NFL Legend, Bubba Smith Found Dead

Former NFL star and "Police Academy" actor Bubba Smith was found dead Wednesday at his Los Angeles home, according to police and coroner's office officials. He was 66.

The LA County coroner's office said it has not determined a cause of death, but officials believe he died of natural causes.

Smith was found at his home on Sunlight Place in Baldwin Hills by a caretaker, police said.

The top overall pick in the 1967 draft after a sensational career at Michigan State, Smith spent five seasons with the Baltimore Colts and two seasons each with Oakland and Houston. He won the 1971 Super Bowl with the Colts.

One of the most feared defensive ends in the game, Smith often drew two blockers, yet was effective enough to make two Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team. His best work actually came in college, and Smith was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Smith played for his father, Willie Ray Smith, in Beaumont, Texas, before heading to Michigan State, where he was an All-American in 1966.

As an actor, his most memorable role was playing Moses Hightower, the soft-spoken officer in the ''Police Academy'' series.

Smith was a regular in the groundbreaking Miller Lite commercials featuring retired athletes.

Three Feared Dead in Yosemite Waterfall Accident

Three people who had been playing at the top of a 317-foot Yosemite National Park waterfall were presumed dead after plunging over the edge, a park spokesman said on Wednesday.

Ninos Yacoub, 27, Hormiz David, 22, and Ramina Badal, 21, were seen slipping over Vernal Falls on Tuesday afternoon by hikers who had warned them to stay out of the river above the precipice, park ranger Scott Gediman said.

"Basically one person lost his footing and he started to slide down, and the second person tried to rescue him and then the third," he said.

Search and rescue teams had not any bodies as of Wednesday morning, Gediman said, but did not believe that Yacoub, David or Badal could have lived through the ordeal.

"It's a 317-foot vertical drop over rushing water. It's not something that somebody can survive, unfortunately, Gediman said. "It's a tragic situation."

One or more of the bodies could have become wedged in rocks or carried downstream.  They are checking out all possibilities.

Golf Great Ballesteros Dies at 54



Seve Ballesteros, a five-time major champion whose passion and gift for imaginative shot-making invigorated European golf and the Ryder Cup, has died from complications of a cancerous brain tumor. He was 54.

A statement on Ballesteros’ website early Saturday said the golf great died peacefully at 2:10 a.m. local time, surrounded by his family at his home in Pedrena, in northern Spain.

Ballesteros won five major events: the British Open three times and the Masters Tournament twice. He amassed 87 titles worldwide, including a record 48 on the European Tour, collecting $7.6 million in winnings and much more in endorsements and other business interests.

In a Star Wars era, Ballesteros was Darth Vader to an entire contingent of American Luke Skywalkers.  He wasn't a bad guy, but he was a European that was brash and bold.  He also had every escape shot in the books.  He was exciting to watch and great to root against.

He underwent four operations at the end of 2008 for a brain tumor and began chemotherapy treatments after being released from Madrid’s La Paz hospital. After chemotherapy, he returned to public life the following year and made several appearances to promote his charity that funds brain tumor research.

In 2000, he was voted European Player of the Century. He was the region’s leading money-winner six times, and ended his 33-year playing career in July 2007, a week after saying he suffered heart palpitations. Since then, he devoted his time to a golf-course design business, a company that organized the Seve Trophy -- now known as the Vivendi Trophy -- on the European Tour and a venture that provided motivational coaching.

Ballesteros had two sons and a daughter with his wife, Carmen. Their marriage ended in divorce.

Arizona Congresswoman Shot

Details starting to come out.

Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was among several people in a shooting Saturday during a public event outside a grocery store in Tucson.

A Democrat, Giffords was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting at about 10 a.m. local time, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

Giffords and others were transported to University Medical Center in Tucson.

At least 15 shots were heard by witnesses. At least three bodies were on the ground after the shooting.

The suspect is in custody, according to televised reports.

Update on Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 2:31PM by Rick C.Limpert

ABC News is reporting she was shot a point-blank range and possible as any as 12 people have been wounded.

Funny Man Schimmel Dies

Standup comic Robert Schimmel, a frequent guest on Howard Stern's radio show, has died after suffering serious injuries in a car accident. He was 60.

Schimmel's spokesman, Howard Bragman, says Schimmel died Friday evening in a Phoenix hospital.

Schimmel was a passenger Thursday in a car driven by his 19-year-old daughter Aliyah. Bragman says Aliyah Schimmel swerved to avoid another car and the vehicle she was driving rolled to the side of the freeway. Bragman says she is hospitalized in stable condition.

Robert Schimmel lived in Scottsdale. The 60-year-old comedian has been a frequent guest on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and on Howard Stern's radio show. His 2008 memoir, "Cancer on $5 a Day," chronicles his battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.