Person with knowledge of deal: Super Bowl MVP QB Joe Flacco remaining with Ravens

A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press that Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco has agreed on a new contract with the Baltimore Ravens.

Flacco played out his rookie contract last season for $6.76 million and led Baltimore to the NFL championship. He cashed in Friday with the new deal, although terms were not immediately available.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not officially been announced.

Fox Sports first reported the new deal.

The 28-year-old Flacco is the only quarterback to win a postseason game in each of his first five pro seasons. He had a spectacular playoffs and Super Bowl this year, throwing for 11 touchdowns with no interceptions.

He also holds the record for playoff road wins with six.

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Bad 'Fresh Prince' rap triggers Pa. lockdown

AMBRIDGE, Pa. –  Now this is a story all about how a high school student's life got turned upside down. But it was all just a bad rap.

The teen's voicemail greeting trigged a lockdown at his Pennsylvania school after a receptionist misheard his rendition of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song.

While trying to confirm an appointment with 19-year-old Travis Clawson the receptionist thought the message said "shooting people outside of the school." The line is actually "shooting some b-ball," a reference to basketball.

The receptionist called 911 and Economy police arrested Clawson a short time later at Ambridge Area High School, but released him once he explained the message.

Acting police Chief James Mann says police acted "appropriately" out of concern for students' welfare.

Clawson's family has contacted an attorney.

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Taking the kids -- and eating healthier -- and better -- in ski country

I don't know where to look first.

Above us, constellations glitter in Utah's clear night sky. But right in front of us Chef Joe Walker lights up the backcountry another way -- by putting on a spirited fire show in the snow, twirling torches impossibly fast in each hand.

We snowshoed in under lantern light to the small yurt (no more than 20 guests!) at Solitude Mountain Resort for a five-course dinner (the $100 per person tab would have been considerably more in a major city) that was all the more impressive when Chef Joe explained that he cooked without electricity, starting with tomato black bean lentil soup, continuing with baby kale salad topped with salmon and goat cheese, pan seared scallops, duck breast with polenta and finished with a pomegranate reduction. Dessert? The best bread pudding I've ever eaten -- made with apple and topped with ice cream and caramel sauce.

Maybe you'd rather dogsled to lunch or dinner -- you can at Snowmass where you are served game and fresh fish. Boy, how food in ski country has changed -- on the mountain as well as off -- especially for kids.

Forget mac and cheese, unless it is homemade with local cheese. Forget chili, unless it's vegetarian or made with local grass-fed beef. The kids -- and you -- have your choice of free-range chicken, homemade soups, pizza baked in a wood-fired oven and quinoa salad, not to mention artisanal beers and spirits. (Even Park City, Utah has its own High West Distillery where, incidentally, kids love the food as much as the grown-ups. And no worries if you want gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian choices. "These days, they expect that we will have those and we are ready for them," at each meal, said Deer Valley chef, Jodie Rogers.

Gone are the days of overpriced greasy burgers and fries, says David Scott, the executive chef at Colorado's Keystone Resort, which is piloting the National Restaurant Association's Kids Live Well initiative for Vail Resorts this year. The initiative has been implemented across 120 brands and in some 33,000 restaurants around the country and is designed to get kids eating more fruits and veggies, whole grains and lean proteins while limiting fats, sugar and sodium. (Participating restaurants and their qualifying items can be found on healthydiningfinder.com and via a free Kids Live Well app in the Android Market and iTunes app store.)

At Keystone's Mountain House base lodge that means a chicken taco or teriyaki chicken noodle bowl at the Ripperoo Kids Station (designed so kids can reach to order themselves).

There isn't a chicken finger in sight. And with the scary statistics about childhood obesity -- the American Heart Association reports that one in three kids is overweight, leading to many health problems -- that's certainly a good thing.

"Kids are much more adventurous eaters and parents are looking for healthier options," David Scott, the father of a 9 year old, explained.

Chef Jodie Rogers notes that at the resort's multicourse Fireside Dining, kids are often more enthusiastic than their parents about the raclette -- the Swiss cheese melted over the roaring fire and served with boiled potatoes and an assortment of locally crafted charcuterie. All of the food -- from the veal and wild mushroom stew and fire-roasted lamb to the different kinds of dessert fondues are cooked over open fireplaces and kids love that they can pick and choose. (It's a good deal too at $58 for adults and $28 for kids under 12.)

At Snowmass' new on-mountain Elk Camp Restaurant with its killer views, kids can chow down on a kid-sized portion of freshly made rotisserie chicken and smashed potatoes rather than fries. There are lentil, couscous and faro salads on the expansive salad bar, as well as meatloaf made from Colorado grass-fed beef.

Ski school meals at a growing number of resorts have been overhauled to make them healthier too. Think baked potato and salad bar at Deer Valley, or a veggie burger at Smugglers' Notch (www.smuggs.com) in Vermont.

Hotels and fine-dining restaurants in ski country have gotten on the bandwagon too. Hyatt Hotels, which has recently revamped all of its kids' menus "For Kids By Kids," complete with a new kids' website to encourage healthier eating, now is offering complimentary tween cooking lessons with the chef to encourage kids to eat healthier. At the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa, the kids' menu includes whole wheat pasta, fresh crudities and shrimp skewers.

I love that Hyatt and Fairmont Hotels invite kids to order half-portions from the adult menu when possible. Fairmont Hotels also has recently revamped its kids' menus as part of a broad initiative to focus on healthier and locally sourced foods -- think Quebec pork filet with blueberries at the Fairmont Tremblant in Quebec, or broiled British Columbia salmon served with brown rice at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

At Stowe Mountain Lodge in Vermont, kids can even order the dish that won the Destination Hotels and Resorts 2012 Healthy Kids Recipe Contest -- Hidden Veggie Pepperoni Mac and Cheese.

Vail celebrity chef, Kelly Liken, meanwhile, known for embracing locally sourced and in-season ingredients and founder of Sowing Seeds, an edible schoolyard program, welcomes kids to her restaurant with a four-course tasting menu ($35) that changes with the seasons and is culled from the freshest ingredients, just like her adult menu.

"It is just the right amount of food for you to enjoy alongside of your family, without having to eat 'boring adult' food with them," she promises kids.

Can grown-ups have a taste?

Eileen Ogintz is a syndicated columnist and writes about family travel on her Taking the Kids blog. Follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.

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Youths flood Cancun under watch of marines, police

CANCUN, Mexico –  Tens of thousands of U.S. college students are flooding into the Mexican city of Cancun, where officials have stepped up patrols of marines, soldiers and special tourist police in zones packed with hotels and bars.

City officials say they expect thousands more visitors than the 25,000 who came to the Caribbean coast resort last year. They say at least part of that increase may be due to people avoiding Pacific Coast cities such as Acapulco, which have been hit by high-profile incidents of criminal violence in recent years.

Cancun tourism director Maximo Garcia Rocha says some major tourist agencies are expecting as many as 43,000 spring breakers, but the major influx was only beginning Friday.

The Cancun Hotel Association says occupancy was at 90 percent citywide.

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Chad's president: Al-Qaida chief killed in Mali

N'DJAMENA, Chad –  A presidential spokesman says that Chadian President Idriss Deby announced that Chadian troops fighting to dislodge an al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali killed one of the group's leading commanders, Abou Zeid.

Officials in Mali and France, which is leading an international military intervention in Mali against Islamic extremists, could not confirm reports of the death of Abou Zeid. He is a leader of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and was behind the kidnapping of several Westerners.

The Chadian president's spokesman said that Deby announced the death of Abou Zeid during a ceremony Friday for Chad's fallen soldiers.

The spokesman insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak ahead of an announcement on state television on the matter. He gave no further details.

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US judge: Insurer not obliged to cover Sandusky

HARRISBURG, Pa. –  The insurance carrier for the children's charity founded by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky doesn't have to cover him for acts of child sexual abuse, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane said Sandusky was not acting as an employee or executive of The Second Mile when he abused and molested boys.

"The fact that Sandusky met his victims through The Second Mile — or even sexually abused victims 'during the course of activities of Second Mile' — does not change the fact that his sexual abuse of children was personal in nature, and performed in his individual capacity," the judge's ruling said.

The judge ruled in favor of Warren, N.J.-based Federal Insurance Co., which had brought the case against Sandusky.

Sandusky was convicted last summer of abusing 10 boys, some of whom he met through the charity he founded in 1977. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison but maintains his innocence and is appealing. He faces lawsuits from some of his accusers.

Sandusky's lead appellate lawyer, Norris Gelman, said he would be sticking with his client but "without money it's going to be a little tough."

"I'll talk to him, I'll talk to his wife, and we'll see what's what," Gelman said. "I'm not the kind of guy who would quit in the middle of a case. I've never done that, and I don't think I ever will."

Gelman said Federal Insurance had paid him some money but declined to say how much. Neither the insurer's lawyers nor Sandusky's civil lawyers immediately returned phone messages Friday.

Eight young men testified against Sandusky, describing a range of abuse they said went from grooming and manipulation to fondling, oral sex and anal rape when they were boys.

Sandusky, 69, did not testify at his trial but has long insisted he's innocent. He acknowledges he showered with boys but says he never molested them.

The abuse scandal rocked Penn State, bringing down football coach Joe Paterno and the university's president and leading the NCAA, college sports' governing body, to levy unprecedented sanctions against the university's football program.

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Ft. Hood suspect may plead guilty, describe attack

FORT HOOD, Texas –  More than three years after the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, an Army psychiatrist may soon describe details of the terrifying attack for the first time, if he's allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges.

Maj. Nidal Hasan would be required to describe his actions and answer questions about the Nov. 5, 2009, attack on the Texas Army post if the judge allows him to plead guilty to the lesser charges, as his attorneys have said he wants to do.

Any plea, which could happen at the next hearing in March, won't stop the much-anticipated court-martial set to begin May 29. He faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder.

Under military law, a judge can't accept a guilty plea for charges that carry the death penalty. Hasan's lawyers have said he is ready to plead guilty to charges of unpremeditated murder, which don't carry a possible death sentence, as well as the 32 attempted premeditated murder charges he faces.

If the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, allows him to plead guilty, she will hold an inquiry in which Hasan must discuss the attack. If he says anything that isn't consistent with what happened or indicates he isn't truly acknowledging his guilt, the judge would stop the hearing and not accept his guilty plea, according to military law experts. He is not required to apologize or say that he is remorseful.

Some military law experts say it's a legal strategy designed to gain jurors' sympathy so that they might not sentence him to death if he's convicted later.

"The judge has to make sure he's pleading guilty willingly and that this isn't a ploy," Jeff Addicott, director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, said Friday.

A Senate report released in 2011 said the FBI missed warning signs about Hasan, alleging he had become an Islamic extremist and a "ticking time bomb" before the attack at Fort Hood. It's unclear if Hasan would discuss his motivation, but the judge must determine if he is sincere in pleading guilty or is simply trying to avoid the death penalty, said Addicott, who is not involved in Hasan's case.

Addicott said the judge will be even more thorough during the inquiry because Hasan is a psychiatrist who is "highly intelligent and knows how to manipulate human thinking."

Witnesses have said that after lunch on Nov. 5, 2009, a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great!" in Arabic — and opened fire in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers get vaccines and other tests. He fired rapidly, pausing only to reload, even shooting at some soldiers as they hid under desks and fled the building, according to witnesses.

When it was over, investigators found 146 shell casings on the floor, another 68 outside the building and 177 unused rounds of ammunition in the gunman's pockets. Authorities and several witnesses identified the gunman as Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was to deploy to Afghanistan soon.

Greg Rinckey, a former military defense attorney not involved in Hasan's case, said pleading guilty without a deal may signal to the judge that the government is being unreasonable by proceeding with a trial. He also said Hasan's attorneys have few, if any, options for a defense.

"His attorneys know he's going to be convicted at trial, so why not get some brownie points?" said Rinckey, a New York attorney who specializes in military law. "But once they admit to it, it's harder to appeal."

Hasan's trial is expected to last through September. Prosecutors have nearly 300 witnesses, including a terrorism expert who will testify that Hasan is a homegrown terrorist. Among the mounds of evidence is a transcript of a telephone call between Hasan, while in jail, and Al-Jazeera in which he allegedly apologized for being part of "an illegal organization" — the U.S. Army. Prosecutors are expected to show emails that Hasan exchanged with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical U.S.-born Islamic cleric killed in Yemen in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike.

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