middle Tennessee State University. He served in this capacity from 1990-1991. His next assignment was at Stephen F. Austin, serving as their linebackers coach from 1992-1995. He was then promoted to the defensive coordinator role, which he held from 1996-1997. He then served as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach for Central Florida from 1998-2001.

While at Central Florida in Orlando, Chizik frequently visited practice sessions of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers studying the Bucs’ defensive scheme, the so-called ‘Tampa 2′, developed by then-Bucs head coach Tony Dungy, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and linebackers coach Lovie Smith.Chizik later employed a very similar scheme at Auburn, where he served again as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach from 2002-04. During this time, he had some of the greatest successes of his career to date. He coached in three bowl games, the 2003 Capital One Bowl, 2004 Music City Bowl, and 2005 Sugar Bowl. He won the 2004 Broyles Award, which is given each year to the top assistant coach in the nation. His 2004 Auburn Tigers football team finished 13-0 that year, won the SEC, was ranked second in the nation, and played in a BCS bowl.

In 2005 he was hired by Texas Longhorns to serve as their co-defensive coordinator, assistant head coach, and linebackers coach.[3] During his time with the Texas Longhorns, the team won the 2005 NCAA Division I-A national football championship by defeating USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Iowa State

In November 2006, Chizik was hired to replace outgoing coach Dan McCarney as head football coach of Iowa State University. McCarney was fired after going 4-8 in his final season, despite 5 bowl appearances during his tenure, the most of any Iowa State coach. Chizik’s contract with ISU was a six-year deal worth a guaranteed $6.75 million. With incentives, the total had the potential to be more than $10 million.In Chizik’s first season, Iowa finished 3-9, including a 15-13 win over Iowa, and back-to-back wins against Kansas State and Colorado. In 2008, Iowa State won their first two games against South Dakota State and Kent State before losing their final 10 games to finish the season 2-10. Following the season, Chizik fired two assistant coaches and demoted both his offensive and defensive coordinators. Chizik’s name came up frequently as a coach who would be on the hot seat for the following season, though all acknowledged the difficulty of the job given the lack of resources and difficult schedule.

Auburn

On December 13, 2008, the Iowa State Director of Athletics confirmed the un-official reports that Chizik had accepted the vacant head coaching position at Auburn University.

Blake Lively

Blake Christina Lively (born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. She stars in the book-based TV series Gossip Girl as Serena van der Woodsen. She has also appeared in several films including Accepted and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as well as its sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Early life

Lively, the youngest of five children, was born in Tarzana, California, the daughter of actors Ernie and Elaine Lively. Lively has two sisters, Lori and Robyn, and two brothers, Jason and Eric. Both of her parents and all four of her siblings are, or have been, in the entertainment industry. “My mom and dad always taught acting, so instead of getting me babysitters, they would just bring me to class,” Lively recalls.Her brother-in-law is Bart Johnson.

As a child, Lively was homeschooled (one of her homeschool classmates was actor and future boyfriend Penn Badgley).Lively attended Burbank High School in Burbank where she participated in Burbank High School’s show choir, In Sync, and was a cheerleader.[3] Lively stated in a interview for the August 2008 Seventeen magazine that she attended thirteen schools. She wanted to attend Stanford University.Lively was not at all interested in acting but during the summer between her junior and senior year of high school, her brother made his agent send her out on a few auditions. Of the two auditions, she got the role of Bridget for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Career

Lively started out in film with a bit role in Sandman in 1998. In 2005, Lively played Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination for “Choice Movie Breakout - Female.” She reprised the role in 2008 in the sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. She starred in Accepted, Simon Says, and Elvis and Anabelle in 2006. She received the Breakthrough Award from Hollywood Life for her role in Accepted in December 2006.

Lively was cast in the CW’s series Gossip Girl which premiered in September 2007. She plays Serena van der Woodsen in the teen drama.While rumors of infighting among the Gossip Girl co-stars have circulated in the tabloids, Lively denies that there is any unfriendly competition on-set. “The media is always trying to pit us against each other,” she said in an interview, “I guess because it’s just not interesting to say, ‘Everyone gets along; everybody just works 18-hour days and goes home to sleep.’ That’s not fun to read, I guess.” Her first magazine cover was the November 2007 issue of Cosmo Girl, where she discussed her time in high school and her career prior to Gossip Girl.She has since appeared on the January 2008 cover of shopping magazine Lucky. She has more recently appeared on the March 2008 cover of Teen Vogue, as well as the May 2008 cover of NYLON with her Gossip Girl co-star Leighton Meester. She appeared on the cover of “Seventeen”’s August 2008 issue. The star also was on the cover of “Girls’ Life”’s August 2008 issue, along with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, and America Ferrera. More recently Lively also appeared on the cover of “Cosmopolitan”’s September 2008 issue. Lively was also featured in a Saturday Night Live skit entitled “Murray Hill” alongside James Franco.

Personal life

Lively dated actor Kelly Blatz from 2004 to 2007; the two had been friends since childhood.In late 2007, rumors circulated that Lively was dating her Gossip Girl costar and former childhood classmate Penn Badgley.In May 2008, People magazine published photos of the two kissing while on vacation in Mexico.Lively and Badgley have since become more open about their relationship. The relationship is a favorite topic of the tabloids.

In October 2008, Lively appeared alongside Badgley in a MoveOn.org campaign ad in support of Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Lively is also something of a clothes horse, and she admits to owning an impressive amount of handbags. “I probably have, like, 60 gorgeous bags,” she told a reporter

 

Paulina Gretzky

Paulina Mary Jean Gretzky (born 19 December 1988 in Los Angeles, California) is an American model and pop singer.

Gretzky was born five months after her parents former NHL player Wayne Gretzky and actress Janet Jones - married in a lavish ceremony broadcast live throughout Canada.

She sang Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You” at the Edmonton Oilers-Montreal Canadiens Heritage Classic game at Commonwealth Stadium before 57,167 fans. She performed for the first time in public the night before the Oilers-Canadiens outdoor game. Ron MacLean reported that Gretzky sent a tape of the performance to the producer of the event.

She made her modelling debut on the August 2005 cover of Flare. She and Janet appear in the movie Alpha Dog.

Her song “Collecting Dust” was featured on MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. It has since been released on iTunes.

Bryan Batt

Bryan Batt is an American actor known mostly for his theater work,
but Bryan Batt has had a number of starring roles in movies and television as well.

Bryan Batt ’s performance in the stage adaptation of Saturday Night Fever earned
him one of New York City’s more unusual honors, a caricature at Sardi’s.

Bryan Batt currently appears in the AMC series Mad Men as Salvatore, a closeted
homosexual advertising executive. Bryan Batt, who is himself openly gay, has played
gay roles on film Jeffrey and Kiss Me, Guido and stage La Cage aux Folles.

In 2005, Bryan Batt told Playbill that he used to worry about the effect of coming
out on his career: “When I played the lead in Sunset Blvd., the movie of Jeffrey
was coming out, and I was petrified. Back then, every agent told you that if you
want to play a straight role, you don’t come out. This was before Ellen [DeGeneres]
came out. But now I couldn’t give a rat’s ass. It’s normal to be gay.

Bryan Batt lives with his partner, Tom Cianfichi, an events planner.
Bryan Batt and Cianfichi have been together more than eighteen years;
they met while performing Evita in Akron, Ohio.
Bryan Batt was playing Che Guevara, and Cianfichi was the understudy for Magaldi.
Bryan Batt and Cianfichi own a home decor and furnishings store, Hazelnut, on
Magazine Street in New Orleans.

Source:cure-blind.blogspot

tara grinstead

Tara Grinstead, 30, was a teacher and former beauty queen. Tara Grinstead attended a beauty pageant and a dinner party, and headed home. But Tara hasn’t been seen since… Tara Grinstead has been missing since October of 2005.

Tara Grinstead has been missing since October 22, 2005. After attending a beauty pageant and dinner, she told friends she was going home… and hasn’t been heard from since.

Friends and family tried to contact Tara the next day, but were unable to reach her. Then the following Monday, Grinstead did not show up for work at Irwin County High School. Her co-workers called police to report her as missing.

Police went to Tara Grinstead’s home in Ocilla, Georgia, where they found the clothing she had worn that Saturday night piled on her bedroom floor. They found her cell phone plugged into the charger, and her car in her driveway. But Tara’s purse and keys were both missing.

There was a latex glove found on her front lawn, which was sent to a lab for testing, but results proved inconclusive.

Grinstead’s family said Tara was very tidy and found it odd she would have left her clothes on her bedroom floor, and that Tara never left home without carrying her cell phone.

One odd thing they discovered was that her car was unlocked and her seat was pushed back really far, which would be strange for a petite 5 ‘ 3″ tall woman.

Something else strange, there was an envelope full of cash was found on her dashboard, and her dog and cat were abandoned. Police nor family could say where the money came from or whether it belonged to Grinstead, and her sister and friends say Grinstead was an animal lover who wouldn’t leave her pets abandoned.

There did not appear to be signs of break-in or a struggle, but Grinstead’s bedside clock was underneath her bed. And a lamp was broken into two pieces and was propped against the wall on the nightstand.

Tara Grinstead was a well-liked teacher, and was making a great future for herself. But she did seem to have a troubled personal life. Tara Grinstead’s ex-boyfriend had broken her heart a year before, but had come back to town just weeks before her disappearance.

Tara’s ex was dating a much younger woman, but still called Tara. Grinstead’s sister said that her sister and her ex had argued just a week before she disappeared.

Then new things were revealed, such as Grinstead’s young former student, who stated he had an affair with her. Police records show that she had him arrested for coming to her home and harassing her, but she later dropped the charges.

Tara Grinstead had filed a complaint with the police against one of their own officers. The officer was a friend to her ex-boyfriend, and the night Grinstead disappeared, the men were seen together in his police car, doing a “ride along”. Coincidence?

Tara Grinstead is still considered a missing-person case. Police have not ruled out foul play, but they also considered she may have just walked away from all the drama in her life.

Grinstead’s family and friends insist she is not the kind of person to go off on her own without being in touch with her family. They emphasize that the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are highly of out of character for her. They are certain she was abducted.

Police have not named any suspects but continue to hope for tips that could help their investigation. The total reward offered is $200,000 — $100,000 for Grinstead’s safe return and $100,000 for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for abducting her. To report a tip, call 229-468-TIPS

scott greenstein

Scott Greenstein (born in 1959) is President of Entertainment and Sports at SIRIUS Satellite Radio, overseeing all of the satellite radio broadcaster’s programming, marketing and corporate marketing activities. He reports to Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS.

Since joining SIRIUS in 2003, Greenstein was instrumental in brokering the deal that brought Howard Stern to satellite radio, and in the creation of new satellite radio channels and shows for Martha Stewart, Jimmy Buffett, Richard Simmons, Lance Armstrong, Bam Margera, Bode Miller, 50 Cent, and Senator Bill Bradley, among others. Greenstein helped form broadcasting partnerships with the National Football League, NASCAR, and the NBA, many of America’s top colleges, as well as with the organizers of English Premier League Football and tennis’ Wimbledon Championships.

Greenstein oversees all of SIRIUS’ music programming, and helped create deals with prominent musicians for exclusive music channels on SIRIUS, including hip hop artist Eminem’s “Shade 45”, and Jimmy Buffett among others. He was instrumental in assembling a team of athletes that includes Lance Armstrong and Tony Hawk to host Faction - a radio channel that has an innovative mix of rock, punk, and hip-hop.

Previously, Greenstein was Chairman of USA Films, a motion picture production, marketing and distribution company. At USA Films, he managed all aspects of its film activities and supervised the company’s home entertainment business through USA Home Entertainment – which handled home video/DVD distribution for the National Football League, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. Under Greenstein’s leadership, USA Films released Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic as its first in-house supervised production, which won four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

Greenstein also served as Co-President of October Films, where he was instrumental in acquiring, marketing and releasing such critically acclaimed films such as The Apostle, and the Academy Award-winning documentary The Last Days, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Prior to joining October Films, Greenstein was Senior Vice President of Motion Pictures, Music, New Media and Publishing at Miramax Films, where he executive produced Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, which won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Greenstein also served in senior management positions at Viacom International Inc., and Hustler Inc.

Richard Shelby

Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934), sometimes known as Dick Shelby, is an American politician. He currently is the senior U.S. Senator from Alabama. Originally elected to the Senate as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party in 1994 when it gained the majority in Congress.

Biography

Background

Shelby was born in Birmingham, Alabama to Alice L. Skinner and Ozie Houston Shelby. He attended the University of Alabama, graduating in 1957 and from its law school 1963, respectively.

After graduating, Shelby practiced law in Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, from 1963 to 1978. He is a member of the American Bar Association and Alabama Bar Association, as well as the American Judicature Society, Alabama Law Institute, Delta Chi Fraternity, and Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity.

Shelby currently lives in Tuscaloosa with his wife, Annette Nevin Shelby. They have two sons — Richard Jr., and Claude Nevin. Claude and his wife Lisa have two children: a daughter, Anna Elizabeth Shelby, and a son, William Nevin Shelby.

Early political career

He entered politics while serving as city prosecutor from 1963 to 1971. From 1966 to 1970, he was a U.S. Magistrate for the Northern District of Alabama; from 1969 to 1971, Shelby was a Special Assistant State Attorney General.

Shelby began his legislative career as a member of the Alabama Senate in 1970, serving until 1978, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Tuscaloosa-based 7th District. He was reelected three times.

Career in the Senate

In 1986, he won the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat held by Republican Jeremiah Denton, the first Republican elected to the Senate from Alabama since Reconstruction. He won a very close race as the Democrats regained control of the Senate. He was easily re-elected in 1992 even as Bill Clinton lost Alabama’s electoral votes.

Shelby spent most of his first 15 years in Washington as one of the more conservative Democrats in Congress. In the House, he was a member of the boll weevils, a group of moderate to conservative leaning Democrats who often worked with Republican President Ronald Reagan on defense issues.

Shelby publicly feuded with Bill Clinton during the first half of his second term. At a meeting with Vice President Al Gore, he turned to 19 Alabama TV cameras and denounced the Clinton program as “high on taxes, low on spending cuts”. Consequently, it was announced that a multi-million dollar space facility was not going to be built in Alabama but rather Texas. However, as Clinton’s approval ratings began to decline, Shelby’s popularity ratings became some of the highest in the state.[citation needed] He voted with Senate Republicans against the administration on almost every partisan issue.[citation needed] On November 9, 1994, Shelby switched his party affiliation to Republican one day after the Republicans won control of both houses in the midterm elections, giving the Republicans a 53-47 majority in the Senate. He won his first full term as a Republican in 1998 by a large margin, and faced no significant opposition in 2004.

Shelby served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1995 to 2003, stepping down because of a Senate rule limiting committee terms to eight years. Shelby took an adversarial stance towards the intelligence community during both Clinton and Bush administrations. He helped sink Anthony Lake’s nomination as CIA director in 1997 and promised to investigate the use of American-made satellites by the Chinese to gather intelligence. He was also highly critical of CIA Director George Tenet in the aftermath of September 11. When Tenet resigned in July 2004, Shelby commented “This is not a surprise to me at all. What was a surprise was that he held onto the job as long as he did”.

From 2003 until 2007, he chaired the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He is also a member of the Appropriations Committee (where he chaired its subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science) and Special Committee on Aging. He lost his chairmanships in 2007 when the Democrats regained control of the Senate.

Shelby is currently co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus and Zero Capital Gains Tax Caucus. He is also the Senate co-chair of the National Security Caucus. In addition, he is a member of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Centrist Coalition.

In the Metroplex of Dallas–Fort Worth, Shelby is known for the Shelby Amendment, a law he sponsored that eased some of the restrictions placed on Dallas’ secondary airport by the contentious Wright Amendment.

Shelby remains relatively popular in Alabama. An a December 2007 poll shows, he has a 54% approval rating, with 36%disapproving.Survey USA

Political views

Shelby opposes gun control and abortion, and supports the Federal Marriage Amendment. He has also been a staunch advocate of a flat tax and of the Bush Administration’s tax cuts. He cites disagreements with the Democrats on tax policy as one of the main reasons he became a Republican; he feels the Democrats are too willing to enact tax increases. Among the bills sponsored by Shelby over the years have been bills to make English the sole language of the federal government, to limit federal government spending by statute, and to provide a moratorium on certain forms of immigration.

However, he is considered to be much more independent-minded than his Senate colleague, Jeff Sessions. For instance, shortly after becoming a Republican he voted against a major tort reform bills, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, as well as a bill that weakened consumer protection laws, the Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act. Both bills were vetoed by President Clinton, though the first bill was successfully passed over his veto. In 1999 he was the only Senate Republican to vote against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Shelby also voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement and opposes most free trade agreements, most recently the Central America Free Trade Agreement. He also opposed the confirmation of Robert Bork to the United States Supreme Court in 1987 (when Shelby was still a Democrat). However, he supported the confirmation of Samuel Alito almost two decades later.

Environmental Record

In 2005, Richard Shelby received a 0 percent on the Republicans for Environmental Protection’s (”REP”) environmental scorecard.[2] He voted in a manner inconsistent with what the REP considers “pro-environment” on all 15 issues considered environmentally critical by the REP. Issues in which Senator Shelby voted “anti-environment” were: all amendments to the Energy Policy Act proposed in 2005, the issue of authorizing drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and reducing fuel economy standards for vehicles.

Senator Shelby received a 5 percent from the League of Conservation Voters (”LCV”) scorecard for his “pro-environment” vote on the issue of the Central America Free Trade Agreement. [3] The “CAFTA” is criticized by the LCV for its low environmental standards involving trade with Central American countries. This “pro-environment” vote, however, was outweighed by his supposed “anti-environment” votes on the energy conference report, renewable energy, farm conservation programs,global warming, natural gas facilities, fuel economy requirements, and various other issues.

In 2006, Senator Shelby received a 0 percent from the REP and a 0 percent from the LCV. According to these organizations, he voted “anti-environment” on the issue of energy and weatherization assistance, on drilling, environmental funding, peer review, renewable resources, and The Gulf of Mexico Security Act.

Assignments

* Senate Committee on Aging
* Senate Committee on Appropriations
o Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science (Ranking Member, former Chairman)
o Subcommittee on Defense
o Subcommittee on Homeland Security
o Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education & Related Agencies
o Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations & Related Programs
o United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
* Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs (Ranking Member, former Chairman)
o Subcommittee on Economic Policy
o Subcommittee on Housing & Transportation

Controversies

Leaking classified information

In 2004, a federal investigation concluded that Shelby revealed classified information to the media when he was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. [5] Specifically, Shelby revealed classified information on June 19, 2002 to Carl Cameron, the chief political correspondent on Fox News. This information had been given to Shelby only minutes before at a closed intelligence committee meeting. This information consisted of two messages intercepted by the National Security Agency on September 10, 2001, but translated only after the attacks the next day — “the match is about to begin” and “tomorrow is zero hour.”

Both the U.S. attorney’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the case, and a grand jury empaneled. In July 2004, the Department of Justice declined to file criminal charges against Shelby and transferred the case to the Senate Ethics Committee.

On August 11, 2004 media sources confirmed that Shelby had hired Washington-based attorney Gregory Craig, to represent him in investigations by the Ethics Committee. In November 2005, the Senate Ethics Committee dismissed its probe into the alleged leak of classified information regarding National Security Agency intercepts the day before the attacks, administering no punishment to Shelby.

 Conflict of interest: title insurance industry

Shelby, in his role as chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs, opposed proposed bills that would have helped reform the title insurance industry and help reduce the costs homeowners pay, particularly when they refinance their mortgage.

Shelby earns between $100,000 and $1,000,000 per year from Tuscaloosa Title Co. Inc., a title insurer he founded in 1974.[7] His staff stated that his opposition to the bills is unrelated to his relationship with Tuscaloosa Title.

Shelby Hall Research Center at University of Alabama

Named for Senator Shelby and his wife (a professor emerita at the University of Alabama), the 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) square foot new center opened at University of Alabama in 2004 and combines engineering, science (chemistry and materials research) and transportation research in one building. Shelby Hall.

Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

The $90 million, 12-story Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building at the University of Alabama at Birmingham opened in April 2006. The 323,000 square feet (30,000 m2)square foot building is located at University Blvd and 19th Street South on the UAB campus. Senator Shelby was instrumental in securing federal funds for the building, which increases UAB’s available research space by 25%.

Shelby at Auburn University

On April 18, 2008, the Auburn University Ginn College of Engineering dedicated the new Sen. Richard C. and Dr. Annette N. Shelby Center for Engineering Technology. Shelby helped secure $30 million of the $54 million cost of Phase I of the project.

Phase I of the massive building project is a 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2) complex that opened in 2008. Including modern classrooms, quality lab space, numerous administrative offices, and various student programs, the Shelby center has already begun to benefit Auburn University in recruiting students and increasing the quality of life for the students already there.

The second phase of the Shelby Center will include an Advanced Research Laboratory Building and also a new Mechanical Engineering Building.

Group Ratings (108th Congress)

* National Journal
o Economic: 42% Liberal, 57% Conservative
o Social: 16% Liberal, 81% Conservative
o Foreign: 0% Liberal, 67% Conservative
* Americans for Democratic Action: 20
* American Civil Liberties Union: 11
* Chamber of Commerce of the United States: 88
* Christian Coalition: 100
* League of Conservation Voters: 0
* American Conservative Union: 84
* National Taxpayers Union: 65

Electoral History

2004 Alabama United States Senatorial Election
Richard Shelby (R) (inc.) 68%
Wayne Sowell 38% (D)

1998 Alabama United States Senatorial Election
Richard Shelby (R) (inc.) 63.2%
Clayton Suddith 36.7% (D)

1992 Alabama United States Senatorial Election
Richard Shelby (D) (inc.) 64.8%
Richard Sellers (R) 33.1%
Jerome Shockley (Lib.) 2%

1986 Alabama United States Senatorial Election
Richard Shelby (D) 50.2%
Jeremiah Denton (R) (inc.) 49.8%

1984 Alabama 7th District United States Congressional Election
Richard Shelby (D) (inc.) 97%
Chuck Ewing (Lib.) 3%

Trista Rehn

Trista Nicole Sutter (née Rehn) (born October 28, 1972 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) is a prominent former participant in the ABC reality television shows, The Bachelor (in which she was runner-up to Amanda Marsh) and The Bachelorette.

She has also appeared on NBC’s Fear Factor and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

The Bachelorette

As part of her participation in The Bachelorette, Sutter was paid $1 million by ABC for affording the network the right to televise her December 6, 2003 marriage to Ryan Sutter, the bachelor she selected to marry on the show. The televised wedding, broadcast as the finale of a three-episode special Trista & Ryan’s Wedding drew over 26 million viewers, making it one of the most-widely viewed episodes in the history of reality television. After many months of trying to get pregnant, they finally welcomed their first child, Maxwell Alston Sutter, on July 26, 2007.

Television appearances

Sutter also appears opposite actor Jason Alexander in a KFC commercial. She also has appeared in country music singer Brad Paisley’s music video “Celebrity” in 2003 with Alexander, Little Jimmy Dickens, and William Shatner.

She was the first celebrity contestant to be voted off Season 1 of US Dancing with the Stars.

Personal life

Ryan Sutter married Rehn on December 6, 2003. The Sutters now live in Eagle County, Colorado, where Sutter is a Vail, Colorado firefighter. Rumors of their divorce surfaced in 2008 but were denied by Trista.

In February 2007, the Sutters told People magazine that they were expecting their first child in summer of 2007, but they wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise. In an interview, Ryan stated that if they had a girl, then they would like to have a boy next, but if they had a boy first, then they wanted a girl second. On July 26, 2007, Maxwell Alston Sutter was born 4 weeks early stemming from pregnancy complications via c-section after a failed induction/stalled labor. During her seventh month of pregnancy, Rehn was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Max was born at 8:50pm at Vail County Medical Center in Vail, Colorado, weighed 5lbs, 3oz.[3] Max was first revealed to the public on the cover of Us Weekly magazine and made his first on-camera appearance in a video diary series Trista recorded for Momlogic.com.

Allan Houston

Allan Wade Houston (born April 20, 1971) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA’s New York Knicks.

Early life

Houston was born in Louisville, Kentucky and played at Ballard High School in Louisville, helping them to win the 1988 Kentucky state championship. He went on to play at the University of Tennessee (where he played under his coach and father Wade) and graduated in 1993 as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and he is currently second to Chris Lofton at Tennessee for three point field goals made. Houston is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

NBA career

Houston was selected 11th overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 1993 NBA Draft, and averaged 8.5 points per game in his rookie year. His average was boosted to 14.5 and 19.7 points per game in the next two years.

In 1996 after his rookie contract expired, Houston signed as a free agent with the Knicks, for whom he played for the next nine seasons. At the time the Pistons fully expected Houston to re-sign giving the team a formidable duo of Houston and Grant Hill, but Houston left Detroit without even discussing a contract, leaving Pistons’ fans very bitter toward him.[1] In his first year as a Knick, Houston took the place of John Starks in the starting lineup, with Starks serving as a mentor for him coming off the bench. Houston kept his scoring average at a consistent clip of 17 points per game, and later helped to lead the team to the 1999 NBA Finals. His most famous play came in the decisive Game 5 of the first round of the 1999 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Miami Heat. In the fourth quarter, with the Knicks inbounding the ball trailing by one with little time left, Allan Houston caught the inbounds pass, and nailed a running jumper in the lane with 0.8 seconds left on the clock to win the game 78-77 and the series for the Knicks, resulting in one of the few times in the NBA playoffs where a #8 seed had knocked off a #1. The play is #50 in the 60 greatest playoff moments by NBA.com. The Knicks would later go on to reach the NBA Finals. Houston also made the All-Star team in 2000 and 2001.

Despite the accolades, though, Houston’s lasting legacy may be something that happened off the court: In 2001, Houston signed a maximum contract extension with the Knicks, a decision that proved to be a huge mistake for New York because it cut deeply into the Knicks’ already-grim salary cap situation and prevented them from making any free agent moves. Houston’s yearly salary of over $20 million made him virtually untradeable and injury problems would further burden the Knicks. Houston missed 32 games in 2003-04 due to a knee injury, and despite claims in the summer of 2004 that he would be ready to play the next season (he even refused to have surgery on his knee that summer), he played in only 20 games that season because his injury hadn’t completely healed. The knee injury would eventually force Houston to announce his retirement, on October 17, 2005.

Houston retired as one of the most prolific scorers in Knicks history, and his last-second bank-shot in the deciding game of the 1999 playoffs against the Miami Heat was one of the most dramatic moments in Knicks history, sending the team into the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals and eventually to the NBA Finals. Houston also ranks 10th on the NBA’s all-time list for career 3-point field goals made.

On March 30, 2007, while waiting for his current contract to expire with the Knicks, Houston was reportedly interested in making a comeback. Despite not having played in the league since 2005, Houston was the second highest paid player in the league two years later during the 2006-07 NBA season at $20.7 million.[2] On June 27, it was again reported that Houston was interested in making a comeback.[3] The Knicks signed Houston to a contract, of which terms were not disclosed.[4] On October 8, 2007, it was reported that Houston will join the Knicks in training camp, and that Jared Jeffries, who has worn number 20 with the Knicks, will switch to number 1 so that Houston can wear his old number.[5] It was reported later that Houston would not end up wearing no. 20,[6] as the NBA does not allow jersey number changes without prior approval (Jeffries could not give up #20).[7] On October 20, after only spending a week with the Knicks and seeing six minutes of activity in one pre-season game against the Boston Celtics, Houston decided to end his comeback attempt because of bad timing in choosing to join the team so late into preparation for the regular season.

Houston’s participation in voluntary games for the Phoenix Suns in September 2008 was a harbinger for his return to the NBA.

Allan Houston was signed by the Knicks to play in 2008, and plans to wear number 14 in honor of his father.

YEAR TEAM      G GS MPG    FG% 3P% FT%  OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO   PPG
93-94  DET    79 20 19.2 .405 .299 .222 .2 1.3 1.5 1.3 .43 .16 1.25  8.5
94-95  DET    76 39 26.3 .463 .424 .860 .4 1.8 2.2 2.2 .80 .18 1.49 14.5
95-96  DET    82 75 37.5 .453 .427 .823 .7 3.0 3.7 3.0 .74 .20 2.84 19.7
96-97  NYK    81 81 33.1 .423 .385 .803 .5 2.4 3.0 2.2 .51 .22 2.06 14.8
97-98  NYK    82 82 34.7 .447 .385 .851 .5 2.8 3.3 2.6 .77 .29 2.44 18.4
98-99  NYK    50 50 36.3 .418 .407 .862 .4 2.6 3.0 2.7 .70 .18 2.60 16.3
99-00  NYK    82 82 38.6 .483 .436 .838 .5 2.8 3.3 2.7 .79 .17 2.27 19.7
00-01  NYK    78 78 36.6 .449 .381 .909 .3 3.4 3.6 2.2 .67 .13 2.06 19.7
01-02  NYK    77 77 37.8 .437 .393 .870 .5 2.8 3.3 2.5 .70 .13 2.21 20.4
02-03  NYK    82 82 37.9 .445 .396 .919 .3 2.5 2.8 2.7 .66 .09 2.17 22.5
03-04  NYK    50 50 36.0 .435 .431 .913 .4 2.0 2.4 2.0 .76 .04 2.04 18.5
04-05  NYK    20 11 26.6 .415 .388 .837 .2 1.0 1.2 2.1 .40 .10 1.05 11.9
Career      839 727 33.7 .444 .402 .863 .4 2.5 2.9 2.4 .67 .10 2.10 17.3
Playoff       63 63 40.1 .448 .420 .884 .3 2.6 2.9 2.2 .68 .16 2.59 19.3

“Allan Houston Rule”

In 2005, the NBA agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The most striking innovation granted NBA teams a one-time option to release a player without his contract counting against the luxury tax threshold regardless of how long or how rich the contract was. The provision did not negate the player’s contract, a team’s obligation to pay the player, or the impact on the salary cap; it merely removed the player’s salary when computing the luxury tax. This rule benefited teams that were in danger of facing the “luxury axe” penalty, a tax paid on salaries spent above a certain threshold of total team salary. The correct term is “amnesty clause,” but because the team with the worst problems was the Knicks, and their worst financial liability was Houston, it was quickly dubbed the “Allan Houston Rule.”[11] Ironically, the Knicks chose not to use the exception for Houston, but for forward Jerome Williams instead, since the Knicks correctly predicted Houston would retire due to lingering injuries over his last two seasons. As a result, Houston’s contract counted a total of $40 million against the luxury tax threshold over last two years of the contract even though he did not participate in any games for the Knicks.

Allen Houston has just recently signed a new contract with the new york knicks