Abduction Survivor Elizabeth Smart to Speak Thursday in Birmingham

The young woman, who now is a correspondent for ABC News, will share her message during an annual benefit for Oakland County nonprofit CARE House's advocacy and child abuse prevention programs.The young woman at the center of an infamous child abduction case — Elizabeth Smart — will tell her story Thursday in Birmingham to raise money for a nonprofit group that serves the needs of Oakland County's abused and neglected children. Smart, who was 14 when she was abducted in 2002 from her Salt Lake City, Utah, bedroom, will speak during the Oakland County CARE House's annual Circle of Friends benefit, held this year at the Townsend Hotel. The event will benefit CARE House's advocacy and child abuse prevention programs. “Circle of Friends is more than just an annual benefit," Cathy Weissenborn, CARE House's interim executive director and Board of Trustees president, said in a press release. "It also brings a continued awareness to the needs of so many children in our community who cannot stand up for themselves. “Elizabeth Smart survived a traumatic childhood experience and has gone on to lend her voice nationally," Weissenborn said. "We can draw from her strength as we move forward as an organization in our fight to give every child a voice.” Smart, who was safely reunited with her parents nine months after being kidnapped, has since become an advocate for change related to child abduction and related recovery programs. Now a correspondent for ABC News, Smart has worked with the U.S. Justice Department to create a survivors guide, titled “You’re Not Alone: The Journal From Abduction to Empowerment." Smart is also active in the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and has helped promote the National AMBER Alert, The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and other safety legislation to help prevent child abductions. A senior at Brigham Young University, Smart will earn her bachelor’s degree in music this spring. During the luncheon Thursday, Smart will discuss her own story about overcoming adversity and how to encourage vigiliance when it comes to finding missing children. As part of Thursday's presentation, the CARE House also will recognize Pat Rosen, the group's former executive director who left her position in October for a new nonprofit leadership job in Florida. During Rosen’s tenure at CARE House, the organization completed a move to a new 14,000-square-foot building in Pontiac.

Flip Saunders out as coach of the Wizards, replaced by assistant Randy Wittman

WASHINGTON — Flip Saunders was fired Tuesday as coach of the NBA-worst Washington Wizards and replaced by assistant Randy Wittman, who has the job for the rest of the season. The Wizards fell to 2-15 this season, including 0-7 on the road, with a 20-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Washington’s next game is at home Wednesday against the Charlotte Bobcats. “We felt the team had become unresponsive, and we will look to Randy to provide a different voice and a change in philosophy moving forward,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said in a statement released by the team. “We have been transparent in how we would evaluate our team this season and we were disappointed in the lack of development of our players at this point in our rebuilding plan.” Saunders was in his third season with the Wizards, going 51-130. When he was hired, the roster featured All-Stars Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, but the franchise is now rebuilding around point guard John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft. But there is not a lot of help for Wall, and the Wizards have been prone to inconsistent play, often failing to even be competitive this season. On Monday, they walked down the court for offensive possessions, never hustled after loose balls and couldn’t convert the easiest of buckets, missing eight of nine shots in the paint in the first quarter. After one string of sloppy plays, Saunders took a knee in front of the scorer’s table, bowed his head and rubbed his temples. After the game, Wall said: “Whoever got the ball just took a shot. Guys are holding their heads down, and we’re not fighting or competing.” Back in December, before the lockout-shortened season began, Saunders tried to look on the bright said, saying he could envision how the young Wizards could improve on their 23-59 record from 2010-11. “I want to compete for the playoffs,” the coach said then. But Washington got off to a franchise-worst 0-8 start — half of the losses were by at least 18 points — before beating the Toronto Raptors. Curiously, the Wizards’ only other victory came against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Saunders tried finding different ways to motivate players such as Andray Blatche, who was made a captain for the season-opening game, and tinkered a bit with the lineup. But nothing seemed to get things going in the right direction. Asked after what turned out to be his last game with Washington how he can change the way the Wizards are performing, Saunders said Monday night: “You try to put different lineups in, play a lot of different people, try to do some different things.” Before joining the Wizards, Saunders coached 13 NBA seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, reaching the conference finals a total of four times. He was hired by Washington in April 2009, and given a four-year contract. Wittman gets his third job as an NBA head coach, after going 100-207 — a .326 winning percentage — with Minnesota and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wittman was drafted by Washington with the 22nd overall pick in the 1983 draft. “We have struggled as a team at times this season, but we have also seen a great deal of potential from our young players and glimpses of what we can accomplish together as a team,” Wittman said. “The coaching staff will look to build on that by utilizing the length, athleticism and versatility of our roster to improve our defense and create more opportunities in the open court.” ___ AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Solar flares stun stargazers with celestial light show

THE sun has blasted the earth with radiation in the biggest solar storm since 2005 and stargazers in southern Victoria and Tasmania could be in for a celestial treat. Charged particles from a solar flare began hitting Earth on Monday, with space weather experts warning the rush of radiation could disrupt global positioning system signals and electrical grids in polar regions. The storm could already be disrupting satellite communications as streams of radiation from the sun bounce across the Earth's magnetic field, which extends above the surface into space. ''With the radiation storm in progress now, satellite operators could be experiencing trouble, and there are probably impacts as well to high frequency [radio] communications in polar regions,'' physicist Doug Biesecker of the Space Weather Prediction Centre in Colorado told The Washington Post. Radio blackouts could force airlines to reroute flights between North America and Europe or Asia. Stargazers in southern Victoria and Tasmania may have witnessed auroras in the sky last night and the bursts of colourful light will also be visible tonight, Marc Duldig, president of the Australian Institute of Physics said. But he said the storm was unlikely to affect flights, electrical grids and satellite communication in Australia. ''The rest of the world will still be able to watch the Australian Open on their TV,'' he said. Mr Duldig said Australia's distance from magnetic poles shielded it from the impact of solar storms. In March 1989, 6 million people in Canada suffered nine hours of blackouts due to currents induced in their electricity grid by a solar storm. The latest solar storm is expected to peak early this morning, Mr Duldig said. The storm erupted with a burst of X-rays shooting out of the sun and was followed by a coronal mass ejection, a huge explosion of plasma. A plasma cloud pushed an advancing wave of energised protons at the Earth, triggering the radiation storm. The plasma cloud is hurtling towards Earth at about 6.4 million kilometres an hour.

Super Bowl tickets to see Giants-Patriots rematch carrying high price tags

Giants fans will need big bucks if they want to watch the Big Blue take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on Feb. 5. The rematch of the 2008 thriller between the Giants and the New England Patriots is attracting huge interest on ticket resale websites, where thousands of seats are selling for $2,500 to $15,000. Originally priced at $900 and $1,200 per ticket, a street level suite listed on StubHub was listed at $882,375 today, hours after the Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers for a berth in the big game. "It’s a hot ticket," said StubHub spokeswoman Joellen Ferrer, who said the Super Bowl attracted 1.5 visitors to the site on Sunday, or 40 percent of the day’s total. There are several reasons for the crazy prices. For one, Boston and New York are big markets with large, wealthy fan bases. And the game will be played in Indianapolis, which is relatively close to both home teams and thus attractive for a weekend trip. But the biggest force driving prices might be the rematch. The Giants were underdogs in 2008, when they surged to victory in the final minutes of Super Bowl XLII, ruining the Patriot’s perfect season in dramatic fashion. Earlier this season, Big Blue again beat the Pats in a close game in Foxborough. Even so, they are the early underdogs for the championship. "New York-Boston is always a rivalry, and the way the game ended four years ago? The rivalry is there," said Tom Patania, owner of Select-A-Ticket in Riverdale. The average ticket today was selling online for $2,800, less than the $3,134 average from 2008 but on par with the average price for last year’s Steelers-Packers showdown at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington Texas, according to TicketNetwork.com, a secondary marketplace. The Giants' victory over the 49ers and the Patriots' win over the Baltimore Ravens left many brokers smiling. "I don’t know if I can think of two better markets for any game," TicketNetwork.com’s Tim Fraser said. "The Giants and Patriots have fans that span the country. Of the four teams, there’s no doubt that this is the match-up that would have the highest demand for tickets." Patania won’t predict where prices will end up, but he said the number of available tickets is smaller than last year and that could drive them up. Lucas Oil Stadium, which opened in 2008, will hold 70,000 for the big game, a couple thousand more than a normal Colts home game. But that total is significantly smaller than last year, when Cowboys Stadium announced a total crowd of more than 100,000. "The teams are going to get less tickets and there will be less tickets overall, and that means a tighter market," Patania said. "But you don’t know what the market is going to do. We’ve seen situations where its dipped and then rallied." While millions are trolling the internet marketplaces, others have an easier route. Nazo Haroutunian of Hilllsdale is one of thousands of lucky Giants season ticket holders whose names were drawn in a lottery for the opportunity to buy two tickets through the team. Haroutunian, 38, bought a pair of $900 tickets and plans to enjoy his first Super Bowl with Michael Gostanian of Queens, his friend who is half-owner of his season tickets. "I love it, the rematch," Haroutunian said, adding that watching Sunday’s game "probably shaved 10 years off my life." As soon as he saw the e-mail from the team Sunday night, Haroutunian started surfing the web for hotels and flights. He was shocked by the costs. "Everything’s through the roof," he said. He found rooms going for as much as $800 a night, but managed to book one for $400. The NFL divides the ticket inventory the same way every year, said Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon. The Giants and Patriots each get about 12,250 tickets, or 17.5 percent of the total, Hanlon said, and the Indianapolis Colts as the hosting team get 3,500. Each NFL club gets 1.2 percent of total tickets, and the league gets the final 25 percent.

Hanlon said the team notified the season ticket holders who were selected by random (but weighted for seniority) drawing to purchase tickets. The winners must bring a certified check to the Giants offices this week to get their tickets. "I’m almost looking at it like I got a little lucky," Haroutunian said. "I’m looking forward to it all, to getting caught up in the craziness." Staff writer Amy Kuperinsky contributed to this story.

Ohio unemployment rate drops to 8.1 percent

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTW) — Ohio's unemployment rate went down by several notches for the second month in a row in December amid another trend that doesn't sound quite as positive: By the thousands, people continued giving up looking for work or otherwise left the state's labor force. Joblessness fell to 8.1 percent in December, from 8.5 percent in November, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Friday. The November rate had been down a full half-point from October, when unemployment in the state stood at an even 9 percent. As in November, last month's decline was driven by shrinkage in the state's labor market, said Ben Johnson, a department spokesman. Some 21,000 Ohioans took themselves out of the labor force in December; officials had said 22,000 did so during November. "We can certainly assume that some of those people have been unemployed for a long time and are discouraged and have given up looking for work," Johnson said, adding that others might have decided to go back to school or to put their job search on hold for the holidays. The 8.1 percent jobless rate for December was the lowest since December 2008 and closed out a year of lower unemployment for Ohio. The state's preliminary average unemployment rate for 2011 was 8.8 percent, compared to 10.1 percent in 2009 and 2010. "The economy has gotten better. We believe it will continue to slowly improve," Johnson said. "You kind of get two different stories when you look narrowly and specifically at December and when you look broadly at what has happened over the last 12 months." Ohio's December joblessness was lower than the national rate of 8.5 percent. The number of workers unemployed in Ohio during December was 469,000, down from 496,000 in November, officials said. Meanwhile, payrolls outside of farms also fell last month, by 3,300. The state saw job losses in both goods-producing and services industries, including construction, transportation and professional and business services. Manufacturing added 600 jobs and government hiring grew by 3,100. "Government had cut so far back that now some governments are back-filling positions that have been vacant for a long time or are creating new positions that they had put on hold for 12 or more months," Johnson said.