Danny Puff

SEATTLE (AP) "Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey may be the real "McSteamy."

The actor, who was dubbed "McDreamy" as a star of the hospital drama while his co-star was called "McSteamy," may soon be serving hot, steaming cups of Joe.

Dempsey won a bankruptcy auction to buy Tully's Coffee, a small coffee chain based in Seattle. Among those he beat out is Tully's much bigger Seattle neighbor, Starbucks Corp., which is known for its ubiquitous white cups with a circular green mermaid logo.

Dempsey, whose company Global Baristas LLC plans to keep the Tully's name, declared victory on the social media site Twitter: "We met the green monster, looked her in the eye, and...SHE BLINKED! We got it! Thank you Seattle!

The win for Dempsey deals a rare setback for Starbucks on its home turf. Starbucks has long been both praised for bringing "coffeehouse culture" to the U.S. and criticized for crushing smaller chains. The coffee giant, which had planned to convert the Tully's cafes to its own brand, last month announced plans to expand its global footprint to 20,000 cafes over the next two years, up from the current 18,000.

Dempsey said in an interview on Friday that as the underdog in Seattle, Tully's will need to find its identity.

"It's a much smaller chain that has a lot of potential that hasn't been given the proper care," he said.

But in a statement shortly after the auction on Thursday, Starbucks insinuated that Dempsey shouldn't celebrate just yet.

Starbucks, which wanted to convert the Tully's cafes to its own brand, said that a final determination on the winning bid won't be made until a court hearing on Jan. 11. Starbucks said it's in a "backup" position" to buy 25 of the 47 Tully's cafes, with another undisclosed bidder making an offer for the remainder.

The combined bids of Starbucks and the undisclosed bidder come to $10.6 million, above the $9.2 million Dempsey's company is offering to pay through his company, which was formed in order to purchase Tully's. The other investors in Global Baristas aren't being disclosed.

Tully's Coffee, which is known for serving Joe with a milder taste than Starbucks brand, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, citing lease obligations and underperforming stores. Tully's wholesale business, which includes Tully's Coffee in bags and single serve K-cup packs that are sold in supermarkets and other stores, is owned separately by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.

TC Global Inc., the parent company of Tully's, said in a release Friday that it was "encouraged and excited" about Dempsey's commitment to the chain.

Tully's President and CEO Scott Pearson called the deal a "great match" and that the goal is to make sure creditors get paid and to keep as many people employed as possible.

A bankruptcy court document signed late Friday by Pearson and Dempsey said TC Global had determined that Global Baristas submitted the successful bid.

"With this court filing, it's official - our group has been chosen as the successful bidder," Dempsey said in a statement. "We look forward to the court's final approval on Jan. 11."

Earlier in the day, Dempsey said he planned to be very involved in the running of the company, adding that the immediate challenges were to address bookkeeping issues, staff morale and sprucing up the coffee shops. Once the business is stabilized, Dempsey said the long-term goal would be to take the chain national.

"We can pull this off. We just have to take steps that are slow and smart," he said. "I'm going to get behind the counter. I'm going to serve coffee...I'm going to give the company a boost of energy."

Although Dempsey lives in Los Angeles, he plans to spend more time in Seattle, the city where "Grey's Anatomy" is set in. Dempsey said he believed there is room in the city for Tully's and the much larger Starbucks; he noted there might be people who are rooting for the underdog.

"In a society where there are so many big corporations that swallow the little guy, we thought, let's not let this happen to this company," he said.

Dempsey made an appearance Friday morning at a Tully's near Pike Place Market, shaking hands with workers and greeting customers before visiting other stores. Several dozen people, mostly women, came into the store.

Patrease Estelle, 45, works nearby, and came in with a small group from her office.

"I will take whatever I can get. A photo, a hug, a 'hey, how you doing,' a wink," said Estelle, who got a picture and handshake with the actor.

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Blankinship reported from Seattle and Choi from New York.

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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - At the world's largest technology conference that kicks off on Monday, the most intriguing innovations showcased may be gadgets and technology that turn everyday items into connected, smarter machines.

This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas promises a new generation of "smart" gadgets, some controlled by voice and gestures, and technology advancements in cars, some of which already let you dictate emails or check real-time gas prices.

Pundits have long predicted that home appliances like refrigerators and stoves will be networked, creating an "Internet of things." With advancements in chips and the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, it's now happening.

"We've been talking about this convergence of consumer electronics and computers and content for 20 years. It will actually be somewhat of a reality here, in that your phone, your tablet, your PC, your TV, your car, have a capability to all be connected," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

Despite the absence of tech heavyweights Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp, CES still draws thousands of exhibitors, from giants like Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to startups hungry for funding.

Wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc's CEO, Paul Jacobs, opens the festivities with a keynote speech on Monday, taking a spot traditionally reserved for Microsoft, which decided last year to sever ties with the show.

Jacobs said in a recent interview on PBS that he will show how wireless technology will be pushed way beyond smartphones into homes, cars and healthcare.

SMARTER SMARTPHONES

With venues spanning over 32 football fields across Las Vegas -- more than 1.9 million sq. ft. (176,516 sq. meters) -- CES is an annual rite for those keen to glimpse the newest gadgets before they hit store shelves. The show, which started in 1967 in New York, was the launch pad for the VCR, camcorder, DVD and HDTV.

While retailers prowl for products to fill their shelves, Wall Street investors look for products that are the next hit.

Intel and Qualcomm are expected to highlight improvements in "perceptual computing," which involves using cameras, GPS, sensors and microphones to make devices detect and respond to user activity.

"The idea is that if your devices are so smart, they should be able to know you better and anticipate and react to your requirements," said IDC analyst John Jackson.

This year, snazzier TVs will again dominate show space, with "ultra high-definition" screens that have resolutions some four times sharper than that of current displays. The best smartphones will likely be reserved for launch at Mobile World Congress in February.

There will also be a record number of auto makers showing the latest in-vehicle navigation, entertainment and safety systems, from Toyota's Audi to Ford, General Motors and Hyundai. The Consumer Electronics Association has forecast the market for factory-installed tech features in cars growing 11 percent this year to $8.7 billion.

BMW, for one, already provides speech recognition that is processed instantly through datacenters, converted into text and emailed without drivers taking their hands off the wheel. The luxury carmaker also offers data about weather, fuel prices and other items.

"Automotive has been this backwater of technology for a long time. Suddenly, we're seeing a lot of real innovation in automotive technology," Scott McGregor, CEO of chipmaker Broadcom, told Reuters ahead of the show.

(Editing by Edwin Chan and Leslie Gevirtz)

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) Four gun shows, all about an hour's drive from Newtown, Conn., all canceled.

A show in White Plains, N.Y., brought back a few years ago after being called off for a decade because of the Columbine shooting is off because officials decided it didn't seem appropriate now, either. In Danbury, Conn. about 10 miles west of Newtown the venue backed out. Same with three other shows in New York's Hudson Valley, according to the organizer.

Gun advocates aren't backing down from their insistence on the right to keep and bear arms. But heightened sensitivities and raw nerves since the Newtown shooting have led to toned-down displays at gun shows and prompted some officials and sponsors to cancel the well-attended exhibitions altogether.

Some of the most popular guns will be missing from next weekend's gun show in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., after show organizers agreed to bar the display and sale of AR-15 military-style semiautomatic weapons and their large-clip magazines.

"The majority of people wanted these guns out of the city," said Chris Mathiesen, Saratoga Springs' public safety commissioner. "They don't want them sold in our city, and I agree. Newtown, Conn., is not that far away."

The mayor of Barre, Vt., wants a ban on military-style assault weapons being sold at an annual gun show in February. Mayor Thom Lauzon says he supports responsible gun ownership but is making the request "as a father." The police chief in Waterbury, Conn., just a few miles from Newtown, has halted permits for gun shows, saying he was concerned about firearms changing hands that might one day be used in a mass shooting.

In New York's suburban Westchester County, Executive Rob Astorino had brought back the show in 2010 after a ban of more than a decade following the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, but he said the show would be inappropriate now. The shows in the Hudson Valley and Danbury were listed as canceled on the website for Big Al's Gun Shows. A man who answered the site's contact number said it was the venues that canceled the shows, not the promoter.

In Houston, transportation officials temporarily stopped using electronic freeway signs to give directions to gun shows amid complaints following such a show the day after the Dec. 14 school shooting. State-level transportation officials overruled the decision. The signs are routinely used to direct traffic or tell visitors where to exit freeways for rodeos, sporting events and gun shows.

On Wednesday, the City Council here in Saratoga Springs urged organizers of a downtown gun show Jan. 12-13 not to display military-style weapons and the high-capacity magazines "of the type used in the Newtown tragedy." About a dozen people gave impassioned pleas at the meeting.

Show organizer David Petronis, of New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates, agreed to the limit.

"I don't think it's fair that we're taking the brunt of the problem," Petronis said, "but I can understand the reaction of people in doing so."

Petronis said his group is a "nice, clean family-oriented ... arms fair" that brings in thousands of visitors and a lot of money for the city. He stressed that buyers at his show undergo background checks, as per New York state law.

The gunman in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December used an AR-15 to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in the school. The gun belonged to the shooter's mother, but it's not clear where it was bought. The shooting has led to calls for stricter regulation of assault weapons, though the National Rifle Association has steadfastly opposed such measures.

Gun dealers around the country are reporting a spike in sales of semiautomatic rifles amid renewed talk of a federal ban on assault weapons. The possibility of tighter gun control has also pumped up attendance at gun shows in several states.

Marv Kraus, who helped organize a weekend gun show in Evansville, Wis., said business has been especially strong lately.

Kraus said there was never any reason to consider postponing or canceling the Wisconsin event, which runs from Friday through Sunday. One of the few vendors there with semiautomatic weapons, Scott Kuhl of Janesville, Wis., bristled at any suggestion that he temporarily stop selling semiautomatic weapons because of the Connecticut shooting.

"When a plane crashes, should they shut down the airline for six months?" Kuhl said. "This is my business; this is my livelihood."

Jared Hook, 40, who came to the show looking for a .223-caliber gun for coyote hunting, said he was glad vendors did not back away after Newtown.

"If anything, there's a lot more interest in guns now because of the shooting," Hook said. "People want them for protection, and it's good that they still have access to them."

Joel Koehler, a Pennsylvania gun dealer, said a few dealers have dropped out of a show this weekend in the Pocono Mountains, but only "because they have nothing to sell. They are out of inventory."

"The gun sales have been crazy. They are going through the roof," he said.

Koehler said he has felt no pressure to cancel his shows in Pennsylvania.

"The shows are going on," he said. "Nobody's said to us that we can't have them."

President Barack Obama has urged Congress to vote rapidly on measures that he says a majority of Americans support: a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons; a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines; and required criminal background checks for all gun buyers by removing loopholes that cover some sales, such as at gun shows in states that don't currently require checks.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on Friday said he would consider a radio-show caller's suggestion that gun shows be banned on publicly owned property, such as the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. But he also noted that the complex is open to all businesses.

While government officials take a harder look at gun shows, organizers remain adamant that they run safe, legal businesses. There is no central government database on how guns used in crimes are obtained.

The Brady Campaign, which advocates for stricter state and federal gun laws, has long pushed to close the so-called "gun show loophole" by forcing every state to require background checks of buyers at the shows. They note that three of the weapons used in the Columbine attack were bought by someone who went to a gun show that didn't require a background check. Seventeen states require an extensive background check, according to the campaign.

And in the wake of Newtown is an emboldened group of advocates, like Susan Steer of Saratoga Springs, a 46-year-old married mother of three who started a petition seeking to cancel the local gun show. Steer said she'll continue to push for banning gun shows at the taxpayer-supported venue.

"For many of us," she said, "the shooting in Sandy Hook was the tipping point for taking some action."

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Hill reported from Albany, N.Y. Contributing to this report were Dinesh Ramde in Evansville, Wis.; Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pa.; Peter Jackson in Harrisburg, Pa.; and Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, Vt.

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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A cat carrying a saw and a mobile phone was "detained" as it entered a prison gate in northeast Brazil, Brazilian media reported on Saturday.

Prison guards were surprised when they saw a white cat crossing the main gate of the prison, its body wrapped with tape. A closer look showed the feline also carried drills, an earphone, a memory card, batteries and a phone charger.

All 263 detainees in the prison of Arapiraca, a city of 215,000 people in the state of Alagoas, are considered suspect in the plot, which is being investigated by local police.

"It's tough to find out who's responsible for the action as the cat doesn't speak," a prison spokesperson told local paper Estado de S.Paulo.

The cat was taken to an animal disease centre to receive medical care.

The incident took place on New Year's day but was first reported by national media on Saturday.

(Reporting by Walter Brandimarte; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - French film star Gerard Depardieu has arrived in Russia to receive a new Russian passport after a public spat in his homeland over his efforts to avoid a new 75 percent income tax, local media said on Saturday.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Russian citizenship to Depardieu, a popular figure in Russia who objected to the new tax on millionaires planned by France's socialist government.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president would hold a private meeting with Depardieu in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Saturday evening.

"It is not ruled out that during this meeting Depardieu will be granted a passport," RIA news agency quoted Peskov as saying.

Putin, a former KGB spy who recently hailed a friendly personal relationship with Depardieu, has been in Sochi for Russia's long New Year's holidays ending on January 9.

Depardieu has appeared in many advertising campaigns in Russia, including for ketchup, and worked there in 2011 on a film about the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.

Depardieu, star of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Green Card", was also among the Western celebrities invited in 2012 to celebrate the birthday of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader.

Putin granted Russian citizenship to Depardieu shortly after announcing in December his own efforts to prevent Russians from keeping their money offshore.

But since the Cold War, Moscow has often expressed support for Westerners at odds with their governments - a way to counter what Putin says is hypocritical Western criticism of the Kremlin's treatment of its own citizens.

Putin, accused by the opposition at home of cracking down on his critics, has in the past spoken of good ties with France.

DISPUTES

But Moscow suffered a blow in November when it was forced to suspend its bid to build an Orthodox church with five domes in the heart of Paris, whose mayor called the plan "ostentatious".

Russia has a flat-rate income tax of 13 percent compared to 75 percent on income over 1 million euros ($1.32 million) that French President Francois Hollande wants to introduce. Depardieu has bought a house in Belgium to establish Belgian residency in protest at Hollande's tax plans.

Hollande's original proposal was struck down by France's Constitutional Court in December, but the socialist president pledged to press ahead with a redrafted tax on the wealthy.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Depardieu's decision to seek Belgian residency "pathetic" and unpatriotic, prompting an angry reply from the actor.

The theme continued to dominate French media on Saturday with the left-leaning Liberation newspaper running a front-page picture of Depardieu dressed as Rasputin with a caption saying: "Depardieu between Putin and Rasputin".

The conservative Le Figaro has also described a telephone conversation between Depardieu and Hollande on New Year's Day as covering the celebrity's tax exile, politics and poetry. Hollande's office confirmed the two men had spoken.

A spokesman for Depardieu in Paris could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Additional reporting by Alexei Anishchuk and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Rosalind Russell/Mark Heinrich)

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WASHINGTON (AP) The Food and Drug Administration says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of foodborne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year.

The rules, the most sweeping food safety guidelines in decades, would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are washed, irrigation water is clean, and that animals stay out of fields. Food manufacturers will have to submit food safety plans to the government to show they are keeping their operations clean.

The long-overdue regulations could cost businesses close to half a billion dollars a year to implement, but are expected to reduce the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. The new guidelines were announced Friday.

Just since last summer, outbreaks of listeria in cheese and salmonella in peanut butter, mangoes and cantaloupe have been linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The actual number of those sickened is likely much higher.

Many responsible food companies and farmers are already following the steps that the FDA would now require them to take. But officials say the requirements could have saved lives and prevented illnesses in several of the large-scale outbreaks that have hit the country in recent years.

In a 2011 outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe that claimed 33 lives, for example, FDA inspectors found pools of dirty water on the floor and old, dirty processing equipment at Jensen Farms in Colorado where the cantaloupes were grown. In a peanut butter outbreak this year linked to 42 salmonella illnesses, inspectors found samples of salmonella throughout Sunland Inc.'s peanut processing plant in New Mexico and multiple obvious safety problems, such as birds flying over uncovered trailers of peanuts and employees not washing their hands.

Under the new rules, companies would have to lay out plans for preventing those sorts of problems, monitor their own progress and explain to the FDA how they would correct them.

"The rules go very directly to preventing the types of outbreaks we have seen," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods.

The FDA estimates the new rules could prevent almost 2 million illnesses annually, but it could be several years before the rules are actually preventing outbreaks. Taylor said it could take the agency another year to craft the rules after a four-month comment period, and farms would have at least two years to comply meaning the farm rules are at least three years away from taking effect. Smaller farms would have even longer to comply.

The new rules, which come exactly two years to the day President Barack Obama's signed food safety legislation passed by Congress, were already delayed. The 2011 law required the agency to propose a first installment of the rules a year ago, but the Obama administration held them until after the election. Food safety advocates sued the administration to win their release.

The produce rule would mark the first time the FDA has had real authority to regulate food on farms. In an effort to stave off protests from farmers, the farm rules are tailored to apply only to certain fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risk, like berries, melons, leafy greens and other foods that are usually eaten raw. A farm that produces green beans that will be canned and cooked, for example, would not be regulated.

Such flexibility, along with the growing realization that outbreaks are bad for business, has brought the produce industry and much of the rest of the food industry on board as Congress and FDA has worked to make food safer.

In a statement Friday, Pamela Bailey, president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the country's biggest food companies, said the food safety law "can serve as a role model for what can be achieved when the private and public sectors work together to achieve a common goal."

The new rules could cost large farms $30,000 a year, according to the FDA. The agency did not break down the costs for individual processing plants, but said the rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the success of the rules will also depend on how much money Congress gives the chronically underfunded agency to put them in place. "Resources remain an ongoing concern," she said.

The farm and manufacturing rules are only one part of the food safety law. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods. The agency said it will soon propose other overdue rules to ensure that importers verify overseas food is safe and to improve food safety audits overseas.

Food safety advocates frustrated over the last year as the rules stalled praised the proposed action.

"The new law should transform the FDA from an agency that tracks down outbreaks after the fact, to an agency focused on preventing food contamination in the first place," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

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SYDNEY (Reuters) - As Mark Twain might have said, rumors of the death of Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath which spread like wildfire across social media late on Friday proved to be greatly exaggerated.

Far from lying in a Sydney morgue alongside former test bowler Chaminda Vaas after perishing in a car crash as the reports had suggested, Herath was very much alive when he pitched up for work at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

The most prolific wicket-taker in test cricket last year, the 34-year-old leg spinner claimed two Australian wickets to seal a haul of four for 95 and then contributed nine runs with the bat.

Team mate Dimuth Karunaratne told reporters at the conclusion of the day's play that the team had been dumbfounded by the rumors.

"I heard about it when we having breakfast but I had no idea where that came from," he said with a laugh.

"Guys from Sri Lanka were calling us asking when is the funeral?' and stuff like that.

"Rangana is alive," he added, somewhat unnecessarily.

Herath's efforts were not enough to prevent Australia taking an iron grip on the third test match on Saturday and move to the brink of a 3-0 series sweep.

That could all change, however, if he and Dinesh Chandimal, who finished the third day unbeaten on 22, are able to dig in on Sunday, inflate their lead beyond the current 87 and give Sri Lanka a decent target to bowl at.

The Sydney track has traditionally offered a lot of turn for spinners in the last couple of days of a test and, as Herath's 60 wickets last year showed, there are few better spinners operating in test cricket at the moment.

"The wicket is turning a lot now and the Aussie guys are playing the fourth innings, so I think Rangana... can do something," said Karunaratne.

Vaas has no position with the test team and remains, also unharmed, in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan reporters said.

(Editing by John O'Brien)

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BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) There's a new mystery on Dennis Lehane's mind, and the best-selling author is offering a special reward solving the case: Find his lost dog and get a spot in his next book.

The plot kicked off Christmas Eve, when the crime novelist's rescue beagle Tessa escaped from his yard after an outdoor gate latch didn't lock all the way.

Since then, Lehane's family has launched an all-out search. They've posted fliers, organized foot searches and used social media to try to bring Tessa back to their home in Brookline, Mass., near Boston.

The 47-year-old author of books including "Mystic River" and "Gone, Baby, Gone" is offering a monetary reward and has said he'll name a character in his next book after whoever finds Tessa.

Lehane said Thursday outside his home that he's surprised by the media attention the story has attracted, and thinks it has something to do with the character offer.

But he said as word of the missing dog spread, his family has heard from people across the country on a "Finding Tessa" Facebook page. They even got an offer of help from a dog psychic in San Francisco.

"No dog since Lassie ever got this attention ... the flip side of the comedy is, who wouldn't do this for their dog?" he said.

The doggie dilemma comes as Lehane faces a Friday deadline for finishing a movie script based on his short story "Animal Rescue," timing he said may be "sadistic irony." The movie is scheduled to begin shooting in March in New York City.

The author said he's been spending about four hours a day searching for the tri-colored female beagle after he finishes writing, and his wife has dedicated about 10 hours a day to the effort.

They adopted the 4-year-old beagle not long ago from a Florida rescue agency. Before that, Tessa was a stray in Georgia.

With the help of Twitter and Facebook accounts, Lehane and his wife organized two search efforts Thursday in sections of Brookline and Boston, where they suspect Tessa could be. In the beginning, there were three sightings within about two miles of their home not long after a house sitter reported that the dog was loose.

But the trail went cold for days after a sighting near a McDonald's restaurant. Tessa wasn't wearing tags, but does have a microchip.

"Every dog expert we talk to is strongly suggesting that she's in somebody's house," Lehane said. "That's why we keep saturating the area with pictures. Because somebody could have her and just not know."

Missing dog posters dotted the family's Coolidge Corner neighborhood Thursday, including in the front windows at Durty Harry's dog grooming shop where Tessa is a client. Shop owner Michelle Fournier said interest in the search took off even before people knew Tessa had a famous owner.

"This is about a dog and her family. This is about a community who loves dogs," she said.

Lehane said Thursday that Tessa is so sweet that she'd taken to spooning the family's puppy before her disappearance. He said if someone knows where Tessa is, he only cares about a happy ending, not about solving the mystery of where she's been.

"It's a no-questions-asked issue," the author said. "... Bring the dog to a shelter or call me and I will pick up the dog."

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards will star on a new cable TV show with the woman he married after his release from federal prison on a corruption conviction.

In a Facebook exchange Friday, Trina Scott Edwards told The Associated Press she's currently filming for "The Governor's Wife," which will showcase the 34-year-old wife of the octogenarian former governor.

According to A&E, the series will follow Trina Edwards as she tries to fit into the former governor's upscale world while trying to get along with step-daughters almost twice her age and corral her teenage sons.

The series will include Edwin Edwards' daughters: Anna, a 62-year-old four-time divorcee, and Victoria, described in a news release as "a hardened 60-year-old ex-showgirl."

Trina has sons from a previous marriage: Logan, 15 and Trevor, 13.

Episodes will include school projects and Trina making a run for president of the local homeowner's association. She also discusses the possible addition of a baby to the Edwards clan and skeptics who think she's a gold digger, according to the news release.

Edwards biographer Leo Honeycutt said the show has been shooting footage for more than a year. Honeycutt, who acknowledges his distaste for reality TV, said he worried the series could damage the former governor's legacy and his achievements in office.

"I'm afraid for them. I'm afraid what it's going to do to them. Nobody wants to be a laughingstock, and Louisiana has had enough of that kind of treatment," Honeycutt said.

Edwin Edwards served four terms as a Democratic governor in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. He married Trina in July 2011, shortly after his release from federal prison for his role in a bribery and extortion scheme to rig riverboat casino licenses during his fourth term, which ended in 1996.

Trina, who went by Trina Grimes Scott at the time, began writing him letters while he was in prison and visited him regularly. She is Edwards' third wife.

Edwards also served in Congress and was known for his charisma in politics. Despite his link to a Korean rice scandal early in his congressional career, he was known for being able to broker deals between rural and urban interests.

He was last elected governor in 1991, when he defeated former Ku Klux Klan wizard David Duke in a landslide.

"The Governor's Wife" is the latest in a string of Louisiana-set reality shows that include A&E's "Duck Dynasty," History's "Swamp People" and CMT's "Bayou Billionaires."

It premieres Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. CST.

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AP reporter Melinda Deslatte contributed to this report from Baton Rouge.

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Violent crime in Detroit shadows the landscape like its rows of abandoned buildings, but now the city faces a new precedent, even as gun-related killings decline nationwide: More people were killed here last year than at any time in the past 20 years."America has a problem with guns, but the epicenter seems to be here in Detroit," Interim Detroit Police Chief Chester Logan said at a news conference Thursday, as city officials reported 386 criminal homicides in 2012, the highest since 1992."As the chief of police in the city of Detroit, I take a certain amount of blame for the spiraling gunplay in the city," he said, "but one of the things you should realize, and everybody here in this room should realize, is that gunplay is a national problem. Logan is correct: The United States is in the throes of another cultural self-examination about guns after the horrific deaths of 20 children and six adults at the hands of a 20-year-old gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.Other city officials and urban crime experts say the problem is not just guns."At least two-thirds of the homicides in Detroit are related to drug sales, disputes between people selling drugs or disputes between people owing people money about drugs," said David Martin, director of the Urban Safety Program at Wayne State University in Detroit.Martin has researched police reports in all parts of the city to examine crime patterns. He says Detroit's police have to develop more effective methods of dealing with the city's drug economy and its consequences. "And that's very difficult," Martin told Yahoo News.Detroit reported 411 homicides in 2012, 25 of them deemed "justifiable" by FBI crime reporting standards. Still, the remaining 386 represent 54.6 homicides per 100,000 residents, according to the Detroit Free Press. In 1993 the rate was 57.6 homicides per 100,000 residents.Detroit Mayor Dave Bing also pointed toward community-based causes and, potentially, solutions, but he stopped short of singling out drugs or guns. "The release of annual crime statistics reminds us of the senselessness of crime and violence in our community; the challenges facing our police force; and the need to improve conflict resolution and other anti-crime initiatives," he said in a statement.Statistically, said Martin, Detroit harbors a range of factors that would contribute to a high homicide rate. The city has a high proportion of young men aged 20-29, he said. That age group accounted for 131 homicide victims and has demographic connections to the drug trade. The number of young men in the city who struggle with dysfunctional families and the high number of vacant homes in Detroit make matters worse."Groups of thugs have taken over the neighborhoods, and they can do what they please," Martin said. "It's like the Wild West out there."

Possible solutions addressing the homicide problem could be found in working with that age group, Bing said. "We've got to wrap our arms as best we can around these young folks and let them know that when they get into these kinds of situation it doesn't necessitate a gun; it doesn't have to necessitate a fight."

The mayor said he would meet with Detroit public school officials to try to engage young people in the city. He also promised more communication with local media in 2013 to address the problem.Martin said the dramatic increase appears to have motivated city, county, state and federal officials to address Detroit's violent crime problem."There is a full-court press going on," he said. "There's probably going to be a revamping of each of their crime-fighting strategies. The magical number of 400 homicides seems to spur action."The city reported a 2.6 percent overall decrease in major crimes such as aggravated assault, burglary and rape, officials said. But it also experienced year-over-year increases in car thefts and robberies.

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