Twitter reacts to the controversial Louisville-Wichita St. jump ball call
By Eric Orvieto | The Dagger
Yahoo Sports Update Leading 71-68, Shockers guard Ron Baker grabbed the rebound off a Luke Hancock missed free throw. Hancock reached his hand in and a jump ball was called. Louisville went on to win 72-68 to secure a spot in Monday's title game.
The most probable outcome of all these tensions is a low-level "tactical" strike from North Korea.
But don't worry, it'll be " a relatively small attack that won’t leave many people dead," Sue Mi Terry, a Columbia University professor who served as a senior analyst on North Korea at the CIA from 2001 to 2008, told Wired's Spencer Ackermann.
Analysts in the military, political, and intelligence fields have all pretty much said the same thing: Kim Jong-Un has painted himself into a corner, and the only way out is a gunfight.
Luckily they also say it won't be World War III.
“Chances are not high that they will lead to a full-scale war,” Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin of South Korea said to Choe Sang-Hun of The New York Times. “But given the nature of the North Korean regime, it’s possible that they will launch a localized provocation.”
Kim only got in this position because of all his talk, but as we've covered before, the posturing and "bellicose bluster" is also a good means for new leaders to consolidate power.
Kim "needs to show he has the guts. The best way to do that is to use the military might that he commands," said Lee Yoon-gyu, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University in Seoul. "This paves the way for greater praise for him if North Korea makes a provocation later and claims victory."
Kim will eventually be compelled to do "something provocative to prove the threats weren't empty," Lee said.
In the past, these attacks included sinking small ships, short-lived artillery barrages, even taking Americans captive. One way or another though, the attacks were not the the sustained or devastating enough to initiate open war.
“It will be something sneaky and creative and hard to definitively trace back to North Korea to avoid international condemnation and immediate retaliation from Washington or Seoul,” Terry told Ackermann
Kevin James' estate is for sale for $5.5 Million (Redfin) By Lizbeth Scordo | omg!
t's pretty fitting that actor Kevin James made his fortune on the hit sitcom "King of Queens" because it looks like the actor has certainly been living like a king in recent years.
The 47-year-old has put his 11,291-square-foot Los Angeles-area mansion on the market for $5.495 million, according to real estate website Redfin. And a peek inside shows an over-the-top home that appears better suited for some of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" than for the burly star of "Paul Blart: Mall Cop."
In addition to five bedrooms and nine bathrooms, the custom-built mansion, which sits on two acres of land in the San Fernando Valley community of Encino, includes a giant open-air gym, state-of-the-art home theater, and even a dressing room "befitting a posh boutique on Rodeo Drive," according tothe listing. (See dressing room pic below.)
James' Rodeo Drive-style dressing room. (Redfin)
Kevin James (Robin Marchant/Getty Images)James – who has three young children with wife, actress Steffiana De La Cruz – bought the home in 2003 for $3.2 million. It's unclear how many upgrades (if any) James did after moving in and James' listing agent did not return calls for comment, but one thing's for sure: The guy clearly loves luxury.
Other posh amenities include a resort-style backyard with pool and hot tub, a spa-style bathroom complete with a shower made of rocks and outdoor patio with a fireplace, and a gourmet kitchen with a copper range and hood made by fabled French manufacturer La Cornue, which can cost upwards of $75,000.
Oh, and the entire place is wired with an automated system that lets the occupants control everything from the home's lighting to music to the air temperature, all from a remote control. Now, that's the kind of amenity couch potato Doug Heffernan could have truly appreciated.
Justin Bieber just can't seem to stop monkeying around.
The pop star's capuchin monkey was confiscated at a German airport last Thursday after the Biebs failed to provide proper paperwork.
"Justin Bieber brought his monkey to Germany but had no official paperwork with him," Thomas Meister, spokesman for the customs office at the Franz Josef Strauss Airport in Munich, told People. "We were forced to confiscate the animal."
Is Bieber heading into Michael Jackson territory, or what?
Jackson, of course, adopted his infamous chimpanzee Bubbles in the early '80s, reportedly letting the ape sleep in a crib and use his toilet.
George Clooney was just as smitten with his pet pig, Max.
"Pigs are really smart. And he was funny, and he made me laugh," Clooney told Charlie Rose of his pot-bellied oinker, who died in 2006.
And don't get Mike Tyson started about his love for pigeons.
"The first thing I ever loved in my life was a pigeon. I don't know why . . . I feel ridiculous trying to explain it," the tough guy ex-boxer said in 2011 while promoting his pigeon-racing reality show "Taking on Tyson."
"Queen of mean" billionaire Leona Helmsley — best known for her alleged quip that "only the little people pay taxes" — left her Maltese, Trouble, a $12-million trust fund (the sum was later reduced to $2 million).
Entertainer Roy Horn — one half of the Siegfried & Roy duo — was bitten on the neck in 2003 by their white tiger, Montecore. He was critically injured but learned to walk again.
And who can forget Paris Hilton's Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, who went just about everywhere with the heiress and even kicked off an (annoying) dog-as-accessory trend?
Leave it to Justin Timberlake to put huge smiles on his fans' faces!
In a commercial that’s been running since last week, Target invited 20 of J.T.'s biggest supporters to come sing his new hit song “Mirrors” in order to help them introduce his new album. Little did they know that they were in for the surprise of a lifetime, when the star snuck up from behind to sing along with them.
Now Target has posted an extended three minutes of outtakes, and the fans’ reactions are even more priceless.
The first young woman who encounters the singer lets out a squeal for the ages. That’s followed by a couple cries of “Oh my god!” and even a “Holy (bleep)!”
In one of the cuter moments, J.T. and a fan square off jokingly saying, “Don’t look at me,” to each other.
“I’ve loved him since I was 11, so this is a really big deal to me,” another young woman said.
Many beautiful tears of joy and happiness ensue.
Timberlake has been breaking all sorts of records for his latest album, “The 20/20 Experience,” which hit stores on March 19. Sales exceeded expectations according to Nielsen SoundScan, moving 968,000 copies, and marking this his best solo debut to date.
The deluxe version is available exclusively at Target, and includes 2 bonus tracks.
Check out Timberlake's epic music video for "Mirrors" here (warning: it will very likely make you cry!)
By Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – 8 hours ago
Livescience/Photo by NASA - An image of the storm taken by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite on March 27, 2013.
There is currently a massive storm churning over the Atlantic that spans the entire ocean basin, stretching all the way from Canada to Europe, and from Greenland to the Caribbean.
It's the same weather system that brought a massive spring blizzard to much of the United States and Canada earlier this week (on Tuesday (March 26), 44 of 50 states had some snow on the ground), and which has now ballooned in size, according to Jason Samenow, chief meteorologist with the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang.
Robert Oszajca, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service's Ocean Prediction Center, explained that the storm got this big by merging with several low-pressure systems that were hanging out over the Atlantic Ocean. The merging weather systems gave it more power, which was accentuated by a gradient between warm moisture from the southeast, delivered by the Gulf Stream, and frigid air from the north. This intensified the storm, causing it to spin, elongate and grow in size, Oszajca told OurAmazingPlanet.
Normally, the system would have drifted into Europe several days ago. However, a high-pressure system over Greenland blocked the low-pressure system's advance, which allowed it to strengthen further, fed by cold air from the north. This created winds (which move from high pressure to low pressure) up to 75 mph (120 km/h), equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane, Oszajca said.
"We're impressed with the size of this storm," he said. Nevertheless, storms this big form about once or twice every winter.
The storm, which looks like a large comma whose tail stretches into the Caribbean, ranges from Eastern Canada all the way to Spain and north to Greenland. It has created waves up to 42 feet (13 meters) high, Oszajca said.
The storm has already begun to weaken, however, as the high-pressure "blocking" system to the north has eased. Oszajca said the central low-pressure system that has powered the storm will soon break up into several separate centers, and the storm will fragment before hitting Portugal in about four days. The storm isn't expected to be very intense by the time it reaches Europe, he added.
You may not even realize you're doing it, but saying these three little words is an instant turn-off to guys, not to mention awful for your own self-esteem. Writer Josh Aiello wants to put a stop to the pervasive phrase forever.
By Josh Aiello
If you want to turn off a guy fast, allow me to recommend three magic words. To guys, these words are the Holy Grail of annoying things girls say, the abracada bra of instantaneous mood killers, the uglier cousin to the infamous lose-lose query: "Do I look fat in this?" The three words we pray you will never say to us: "I look fat."
Imagine the worst thing a guy could say to you (thought joggers: "I'm in love with your sister," "I killed a man..."), multiply it by 10, add a full weekend of nothing but golf on TV--and you'll start to understand just how awful it is for us to hear "I look fat" coming out of a girl's mouth, especially a girl we really like or, worse, love. Take it from my friend Adam, 34: "When a girl says she looks fat, all I think is, How can I get out of this conversation as quickly as possible? She's either fishing for compliments, she doesn't like herself, or she actually has gained weight, in which case I think, So what? Do something about it, or stop worrying and be comfortable with yourself the way you are," he says. "Whatever the reason, I'm basically like, Please, make this stop."
Now, I'm not a woman, but I'm guessing "Please, make this stop" isn't the reaction most girls are hoping for when talking to a guy. Yet that's where our brains go when we hear those three words. Here's why.
When You Say "I Look Fat," We Feel Helpless
Once we hear that, we know that no matter how many times we tell you how hot you look, you won't believe us. You've already crossed over to the dark side of deep insecurity and you're too far gone. Guys hate feeling helpless, but you already know that from that time we tried to assemble your Ikea bookshelf.
It's a Guaranteed Killer of Good Times
"As soon as a girl says those words, the night's ruined," says my friend Will, 39. "She's already feeling down on herself and in a bad mood. It's a drag." It's also totally pointless. "It's basically like saying you look ugly," says Steve, 25. "Of course, we're not going to agree. If we did, we'd never hear the end of it."
You're Planting a Seed of Doubt in Our Minds
Your guy knows you're not fat. He can see you're not fat. But the more you say you're fat, the more he'll start to question the evidence. I once dated a really pretty girl who was convinced she was overweight. She told me she thought she was fat so often that when my parents came to visit, I didn't introduce her to them. Why? Because I doubted whether what I saw when I looked at her was what other, more objective people saw. Saying "I look fat" connects you and fat in a guy's mind. And once that connection has been made, it's tough to shake.
I get it--there's an incredible amount of pressure on women to look perfect. But it's easy to forgetguys feel some of this pressure too. "When a girl says she looks fat," my friend Afshin, 24, tells me, "First I'm like, Seri ously? Then I think, Wait a min ute....Is she? Followed by, Crap, now I feel fat. I should proba bly hit the gym tomorrow." On uttering those three words, a guy goes from having a good time to wondering why the girl he's with thinks she's fat to considering whether she is fat to feeling fat himself. That's quite a plunge.
So please, the next time the urge to say those three little words hits (even if it's just a force of habit), fight it. If you think you look fat, chances are, you really don't. And even if you have gained a few extra pounds, the guy you're with probably doesn't care. So take it from a guy: Don't mention it.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Faces $1 Billion Tax Bill
By Stacy Cowley | CNNMoney.com
Associated Press -
In this image provided by Facebook, Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, applauds at the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, …more
Facebook's stock market debut left founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg with a paper fortune currently valued at $13 billion -- and a 2012 tax bill of around $1.1 billion.
Zuckerberg's whopping tax hit stems from his move last May to increase his stake in Facebook. On the day of Facebook's initial public offering, Zuckerberg exercised a stock option and purchased 60 million Facebook shares at a "strike price" of 6 cents each.
Even if those shares are never sold, the IRS treats them as ordinary income at the time the options are exercised. The rationale is that such options are a form of compensation, just like regular wages.
For Zuckerberg, that means reporting income last year of nearly $2.3 billion from his stock options alone. Add together the top 2012 federal tax rate of 35% and the top California rate of 13.3% -- the highest in the nation -- and you get a total tax rate of 48.3%.
That's before factoring in some deductions and any other income Zuckerberg collected last year. Only Uncle Sam and California's tax agency know exactly what's in Zuckerberg's return, but three California CPAs that CNNMoney consulted ran the numbers and believe Zuckerberg's bill for the year will probably exceed $1 billion.
That's really unusual ... even for billionaires.
"With numbers that large, it's usually capital gains, not ordinary income," said Toby Johnston, a partner at tax firm Moss Adams LLP's Silicon Valley office who works with wealthy clients. Investors profiting off their gains paid a significantly lower tax rate last year than Facebook's founder will. The highest federal capital gains rate in 2012 was 15%. It goes up to 23.8% (including a Medicare surtax) this year.
The Internal Revenue Service doesn't comment on the returns of individual taxpayers, but each year it releases aggregate data on the 400 U.S. tax filers with the largest reported incomes. Theaverage top earner had income of $202 million and a federal income tax bill of $41 million for 2009, the most recent data available.
A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment on Zuckerberg's taxes.
To cover the giant bill he knew was coming, Zuckerberg dipped into his trove of Facebook stock. He sold 30.2 million shares during Facebook's IPO, taking in $1.135 billion. At the time, Facebook said in a regulatory filing that Zuckerberg planned to use the "substantial majority" of those proceeds to cover the taxes on his stock-option purchase.
And Zuckerberg has another big tax hit looming: He is still sitting on 60 million unexercised options that expire in late 2015. At Facebook's (FB) current share price, those options would generate taxable income of $1.6 billion if he cashed them in. If he cashed then in today at current tax rates, that would amount to a $826 million bill.
The U.S. Treasury will benefit from Zuckerberg's taxes. So will California, which is getting awindfall as thousands of Facebook employees cash in on stock grants and options. California expects to collect roughly $1.5 billion in tax revenue tied to Facebook's IPO, according to the latest estimate from the state's Legislative Analyst's Office.
So how do you pay a tax bill that's bigger than some nations' entire annual GDP? (We're looking at you, Grenada.)
California requires an electronic payment for all tax bills larger than $80,000, but the IRS will take a paper check for any amount.
Watching a sum that big vanish from your bank account sounds scary, right? The flip side is that at least you can afford it.
"Most people are thrilled, to tell you the truth," said Stan Pollock, a San Francisco area accountant who specializes in handling tax issues for tech workers. "I have had very few clients that get these huge windfalls who have resented paying the tax. They know they got lucky."
'I’m young and I make mistakes. That’s part of growing up' … Justin Bieber. Photograph: Jordan Strauss/AP
Justin Bieber is under investigation by Los Angeles detectives after allegedly threatening and spitting at one of his neighbours. According to sources close to the singer, Bieber's neighbours are upset about parties that occurred at his home while the singer was away on tour.
The row took place on Tuesday morning, just hours after Bieber flew home from a gig in Lodz, Poland. Around 9am, deputies from the LA county sheriff's office were called to the city's Calabasas area, where the 19-year-old has a house. His neighbour claims he got into an argument with Bieber in the street in front of their homes, on Prado Del Grandioso. "[He] has complained Mr Bieber spit [sic] on him and made some threats," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told the LA Times. "Mr Bieber's people say that it did not happen. Obviously, our detectives will determine what happened and take appropriate action."
Although the argument didn't escalate into direct physical violence, spitting qualifies as a misdemeanor battery charge under California law. Bieber's security detail was present at the time, Reuters reported, and may have coloured the proceedings.
According to various unnamed sources, Bieber's neighbour was more upset with his friends. Even when the singer is out of town, Reuters reported, there are parties at his house. Bieber's Ferrari has also been seen around the neighbourhood, allegedly disturbing residents; despite a contrary claim by TMZ, police suggested Bieber may not have been the one behind the wheel.
This year has been marked by a string of minor controversies for the singer, ranging from shirtlessness to lateness to an on stage collapse. While he was in London this month, the singer had to be restrained by his bouncers when he threw himself at a paparazzo. But none of these are Bieber's first brushes with the law. The singer has repeatedly been cited for speeding, and he was accused in May 2012 of kicking and punching a paparazzo. Those charges were eventually dropped.
In a new interview with US Weekly, the singer has complained about being misrepresented in the media.
"The biggest misconception about me is that I'm a bad person. I get upset about that," he told the magazine.
"I have a big heart," he added. "I want to be a good role model, but some people want me to fail. I'm young and I make mistakes. That's part of growing up.
"I know who I am and I'm not gonna let negativity towards me bring me down. I'm a positive person and I plan on staying that way."
Brad Guzan (1) celebrates with Herculez Gomez after a 0-0 draw against Mexico. (USAT Sports)
MEXICO CITY – Four days ago, the United States' road to the 2014 World Cup looked perilous. After Tuesday night's 0-0 tie against Mexico, the Americans are back on track.
Fans inside Estadio Azteca went to great extremes to gain an advantage for the home team, directing highly dangerous green laser pointers at U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan. The laser pens, which doctors say can cause blindness, found Guzan as he prepared for goal kicks throughout the first half of the CONCACAF qualifier. But he wasn't the only target.
Forward Herculez Gomez also had a laser beam pointed at him early in the contest, although his back was turned at the time.
U.S. soccer officials were looking into the matter as of late Tuesday night and an official complaint to world governing body FIFA is possible.
"You deal with that," said Guzan. "It's obviously not ideal, but it happens in these kinds of places. When did I notice it? When did I not notice it? It is part of the environment when you come down to place like Azteca, so you can't let it affect you."
Chicharito yells at a referee after Mexico's 0-0 draw against the U.S. (USAT Sports)Despite the disruption, the U.S. defense held firm in the face of sustained pressure from a Mexican team desperate to kick-start its own qualifying campaign after two successive draws. The displeasure of the home fans was made further evident at the final whistle, when it booed its own team and launched a shower of beer cans and cups onto the field, as well as at the contingent of traveling American fans.
Mexico was aggrieved to be denied a penalty kick in the 77th minute when Maurice Edu collided with Mexico's Javier Aquino just outside the U.S. goal. No whistle was blown, and instead of a prime scoring chance, Mexico was awarded what turned into a harmless corner kick.
The home squad had several more golden chances to score in the waning minutes, but they either booted them wide or were thwarted by Guzan, who was outstanding in place of the injured Tim Howard.
Jurgen Klinsmann's visitors were on the back foot for the majority of the contest, with Mexico enjoying a series of clear chances to give itself the lead. Yet despite open opportunities for Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Giovani Dos Santos and Andres Guardado, there was no way through for the Mexican attacking machine.
If the U.S. appeared to be playing for the tie, it was for good reason. Never has the United States beaten Mexico in a World Cup qualifier on its home turf, and only once in six tries (in 1997) had it even earned a draw.
While the result was only enough to put the Americans into a three-way tie for second place in the six-team CONCACAF pool (from which three nations are certain to qualify), it has now crossed off two of its most difficult road games and is perhaps in the best position of all the six teams.
"We are in really good shape now," said DaMarcus Beasley, pressed into action at left back instead of his more familiar midfield role. "The next game is always important, but getting points away from home like this is huge. You don't qualify for the World Cup on one night or with one game, but this feels like a big step."
The U.S. now takes a break from international action until June, but following its disastrous opening-game defeat in Honduras, will feel far more confident about it chances of reaching the World Cup for the seventh straight time.
When former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was in his power-punching prime, it sounded as if gunfire were erupting in the gym as he hit the heavy bag during drills.
There hasn't been a fighter since with anywhere near that kind of power.
Until now, that is.
Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who defends his WBA belt in a pay-per-view bout against Nobuhiro Ishida on Saturday in Monte Carlo, has the kind of pop that helped make Tyson a Hall of Famer and iconic figure in the sport.
In his successful Jan. 19 title defense at Madison Square Garden in New York, Golovkin continually hurt challenger Gabe Rosado with his jab.
Golovkin punches with a free and easy motion and doesn't seem to be exerting himself greatly. But when his shots land cleanly, the impact is usually huge.
"I call him the middleweight Mike Tyson," said trainer Abel Sanchez, whose job it is to help Golovkin channel his power properly. "He hits so, so, so hard, it's incredible. A coach dreams about having a guy like this once in a lifetime."
There was an audible gasp from the sellout crowd Jan. 19 when Rosado pulled off his robe. Rosado, who had fought most of his career primarily as a super welterweight, was massive in the chest and shoulders and looked as if he were a light heavyweight.
The fight looked like a size mismatch in favor of Rosado, but Golovkin's power was too much for Rosado to deal with and his corner mercifully stopped the bout in the seventh round.
The victory was the launching point for what Golovkin, 30, and promoter Tom Loeffler hope is a busy and highly successful year.Gennady Golovkin (left) punished Gabe Rosado for seven rounds in January. (USA Today)
Golovkin isn't likely to get near either of the two big names in the division – Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. – so he'll have to feast on secondary, lesser-known opposition.
And given HBO's recent announcement that it will not work with Golden Boy Promotions, that eliminates Peter Quillin, the WBO champion, as a potential opponent as well.
It's going to make it harder for Golovkin, a native of Kazakhstan who lives in Germany, to become a star, but Golovkin is one of those rare fighters who make it without a career-defining opponent.
Boxing's biggest star, Floyd Mayweather Jr., became so only after he defeated Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. Prior to the De La Hoya fight, Mayweather was still widely regarded as the best boxer in the world, but he was just mid-tier as a pay-per-view attraction and ticket seller.
Mayweather's pay-per-view bouts prior to De La Hoya did 369,000 sales against Arturo Gatti; 378,000 against Zab Judah; and 320,000 against Carlos Baldomir. Things turned massively in the bout against De La Hoya, then the sport's reigning pay-per-view king. The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight did a record 2.5 million sales.
Since then, Mayweather has sold 920,000 against Ricky Hatton; 1.095 million against Juan Manuel Marquez; 1.38 million against Shane Mosley; 1.2 million against Victor Ortiz and 1.5 million against Miguel Cotto.
Golovkin may never in his career approach those kinds of numbers, but he, along with Chavez, Canelo Alvarez and Adrien Broner are the guys who are most likely to succeed Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao as the sport's biggest attractions.
Boxing fans historically have favored heavyweights whenever the division had anything remotely resembling any depth. In large part, that's because heavyweights – theoretically, anyway – have the most power and produce the biggest knockouts.
But if Golovkin fights four more times in 2013 and puts up the kind of highlight reel knockouts he's capable of, he might vault past Chavez, Alvarez and Broner to become the pay-per-view star-in-waiting.
When the public gets to know him, they'll find a friendly, engaging sort who smiles and laughs easily, loves to chat boxing and desperately wants to connect with the American public.
He's taking great pains to learn English and, in just six months, his language skills have improved dramatically.
"America is where most of the stars are," he said. "I know this is where I need to be."
But Golovkin is also a realist. He knows that he has to produce. And while he figures to easily handle Ishida, Golovkin is not so willing to dismiss him as a tune-up opponent.
Ishida has lost two in a row and three of his last five, but he's still living off the stunning knockout win over James Kirkland in 2011. The fight was designed as a showcase for Kirkland, who had been coming out of prison and ready to hit the big-time.
Instead, Ishida put Kirkland down three times in the first round and forced referee Joe Cortez to call off the carnage in just one minute, 52 seconds.
"The thing about boxing is, you have to have respect for every opponent, because all it takes is one [punch] to change everything," Golovkin said.
Ishida, though, isn't likely to want to get into any kind of shootout with Golovkin. Putting power versus power would likely not end well for Ishida.
Before his career got derailed by out-of-the-ring issues, Tyson never let guys like Ishida get off the hook. He dealt with them quickly, ferociously and savagely.
Much the same can be said of Golovkin, who is 25-0 with 22 knockouts. He's as nice of a guy as one could ever hope to meet, except in the center of a ring with boxing gloves on his hands.
Ishida is likely to be the next to learn that bad news on Saturday.
'Duck Dynasty' Salary Standoff Holding Up Season 4 Renewal
By Michael O'Connell | The Hollywood Reporter
View Photo
A version of story first appeared in the April 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
The bearded stars of Duck Dynasty are asking for a big pay increase to return to A&E's top-rated series, and the salary standoff is holding up a fourth-season renewal of the show, sources tell THR.
The Robertson family, including brothers Phil and Si and Phil's sons, have seen their outdoorsman empire Duck Commander earn a small fortune thanks in part to notoriety from the hit reality series. Now they have banded together and -- represented by WME -- are angling to renegotiate their existing contracts. Sources close to the negotiation say the family is asking for more than $200,000 an episode from A&E and production company Gurney Productions to return for a fourth season, with additional raises for subsequent seasons.
The standoff comes as little surprise given Duck Dynasty's success. Season three bowed in February to a whopping 8.6 million viewers and a 3.9 rating among adults 18-to-49. In the key demo, Duck Dynasty is second only to AMC's The Walking Dead on all of cable and tops all broadcast offerings in its 10 p.m. Wednesday slot.
Hit reality shows have a history of salary stalemates. For instance, the cast of MTV's Jersey Shoreheld up production in 2010 while demanding a 200 percent raise for its third season and beyond. Discovery's Deadliest Catch cast quit the show amid a 2010 lawsuit and pay dispute then "un-quit" when the spat was resolved.
Some networks, like Discovery with Bering Sea Gold, have tried to combat plays for triple-digit pay increases by locking casts into five-year contracts early on, but renegotiations are common on hit shows after the second or third seasons.
A&E declined comment, but a source says the network does not recoup as much of its investment in its reality stars as some of its competitors, such as Bravo with its post-Bethenny FrankelReal Housewives. A&E owns no stake in the Robertsons' various branding efforts, their duck-call business or any of or their frequent speaking engagements at religious and business events, the latter of which alone have netted them tens of thousands of dollars.
Still, given the show's breakout-hit status, a resolution seems a must for A&E. Says a source close to the dealmaking, "It'll all get worked out."
U.S. stock index futures edged into negative territory Wednesday, taking a cue from Europe, after a top Italian politician cast doubt on prospects for forming a new government.
About two hours before the start of trading, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 58 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 futures slipped 6 points, also down .4%. Changes in futures don't always accurately predict early market moves after the opening bell.
Futures dipped into negative territory after news reports said Italian politician Pier Luigi Bersani, the head of a center-left alliance, ruled out forming a coalition government and quoted him as saying that only an "insane person" would want to govern Italy.
Italy has struggled to put together a government since inconclusive elections in late February. Mr. Bersani's remarks indicate that Italy will continue to struggle to put together a government, raising the prospects of another election in the near term.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.3%, while Italy's FTSE MIB index was down 1%.
Still, recent concerns over Europe—including Cyprus—have done little to dent overall enthusiasm for equities.
"Despite Cyprus embarking on capital controls to stave off a run on its banks and the threat of contagion through the euro zone, investors are still looking for any excuse to buy into this market," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor in London.
Strategists said trading conditions could be thin ahead of a three-day Easter weekend. U.S. markets will be closed Friday for Good Friday.
Upbeat data on durable-goods orders and house prices helped lift U.S. stocks on Tuesday, analysts said, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record and the S&P 500 closing less than two points away from its all-time closing high.
The economic calendar features data on February pending home sales, while some of the Federal Reserve's leading policy doves—Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans—are each slated separately to speak later Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Cypriot authorities were expected to announce capital controls later Wednesday. Cyprus is aiming Thursday to reopen its banks; they have been closed since March 16 as the country worked out a €10 billion ($12.86 billion) bailout.
The restrictions will aim to prevent a mass withdrawal of deposits in the face of plans to institute a haircut on uninsured deposits as part of a restructuring of the country's banking sector.
By Geoffrey Ingersoll | Business Insider
Kevin James' estate is for sale for $5.5 Million (Redfin)
James' Rodeo Drive-style dressing room. (Redfin)
Kevin James (Robin Marchant/Getty Images)James – who has three young children with wife, actress Steffiana De La Cruz – bought the home in 2003 for $3.2 million. It's unclear how many upgrades (if any) James did after moving in and James' listing agent did not return calls for comment, but one thing's for sure: The guy clearly loves luxury.
By Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – 8 hours ago
By Stacy Cowley | CNNMoney.com 
Brad Guzan (1) celebrates with Herculez Gomez after a 0-0 draw against Mexico. (USAT Sports)
Chicharito yells at a referee after Mexico's 0-0 draw against the U.S. (USAT Sports)Despite the disruption, the U.S. defense held firm in the face of sustained pressure from a Mexican team desperate to kick-start its own qualifying campaign after two successive draws. The displeasure of the home fans was made further evident at the final whistle, when it booed its own team and launched a shower of beer cans and cups onto the field, as well as at the contingent of traveling American fans.
Gennady Golovkin (left) punished Gabe Rosado for seven rounds in January. (USA Today)
By Michael O'Connell | The Hollywood Reporter
