When Deadra Lawson-Smith moved to South Carolina for a new job in 2006, her insurance company would not cover her pricey HIV medication because it treated a pre-existing condition.

So Lawson-Smith went without her drugs for about a year, her compromised immune system struggling to fight off colds, the flu and other health threats. She ended the year in the hospital, sick with pneumonia.

Luckily, a change in her insurance coupled with an influx of state cash to South Carolina's AIDS Drug Assistance Program enabled Lawson-Smith, 47, to get back on her medication and regain her health.

UPDATE 11:40am ET: Looks like this outage was temporary and has been resolved. Verizon tweeted the news about two hours ago, adding that parts of the Eastern U.S. were affected between 4 and 8 a.m.

If you have a phone with Verizon Wireless and you're having trouble with it today, you're not alone. Reports have surfaced that the carrier had a temporary data outage nationwide.

Although there's no news of it on their website, some Verizon reps have been confirmed that there is a network problem and they're working on the issue. However, it's not clear when this will be resolved.

Good luck sorting this one out, short-sighted lawmakers. An upcoming piece of major legislation in the UK, called the Digital Economy Bill, would essentially force all public wi-fi points offline by requiring impossibly high levels of copyright protection by libraries and small businesses. The bill, which bears some similarity to the controversial DMCA here in the US, is ostensibly aimed at providing copyright holders the means of controlling their content online.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A handful of tickets are available for as much as $4,000 to $5,000 apiece on eBay, but otherwise, good luck finding anybody willing to part with a seat for Sunday's Olympic gold medal hockey game between Canada's $127 million star-studded roster and the unheralded, yet undefeated, United States.

The blockbuster final is all anybody's talking about on the trains, in the jam-packed downtown streets and on CBC. This nation that puts hockey on the back of its $5 bill will put everything on hold at 3:15 EST and tune in.

Evidently there's only one girl for Lindsay Lohan or no girls at all.

The actress, whose tumultuous relationship with Samantha Ronson came to an end last year, says she'll most likely return to dating somebody of the opposite sex.

If she doesn't get back with her ex, that is.

"If I wasn't with Samantha, I would probably be with a boy next," Lindsay tells The Sun. "She's the only woman I've been attracted to. We love each other. We might reconcile the relationship, maybe. I don't know."

In Simon Cowell's judgment, Howard Stern will not be replacing him on "American Idol."

"I'm fairly certain there hasn't been an approach at any time for Howard to do this show," Cowell said during a conference call with reporters posted on thewrap.com.

"He obviously wants the job," Cowell joked. "Good luck to him."

Cowell said his replacement needs to have experience in the music business, as either a performer, executive or manager: "You've got to know what you're talking about," he said.

Simon Cowell would like to get one thing out of the way: He's not engaged to Mezhgan Hussainy.

Personal questions aside, the American Idol spoke to reporters yesterday and addressed reports of who might replace him as a judge next season.

“I think they’ll find somebody who’s got that kind of experience, whether it’s a manager, artist, or like me, an A & R executive,” he said.

Column by KEVIN SHERRINGTON / The Dallas Morning News | ksherrington@dallasnews.com

ARLINGTON – After Houston and UCLA played the Astrodome in 1968, before the biggest crowd to watch a college basketball game, a record that held for 14 years, the college game would never be the same.

Question: Now that a basketball game has been played in front an audience twice as big, where do the pros go from here?

LONDON - Music mogul Simon Cowell may soon tie the knot with his new lover Mezhgan Hussainy and have kids, says his close friend 'Nasty' Nigel Lythgoe.

Lythgoe has revealed that Cowell, 50, has been close to Hussainy, 36, for seven years now and says they make a 'beautiful couple' who are considering marriage, reports afropinion.com.

'Simon and Mezhgan have known each other for seven years. Good luck to them. They make a beautiful couple. I am rather hoping Simon is going to ask me to be his best man. I really wish them the best.

Let's face it. We were all anticipating that Tiger Woods would play in this year's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for the first time since 2002.

In June, the U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach Golf Links, the site of Tiger's legend-growing 15-shot win in 2000.

If that wasn't enough to coax Tiger back, the field was also reduced from 180 players to 156 to improve pace of play, and Monterey Peninsula Country Club's Shore Course replaced Poppy Hills, giving the AT&T Pro-Am, three of the top 100 courses in the country.

Jay Leno doesn't think what happened to Conan O'Brien was "fair" -- but he also says he's not to blame.

Jay was on "Oprah" this morning, where he said Conan's ratings are the real reason he's gone, citing a 49% drop as proof. Leno added he's glad to have his "dream job" back -- regretting "it wasn't handled better."

FYI -- Jay also said he'd have Conan on as a guest any time. Good luck with that.

Oprah to Leno: 'Memba Conan? Conan O'Brien -- The Final Monologue

Amy Winehouse pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault in court this morning, admitting she drunkenly assaulted a theater manager before Christmas.

She was fined and ordered to pay compensation of roughly $300 (harsh), and was given a two-year conditional discharge. That's like a suspended sentence.

The gist? If she stays out of trouble for the next 24 months, she's a free woman. If not, well, in the judge's words, Wino will be "hit hard... and hit twice."

After New York Times announced that they would be implementing some form of a metered pay system onto NYTimes.com by January 2011, the Times' own Media Decoder blog set up a comment thread for users to respond to the decision.

In a memo sent out to staff this morning, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of the Times, and Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, noted that they expect opposition about the decision.

Filed at 5:11 a.m. ET

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - At least 15,000 buffalo and "countless" goats and birds were sacrificed in a temple in southern Nepal, organisers said Wednesday, a ritual billed as the single biggest animal slaughter on earth.

Hindus in Nepal routinely offer animals for sacrifice to appease deities, Especially power goddesses, for good luck and prosperity.

But the festival held every five years at the Gadhimai temple in southern Nepal was condemned this year by animal rights activists, including French actress Brigitte Bardot, who called for an end to the centuries-old ritual of slaughtering animals.

Los Angeles Laker Lamar Odom was spotted outside a hotel in Beverly Hills just hours before he is set to marry a girl he just met the love of his life, Khloe Kardashian.

Good luck today, you crazy kids.

*** Come back at 3:30 PM PT when we'll be live streaming the wedding arrivals ***

More Khloe and Lamar Lamar Odom -- You Got to Have Faith Lamar Odom's Kids -- No Shows at Wedding Lamar Wants Prenup -- But There's a Problem

Add Best Buy to the list of retailers running out of iPhone 3Gs to sell. The consumer electronics giant warned its staff last weekend that supplies of Apple’s popular handset are running low, and that some stores may run out of iPhones for a few weeks by the end of June, according to a report by Sam Oliver of Apple Insider.