Music News

In its second week of release, strong word-of-mouth and positive reviews propelled ‘The Help’ past ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ to take the number one spot at the box office this weekend, while ‘Apes’ moved to the number two slot. ‘The Help’ earned $20.5 million, while ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ pulled in $16.3 million.

Two fans were shot in a Candlestick Park parking lot fight after the 49ers beat the Raiders 17-3 in a preseason game on Saturday. One of the men was seriously wounded. A suspect has been arrested in the attack. The incident should remind some fans of the San Francisco Giants fan who was beaten up by two Dodgers’ fans back in March. And, separately, during Saturday’s football game, 26-year-old man

A study by technology research firm Gartner, which recently surveyed 6,295 people between the ages of 13 and 74, reveals almost a quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter less than when they first signed up for the services, with many saying the services simply aren’t that much fun anymore. “The trend shows some social media fatigue among early adopters,

Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin — better known as the “West Memphis Three” — were released from prison Friday after entering first-degree murder pleas for the 1993 deaths of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, a small community just outside Memphis, Tennessee. In a somewhat confusing arrangement with prosecutors, the men entered the guilty pleas while maintaining their innocen

In an effort to re-engineer a recovery and stop the massive sell-off of its stock, Bank of America reportedly plans to lay off 3,500 employees this quarter. Thousands more could lose their jobs in the coming months.

Police in Utah plan to launch another search for Susan Cox Powell, who disappeared in 2009. The latest effort is based on new and credible information about the disappearance of the 28-year-old mother of two.

If you’re a man with a pleasant personality, you’re probably not going to get paid as a much as a man with a less agreeable personality. Researchers from University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business were able to determine, using information gleamed from three large scale longitudinal studies, that men who who have agreeable personality types — meaning they test high for warmth, kindness

A lengthy piece in the upcoming issue of GQ highlights Michael Vick’s mindset past and present and the aftermath of the dogfighting scandal that sent him to prison for two years. How’d he handle the sentencing and subsequent backlash? “For a while, it was all ‘Scold Mike Vick, scold Mike Vick, just talk bad about him, like he’s not a person,’” he said. “It’s almost as if everyone wanted to hate

According to Shaquille O’Neal, a barb from President Barack Obama wrecked Shaq’s Boston Celtics teammate Rajon Rondo’s confidence, not to mention his jump shot. Shaq writes in his upcoming book ‘Uncut’ that Obama and the Celtics were both at the same fundraiser in March.  During the event, Obama turned to smooth-shooting Celtic veteran Ray Allen, before pointing to Rondo, and then said “Hey, Ray,

The recession has taken a serious toll on American workers, businesses and homeowners. But now the trickle down effect of the economic climate can be seen in the country’s most vulnerable members: children. According to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, child poverty in the US increased 18 percent over the past decade. In 2009, nearly 15 million children — or 20 percent of the juven

Barack Obama’s approval rating on the economy has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency. That’s the latest word from a Gallup poll released on Wednesday.

The attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old New Mexico girl was thwarted on Monday when a concerned citizen jumped into action and chased after the perpetrator.