Whitley blog

E. Kentucky rallies past Jacksonville State 57-51

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Spencer Perrin scored 19 points and Eastern Kentucky rallied in the second half to beat Jacksonville State 57-51 on Saturday to sweep the season series.

It was the 100th win at Eastern Kentucky for coach Jeff Neubauer.

The Colonels (12-11, 6-6 Ohio Valley Conference) trailed 29-18 at halftime after posting their lowest first-half point total of the season. Eastern Kentucky took the lead at 45-44 with 2:58 to play but there were two more ties before the Colonels pulled away.

A basket by Jeff Johnson, who had 12 points, gave Eastern Kentucky a 49-47 lead with 1:17 remaining. Johnson hit a layup after a Gamecocks turnover for a 51-47 lead, then the Colonels made six free throws to seal the win.

The Colonels made 17 of 20 free throw attempts while the Gamecocks shot only 11 but made nine.

Nick Murphy scored 19 points for Jacksonville State (2-19, 2-10).

Apple updates Lexmark printer drivers for OS X

Got a Lexmark printer of ? Youll want to run Software Update and grab the latest version of Lexmark printer drivers for Mac OS X.

Released on Wednesday,for Mac OS X Snow Leopard includes the most recent drivers for Lexmark-branded printers; you can see the full list of supported modelsof which there are frankly too many to countat the link above. Non-Lexmark printer owners will have to console themselves by sighing wistfully. Or, heck, if youre a completionist, feel free to go and download them anyway.

The 139MB download requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later and is available both from Software Update and .

French take stranglehold as Sharapova crashes in Fed Cup

MOSCOW (AFP) – Virginie Razzano, ranked 83 in the world, gave France a 2-0 lead in their Fed Cup World Group encounter with Russia in Moscow on Saturday by ousting home favourite and world number 13 Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4.

Alize Cornet had given the injury-hit visitors a 1-0 lead in producing a surprise win of her own, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Cornet had never previously won a Fed Cup singles match but showed that her solid form at the Australian Open in January, where she made the third round, was no fluke.

The Frenchwoman fought back after losing the first set to level the match and battled through the pain of a sore ankle, which required several spells of treatment at the start of the third set, to stun her Russian opponent in the decider.

Razzano, 27, then took advantage of some poor serving from Sharapova, who had beaten her in their only previous meeting just last month at the Australian Open but who aided her own downfall with six double faults in the opening set.

Russia lifted the trophy in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008, but they have never to date overcome a 2-0 first day deficit which they will have to do on Sunday when the final three rubbers of this quarter-final tie are played.

Barbara Bush Speaks Out in Support of Same-Sex Marriage

The political world is all abuzz with news that former President George W. Bush's daughter is speaking out in support of same-sex marriage. In a video created for the Human Right's Campaign, Barbara announced that she is a New Yorker in favor of "fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love." This comes as a surprise to many because George W. Bush pushed an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. However, this follows the trend of a younger generation wanting to promote acceptance and, as Barbara Bush says, "equality." This is a revelation that is crossing party lines and is gaining significant coverage between news sources.

So how does this fit into the conservative climate, which has a history of staunchly opposing same-sex marriage? Well Barbara isn't the first to speak out in defense of same-sex marriage. Even the ultra-conservative Fox News admits that republican figures such as Laura Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney also support gay marriage.

released regarding Barbara Bush, it is stated that "Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain opposes same-sex marriage, but his wife, Cindy, and daughter, Meghan, also have done public service announcements for the 'No H8' campaign and supported repeal of the don't ask, don't tell rule against gays openly serving in the military." It seems that times are changing, and as more Republicans speak out in favor of equality, it gives other members an example that they may be more inclined to follow.

While many people are looking at this message as a giant step forward, some are labeling it "insincere" and "irrelevant." , "Appearing on HLN's Joy Behar Show on Tuesday, [Howard] Bragman, who is married to Chuck O'Donnell in California and runs the Los Angeles-based PR firm Fifteen Minutes, said the Bush family could go to hell." Bragman stated that his problem lied in the fact that Barbara Bush had gay friends and George W. Bush was quoted as saying "It wasn't a big deal" then went on a campaign in opposition of same sex marriage. All the while, kids were being bullied and some even killed themselves because of the lack of acceptance encouraged by people like George Bush. Most of the opposition to her message lies in people being unable to distinguish between campaigns waged by her father and the feelings of Barbara as an individual.

Luckily, opinions such as these are the minority and most people are embracing the publicity in support of gay marriage. Like it or not, this is one message that has gained widespread attention from people whether they are conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat.

Repsol reports new Brazilian offshore oil discovery

MADRID (AFP) – Spain?s biggest oil company, Repsol YPF SA, announced Wednesday it had discovered "high quality crude" off the coast of Brazil in partnership with Britain's BG Group and Brazil's Petrobras.

The find was made in "ultra-deep waters" in the Santos Basin in the Carioca Northeast well in block BM-S-9, approximately 275 kilometres (170 miles) from Sao Paulo, the company said in a statement.

"Preliminary analysis shows a reservoir of 200 metres containing high quality crude. Brazil?s offshore is one of the world?s fastest-growing hydrocarbons reserves," the statement said.

Petrobras has a 45 percent stake in the discovering consortium and is its operator, BG Group owns 30 percent and Repsol holds the remaining 25 percent through a joint venture with Sinopec, one of China's top oil companies.

Last month Repsol shareholders approved the sale of 40 percent of its Brazilian affiliate to Sinopec for 7.1 billion dollars (5.2 billion euros).

The deal, which was first announced in October, provides Repsol with funds for development of oil fields in Brazil and created one of Latin America's largest energy companies, valued at 17.8 billion dollars.

Under the agreement, Repsol and Sinopec will continue with expansion plans in Brazil and participate, jointly or separately, in future rounds of tenders in the country.

Repsol has a significant portfolio of projects in Brazil, including a producing field, a block under development, two planned pilot projects and 14 exploration blocks of great potential.

Shares in Repsol rose 2.69 percent to 22.705 euros in early afternoon trade, outperforming the benchmark Ibex-35 index of most traded shares which gained 0.99 percent.