Portillo had been the referee at a recreational soccer match last Sunday, when he was punched on the side of the head by a 17-year-old player. Portillo had just given the youth, a goalkeeper, a yellow card for shoving another player. The referee became dizzy and then began vomiting blood, according to witnesses. He suffered brain swelling and fell into a coma after being transported to a nearby hospital.

According to the AP report, the teen is currently in a juvenile detention center on aggravated assault charges. Authorities have indicated additional charges may be filed in the wake of Portillo’s death.

Google notes that Google Fiber for Provo, Utah isn’t official just yet. The purchase of iProvo must be approved by the city council during its meeting next Tuesday. It’s unlikely that the the council would vote no though.

Original story follows below:

Google Fiber is starting to pick up pace in Kansas City again, and Google is just starting to plan out its expansion into Austin, Texas. While all that’s happening, Google may be bringing its gigabit Internet service to another city.

Provo Buzz reports that the city of Provo, Utah may be next in line to receive Google Fiber. Their reasoning seems to stem from an official Provo city Web page that promises we’ll “be amazed.” City officials are reportedly saying it will an “epic announcement.”

So what makes Provo the more likely Google Fiber candidate over other past rumored locations like New York City? For one, Provo already has the Fiber infrastructure in place. The city has had a Fiber network for a few years now thanks to a project called iProvo. The project soon ran out of money, however, and transferred ownership to Veracity. After that, Veracity sold the network back to the city under a 14 month lease.

According to Provo Buzz, that lease is now just about up. This gives the city and Veracity the perfect opportunity to unload the costly fiber infrastructure onto Google who will then use it to offer Google Fiber to the citizens of Provo.

Of course, all of this is merely speculation for now. The city could be announcing something entirely different as there hasn’t been a single leak yet. There were numerous leaks before the announcements in Kansas City and Austin so it seems a little suspect that Provo could keep a Google Fiber announcement secret until today.

We’ll continue to watch the Provo Web site for any sign of Google Fiber. If the city announces an expansion today, we’ll be sure to let you know.

[h/t: DroidLife]

“With these updates – part of the millions of live transit schedule updates we process every day – you get instant access to the latest information right on Google Maps, making trip planning a cinch,” says Google Maps Partnership Development Manager, Soufi Esmaeilzadeh.

“Riders on the nation’s second largest subway, Metrorail in Washington, D.C., can now see live service alerts, including unplanned delays and scheduled track work, straight from Metro’s Control Center on Google Maps,” adds Esmaeilzadeh. “To adjust your travel around the alerts you see, simply choose another suggested route or change your departure time.”

There are now pick-up locations, departure times, estimated travel time, and fare amounts for over 800 cities in over 25 countries, with live trip updates only available in select cities.

Back in June, 2011, Valdez holed up in a motel room for 16 hours in a standoff with police. Inside the room with him was a single hostage, Veronica Jensen. You can see a picture that he snapped of the two inside the motel room above.

During the course of the standoff, Valdez made a series of Facebook posts giving friends and family the live play-by-play of the whole event.

Classic.

Throughout the entire standoff, Valdez claimed that Jensen was not actually a hostage, but with him willingly. Some of his Facebook friends even tried to warn Valdez about police movements, to little avail. Police eventually stormed the room and Valdez shot himself in the chest, which put him in critical condition.

But he survived, and he has now been sentenced.

According to the L.A. Times, Valdez plead guilty to attempted aggravated murder and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person for the June, 2011 standoff. He was sentenced to two concurrent sentences – five years to life for the attempted murder and 1 to 15 years for the weapons charge.

“Well everyone I’m lettin Veronica go here real soon but this is the end,” was Valdez’s final transmission before the standoff ended. At least he’s a man of his word. The hostage left unscathed.

The Hill reports that Rep. Jim Matheson has introduced a bill this week that would restrict the sale of video games in more ways than one. The bill, called H.R. 287, would make it a crime to “sell or rent a video game that does not contain a rating label, in a clear conspicuous location on the outside of the packaging of the video game, containing an age-based content rating determined by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.”

What Rep. Matheson is saying here is that he wants to make the distribution of unrated games illegal. But wait, it gets better. He wants to make it a crime to sell a game rated “M” to anybody under the age of 17, or a game rated “AO” to anybody under the age of 18. The bill would also require all retailers to list an FTC notice about the ESRB content-rating system because stores don’t already have ESRB posters everywhere.

In Rep. Matheson’s defense, a lot of these would be decent suggestions if they weren’t already in place. Sure, the ESRB is voluntary, but every major games retailer, publisher and console manufacturer enforces it. Hell, a game can’t be released on any of the major home video game consoles unless it has a rating from the ESRB.

The only thing this bill would really hurt is PC and mobile games. Indie titles sold on Steam, iOS and other digital platforms don’t have ESRB ratings. This bill would require they get a rating before being allowed on Steam or other services. Speaking of digital services, how can you even enforce an age requirement rule online?

Of course, Rep. Matheson’s bill won’t make it anywhere, just like every bill that has targeted video games before it. The Supreme Court even ruled on it in 2011 by saying that video games are a protected form of speech, just like film, music and literature.

Look, some video games are awfully violent, and children should not be playing them. Retailers do a respectable job of not selling these games to children unless a parent is present. In my experience, however, it’s the parent who completely ignores the ESRB rating and buys whatever their kid wants.

If we must start a national dialog on video games violence (again), maybe we should start asking parents to get more involved in their child’s entertainment options. Only a parent knows when their child is ready to experience the digital battlefields of Call of Duty and the like. The ESRB can only serve as a guide in this task, and was never intended to be a federal mandate ruled over by the FTC. Let’s keep it that way.

These guys know that simple pleasure, and set out to create a pile of leaves so large that they could safely jump into it from their roof. Ah, fall.

“17 feet tall. 60 feet around. Over 1,000 bags and 1 BIG JUMP! And before all of you start commenting on how you don’t think it’s 17 feet. Obviously it got shorter with each jump,” they say on YouTube.

[via Bangakang]

The myths that sprung up around the Goat Man story are ultimately more satisfying that the truth, which is almost always the case. The official explanation is thus: Goat Man is nothing more than a hunter trying out his goat-oriented camouflage to test its effectiveness in the field. According to officials, the man, whose name was not given, is preparing to hunt mountain goats in the near future, an event which apparently calls for a crudely-fashioned goat outfit. Why he continued to act like a goat once he was separated from the rest of the herd is beyond me. Truthfully, the whole explanation smells like a crock of monkey snot.

A hunter wearing a painter’s outfit with a little fleece on the side is just too easy. Besides, it doesn’t account for the man’s peculiar behavior. I’m generally not one for rampant speculation, but here’s my theory: Goat Man got busted by a photographer for acting like a goat, which he attempted to explain away with this whole hunter rigamarole. I refuse to believe that a man who would dress up and act like an animal to such an extreme degree would turn around and shoot one with a bow and arrow. Maybe I’m just naive.

As someone pointed out on Twitter, it’s much more fun to believe in Goat Man than to face the fact that he’s probably nothing more than a hunter studying his prey. Although I never believed this individual to be some sort of cryptozoological wonder, I rather enjoyed picturing some kind-hearted soul prancing through the woods with the only creatures on the planet who truly understood him. A wise man once said, “Reality hits you hard, bro.”

Guess what? I’m not the only person who is disappointed by the truth behind Goat Man’s origins. Below you can sample some Twitter reactions to the news. Like me, people seem to be taking this pretty hard. In my mind, Goat Man lives on, crawling through life on his hands and knees while wearing a shoddy costume. That, for some strange reason, makes me happy.

Follow @michaeljnelson

Michael J Nelson
@michaeljnelson

Don’t worry, everyone — the ‘mystery goat man’ in Utah is just a guy testing out his “goat suit”, so — wait, WHAT? http://t.co/UOPWwSZb

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42 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @JoshDrescher

Rev Dr Josh Drescher
@JoshDrescher

I refuse to accept the official explanation of the Utah Goat Man because it is not as awesome as believing in Goat Men: http://t.co/rdSbK22G

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40 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @alongerlook

Jessica
@alongerlook

Let a woman be a woman and a man be a goat man.

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3 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

Follow @hushlorentz

Rich
@hushlorentz

Long live the Goat Man.

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1 minute ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

Follow @Anthonyleut

Anthony Leutenegger
@Anthonyleut

They “figured out” who Goat Man is!! Turns out he doesn’t want to live with them, just kill them… http://t.co/4qtHSERv

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6 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Instead of staring at an actual goat, Creighton soon realized he was looking at a man dressed as a goat. In addition to sporting a full body costume, this peculiar gentleman was reportedly wearing a crudely-fashioned cloth mask complete with horns and eyeholes. Coty didn’t know what, precisely, to make this extremely bizarre encounter.

“I thought, ‘What is this guy doing?’” Creighton explained. “He was actually on his hands and knees. He was climbing over rocks and bushes and pretty rough terrain on a steep hillside.”

In order to properly navigate the terrain, Goat Man had to pull up his mask from time-to-time. It was around then that he appeared to spot Creighton, causing him to freeze in his tracks. Caught in the act, the man took off his mask and had a seat on the ground. After the photographer moved behind a tree to conceal his position, the man donned the mask once again, dropped to his hands and knees, and scrambled off in search of his herd.

Phil Douglass of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources stated the man was doing nothing wrong, though he did wish to warn the guy about the inherent dangers of pretending to be a goat in the wilderness. Not only could he agitate the real goats, he might get a blast of buckshot in his backside for his troubles. Something to think about.

“There’s a saying we have among biologists: You don’t go far enough, you don’t get the data. You go too far, you don’t go home. The same is true with some wildlife enthusiasts,” Douglass said. “I want people to enjoy Utah’s wildlife. We live in a really neat place. We have wildlife all around us. We just want people to be safe.”

If the guy isn’t doing anything wrong, then let him run around as a goat. As long as he’s not harming anyone in the process, I really don’t see any reason for concern. Twitter users seem to agree, though they’re a bit more clever with their remarks and I. Have a look at some reactions below. By the way — Good job, Coty. All this guy wanted to do was play with his goats. Instead, you turned him into a laughing stock. Thumbs up, buddy.

UPDATE: The truth behind the mysterious Goat Man has been revealed. Check out our recent article on this bizarre story by clicking right here.

Follow @UncleDynamite

Uncle Dynamite
@UncleDynamite

The news is pretty rough sledding until you get to the story about The Mysterious Goat Man of Utah.

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1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

Follow @KCren_Knee

Kevin C
@KCren_Knee

I told you we could be together when Utah no longer needed the Goat man, but I don’t think there will be a time when you don’t need him.

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5 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

Follow @Ladygoat

Fayelle Ward Ewuakye
@Ladygoat

Heard on NPR: man in UT dressing up as mountain goat and running around on all fours with a herd. I don’t love goats THAT much.

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5 minutes ago via HTC Peep · powered by @socialditto

Follow @travismartini

Travis
@travismartini

man dressed as goat living among goats in northern utah. this place gets stranger every day. c: @Simon_Bravohttp://t.co/29q5TW8B

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34 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Follow @CCMamba

Jim Pearce
@CCMamba

I still can’t get over this guy. I wonder what’s going on in his head – Goat Man Frolicks Through the Utah Wilderness http://t.co/9H03SGj2

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37 minutes ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

Eric Goldman

Once again it appears that 1-800-Contacts’ fingerprints are all over this proposed legislation as the company tries to prevent competitors from using its trademark in keyword advertising. Though less disturbingly sweeping than previous iterations, which got a lot of attention, especially from Google, Eric Goldman at Technology and Marketing Law Blog is having trouble identifying how it differs from policies major search engines like Google and Yahoo already have in place.

“…it also makes me wonder–what’s the point? Doesn’t Utah have more important problems to solve???

“Even if the law is less troublesome than the last two, let’s be clear: this is not a good proposal. As with Utah’s past two efforts, this law has nothing to do with improving consumer welfare. Instead, it would allow companies to suppress competition by helping companies keep their competitors from gaining exposure among the company’s potential customers; meaning that companies won’t have to work as hard competing on price and quality.”

In addition, the legislation is vague enough that it might apply even to telephone directory assistance advertisers. Unlike previous versions, the law only applies to those doing business in Utah and to services with geographically targeted services. But as Goldman points out, what those services are and to whom they would apply are unclear.

With so many states passing Internet legislation to suit themselves, it brings up another issue: If the internet is an interstate commerce phenomenon, shouldn’t it be regulated only at the federal level? Recently we’ve seen New York impose taxes and back taxes, Kentucky seize international gambling domains, Washington aggressively prosecuting for actions legal in other states, California wanting to ban Internet hunting, and on and on it goes 50-fold, which makes Internet interstate business pretty burdensome.
 
 

Last April, plenty of people queued up to criticize Utah’s Trademark Protection Act. The state’s General Counsel, the EFF, and Danny Sullivan all took turns calling it a bad idea.

Nearly a year later, someone listened. And the Google Public Policy blog applauded:

Although the Utah law had not yet been enforced, it represented a big potential problem for consumers and advertisers alike. Consumers would have been prevented from seeing the kind of comparative ads that help them get the best deal possible. And businesses (including small businesses) would have been prevented from advertising products that they sell.

The law also would have hurt free speech, with citizens being unable to run ads in protest of a certain company’s business practices, for example.

Fortunately, the Utah legislature amended the bill this week and removed the provisions of the law which prohibited this type of keyword advertising.

At the time, the bill looked like a clever little reach for revenue by the Utah legislature. Trademark owners would have paid $250 to have their marks entered into a database, to be checked by search engines to avoid infringing upon them.

Not everyone found the change to their satisfaction. Utah-based 1-800-Contacts wanted the bill passed as it was, and complained bitterly about the amending that took place, according to ClickZ:

1-800 Contacts General Counsel Joe Zeidner doesn’t think the threat of lawsuits is the real reason for Eastman’s decision to appease the search giants. “(Utah Senator Dan Eastman) must have had some secret agreement with these big search companies,” said Zeidner. “We are still just dumbfounded.”

1-800-Contacts plans to continue “four or five” legal disputes over trademarks, with Zeidner threatening to make the Trademark Protection Act an issue again.