Court urged to stay out of Anna Nicole Smith case

The widow of the man who fought Anna Nicole Smith over a Texas millionaire's oil fortune is urging the Supreme Court to stay out of a long-running legal battle over Smith's estate.

Elaine Marshall, in court papers filed Friday, said that a court order preventing Smith's estate from collecting $88.5 million from the estate of Marshall's late husband, E. Pierce Marshall, should remain in place while the federal appeals court in San Francisco tries to sort out the tangle of competing claims.

Howard K. Stern, Smith's lawyer-turned-boyfriend, asked Justice Anthony Kennedy to lift the appeals court order. Stern said that …

Writer Jenkins' golf shot makes the screen

Ask sportswriter-novelist Dan Jenkins about his favorite sportsmovies and he ticks off "Rocky," "Slapshot," "Chariots of Fire" and"Everybody's All-American."

And the worst? "All the rest of 'em," he says.

Jenkins is responsible for two sports movies. His pro footballnovel, Semi-Tough, went to the big screen, and his next novel (in1974), Dead Solid Perfect, about the pro golf tour, shows up Sundayon HBO.

It has been 37 years since the last real golf movie - …

Court: Carl Lewis back on ballot in NJ Senate race

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis was ordered back on the ballot in a state Senate election by a federal appeals court Tuesday in possibly the final word over whether the celebrity political newcomer would meet a four-year residency requirement for state senators.

A 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel put Lewis, a Democrat, back on the ballot with a 2-1 ruling issued less than five hours after hearing arguments. The court said a full opinion would be filed later.

But after months of legal hair-splitting on exactly when Lewis became a New Jersey resident, the court seemed to indicate that issue was not the heart of the case. Instead, the court …

Art exhibit paints grim picture of climate chaos

Artists in London are painting a grim vision of a globe ravaged by climate change.

Among the 63 works on display at the Royal Academy are a print of a lonesome-looking tree clinging to a tiny island amid a yawning ocean and a huge cage-like globe clad in glowering red neon.

The co-curator of the exhibition at the Royal Academy, …

Top prospects prefer November

A study of the NCAA's early signing period for basketball, whichbegan in 1982, reveals interesting results, says talent scout BobGibbons of Lenoir, N.C.

In November, 76 percent of the top 100 prospects in the U.S.signed scholarships. That contrasts with last year's record 89percent.

But Gibbons points out the trend has been steadily upward from48 percent of the top 150 prospects making early decisions in 1982 to76 percent in 1988.

"That means the nation's college recruiters are doing anincreasingly effective job of enticing the top high school talent tomake their college choice in November," Gibbons said. "It should benoted that of the 24 top 100 …

ENHANCING CORPORATE MEMBERSHIPS

If corporate membership in a country club has been out of reach for your company, it could be time to check our two new membership plans at Orchard Ridge Country Club. Exciting changes in the 2012 dues and fee structure might put you in a position to acquire corporate membership and take advantage of club benefits from which your entire company can profit.

Beginning in March of 2012, a company that establishes a Corporate Golf Membership at Orchard Ridge can designate at least two individuals to represent the company as members. The designees have all the benefits of a Full Golf Membership including full use of the facilities for a spouse and children under the age of 23, …

Officials: 9 US troops killed in Afghanistan

A multi-pronged militant assault on a small, remote U.S. base killed nine American soldiers and wounded 15 Sunday in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years, officials said.

The attack on the U.S. outpost came the same day a suicide bomber targeting a police patrol killed 24 people, while U.S. coalition and Afghan soldiers killed 40 militants elsewhere in the south.

The militant assault on the American troops began around 4:30 a.m. in a dangerous region close to the Pakistan border and lasted throughout the day.

Militants fired machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from homes and a mosque in the village of …