Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith, who couldn't look happier after his arrest yesterday on multiple drug charges. Smith was booked into a J-Ville facility yesterday on five charges, including felony possession of cocaine, possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana and "felony possession/sell of a controlled substance." Former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith was pulled over Wednesday afternoon and found with crack cocaine and marijuana in his car, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Smith, who played 10 seasons for Jacksonville, was pulled over on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville for excessive window tint on his 2009 Mercedes Benz, Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Leeper said. The trooper reported that the inside of the car smelled like burnt marijuana. During a search, the trooper found crack cocaine, marijuana and a business card with powder cocaine residue in the car's center console.

Smith faces multiple drug charges, plus a charge of driving with a suspended license. He was being held at the Duval County Jail with no bond set. Smith retired from the Jaguars in 2006 after playing from 1995 to 2005. He finished with 862 receptions and 12,287 receiving yards and 67 touchdowns. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection. In 2001, he had three operations to remove scar tissue from his abdomen. Some questioned whether he would play again, but he caught 112 passes for 1,373 yards — despite being arrested in November that year for suspicion of drunken driving. Tests later revealed he had cocaine in his system. He vehemently denied using the drug.

Myrtle Beach Fires

Myrtle Beach Fires destroy dozens of homes. Wildfires have destroyed Myrtle Beach homes causing evacuations in the thousands. A wildfire along the coast of South Carolina has ripped through Myrtle Beach. Dozens of homes in Myrtle Beach are destroyed with no reported injuries. Hardest hit includes the Barefoot Landing development. Fires were already blazing shortly after midnight.

Adding to the problem were heavily vegetated patches called Carolina Bays that caught fire and fueled the blaze. Tropical downpours are often needed to extinguish such fires, said state Forestry Commission spokesman Scott Hawkins.”Once you get a fire in a bay, it’s very, very hard to put out,” he said. Myrtle Beach is currently experiencing some of the worst fires that we've seen in a while on the East Coast; the damage caused by the quickly spreading flames has become so bad that authorities are discussing the possibility of the fire "moving to North Myrtle Beach."

According to the Charlotte Observer, 40 homes have already burnt down, between 8,000 and 9,000 acres in Horry County have been torched and 2,500 residents (or visitors) have been forced into emergency shelters. For now, our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone down in the Myrtle Beach area that might be in danger; we'll have more as this story develops.

David Kellermann

David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of money-losing mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide. The Fairfax County police responded to a 911-call at 4:48 a.m. at the suburban Virginia home Kellermann shared with his wife. The police would not release the cause of death or say if a suicide note was found.

Paul Unger, who lives across the street from the Kellermanns, called the family a "solid, salt-of-the-earth kind of family" that hosted the neighborhood's Halloween party. "He was just a nice guy ... You cannot imagine what kind of pressures he must have been under," Unger said. Kellermann worked for Freddie Mac for the past 16 years and was named acting chief financial officer last September when the government seized control of the company to keep it from failing. Freddie Mac lost more than $50 billion last year, and the government has pumped in $45 billion to keep the company afloat.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department have been questioning executives about Freddie’s accounting practices, according to company filings. McLean, Virginia-based Freddie and Washington-based Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance companies seized last year by U.S. regulators, reported in September that they were under investigation. “Freddie Mac knows of no connection between this terrible personal tragedy and the ongoing regulatory inquiries discussed in our SEC filings,” said Doug Duvall, a company spokesman.