1 dies, 4 missing
in S.F. yacht race
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A century-old tradition, the Full Crew Farallones Race has never been for the faint of heart: Winds averaging 10 to 20 knots and churning 14-foot Pacific Ocean swells are among the rough conditions typically braved by yachts and their crews during the daylong regatta, a spring favorite of skilled sailors.
But on Saturday, powerful waves and a disastrous series of events brought rare tragedy to the august race and the San Francisco Bay area’s large sailing community.
One crew member died and four others remained missing at sea Sunday after two strong waves swept them from their boat near the rocky Farallon Islands, the halfway point of the 54-mile race that began at daybreak in San Francisco and had 49 entrants.
It was the first known fatality in the 143-year history of the San Francisco Yacht Club, which managed the race for the Offshore Yacht Racing Association and where the yacht involved in the accident, the 38-foot Low Speed Chase, was based, club director Ed Lynch said.
“The race community is a very tight-knit group of people, and obviously this tragedy has reached far and wide around the world,” Lynch said. “It’s an event that will give everybody pause.”
Low Speed Chase’s owner and captain, 41-year-old James Bradford of Chicago, was among the three survivors whom the U.S. Coast Guard, assisted by National Guard helicopters, pulled from one of the islands about 300 feet from their damaged vessel, Lynch said.
Bradford and another crew member were briefly treated at a hospital, while the third survivor was admitted overnight with a broken leg and contusions, he said.
Obama: Tax cuts for rich bad idea
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the nation can’t afford to keep giving tax cuts to the wealthiest, “who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them.”
Obama is using his weekly radio and Internet address to urge Americans to ask their member of Congress to support the “Buffett Rule,” which is named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who says he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
The plan would require that people earning at least $1 million annually, whether in salary or from investments, pay at least 30 percent of their incomes in taxes.
The Senate is expected to consider the proposal today.
In the Republican address, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan says the administration’s policies are making gasoline prices worse. He says energy legislation pushed by the House is being blocked by Senate Democrats.
Issa puts Secret Service on notice
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Secret Service scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia that has overshadowed President Barack Obama’s diplomatic mission in Latin American probably isn’t an isolated incident, and the agency should ensure it doesn’t happen again, a leading House Republican said Sunday
California Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of a House investigative panel, said he wasn’t certain whether Congress would hold hearings on the misconduct. But lawmakers will be looking “over the shoulder” of the Secret Service, he said, to make sure that the agency’s method for training and screening agents isn’t endangering the nation’s VIPs.
“Things like this don’t happen once if they didn’t happen before,” said Issa, who leads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Eleven Secret Service employees are on administrative leave for misconduct and five service members assigned to work with the agency are confined to quarters amid allegations that a group of personnel partied with prostitutes before Obama arrived in Colombia for the weekend summit with Latin American leaders.
Bales will not be at ‘sanity board’
SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. soldier charged in the shooting deaths of 17 Afghan villagers last month will not participate in an Army review aimed at determining his mental state, his attorney said Friday.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was expected to face what’s called a “sanity board” examination by Army doctors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, seeking to establish whether he’s competent to stand trial and what his mental state was at the time of the March 11 pre-dawn massacre in two southern Afghanistan villages.
But his civilian lawyer, John Henry Browne, said Friday he instructed Bales to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent because the Army will not allow Bales to have an attorney at the sanity board review and will not allow the examination to be recorded.
The Army also rejected his request to have a neuropsychologist on the board, Browne said.
“A member of the military does not give up constitutional rights by being in the military,” Browne wrote in an email to reporters. “Since the defense will have no way to know questions asked or answers given, Sgt. Bales’ civilian attorneys have instructed him to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and NOT participate in the sanity board process.”
‘Hunger Games’ earns $21.5M
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Movie fans have chosen real violence over the slapstick variety as “The Hunger Games” held off “The Three Stooges” to remain the No. 1 weekend movie.
Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games,” the blockbuster about teens competing in a televised fight to the death, stayed on top for a fourth-straight weekend with $21.5 million. That raises the film’s domestic total to $337.1 million.
“I think a couple of weeks ago, if someone had told us where we’d be, we would have said, ‘We’d like to see that number, but it would be a pleasant surprise.’ So we’re in that pleasant surprise spot at this point,” said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Lionsgate.
Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s slapstick update “The Three Stooges” opened in second-place with $17.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That was well above industry expectations of around $10 million for the 20th Century Fox update starring Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe, Sean Hayes as Larry and Will Sasso as Curly.
Fox executives had figured the movie would appeal mainly to young males. But it also pulled in older men who grew up on the Stooges and a fair number of women and girls as whole families turned out to see it, said Chris Aronson, the studio’s head of distribution.
“If you’re predisposed to open your mind, it’s a laugh riot,” Aronson said.
The acclaimed horror tale “The Cabin in the Woods” debuted in third-place with $14.9 million. A smart, twisting take on the genre produced and co-written by Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), the long-delayed “Cabin in the Woods” had been one of the films caught up in MGM’s bankruptcy but was finally released by Lionsgate.
On the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking on April 15, 1912, the 3-D version of James Cameron’s “Titanic” sailed past the $2 billion mark worldwide.
“Titanic” is just the second blockbuster to top $2 billion, trailing only the next film Cameron made — the sci-fi sensation “Avatar,” which took in $2.8 billion.
Domestically, “Titanic” held the No. 4 spot with $11.6 million. The 3-D re-release has taken in $44.4 million domestically to lift the film’s lifetime total to $645.2 million.
“Titanic” also pulled in $88.2 million in 69 overseas markets, including a huge $58 million 3-D debut in China. That brought the 3-D reissue’s overseas total to $146.4 million and the worldwide sum for re-release to $190.8 million.
Added to the $1.84 billion take from the original release of the 1997 hit, “Titanic” has climbed to a lifetime total of about $2.03 billion.
Another big overseas haul came with Universal’s “Battleship,” which opened with $58 million in 26 countries five weeks ahead of its U.S. debut on May 18. The action tale featuring Taylor Kitsch and Liam Neeson is inspired by the game Battleship.
“The Hunger Games” added $15 million overseas to bring its international total to $194 million and its worldwide haul to $531 million.
The weekend’s other new domestic wide release, Film District’s sci-fi story “Lockout,” opened at No. 9 with $6.3 million. The movie stars Guy Pearce trying to quell an uprising at an orbiting space prison.
With no big new debut on the domestic front, the overall box office slipped for only the second weekend this year. Domestic revenues totaled $117 million, down 10 percent from the same weekend last year, when “Rio” led with $39.2 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
Domestic revenues this year are at $2.98 billion, 19.3 percent ahead of 2011’s, putting Hollywood on a record money pace with a big summer lineup just weeks away. The superhero tale “The Avengers” kicks off the summer season May 4.
Revenues may continue to lag over the next couple of weeks compared to last year, when the action hit “Fast Five” boosted business just before the summer season.
“This year, we don’t really have something like that, but with the 20 percent lead we have over last year, we don’t really need it. We are in terrific shape going into summer,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
