A former Kaufman County, Texas, judge says he was questioned by agents just hours after the slain district attorney and his wife were found but insists he had nothing to do with it and doesn't even own a gun.

"If I was in their shoes, I would want to talk to me," Eric Williams said in an interview at his house. "In the investigators' minds, they want to check with me to do their process of elimination."

Williams, a former Kaufman County justice of the peace, was charged with theft and later convicted in a high-profile trial. He was kicked out of office, and his law license was suspended. He was sentenced to two years' probation and is appealing his conviction.

But he said he is not bitter and wouldn't want to harm anyone.

"I've cooperated with law enforcement," Williams said. "I certainly wish them the best in bringing justice to this incredibly egregious act."

Williams' name has swirled around the courthouse because his trial was sensational news in this small community, and it included testimony of death threats.

William said he was contacted Saturday night by investigators -- only about three hours after Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found dead inside their Forney home.

He said he met the agents at a nearby restaurant, where he allowed them to swab his hands for gunpowder residue. He also gave them his and his wife's cellphones, which they returned the next day.

"I know I didn't do anything," he said. "I know where I was."

Williams said he was at home with his wife or up the street at his in-laws late Friday and Saturday.

Williams, a one-time police officer, said investigators who searched his home during the theft investigation found guns but added he no longer has any weapons.

"I got rid of everything," he said.

Williams said agents have not searched his house.

He expressed shock at the crime and sympathy for the victims' families.

"I want to say my deepest condolences go out to the McLelland family and all the people at the courthouse," he said.

Asked if he is angry at prosecutors, he said, "No, I'm not. Obviously that was also a part of them doing their jobs."

A student from the University of Pennsylvania died in a rock climbing accident in Namibia, southern Africa on Sunday. Oliver Pacchiana, an Engineering major and Junior at the school, was studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa this semester. He was 20-years-old.

While on Spring Break, Pacchiana, originally from Greenwich, Connecticut, went on a trip to Victoria Falls and Botswana, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. The DP reports he then went off on his own to visit Namibia, a country 1,000 miles north of Cape Town, to go rock climbing on Sunday. While climbing with the group, Pacchiana slipped and fell to his death.

The American consulate in Namibia contacted Pacchiana’s family Sunday morning by phone and informed them of his death. UPenn students found out Monday night through email.

Oliver was an Eagle Scout and an altar server at his local parish, according to his brother Nolan Pacchiana.

"The cliche that appears in every obituary is that the world mourns the passing of a good kid, taken before his time," said Nolan. "That is absolutely the case for Oliver. Oliver had a strong moral compass and a good heart."

Nolan also says his brother had a passion for traveling.

"He was always looking for a new experience, a new part of the world he hadn't seen," said Nolan. "He hiked the deserts of New Mexico and climbed the trails of Alaska. He had visited over 15 countries and five continents."

Pacchiana was also a member of the UPenn band.

"Oliver was a mainstay in the band as a freshman tuba player," said Penn band director Greer Cheeseman. "I don't think he missed an event, the whole year, rehearsal, game, anything. He was one you could always count on. He was a good kid. And he'll be missed."

David Kaiser-Jones, the president of the band, described Oliver as "cheerful, funny and instantly likable."

"He was enthusiastic and unabashedly quirky," said Jones. "So naturally, the band loved him. The Penn Band is a particularly tight-knit group, so his loss impacted us deeply."

A support meeting was held Tuesday afternoon inside a UPenn auditorium. A memorial service will be held in Greenwich this Saturday. UPenn will host a separate service on Monday.
 

A Yucaipa business owner staged an elaborate April Fool’s joke on Monday when he made it look like a small plane crashed into his store, according to a report from The Press-Enterprise.

Billy Cheeseman Jr., who owns Redlands-Yucaipa Rentals at 34355 Yucaipa Blvd., used a forklift to arrange the small aircraft atop a fence surrounding his store. He also added yellow caution tape to make it seem more real.

“I thought it would be a fun thing to do,” he told The Press-Enterprise.

He alerted the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department about the joke so they could answer any calls about the incident.

The plane, which is not safe to fly, was recently given to Cheesman. He told The Press-Enterprise he was trying to figure out what to do with it when he decided it would make a great April Fool’s joke. 

He set it up by 5 a.m. on Monday – just in time for the morning commute.

“A couple people called me up and said they couldn’t believe what they saw,” Cheesman told The Press-Enterprise. “I’ve gotten a lot of pictures. I’ve really gotten nothing but positive feedback.”

With winter ending, leave it to SoundDiego to put a little spring in your step.

Our next SoundDiego LIVE event will be held April 25 at Bar Pink, the home of the funk in the heart of North Park.

April's event will be hosted by 91x's Robin Roth and feature performances by the Paragraphs and North Beach.

CLICK HERE TO GET ON THE GUEST LIST

Robin Roth picked the bands for the show and, unsurprisingly, she had some nice things to say about them.

"I first learned of the Paragraphs in 2012, even though they started as a two-piece in 2009," Roth said. "Their debut full length record, '+/-,' was released in October of last year, and you can really hear all of their influences when listening to it, ranging from blues to soul to rock. Their sound has been described as a scene from a gritty surf film." 

"I think this will go really well with the other band playing the event," Roth added.

That other band, North Beach, is better known to San Diegans under its previous name, the Short Eyes.

"North Beach just released their debut album, Granado’s, and it’s got the surf-rock feel layered into the sound," Roth said. "Bar Pink will be a great place to showcase these two bands, and the good vibes will be flowing."

Kicking off the show will be the winner of our monthly Garage 2 Glory contest, an online battle of the bands. Keep an eye out for an announcement about which bands will be competing.

With a total of three bands scheduled to play, you won't go hungry for music, but you still might get thirsty. Don't worry, we've got you covered: Get to Bar Pink early and you can enjoy a VIP happy hour presented by Jack Daniel's from 7-8 p.m.

On the off-chance you enjoy all that delicious whiskey a little too much, we've got you covered there, too. The folks from BeMyDD will be on hand to provide three teams for two hours, with drivers waiting on site to drive home as many people and their cars as possible during the two hours at the end of SoundDiego LIVE. Anyone who uses BeMyDD at SoundDiego LIVE will get an annual membership for free (typically, folks get a 30-day trial with a $25 annual membership). Plus, one lucky partygoer will win a free ride to and from November's SoundDiego LIVE, courtesy of BeMyDD.

So get on the guest list now. This is going to be one Thursday night party you don’t want to miss!

SoundDiego associate editor Chris Maroulakos is also the managing editor of the San Diego music blog Owl and Bear.

No words were exchanged in the moments leading up to a deadly confrontation between neighbors in Olivenhain prosecutors said.

Michael Vilkin, 61, appeared in a Vista courtroom Tuesday to face charges of murder and assault with deadly weapon in the shooting death of his neighbor John Upton, Jr. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Evidence uncovered so far does not support the defendant's claim of self-defense, according to the deputy district attorney assigned to the case.

Prosecutors said Upton's girlfriend heard the shots and came out of the house. Vilkin then allegedly pointed the gun at her and said not to move any closer. She then put her hands up and went back into the home to call 911.

The defendant owns a vacant lot and an easement next to the victim's rental home at 2916 Lone Jack.

On the morning of March 28, Vilkin had hired two workers to remove brush from the easement property.

Moments before the shooting, Upton walked out of his home to ask those workers if he needed to move his car prosecutors said. 

When Upton turned, Vilkin was standing on a dirt path approximately 10 feet away from him.

Prosecutors said Vilkin opened fire striking Upton in the stomach and the head.

A local television station aired a jailhouse interview with Vilkin Friday in which he claimed the shooting was self-defense.

"It was self-defense. I did not go to him threatening and he pulled a gun at me," Vilkin told KGTV. "I did not go to him. I stayed away on my property."

Prosecutors say Upton had only a mobile phone on his body when officers arrived on scene.

Circumstances thus far don’t indicate there had been any violent altercations between the two the  deputy district attorney said.

Vilkin was ordered held on $5 million bail and will be assigned a public defender.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

A Tennessee girl has missed nearly a month of school this year over suspensions tied to her alleged foul body odor, NBC affiliate WSAV reported.

The Washington County school reportedly sent the 8-year-old home several times since October, describing her smell as so potent that it distracted teachers and classmates. Suspension documents for an incident last week claimed the second grader did not bathe for the two days straight, slept in her clothes and couldn’t remember the last time she took a bath or brushed her teeth, WSAV said.

A school notice from October warned that suspensions would continue until there were "corrective measures." The child has been suspended at least seven times and missed a total of 24 school days, according to the station.

The girl's mother, Krystal Hensley, denied the accusations, saying her daughter takes daily baths. “You go to school to learn, not to be sent home,” she told WSAV.

The Department of Child Services investigated the issue at one point, Hensley said. The agency told WSAV they did not have an open case.

A California man's family is asking questions after he died following an oral surgery to remove his wisdom teeth late last month.

Marek Lapinski went into cardiac arrest during the common surgery, according to medical records provided by a friend of the family.

Lapinski was 24 when he died three days after the March 21 surgery at a clinic run by Dr. Steven Paul.

Thomas Keiser, the friend of Lapinski's family, called the death a "senseless tragedy."

Paul's attorney said in an email that the surgeon provides "state of the art services and monitoring for his patients," but wrote that "no surgical procedure is without risk."

"All standard protocols" were followed during surgery, Paul's attorney Clark Hudson said in the email.

"The circumstances regarding Mr. Lapinksi’s complications are not completely understood. What is understood is that Mr. Lapinski’s complications occurred despite the fact there were no apparent contraindications for his oral surgery, routine anesthetic medications were being used for the procedure, and immediate measures were undertaken to revive the patient as soon as the patient began to decompensate," Hudson wrote.

Complications developed 30 minutes into the surgery, which is a fairly routine procedure, according to a website created in Lapinski's honor.

The ambulance report states Lapinski's doctor told first responders that he began to wake up and cough during the procedure, and was then given propofol, a surgical anesthetic that killed singer Michael Jackson. Lapinski had "surgical gauze in (his) airway," the report stated, as well as a "small 'surgical cone'" that could not be removed.

Lapinksi was taken to Rancho Springs Medical Center from Paul's office. The patient was later transferred to UCLA Medical Center, according to Keiser.

An investigator at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner said Lapinski's body still had not been examined, so no cause of death was available.

April Lapinski told NBC4 her son had been an "good kid."

"Our lives are ruined," April Lapinski said. "We don’t have him and he was the center of all of our lives."

She wants a full investigation of the death, which came after what Keiser said was the administration of six drugs during surgery.

Marek Lapinski was a founding partner in a San Diego company called Total 3rd Dimension, which developed thermal and night-vision equipment for military use, according to the website.

Lapinski had grown up in Wexford, Penn., and attended Duquesne University before moving to the San Diego area for work.

He played football at Duquesne, where a coach told a local Patch website that he was being mourned.

A day before his surgery, he had tweeted, "gettin my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. Loading up on some #soup and #yogurt."

A memorial page for Lapinski has been set up on Facebook, where the image at left above was posted. The website in his honor includes a way to make donations for a memorial fund.

A Murrieta man's family is asking questions after he died following a Temecula oral surgeon's operation to remove his wisdom teeth late last month.

Marek Lapinski went into cardiac arrest during the common surgery, according to medical records provided by a friend of the family.

Lapinski was 24 when he died three days after the March 21 surgery at a clinic run by Dr. Steven Paul.

Thomas Keiser, the friend of Lapinski's family, called the death a "senseless tragedy."

Paul's attorney said in an email that the surgeon provides "state of the art services and monitoring for his patients," but wrote that "no surgical procedure is without risk."

"All standard protocols" were followed during surgery, Paul's attorney Clark Hudson said in the email.

"The circumstances regarding Mr. Lapinksi’s complications are not completely understood. What is understood is that Mr. Lapinski’s complications occurred despite the fact there were no apparent contraindications for his oral surgery, routine anesthetic medications were being used for the procedure, and immediate measures were undertaken to revive the patient as soon as the patient began to decompensate," Hudson wrote.

Complications developed 30 minutes into the surgery, which is a fairly routine procedure, according to a website created in Lapinski's honor.

The ambulance report states Lapinski's doctor told first responders that he began to wake up and cough during the procedure, and was then given propofol, a surgical anesthetic that killed singer Michael Jackson. Lapinski had "surgical gauze in (his) airway," the report stated, as well as a "small 'surgical cone'" that could not be removed.

Lapinksi was taken to Rancho Springs Medical Center from Paul's office. The patient was later transferred to UCLA Medical Center, according to Keiser.

An investigator at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner said Lapinski's body still had not been examined, so no cause of death was available.

April Lapinski told NBC4 her son had been an "good kid."

"Our lives are ruined," April Lapinski said. "We don’t have him and he was the center of all of our lives."

She wants a full investigation of the death, which came after what Keiser said was the administration of six drugs during surgery.

Marek Lapinski was a founding partner in a San Diego company called Total 3rd Dimension, which developed thermal and night-vision equipment for military use, according to the website.

Lapinski had grown up in Wexford, Penn., and attended Duquesne University before moving to the San Diego area for work.

He played football at Duquesne, where a coach told a local Patch website that he was being mourned.

A day before his surgery, he had tweeted, "gettin my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. Loading up on some #soup and #yogurt."

A memorial page for Lapinski has been set up on Facebook, where the image at left above was posted. The website in his honor includes a way to make donations for a memorial fund.

The Securities and Exchange Commission gave chief executives a green light to disseminate news about their companies via Twitter, Facebook or blogs, but Tuesday’s ruling embracing social media comes with a caveat.

In line with the existing Regulation Fair Disclosure, known as Reg FD, companies can reveal information on social media only if they notify shareholders ahead of time which social media accounts will be used to release material information. The point of the rule is to ensure that all investors have access to the same information at the same time, according to All Things D.

"One set of shareholders should not be able to get a jump on other shareholders just because the company is selectively disclosing important information," said George Cannellos, acting director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, in a statement. "Most social media are perfectly suitable methods for communicating with investors, but not if the access is restricted or if investors don’t know that’s where they need to turn to get the latest news."’

The new policy comes after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings used his personal Facebook account last year to announce that Netflix had surpassed one billion hours of streaming for the first time.

Netflix’s stock price jumped after the news was posted. The SEC then launched an investigation into whether the post violated SEC’s fair disclosure rules because the news had not been shared with the investors through more traditional means of communication like a press release or SEC filing.

The SEC eventually dropped its investigation, noting that there has been "uncertainty" about how companies and their CEOs should use social media for disclosing information.

Tuesday’s ruling clarifies the agency’s position on social media, but it doesn’t mean all companies will adopt that strategy to communicate with shareholders, according to Mashable.

"I think companies will be very cautious,"  David Balto, the former policy director for the Federal Trade Commission, told Mashable. The traditional methods that they relied on for years, I don't think you will see them vary a lot."

The one thing that did seem to change is the SEC’s attitude toward social media. The regulator has been very cautious about corporate disclosure policies, according to The New York Times' DealB%k. Back in 2008, as part of Reg FD, the SEC decided that corporate Web sites are public enough if investors were already informed that those pages could be sources for company news. The Netflix incident forced the SEC to further relax its position.

“The S.E.C. had to ask itself, How do we adopt a 2000 regulation to 2013 when social media is commonplace?” Thomas A. Sporkin, a former S.E.C. enforcement official told  DealB%k, referring to Reg FD. “That obviously wasn’t even a thought back when this was written.”

With Tuesday's ruling the SEC seems to have acknowledged that social networks like Facebook and Twitter have  massive reach – exceeding 1.2 billion people on a monthly basis—and could prove more effective at keeping shareholders informed than the more traditional email blasts, newswire releases, or even SEC filings, according to All Things D.

Ocean sounds, weather patterns, captains that stick to schedule and attentive staff — all face criticism on cruise lines.

British online cruise travel agency Bon Voyage has reportedly published a top 10 list of the most outlandish complaints from its customers in the last year.

One woman complained the sea was "too loud" and suggested better sound-proofing of passenger accommodations, because she couldn't sleep well on her Mediterranean cruise, The Courier Mail reported.

A couple who left a note behind on the ship while sightseeing in the port claimed the captain was "rude" for sailing away without them.

One man reported that he did not get "an impressive tan" on his cruise around Alaska, insisting every cruise is supposed to have sunny weather.

Another woman was said to have asked for a refund from Celebrity Cruises because there were "no celebrities on board."

A couple even complained about good service, saying that they should receive compensation since they had to shell out tips for staff and spent "a lot more money than planned."

Those passengers might have had more to complain about, though, if they had been cruising on the Carnival Triumph, which lost power and drifted for more than five days without working toilets or electricity in February, or on the Carnival Dream, which was docked in the Everglades and featured hours-long disembarking lines — or perhaps on the Royal Caribbean ship where more than 100 people suffered from a stomach virus.

A downtown courtroom is expected to reopen Wednesday morning after being closed for several hours on Tuesday morning when it was learned that a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the courtroom contracted a staph infection on her foot, according to authorities.

The bailiff has a small patch of MRSA on her foot, which is a serious strain of staph bacteria. This particular strain is highly resistant to antibiotics and is normally spread through skin-to-skin contact.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said the closure of Department 3, which handles misdemeanors, was done as a precaution. The courtroom was closed for about five hours to be sanitized.

All proceedings were moved to Department 16.

The courtroom is expected to reopen Wednesday morning as usual.
 

A San Diego-area mother faces felony charges for leading police on a pursuit with her children in the back seat.

The chase ended around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday on East Plaza Boulevard in National City just south of downtown San Diego.

The minivan came to a halt on a hillside. Watch video here

According to police, officers tried to pull over the minivan near a CVS Pharmacy. The driver refused to stop and kept driving for several blocks.

When the chase ended, the van had major front-end damage.

A news photographer captured video of the woman’s children crying and wearing neck braces.

There were backpacks in the backseat including one with an image of SpongeBob Squarepants.

The mother and two children were transported to nearby hospitals with minor injuries.

She will now be charged with felony evading, child endangerment and evaluated for DUI according to officials. 

Five days after a neighbor was arrested and charged with the shooting death of her boyfriend, an Encinitas woman said her loss still feels completely unreal.

“Just an indescribable loss,” Evelyn Zeller told NBC 7 San Diego Tuesday. “What can I say? My dreams just shattered in my face.”

Zeller ran outside when she heard the gunshots that took the life of her boyfriend John Upton, Jr.

She says the man accused – their neighbor Michael Vilkin – pointed the gun at her until she backed away and ran to call 911.

On Tuesday, the same day Vilkin appeared in a Vista courtroom to face charges of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, Zeller sat down for an exclusive interview about what happened the morning of March 28.

Prosecutors say John Upton walked outside of his home on Lone Jack Road to ask workers clearing brush if he needed to move his car.

It was then that Upton was shot twice in the abdomen and the head officials said. His neighbor, Michael Vilkin, 61, was 10 feet away on a dirt path according to the deputy district attorney.

Zeller said she heard the two gunshots.

“What followed… it’s pure insanity,” she said. “I never thought I would have to see what I saw and experienced what I experienced.

Prosecutors say no words were exchanged between the defendant and Upton.

A local television station aired a jailhouse interview with Vilkin Friday in which he claimed the shooting was self-defense.

"It was self-defense. I did not go to him threatening and he pulled a gun at me," Vilkin told KGTV. "I did not go to him. I stayed away on my property."

Prosecutors say the evidence doesn’t support that theory.

Upton was found by responding officers with only a mobile phone officials said.

In court, the deputy district attorney said workers were clearing brush on an easement between two properties.

It was an issue that Zeller says had been a point of contention in the past.

“It was about just not cutting beautiful bushes and trees down that had been there for years for nothing, for nothing,” Zeller said.

As she mourns the loss of the man she called the love of her life, Zeller said she’s angry and is questioning the world.

“This was what day 5 and what? Every morning I think it was just a nightmare,” she said crying.

Upton, 56, was known for his work with the orphans of Romania as reported by ABC's "20/20" and the Los Angeles Times in 1990.

As for the man accused in the shooting, she said she would like to see him die in prison.

“It would destroy my spirit if I hated Vilkin. It does not bring John back. It serves no purpose to hate him. So no I do not hate him,” she said.

She decided to speak out because she said Upton would have wanted her voice to be heard.

“It’s all he wanted, for people to be happy and empowered. And that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to make him proud,” she said.

“I’m going to be grateful for what I have and wake up with a smile every morning because it can all be taken from you in a second, in a second.”

Vilkin pleaded not guilty to both charges. He was ordered held on $5 million bail and was assigned a public defender.

Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice was fired today, after months-old footage surfaced of him habitually verbally abusing players and throwing basketballs at them during practice. Sadly, Rice's outbursts and subsequent dismissal find him a pretty good company in the annals of college coaching.

For all the good they do, college athletic programs have often been a haven for explosive personalities and bad behavior. Here are some of the most notorious bad actors and outrageous displays:

Mike Price, Alabama Football
In December 2002, Price landed one of the most coveted jobs in college sports, being named football coach at the University of Alabama. But the dream was over before he ever coached a single game. He was fired in May for failing to live his "personal and professional life in a manner consistent with university policies," according to school president Robert Witt. What does that mean? Sports Illustrated answered the question with a piece that detailed an evening of debauchery they claimed Price enjoyed in Florida. According to the article, he spent a great deal of money getting dances from a stripper named Destiny, and later retired to his room with two other women, one of whom claimed, "We started screaming 'Roll Tide!' and he was yelling back, 'It's rolling, baby, it's rolling.'"

Price would awaken to a $1,000 room service bill, Sports Illustrated reported, and a rumor mill that was beginning to swirl. He would later sue SI over the allegations of sex. The suit was settled out of court, with Price declaring himself "one happy man," but admitting that given another chance, "I definitely would have made a different decision that one night, no question. That was a bad night." 

Bobby Knight, Indiana Basketball
Bobby Knight, the Grand Poobah of Explosive Tempers, once expressed his frustration with the refs by throwing a chair onto the court, was convicted in absentia of assaulting a police officer Puerto Rico and littered journalists, players, IU staffers and refs with profanities fairly regularly. In 2000, a videotape from 1997 surfaced that showed Knight  choking Hoosier player Neil Reed. That final offense forced IU president Miles Brand to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy regarding Knight's behavior. Knight was gone that September when it was reported that he grabbed a student by the arm.

Woody Hayes, Ohio State Football
In the '50s, Woody Hayes was accused taking a swing at journalist, but insisted he had only "shoved him along." In the '70s he was fined for shoving a camera into a photographer's face and for charging an ABC cameraman. Hayes would strike his final blow in the 1978 Gator Bowl, when he punched an opposing player in the throat, touching off a bench-clearing brawl. He was fired the following day.

Ed Hall, Fairfield Football
In 1978, Fairfield was clinging to a 15-14 lead in the third quarter of a game against Western New England College when WNE kick returner Jim Brown found some daylight and appeared to be headed for the end zone. But Hall, himself a former college football player, ran onto the gridiron and took Brown down at midfield.

"Are you out of your mind, coach?" said Brown. "I guess I am," said Hall.

John Chaney, Temple Basketball
Temple and UMass enjoyed a heated rivalry beginning ion the late '80s, but it reached a boiling point during a 1994 press conference being held by UMass coach John Calipari, following a 56-55 win over Temple.

Cheney was furious, claiming that Calipari had intimidated the ref, and burst in screaming, "I'll kill your (expletive) a**. You remember that," Chaney screamed at Calipari. "I'll kick your a**. Kick your a**."
Worse yet, when one of Calipari's player stepped in between the two coaches, Cheney pushed the kid.

"Some things never cease to amaze me," said Calipari moments after Cheney was escorted from the room.

Chaney later apologized and served a one-game suspension.

Facebook has been teasing the release of an Android product since last week and while details have been scarce, an official announcement scheduled for Thursday is widely expected to reveal a Facebook phone launch.

The phone is reportedly made by HTC and will use a "forked" Android system, which is an altered version of the popular Google operating system, according to Forbes.

The public has been touting this as a "Facebook phone," but Tech Crunch and Mashable says it is more like an Android phone with Facebook functionalities on an HTC handset. This is consistent with a statement from CEO Mark Zuckerberg who said last summer that a Facebook phone "wouldn't make much sense."

The smartphone is created around the functions of the social networking site. This means that users will log in to the phone with their Facebook accounts and see news feeds, data and apps displayed on the home screen, according to Tech Crunch.

Facebook's strategy, according to The New York Times, is expose users to the site as much as possible so they can see more mobile advertisements, a source of revenue that advertisers have yet to harness.

“The Tonight Show” is returning to New York with Jimmy Fallon as host.

Fallon will take over hosting duties from Jay Leno in the spring of 2014, NBC confirmed on Wednesday. Leno has hosted the show for 22 years in Burbank, Calif.

“I’m really excited to host a show that starts today instead of tomorrow,” Fallon said in a statement.

Leno joked in the statement: “Congratulations Jimmy. I hope you're as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you're the old guy. If you need me, I'll be at the garage.”

Steve Burke, chief executive officer of NBCUniversal, called Leno an "entertainment icon."

“His long reign as the highest-rated late-night host is a testament to his work ethic and dedication to his viewers and to NBC," Burke said in the statement.

Leno and Fallon teamed up earlier this week to address news reports of the transition with a humorous parody of the "West Side Story" song "Tonight."

"The Tonight Show" has been based in Burbank since Johnny Carson moved it west in 1972.

The show will return to its original home in New York, where it was first conceived in 1954. The show will be taped at 30 Rock and executive-produced by Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels.

At the time of his departure, Leno will have the distinction of being the second longest serving host of the nightly entertainment program. "The Tonight Show" began airing in 1954 with Steve Allen behind the main desk. He remained until 1957 when he was succeeded by Jack Paar (1957–1962), who was followed by Carson (1962–1992), then Leno (1992–2009, 2010–2014) and Conan O'Brien (2009–2010).

When Carson stepped down in 1992 it was rumored that David Letterman, the then-host of NBC's late-night spot immediately following “The Tonight Show,” would be his successor. Soon after Leno was announced to the position, Letterman decamped to CBS where he has hosted the “Late Show with David Letterman” in the same time slot as “Tonight” ever since.

In a switch that garnered as much publicity as the Carson/Leno/Letterman change, current host Leno departed the program in 2009 to move into prime time with “The Jay Leno Show,” which would air at 10 p.m. and be a lead-in to “The Tonight Show.” Conan O’Brien took the reins as host and the show was moved from Burbank to a new studio located on the back lot of Universal Studios Hollywood.

It was a short-lived change. After only eight months O’Brien left NBC when negotiations to keep him as host of the show – albeit in a later time period – broke down following the announcement that Leno would be returning to the coveted late-night slot. The move came on the heels of a ratings falter at “Tonight” and conjecture over the success of “The Jay Leno Show” in prime time. O’Brien returned to late-night television that same year hosting “Conan” on the cable channel TBS. Leno resumed his host duties on "The Tonight Show" and brought the program back to the Burbank studio.

In an interview with the New York Times, Leno addressed the impending Fallon hand-over by dispelling rumors that the negotiations were not amicable or in any way similar to the O'Brien brouhaha. “The main difference between this and the other time is I’m part of the process. The last time the decision was made without me. I came into work one day and — you’re out,” he said, adding that this time around “there really aren’t any complications like there were the last time. This time it feels right.”

As for his future plans after stepping down, Leno, who will turn 64 in 2014 and has been married to his wife Mavis for 33 years, told the New York Times that he expects to be “back on the road, being a comedian again.”

Newly digitized videos of James Earl Ray's return to Memphis where he stood trial for Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination were released on Wednesday, the 45th anniversary of the civil rights leader's death.

In one video, a sheriff reads Ray his rights on a plane after his arrest in London. There is footage of him arriving at Tennessee's Shelby County Jail, where he was searched, stripped and examined by a doctor. There are several videos, released by the Shelby County Register's office in Tennessee, of the court proceedings from the 1968 trial. 

Some of the tape is inaudible and blurry, as the camera operators were still "learning how to operate this technology as they recorded," Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood said in a statement.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office used a Sony Videocorder and Video Camera to document the arrest and court proceedings, he said. He added that he found the tapes about a year ago and sent them to a production company in New York where they were restored.

King was shot on April 4, 1968, while standing on a balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis.

Two people were killed after a helicopter crashed in a Miami suburb on Wednesday just after take-off, authorities said.

The crash was located at SW 124th Ave and SW 130th Street in Three Lakes, Fla., about two miles east of Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport. Footage showed that the helicopter crashed into a parking lot near warehouses. No one on the ground was injured.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that at about 4 p.m. ET a Robinson R44 helicopter crashed. It had just departed from the airport.

VIDEO: Watch as the helicopter that crashed was consumed by flames.

Marc Henderson, spokesman for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, confirmed the fatalities.

Business owner Julia Senior said she was only a short distance from the helicopter when it came down.

“Because of the noise, I felt this helicopter was falling apart, and it was just crashing," she said. "It just came straight against the palm tree.”

Aerial footage showed that the registered owner of the helicopter is Bravo Helicopters LLC in Miami. A telephone message left at the company seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.

The FAA is investigating.

This is a photo of the helicopter that crashed.