The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. announced Thursday that it will reopen its investigation into the 1981 drowning death of Natalie Wood. “Recently Sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the office claimed in a statement. “Due to the additional information, Sheriff’s homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case.”

Authorities didn’t provide further details late Thursday and said a news conference on the matter will be held Friday at 11 a.m. (2 p.m. ET).

Last year, the actress’ sister, Lana Wood, and the captain of the yacht on which Wood sailed with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, had asked the sheriff’s office to reopen the case.

On Thursday, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Benjamin Grubb couldn’t say whether the sister and the yacht captain have prompted the renewed investigation.

“I don’t know if that’s related, but that’s what the press conference is about tomorrow,” Grubb told CNN.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Sunday, collapsing dozens of buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete.

Notorious Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the most wanted man in the entire world, has been killed, the country’s rebel government and ABC News claim.

The National Transition Council said Moammar Gadhafi is dead following a battle in Sirte, which finally fell to the rebels today after weeks of tough fighting.

Gadhafi, 69, had been on the run for several weeks after being chased out of the capital Tripoli, the capital of Libya, by NATO bombers and rebel troops.

He had been believed to be hiding in the vast Libyan desert while calling on his supporters to rise up and sweep the rebel “dogs” away, but to no avail.

NATO said its fighters struck a convoy of Gadhafi’s loyalists fleeing Sirte, but could not confirm Gadhafi was in the convoy, the Associated Press reported.

The Oyster Festival takes over historic Oyster Bay Harbor Saturday and Sunday, where 200,000 people are expected to flock for food, games, entertainment and maritime exhibits.

The event’s theme is all about oysters and there will be plenty of it, especially in the food court. There will be all variations of seafood choices and plenty of other food as well.

  If you plan to attend, here’s a few things to expect:

• Saturday’s weather is expected to be cloudy with a chance of rain or thunderstorms, particularly toward evening and windy. Mid-day temperatures in the 60s. A jacket is recommended. Sunday’s forecast looks better.
• Northbound traffic into Oyster Bay via Route 106 is notoriously arduous, particularly at mid-day. Local residents use words like “nightmare” and “Armageddon” to describe the congestion in the hamlet of Oyster Bay on festival weekends.
• There is extremely limited parking anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the festival site.
• Parking fields are set up at various locations leading into Oyster Bay. They include the Equestrian Center off Route 106 in Muttontown, the Vernon School lot in East Norwich and the Mill Max Mfg. parking garage and lot on Route 106 (Pine Hollow Road at that point) just past the CVS and McDonald’s restaurant.
• From each satellite lot, free shuttle buses take visitors to and from the harbor. These lots are clearly marked.
• You can also park at the Syosset LIRR station; shuttle buses operate from there to and from the festival site, as well.
• You can even take the Oyster Bay branch of the LIRR right to the site from places along that route such as Glen Cove, Locust Valley and Garden City. The LIRR is running extra trains on that branch all this weekend.

By COLIN MOYNIHAN and CARA BUCKLEY Earl Wilson for The New York Times

The cleanup of the Lower Manhattan park that has been occupied by protesters for nearly a month was postponed Friday shortly before it was supposed to begin, averting a feared showdown between the police and demonstrators who had vowed to resist any efforts to evict them from their encampment.

But sporadic clashes between protesters and the police erupted anyway when demonstrators started marching through the winding streets of Lower Manhattan after learning that the cleanup had been called off. A number of protesters were seen being taken into custody.

Fourteen people were arrested, including protesters who knocked over a police scooter, overturned trash cans, hurled bottles and sat in the street blocking traffic, said Paul J. Browne, the head police spokesman.

The announcement on the cleanup was made by the Bloomberg administration around 6:20 a.m., about 40 minutes before workers were scheduled to enter Zuccotti Park, which has been the home base for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators angered by what they see as an unfair and corrupt financial system.

“Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park — Brookfield Properties — that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation,” Deputy Mayor Caswell F. Holloway said in a statement.

“Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use,” Mr. Holloway said, “and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown.”

A Connecticut jury today found Joshua Komisarjevsky guilty of taking part in the murders of Dr. William Petit’s wife and two daughters in a brutal home invasion that ended with his daughers tied to their gasoline splashed beds and the house on fire.

Dr. William Petit, flanked by his father in law and sister in law, outside the courthouse in New Haven after the guilty verdict was pronounced.

Komisarjevsky, 31, was found guilty on all 17 counts against him, charges that included murder, burglary, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson. Six of those charges are considered capital offenses, making Komisarjevsky eligible for the death penalty.

If sentenced to die, Komisarjevsky will join 10 other men who are currently on Connecticut’s death row, including Hayes.

Comedian Chris Tucker is facing foreclosure on his stunning Florida mansion after the bank filed papers alleging he owes more than $4.4 million on the home he purchased for $6 million in 2007.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that the actor/comedian owes more than $4.4 million to the bank, citing papers filed in Circuit Court in Lake County.

Tucker, 39, purchased the 10,000-square-foot home waterfront home, on Lake Apopka in Montverde’s pricey Bella Collina community, in 2007. It has five bedrooms, three fireplaces, a personal spa, an outdoor kitchen overlooking a pool and a basement designed like a pirate ship with a wooden deck, mast and sail, according to the paper.

Court documents reportedly show that the IRS imposed an $11.5 million tax lien on the home last year, in an effort to collect federal income taxes from Tucker. The Sentinel reports that documents show the actor’s monthly mortgage payment was $25,812.50.

Steven P. Jobs, the AppleInc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday at the age of 56.

A Florida woman was caught in the nude by a Google Street View camera outside her Miami home and the sighting set the Internet aflutter. The unidentified woman is pictured naked on her doorstep holding a water jug. Faces of individuals are typically blurred or pixilated on Street View, according to the Smoking Gun, but the woman’s body was not initially blurred. (Google Street View)

Miss Angola Leila Lopes has won Miss Universe 2011, beating 88 other Miss Universe contestants in a lavish show at Sao Paolo’s Credicard Hall.

The 25-year-old Lopes, a business student by day, edged Miss Ukraine Olesia Stefanko into second place, and was praised by judges for her beauty and intelligence.

She spoke in Portuguese to charm the Brazilian audience (both Brazil and Angola are former Portuguese colonies), and revealed her status as Miss Angola had allowed her to assist various social causes in her country:

“I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I   have to do everything that my country needs,” she said. “I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.”

Unfortunately, USA didn’t do too well in last night’s contest, hosted by Bravo honcho Andy Cohen and Today show’s Natalie Morales. Miss USA Alyssa Campanella didn’t make it into the Top Ten. Our most recent winner was in 1997.