by tyler | Apr 10, 2024 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at Enron, an energy trading company that collapsed after a massive accounting fraud scheme was revealed. Its 2001 bankruptcy filing was the largest in American history at the time. Estimated losses totaled $74 billion.
Enron was ranked as America’s fifth largest company by Fortune magazine in 2002, despite its 2001 bankruptcy filing.
An independent review published in 2002 detailed how executives pocketed millions of dollars from complex, off-the-books partnerships while reporting inflated profits to shareholders.
Executives including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were prosecuted for fraud-related crimes.
Key figures sold their stock shortly before the company announced a sharp downturn in earnings.
Lower-level employees were encouraged to invest in company stock for their retirement savings just before the company collapsed. The workers later filed a class action lawsuit and won an $85 million settlement.
1985 – Houston Natural Gas merges with Omaha-based InterNorth to form Enron.
1986 – Lay is appointed chairman and CEO of Enron.
1989 – Enron enters the natural gas commodities trading market.
1990 – Skilling, an energy consultant, is hired to run a new subsidiary called Enron Finance Corp.
February 12, 2001 – Skilling becomes CEO while Lay stays on as chairman.
August 14, 2001 – Skilling resigns and Lay becomes CEO again.
August 2001 – Sherron Watkins, a vice president, warns Lay that the company could “implode in a wave of accounting scandals.”
October 16, 2001 – Enron announces a third-quarter loss of $618 million. The company later reveals that it overstated earnings dating back to 1997.
October 31, 2001 – The company discloses that it is under formal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
November 9, 2001 – Enron confirms that it has agreed to be purchased by a rival company, Dynegy for $9 billion. On November 28, Dynegy announces it has terminated merger talks with Enron.
December 2, 2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
January 9, 2002 – The US Department of Justice opens a criminal investigation into Enron’s collapse.
January 10, 2002 – Arthur Andersen LLP, the accounting firm that handled Enron’s audits, discloses that its employees had destroyed company documents.
January 15, 2002 – The New York Stock Exchange suspends trading of Enron shares.
January 17, 2002 – Enron ends its partnership with Arthur Andersen.
January 23, 2002 – Lay resigns as CEO. He later steps down from the board of directors.
January 25, 2002 – Former Enron vice chairman J. Clifford Baxter is found dead in an apparent suicide.
February 12, 2002 – Lay invokes his Fifth Amendment right before the Senate Commerce Committee.
March 14, 2002 – The DOJ indicts Arthur Andersen for obstruction of justice. A jury later returns a guilty verdict for the accounting firm. The Supreme Court later overturns the conviction.
February 19, 2004 – Skilling is charged with 35 counts of fraud and insider trading. He pleads not guilty.
July 7, 2004 – Lay is indicted. He is charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and making false statements. During his arraignment the next day, he pleads not guilty to all 11 charges and is released on $500,000 unsecured bond.
May 25, 2006 – Skilling and Lay are convicted of conspiracy and fraud. Skilling is also convicted on one count of insider trading and five counts of making false statements. The jury acquits Skilling on nine additional counts of insider trading.
July 5, 2006 – Lay dies of a heart attack while awaiting sentencing.
September 8, 2008 – A class action lawsuit filed by shareholders and investors is settled in federal court. The $7.2 billion settlement will be paid out by a group of banks accused of participating in the accounting fraud scheme.
May 11, 2009 – Skilling files a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction after appeals with the lower courts fail.
May 9, 2010 – “Enron,” a musical about the company’s collapse, closes on Broadway 12 days after opening amid slow ticket sales.
April 16, 2012 – The Supreme Court rejects Skilling’s appeal.
June 21, 2013 – A federal judge reduces Skilling’s sentence by more than 10 years. In return, Skilling agrees to stop challenging his conviction and forfeit roughly $42 million that will be distributed among the victims of the Enron fraud.
December 8, 2015 – The SEC announces that it has obtained a summary judgment against Skilling, permanently barring him from serving as an officer or director of a publicly held company. The judgment settles a long-running civil suit by the SEC.
February 21, 2019 – Skilling is released after serving over 12 years in federal prison.
by tyler | Apr 10, 2024 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball Tournaments. The single-elimination tournament is nicknamed “March Madness” or “The Big Dance.”
2024 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Finals
April 8, 2024 – Men’s Finals – The University of Connecticut Huskies defeat the Purdue Boilermakers 75-60 in Glendale, Arizona, to win their second successive men’s basketball national championship title and sixth overall.
April 7, 2024 – Women’s Finals – The South Carolina Gamecocks defeat the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75 in Cleveland, to complete a perfect 38-0 season and win a third national championship.
2023 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Finals
April 3, 2023 – Men’s Finals – Uconn wins its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over the San Diego State University Aztecs in Houston.
April 2, 2023 – Women’s Finals – The Louisiana State University Tigers defeat the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 in Dallas, to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.
68 teams are invited to compete.
– 32 teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.
– 36 teams receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.
The 12-member selection committee, comprised of athletic directors and conference commissioners, is responsible for selecting the 36 at-large teams, seeding (or ranking) all 68 teams and placing them in one of four regions within the bracket. The committee’s field of 68 is revealed on the Sunday before the four first-round games, appropriately dubbed “Selection Sunday.”
The selection committee primarily uses the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which is comprised of Team Value Index (TVI), or wins against quality opponents, and an adjusted net efficiency across all games. The NET replaces the Ratings Percentage Index.
68 teams are invited to compete.
– 32 teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.
– 36 teams receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.
Similar to the men’s selection process, a 12-member selection committee primarily uses NET rankings to choose the 36 at-large teams, seed (or rank) all 68 teams and place them in one of four regions within the bracket.
The committee’s field of 68 is revealed on the Sunday before the four first-round games.
The “First Four” are the four opening round games in the Men’s tournament. Two games match number 16 seeds against each other, and the other two games feature the last four at-large teams selected into the tournament. The winners advance to the next round, the round of 64.
For both the men’s and women’s tournaments, each of the four regions consists of 16 teams that are seeded No. 1 to No. 16. In the first round, teams are paired according to seed. The No. 1 seed faces No. 16, No. 2 faces No. 15, No. 3 faces No. 14, and so forth. The winning teams advance to the second round.
The 16 teams that advance beyond their first and second-round games are referred to as the “Sweet Sixteen.” The remaining eight teams are called the “Elite Eight,” and the last four teams are the “Final Four.”
An underdog or lower-seeded team that advances throughout the tournament is often referred to as a “Cinderella” team.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins have the most NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament titles with 11.
The University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies have the most NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament titles with 11.
1939 – The first men’s tournament is held, and eight teams compete. Oregon defeats Ohio State 46-33.
1954 – The tournament final is broadcast live nationwide for the first time.
1982 – The first women’s tournament is held, and 32 teams compete. Louisiana Tech beats Cheyney State 76-62.
1991 – CBS begins broadcasting all games live.
1999 – CBS obtains an 11-year contract through 2013 worth $6 billion to broadcast the tournament.
2005 – College Sports Television begins a two-year agreement with CBS Sportsline.com and the NCAA for exclusive video streaming rights on CSTV.com for out-of-market game coverage. CSTV pays CBS $3 million for the rights and expects to be profitable in the first year.
April 22, 2010 – In addition to expanding the men’s tournament basketball field to 68 teams from 65, the NCAA announces a 14-year, $10.8 billion television rights deal with CBS and Turner Sports. The deal, which goes into effect in 2011, marks the first time that each game will be televised nationally.
April 12, 2016 – The NCAA announces an 8-year extension of its TV deal with Turner Broadcasting and CBS Sports. The extension to the current deal – for a combined total rights fee of $8.8 billion – will keep the big game at Turner and CBS until 2032.
February 20, 2018 – The NCAA Infraction Appeal Committee announces they will uphold penalties against the Louisville Cardinals Men’s Basketball team for their serious violations of NCAA rules. The Committee panel found that they “acted unethically….by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation.” The penalties vacate every win from 2011 to 2015, including the 2013 national championship and the 2012 Final Four appearance.
August 22, 2018 – The NCAA announces a new ranking tool, the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool). It replaces RPI, or the ranking performance index, as the method which will be used to choose which teams will be selected to participate in the tournament.
March 12, 2020 – NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors cancel the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournament, and other winter and spring NCAA championships, due to concern over the Covid-19 pandemic. The Division I championships have been played every year since the men’s inception in 1939 and women’s in 1982.
January 4, 2021 – The NCAA announces that the entire 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be played in the state of Indiana, with the majority of the 67 scheduled games to be played in Indianapolis.
February 5, 2021 – The NCAA announces that the entire 2021 NCAA women’s basketball tournament will be played in Texas, with the majority of the 63 scheduled games to be played in San Antonio.
September 29, 2021 – After a “comprehensive external review of gender equity issues,” the NCAA announces that beginning in 2022, the “March Madness” branding that has historically been used for the Division I men’s basketball tournament will also be used for the women’s basketball tournament.
November 17, 2021 – The expansion of the women’s tournament bracket is approved. Sixty-eight teams will participate in the 2022 championship, up from 64.
April 7, 2024 – The NCAA tournament national title game between undefeated and top overall seed South Carolina and Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes breaks women’s college basketball ratings records, averaging 18.7 million viewers, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen.
by tyler | Apr 10, 2024 | CNN, us
Here is a look at best-selling author and Oscar-winning actress, Shirley MacLaine.
Birth date: April 24, 1934
Birth place: Richmond, Virginia
Birth name: Shirley MacLean Beaty
Father: Ira O. Beaty, school administrator
Mother: Kathlyn (MacLean) Beaty, drama teacher
Marriage: Steve Parker (1954-1982, divorced)
Children: Stephanie Sachiko “Sachi” Parker
Nominated for six Academy Awards and won one.
Nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards and won one.
Her brother is actor and director Warren Beatty.
Has said she believes in reincarnation and UFO’s.
Is named after the child star Shirley Temple.
1950s – Performs in a “subway circuit” production of “Oklahoma!”
May 28, 1953 – Makes Broadway debut in “Me and Juliet” as a member of the chorus.
1954 – As the understudy for star Carol Haney in “The Pajama Game” on Broadway, MacLaine gets her big break after the lead actress hurts her ankle. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis is impressed by MacLaine’s performance and offers her a film contract.
1955 – Makes her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry.” Also co-stars with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in “Artists and Models.”
1955-1971 – Stars in close to 25 movies, including “Some Came Running” in 1958, “The Apartment” in 1960, “Irma La Douce” in 1963, and “Sweet Charity” in 1969.
1960s – Supports Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, protests the Vietnam War and advocates for civil rights.
January 1, 1970 – MacLaine’s memoir, “Don’t Fall Off the Mountain,” is published. It’s the first of 15 books penned by the actress.
1971-1972 – Helps Democrat George McGovern campaign for president.
1973 – Spends three weeks in China leading an all-female delegation on a tour sanctioned by the Communist government. She makes an Oscar-nominated 1975 documentary about the trip, “The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir.”
September 11, 1977 – Wins a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Comedy, Variety or Music, for her role in “Gypsy in my Soul.”
1978 – Visits Fidel Castro at the Presidential palace in Havana while on a trip to Cuba. After telling him that she liked his uniform, he gives her a replica of one of his uniforms, according to MacLaine’s memoir, “My Lucky Stars.”
1984 – Wins the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Aurora Greenway in “Terms of Endearment.”
1994 – Walks nearly 500 miles across Spain on a spiritual pilgrimage called El Camino de Santiago. During her month-long solo journey, MacLaine sleeps in shelters and begs for food. She chronicles the trek in her book, “The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit.”
2011 – Receives France’s most prestigious award for the arts, the Legion of Honor.
2012-2013 – Portrays a fashionable New Yorker on the hit show, “Downton Abbey.”
December 8, 2013 – Receives the Kennedy Center Honors for her achievements in the performing arts.
by tyler | Apr 9, 2024 | CNN, us
Here is some background information about the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
The blast killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured several hundred more.
Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols were convicted of the attack.
The federal building was later razed and a park and memorial were built on the site.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum has 168 stone and glass chairs placed in rows on a lawn, one for each victim.
Both McVeigh and Nichols were former US Army soldiers and were associated with the extreme right-wing and militant Patriot movement.
The Patriot movement rejects the legitimacy of the federal government and law enforcement.
April 19 marked two anniversaries. Patriots’ Day is the anniversary of the American rebellion against British authority at Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1775. It is also the date that federal agents raided the compound of a religious sect in Waco, Texas, after a 51-day standoff in 1993. At least 75 members of the Branch Davidian sect died in a fire that began during the raid.
McVeigh claimed he targeted the building in Oklahoma City to avenge the raid on Waco.
April 19, 1995 – At 9:02 a.m. CT, a rental truck filled with explosives is detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
April 19, 1995 – Near Perry, Oklahoma, Army veteran McVeigh is arrested during a traffic stop for driving a vehicle without a license plate.
April 21, 1995 – McVeigh’s alleged co-conspirator Nichols turns himself in.
May 23, 1995 – The remaining parts of the Murrah federal building are imploded.
August 11, 1995 – McVeigh and Nichols are indicted on murder and conspiracy charges.
April 24, 1997 – McVeigh’s trial begins in Denver.
June 2, 1997 – McVeigh is convicted on 11 counts of murder, conspiracy and using a weapon of mass destruction. He is later sentenced to death.
November 2, 1997 – Nichols’ trial begins in McAlester, Oklahoma.
December 23, 1997 – Nichols is convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter. He is later sentenced to life in prison. He is serving his sentence at USP Florence ADMAX federal prison, nicknamed “Supermax,” in Florence, Colorado.
June 11, 2001 – McVeigh is executed by lethal injection. He is the first person executed for a federal crime in the United States since 1963.
May 26, 2004 – Nichols is found guilty in Oklahoma state court on 161 counts of murder. The jury spends five hours deliberating before announcing the verdict.
August 9, 2004 – District Judge Steven Taylor sentences Nichols to 161 consecutive life terms, without the possibility of parole.
by tyler | Apr 9, 2024 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose.
Birth name: Peter Edward Rose
Birth date: April 14, 1941
Birth place: Cincinnati, Ohio
Father: Harry Rose, bank clerk and semi-pro baseball and football player
Mother: LaVerne Rose
Marriages: Carol (Woliung) Rose, (April 11, 1984-2011, divorced); Karolyn (Englehardt) Rose (January 25, 1964-1980, divorced)
Children: with Carol (Woliung) Rose: Kara and Tyler; with Karolyn (Englehardt) Rose: Pete Jr. and Fawn
Military: Ohio Army National Guard
He was nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” as a rookie.
Rose holds the Major League Baseball record for the number of games played (3,562) and hits (4,256).
He was on the National League All-Star team 17 times between 1965 and 1985.
July 8, 1960 – Rose begins his pro career with the minor league team the Geneva Redlegs of the New York-Penn League.
1963 – Plays his first season for the Cincinnati Reds. At the end of the season he is voted National League Rookie of the Year.
1965 – Leads the league in hits with 209 and a batting average of .312. It is the first of 16 seasons in which his batting average is at least .300, the first of 10 seasons with 200 or more hits and the first of seven years leading the league in hits.
1968-1969 – Wins the first two of his three batting titles.
1969-1970 – Wins a Gold Glove both years for fielding excellence as an outfielder.
1973 – Named National League Most Valuable Player and wins the batting title.
1975 – Rose is named World Series Most Valuable Player after the Reds defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-3.
December 5, 1978-October 19, 1983 – Plays for the Philadelphia Phillies and wins the 1980 World Series, beating the Kansas City Royals 4-3.
1984 – Plays 95 games with the Montreal Expos.
August 16, 1984 – Rose is hired as player/manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
September 11, 1985 – At home against the San Diego Padres, Rose breaks Ty Cobb’s 57-year record of 4,191 career hits.
November 11, 1986 – Rose is released as a player from the Reds but continues to manage the team through the 1988-1989 season.
March 20, 1989 – An announcement from the office of the Baseball Commissioner reveals an ongoing investigation into allegations of Rose’s gambling. Details of the allegations are reported the next day in Sports Illustrated.
August 24, 1989 – With a 225-page report, witness testimony and volumes of evidence to support his findings, baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti bans Pete Rose from baseball for life for gambling, with the stipulation he may apply for reinstatement after one year.
August 1990-January 1991 – Serves five months in the Federal Prison Camp in Marion, Illinois, after pleading guilty to tax evasion.
September 23, 2002 – Plays in a celebrity softball game that he organized, to mark the closing of Cincinnati’s Cinergy Field; his first public game since banishment.
January 8, 2004 – Rose’s autobiography, “My Prison Without Bars,” is published. In the book Rose admits to betting on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
March 14, 2007 – During a radio interview with ESPN, Rose admits to betting on every Cincinnati game while he was manager.
January 13, 2013 – The reality show “Pete Rose: Hits and Mrs.,” about life with fiancée, Kiana Kim, premieres on TLC. The show is canceled after the fourth episode.
March 2015 – Rose submits a formal request to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred seeking reinstatement. On December 14, 2015, it is announced that Rose’s application has been denied.
April 18, 2015 – It is announced that Rose has been hired by Fox as a baseball analyst.
July 7, 2016 – Files a defamation lawsuit against attorney John Dowd for comments Dowd made suggesting that Rose committed statutory rape. Dowd, who led the investigation into Rose’s gambling on baseball, tells NJ Advance Media the allegations have been “blown out of proportion.”
September 27, 2016 – Rose sends a letter to the National Baseball Hall of Fame asking that he be made eligible for inclusion, which would put his name on the ballot to be voted on by baseball writers.
July 31, 2017 – Court records reveal an unidentified woman has provided a sworn statement alleging that in the 1970s she had sex with Rose before she turned 16. The statement is part of the defamation lawsuit Rose filed against Dowd. Rose acknowledged that he had a relationship with the woman but said he believed she was 16 at the time. On December 14, 2017, the defamation lawsuit is dismissed.
February 5, 2020 – Rose’s attorneys petition MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for Rose to be reinstated. They argue that Rose’s “ongoing punishment for an act that never impacted a single play or game outcome is no longer justifiable as a proportional response to his transgressions.”
October 7, 2021 – Debut of “Pete Rose’s Daily Picks,” a sports betting podcast hosted by Rose.
by tyler | Apr 9, 2024 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of actor Jack Nicholson, who has won three Academy Awards and been nominated for 12, the most of any male performer.
Birth date: April 22, 1937
Birth place: Neptune, New Jersey
Birth name: John Joseph Nicholson
Father: Identity not confirmed publicly
Mother: June Nicholson
Marriage: Sandra Knight (1961-1966, divorced)
Children: with Jennine Gourin: Tessa (though he has not claimed paternity publicly); with Rebecca Broussard: Lorraine and Raymond; with Winnie Hollman: Honey (though he has not claimed paternity publicly); with Susan Anspach: Caleb; with Sandra Knight: Jennifer
Raised by Ethel May Nicholson. It wasn’t until Nicholson was an adult that he learned that Ethel May was his grandmother and not his mother. His birth mother was June Nicholson, whom he grew up believing was his sister.
Worked in film for 10 years before his breakthrough role in “Easy Rider.”
Wrote, produced and starred in the 1966 western “Ride in the Whirlwind.”
Ardent Los Angeles Lakers fan.
1954 – Moves to Los Angeles.
1958 – Makes his film debut in “The Cry Baby Killer.”
1969 – The film “Easy Rider” is released and earns him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
1974 – The film “Chinatown” is released.
1976 – Wins the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
1980 – The film “The Shining” is released.
1984 – Wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Terms of Endearment.”
1989 – The film “Batman” is released. Nicholson plays the Joker.
1998 – Wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “As Good as It Gets.”
1994 – Smashes another man’s car windshield with a golf club during a traffic dispute. Later, charges are dropped and Nicholson reaches an undisclosed settlement with the car’s owner.
1999 – Receives the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
December 2001 – Kennedy Center honoree.
2006 – Co-stars in the Martin Scorsese film “The Departed.”
