Informant claims they were offered $10K a month in murder-for-hire plot Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicholas Shaughnessy, left, and Jaclyn Edison (Facebook Photo) [ + - ] Video

 TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The son of a prominent Austin jeweler has been arrested and charged with hiring someone to murder his parents. The man's wife was also arrested and faces the same charge.

 Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy, 19, and Jaclyn Alexa Edison, 19, were each booked Tuesday evening into the Travis County Jail on one charge of soliciting to commit capital murder. They are accused of hiring someone to kill Theodore "Ted" Shaughnessy, the longtime owner of Gallerie Jewelers in central Austin.

 It remains unclear who committed the murder. Shaughnessy, 55, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in his southwest Travis County home on March 2.

 His wife Corey — the suspect's mother — called 911 around 4:45 a.m. that morning to report a home intruder and that shots had been fired inside her home off Oliver Drive, near US 290 and Circle Drive. Investigators said one or more intruders forced their way into the home, and evidence at the scene led them to believe an intruder might have been injured.

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A search of Nicholas Shaughnessy's apartment revealed he was married to Jaclyn Edison.

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A search of Nicholas Shaughnessy's apartment revealed he was married to Jaclyn Edison.

 According to court documents, when Shaughnessy heard the dogs bark, he grabbed his firearm to check the house. Less than a minute later, his wife heard gunshots so she grabbed her gun just as the suspects fired at her. She returned fire "until she ran out of ammunition."

 Corey told detectives she ran into her closet and called 911. She didn't come out of the closet until deputies arrived at the home.

 In a statement by Perry Minton and Rick Flores, attorneys for Nicholas Shaughnessy, they say his mother "stands firmly behind her son."

 “We have been working with the Shaughnessy family over the last several months as they mourn the loss of Ted," the attorneys said. "These allegations are not consistent in any way with the young man we have come to know. Nick has been living with his mother since this tragedy occurred."

 Minton and Flores said they would review evidence as it becomes available.

 According to an arrest affidavit, there were bullet casings throughout the kitchen and in the couple's bedroom. Detectives discovered an open window in Nicholas' bedroom.

 The window screen had been removed but there did not appear to be any signs of forced entry to the window, according to the arrest affidavit. Detectives say the "suspects would have known they had to escape back out the bedroom window" due to the nature of the door locks.

 As authorities were investigating the homicide, the victim's son and his wife arrived at the home around 8 a.m. He said they were in College Station when they received the news about the shooting, according to the affidavit.

 When detectives spoke to Edison at the scene, she began "sobbing heavily" when they told her they would need to test her for gunshot residue.

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Ted Shaughnessy (Facebook Photo)

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Ted Shaughnessy (Facebook Photo)

 Video taken by KXAN at the crime scene in March showed Nicolas Shaughnessy's hands being photographed by investigators.

 According to court documents, the son "was not showing any emotion at all, and showed very little concern" for his mother.

 When asked about the window, Nicolas Shaughnessy said he would use that window to get in and out of the home sometimes.

 The home's alarm system showed the system was remotely accessed three different times the night of the shooting. Detectives say it was traced back to Nicolas' apartment in College Station. Police add that the video corresponding to the time of the break-in was gone. They believe someone logged into the system and manually deleted the videos, the only person who had access at that time was Nicolas.

 A few days after the murder, a woman who worked at the apartment complex where Nicolas and his wife lived in College Station called police and said Nicolas contacted her on social media and said if she wanted to make some cash to let him know.

 When she asked what he meant, he allegedly responded "illegal activities" and anything "from strippers to murders." He said he would pay her $20,000 a head with a $15,000 incentive and ended the message with skeleton emojis, according to court documents.

 A friend of Nicolas' told detectives Nicolas had talked to him about faking his own death and getting insurance money as well as his parent's life insurance policy, though he never mentioned anything about killing his parents, the affidavit continued. Records show Nicolas was the sole beneficiary of $2 million in the event his parents died.

 As detectives continued investigating, they discovered Nicolas and his wife had gotten married in July 2017. A search of their apartment revealed bullets which matched the casings found at the crime scene.

 Cellphone records show the two were texting back and forth at the end of February regarding a possible transaction. Records show Edison message Nicolas with "Do they want 50K or not" and "we can't afford to pay half before." Nicolas responded, "Working on it tho."

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy being photographed the day his father was shot to death in their home on Oliver Road on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo)

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy being photographed the day his father was shot to death in their home on Oliver Road on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo)

 Detectives found a text conversation Nicolas had with a friend on Aug. 2, 2017 saying "plastic gloves ski masks," and when his friend responded "no no no," Nicholas responded, "Fine fine. Just walk in shoot a family steal all their s--t."

 On March 3, one day after the shooting, Nicolas asked the same friend if he wanted to see pictures of the crime scene and "joked about being 'demoted' from a person of interest.'"

 An informant told detectives that Nicolas had approached them about killing his parents. He said he would pay the informant $10,000 per month. The informant said one conversation happened inside a car where Nicolas and his wife were present.

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy, right, and his girlfriend, Jaclyn Edison, walking with a deputy on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo)

 Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nicolas Shaughnessy, right, and his girlfriend, Jaclyn Edison, walking with a deputy on March 2, 2018. (KXAN Photo)

 Nicolas Shaughnessy is being held on a $3 million cash bond. Edison is being held on a $1 million cash bond.

 Family friends who did not want to speak on camera told KXAN's Brittany Glas they were shocked to hear of Tuesday's developments, with one saying he "never saw anything but love in that family."

 In an April 27 post on the Gallerie Jewelers Facebook page, it was announced that the store would return to its normal hours starting May 1. "We are happy to announce that Nicolas, Ted's son, will be carrying on his legacy here at Gallerie," the post says.

 Customers described Ted Shaughnessy as a family man who was always talking about his son's accomplishments and doting on his wife. ||||| See more of Gallerie Jewelers on Facebook ||||| Ted Shaughnessy, owner of Gallerie Jewelers in Austin, died defending his wife, who lived, his obituary says.

 A 19-year-old and his wife are accused of conspiring to hire someone to kill his Travis County parents.

 Nicolas Shaughnessy received a call from authorities in the wee hours of the morning March 2. His father had been shot to death in a home invasion; his mother survived the attack.

 Shaughnessy said he drove three hours before dawn from his home in College Station to his father’s house in southwestern Travis County. A detective at the scene would note that when Shaughnessy arrived, he showed no emotion and seemed unconcerned about his mother.

 Shaughnessy and his wife, Jaclyn Alexa Edison, now are accused of hiring a hitman to kill his parents. Both 19-year-olds are charged with solicitation to commit capital murder for their alleged roles in Theodore “Ted” Shaughnessy’s killing.

 The day of the shooting at the Shaughnessys’ home in the 9900 block of Oliver Drive, Travis County deputies put out word that they were searching for a shooter in a home invasion who might have been wounded in the attack. Both Ted and his wife, Corey Garman Shaughnessy, were armed. She fired back.

 But as the investigation pressed on, clues surfaced that pointed to an apparent murder-for-hire plot that might have been orchestrated by the young couple, authorities said.

 The next day, Nicolas Shaughnessy asked a friend if he wanted to see pictures of the crime scene and joked about being “demoted” from being a person of interest because investigators returned his cellphone to him, the affidavit said.

 Detectives searched Nicolas Shaughnessy and Edison’s College Station home and found evidence that Shaughnessy had asked several people if they would like to be paid for killing someone weeks and months before his parents were attacked, the affidavit said. In messages sent in February and found on a home computer, the couple appeared to discuss costs, the affidavit shows.

 Just two weeks before the shooting, Shaughnessy asked a woman working at his apartment complex if she wanted to make some extra money doing illegal activities, including “anything from strippers to murders,” the woman told investigators. According to the affidavit, Shaughnessy offered her “$20,000 a head,” plus a $15,000 incentive.

 Detectives did not find signs of a forced entry into the home. All the doors and windows were locked, except for one that had been opened in Nicolas Shaughnessy’s bedroom, according to the affidavit. They said the home’s security alarm system had been remotely deactivated from Shaughnessy’s College Station residence three times that morning after alarms had gone off.

 “The only people with access to the alarm system were Ted, Corey and Nicolas,” the affidavit said.

 Security videos during the attack were also deleted from the home alarm system, according to the report.

 After the attack, Corey Shaughnessy told investigators that their dog’s barking woke her and her husband about 4 a.m. Ted grabbed his .45-caliber Glock handgun and went to investigate, the affidavit said.

 Seconds later, she heard a barrage of gunshots close to the couple’s bedroom. She grabbed the .357-caliber handgun she kept at her bedside and got up, she told investigators.

 Someone fired at her, Corey Shaughnessy said, and she shot back until she ran out of ammunition. She then hid in her closet and called 911 at 4:46 a.m.

 When dispatchers asked Corey Shaughnessy to leave the closet and open the door for deputies, she found her husband lying unresponsive on the kitchen floor.

 Ted was lying in a large pool of blood and bullet casings from two guns littered the kitchen, the affidavit said. Bullet holes perforated kitchen fixtures, walls and windows. One of the couple’s pet Rottweilers was shot dead in the bedroom.

 On the opposite side of the house, in Nicolas Shaughnessy’s bedroom, a window was open. Authorities did not arrest anyone that day.

 Ted Shaughnessy was pronounced dead at 5:14 a.m. The Travis County medical examiner said he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

 When Edison arrived with her husband at the Shaughnessys’ home after the shooting, she started to cry when detectives told her she would be tested for gunshot residue.

 She told investigators that her husband worked as a day trader and his business was doing well. He had a good relationship with his parents, she said.

 But according to the affidavit, Nicolas Shaughnessy had told multiple people he would receive more than $1 million from his parents’ life insurance.

 Detectives confirmed Shaughnessy would receive $2 million in the event of his parents’ death, the affidavit said.

 While both Shaughnessy and Edison have been charged in connection with the case, authorities said they are still searching for the shooter.

 Travis County sheriff’s office spokeswoman Kristen Dark said nothing has been ruled out in the search. “Our detectives are pursuing every lead they encounter as they work the case,” she said.

 The affidavit points out that nine .40-caliber handgun casings were found near Ted Shaughnessy’s body, the affidavit says. During the search, detectives located an empty box for a .40-caliber handgun in a dresser drawer in the bedroom next to the open window. Corey Shaughnessy told investigators that bedroom belonged to Nicolas Shaughnessy, the affidavit says.

 Additionally, detectives found five .380-caliber casings near Ted Shaughnessy’s body, the affidavit says. Investigators found a box of .380-caliber ammunition at Nicolas and Jaclyn’s College Station apartment, with six rounds missing from the box, the affidavit says.

 “This ammunition matched the caliber and brand of the fired .380-caliber casings found in the area of Theodore’s body,” the document says.

 Perry Minton and Rick Flores, Shaughnessy’s attorneys, issued a statement Wednesday saying they have been working with the Shaughnessy family since Ted’s death.

 “These allegations are not consistent in any way with the young man we have come to know. Nick has been living with his mother since this tragedy occurred. Ms. Shaughnessy stands firmly behind her son. We will review the evidence as it becomes available to us,” Minton and Flores said.

 After Ted Shaughnessy was killed, his store, Gallerie Jewelers, was closed for about a month. Eventually, business neighbors said Nicolas Shaughnessy and Edison began visiting the store frequently, sometimes accompanied by Corey Shaughnessy.

 At the end of April, Nicolas Shaughnessy visited 32Dental, a dentist’s office next door to Ted’s store in the 3500 block of Jefferson Road, and told the staff he would be taking over for his father at the store, said 32Dental office manager Sasha Sayenko. On Wednesday, a sign at the jewelry store said the business was temporarily closed.

 “(Nicolas) was saying that ‘It’s been tough.’ But they’re going to be reopening, he’s going to be taking over and that they’re going to be getting a new puppy,” Sayenko said. “I think he was just trying to mingle, maybe the way Ted was.”

 She said Nicolas Shaughnessy seemed chipper despite what had happened.

 Michelle Acosta, a patient coordinator at 32Dental, said she knew Ted Shaughnessy for five years. He would wave when he passed by and occasionally stop into the dental office to see how everyone was doing, Acosta said. he was passionate about his job and would bring by stones before they were set into jewelry, she said.

 Every now and then, Nicolas Shaughnessy would join his father at work and Acosta would see the pair walking and talking on the way into the store.

 “It looked like a good relationship,” Acosta said. ||||| A Texas man and his girlfriend were charged with hiring a hitman to kill the boy's father, a Texas jeweler who was gunned down in March during a home break-in.

 Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy and Jaclyn Alexa Edison, both 19, who live together in College Station, were arrested on a count of criminal solicitation to commit capital murder, Travis County sheriff's officials said. They remained in jail Wednesday, with Shaughnessy's bond set at $3 million and Edison's at $1 million, according to the Dallas Morning News.

 Neither had an attorney listed in online jail records.

 According to investigators, Shaughnessy's mother, Corey Shaughnessy, called 911 on March 2 to report a home intruder.

 Deputies headed to the home only to find Theodore Shaughnessy dead of multiple gunshot wounds. A family dog was also killed. Authorities say the plot called for Corey Shaughnessy to be killed as well, but she was physically unharmed.

 The shooter hasn't been caught, but sheriff's spokeswoman Kristen Dark said in a statement that detectives "are following new leads in the case."

 Theodore Shaughnessy was killed March 2 after his son allegedly hired a hitman to kill him. (Facebook)

 Theodore Shaughnessy was the owner of Gallerie Jewelers in Austin. In late April, the company announced that Nicolas would be taking over the family business.

 “We are happy to announce that Nicolas, Ted's son, will be carrying on his legacy here at Gallerie,” the post read.

 An obituary for the elder Shaughnessy published in the Austin American-Statesman said he was "a proud father to his son, Nicolas."

 In the months before the shooting, Nicolas Shaughnessy approached several people asking if they were willing to kill someone for pay, prosecutors allege in an arrest affidavit. The younger Shaughnessy estimated that he'd receive some $8 million upon his parents' death in life insurance payouts, from the sale of their home and sale of the jewelry store.

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 With NEWS WIRE SERVICES ||||| A College Station couple is in jail in Austin. They are at the center of a Travis County Sheriff's Office investigation involving a murder-for-hire plot. Both suspects are only 19 years old.

 Tuesday night, Nicolas Shaughnessy and his wife Jaclyn Edison, a Texas A&M; Student, were arrested in Austin for soliciting to commit capital murder.

 On March 2, Nicolas's father Theodore Shaughnessy was shot dead in his Austin area home by an intruder. Police say his murderer was a hitman hired by Nicolas and Jaclyn. Footage from the crime scene showed Nicolas being interviewed by Travis County investigators outside the home.

 Nicolas and Jaclyn had been living in College Station together, recently married. Just days after the murder in March, investigators showed up to search the couple's College Station home in the 2300 block of Cottage Lane. Nearby neighbors are reacting to the crime.

 "They were here for several hours. There was at least a dozen cop cars," said Caleb Miller, a neighbor.

 Miller said their interactions as neighbors were strange.

 "He was just a weird guy, a weird character. Really out of place with the college setting," said Miller.

 He also told News 3 Nicolas Shaughnessy would talk about his family's money and have socially awkward conversations.

 "He made a lot of, he made sure to make a lot of points on his family's wealth and stuff like that which is weird. And just some of the things he would say kind of and so it's not really surprising at all," said Miller.

 Investigators say Nicolas stood to gain $2 million on a life insurance policy for his parents where he was sole beneficiary. He could have also gained up to $6 million more from the family home and jewelry store, Gallerie Jewelers in Austin.

 "It's really selfish and it's really sad what people would do to acquire a little bit," said Miller.

 Neighbors tell us the couple moved out earlier this spring.

 "He was just moving out and asked me if I wanted a bench and yeah he was taking his cameras down," said Miller, as he sat on the bench they gave him.

 Court documents tell us Nicolas's parents' home security system was accessed from his College Station apartment the morning of the murder. Surveillance video from inside was also deleted remotely.

 His mother Corey Shaughnessy shot back at the intruder and wasn't hurt.

 "They'll throw away friends, family, even their whole lives just for a little monetary value in their lives, so it's really sad," said Miller.

 Jaclyn Edison and Nicolas Shaughnessy were both in jail in Austin Wednesday afternoon. Edison's bond is $1 million, while Shaughnessy's is $3 million.

 Travis County Sheriff's officials tell us they've not arrested the gunman yet and haven't ruled out more than one shooter being involved.

 Investigators also say in the arrest affidavit that they received tips the couple was hiring a hitman, including from a confidential informant who was told they'd receive $10,000 a month for the killings.

Summary: – His father was gunned down in a home invasion in March; in April, Nicolas Shaughnessy was named to take over the family business, Gallerie Jewelers in Austin, Texas. Authorities now have other plans for the 19-year-old, per the New York Daily News. Arrested Tuesday on charges of criminal solicitation to commit capital murder, Shaughnessy and his 19-year-old wife, Texas A&M student Jaclyn Edison, are accused of hiring a hitman to kill his parents. Theodore and Corey Shaughnessy traded fire with an unknown intruder on March 2; 55-year-old Theodore and a dog were killed. Authorities say Shaughnessy, an only child, approached multiple people about a hired murder as early as August 2017 and discussed the subject in texts with Edison. Investigators allege he planned to collect $2 million in life insurance; his parents' home and business were worth another $6 million, per KBTX. He's accused of remotely deactivating his parents' security system and deleting surveillance video while at the apartment he shared with Edison some three hours away in College Station, according to an arrest affidavit. The affidavit also outlines possible evidence related to the guns used: Six rounds of .380-caliber ammunition were missing from a box at the couple's apartment, police say, per the Austin American-Statesman, and five .380-caliber casings were located near Theodore's body. Edison's bond is set at $1 million, while Shaughnessy's is set at $3 million. His attorney notes he's been living with his mother, who "stands firmly behind her son," per KXAN. The shooter has not been arrested.


Facebook raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share, in a sign of investor appetite for the offering. George Stahl has the latest on The News Hub. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.

 Facebook Inc.'s coming initial public offering has set off a frenzy of anticipation among Main Street and Wall Street investors desperate to get their hands on the stock.

 Late Monday, the social network raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share, in a sign of investor appetite for the offering. The Menlo Park, Calif., company's initial price range put Facebook's valuation at $77 billion to $96 billion, but that rises to $93 billion to $104 billion under the new price range as investor interest ramps up.

 Facebook's coming initial public offering has set off a frenzy of anticipation among Main Street and Wall Street investors desperate to get their hands on the stock. Shayndi Raice has details on The News Hub. Photo: Bloomberg.

 Those numbers have created high hopes for both individual and professional investors. The excitement has drawn in fledgling stock buyers such as 11-year-old Jade Supple of Rockville Centre, N.Y., whose father plans to bet money saved to put his daughter through college on Facebook shares, although he has doubts about the price.

 Enlarge Image Close Scott Lewis for The Wall Street Journal Money manager Chris Baggini

 Enlarge Image Close Supple Family Jade and Jim Supple

 Enlarge Image Close Sandy Huffaker for The Wall Street Journal Grossmont High investment-club adviser Todd Benrud

 In Berwyn, Pa., hedge-fund manager and mutual-fund manager Chris Baggini of Turner Investment Partners says he tracked Facebook closely and repeatedly called executives at Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, which are helping to lead the IPO, to snag a spot in the social network's roadshow stop in Philadelphia last Wednesday.

 Across the nation in El Cajon, Calif., technology teacher and investment-club supervisor Todd Benrud is trying to get his club at Grossmont High School into Facebook stock. "They use Facebook every day," Mr. Benrud said. Some students think it is "guaranteed to make money."

 Sophisticated investors who can meet financial requirements have been able to trade limited shares of Facebook for some time on secondary markets. But the IPO will turn Facebook into a public company that anyone can own.

 Many small investors are eager to grab Facebook at its issue price, hoping the shares will surge in value as IPOs frequently do on the first day. But Internet IPOs have had mixed success. Daily deals website Groupon Inc. has lost about 35% of its value since its Nov. 4 debut, while stock at professional network LinkedIn Corp. has gained nearly 150% since it started trading May 19.

 Facebook still hasn't proven that its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a lofty valuation. Last month, the company disclosed that its first-quarter profit and revenue declined from the fourth quarter of 2011, which it attributed to seasonal trends in advertising. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

 Michael Belanger, a lawyer from Oklahoma City, invests his personal money in the stock market. But he will be skipping Facebook's IPO because he thinks its valuation is totally "out of whack." Scott Schermerhorn, chief investment officer of investment-management firm Granite Investment Advisors, says the hype around Facebook's IPO is going to keep his firm away. "It's a cult stock," he says.

 Little of that skepticism is weighing on three investors, tracked by The Wall Street Journal since Facebook announced in February that it would go public.

 * * *

 Rockville Centre, N.Y.—Jim Supple was driving with his daughter Jade last autumn, when she turned to him and said, "Daddy, can I buy some of the Facebook company?"

 Mr. Supple, 47, had been teaching Jade about investing in the stock market for years. He started putting money for her in stocks like eBay and Disney when she was a baby. But the request still took him aback. "How do you know about buying Facebook?" he asked.

 "I saw in the news that they were going to be selling parts of the company," she responded. "Can we buy some?"

 Since then, Mr. Supple has been trying to find a way to take $25,000 he has saved for her college fund and purchase Facebook stock. "She doesn't need this money for another eight years," says Mr. Supple. "If it goes the Google route, I'll be in good shape."

 Although he thought Facebook was a strong investment, Mr. Supple had been burned before, having lost some money in a Ponzi scheme, he says. He wanted to be sure that he was being more careful this time before betting so much on one company.

 On Jan. 17, Mr. Supple tried to dive in. Two former Facebook employees were selling 70,000 shares in an auction on SharesPost Inc., one of the secondary markets for Facebook shares. The bidding started at $31 a share. He bid $32.01. "Jim, I'm gonna be honest with you, you're not gonna get it, very rarely does it sell for the minimum," Mr. Supple says he was told by his SharesPost broker.

 Mr. Supple works for a Manhattan-based company called SNAP Interactive that creates a software application that allows singles to go on Facebook and find dates. Over a Jan. 18 dinner of burgers and beer at the New York steakhouse Del Frisco's, Mr. Supple asked his boss, Cliff Lerner, what he thought about buying up Facebook in the secondary market.

 "You know, there is a very high minimum to get into the secondary market," Mr. Lerner cautioned Mr. Supple. Mr. Supple said he could figure out a way, between his 401K and an IRA fund and the college savings, to squeeze together the $100,000 minimum recommended by SharesPost. "Am I out of my mind?" Mr. Supple asked Mr. Lerner. "No, I think you're gonna kill it in this thing," responded Mr. Lerner.

 Mr. Supple lost the SharesPost auction. It closed on Jan. 20 for $34 a share, less than $2 above his bid.

 Just two weeks later, Facebook filed for its IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, driving the price of secondary market shares up drastically. The next auction was $44 a share, too expensive for Mr. Supple. Mr. Supple turned his energy away from the secondary market and began plotting how to buy shares on the day of the IPO, or shortly after.

 On April 9, just after the roadshow kicked off, Mr. Supple said he was getting concerned about the frenzy and rethinking his plan to buy on the day of the IPO.

 "Here in New York, it's on every single news channel, it's in all the newspapers that the roadshow has started and [Facebook Chief Executive Mark] Zuckerberg was here in New York," he said at the time. "I'm going to sit on the sidelines on IPO day," Mr. Supple decided. "We're going to have to wait until the smoke clears."

 * * *

 El Cajon, Calif.—On Jan. 30, amid reports that Facebook would file for its IPO within days, high school senior Brandon Hyatt scrawled an exuberant message to the online forum of his investment club at Grossmont High School, under the heading "BUY FACEBOOK!!!!"

 The note clued technology teacher and club supervisor Todd Benrud into the frenzy that would follow. When the club next met that Wednesday, Mr. Benrud faced some 10 teenagers who thought they could buy shares that day.

 Every Monday and Wednesday at lunchtime, Mr. Benrud converts his technology classroom into the trading floor of the Charity Student Investment Project, a nonprofit student-run investment club. A live feed of a financial TV show fills the projection screen. Students each take a computer to research investments for their real-money pool of $2,900.

 When Mr. Benrud called an initial vote on whether to pursue Facebook shares, every hand shot up, even after Mr. Benrud told students that they couldn't get shares immediately. Since the club's rules don't allow it to put more than 10% of their money into any one stock, they would only be able to buy a few shares, depending on where it was priced.

 In an attempt to help the club buy at the IPO price, Mr. Benrud met with a Morgan Stanley broker in March and showed interest in giving the brokerage his retirement account. At the end of their hour-and-a-half meeting, he told the broker that he had one more question. He said the broker slumped his shoulders and said one word: "Facebook?"

 The broker told Mr. Benrud that neither he nor the club had enough money to qualify. "It really took the wind out of their sails," Mr. Benrud says of his club members. "They immediately started asking, 'What else can we do?' "

 Students began to get frustrated as the weeks wound on without more news of the IPO date. In mid-April, when Facebook said it would acquire Instagram, which makes a photo-sharing app, for $1 billion, several students questioned the deal. Antonio Robles, a junior in the club, lamented that Instagram "wasn't even making money" and wondered if investors would think that Mr. Zuckerberg had poor judgment.

 Nonetheless, the students decided it was time to vote on whether or not to buy Facebook shares. A plan to buy two shares on the open market the morning of the IPO—no matter the price—and sell later that afternoon passed the club—eight in favor, one against, with one abstention.

 The week before the roadshow, the students decided to hold a second vote—this time to buy two shares in the morning but sell only one in the afternoon, keeping the other indefinitely. The measure passed—six ayes to one abstention.

 After hearing the week before the IPO that some Facebook shares would be available to small investors at the IPO price, Mr. Benrud made one last attempt to get IPO shares through the club's Wells Fargo broker but was told his club didn't qualify.

 On Tuesday, Grossmont High School's Mr. Hyatt, the student who started the Facebook discussion, posted to his club's forum again, noting that Facebook's projected debut share price of $28 to $35 would let his club buy more than the two shares they planned on. (Facebook raised the price range on Monday.) The group ended up voting to buy up to four shares on the open market, depending on the price, and sell half of what they get the same afternoon.

 "Every single person in the investment club has a Facebook" page, says junior Adam Sturgeon. "We relate to it."

 * * *

 Berwyn, Pa.—Chris Baggini, a hedge-fund and mutual-fund manager, was in New York meeting with clients and media on Feb. 1, the day Facebook would release a first glimpse at its financials. At about 9 in the morning, sitting in a booth in a posh dining room at the Royalton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, he gushed about the company's prospects. "Of course we're interested," he said.

 Mr. Baggini's firm, Turner Investment Partners, in 2004 had managed to grab 700,000 shares of Google at its IPO and make a $10.5 million paper profit for investors on the first day of trading. The firm now manages about $13.4 billion in mutual funds, hedge funds and separate accounts for institutions.

 Even before seeing Facebook's financials, Mr. Baggini thought it likely that Turner would be involved. He noted Americans spend 16% of their time online on Facebook and said that it had the chance of being the biggest IPO of the decade.

 After hearing that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs would set the roadshow schedule, he started to call and email bankers at both companies regularly. Neither gave hints on when the roadshow would begin, and Mr. Baggini said it felt like they were "walking on eggshells."

 In late April, Mr. Baggini traveled to San Francisco to meet prospective clients. There, too, he was met by a bevy of questions about what the company thought about Facebook and whether they would get in on the IPO.

 Facebook's S-1 filing brought a new round of questions. Mr. Baggini was pleased that its research and development expenditures had ticked up but wasn't sure why revenue growth per user had slowed.

 "The question becomes the level of interest. Is Facebook marginally exciting, very exciting or extremely exciting?" he said. "Right now, I think we're at 'very exciting.' "

 Mr. Baggini and around 25 other executives finally got their chance to meet Facebook executives Wednesday afternoon at the Westin hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and chief financial officer David Ebersman showed up, but not Mr. Zuckerberg, which Mr. Baggini said didn't bother him.

 He said that he hadn't yet decided on the price he would be willing to pay for shares. "We're still very excited and are likely to participate," he said.

 More on the Facebook IPO

 Previously

 Write to Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com

 A version of this article appeared May 15, 2012, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: In Facebook IPO, Frenzy, Skepticism. ||||| An investor holds prospectus explaining the Facebook stock after attending a show for Facebook Inc's initial public offering at the Four Season's Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts May 8, 2012.

 NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc increased the price range on its initial public offering an average of 14 percent to raise more than $12 billion, giving the world's No. 1 social network a valuation potentially exceeding $100 billion.

 The company, founded eight years ago by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, raised the target range to between $34 and $38 per share in response to strong demand, from $28 to $35, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

 That would value Facebook at roughly $93 billion to $104 billion, rivaling the market capitalization of Internet powerhouses such as Amazon.com Inc, and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined.

 Facebook also extended the time frame for its $1 billion acquisition of mobile app maker Instagram, projecting that the deal would close in 2012 instead of closing in the second quarter as it had previously indicated.

 Facebook provided no reason for the change, though a source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached out to Google Inc and Twitter as part of the agency's standard review for deals of that size.

 The price increase indicates intense market demand, which means Facebook's shares are likely to see a big pop on their first day of trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, analysts said.

 "It's confounding but the evidence is that if companies raise the range, they will pop more," said Josef Schuster, founder of Chicago-based financial services firm IPOX Schuster LLC. "It signals that there is such a strong demand that it will create a momentum for other investors who want to jump on."

 Facebook said in its latest filing that it arrived at the higher IPO price range after one week of marketing the offering - part of a cross-country "road show" in which CEO Zuckerberg has occasionally taken the stage to lay out his vision for the company's money-making potential and its top priorities.

 The Facebook range hike, coupled with strong results from Internet and social media players Groupon Inc and China's RenRen Inc overnight, contributed to a dotcom rally on Wall Street on Tuesday.

 Shares of Pandora Media Inc were up 6.9 percent at $10.50 in afternoon trading, while Zynga Inc was up 8.3 percent at $8.61. Groupon was up 13.7 percent at $13.33, while Renren gained 9.5 percent to $6.01. Yelp Inc stock was up 7.5 pct at $21.55.

 In the biggest-ever IPO to emerge from Silicon Valley, Facebook will raise $12.1 billion based on the midpoint price of $36 and the 337.4 million shares on offer, or 12.3 percent of the company.

 At this midpoint, Facebook would be valued at roughly 27 times its 2011 annual revenue, or 99 times earnings. When Google went public in 2004 at a valuation of $23 billion, it was valued at 16 times trailing revenue and 218 times earnings. Apple Inc, meanwhile, went public in 1980 at a valuation of 25 times revenue and 102 times earnings.

 Wall Street had expected Facebook to increase its price range, with investors eager to get a slice of a strong consumer brand. The IPO road show began last week and has drawn crowds of investors from coast to coast.

 Facebook plans to close the books on its IPO later on Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters on Monday. It is scheduled to price its shares on Thursday and begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday.

 The IPO is already "well-oversubscribed," which is why the company will close its books earlier than expected, the source said.

 Facebook's capital-raising target far outstrips other big Internet IPOs. Google raised just shy of $2 billion in 2004, while last year Groupon tapped investors for $700 million and Zynga raked in $1 billion.

 The IPO comes amid concerns from some investors that Facebook has not yet figured out a way to make money from an increasing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones. Revenue growth from Facebook's online advertising business has also slowed in recent months.

 Company executives met with prospective investors in Chicago on Monday and were slated to travel to Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, before returning to Facebook's Menlo Park, California, headquarters.

 A host of Wall Street banks are underwriting Facebook's offering, with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs serving as leads. Facebook will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "FB."

 (Reporting By Olivia Oran in New York and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco, additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Matthew Lewis)

Summary: – Looks like Facebook's IPO roadshow has done a pretty good job of drumming up investor interest. The company has raised its IPO price range up to $34 to $38 a share from $28 to $35 a share, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The new price range gives the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg—who turned 28 yesterday—a valuation of $104 billion. At the mid-point of $36, Facebook would raise $12.1 billion with the IPO. The company plans to close the books on the IPO today, set the price range on Thursday, and start trading on Friday, sources tell Reuters. Small investors are jumping at the chance to get in on Silicon Valley's biggest-ever IPO, although many larger investors doubt whether its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a high valuation, the Journal notes. "It's a cult stock," says the chief investment officer of investment-management firm Granite Investment Advisors.


 (Getty Images)

 Actor Alec Baldwin is no stranger to unhappy run-ins with the paparazzi—and earlier on Sunday, he was involved in yet another such altercation. Baldwin told us he was assaulted by a NY Post photographer near his East Village apartment, and called the cops to file a formal complaint against him. But it seems the photographer is planning on accusing Baldwin of using a racial epithet against him. "If you want to paint a picture of me that is a denigrating picture, I've seen that," Baldwin told us. "If you want to put words in my mouth...I've certainly had my moments. But this is not one of them. I don't think I've ever uttered a racial epithet to someone in my lifetime."

 Baldwin said he was returning home from the gym when the altercation took place. "This guy was right up in my face as I crossed University Place," he told us, saying the photographer—who may have been following him due to the recent lawsuit against his wife—was acting aggressively. "I get to the other side of the street, and he bumped into me." He believes it was a very deliberate provocation: "He banged into me with his shoulder, because he was right on top of me with the camera," he added. "In my mind, it was deliberate. I've had that happen before. It happens sometimes, because they want to bait you, they want you to do something."

 Baldwin noted some of his previous experiences with photographers from The Post and other local dailies, recalling one time around his wedding last summer to Hilaria Thomas when a photographer tripped and sat on a baby in a stroller while trying to get a photo of him. "My wife is pregnant and I'm trying to make sure she has as much peace as possible," he said. "Who knows what these people can do."

 So after he got home, Baldwin called the cops; two cop cars and four officers, who he said were nothing but kind and professional, responded and took his complaint. He also tweeted about the experience. The photographer, who was still there at the time, claimed he was a former cop himself, and was able to provide valid ID to prove it. Considering that, Baldwin is perplexed by what happened later: "My publicist has informed me that the "photographer" from the Post is claiming I called him a racial epithet, prior to me contacting NYPD," he tweeted.

 He further explained to us: "When they were there, no one made any mention of anything. While police were here, you'd figure that'd be an opportune time for this guy to really attempt to tar me in some way. But there was no mention of anything I said to him, no one said anything about me saying the N-word or taunting him or anything. So it was after the fact. He wants to say I used some racial slur against him."

 As he put it in a separate tweet, "Why did the photographer make no mention of this when the cops showed up? Cops make rather good witnesses." We've contacted The Post for comment about the confrontation, but they have not responded as of publication.

 Baldwin is clearly frustrated that these kinds of interactions keep happening, although he is not too concerned about people taking the photographer's accusations seriously: "I don't think anyone who knows me would think that was possible."

 He had strong words for the newspaper however: "The Post will stop at nothing—that's what The Post is. Their function is to denigrate people, humiliate people, reduce people, make excuses for people who are their political partisans. It's a highly biased, highly politicized group of people. However, I'm stunned that they would resort to that." He concluded, "Even for The Post, this is a new low."

 UPDATE: Here's the NY Post's story. ||||| Actor Alec Baldwin allegedly called a black Post photographer a racial epithet, a “crackhead” and a “drug dealer” during a confrontation on an East Village street yesterday morning, prompting police to intervene.

 Baldwin had first been approached by a Post reporter while walking his dogs outside his East 10th Street pad at around 10:50 a.m. He was asked for comment on a lawsuit against his wife, Hilaria, involving her work as a yoga instructor.

 The “30 Rock’’ star grabbed the reporter, Tara Palmeri, by her arm and told her, “I want you to choke to death,” Palmeri told police, for whom she played an audiotape of the conversation.

 He then called G.N. Miller — a decorated retired detective with the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau and a staff photographer for The Post — a “coon, a drug dealer,’’ Miller’s police statement said.

 At one point, Miller showed Baldwin ID to prove he’s a retired NYPD cop, which Baldwin dismissed as “fake.”

 Cops were called, and Miller, 56, and Baldwin, 54, both filed harassment claims against each other.

 Minutes later, Baldwin ranted on Twitter.

 “Thank u 2 NYPD officers who came to my home 2day so that I could file a formal complaint against NY Post “photographer’’ who assaulted me,’’ he tweeted.

 In another post, Baldwin referred to Miller, for unknown reasons, as “Ralston,” writing, “Moments after I tweet about the Post, Ralston, the ex-crackhead ‘photographer’ shows up at my door w 1 of Murdoch’s nieces in tow.”

 He added, “Ralston claims he’s ex NYPD!! That can’t be!!! Ex NYPD don’t become crackhead, ex jailhouse paparazzi!”

 The actor eventually removed most of the posts.

 Miller also said the actor bumped him in the chest during their tete-a-tete, although Baldwin told cops the photographer “pushed into him,’’ according to the actor’s complaint.

 Baldwin said he “asked [Miller] to keep his distance,’’ the complaint said.

 But Miller said Baldwin was the one getting “too aggressive,’’ so he showed him his retired-cop ID.

 Baldwin called the ID a “fake’’ and added Miller was a “crackhead” and a “drug dealer” who “just got out of jail,” Miller said.

 Baldwin also made “disparaging remarks’’ about Miller’s mother, the photographer said.

 As oblivious pedestrians walked by, Baldwin told him to “suck my d–k,” Miller said.

 Baldwin also walked up to random people — including a dad pushing his child in a stroller — and told them Miller was an ex-con and drug dealer, Miller said.

 “He was saying some serious racist stuff,” Miller said. “He said some choice words about my mother, and he was telling people in the street that I’m a drug dealer.

 “He could have said a lot of other stuff. But he used all of the stereotypes associated with black people.”

 Miller worked for the NYPD for nearly 15 years, spending most of his time in narcotics.

 Although both men made police reports, it’s a case of he said-he said because the incident did not happen in the presence of a police officer.

 Neither police complaint will go any further, except in possible civil action.

 Baldwin’s spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, called Miller’s accusations “completely false.’’

 Baldwin, through Hiltzik, denied making the racist remarks, adding, “That’s one of the most outrageous things I’ve heard in my life.’’

 But Baldwin has a history of making inappropriate comments to photographers.

 Last June, the day before his wedding, Baldwin shouted to a black photographer on the street, “You gotta back up there Rodney.”

 The photographer’s name wasn’t Rodney.

Summary: – Is Alec Baldwin going down the Mel Gibson road? A New York Post reporter says that when she approached Baldwin yesterday morning while he was walking his dogs, he grabbed her by the arm and told her, "I want you to choke to death." He then allegedly called a black Post photographer who was with her a "coon," an "ex-con," and a "drug dealer." Reporter Tara Palmeri, who had been asking Baldwin about the yoga lawsuit recently filed against his wife, apparently got the encounter on tape and played it for police. The cops were called, and both Baldwin and the photographer, GN Miller, filed harassment claims against one another. Miller, who the Post identifies several times as a former NYPD detective, claimed Baldwin bumped him in the chest, while Baldwin claimed Miller "pushed into him." Humorous tidbit: The police report also claims Baldwin made "disparaging remarks" about Miller's mother. Baldwin talked to Gothamist about the encounter, calling it a "new low" for the Post and posing the following question about the supposed slur, "Why did the photographer make no mention of this when the cops showed up? Cops make rather good witnesses."


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 You must log in to continue. ||||| A Florida mom whose 14-year-old left a note and then disappeared five years ago says her daughter has mailed a letter home.

 “To all our friends and extended family, we want to let you know that we have heard from Emily,” Pam Massimiani wrote on Facebook about her daughter Emily Paul, who now would be 19. “We do not have any further information to share at the moment. Thank you all for your love and support you have shown for our family.”

 Bay County Sheriff Chief Deputy Joel Heape tells PEOPLE in a statement: “We are still looking to confirm that it is truly Emily Paul.”

 Massimiani says that while the letter’s contents suggest it’s from her daughter, she’s keeping the exact details out of the public eye for now. “I’m pretty sure it’s from her,” she told the Panama City News Herald.

 • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

 Emily’s last known contact with her family came in April 2013, when authorities and her family said she left a note stating her intentions to run away and then vanished with a packed suitcase from the family’s home in Southport.

 Police logged her disappearance as a missing person’s case, and noted that she appeared to follow tips found on websites that describe steps to take for a successful runaway, the News Herald reports. Emily fled with items such as her Xbox that might have linked her to online connections, and she has never resurfaced on social media. Three pings of Emily’s cell phone in the week that followed were the last evidence of her movements.

 “The ball is in her court still,” Emily’s mother said, while asking for further privacy for the family, according to the newspaper. PEOPLE could not reach the family.

 “There’s a lot of mixed emotions and a lot of feelings,” Massimiani told the outlet. ||||| UPDATE: Emily Paul has been confirmed safe by BCSO. For the latest, read the story here: http://www.newsherald.com/article/20180815/NEWS/180819044

 SOUTHPORT — After disappearing more than five years ago, the mother of missing teenager Emily Wynell Paul believes she has received a letter from her daughter.

 Paul’s mother, Pam Massimiani, posted on social media last Thursday that she had heard from her now 19-year-old daughter for the first time in five years. On Monday, Massimiani confirmed that she had received a letter. Though the family is keeping the details private now, Massimiani said that based on the contents of the letter, they believe it came from her daughter.

 “I’m pretty sure it’s from her,” Massimiani said.

 This is the first the family has heard from the missing teen since April 2013, when the then 14-year-old packed up a suitcase and left her Southport home, leaving behind only a note stating her intention to flee. Massimiani said she will be speaking to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office about the case and while she hopes to hear more from her daughter, “the ball is in her court still.”

 For now, the family asks for privacy as they navigate this difficult situation.

 “There’s a lot of mixed emotions and a lot of feelings,” Massimiani said.

 Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said he was aware of the letter and that, while he would like more confirmation, he feels “pretty good” that the letters are from Paul.

 Investigators believe Emily learned from websites that teach young people how to be successful runaways, and she has followed the advice. She took the items she had used for online communications, such as her Xbox, and she has never been back on her Facebook account.

 Her cellphone powered on three times in the week after she left home, pinging once each off towers in Callaway, near the port and not far from Southport Road, where Massimiani lives. That was the last of her cellphone activity.

 Zack McDonald contributed to this report.

Summary: – A Florida mother says she has finally heard from missing daughter Emily Paul, who left a note and vanished from the family home five years ago, when she was 14. "To all our friends and extended family, we want to let you know that we have heard from Emily," Pam Massimiani said in a Facebook post. "We do not have any further information to share at the moment." Massimiani says she has received a letter which she is "pretty sure" came from Emily, though she is not going to reveal the contents, the Panama City News-Herald reports. "There’s a lot of mixed emotions and a lot of feelings," she says. "The ball is in her court still," Massimiani says. Bay County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Joel Heape tells People that the sheriff's office is still trying to determine whether the letter really came from Emily, who apparently followed online advice on how to disappear successfully. She took items she had used to get online, including her XBox, and never reappeared on Facebook or other social media sites. (This runaway Georgia teen ended up spending years with traveling hippies.)


The troubled actress from That ’70s Show died at the age of 43 after a long struggle with sobriety and a congenital heart defect — drinking up to a half-gallon of vodka every day in 2011.

 Lisa Robin Kelly passed away in her sleep last Wednesday while in a rehab treatment facility, for the 22nd time.

 “You can’t do to the human body what Lisa did, for the length of time that she did, and expect to survive,” Lisa’s estranged husband, Robert Gilliam, told the National Enquirer.

 “Not with the congenital heart defect, which Lisa had. Her poor little body just couldn’t take all that abuse anymore.”

 As Radar previously reported, the actual cause of Lisa’s death is still unknown following an autopsy and toxicology reports are expected to yield some answers but will take another eight to 10 weeks.

 PHOTOS: Celebs Who Died Young

 “Lisa called me in May 2011 and asked me if I would detox her,” Gilliam told the tabloid.

 “She was drinking more than a half-gallon of vodka a day. I got her off everything in six weeks.”

 After marrying Lisa in 2012, Gilliam says she then fell off the wagon again — which was followed by a downward spiral of DUIs, a hospital stay with a blood alcohol level of .387 and domestic violence and assault charges.

 To find out more about what Gilliam believes might have saved Lisa’s life, pick up the latest issue of the National Enquirer, on newsstands Thursday. ||||| What caused Lisa Robin Kelly to die in her sleep Wednesday is still unknown, following an autopsy on the That 70s Show star.

 Toxicology tests have been ordered and it will take another eight to 10 weeks for the results, said Los Angeles County Coroner Lt. Cheryl MacWillie.

 The actress had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment center after several years of battling substance abuse problems.

 Kelly was only 43 at the time of her death.

 PHOTOS: Celebs Who Died Young

 PHOTOS: The Most Shocking Celebrity Drug Transformations ||||| Poor Lisa Robin Kelly. Fans of That '70s Show were shocked to hear that the actress, who once played Topher Grace's older sister, Laurie Forman, died from cardiac arrest on Wednesday. She had long been battling drug and alcohol addiction, and her depressing train of mugshots, showing her more and more disheveled and distressed with each one, was a huge red flag about how much trouble she was in. But she had recently checked into a rehab facility, and her agent said that she was determined to slay her demons once and for all. The drug and alcohol demon is incredibly difficult to slay -- but so is the bad partner demon. And Lisa looks like she may have had that too.

 Lisa had been married to Robert Gilliam, but they got divorced last year. It sounds like the polar opposite of a healthy relationship. Both of them had been arrested for assault on each other -- a mere month after getting married. And Gilliam was eventually jailed on assault charges for battering Lisa.

 But apparently the two were still in contact. Lisa's new boyfriend even went so far as to blame Lisa's drinking relapse on her ex-husband -- saying they had gotten into a huge fight over That '70s Show residuals.

 But TMZ is reporting that Gilliam is blaming Lisa's recent troubles on her new boyfriend. It was the boyfriend who helped Lisa check into a California rehab facility on Monday, but according to Gilliam, she really wanted to get away from him. Gilliam reportedly told TMZ:

 He's trying to cover his own ass. In the last two weeks, she called me 22 times to get away from him.

 Gilliam says he offered to help rescue her, but only if she checked into a rehab facility close to where HE lived, in North Carolina. She apparently agreed and Gilliam was working to get her out when she unexpectedly died.

 The boyfriend says these claims are untrue and that it was years of abuse at the hands of Gilliam that caused Lisa's drinking demons.

 Who knows what the truth is here, but one thing is for sure: Lisa may have been better off being single. Someone with alcohol issues can easily be triggered by stress and these relationships are sounding pretty stressful.

 Do you think relationships can contribute to substance abuse?

 Image via Fox

Summary: – That '70s Show actress Lisa Robin Kelly was pronounced dead by a doctor at her LA rehab facility at 8:07am Thursday, but the county coroner reportedly didn't learn of the death until noon ... when someone from the office read about it on TMZ. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ no one from the rehab facility called the county coroner—and now both the coroner and the LA County Sheriff's Department are suspicious and are investigating Kelly's death. Another cause of their suspicion: The rehab doctor said an embolism caused Kelly's death, but the coroner says there's no way he could have known that without doing an autopsy. Kelly's autopsy was completed over the weekend, but her official cause of death is not yet known. The doctor also told the coroner Kelly was on detox drugs when she died, sources say, but it won't be clear whether they played a role in her death until the toxicology report is in. Meanwhile, Kelly's estranged husband (who earlier blamed Kelly's new boyfriend for the actress' recent troubles) is blabbing away about her death in a National Enquirer article picked up by Radar. He says the 43-year-old had a congenital heart defect, and that back in 2011 she was drinking as much as a half-gallon of vodka per day. "You can't do to the human body what Lisa did, for the length of time that she did, and expect to survive," he says. Click for more.


It was something perfectly ordinary: Lindsay Gottlieb, who coaches the University of California at Berkeley’s women’s basketball team, was about to fly with her 1-year-old son.

 But her family then had what Gottlieb called an “uncomfortable and hurtful” interaction with a Southwest Airlines employee at a Denver International Airport ticket counter: On Monday, she said, the employee asked Gottlieb to “prove” she was the mother of her biracial son, even after seeing the toddler’s passport.

 The employee then asked for her son’s birth certificate, citing “federal law” — and proceeded to ask the dismayed mother if she could prove she was the mother with a Facebook post, Gottlieb wrote in a tweet.

 “We had a passport that verified our son’s age and identity, and both parents were present,” Gottlieb said in a statement to The Washington Post on Tuesday. “But still being pushed further to ‘prove’ that he was my son felt disrespectful and motivated by more than just concern for his well-being.”

 [A Delta flight crew asked if there was a doctor on board. There was: The U.S. surgeon general.]

 On Twitter, Gottlieb wrote that the employee claimed she requested further documentation of her and her son’s relationship because the boy had a different last name.

 “My guess is because he has a different skin color,” wrote Gottlieb, who is white.

 She added that a mother next to her told her she had never been asked for “proof” when traveling with her child, who also had a different last name but was of the same race. “Not shockingly, not mixed face fam,” Gottlieb added of the other mother.

 Gottlieb and her fiance Patrick Martin welcomed 1-year-old Jordan Peter Martin last May. Jordan has flown frequently with his mother and the basketball team this season, and Gottlieb wrote on Twitter that she had flown with him approximately “50 times” before.

 @SouthwestAir I’m appalled that after approx 50 times flying with my 1 year old son, ticket counter personnel told me I had to “prove” that he was my son, despite having his passport. She said because we have different last name. My guess is because he has a different skin color. — Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018

 @SouthwestAir she 1st asked for proof with birth certificate. She then said it’s a “federal law” (not true) but asked me to prove I’m mother with Facebook post.What??Mother next to me said she’s never been asked for proof despite diff last name..not shockingly, not mixed face fam — Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018

 @SouthwestAir it was demeaning and insensitive, not to mention inefficient. Would have missed flight if it was not delayed. I would advise better training for employees to avoid this happening to others — Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 28, 2018

 Gottlieb reported the incident to Southwest Airlines through Twitter and said officials quickly apologized. She said airline officials told her they would make the incident a “coaching” moment for their employees — a reference to Gottlieb’s coaching job.

 Southwest said in a statement that it contacted Gottlieb to address her concerns and that the airline was sorry “if our interaction made this family uncomfortable.”

 “That is never our intention,” officials said.

 Officials added that Southwest’s policy is to verify that lap children are younger than 2 by reviewing a birth certificate or government-issued ID, and that employees aren’t required to match the last names of a child and guardian on domestic flights.

 Gottlieb said the incident made her aware that the sort of questioning she experienced was probably common among nonwhite families.

 “While it was upsetting and emotional, I realize that this was just one day of my life where I was uncomfortable and our family was made to feel ‘less than’ whereas others face similar situations on a daily basis,” she said. “I hope the coverage this has received can serve as a learning opportunity and that all families — regardless of how ‘traditional’ they may or may not look — are treated with dignity and respect.”

 We are fine. It was wild, but, I fear, much more common for people that don’t look like me 😢 — Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 29, 2018

 Read more:

 An American Airlines passenger was refused beer — so he screamed, fought and spit blood, FBI says

 Self-driving Uber did not have emergency braking turned on when it hit pedestrian, NTSB says

 Uber shutting down self-driving operations in Arizona ||||| We are fine. It was wild, but, I fear, much more common for people that don’t look like me ||||| @ SouthwestAir it was demeaning and insensitive, not to mention inefficient. Would have missed flight if it was not delayed. I would advise better training for employees to avoid this happening to others ||||| Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez (AP Images)

 The airlines are back at it again, with Southwest being accused of demanding that a white mother prove that her infant biracial son was indeed her own.

 According to CBS San Francisco affiliate KPIX-TV, University of California women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb said that she was approached at a Denver airport by a Southwest Airlines employee who asked to know her relationship to her son before she could get on a flight.

 Gottlieb took to Twitter to express her shock at what happened to her, stating that this happened after approximately 50 times of flying with her now 1-year-old son.

 Gottlieb gave birth to her son, Jordan Peter Martin, last year. Patrick Martin, Gottlieb’s fiance, is black. As KPIX notes, the tot has traveled often, even on Southwest, with his mom’s basketball team this past season.

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 However, this trip didn’t go as smoothly. Gottlieb said that she presented her son’s passport, only to have the agent demand the child’s birth certificate.

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 Gottlieb said in her tweets that the employee insisted that the demand was made because she and her son do not share a last name, but a mother next to her pointed out that even though her family uses a different last name, they’ve never been asked.

 The basketball coach noted that that woman was not part of a mixed-race family.

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 Nonetheless, Gottlieb stayed woke, acknowledging in her tweets that incidents like this happen far more often to “people that don’t look” like her.

 “I do feel like as a white female, with a position of privilege, and a platform where someone is going to listen, it is my responsibility to say, ‘Hey, this happened, this isn’t OK,’” Gottlieb explained to the news station. “And maybe somewhere down the line, that helps my son, who is biracial and will be for his entire life.”

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 Of course, Southwest is now apologizing (for the umpteenth time?) and saying that it is investigating:

 “We’re looking into this specific interaction, and we have engaged with the customer directly to address her concerns,” a statement from the airline read. “Our employees are well regarded for their hospitality and we always strive for the best experience for anyone who entrusts us with their travel.” ||||| @ SouthwestAir she 1st asked for proof with birth certificate. She then said it’s a “federal law” (not true) but asked me to prove I’m mother with Facebook post.What??Mother next to me said she’s never been asked for proof despite diff last name..not shockingly, not mixed face fam

Summary: – Lindsay Gottlieb, coach of the University of California at Berkeley women’s basketball team, has flown with her son "approx 50 times" with no incident. So she was "appalled," as she wrote in a series of tweets to Southwest Airlines Monday, that during her most recent trip with the one-year-old, an airline employee in Denver insisted she "prove" she was the boy's mother. "She said because we have different last name. My guess is because he has a different skin color," Gottlieb wrote. She is white; her fiance, Patrick Martin, is black; and their son is biracial, the Root reports. Gottlieb tells the Washington Post that both she and Martin were present at the time and that they had their son Jordan Peter Martin's passport. But the Southwest employee claimed that "federal law" required her to view the boy's birth certificate Gottlieb says that claim is not true; Southwest's own website says birth certificates are only required to verify the age of infants flying as lap children without their own ticket. The agent then, Gottlieb tweeted, "asked me to prove I’m mother with Facebook post. What??" She adds that a woman who witnessed the incident told her she had never been asked to prove she was her child's mother even though they have different last names; "shockingly," Gottlieb tweeted, that woman is not part of a mixed-race family. In a later tweet, she added that she fears this sort of thing is "much more common for people that don’t look like me." She tells KPIX that as a white person, she has "a position of privilege, and a platform where someone is going to listen," so it's her responsibility to call out behavior like this. Southwest has apologized and says it is investigating.


Lee Jin-gyu fell for his 'dakimakura' - a kind of large, huggable pillow from Japan, often with a picture of a popular anime character printed on the side.

 In Lee's case, his beloved pillow has an image of Fate Testarossa, from the 'magical girl' anime series Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

 Now the 28-year-old otaku (a Japanese term that roughly translates to somewhere between 'obsessive' and 'nerd') has wed the pillow in a special ceremony, after fitting it out with a wedding dress for the service in front of a local priest. Their nuptials were eagerly chronicled by the local media.

 'He is completely obsessed with this pillow and takes it everywhere,' said one friend.

 'They go out to the park or the funfair where it will go on all the rides with him. Then when he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal,' they added.

 The pillow marriage is not the first similarly-themed unusual marriage in recent times - it comes after a Japanese otaku married his virtual girlfriend Nene Anegasaki, a character who only exists in the Nintendo DS game Love Plus, last November. ||||| Hello!

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Summary: – A South Korean man’s dream came true recently when he married a body pillow bearing an illustration of an anime character. Lee Jin-gyu, 28, fell for a dakimakura, or body pillow, printed with an image of Fate Testarossa, a character in a popular cartoon series, the UK Metro reports. “When he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal,” says an acquaintance. The video above shows the couple on a big day out. If all this sounds awfully familiar, click here to see some behind-the-scenes footage of James Franco and the body pillow his character had a fling with on a recent episode of 30 Rock.


Ads withdrawn, and a online petition started in support of a northwest Arkansas gay couple who wants to announce their engagement in a local newspaper.

 Cody Renegar and his partner Thomas say they wanted to celebrate their upcoming union with friends and family, by publishing their engagement in the Northwest Arkansas Times.

 According to the Northwest Arkansas Times publisher Rusty Turner, its policy is to only print announcements for marriages legally recognized by the state.

 Turner says the policy has been around for a long time and has not changed.

 Depite the denial the couple says news of the rejection brought a flood of support. The local Backyard Burger franchise pulled it's ads from the paper and an online petition in support of the couple has surpassed 1,000 signatures. ||||| Related Content

 A teen has been arrested on a charge of sexually assaulting a female assistant principal at Heritage High School....

 20% of adults and 26% of children will have a mental health challenge this year in Northwest Arkansas. Ozark Guidance Center breaks that number down and offers tips for those who facing this...

 A couple of KNWAers hit the books Wednesday....

 Holiday shopping is still booming for a couple local businesses in Rogers, despite the threat of raised taxes coming next year....

 A student in Rogers is overcoming his disability by getting out of his wheelchair and into a harness....

 Knile Davis has chosen to enter the NFL Draft and will forgo his senior season at Arkansas...

 Jim Chaney, who boasts experience in the NFL, SEC and Big Ten, has been named Arkansas' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach...

 Mercy Medical Center welcomed the first babies of 12-12-12 Wednesday....

 A Fayetteville woman was killed in an accident Tuesday afternoon on I-40 in Prairie County....

 The owner of War Eagle Cavern is expanding his tourist attraction even deeper underground....

Summary: – When Cody Renegar got engaged to his partner, he wanted to shout it from the rooftops—or at least announce it in his hometown paper. No dice, said the Northwest Arkansas Times. "There's a certain amount of validation that comes with putting it in the paper. You know, you grow up with that, you see this, you love to look at these beautiful photos of couples," he tells KNWA. But the Times told Renegar, who is planning a big wedding in June, that the paper only runs engagement announcements for marriages that the state legally recognizes—ie, not gay marriages. "It's not a law for it not to be put in the paper, it's a choice of theirs, it felt to me like they were making a stance," Renegar says. "You want to be recognized as a taxpayer, as a human being, as a person in love … it's not that complicated for them to print a picture of people in love." The community has rallied around the couple, according to Arkansas Matters: Ads have been pulled from the Times, an online petition has gotten more than 1,000 signatures, and another paper has agreed to publish the announcement.


Cinnamon is a delicious addition to toast, coffee and breakfast rolls. Eating the tasty household spice also might improve learning ability, according to new study results published online in the July issue of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.

 The study by neurological scientists at Rush University Medical Center found that feeding cinnamon to laboratory mice determined to have poor learning ability made the mice better learners.

 "This would be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners," said Kalipada Pahan, PhD, the lead researcher of the study and the Floyd A. Davis Professor of Neurology at Rush.

 Some people are born naturally good learners, some become good learners by effort, and some find it hard to learn new tasks even with effort. Little is known about the neurological processes that cause someone to be a poor learner and how to improve performance in poor learners.

 "Understanding brain mechanisms that lead to poor learning is important to developing effective strategies to improve memory and learning ability," Pahan said.

 Cinnamon role reversal

 The key to gaining that understanding lies in the hippocampus, a small part in the brain that generates, organizes and stores memory. Researchers have found that the hippocampus of poor learners has less CREB (a protein involved in memory and learning) and more alpha5 subunit of GABAA receptor or GABRA5 (a protein that generates tonic inhibitory conductance in the brain) than good learners.

 The mice in the study received oral feedings of ground cinnamon, which their bodies metabolized into sodium benzoate, a chemical used as a drug treatment for brain damage. When the sodium benzoate entered the mice's brains, it increased CREB, decreased GABRA5, and stimulated the plasticity (ability to change) of hippocampal neurons.

 These changes in turn led to improved memory and learning among the mice.

 "We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," Pahan said.

 The researchers used a Barnes maze, a standard elevated circular maze consisting of 20 holes, to identify mice with good and bad learning abilities. After two days of training, the mice were examined for their ability to find the target hole. They tested the mice again after one month of cinnamon feeding.

 The researchers found that after eating their cinnamon, the poor learning mice had improved memory and learning at a level found in good learning mice. However, they did not find any significant improvement among good learners by cinnamon.

 "Individual difference in learning and educational performance is a global issue," Pahan said. "We need to further test this approach in poor learners. If these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance."

 Cinnamon also may aid against Parkinson's disease

 Cinnamon has been a sweet spot for Pahan's research. He and his colleagues previously that cinnamon can reverse changes in the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease.

 These studies have made the researchers spice connoisseurs: They used mass spectrometric analysis to identify the purer of the two major types of cinnamon widely available in the United States -- Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamonum cassia) and original Ceylon cinnamon.

 "Although both types of cinnamon are metabolized into sodium benzoate, we have seen that Ceylon cinnamon is much more pure than Chinese cinnamon, as the latter contains coumarin, a hepatotoxic (liver damaging) molecule," Pahan said.

 The study of cinnamon and learning ability was supported by grants from National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Alzheimer's Association. ||||| Cinnamon has been used as a medicine for over 3,000 years. Modern studies confirm that this sweet and spicy bark can help with diabetes, digestion, and pain. But recent research reveals a potentially new function for cinnamon: improving our ability to learn.

 In a study published June 2016 in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, researchers found that mice that had previously demonstrated poor spatial memory learned to navigate a maze in less than half the time after taking cinnamon orally for a month, even when the location of the exit was changed with each test.

 Researchers also discovered that the cinnamon treatment contributed to favorable changes in the hippocampus of these mice.

 If the effects seen in mice are translated to human-size doses, adults would need about half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder per day.

 If the effects seen in mice are translated to human-size doses, adults would need about half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder per day.

 A previous trial by the same research group found that cinnamon protected brain proteins and neurons that have been shown to deteriorate in Parkinson’s disease.

 How It Works

 According to researchers, the mechanism behind cinnamon’s brain-enhancing influence is sodium benzoate—a chemical our body extracts from cinnamon when metabolized by the liver. Studies have shown that sodium benzoate has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions and helps promote strong, healthy neurons. That’s why the chemical is an approved drug for some neural disorders.

 Related Coverage Can Cinnamon Help Protect You From Cancer?

 So why not skip the cinnamon and just use pure sodium benzoate? According to Kalipada Pahan, Ph.D.—one of the study authors and a neurology professor at Rush University Medical Center—cinnamon is a superior source of this chemical.

 “If we are using sodium benzoate, we have to use a higher dose or three to four doses per day because sodium benzoate is water soluble and quickly excreted out through the urine,” Dr. Pahan wrote in an email.

 “On the other hand, sodium benzoate is released from cinnamon within our body slowly throughout the day. Therefore, cinnamon itself works as a slow-releasing formulation of sodium benzoate. This is definitely an advantage of cinnamon,” according to Dr. Pahan.

 Another drawback of synthetic sodium benzoate is toxicity. The chemical is often used as a preservative in food and beverages because it inhibits mold, but it has also been linked to neurodegenerative disease at high doses. Even worse, when synthetic sodium benzoate mixes with vitamin C, it forms benzene, a known carcinogen.

 Such ill effects do not occur with cinnamon.

 How to Use

 Mouse studies are a first step, but it remains to be seen whether cinnamon’s brain-boosting virtues hold up in a human trial. Pahan says there is discussion about testing cinnamon on slow-learning school children to see if they have experience similar to mice.

 Dementia patients are another group that might benefit from cinnamon consumption. “We are talking with the neurologists for a possible clinical trial in Alzheimer’s disease,” Pahan said.

 Related Coverage 9 Herbs and Spices With Proven Health Benefits

 Cinnamaldehyde and other compounds specific only to cinnamon are what trigger sodium-benzoate production in the body, and both cassia bark (Chinese cinnamon) and true cinnamon exhibit this effect. But Pahan recommends sweeter Ceylon or Sri Lankan cinnamon (Cinnamonum verum) for long-term use because cassia bark contains small amounts of coumarin, a molecule toxic to the liver.

 If the effects seen in mice are translated to human-size doses, adults would need about 3 grams (a little more than half a teaspoon) of cinnamon powder per day.

 Of course, seeing what cinnamon can do in the lab, Pahan enjoys a larger dose.

 “I take about one U.S. teaspoonful of cinnamon powder (Cinnamonum verum) mixed with honey as a supplement every night,” he said.

 Read More 6 Things You Should Know About Cinnamon

 Read more about the history of cinnamon.

Summary: – Scientists say they've discovered "one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners." And all you have to do is eat cinnamon. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center say that feeding cinnamon to mice with a poor learning ability turned them into a bunch of brainiacs by transforming the part of the brain that controls memory. Previous research has found poor learners have less of a protein vital to memory and learning, known as CREB, and more of a protein known as GABRA5 in the hippocampus. However, poor-learning mice showed increased CREB and decreased GABRA5 after a month of daily cinnamon doses, study author Kalipada Pahan explains in a release. Essentially, the body converts cinnamon into sodium benzoate, which promotes healthy neurons, reports the Epoch Times. The mice were then able to navigate a maze in half the time it took them before, even though the exit moved with each test. The ability was similar to that of so-called good-learning mice. Mice who were given cinnamon but were already good learners, however, didn't exhibit any change. "We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular, and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," says Pahan, adding "if these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance." Interestingly, Pahan notes cinnamon is superior to straight doses of sodium benzoate because the chemical is slowly released from cinnamon but is "quickly excreted out through the urine" when taken on its own. (This doesn't mean you should take the cinnamon challenge.)


- It is one of the most infamous murder cases in metro Detroit history involving two men, a secret crush and an appearance on a nationally-televised talk show.

 Now the killer at the center of it all -- is about to walk free. Same sex secret crushes revealed on the Jenny Jones show

 It was March of 1995 when Scott Amedure surprised Jonathan Schmitz during a taping of the show about his crush on him. Three days later back in Michigan, Schmitz went to Amedure's mobile home in Lake Orion and shot and killed him.

 There was a shot and I remember seeing Scott standing in the kitchen grasping his chest and falling to the floor," testified Gary Brady, Amedure's roommate during the trial.

 Schmitz was arrested, blaming mental illness, alcoholism and humiliation that fueled his rage - led to the shooting after the show.

 Schmitz was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 to 50 years behind bars. Now he's being released from prison and granted parole for next week.

 "He deserved imprisonment but so did everybody else involved in that Jenny Jones show," said attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who served as the attorney for the Amedure family. "He was the perpetrator but he was also a victim of them and they got off scott free.

 "That show set him up and certainly took Scott Amedure's life for no reason."

 Fieger put the sensational talk show on trial, blaming their ambush for Amedure's death.

 In court at the time he said, "They solicited a victim, they picked the murderer and the provided the motive. They did everything in this case except actually pull the trigger."

 The jury agreed, awarding Amedure's family $25 million.

 "Maybe they'll do something about these shows that are happening and there won't be any more killings - like I lost my son," said Amedure's father Frank Sr. after the verdict.

 "They ambushed him, they ambushed my brother," said Frank Amedure, Jr. at the time. "If they would have warned my brother that Jonathan Schmitz didn't want to be on the TV show, Scott wouldn't have gone through with it."

 That ruling was overturned on appeal but Schmitz would continue to serve his time until now.

 FOX 2 spoke with Scott Amedure's brother, Frank, by phone. He said he still has so many questions for Schmitz and they still feel the Jenny Jones show is to blame.

 "They're very dangerous and they produced a tragedy here in Michigan," Fieger said. "I hope he makes something of his life."

 Schmitz was granted parole in March. The Michigan Department of Corrections said that the exact place and time of his release will not be made public.

 ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Workers at an Ohio auto supplier factory have robot colleagues | 1:03 The Universal UR10 robots' task is both simple and repetitive: pick up flimsy insulation pads known as shoddy; transfer them to a machine to be inserted into a door panel; then move the panel to a human worker for inspection. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press 1 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES State senator accused of buying clothes, fast food with campaign funds | 0:58 State Sen. Jim Marleau has been under scrutiny by state election officials for charging large credit cards bills to his campaign fund, without itemizing the charges. Wochit 2 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Death Toll Rises in Mogadishu Blasts | 1:01 Police say the death toll is now 18 in an attack on a hotel in Somalia's capital, with a running gunbattle between security forces and a small number of remaining extremists holed up inside. (Oct. 28) AP 3 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Maxine Waters leads chant, "Impeach 45" | 1:09 Congresswoman Maxine Waters chants "Impeach 45" at the end of her speech Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press 4 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Red Berenson's meeting with Vladimir Putin 'memorable' | 2:05 Former Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson talks about his meeting with Vladimir Putin as part of a trip to Russia to celebrate the 1972 Summit Series. Video by George Sipple/DFP 5 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Talkin' Spartans: Weird middle part of game costs 'em | 7:44 Free Press sports writers Chris Solari and Shawn Windsor and Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch break down Michigan State's 39-31 triple-overtime loss at Northwestern on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. 6 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Michigan gets much-needed spark from QB Brandon Peters | 8:49 Free Press sports writers George Sipple, Nick Baumgardner and Jeff Seidel break down the big news items from Michigan's 35-14 win over Rutgers on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, in Ann Arbor. 7 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES How Trick or Treat beer is made | 1:09 Black Lotus Brewing Co. in Clawson infused its export stout with toffee for 2017 Detroit Fall Beer Festival. Wochit 8 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES JFK files: 4 big findings | 1:34 The National Archives released over 2,800 records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The once-classified records have fascinated researchers and fueled conspiracy theorists for decades. USA TODAY 9 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Magic Johnson: A look back at greatness | 1:18 Remembering Magic Johnson's career in college and the pros. Video by Ryan Ford/DFP Wochit 10 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Rose McGowan snaps at reporter that asked about Weinstein: 'Who's your rapist?' | 0:56 Actress Rose McGowan snapped back at a Detroit Free Press reporter when she asked her why she didn't mention Weinstein's name during her speech at the Women's Convention in Detroit. Wochit 11 of 12 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE TODAY'S TOP STORIES Carve a Halloween Trumpkin | 1:20 Impress your neighbors bigly! Use our stencil and follow our instructions to carve your very own Halloween Trumpkin! Wochit 12 of 12 Last VideoNext Video Workers at an Ohio auto supplier factory have robot colleagues

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 Jonathan Schmitz was convicted in the 1995 murder of Scott Amedure and he was granted parole after a March 2017 hearing and is scheduled to be released from Parnall Correctional Institution in late August 2017. (Photo: Michigan Department of Corrections)

 A man convicted of murdering another man days after they appeared on a taping of the "Jenny Jones" show about same-sex crushes is scheduled to get out of prison next week.

 Jonathan Schmitz, now 47, was convicted in the 1995 killing of Scott Amedure. A judge sentenced Schmitz to 25-50 years in prison for second-degree murder.

 The case in Oakland County Circuit Court garnered national attention and put a spotlight on the tactics and motives of television talk shows.

 Michigan Department of Corrections spokeswoman Holly Kramer said Schmitz is expected to be released from the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson next week, but she didn’t give the exact date.

 Read more:

 Schmitz interviewed with a member of the Michigan Parole Board in March and a three-member panel made the decision to parole him in April, she said.

 Frank Amedure Jr., Scott’s older brother, recently spoke to the Oakland Press and said he’d like to know how Schmitz feels about what he did.

 “This was hard on the whole family,” he told the Oakland Press. “This practically ruined my life and my family’s life.”

 A relative of Schmitz declined to comment when reached by the Free Press today.

 Shortly after jurors returned a verdict in 1996, they said the talk show was a catalyst for the murder. The show — and Amedure — deceived Schmitz into thinking his admirer was a woman, the jurors said.

 Schmitz, a heterosexual, shot Amedure, who was gay, three days after Amedure revealed his crush.

 Schmitz called 911 after the murder and told an operator he did it because Amedure put him on the show.

 Schmitz’s attorneys have said their client was fighting alcoholism and depression and the show ambushed him. Prosecutors and gay rights activists contended the killing was motivated by Schmitz’s hostility toward gays.

 After the criminal trial, a jury awarded Amedure’s family a $25-million judgment against the "Jenny Jones" talk show and Warner Bros., but the award was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals.

 Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2wf1Q8D ||||| Jonathan Schmitz (Photo from Michigan Department of Corrections)

 A case that became known to some as “The Jenny Jones Killing” – after one guest of the now-defunct television talk show was shot to death by another guest – is resurfacing 22 years later as the convicted murderer is set to be freed from prison.

 Jonathan Schmitz was 24 years old when his gay acquaintance, Scott Amedure, 32, revealed he had a crush on him during a 1995 taping of the Jenny Jones Show. Schmitz, who claimed to not be gay, killed Amedure three days afterwards at his Lake Orion home and then turned himself in to police, saying he murdered Amedure because of the embarrassment he suffered on national television. The episode never aired, though clips were shown on news shows.

 • RELATED: More than 60 photos from the criminal trial of Schmitz and the 1999 wrongful death suit against “The Jenny Jones Show.”

 Sentenced 25-50 years for second degree murder, Schmitz was granted parole following his hearing this past March and is scheduled to be released next week from Parnall Correctional Institution, formerly known as Jackson State Prison.

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 Frank Amedure, Jr., Scott’s older brother, is somewhat troubled by the parole board’s decision – unsure that Schmitz “learned what he should have” from being imprisoned, he said. Amedure had mistakenly hoped to attend the parole hearing, and said he even submitted a list of questions that he wanted the parole board to ask Schmitz – but by then parole had already been approved.

 “I wanted assurance that the (parole board’s) decision was not based on just good behavior in prison. I’d like to know that he learned something, that he’s a changed man, is no longer homophobic and has gotten psychological care,” Amedure said.

 “I’d also like to know how he feels about Scott now, after all these years – and how he feels about what he did.”

 According to Holly Kramer, communications representative for the Michigan Department of Corrections, parole hearings are closed to the public – including victims and victims’ families – except in cases where life sentences are being reconsidered. Specific information on Schmitz’s hearing won’t be released, but Kramer said factors that help the parole board make its decision for all inmates include behavior while incarcerated, family support, plans after parole, victim testimony, the nature of the crime and more.

 Amedure said he received notification from the MDOC that Schmitz will be paroled Aug. 22, but Kramer wouldn’t confirm that specific date.

 ‘I’m still living it’

 His brother’s death and Schmitz’s trial in Oakland County Circuit Court had an impact beyond compare, Amedure said, and remains to this day. “It’s still very fresh, at least to me,” he said. “I’m still living it.”

 The psychological shake-up from the murder and time spent in court ultimately led to him losing his corporate sales director position, he said. And he was forced to switch careers – no longer able to deal with the public as he had before the killing. He also said he was turned down for a job due to the “notoriety” resulting from the high-profile case.

 Their parents have since died, but the surviving Amedure siblings – Frank has two other brothers and a sister – have each been affected “in their own way,” he said.

 “This was hard on the whole family,” he said. “This practically ruined my life and my family’s life...maybe if I had gotten my questions answered I could have had some closure. But I don’t really know who Schmitz is. I don’t know if he deserves to be out.”

 Schmitz, now 47, is “still a relatively young man,” Amedure said. “He can still have a family, he can still have a life. But my brother, he didn’t have a life. And I just don’t know if justice has been served.”

Summary: – The Michigan man who murdered another man days after the victim revealed his crush on the murderer on the Jenny Jones talk show is scheduled to be released on parole next week, the Detroit Free Press reports. Jonathan Schmitz, now 47, was led to believe he was going on the show in 1995 so a woman could reveal herself as his secret admirer; during his appearance, he found out his admirer was actually Scott Amedure. Three days later, Schmitz went to Amedure's home and fatally shot him, then called 911 and told the operator he did it because of what happened on the show. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. The jury found that the talk show had been a catalyst for the murder, and the case threw the sometimes controversial tactics used by TV talk shows into the spotlight. Schmitz's attorneys argued that he was ambushed by the show, while prosecutors said he was spurred to kill Amedure by his negative attitudes about gay people. "He deserved imprisonment but so did everybody else involved in that Jenny Jones show," the Amedure family's attorney tells Fox 2 Detroit. "He was the perpetrator but he was also a victim of them and they got off scot-free. That show set him up and certainly took Scott Amedure's life for no reason." Schmitz, then 24, and Amedure, 32, were acquaintances at the time; the episode never aired, though clips were featured on news shows, the Oakland Press reports.