Nikki Reed, Paul McDonald Are Engaged

'Twilight' star and 'American Idol' finalist appeared together at MTV Movie Awards.They sure looked the part of the happy couple on Sunday night at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards, but what the world found out before "Twilight" took the night's top awards is that star Nikki Reed and "American Idol" finalist Paul McDonald have reportedly made it official.
After less than two months of dating, Reed was sporting a sparkling engagement ring on the red carpet, and a source reportedly confirmed that the pair are going to take the plunge. "He's the one. He's the one," Reed, 23, said of the bearded Nashville singer who came in eighth place on the show this year, according to E! Online.
When McDonald was eliminated from "Idol" in April, he admitted they were an item, calling Reed "super-cool" and saying that she'd been very supportive of his musical ambitions. Us Weekly reported two weeks ago that the pair had shacked up at Reed's Los Angeles home and that she has been trying to help him land a recording contract.

While Reed was hush-hush about her own impending nuptials on the red carpet at the Movie Awards, she did weigh in on the eagerly anticipated wedding in the upcoming "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1."

"It was beautiful," said co-star Jackson Rathbone.

"It was stunning; it was like a dream," added Reed, who admitted that she was napping in her trailer when paparazzi helicopters buzzed the set during the shoot to get a peek at the fictional wedding.

E! Online, which first broke the engagement story, quoted Reed as saying that McDonald has been writing a bunch of songs dedicated to her and that he's planning on releasing a "Nikki Reed EP."

MTV News has all of the highlights from the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. Relive the best moments, watch red-carpet interviews with your favorite stars and read all about what went on behind the scenes on the big night.

D-Day landing was like '4th of July' for Yogi Berra of Yankees

As the country salutes the anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 that changed the course of World War II, it's fitting to remember one of the U.S. military veterans who participated in the invasion of France: Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees.

Before he became a pro baseball player, manager and Hall of Famer, Berra was a 19-year old U.S. Navy gunner's mate aboard a rocket-launching craft supporting the troops at Normandy Beach.

In an interview in 1994, Berra remembered sticking his head over the side of the craft to get a better look at the bomarbardment before being reprimanded by an officer. "It was thrilling, just like the 4th of July," Berra said.

Marking D-Day with massive U.S. paintball battle

In one of the largest paintball games in the world, some 3,000 people in Oklahoma will relive the events of June 6, 1944, D-Day, when German-occupied France was invaded by Allied Forces, marking a turning point in World War Two.

This year's Oklahoma version will mark the 14th time a D-Day-style paintball game has been staged. There's an Allied side and a German side, and even the French Resistance is represented, but it's not just a paintball free-for-all.

Instead, in a large, rugged park, Allied Forces and the Third Reich will compete to achieve certain goals based on the many individual battles that occurred 67 years ago.

There are mock tanks rumbling around, pyrotechnics exploding and soldiers tumbling out of plywood landing craft amid a cacophony of clacking paintball guns.

"The field sorts out the men from the boys," said Andy Van Der Plaats, a 64-year-old marketing consultant from North Fort Myers, Fla., and a high-ranking officer in the Allied paintball chain of command. "The adrenalin is just cranked. It's stressful."

It's a big deal in Wyandotte, population 500, where Dwayne Convirs created the event in 1997 to honor his grandfather, Enos Armstrong, a combat engineer who fought his way through Europe after landing in Normandy on D-Day.

The first version of Oklahoma D-Day drew 135 players, Convirs said. Since then as many as 15,000 people - including the families of players -- have shown up to either camp out on the grounds of Oklahoma D-Day Adventure Park or stay in nearby motels.

"This is their vacation," Convirs, 46, told Reuters. "It's not really about the game, it's about the event."

The big D-Day paintball battle takes place this year on June 11 after a week of preliminary activities including a flag-raising ceremony, a parade, military-style chapel services, and evening showings of movies such as "Patton," "The Longest Day" and "Band of Brothers."

At Oklahoma D-Day, the outcome is definitely not guaranteed. The Axis side has won the past three years.

While the ultimate result may not always match history, pains are taken to recreate certain historical missions, such as the capture and defense of bridges, churches, crossroads and towns. And all the while, thousands of paintballs are flying through the air; if you're hit, you have to sit out awhile in a "dead zone."

The game is taken seriously by those who spend $100 to play and a tidy sum to buy gear, including paintball guns, which can cost anywhere from a few hundred bucks to several thousand dollars.

REVERENCE

Despite the fun-and-games atmosphere in Oklahoma, there is a palpable undercurrent of patriotism and reverence for those who fought the real fight on D-Day.

For the past two years, Jake McNiece, 92, a D-Day paratrooper who is a member of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, has been a guest at the D-Day paintball games. He's going back this year.

McNiece, who lives in Ponca City, Oklahoma, is dismayed how little young people know about World War Two. The Oklahoma D-Day event, he said, keeps the history alive.

Blind in one eye and deaf in one ear, McNiece is not shy about telling stories of his own experiences, whether it was when he parachuted into Normandy to blow up a bridge before the Allied troops came ashore or when he parachuted into Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

"We don't brag about it and we don't apologize for it," he said. "War is hell. It's a killing game."

He talks to the participants, young and old, and, with his wife, Martha, sells copies of his book, "The Filthy 13," which details his experiences with the 101st Airborne Division.

"It's unbelievable the amount of respect he gets, especially from young people," Van Der Plaats, the Florida marketing consultant, told Reuters.

Even though it's just paintballs being fired, the tactical maneuvering, frequently uphill if you're on the Allied side, is physically taxing in the summer heat, Van Der Plaats said.

Meanwhile, there's a cat-and-mouse game of strategy going on.

Both sides are known to use scanners to intercept the radio communications of their foe and aircraft have been employed to determine the enemy's positions, Van Der Plaats said.

Finally, if it all gets too intense for the paintballers, there is a "chaplain" available to talk it over.

Overseeing this with a certain amount of amazement is Convirs, who remembers the event's humble beginnings and the stories of his grandfather, who helped build 200 bridges in Europe, usually while under fire from the Germans.

"We try to make it patriotic and make people think about life," he added. "There's a lot of people who gave their lives for us to have freedom. A lot of people forget that."

D-Day veterans recall WWII turning point

Sixty-seven years ago, Walter Ehlers landed on a Normandy, France, beach leading a squad of 12 men on D-Day who had no battle experience and had spent their Army tours entertaining the troops.
Ehlers' squad scrambled up the beach under heavy fire, and all his men survived that historic turning point of June 6, 1944. Over 9,000 Allied soldiers died or were wounded. Ehlers' own brother, Roland, was among those killed on another part of the French coastline.
"We had a lot of troops that landed and a lot of them paid the supreme sacrifice," Ehlers, 90, told Reuters, as he sat in his home in Buena Park, California.
Monday marks the anniversary of the pivotal World War Two invasion when 160,000 Allied soldiers, mostly from the United States, Britain and Canada, landed in Normandy to begin the drive to break the German occupation of Europe.
Of the 16 million U.S. soldiers who served in World War II, only 1.7 million are still alive, leaving an aging population to tell their stories from D-Day and other campaigns.
"We got on the beach and they have all these people laying down on the beach that were killed, it was chaos," said Ehlers, who at the time had already fought in North Africa and Italy.
The Germans were firing down on American soldiers from trenches veiled by tall grass, and from several "pillbox" bunkers made of concrete. Mines littered the ground.
The 23 year-old Ehlers, a Kansas native who did not touch liquor or cigarettes, was the sergeant for a free-spirited squad with plenty of experience playing music, but none shooting at the enemy.
One was a banjo player, another was a violist and another played the ukulele, Ehlers said, and they all wanted to dig in at the shore instead of advancing up the beach.
But Ehlers said that was a sure-fire way to die, so they followed him up a path where, on either side, were the bodies of soldiers blown apart by mines. Ehlers and his men eventually got into the trenches with the Germans, where they captured four enemy soldiers and killed or scared off several others
Then, Ehlers and his squad attacked a pillbox and captured it from behind using only rifles.
"You didn't dare run up in front of them because they'd mow you down, man," he said.
Ehlers had more battles ahead. He received the Medal of Honor for attacks he led on German positions a few days after the landing, making him one of only 3,454 recipients of the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. government.
'I THOUGHT WE LOST'
For Harold Baumgarten, a 19 year-old Army private from New York, the invasion started badly and quickly got worse.
Baumgarten had avoided seasickness on the boat trip across the English Channel at the start of the battle because he only had some Cadbury chocolate instead of the big breakfasts other soldiers devoured, he recalled in a telephone interview from his home in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
But soon seasickness was the least of his worries. A German machine gunner mowed down most of the men exiting Baumgarten's boat. There were 30 soldiers in the craft, and only two of them -- including Baumgarten -- survived.
Once on the sand, a shell exploded nearby and ripped off Baumgarten's cheek and left a hole in the roof of his mouth.
After being bandaged, he was rescuing another soldier when more shrapnel hit him in the head
That night, Baumgarten was advancing along a road with some other soldiers when they came under fire from a German machine gunner, and he was hit in the jaw. At that point, he gave himself a pain-numbing shot of morphine.
"I took a morphine sleep," Baumgarten said. "I thought we lost the war, because after all I'm laying with six dead guys around me."
Baumgarten believes that during that night, some German soldiers searched for cigarettes on the bodies of his dead comrades. Baumgarten, who is Jewish, had drawn a Star of David on the back of his field jacket, as an act of defiance against Nazi Germany's brutality against European Jews.
He said he believes the Germans would have killed him, but they did not see his blood-stained Star of David.
"I thought I heard somebody say, 'Don't worry Yankee boy, you're going to be OK,'" Baumgarten said.
As it turns out, an Allied ambulance did come by and pick up Baumgarten. But the next day, as he lay on a stretcher on the beach, a German sniper's bullet hit him in the knee before he was transported back to England.
Over the years, Baumgarten underwent 23 operations to heal the wounds he suffered in Normandy. Baumgarten himself became a doctor, and practiced for 40 years.
He also shared his story with historian Stephen Ambrose, whose work helped inspire Steven Spielberg's 1998 film "Saving Private Ryan" about D-Day and the Normandy campaign. Baumgarten has since met the director.
The 86 year-old Baumgarten had another anniversary to mark aside from D-Day. On Saturday, he and his wife, Rita, celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary.
Baumgarten and Ehlers, who also was wounded several times during World War II, have given countless talks to schools to describe their experiences.
"A lot of kids have not the least idea of what America went through, in other words the tremendous effort that America put into this war," Ehlers said
"Even I was amazed at what our country did during that time," he said.

Connecticut Connections to D-Day

Over 150,000 armed forces personnel, 5,000 ships, and more than 1,200 aircraft formed the armada that assaulted the shores of Normandy during “Operation Overlord” on June 6, 1944 - otherwise known as D-Day - 67 years ago this week.
The attack was by far the largest amphibious invasion in the history of the world to date, and it is safe to say that there will never be another invasion of that size again. Nationwide, more than 16,000,000 Americans mobilized for the war; of that number, more than 210,000 men and over 3,300 women called Connecticut their home. 161 of those Connecticut natives are memorialized at the famous American cemetery at Colleville sur Mer that overlooks Omaha Beach; 19 of them died on D-Day.
The American amphibious forces assaulted two beaches - Omaha and Utah - and one cliff - Pointe du Hoc - on D-Day. Connecticut men participated in all three assaults. Four Connecticut men buried in Normandy were members of the famous 2^nd Ranger Battalion, their mission: to capture a triangular piece of land jutting out into the English Channel known as Point du Hoc. It was a formidable challenge. Pointe du Hoc was of great strategic importance, as it lay between both Omaha to the east and Utah to the west. The Germans had placed large artillery pieces on the top of the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. These guns could be used to hit either of the two American beaches or both. The Rangers had to get to the top of 100-foot cliffs from the shore. They modified mortars to shoot heavy ropes with grappling hooks up to the top of the sheer cliffs at Pointe du Hoc (see photos). They slung their rifles over their backs and began to climb the ropes as the Germans above, with a huge strategic advantage, shot down at them, tossed grenades at them, and cut their ropes. The Rangers eventually got up and secured the cliffs but at great cost. Over 60 percent of the 2^nd Ranger Battalion were killed or wounded - by far the highest casualty rate of any unit on D-Day. Four soldiers from Connecticut were among the casualties: Pvt. James E. Donovan of New Haven County; Pvt. John S. Gourley; Sgt. Charles E. Rich, and Sgt. Frederick D. Smith of Connecticut, who was awarded the Silver Star for heroic action during the attack (see photos of their graves).
Six Connecticut servicemen were members of airborne divisions who parachuted in behind the lines to secure roads and bridges. Two were members of the 101^st Airborne Division: Pvt. Charles S. Emerson, who was also awarded the Silver Star, and Lt. Harlan E. Rugg.
Four were members of the 82^nd Airborne Division. They included Sgt. Harry E. La Chance Jr., Pvt. John N. Bruno, and Pvt. John R. Bergendahl of Middletown, CT, whose actions near St. Mere Eglise before he died earned him the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster; finally, there was Pvt. Andrew Babjak of the 508^th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82^nd Airborne from Fairfield County.
Another likely member of an airborne unit was Cpl. Frank E. Benson whose job in the war is simply described as “counter-intelligence.” He probably parachuted in to Normandy.
Private Michael Datzko of Ansonia, of the 4^th Infantry division, landed on Utah Beach, where he was awarded a Bronze Star before he died. Datzko was one of only 197 American casualties on Utah Beach. “Bloody Omaha,” however, had over 3,000 casualties, so it should come as no surprise that most of Connecticut’s casualties - eight - came at Omaha. Private Douglas R. Osborne of Windsor, CT, landed at Omaha with the 1^st Infantry Division - nicknamed “the Big Red One.” Osborme was killed at the Easy Red sector after his heroic actions had earned him the Bronze Star there. Note in the list below this article that the rest of the casualties were all tied in with the 29^th Infantry Division. The 29^th was located in the western end of Omaha, near the Vierville Draw. The 5^th Ranger Battalion assaulted this area with them. Both units suffered many casualties; in fact, Dog Green was the area where 22 men from Bedford , VA, were killed within minutes of each other. Bedford, VA, is the home of the National D-Day Memorial because the town lost more of its men on a per capita basis than any other town or city in the United States.
Another Connecticut connection can be made to the Dog Green sector on the western side of Omaha Beach. That connection happened in the summer of 2009, when Killingworth native and HKHS grad, Chris DiStefano, was visiting the famous beach as part of a student tour group when he was in college. While walking in the water, Chris heard the cries of two young French children who were being carried out to sea by a riptide. Stripping off his clothes, he swam out and saved their lives, much to the relief of their parents. The “new hero of Omaha” was quoted in the July 5, 2009, edition of the New Haven Register as saying, “It just felt good being an American back on that beach doing something like that. Coming back in, I just thought about how many people died right where I was swimming. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.” (Click here to read the entire story and to see a picture of Chris at Omaha)
A lot of men had indeed died right there in the Dog Green sector of Omaha where Chris DiStefano saved two lives. Of the more than 5,300 men and women from Connecticut who died in World War II, 19 died on June 6, 1944, and eight of them died right there near the Vierville Draw.
Connecticut Men Who Died on June 6, 1944, in Normandy
1. BABJAK ANDREW—PVT ( 508^th PIR; 82^nd AB)

2. BENSON FRANK E—CPL ( Counter-Intelligence)

3. BERGENDAHL JOHN R.—PVT (82^nd AB ; Bronze Star w/ Oak Leaf Cluster)

4. BRUNO JOHN N—PVT* ( 82^nd AB)

5. CANAVAN MICHAEL J. Jr.—PVT ( 299^th Engineer Combat Div.)

6. COWAN WILLIAM J—PVT ( 29^th ID)

7. DATZKO MICHAEL—PVT ( 4^th ID; Bronze Star)

8. DONAHUE JAMES E—PVT ( 2^nd Ranger Battalion)

9. EMERSON CHARLES S.—PVT ( 101^st AB; Silver Star)

10. GOURLEY JOHN S—PVT (2^nd Ranger Battalion)

11. HALL WILLIAM C-1^st Lt. ( 79^th ID )

12. KRAWFSKY ANTHONY—PVT ( 29^th ID )

13. LA CHANCE HARRY E JR—SGT. (82^nd AB)

14. OSBORN DOUGLAS R—PVT ( 1^st ID; Bronze Star)

15. RICH CHARLES E—SGT. (2^nd Ranger Battalion)

16. RUGG HARLAN E—2ndLt. ( 101^st AB)

17. SMITH FREDERICK D—SSGT (2^nd Ranger Battalion; Silver Star)

18. WASSIL NICKOLAS—PVT ( 5^th Ranger Battalion)

19. ZAWICKI FRANK A—PVT ( 29^th ID)

Would the Cincinnati Bengals Be Interested in Plaxico Burress?

We here at Cincy Jungle aren't big into starting rumors, but sometimes we like to consider different possibilities. For instance, we considered the possibility of the Bengals obtaining Ohio State running back "Boom" Herron via the supplemental draft earlier today. That doesn't mean it will happen, but it could.
Here's another possibility, for you to consider, and while it's far less likely to come true than the Herron thing, it's much more interesting.
Could the Bengals obtain Plaxico Burress for the 2011 season?

Here are the facts:

• Burress is about to be released from prison after spending just under two years behind bars for accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a New York night club.
• Many believe the Bengals will part ways with Chad Ochocinco before the 2011 season begins rather than pay him the $6 million they owe him for the single season.
• If they do release Ochocinco, Andre Caldwell would be the most experienced wide receiver on the team (he has less than 1,000 total receiving yards
• If they release Ochocinco, Jerome Simpson would likely be the No. 2 receiver, playing opposite of A.J. Green. However, he has only had two good games in his three-year career and could be a one-hit-wonder.
• The Bengals could likely sign Burress for a cheap price (at least cheaper than $6 million for a year), giving them at least one experienced and talented receiver for a year.

Burress hasn't played football since 2008, unless he's been running routes for Paul Crewe on a football team comprised of inmates playing against the guards (I love pop culture references), but in his eight year career, he's caught 505 passes for 7,845 yards and 55 touchdowns.
Had he not gone to prison, for shooting himself in the leg, he would be entering his 11th season as a wide receiver in the NFL and likely would be considering retirement within the next few years. That alone would lower his price, but the fact that he hasn't played NFL football since 2008 should make him even cheaper. That combined with his talent could make him a hot commodity for any NFL team that could use a wide receiver, despite his age and lack of NFL experience over the last two years.
If the Bengals decide to let Ochocinco leave Cincinnati, saving half of the $6 million they owe him, like many believe they will, they could still be a little weary of starting a rookie wide receiver and Simpson, who doesn't have much more experience, with a rookie quarterback. They may look to the free agent market for an experienced wide receiver to play alongside Simpson and Green for just a year to help Green, Simpson and Dalton get their feet wet in a new system.
If they decide to take that path, they may still be able to save enough money from releasing Ochocinco to attempt and re-sigin Cedric Benson or Johnathan Joseph.
I personally think that the odds of the Bengals signing Burress are extremely low. However, it doesn't really matter what I think. What do you think?

Plaxico Burress leaves prison after 20 months; ex-Giant sports Phillies cap hinting at Eagles move

Former Giants receiver Plaxico Burress strolled out of jail Monday wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap and a big smile after 20 months behind bars on gun charges.
"It's a beautiful day," Burress said as he left the medium-security Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate Rome. "It's a beautiful day to be reunited with my family. I want to go home and spend some quality time with them."
Wearing shades, Burress thanked God and "all my fans all around the world for the thousands of letters, for their unwavering support."
Asked about a possible return to pro football, Burress answered, "If and when everything gets settled, when they get back on the field, I'll be ready."
Then Burress climbed into a black Range Rover and headed for a nearby casino to meet his wife, Tiffany, his son, Elijah, and a daughter, Giovanna, who was born while he was behind bars. They were expected to board a flight to his home outside Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. by 11 a.m.
"To miss two NFL seasons in the prime of your career, to not be with your family, most importantly, to lose out on millions and millions of dollars - these are things that have forced him certainly to evaluate his life," his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said.
Burress, 33, spent a lot of time running and doing strength exercise with an eye to returning to the NFL while doing time for a gun charge, Rosenhaus said.
"There are going to be multiple teams interested in signing him," Rosenhaus said. "I expect him to get a good contract. I expect him to absolutely be playing."
While Burress' best friends on the Giants, tailback Brandon Jacobs, said the team doesn't appear to be interested in the 6-foot-5 receiver, Rosenhaus did not nix a return to New York.
"I wouldn't rule out the Giants, I wouldn't rule out any club," he said.
Rosenhaus did not name any other teams that might be interested. But one of them is expected to be Giants' rival Philadelphia Eagles, which could explain why Burress was wearing a Phillies cap.
Any return to the gridiron depends on the resolution of the ongoing NFL labor dispute.
Burress derailed his own career just nine months after he who caught a 13-yard pass from Eli Manning that lifted the Giants to a shocking 17-14 upset victory over the heavily favored New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl
While partying at a Manhattan night club called the Latin Quarter, Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh with an unlicensed Glock and then high-tailed it to the emergency room of- New YorkPresbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
An outraged Mayor Bloomberg called on the court to throw the book at Burress and ripped the hospital for failing to report the shooting as required by law.
Burress agreed to a plea deal to lesser firearms charges and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was released three months and four days early for good behavior despite three minor disciplinary infractions for things like violating rules and abusing phone priviledges.
When Burress wasn't working out, he was mopping linoleum floors and mowing lawns at the prison some 250 miles north of New York City - and his past football glory.