The weekend is upon us. Here's a roundup of what you need to know from Associatate Press to get your day going:
WEATHER
Expect more of the same weather-wise through Sunday, with a high each day in the mid 90s and a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service. The humidy values are high, though, and it's going to feel like it's 102 out there today and Saturday.
SPORTS
Playing for the injured Dan Uggla, Brooks Conrad made the most of a rare start as he homered, scored twice and used his speed on the basepaths to help the Atlanta Braves overcome a shaky start by Tommy Hanson to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-6 Thursday.
COLLEGE PARK - National Football League owners chatted much of the day on Thursday, polished off a couple of meals, then overwhelmingly approved a deal to end the lockout. Only one problem: The players aren't ready to join them at the table just yet, so America's most popular sport remains in labor limbo a bit longer. The owners voted 31-0 Thursday for a decade-long deal to settle the impasse, but any giddiness among fans was quickly snuffed out. The players declined to vote on the proposal, at least right away.
Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners expressed hope that their vote would lead to a speedy resolution to the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987. They called it an equitable deal that improves player safety and allows the sport to prosper even more. "It is time to get back to football," a weary Goodell said during an evening news conference at an Atlanta-area hotel.
The players said they won't be rushed into a deal, even with the owners insisting that time is running out to get in a full slate of four preseason games and 16 regular-season contests. George Wilson, the player representative for the Buffalo Bills, called the owners' vote and subsequent news conference "an attempt to break the spirits of our men and to fracture the solidarity that we've exemplified thus far." He said the deal approved by the owners included provisions the players haven't even seen, which is why no vote was taken during a conference call Thursday night.
The deal would make significant changes in offseason workout schedules, reducing team programs by five weeks and cutting organized team activities (OTAs) from 14 to 10 sessions. There will be limited on-field practice time and contact, and more days off for players. Current players would be able to stay in the medical plan for life. They also will have an injury protection benefit of up to $1 million of a player's salary for the year after his injury and up to $500,000 in the second year after his injury.
CRIME
ATLANTA - The video camera that recorded the execution of a Georgia death row inmate did more than give attorneys an account of the man's reaction to a new lethal injection drug. Death penalty experts say it could also lead to a flurry of new legal moves seeking more public access to secretive death chambers.
Thursday's execution of Andrew Grant DeYoung for the 1993 murders of his parents and sister was believed to be the first in the U.S. in almost two decades recorded on video. It came at the urging of defense attorneys who want to document the effects of the sedative pentobarbital.
The Georgia Attorney General's office warned the move could set a troubling precedent and lead to the "potential for sensationalism and abuse," and the state worried that it could encourage a rash of similar filings. The execution was pushed back a day to buy prosecutors more time to block the taping, but a second legal challenge was also rejected.
Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno said she expects other attorneys in Georgia and elsewhere to start demanding that executions be recorded on video now that Georgia has done so. "This development would help immensely in detecting the many problems with the lethal injection process, especially if the videotaping included all of the procedure from start to finish," she said.
ATLANTA - Atlanta police are searching for a man accused of running over an officer and driving away. Officer John Chafee identifies the officer as investigator Patrick Apoian, a nine-year veteran with the Atlanta department. Chafee says Apoian was attempting a traffic stop Thursday night when he got into an altercation with the driver. Chafee says Apoian was alert while being transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment of leg and chest injuries. He's reported in stable condition.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON - The Senate is moving to cast away a budget cutting plan passed by the Republican-controlled House, clearing the way for increasingly urgent government talks over raising the nation's debt ceiling. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner searched once more for an ambitious $4 trillion grand bargain, but officials said wide differences remained.
Less than two weeks from an Aug. 2 deadline that could precipitate a first-ever government default, the continuing Obama-Boehner talks kept alive the possibility of substantial deficit reduction that would combine cuts in spending on major benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid and revenue increases through a broad overhaul of the tax code.
"We have the opportunity to do something big and meaningful," Obama declared in a newspaper opinion piece. And from the Capitol, Boehner said House Republicans were prepared to compromise and prodded Obama: "The ball continues to be in the president's court."
Talk of a deal prompted a spasm of distress among Senate Democrats worried that Obama would agree to immediate cuts but put off tax revenues that the president has said are key to any agreement. The White House immediately sought to tamp down talk of an impending deal. Democratic officials familiar with the talks said both the cuts to benefit programs such as Medicare and a tax overhaul are too complicated to undertake quickly and would have to wait up to a year to negotiate. The officials, however, said any agreement would have to have strict requirements that would guarantee Congress had to act.
First, however, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Friday planned to dispense with a House-passed measure that would raise the debt limit by $2.4 trillion on the condition that Congress sends a constitutional balanced budget amendment to the states for ratification and approves trillions in long-term spending cuts.
IN THEATERS
"Captain America: The First Avenger" opens this weekend. Check out the trailer. Here's a look at showtimes.
OFFBEAT
PULLMAN, Wash. - An African tortoise has regained its mobility thanks to veterinarians who have replaced its damaged left front leg with a caster-style wheel. The $7 wheel came from a hardware store, according to the two veterinarians who installed it.
"We got several sizes to find the right height," said Dr. Nickol Finch, of the Washington State University veterinary teaching hospital. Here's a video.
The epoxy that attached the wheel to the tortoise's shell was also purchased at a hardware store, she said.
The 23-pound tortoise, named Gamera, was shown to the public Thursday. Gamera ate grass and lumbered around the hospital's front entrance as cameras rolled. The tortoise was able to move across pavement, lawn and even bark.
"He's an ATT, an all-terrain tortoise," said Charlie Powell, spokesman for the veterinary hospital.
The tortoise was brought to the hospital in April by its owner, a resident of nearby Lewiston, Idaho. Its left front leg had been severely damaged, likely from a burn, and had to be amputated, Finch said.
