Paul Winchell, voice of Tigger, dies at 82

Paul Winchell, voiceof Tigger, dies at 82
LOS ANGELES -- Paul Winchell, a ventriloquist, inventor and children's TV show host best known for creating the lispy voice of Winnie the Pooh's animated friend Tigger, has died. He was 82. Winchell died Friday morning in his sleep at his Moorpark home, Burt Du Brow, a television producer and close family friend, told the Los Angeles Times. Over six decades, Winchell was a master ventriloquist -- bringing dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff to life on television -- and an inventor who held 30 patents, including one for an early artificial heart he built in 1963. But he was perhaps best known for his work as the voice of the lovable tiger in animated versions of A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" -- with his trademark "T-I-double grrrr-R."
Public's view of media
WASHINGTON -- Despite growing doubts about the news media's patriotism, most people still have a positive view of news outlets like their daily newspaper, local TV, network television news and cable news networks, a poll found. While the public views much of the news media favorably, they are less inclined to consider those sources of news believable, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & amp; the Press. Seven in 10 people said they have a favorable view of their local newspaper, and almost as many say that about local TV news, cable news networks and network broadcast news. Major national newspapers are viewed less favorably than the other sources of news.
Clashing with settlers
SHIRAT HAYAM, Gaza Strip -- Israeli bulldozers flattened a row of abandoned buildings next to this seaside settlement Sunday, clashing with Jewish settlers in the first military operation aimed at hampering opponents to Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. In a taste of what could lie ahead, troops scuffled with the young settlers who taunted them, climbed on bulldozers and lay in front of one to try to prevent the demolitions. One Israeli soldier was punished for siding with the settlers. Israel plans to uproot all 8,500 Jewish settlers in Gaza, as well as about 500 residents of four small settlements in the West Bank, beginning in mid-August.
Lethal alcoholic brew
NAIROBI, Kenya -- A black market alcoholic brew laced with poisonous methanol has caused the deaths of 49 people in Kenya, medical workers said Sunday, while police searched for a woman suspected of distributing the drink to local bars. More than 174 people were hospitalized after drinking the brew containing methanol, a toxic wood alcohol added to the drink -- called chang'aa -- to give it more kick. "Two people have gone completely blind, and another eight have reduced vision of varying degree," said Simon Mueke, medical superintendent at the Machakos General Hospital.
NASA plans fireworks
LOS ANGELES -- Not all dazzling fireworks displays will be on Earth this Independence Day. NASA hopes to shoot off its own celestial sparks in an audacious mission that will blast a stadium-sized hole in a comet half the size of Manhattan. It would give astronomers their first peek at the inside of one of these heavenly bodies. If all goes as planned, the Deep Impact spacecraft will release a wine barrel-sized probe on a suicide journey, hurtling toward the comet Tempel 1 -- about 80 million miles away from Earth at the time of impact. Scientists hope the July 4 collision will gouge a crater in the comet's surface large enough to reveal its pristine core and perhaps yield cosmic clues to the origin of the solar system.
Gray talks about Felt
WASHINGTON -- L. Patrick Gray, the FBI chief during the Watergate break-in, says he believes deputy W. Mark Felt became the anonymous source known as Deep Throat because he was angry at being passed over as J. Edgar Hoover's successor and wanted to sabotage Gray. "I think there was a sense of revenge in his heart, and a sense of dumping my candidacy, if you will," Gray told ABC's "This Week" during an interview for its Sunday broadcast. Gray, who was selected to lead the FBI the day after Hoover's death on May 2, 1972, also says he refused White House demands to fire Felt or order a lie-detector test over leaks about the Watergate investigation.
Riot police in Cairo
CAIRO, Egypt -- Riot police in front of Egypt's state security building on Sunday encircled a group of protesters demanding the trial of security officers accused of torture, beating demonstrators who tried to break through. About 100 protesters, among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, pro-reform activists and representatives of local human rights organizations, shouted: "Freedom, Freedom."
Associated Press
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