Category: News

Ouch.

Listening to sports talk this morning they’re saying that Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has been in a motorcycle accident this morning. There are no details available except that he was not wearing a helmet and they have shut off the stretch of road where the accident has occurred.

Not cool.

1225pm UPDATE – According to The Herd on ESPN Radio – Channel 4 in Pitt, witness says Roethlisberger went over his handlebars, into car windshield and hit the ground.

NFL News:

Witnesses are telling authorities that the player’s motorcycle collided with a car near a downtown intersection and that Roethlisberger’s head hit the windshield and was bleeding.

Roethlisberger has said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding.

One witness told KDKA television that Roethlisberger was conscious but appeared disoriented before he was taken from the scene to Mercy Hospital. A Steelers spokesman is at the hospital and confirmed Roethlisberger is being treated there, but wouldn’t provide additional details.

1235pm UPDATE – Another eyewitness report: supposedly went to turn so was moving slowly, face first into windshield, over the car and down, facial injuries and couldn’t tell EMT’s what city he was in when they arrived. Wow.

145pm UPDATE – Serious but stable condition. Was coherent going into surgery a half hour ago and did talk with a doctor.

“He was talking to me before he left for the operating room,” Jones said before the operation. “He’s coherent. He’s making sense. He knows what happened. He knows where he is. From that standpoint, he’s very stable.”

210pm UPDATE – Pittsburgh Police have scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. It will be carried live on ThePittsburghChannel.com.

220pm UPDATE – ESPN Radio is reporting an eyewitness account of a second vehicle cutting Roethlisberger off, causing him to lose control.

240pm UPDATE – WTAE TV4 out of Pittsburg: The bike and the car, a silver Chrysler New Yorker, have been towed to a police facility in Troy Hill for investigation.

The driver of the New Yorker is not believed to have been seriously injured.

255pm UPDATE – At Profootballtalk.com’s Rumor Mill:

A league source tells us that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has suffered a broken jaw and various “minor scratches” as a result of his Monday morning motorcycle accident. But, at this point, the team does not believe that he has suffered any serious injuries to body parts that would be used in the playing of football.

“He will have to be thoroughly checked but at this time he looks to be very lucky,” said a league source with knowledge of the situation.

305pm UPDATE – Uh oh.

According to a police source, Roethlisberger suffered a broken jaw, broke his left sinus cavity, suffered a 9-inch laceration to the back of his head, lost many teeth and has severe injuries to his knees from hitting the pavement.

A plastic surgeon has been called in, the source said.

320pm UPDATE – About.com:

According to published reports, Ben Roethlisberger was traveling on Second Avenue when a vehicle coming in the opposite direction turned left in front of him. Roethlisberger was unable to stop in time and hit the passenger side door and windshield of the vehicle.

I think it’s going to be a while before a definitive timeline of what exactly happened is available.

325pm UPDATE – The Pittsburg Tribune-Review has thurough coverage. (The site’s a little overloaded, though.)

335pm UPDATE – Art Rooney:

“On behalf of everyone within the Steelers organization, I want to express my concern for Ben Roethlisberger. I am sure Ben knows that we are praying for his complete recovery. So far, we have been encouraged by the early reports from the medical team at Mercy Hospital,” Steelers president Art Rooney said.

425pm UPDATE – On The Drive on ESPN 950 in Richmond – Roethlisberger hit the side of the car so hard that the passenger suffered minor injuries. He is still in surgery to fix his jaw.

430pm UPDATE: Post Gazette is reporting that the surgery is just for his jaw. They also have some words from Jerome Bettis:

Retired halfback Jerome Bettis, in California today, was keeping in touch with some people in the organization and said the reports he’s received are that Roethlisberger will be fine.

“First, it’s good to see he’s not in bad shape, as a friend, and to make sure he’s OK,” said Bettis. “Another good thing is it is minor enough that it shouldn’t affect him on the field this fall.”

They also have a brief statement from the driver of the car involved and some thurough coverage as well.

500pm UPDATE – Roethlisberger’s mother, Brenda, arrived at the hospital just before 5 p.m.

I’m probably done covering this for the day. For updates, check out the coverage at WTAE, The Post Gazette, or The Pittsburg Tribune-Review and keep Big Ben in your prayers tonight.

Paratroopers could fly 200km with new wings system

A new military parachute system which fits wings on soldiers could enable them to travel to 200 kilometres (124 miles) after jumping, Jane’s Defence Weekly defence magazine said Friday.

The system, which involves the development of new modular carbon-fibre wings, will mean that aircraft can drop parachutists from 30,000 feet (9,150 metres) into an area of operations without flying into a danger zone.

How cool is that?

Snoopy links to a TD report that Julian’s Restaurant is closing its doors after nearly 60 years in business:

Julian’s Restaurant, which has had a location on West Broad Street since 1946, has closed.

The Hickman family shut down the business at 2617 W. Broad St. on Sunday night to concentrate on its other restaurant at 11129 Three Chopt Road in Henrico County.

“My parents have been doing this a long time, and it was such a huge burden having the two restaurants,” said Cathy Hughes, the daughter of Dennis and Agnes Hickman, who own the business with their son, Robert.

The family has another reason for closing — a contract to sell the building.

“We’re in the early stages, but it is a good contract,” Hughes said.

The West Broad Street location filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2004 because of mounting debt stemming from a city meals-tax payment dispute.

Win a trip into space!

Space-Shot.com allows you to win a trip to space on Rocketplane XP via a game of skill. You may become one of the first 1,000 people to ever fly in space. The first step is to buy some entries into the tournament. Each entry costs $3.50 or 6 for $18. The second step is to use your entry to make a prediction of the weather for Central Park tomorrow from midnight to midnight Eastern time. We provide you with research from Accuweather and Custom Weather. The third step is to predict. The fourth step is to see who your opponent is and the prediction you are competing against. The last step for you is wait to see if you have won and play again.

$3.50 for a shot to go to space. Hmmm…

While Shaun Kenney came up short against Bobby Orrock in the 54th (55%-45% final), it wasn’t a loss. That Shaun was able to pull in 45% of the vote against a 16 year incumbant that outspent him 5 to 1 says something.

What sunk this race for Shaun were factors outside of his control: the 11th hour falsely claimed Allen endorsement by Orrock and Democrat crossover.

A Thursday mailer last week by Orrock claimed the endorsement of Senator Allen which was not the case. This claim was based off of Allen’s appearance at a fundraiser. The Allen camp moved to deny an endorsement and Orrock apologized with a quarter page ad in Tuesday’s Free Lance Star, but the damage was done. An interesting role reversal when you look at the 2003 Caroline County Board of Supervisors race where Orrock denied he had endorsed a candidate after showing up at one of their fundraisers.

And Democrat crossover was HUGE. The VEA had people at the polls handing out literature. Teachers walked by commenting on how they’d never voted Republican before and would probably be in trouble if others found out. The Free Lance Star even cites a poll worker’s observation:

At the Smith Station precinct in Spotsylvania, poll chief Sharon Deane said a few people had admitted they usually voted Democratic, but had picked up Republican ballots because they wanted to vote for Orrock.

“One said, ‘God forgive me,'” for voting for a Republican,” Deane said.

But despite all of that, despite the “endorsement” and the crossover and the huge difference in finances, Shaun was still able to pull 45% of the vote.

Conservative voters spoke loud and clear yesterday, and hopefully Orrock will listen.

“In two years, if we don’t get the voting record that we believe reflects the values of the 54th district,” [Kenney] said, “we will be here again.”

It was a good, hard fought race. There are always things you can look back on and say “we should have done that”. But in the end, Shaun Kenney ran a damn good campaign and if folks played by the rules, we’d have some different results today.

If you’ve worked at Time Warner in the last 10 years, keep an eye on your credit report.

Not 666 but 616.

At least, I hope it is:

The greatest moral quandary of our day is whether we, as Americans, support the Iraqi insurgency. It’s an issue that has caused anti-war Leftists the same pangs of conscience that many felt 30 years ago in their opposition to the Vietnam War. The specter of disloyalty weighs heavily on all of us, even those who’ve never been inclined to wave flags or champion the notion of American “Exceptionalism”.

For myself, I can say without hesitation that I support the insurgency, and would do so even if my only 21 year old son was serving in Iraq. There’s simply no other morally acceptable option.

…

…we have to recognize that the disparate elements of Iraqi resistance, belittled in the media as the “insurgency”, are the legitimate expression of Iraqi self-determination.

…

We should be clear about our feelings about the war and the occupation. The disparate Iraqi resistance is the legitimate manifestation of a national liberation movement. Its success is imperative to the principles of national sovereignty and self-determination; ideals that are revered in the Declaration of Independence.

…..

Where to start. First, this is assuming that the insurgency is home brewed. And ignoring the fact that the majority of the Iraqi people have been trying to free themselves from Saddam’s regime for decades. The insurgency represents foreign powers and parts of the minority Sunnis that supported Saddam and don’t like the fact that the majority of the country will not determine its future.

It’s insane that ones hatred of American policy turns into a hatred of the attempts by untold hundreds of thousands (millions) to free themselves only to be slaughtered and buried in mass graves.