NASCAR punished JGR after discovering during a post-race inspection that one of eight connecting rods in the engine at the April 21 race did not meet the minimum weight requirement. The part was too light by 3 grams, less than the weight of an envelope.

JGR did not dispute the part was illegal, but argued the penalties were too severe because it leases its engines from Toyota Racing Development and is not permitted to touch anything inside of them. Toyota accepted responsibility and insisted one light rod did not give Kenseth a performance advantage.

The three-member National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel agreed and dramatically reduced almost every penalty.

The points deducted from Kenseth were reduced from 50 to 12, which moves him from 11th in the standings to fourth. The panel also reinstated the three bonus points he earned for the victory for seeding in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

The panel also reduced crew chief Jason Ratcliff's suspension from six races to one race, and eliminated the six-race suspension for owner Joe Gibbs. It let stand Ratcliff's $200,000 fine. The only action the panel took was increasing Toyota's penalty from a five-point fine to seven points.

"Glad to have today behind us so we can get our focus back on racing. I respect NASCAR and the appeals process, I feel like they got it right," Kenseth posted on Twitter.

Gibbs said he was done with the process and would not appeal anything further.

"Right now, we just want to get back to racing," the team owner said.

NASCAR is not eligible to appeal anything further to chief appellate officer John Middlebrook. Spokesman Kerry Tharp said the sanctioning body was disappointed in the decision.

"Our sport has a due process system in place that has served this sport very well for more than 65 years, and that due process resulted in this decision here today," Tharp said. "While we are disappointed by today's outcome, we stand firmly behind our inspection process. The inspection of engines, and engine parts and pieces has always been regarded as the holy grail throughout the industry that along with fuel and tires.In violations such as these, we have no other reinforcement process than to penalize the team owner and team members. That's how our system works."

The appeal was heard by Mark Arute, general manager of Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, Denis McGlynn, CEO of Dover International Speedway and Jack Housby, who fielded cars in the 1970s and '80s.

Of the 151 appeals heard since NASCAR began keeping records in 1999, penalties were upheld 106 times. The panel reduced penalties 32 times, eliminated penalties 11 times and increased them twice.

A week ago, the panel unanimously upheld all penalties levied against Penske Racing for using parts confiscated by inspectors before the April 13 race at Texas. But the six-race suspensions for seven key Penske employees were reduced Tuesday to two points races and the All-Star race by Middlebrook, which team owner Roger Penske celebrated as a small victory.

Gibbs seemed far more subdued by what could only be considered a major victory.

"This has been a tough, tough week for everyone," he said. "Certainly no one wanted this to happen, and we're committed to making sure it never happens in the future. I want to emphasize that after going through this process we have great for our sport, and in particular, NASCAR. All of us at Joe Gibbs Racing are committed to being good partners and we want to race with NASCAR forever. We're going to work extremely hard with TRD to make sure this never happens again and right now we just want to get back to racing."

In the days after the penalty, Gibbs was concerned with his reputation and that NASCAR had completely overlooked intent in levying punishment.

TRD officials immediately accepted responsibility for the bad part, claiming it came from the manufacturer underweight with accompanying paperwork that clearly stated its weight. It was missed in the TRD chain of command and installed in an engine that was shipped from California to JGR's shop in North Carolina, where it was installed in the car Kenseth raced at Kansas.

After NASCAR discovered it during a thorough inspection following the win at its Research & Development Center in Concord, Toyota went through all of its vendor paperwork and pulled three of Clint Bowyer's engines because three connecting rods were too close for comfort.

Toyota Racing Development vice president David Wilson was present Wednesday for JGR's appeal, and Gibbs said he did not expect TRD to make the same mistake again.

"We have really addressed that. Heavily," Gibbs said. "I think this is probably going to change several things the way Toyota was doing them. I think this was good for them for the future. It was a heavy emphasis for them. They accepted this as being something that failed in the system and they are committed to fixing the system. You can't have this."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Henrik Stenson of Sweden birdied the ninth hole after a two-hour weather delay to extend his lead to two shots over Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia in Saturday's third round of the Players Championship.

Stenson, the 2009 champion, took advantage of early bogeys by overnight leader Garcia and world number one Woods to seize the lead with a birdie at the sixth hole that lifted him to 11 under par for the tournament.

Two holes later a warning horn sounded due to the threat of lightning. Upon his return to the course, Stenson extended his lead on the par-five ninth to reach 12-under.

Woods, Garcia were at 10-under through eight holes and were joined on that total by big-hitting Australian Marc Leishman, who birdied the par-five 11th after returning to the course.

Tied for fifth on nine under par were 49-year-old Jeff Maggert (66) and 25-year-old David Lingmerth of Sweden (through 9).

Early starters had fired away at the pins, but as the greens got firmer and the breezes blew stronger, the top contenders had more difficulty scoring.

After the storm passed through the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the greens had been newly softened by rain and the air had gone still giving players hope for conditions receptive to scoring.

Garcia, the 2008 champion, began the round with a one-shot lead over Woods, who won in 2001, in what is generally referred to as golf's fifth major.

A two-shot swing on the par-five second hole put Woods into the lead on 11-under when the American birdied and the Spaniard took bogey.

Garcia glared over towards at Woods after the Spaniard was distracted on his backswing during his second shot from the fairway by the crowd's roar when the world number one pulled a five-wood for his escape from the trees on the left.

Woods three-putted the par-three third hole to fall back into a tie at 10 under par.

Maggert had joined in a four-way tie for the lead at 10-under after he birdied the par-five 16th but he took his first bogey of the day at the 18th to slip back.

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

The latest example is a mapping project by students at Humboldt State University called the , which uses Google Maps to illustrate the hate-filled language spit out into the Twitter ether.

According to the data, homophobes and racists aren't exclusive to certain regions of the United States. Rather, words like "n---er," "ch--k," "f-g" are used pretty much anywhere people are. (Except Utah, apparently, which we'll get to in a bit.)

Unlike other studies, the project didn't use an algorithm to sift through tweets. Instead, a team of students manually combed through some 150,000 geo-tagged tweets to pinpoint where the words were coming from. Because of the project's human component, slang like "no homo" and its ilk — thecan oftentimes be worse, it should be noted — were dismissed. Only what was determined to be explicit hate speech was included in the heat map.

, the data was then normalized, "meaning that the scale accounts for the total Twitter traffic in each county so that the final result is something that shows the frequency of hateful words on Twitter." Results were only recorded where Twitter is used, which may explain Utah's apparent good behavior — a separate  ranked the state last in terms of Twitter usage.

All of which raises the question: Is Twitter a reliable gauge of American public opinion? Perhaps not. A recent study fromfound that public sentiment on Twitter "often differs a great deal from the public opinion as measured in surveys." The social media platform's reach is actually quite modest: Just 13 percent of American adults say they tweet or use Twitter for news.

What's interesting about this mapping project, though, is that the user data remains anonymous. Although the choice was made mainly for privacy concerns, it inadvertently serves a larger purpose, making it clear that "racism" is more than an endemic problem that can be solved with . Those big, red globs mean that we as a country have a long way to go, .

Explore the project in depth over . (Via )

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators on Thursday stalled the confirmation of President Barack Obama's pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying they were "completely unsatisfied" with answers provided by Gina McCarthy on several topics.

Their decision to boycott the Senate Environment Committee meeting on her nomination was the latest in a series of procedural moves by Republicans that have made it difficult for Obama to get his second-term Cabinet in place. Obama has complained that Republicans have stymied his agenda at every turn.

The dispute over McCarthy stems from more than 1,000 written questions Republican senators asked her after her confirmation hearing - what Democrats say is a new record for the number of written questions asked of a nominee.

An administration official said she answered every one.

David Vitter of Louisiana, the top Republican on the Environment Committee, told reporters their boycott was not related to McCarthy's qualifications but to her refusal to answer questions about transparency within the agency.

All eight committee Republicans refused to participate in a scheduled vote on McCarthy, leaving her nomination in limbo and unable to advance to the next stage - a full Senate vote.

The White House responded with outrage. "There has been a historic level of obstructionism from the Senate on this nomination and others," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Republican senators noted that Environment Committee Democrats, when in the minority, staged a similar boycott in 2003 of EPA nominee Michael Leavitt, forcing a vote to be rescheduled. Leavitt was ultimately confirmed.

It was not immediately clear when the committee would reschedule the vote, which McCarthy is expected to clear, given that Democrats hold a majority on the panel.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt, who is not a member of the Environment Committee, has already said he will put a hold on McCarthy in the full Senate because of delays in approvals for a floodway project in his home state of Missouri.

PAGES OF QUESTIONS

The number of written questions for McCarthy far exceeded those faced by other Cabinet members and previous EPA picks.

Republicans asked Lisa Jackson, Obama's first EPA administrator, 118 questions after her nomination hearing, said a Democratic official familiar with the nomination process.

Jack Lew, now treasury secretary, fielded 462 written questions after his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

"Part of the goal is to wear down and make untenable the nomination," said George Washington University's Sarah Binder, an expert on Congress, who said in an interview that Obama has had a difficult time getting Senate approval for his Cabinet choices compared to previous presidents.

Although the Democratic majority controls the Senate and its committees, congressional rules give some procedural advantages to the minority Republicans enabling them to stall or block legislation and nominees.

The boycott of McCarthy's vote comes a day after Republican senators used an obscure procedural rule to delay a scheduled committee vote on Obama's nominee for labor secretary, Thomas Perez.

The nomination of Ernest Moniz, Obama's pick to head the Energy Department, has also stalled over a dispute with a South Carolina senator about the government's management of a nuclear waste disposal project in the state.

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan also had tough work getting Senate confirmation.

AGGRESSIVE EPA RULES

In his first term, Obama aggressively used EPA authority to try to cut pollution, although the White House ultimately killed a rule that would have regulated ozone levels because it would have cost too much.

Republicans have argued that various EPA rules have hurt jobs, and the coal industry in particular, and have accused the agency of not being transparent in its policies, including in the way it handles internal communications, the use of personal emails and the way it uses data in EPA rulemaking.

McCarthy was in charge of developing many of those regulations in her previous job at the EPA. She is well-known among lawmakers, and industry groups regulated by the EPA, including the American Petroleum Institute backed her nomination when it was announced. The API had no immediate comment on Thursday's actions.

McCarthy was a state environmental official in Connecticut and Massachusetts before joining the EPA in 2009 as assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation. She sailed through the Senate nomination process for that role. She was the top environmental enforcer for Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, when he was governor of Massachusetts.

Environmental groups called the Republican tactics "new lows" given her qualifications and popularity.

"By any measure, Gina McCarthy deserves to be confirmed, but Republicans on this committee are apparently more concerned with scoring political points than protecting public health," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware said McCarthy had gone "above and beyond the requirements of a nominee" in answering more than 1,000 questions and meeting with almost half the 100-member Senate.

Wyoming Republican John Barrasso said the delay in McCarthy's nomination would not pose an operational problem for the agency, calling acting administrator Bob Perciasepe was "more than qualified" to run the EPA in the meantime.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Roberta Rampton; additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai; writing by Ros Krasny; editing by Vicki Allen and Jackie Frank)

Once they saw Ron Rolston in charge, those plans quickly changed.

Rolston was hired as head coach of the Sabres on Tuesday, dropping the interim title he was given on Feb. 20. He becomes the 16th head coach in Sabres history.

"When we first brought Ron in as the interim coach that was the intention, to interview other candidates," Sabres general manager Darcy Regier said. "As it progressed and seeing Ron's interaction with the team, both as a teacher and a motivator ... for me personally it became more and more evident that he was a very good fit not only for the present but for the future."

Rolston was the only candidate considered for the job by the Sabres. He led Buffalo to a 15-11-5 record after being promoted from Buffalo's AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. The team began the season with a 6-10-1 start that led to the firing of Ruff, the longtime Sabres coach. Ruff spent 16 years as coach of the Sabres and 10 years as a player.

"It's both exciting and humbling to be the head coach of such a great organization," Rolston said. "For me, coming in as an interim coach, it's allowed me the opportunity to get familiar with the organization, the players, the capabilities and the potential here."

The 46-year-old Rolston is known for his teaching abilities and attention to detail. He joined the Sabres organization in 2011 as coach of the Americans after spending seven seasons as head coach of USA Hockey's national team development program. During that time, he became first coach to lead the U.S. Under-18 team to win three gold medals (2005, 2009, 2011).

He faces a difficult task in Buffalo. Rolston is charged with improving a team that has fallen on hard times after missing the postseason in four of the past six years. Last week at the season-ending press conference, Regier used the words "patience" and "suffering" while discussing the long-term turnaround.

"In life I think the big thing is struggling isn't an option, I think it's a requirement," Rolston said. "From where we're at, patience is a really hard thing for our society in general, especially with the fans in Buffalo, what kind of team they want to have. They expect something that we're going to provide for them.

"So the patience is in the process of how we have to go about that and how we have to keep moving on the path that we're on."

Rolston takes over a young Sabres team that could get even younger. The status of Buffalo's two best players, goalie Ryan Miller and leading scorer Thomas Vanek, is in question as the Sabres begin the rebuilding process. Regier hasn't ruled out trading one or both as they enter the final year of their contracts.

"We would love to have them be a part of our opening day lineup, but they have decisions to make and from there the organization has to make decisions on how to move from that," Rolston said.

Rolston has a multi-year contract that began when he took over as interim coach, Regier said. Neither would disclose the exact length of the deal.

Rolston expects to pick the rest of his coaching staff within the next week.

Basso was suffering from a cyst, which made it impossible for him to pedal correctly, his Cannondale team said in a statement on Thursday.

Compatriot Damiano Caruso would replace Basso in the squad, Cannondale said.

The 35-year-old climber won the Giro in 2006 and 2010 but was not regarded as a top contender this year, having shown poor form this season.

Basso also twice finished on the Tour de France podium, taking third place in 2004 and second place in 2005.

The Giro starts in Naples on Saturday and finishes in Brescia on May 26.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After winning a Best Actor Oscar for playing a stuttering British royal in 2010 film "The King's Speech," Colin Firth is back on screen as a character who appears ordinary to the point of boring in indie drama "Arthur Newman."

Opening in select U.S. movie theaters on Friday, Firth plays an American man who is dissatisfied with his life and hits the road with a new identity. Things get derailed when he meets Mike (Emily Blunt) a troubled young woman fleeing from her own issues.

Firth, 52, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film and life after his first Oscar win, and the (dimming) prospects of a third "Bridget Jones' Diary" movie.

Q: What made you follow up an Academy Award win with a little indie like "Arthur Newman?"

A: At the time, the title of the film was "Arthur Newman Golf Pro" and I found it so off-putting, it perversely made me more intrigued. I thought by putting 'golf' in the title, the film wouldn't be exactly marketable.

Q: How's that?

A: If you don't like golf, you won't go to see the film. And if you like golf, you're going to be disappointed because it's not about golf. It was almost provocative in how willfully unmarketable it was, so I wanted to see what was inside.

Q: And what did you find?

A: A man who seemed steeped in ordinariness. In fact, he's pronounced to be boring by several characters in the movie. So yes, he really is incredibly boring and that intrigued me. It always has. What is actually going on? What are the dynamics behind somebody languishing in a disappointing suburban life? What heroism is possible?

Q: How do you play someone like that? Where do you look to find a common thread?

A: We trap ourselves in all sorts of ways, however unusual or extraordinary our existence might seem from the outside. There are all kinds of ways in which we find ourselves on a treadmill.

If people dare to test the boundaries and step outside, it's often characterized as running away from problems. But you can't look at it that way. In Arthur Newman's case, in some ways he was probably running in to something that was more awake and more authentic.

Q: You can't possibly have any hint of dissatisfaction after winning an Oscar, can you?

A: That's not true, because you've got the rest of your tasks ahead of you. Of course there's immense reassurance (in having an Oscar) and it does give you a license for a certain freedom to do what you want and not have to prove something.

Q: Did you find that things changed for you after you won?

A: Not quickly. In some ways it's happening now....An Oscar doesn't suddenly work the miracle that manufactures a plethora of great writers who are suddenly ready to come to you with fully financed films, with the right director attached, landing on your table, saying: Take your pick. It's not as coherent as that.

Q: Have you been able to use the Oscar to your advantage?

A: Yes. It definitely opens doors. There are ways in. If you want to reach somebody to get the collaboration on something, they'll talk to you. That's a very powerful difference I've noticed.

Q: Do you like that?

A: Yeah, I do. It's useful. I think that's probably the healthiest way to look at it, rather than have something that gets preserved on a shelf. Take it and use it as a tool. Then it has meaning rather than just something to look back on. You can't live on one moment. And you can't allow either a crisis or a triumph to be the only thing that defines you.

Q: You have a lot of films on your plate due this year and next: Atom Egoyan's "Devil's Knot" and two back-to-back films with Nicole Kidman. What's the status on the sequel to "Bridget Jones' Diary?"

A: We've been teasing people a little bit because there have been plans but they're on ice now.

Q: Are you disappointed?

A: Not in the abstract. I don't spend my life thinking, "I hope there's another 'Bridget Jones.'" I like the character and I like the story. I think (author-screenwriter) Helen Fielding is a wonderful writer. Where she began to take it in this next stage now that we're all older is actually more interesting than it was in some ways back then. So if there's a good story and a good script, I'll think about it on that basis.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - An unseasonable winter storm system dropped more than 1 foot of snow across the central Plains and the upper Midwest on Thursday, closing roads and causing power outages in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.

The system has resulted in about 18 inches of snow falling in parts of northwest Wisconsin and more than 15 inches in southern Minnesota, the National Weather Service reported.

"This is fairly unusual. The northernmost areas have seen snow in May before, but not of this magnitude," said Jim Keeney, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Temperatures fell close to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 C), making for a heavy, wet snow, causing downed trees, power outages and road closures, Keeney said.

The snowfall will likely break seasonal records in portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Keeney predicted.

The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings from southeast Minnesota to northwest Wisconsin and weather advisories for eastern Colorado and the upper Midwest that will continue throughout Thursday.

Total snow accumulation is expected to be 10 to 20 inches in the Rockies with up to 6 inches in the Denver area, the National Weather Service said. Between 2 to 6 inches of snow is predicted for portions of the central plains and the upper Midwest.

The system is also bringing a cold rain to western Oklahoma, central Kansas and parts of southwest Iowa, according to the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service expects the storm to continue overnight Thursday before tapering off Friday afternoon.

(Reporting By Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Scott Malone and Chizu Nomiyama)

[More from BGR: ]

BlackBerry 10 Smartphones Approved for Use On U.S. Department of Defense Networks

[More from BGR: ]

May 2, 2013

Waterloo, ON BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) today announced the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has approved BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to be used on DoD networks. Working with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets have undergone successful testing through DoD labs leading to a subsequent listing on DISAs Unified Communications Approved Product List (UC APL).

The approval allows all DoD customers to use the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones, and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets on DoD networks.

IDC research shows that mobile security continues to be of utmost importance to government agencies around the globe, said Stephen D. Drake, Program Vice President, Mobility & Telecom at IDC. The U.S. Department of Defenses strict security requirements are amongst the highest in the world, and this allows other government bodies to follow suit. The role of BlackBerry including devices and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 continues to be important and relevant for security conscious organizations.

BlackBerry 10 is ideal for our government customers because it offers a rich, highly responsive mobile computing experience, along with BlackBerrys proven and validated security model a combination thats unmatched in the industry, said Scott Totzke, SVP, BlackBerry Security at BlackBerry. This approval will enable DoD customers to connect theirBlackBerry Z10orBlackBerry Q10smartphones to DoD networks and securely access assets from work, while enjoying the wealth of consumer-oriented functionality that BlackBerry 10 brings to market.

For more information aboutBlackBerry 10, please visit:www.blackberry.com/BB10

SAMSUNG KNOX APPROVED BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR USE IN US GOVERNMENT

In a first for Android powered devices, Samsung smartphones and tabletswith Samsung Knox can be used by the US Government and Military Services

London, United Kingdom May 3rd, 2013 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., today announced that Samsung Knox-enabled devices have been approved by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for use in DoD networks. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has finished successful testing of Samsung Knox devices.

With the official approval, Samsung Knox-enabled devices, including smartphones and tablets, will be listed as approved products for use by U.S. government and military officials within DoD networks. The DoD security requirement guidelines for mobile operation systems are one of the highest security standards in the world and this marks the first time for Android-powered devices to meet such high security requirements.

JK Shin, President and CEO of IT and Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, said, We are very pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Defense has approved Samsung Knox-enabled devices for use in DoD networks. This approval enables other government agencies and regulated industries such as health care and financial services to adopt Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. This is a significant milestone for Samsung as we work to grow our relationships within government and large corporate enterprises.

Samsung Knox delivers fundamental security at the platform level, while leaving the user experience consistent, said Injong Rhee, Senior Vice President and Head of B2B R&D Group, Samsung Electronics Samsung Galaxy devices powered by Samsung Knox are highly secure mobile devices.

The Samsung Galaxy S4, recently launched in the global market, is the first smartphone to be enabled with Knox. Going forward, Samsungs premium smartphones and tablets will feature Samsung Knox.

In addition to the DoD approval, Samsung is actively seeking certifications from other international government certification bodies for Samsung Knox-enabled devices to be used in government networks worldwide.

This article was

Ohio was at the center of last year's presidential election, and Obama's victory there was critical to winning enough electoral votes to secure a second term. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden traveled frequently to the Buckeye State throughout the campaign.

Ohio State says more than 10,000 students will receive diplomas Sunday, including 130 veterans.

Obama is scheduled to give two other commencement speeches later this month at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Obama returned to the White House on Saturday after a three-day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica.