Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's run-in with a flock of Canada geese may be the most famous man-versus-nature story in recent months. But a federal database opened to the public Friday reveals just how commonplace airplanes' encounters with wildlife are. At New York's LaGuardia Airport, where Sullenberger's US Airways flight originated, planes hit birds nearly once a week on average, according to the records. But the number has grown from 16 hits in 1990 to 86 in 2008, according to the ...

For nearly 45 years, Roger Ebert has remained one of world's most influential film critics. Beginning his career as a 15-year-old sports writer with the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, he joined the staff of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966 and was named the paper's film critic within six months. His byline has appeared in the paper ever since. In the intervening decades, he has won the Pulitzer Prize and served as the host of a nationally-syndicated weekly TV program, in which he ...

The people who made 17 Again don't want to waste time reminding the movie's core fans why they're there. So right away, we see a shirtless Zac Efron on the basketball court, practicing his moves, radiating an innocent musk, his smoothly muscled torso seemingly gleaming with — not sweat — dew. The camera not only loves the 21-year-old actor but laps him; it wants to wring the moisture from his socks and drink it. Few female stars of Hollywood's golden ...

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin has captivated millions with her film roles over the years. And she's now giving a new voice to an important issue. Monday night on "Larry King Live," the Academy Award winner opened up to guest host Joy Behar about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. She says the abuse led to drug use. She also opened up about her volatile relationship with actor William Hurt. This interview has been edited for brevity and ...

Public health officials in and around Chicago, Illinois, announced Friday they are offering testing to hundreds of patients and staff members at three area hospitals who may have been exposed to tuberculosis by a doctor who was recently diagnosed with an active case of the disease. The TMZ photographer filed a complaint with police claiming the actor damaged his camera and pushed him in the face at La Guardia Airport, according to an airport spokesman. "We're looking into this allegation ...

A Grammy-nominated classical pianist who wears personalized trainers, Lang Lang is one-of-a-kind in the world of classical music. The 26-year-old has become a sensation in the music world, whose prodigious talent catapulted him from a childhood in northeastern China to playing to a packed Carnegie Hall by the age of 21. His flamboyant playing style and bold image has divided critics, but also attracted millions -- who might normally be more into MTV than Mozart -- ...

First Lady Michelle Obama picked fashion insider Isabel Toledo, 47, to design her Inaugural ensemble. The glamorous, creamy yellow dress and matching overcoat were made of satin-backed wool guipure, a kind of lace used most often in French haute couture. Obama accessorized the look with a sparkling crystal necklace and green leather gloves and shoes. Although the First Lady's office repeatedly said that Obama would not decide on her outfit until this morning, the choice — including the color, fabric ...

After serving as a 2008 summer associate at Philadelphia law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Harvard Law School student Juan Valdivieso was offered a position as a full-time associate and was anxiously looking forward to joining the firm later this year. Then, in an instant, everything changed. On March 12, Valdivieso received a memo explaining that the sagging national economy had forced the firm to defer his position for a year. Suddenly, with two months remaining in his law-school education, ...

The Rocky Mountain News, gone. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, gone. The chains that own large metropolitan dailies such as the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune are in bankruptcy. Other papers, large and small, are teetering on the brink. On Monday, the Ann Arbor (Michigan) News announced that it will publish its last edition in July. Taking its place will be a Web site called AnnArbor.com. Three other Michigan newspapers announced Monday they are reducing their publications to ...

Oscar Reynoso owed his bosses $300,000, and he was running out of time. Gunmen snatched Reynoso and locked him in the basement of a home to try to settle the drug debt. He was chained to a wall of the basement by his hands and ankles, gagged and beaten. His captors, members of a powerful Mexican drug cartel, held Reynoso for ransom, chained in the sweltering, dirty basement for six days without food. Reynoso's ordeal could've been a scene from ...