Powerful tornadoes rip through U.S. Midwest

Tornadoes tore through parts of the U.S. Midwest on Sunday, killing at least one person in Minneapolis and damaging whole neighborhoods as well as a hospital in the Missouri town of Joplin, according to authorities and local television footage.
"It's done quite a bit of damage," a police officer in Joplin told Reuters by telephone. "It hit quite a few parts of town."
It was not immediately clear whether there were fatalities or serious injuries in Joplin, but video on the Weather Channel showed extensive areas where whole neighborhoods had been leveled.
A local hospital, St. John's Regional Medical Center, appeared to have sustained heavy damage.

Hamilton alleges Armstrong EPO positive cover-up on 60 Minutes

Tyler Hamilton, a US Postal Service teammate of Lance Armstrong, spoke on Sunday evening's "60 Minutes" news show regarding a cover-up of a positive EPO test by the seven-time Tour de France winner at the 2001 Tour de Suisse.

During the interview, Hamilton also said he witnessed Armstrong receiving a blood transfusion during the 2000 Tour and inject EPO during the 1999 Tour and before the 2000 and 2001 Tours

"I saw him inject it more than one time like we all did, like I did many, many times," Hamilton said. "He was the leader of the team. He doped himself like everybody else, being part of the culture of the sport."

When asked by "60 Minutes" reporter Scott Pelley about Armstrong's repeated statement that he'd never tested positive, Hamilton stated, "I know he's had a positive test before...for EPO [at the] Tour of Switzerland, 2001."

'Bath salts' a step away from being illegal in Texas

SANTA FE, Texas—A local family feels some sense of relief after a bill to ban bath salts has made it all the way to the governor’s desk.

When James Baldwin opened up about the suicide of his son in January, he just wanted to make people aware of the substance.

"If you’re doing the stuff, stop it and if you haven’t done it, don’t," said Baldwin. "That’s all I can say about that bath salts. 　It’s bad. It killed my boy."

His boy was 31- year old Joey Baldwin. He was hooked on what some consider a legal form of cocaine. He started getting paranoid, hallucinating and eventually took his own life.

Hopkins makes history yet again with latest age-dfying victory

The record will reflect that 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins became the oldest world champion in boxing history Saturday night, thoroughly dominating Jean Pascal for the light heavyweight title in a unanimous decision.

But the agate type will only tell half the story.

Hopkins not only outpointed, outboxed and outthought the younger champion, but he pulled it off with nearly every intangible breaking against him.

He did it in Pascal's hometown, before a hostile sellout crowd of 17,560 at Montreal's Bell Centre, where many observers thought it'd be nearly impossible for him to win a decision.

He did it despite not one, but two potentially fatal missed knockdown calls by referee Ian John-Lewis, who failed to see when Pascal's glove brushed the canvas in the ninth and 10th rounds.

And he did it all f

ighting against type: eschewing the measured and cautious defensive approach that's become his post-millennial calling card for a more exciting

Earthquake apocalypse? Not quite

EAST BAY -- A magnitude 3.6 earthquake struck Contra Costa County at 7:04 p.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, an hour after a doomsday prophet predicted a catastrophic temblor would rock the Bay Area.

The earthquake was centered two miles south-southeast of Hercules, and eight miles north of Berkeley, the USGS reports. There have been no reports of any damage or injuries, a Contra Costa Fire District dispatcher said shortly after the quake.

Iceland volcano erupts sending plume seven miles into the sky

Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano has erupted sending ash into the upper atmosphere disrupting local air traffic.

The volcano erupted on Saturday, sending a plume to nearly seven miles above the landscape. This comes a year after the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted but it is not expected to cause the same air traffic chaos as then.

A no fly zone has been designated for 120 nautical miles (220 kilometers) in all directions from the eruption. Isavia, the company that operates and develops all airport facilities and air navigation services in Iceland, described this as standard procedure around eruptions.

Briscoe crashes in practice, De Silvestro cleared to race

Ryan Briscoe from Team Penske wrecked during Saturday's final practice session preceding "Pole Day" qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Briscoe spun around and backed it hard into the turn two wall. He was transported by ambulance to the track's infield care center. Despite suffering a bruised knee, IndyCar medical personnel cleared Briscoe to drive. His team prepared his backup car in time for him to turn laps around the famed 2.5-mile track in the closing minutes of practice.

"I'm a bit bruised on my knees," Briscoe said. "My legs knocked the wheel off, actually. It's a real bummer to start Pole Day off this way, but we're going to fight hard and get back out there and see how we can run.

CARMAX HAS A RELATIVELY HIGH EV TO FORWARD EBITDA RATIO IN THE AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL INDUSTRY

Below are the five companies in the Automotive Retail industry with the highest Enterprise Value (EV) to Forward EBITDA ratios. EV/Forward EBITDA is an important metric used in valuing comparable companies and is based on estimated cash flow. It is capital structure neutral and generally the lower the ratio, the more undervalued the company is believed to be.

Carmax (NYSE:KMX) has the highest with EV/Forward EBITDA of 12.93x; Penske Auto Group (NYSE:PAG) is next with EV/Forward EBITDA of 12.00x; and AutoNation (NYSE:AN) has the next highest with EV/Forward EBITDA of 11.61x.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) follows with EV/Forward EBITDA of 9.62x and Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) rounds out the group with EV/Forward EBITDA of 8.92x.

SmarTrend currently has shares of Lithia Motors in an Uptrend and issued the Uptrend alert on April 05, 2011 at $15.17. The stock has risen 13.8% since the Uptrend alert was issued.

Gallagher: Canucks' slow start costing them dearly

The Vancouver Canucks have started every game three of these playoffs much the same way a sloth begins his day at the top of a tall tree, relaxed and not moving very much.

In both Chicago and Nashville they managed to recover from these appalling starts by getting some great goaltending and then scoring on their chances when the team got their legs going and generated some.

Not this time. No to the goaltending early at least and no to the scoring on their chances until leaving it just a little too late. Not against a team that has more firepower than the Predators have ever had in their franchise history, the San Jose Sharks clearly a lot better team than the previous two opponents. This time the Canucks not only lost the game, they lost perhaps their most consistent defenceman all season in Christian Ehrhoff in a shoulder to shoulder hit by Jamie McGinn in the bargain, this team not reacting well to whatever the coaching staff is telling them before their first road appearance in any series. Aaron Rome went down later too of course, but that happened once Vancouver woke up.

Preakness 2011: Breaking Down the Field

Saturday marks the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown. Animal Kingdom scored an upset in the Kentucky Derby at 21-1, but this handicapper had him tapped as a top contender, and 2nd choice overall. Can he win again in Baltimore, and head to the Belmont as racing’s Next Great Hope?

Racing in Maryland is dying. The Preakness has pretty much become the only meaningful day in a state rich with thoroughbred tradition. Still, over the past decade, the Preakness has emerged as the key race among the three Triple Crown events. While the Derby has produced a string of winners that went on to accomplish little else (Giacomo, Mine That Bird, Super Saver), the Preakness has produced a host of champions that include Rachel Alexandra, Curlin, Afleet Alex, Bernardini, and Lookin at Lucky. Lately, the Preakness has not been producing flukes.

U.S. Venture Open to host Lance Armstrong during major Fox Valley charity event

When U.S. Venture Open organizers look for a nationally known sports celebrity to appear at their annual golf event for charity, they want one with the heart of a champion, too.

So this year, Lance Armstrong — seven-time winner of the Tour de France, a cancer survivor and a champion when it comes to charity causes — was an easy choice. Armstrong will be the featured guest at this year's U.S. Venture Open charity golf outing on Aug. 10.

"Through his foundation, Lance is able to help so many people affected by cancer," said event organizer Sarah Schmidt. "His charitable work is remarkable and in line with the mission of the U.S. Venture Open."

The golfing event will be held at the Oneida Golf & Country Club, North Shore Golf Club, Wander Springs, Mid Vallee and Fox Valley Golf Club.

Believe It or Not, Warren Buffett Might Not Be Right

Many investors look to "gurus" like Warren Buffett for advice and try to mimic their style of investing. I do believe that Buffett offers some excellent core methods, but there are many reasons why "the Buffett Way" may not work for most of us.

In my book Your Options Handbook, I detail several styles and methods of investing. I take you through several scenarios and help you find the most appropriate methods to fit your personality and ability to manage risk.

In today's complex marketplace, certain methods, like Buffett's, may look simple, but prove hard and maybe even downright frustrating for the average investor to follow. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 4 in my book:

The Oracle of Omaha Did It, Why Can't I?

5 Easy Steps to Becoming a Millionaire

Who wouldn't want to be worth a million dollars? Many of us dream of achieving this goal, more often than not for the sake of the freedom financial stability would bring. So how can we get there? The answers are actually much easier than you might expect. Here are several easy steps to get you into the millionaires' club. (With a little discipline and the help of some powerful savings vehicles, anyone can hit this mark.)

It's the end of the world (again)

Maybe you haven't heard, but Saturday is the end of the world.

Not the end of the world exactly, but it is the supposed date of the Rapture, after which all of us left behind on Earth will be in for a really nasty time, culminating in the real end of the world on Oct.21.

That's the prediction of Harold Camping, the 89-year-old president of the Family Radio network. You may have seen one of his billboards proclaiming that the end of days is upon us.

It's hard to tell for sure, but Camping seems to have developed a following, even though he doesn't exactly have a good track record when it comes to forecasting Judgment Day.

LinkedIn Shares Nearly Double After IPO

Social-media companies, take note: LinkedIn Corp.'s swift rise on its first day of trading Thursday proves that U.S. investors are hungry for similar stories.

The professional-networking site's shares opened at $83 on the New York Stock Exchange, up 84% from its initial public offering price of $45. It was recently changing hands at $85.99 a share, up 91%, valuing the company at nearly $9 billion.

LinkedIn's IPO had priced at the high end of its expected $42 to $45 range, which was boosted by $10 earlier this week in the face of strong demand.
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