Rihanna & Chris Brown Make Readers Mad, Ashley Judd Split Makes Them Sad

By Andrea Billups

02/02/2013 at 03:00 PM EST

Rihanna (left) and Ashley Judd

Michael Kovac/Getty; Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love getting your feedback, and as always, you weighed in with plenty of strong reactions.

From your anger over Rihanna's confession that she and Chris Brown are once again in a relationship, to your love as a Houston waiter refused to serve a customer who'd insulted a boy with Down syndrome, you told us what got you talking – and also laughing out loud.

Check out the articles with the top reactions on the site this week, and keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every story to tell us what you think!

After posting plenty of photos of them together, Rihanna finally came clean, much to readers' chagrin, that she and Chris Brown are back on as a couple. The pop star, 24, and Brown, 23, have had a rocky past after he was charged with assaulting her in 2009. She told Rolling Stone magazine, in a cover story, that the reconciled relationship was important to her, despite any public scrutiny it would invite. "Even if it's a mistake, it's my mistake," she says. "After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I'd rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it."

Readers felt the love for Houston waiter Michael Garcia of Laurenzo's Prime Rib who put his job on the line when he came to the defense of a 5-year-old boy with Down syndrome, the son of Garcia's regular customers. When Milo Castillo, who has delayed speech issues, began to chat loudly about his recent birthday, a male customer nearby announced: "Special needs children need to be special somewhere else." An angry Garcia was angered refused to serve the man, and the story later lit up the restaurant's Facebook page with support.

They're famous and beautiful and now, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen own a $20 million, 22,000-square-foot castle-style Los Angeles home, replete with a moat. Wow, indeed. Brady, 35, and Bündchen, 32, will have plenty of room for their growing family, which includes son Benjamin, 3, and daughter Vivian, born Dec. 5, along with Brady's son, John, 5, from a previous relationship.

Fans were saddened by the split this week of longtime couple Ashley Judd, 44, and her husband of more than a decade, auto racing star Dario Franchitti, 39. Their exclusive statement to PEOPLE came as a surprise: "We have mutually decided to end our marriage. We'll always be family and continue to cherish our relationship based on the special love, integrity, and respect we have always enjoyed."

Outspoken Miley Cyrus, 20, drew laughs from readers when she referred to herself in a recent interview as already married. The singer, who's been engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth, 23, since May of last year, had also hinted at marriage in the past, posting photos on Twitter (since removed) of the couple wearing rings on their left hands. But she seems to just be jumping the gun. Hemsworth's rep confirmed to PEOPLE that the couple had not yet wed. "Definitely NOT married," said the rep.

Check back next week for another must-read roundup, and see what readers are reacting to here.

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New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said surveys by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories that kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

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Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

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Man killed, cut up wife, burned body parts at campsite, jury finds

A college computer manager on Friday was sentenced to 15 years to life for beating his wife to death with a statue, decapitating and dismembering her body, then burning her remains in a Ventura County campground, prosecutors said.

Richard Gustav Forsberg, 64, was found guilty in December of second-degree murder for the death of his longtime wife, a former Daily Pilot feature writer.

Forsberg got into an argument with Marcia Ann Forsberg -- his wife of 39 years -- in their Santa Margarita home in February 2010, the Orange County district attorney's office said. 

At the sentencing hearing on Friday, the woman’s brother read an impact statement to the court.

“I speak on behalf of my 86-year-old grieving and emotionally shattered mother, I speak for my bewildered distant family members, and also on behalf of my sister’s wonderful and loyal lifelong friends, all of whom struggle to make any sense of your senseless act of murder,” he said.

“You have stolen something very precious from each and every one of us.... Your actions to deceive us and eliminate all traces of your wife of 40 years are truly unforgivable to any society....”

Prosecutors say that Forsberg, a computer manager at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, grabbed a small statue and hit his wife on the head, killing her.

He decapitated and dismembered her body over the next several days, then rented an RV and purchased two freezers to stow the remains, prosecutors say.

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This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: The Return of Swatch

The social media sphere is an increasingly noisy place, especially for brands. But hiding somewhere in the static are strong signals from companies reaching their customers in innovative ways. The Social Business Index from the Dachis Group provides a (free) real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their social performance. Every week we’re taking a tally of who’s getting heard, what they’re saying, and why it matters.

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cisco Has a Warrior

As you can see, there wasn’t much movement in the top 10. But if you look at number 17, you’ll see Diageo had the biggest jump this week. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s the company that owns more familiar brands like Guiness, Johnnie Walker and Ketel One. So props to them and our livers—now let’s look at what happened outside the top 20:

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cheers to Heineken

“Cisco’s rise in the Social Business Index this week was supported by the social efforts behind ‘the world’s largest classroom.’” Lizzie Steen of the Dachis Group told us. What she’s referring to is the  The Cisco Networking Academy— a public/private program that provides technology and career education to more than four million students across 10,000 academies in 165 countries.  And that sounds serious, but as Steen points out, part of its success is there’s an emphasis on fun. Steen writes: 

Two engineers, Ian and Dan, set up two servers and decorated them with flower lights while studying for their certification from Cisco. The photo received more than 1,200 likes and 186 shares from the the site’s 460 thousand fans.  Overall, the CNA page has balanced a dense subject matter with a collaborative and fun posts, making the learning process more global and human.

Swatch proved that it’s never too early to start prepping for Valentine’s Day.  As the Dachis Group’s Joe Pinaire points out, their very popular True Love (has nothing to hide) campaign and its new A la Folie watch contributed to Swatch’s boost this week. “From Taiwan to Chile, the brand has leveraged countless regional Facebook presences to let their fans know the clock is ticking on the seasonal special,” Pinaire told us. “And fans have taken to this messaging, as the brand’s bevy of original and creative photo content has garnered love from around the globe,” he added. That photo content was specified and regionalized for their fans,  featuring pictures of a Spanish store floor redesign promoting the watch and the watch thriving in the hustle of Vienna city-life and the new O’Hare airport store. “Swatch also launched a Twitter contest using their global handle (@swatch), encouraging Belgian, Dutch, English, Spanish, and Swiss fans to declare their #TrueLove (because it has nothing to hide–right?) in exchange for a chance to win the seasonal watch and a travel voucher.” And if there’s something people love more than Valentine’s Day, it’s a free contest.

So, no cheating, but do you know how many Facebook fans Intel and its Ultrabooks have? Over 16.5 million. That also means a lot of social media juice. “Last week, the Ultrabook took in the sights in New York City and Paris. In New York, an Ultrabook posed within view of the inimitable Empire State Building with the caption, ‘Empire State of Mind’, showing off its amazing form factor and the Intel i7 chip that powers it,” the Dachis Group’s Charles Lim told us.  The photo generated more than 130 thousand likes, 1,600 comments and six thousand shares—it’s a photo of a computer people.  Lim explains:

Like car lovers, electronics enthusiasts react positively to photos of gear that they already own or would like to own. This is because electronics, like cars, are aspirational and functional and inspire lust and passion.  It also helped that the photo was a shout-out to the cultural hub of America.  …

These posts are well tuned to a global brand campaign that appeals the traveler, gets local voices involved, inspires contests and instills the notion that the Ultrabook can go anywhere you go.

Methodology: A project of the Dachis Group, a social business professional services group, the Social Business Index analyzes the conversations on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others. The index, which currently covers approximately 25,0000 companies and 27,000 brands, detects behaviors and activities exhibited by these companies and analyzes their execution and effectiveness at driving outcomes such as brand awareness, brand love, mind share, and advocacy. The Atlantic Wire takes a snapshot of the rankings at the end of the day on Sundays.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The Bachelor's Selma Alameri: Tierra Has Sean 'So Fooled'

TV Watch

The Bachelor

By Carrie Bell

02/01/2013 at 02:30 PM EST

(from left) Selma Alameri, Sean Lowe and Tierra LiCausi

Kevin Foley/ABC(3)

It isn't often that Bachelor fans are shocked by the lack of kissing, but that's exactly what happened Monday when Selma Alameri, a San Diego real estate developer raised by strict Muslim parents, refused to make out with Sean Lowe on their one-on-one date in the desert. Selma, 29, explained her actions (or, well, lack there of) and talked about "black sheep" Tierra during a press call on Thursday.

You seemed disappointed – not to mention scared – when Sean took the "Iraqi to the desert" for rock climbing.
I was so scared but [I went into] survival mode and hauled ass up that rock. I was like, "I can't think about where I am or what I am doing or I'll go out of my mind." I loved him so much for him giving me the opportunity to prove to the world that I am more than just a glamour girl.

Refusing to kiss Sean had everyone talking. Why wouldn't you kiss him?
I don't believe that showing affection in public is a bad thing but my mom does. ... Her one simple request was don't make out with somebody on television. ... She didn't mind that I was going to do the show, which is so huge, and she clearly knows that I go on dates and that I've kissed a boy before. It was more for the people in our Arab circle. ... We have such a strong culture and my family is big in my life, so I needed to test Sean to see if he'd respect my family and culture. And it was a huge test for me to see if I could resist.

Did you regret withholding kisses or worry it'd put you at a disadvantage?
Honestly, I never regret anything ... [I was] afraid that he'd take that as [as a sign that] I don't really like him. But Sean is such an amazing man that he totally understood.

You said you wouldn't kiss Sean until you were last woman standing. Seriously?
At that moment, I meant it. ... I didn't know if I would end up kissing him. Things change. Life happens. You act on emotion. You'll have to wait and see what ended up happening.

Acknowledging the obvious cultural and religious differences, if Sean does pick you in the end, would he be welcomed by your family?
Yeah. Our family is American and lives the American culture. I was born into a Muslim family. I'm spiritual and believe in God, but I'm not a practicing Muslim.
My brother-in-law is blond-haired, blue eyed, very Catholic, very American. Every guy I've ever dated was American. He would fit right in.

If it can't be you, which of your housemates should end up with Sean?
None. I'm the best match for him. That was my man.

But seems Sean is falling for many girls at once.
I believe him that he has a connection with each of the girls. I loved and got along with all the girls in the house after living with them and all the drama with the exception of one. We won't mention in names.

Assuming you mean Tierra, was she as bad as she seems on TV?
Tierra was definitely the black sheep. ... She just doesn't know how to get along with other girls. Not everybody can handle dating a man with [25] other women – it's harder than you realize – but you signed up for this so don't take it out on us. I was like, "Lady, hide your crazy for a little bit."

It's hard to believe Sean doesn't see that side of her.
I don't blame him because she was so good at switching it on and off. She's got him so fooled. He didn't live with us or see her daily. She was a completely different person with him. I'd watch her with Sean and she'd be batting her eyelashes and be like a sweet puppy just looking into his eyes.

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.

In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.

The CDC recommends thoroughly washing your hands after handling hedgehogs and cleaning pet cages and other equipment outside.

Other pets that carry the salmonella bug are frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, lizards, chicks and ducklings.

Seven of the hedgehog illnesses were in Washington state, including the death — an elderly man from Spokane County who died in January. The other cases were in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon.

In years past, only one or two illnesses from this salmonella strain have been reported annually, but the numbers rose to 14 in 2011, 18 last year, and two so far this year.

Children younger than five and the elderly are considered at highest risk for severe illness, CDC officials said.

Hedgehogs are small, insect-eating mammals with a coat of stiff quills. In nature, they sometimes live under hedges and defend themselves by rolling up into a spiky ball.

The critters linked to recent illnesses were purchased from various breeders, many of them licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CDC officials said. Hedgehogs are native to Western Europe, New Zealand and some other parts of the world, but are bred in the United States.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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School board member pimped out girls for sex, authorities allege

The young woman on the witness stand said Mike Rios approached her on the street with a school district business card in his hand and a job opportunity on his mind: He wanted her “to gather girls and sell them," she said.

The young woman, identified in court only as Valery, testified Wednesday that she and others worked as prostitutes for Rios, a member of the Moreno Valley Unified School District Board of Education.

Valery’s testimony came on the opening day of Rios’ trial in Riverside County Superior Court. He faces felony charges, including rape, pandering and pimping of six females, including two underage girls.

Valery, 21, with long black hair and bangs covering her forehead, bit her lip between questions, and her face was somber. In addition to working as a prostitute for Rios, she said she helped recruit other young women for him.

"He told me we had to get the best-looking girls so we could get more money for them," Valery said.

Prosecutors allege Rios ran a prostitution ring out of his Moreno Valley home.
In opening statements, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Brusselback told the jury: "This is a case about greed. This is a case about money. This is a case about power."

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Two More Pakistani Polio Workers Killed

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A roadside bomb killed two polio workers in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, in the third such attack this week on workers struggling to immunize children against the crippling disease.

The explosion struck as the two workers, with a United Nations-backed campaign, were traveling by motorcycle near Parachinar in the Kurram District, near the border with Afghanistan.

It was the first such attack on health workers in that area, said a senior local official speaking by phone on the condition of anonymity, offering further evidence that a Taliban-led campaign of violence and intimidation against polio workers is spreading across northwestern Pakistan.

Despite an internationally supported campaign to halt polio in Pakistan, infection rates have soared across the country in the past year, coinciding with a wave of militant attacks against the poorly protected workers at the heart of the effort. Some militants accuse polio workers of using vaccination as a cover to spy on behalf of the United States — a claim that has been fueled by the revelation that the C.I.A. used a vaccination drive as cover for the effort to find Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in early 2011.

The violence has badly affected vaccination efforts, which involve tens of thousands of health workers who repeatedly administer cheap oral vaccines to children under 5.

Nine polio workers were killed in a string of attacks across the country in December. On Tuesday, suspected militants fatally shot a police officer who had been escorting female polio workers in the Swabi District, 50 miles east of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.

The shooting prompted officials to suspend the campaign in Swabi, but they pressed ahead in other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the adjoining tribal belt. Another polio worker was wounded by a man with an ax in an unrelated episode on Tuesday.

It was unclear, however, whether the latest killings were directly related to the polio campaign. The Kurram District has a history of violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and the local official said it was unclear whether the explosion targeted the two workers for their links to the polio campaign or for their religious affiliation.

Violence against polio workers is not confined to the turbulent northwest. United Nations workers in Karachi, the port city on the Arabian Sea, have also suffered attacks that have set back efforts to wipe the disease from the city, Pakistan’s most populous.

Pakistan is one of three countries, along with Nigeria and Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic.

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One Direction Boys' Moms Are Thrilled, Though Not About Those Tattoos

By Tim Nudd

01/31/2013 at 02:30 PM EST

One Direction, (from left) Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Harry Styles

Jon Furniss/AP

If you think it's been an emotionally crazy few years for the members of One Direction, imagine how their mothers feel.

"My mum just cries the whole time. My mum literally has not stopped crying for the past two and a half years," Liam Payne said Thursday on ITV's Daybreak show in Britain.

The boys may be world famous, but they insist their families are still their biggest fans.

"It's really nice just to like look out [at a concert] and see your family, however embarrassing they're being," said Zayn Malik. "Even if they're on the chair dancing, like, it's just cool."

Just don't invite them on stage. "Our mums would absolutely poo themselves if we brought them on stage," Louis Tomlinson said. "My mum wouldn't know what to do."

One things the moms are a little less thrilled about? The tattoos their sons have been getting.

"My mum went crazy about the whole tattoo idea," Payne said. Malik added that their manager, Simon Cowell, hasn't said anything about the tattoos, "but our mums have been like, 'Maybe you're getting a bit too much.' "

The boys also denied rumors they were house hunting in Los Angeles. "No," said Tomlinson. "I think someone just sits down and says, 'What can I write about today?' "

In any case, they may have a grander destination in mind. Both Tomlinson and Harry Styles revealed in the interview that they'd love to go to space.

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.

In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died. Investigators say the illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets.

Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends thoroughly washing your hands after handling hedgehogs. Also, clean pet cages and other equipment outside.

Other pets that carry the salmonella bug are frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, lizards, chicks and ducklings.

Seven of the hedgehog illnesses were in Washington state, including the death. The other cases were in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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