On this day in 1975,  Sonny and Cher divorce. After scoring several hits in the 60's, including "I Got You, Babe," the couple launched a hit comedy variety show that ran from 1971 until their divorce. After the split, both Sonny and Cher tried and failed to launch solo comedy-variety shows. They revived their show briefly in 1976 and 1977. Cher went on to a successful film career, winning the Best Actress Oscar for Moonstruck (1987). Sonny Bono later became mayor of Palm Springs and a U.S. congressman. He was killed in a skiing accident in 1998.

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As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak — or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes.

The widening outbreak — with 810 people confirmed ill — means whatever is making people sick could very well still be on the market, federal health officials warned on Friday.

Tomatoes remain the top suspect and the advice on which ones consumers should avoid hasn't changed, stressed Food and Drug Administration food safety chief Dr. David Acheson.

However, he said it is possible that tomatoes being harvested in states considered safe could be picking up salmonella germs in packing sheds, warehouses or other facilities currently under investigation.

Most worrisome, the latest victim became sick on June 15 — long after the outbreak began on April 10 and weeks after government warnings stripped supermarkets and restaurants of many tomatoes.

"The source of contamination has been ongoing at least through early June. And we don't have any evidence that whatever the source is, it's been removed from the market," said Dr. Patricia Griffin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Redmond O'Neal, the son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal, has pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and methamphetamine.

The 23-year-old O'Neal pleaded guilty Thursday in a Malibu court to the two felony counts and a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs. As part of a plea deal, a second DUI charge was dismissed.

He was placed on three years' probation on the misdemeanor charge and fined about $1,700.

The district attorney's office says O'Neal also was ordered to remain in drug treatment until a hearing next month to determine if he can enter a drug-diversion program on the felony charges.

O'Neal was arrested January 26th after he was stopped for speeding on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

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A gang of Pakistani militants executed two alleged U.S. spies in front of thousands of cheering supporters Friday as a top U.N. official expressed fears that Pakistani government peace deals with the gunmen were sparking a wave of human rights abuses.

At least 5,000 people gathered by a stream in the Bajur region to watch the executions, which highlighted the power of local Taliban forces in the lawless tribal areas near the Afghan border.

Masked militants pulled the two blindfolded Afghans from a car and forced them to kneel on the ground.

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As news spread of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the handgun ban in Washington, D.C., one thing was clear in Chicago: The city's own ban now faces a challenge as serious as any in its 26-year history.

From a visibly angry Mayor Richard Daley to a federal lawsuit filed within hours that challenges Chicago's ban as unconstitutional, there was no mistaking that the high court's opinion Thursday puts the city's law squarely in the middle of a long legal fight.

While swift, the lawsuit wasn't a surprise given that Justice Stephen Breyer, in his dissenting opinion, noted "Chicago has a law very similar to the District's." 

"In the sense the Supreme Court has found this is an individual right to bear arms, we recognize (the ruling) is a significant threat," said Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city's law department. "It gives people an opening to challenge the ordinance in a way it hasn't been challenged in many years."

Hoyle said the high court's ruling that Americans can keep guns at home for self-defense does not invalidate Chicago's law, and attorneys are confident they can successfully fight any challenge to the 1982 ordinance that makes it illegal to possess or sell handguns in the city. 

Still, Hoyle fully expects legal challenges.

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The Phoenix lander's first taste test of soil near Mars' north pole reveals a briny environment similar to what can be found in backyards on Earth, scientists said Thursday.

The finding raises hope that the Martian arctic plains could have conditions favorable for primitive life. Phoenix landed a month ago to study the habitability of Mars' northern latitudes.

"There's nothing about it that would preclude life. In fact, it seems very friendly," mission scientist Samuel Kounaves of Tufts University said of the soil. "There's nothing about it that's toxic."

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North Korea demolished the cooling tower at its deactivated Yongbyon nuclear facility on Friday, an expected step meant to symbolize expanded cooperation with international demands that the country shut down its nuclear program.

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It seems unthinkable, but for the first time that we are aware of, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

"From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.

If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above.  (This is all speculation at this point.  Don't get your panties in a wad.)

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Mindy McCready has been arrested in Tennessee and charged with violating her probation.

Authorities accuse the 32-year-old country singer of falsifying her community service records.

Williamson County Sheriff's Department officer Charlotte Spencer says McCready turned herself in Monday, posted the $5,000 bond and was released two hours later.

She is on probation for a 2004 drug charge.

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A fourth-grade teacher on Thursday was found guilty of planting terrorizing notes throughout her Philadelphia-area elementary school.

Susan Romanyszyn was convicted of 11 counts of leaving threatening messages in the hallways of Longstreth Elementary School in the fall, when she was a teacher there, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In October, 15 notes including the messages "You die today," "Bomb today" and "I have a weapon and a nife," were found at the school, The Morning Call reported. In addition, a fake bomb was found in a student's desk and nails were scattered in a faculty parking lot.

"'I believe I became [the scapegoat] when the parents and school needed someone to blame,'" The Morning Call reported of her testimony.

The jury took 11 hours before reaching a verdict. Romanyszyn was found not guilty of creating a weapon of mass destruction, according to the newspaper.

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Madonna is seeking legal advice to end her marriage of seven years to film director Guy Ritchie, according to the Times of London.

The 49-year-old pop star reportedly has begun seeking advice from divorce attorney Fiona Shackleton, who represented Paul McCartney in his divorce from model Heather Mills.

Ritchie, 39, is believed to be consulting with Forsters, a lesser-known London law firm, the Times reported.

A spokesman for Madonna declined to comment to the Times.

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The gray cooling tower stands 60 feet above North Korea's main nuclear reactor complex, the most visible symbol of its atomic weapons program.

The communist nation prepared to blow it up Friday in front of diplomats and TV cameras in a dramatic gesture of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic weapons.

The demolition at the Yongbyon nuclear complex comes in response to concessions from the U.S., after the North delivered a declaration Thursday of its atomic programs under an agreement at international arms talks with the U.S., China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

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