JetBlue Airways says that there will be no second exits for famed flight attendant Steven Slater — who captured America’s imagination with his profanity-laced loudspeaker tirade and jump down a plane’s emergency chute, beer in hand.

Spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said Saturday that Slater is no longer employed by the airline. She said the airline won’t release further details out of respect for Slater’s privacy.

Slater’s lawyer had said he loved flying and wanted to return to work, and Slater’s folk-hero status among tens of thousands of online fans had led some of them to urge the airline to keep him on.

The airline said at the time of the incident last month that Slater was suspended pending an investigation. It told employees in a memo that press coverage was not taking into account how much harm can be caused by emergency slides, which are deployed with a potentially deadly amount of force.

The former flight attendant still has to navigate the criminal justice system. He’s been charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing; his lawyer has said a passenger’s “lack of civility” prompted his behavior.

Despite Slater’s online popularity, some passengers came forward to criticize him as brusque and cranky throughout the 90-minute trip from Pittsburgh to New York. One passenger portrayed Slater as the instigator, saying he cursed without provocation at a woman who had asked about her bag.

His employment status was first reported by the NBC New York website.

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Want to glide up a mountain by gondola? See avant-garde art in a garden setting? Sip sparkling wine on a verandah with a view? You can — and all for about what you’d pay for an appetizer at a temple of haute cuisine.

Here are five things to do in wine country that cost $25 or less each.

Art au naturel

The di Rosa art preserve features groundbreaking artworks from the San Francisco Bay area set in 217 acres of vineyard, gardens, and natural landscape at the southern end of the Napa Valley. It was created by collectors Rene and Veronica di Rosa and works are housed in their former home as well as in the grounds. Pieces currently on display include the stunning Angel-Go-Round by David Ireland, featuring a stone statue of an angel solemnly revolving above a pile of toppled statues. Other exhibits range from the wildly decorated cars by David Best to a chapel by Paul Kos with a video stained glass window. Your visit can be as simple as a free jaunt through the Gatehouse Gallery, at the entrance, to guided tours of the grounds and the di Rosas’ former home, ranging from $10 to $15.

The di Rosa art preserve is located at 5200 Sonoma Highway, Napa, Calif., 707-226-5991, dirosaart.org. Open Wednesday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., and Saturday by appointment. Reservations for tours recommended.

Cross the Rubicon … of wine

Love movies? Love wine? Then a tour of Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate may be an offer you can’t refuse. Inglenook was founded in 1880 by fur trader Gustave Niebaum, who proceeded to make premium wines. But by the 1970s, the winery had fallen on hard times, which is when director Coppola and wife Eleanor, at the time primarily interested in a summer home, came across it. They were smitten and began a 25-year journey of restoring the chateau and winery and buying back the original vineyards, along the way producing a high-end wine, Rubicon, which consistently wins praise from critics.

The wine’s name harks back to Julius Caesar’s famous crossing of the Rubicon river, now a symbol for taking an action that can’t be undone. A neat touch — new releases of Rubicon go out on the Ides of March, a day that’s proved luckier for Coppola than Caesar. Tours and tastings start at $15. Attractions include a grand staircase that took four master craftsmen a year to create. Most of the movie memorabilia that had been on display at Rubicon is being moved to Coppola’s new property in nearby Sonoma County. But you can still see the automobile from the movie Tucker, as well as awards given to Eleanor Coppola, a documentarian; daughter Sofia Coppola, a director and Oscar-winning screenwriter, and Coppola’s father, Carmine, a film composer. The Mammarella wine bar offers wine by the glass as well as coffee drinks and has wooden sailboats for children to sail in the nearby fountain.

Coppola’s Rubicon Estate is at 1991 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford, Calif., 800-782-4266, rubiconestate.com. Chateau open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Thar she blows

It’s all about water, not wine, but the Old Faithful geyser in Calistoga at the top of the valley, is a perennial attraction. This isn’t the biggest geyser in the world, but it is regular, spouting off every 40 minutes or so. The water, about 350 degrees, shoots as high as 60 feet. The vibe here is relaxed — this is one place in Napa Valley where children are welcome. You come, you sit, you look at the pool of bubbling, steaming water and wait until a plume bursts into the air. Shaded picnic tables offer a good place to anticipate the show.

Napa’s very own Old Faithful geyser is at 1299 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga, Calif., 707-942-6463, oldfaithfulgeyser.com. Adults, $10, seniors, $7, children, 6-12, $3, under 6, free. Open daily.

Up, up in the air

There’s no skiing in the Napa Valley. But you can still take a gondola ride. The tram at Sterling Vineyards will whisk you up a hillside to the beautiful, white stucco winery inspired by buildings on the Greek island of Mykonos. Adult guests are greeted with a glass of wine — wouldn’t that be an improvement to public transit everywhere? — and then sent on a self-guided tour that offers a glimpse of winemaking operations and barrel storage before emerging on to a sunny rooftop patio with a breathtaking view of the valley. This can get very toasty on hot afternoons, so dress accordingly.

Tastings are set up in five stages along the tour; the pinot gris was a standout on a recent visit. Tour and tasting starts at $25, but you can print out a $5 discount coupon at the winery’s website. Admission for those under 21 is $10 and children 3 and under are free. Check for special events, such as the summer movie screenings. Upgrades are available for reserve tastings. Sterling’s Reserve Chardonnay consistently wins high awards, and there are discounts for wine club members.

Sterling Vineyards’ location is 1111 Dunaweal Lane, Calistoga, Calif., 800-726-6136, sterlingvineyards.com/home. Closes at 5 p.m.

From the terrace

Finish up your day in the Napa Valley by heading south to Domaine Carneros across the street from the di Rosa art preserve. This is a sparkling wine property built in the style of a French chateau and presided over by winemaker Eileen Crane. It’s also one of the few wineries where you can get table service. Stop here in the afternoon to sit on the terrace overlooking a rolling green sweep of vineyard and order a glass of bubbly, starting at $6.75, accompanied by a plate of cheese and crackers, $15. Relax, breathe, repeat.

Domaine Carneros is located at 1240 Duhig Rd., Napa, Calif., 800-716-2788, domainecarneros.com. Table service from 10 a.m. until 5:45 p.m.

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As of 4 p.m. ET, Earl’s center was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was moving northeast at 52 mph. The Canadian Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning for parts of Newfoundland.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Nova Scotia from Port Lhebert to Point Tupper. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Nova Scotia’s coast, Prince Edward Island and parts of New Brunswick.

The center of the storm passed 105 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass., overnight. It had weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

The storm was moving north at 30 mph with top winds of 70 mph and was expected to fizzle out over the gulf of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. In Nantucket, the emergency operations center was disbanded at 1 a.m., according to a assistant town manager Gregg Tivnan.

“We’re pretty thankful that we didn’t have a storm impact,” said Mary Parker, owner of Seven Seas Street Inn in Nantucket. “We expected branches down, but we didn’t have any damage to our property.”

Guests couldn’t get to the island for a day because ferries weren’t running, Parker said. And every shop on Main Street was boarded. Now the boats are running again and Parker expects a full house for Labor Day weekend.

Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm late Friday as it passed through New England waters. Cape Cod and the islands saw heavy rains but no notable damage.

Massachusetts felt “very minimal impact due to the storm,” said Peter Judge, spokesman for Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. There were about 1,800 power outages and those were down to a few hundred by early Saturday, Judge said.

Flooding affect some coastal roads but not homes, and Gov. Deval Patrick lifted the state of emergency. Local emergency managers told their state counterparts: “Don’t bother sending assessment teams this morning,” he said. The state emergency operations center was disbanded at 7 a.m.

In central New Jersey, a body found by fishermen in an inlet Saturday was identified as that of a swimmer who went missing Thursday in rough ocean surf spawned by Earl, police said. The medical examiner’s office hadn’t determined the cause of death for the man, Pardip Singh, who had gone swimming with friends at Belmar, about a half-mile from where his body was recovered.

Earl had caused flooding but no injuries and little damage on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Earl roared past North Carolina before daybreak Friday on its way up the East Coast, flooding parts of some barrier islands and knocking out electricity, but staying farther offshore than feared. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

By midday Friday, Earl had dropped to a Category 1 storm — down from a fearsome Category 4 with 145-mph winds a day earlier.

President Obama on Friday declared a state of emergency in 10 Massachusetts counties, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The action frees up federal funds to save lives and protect property and public health.

On Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts, officials had closed the port of Nantucket and the airport to protect the traveling public, said Gerry Connick, innkeeper at the Century House Bed and Breakfast.

Around Martha’s Vineyard, a few residents had boarded up windows, a mandatory curfew forced businesses to close by 2 p.m., and dozens of boats pulled out of Oak Bluffs Marina, harbormaster Todd Alexander said. On a normal Labor Day weekend with good weather, there would be 175 boats in the harbor. On Friday, only 32 boats had remained, tied to mooring lines for safety.

On Delaware’s beaches, the hurricane probably didn’t cause too much shoreline erosion, said Tony Pratt, a shoreline administrator for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

He said nor’easters often cause more destruction to the beach. Nor’easters often last for several days instead of just one — and that means the storm surge will be felt over a great number of high tides, he said.

“I think we have very little to worry about with this storm,” Pratt said.

Bethany Beach, Del., resident Margaret Young said Hurricane Earl proved to be mostly hype.

“They all last about one day,” Young said. “Before that, the sun is bright and shining and the ocean is wild. Afterward, it takes about a day for the water to settle down.”

On North Carolina’s barrier islands, the Outer Banks, the sun came out Friday afternoon and traffic increased during the day, even as water in some side streets reached the axles.

Earl’s skirting of the North Carolina and Virginia coast caused $25 million to $100 million in damage, said Tom Larsen, senior vice president of catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT.

A normal Labor Day brings 200,000 to 250,000 people to the Outer Banks, which have only 33,000 year-round residents, said Dorothy Toolan, spokeswoman for Dare County Emergency Management. “It’s one of our biggest holiday weekends,” she said.

Barbara Mosher, a reservationist at Nags Head Realty, said some visitors were coming back after evacuating earlier in the week and others were coming to start their vacations.

The parking lot outside was strewn with blue shingles from the building’s roof, but Mosher said there were no reports of damage to rental properties and the outlook for the weekend was “sunny and bright.”

“The storm is gone so we’re back to normal – sunshine and warm,” she said.

In Hyde County, N.C., emergency managers were also relieved.

“We are very lucky,” said Jamie Tunnell, Hyde County spokeswoman. “There was no major damage anywhere, no complete road closures or injuries.”

Ferry operations, which halted Thursday, will remain suspended until the U.S. Coast Guard can make sure the channels are cleared.

Peak winds reached 86 mph on Ocracoke Island, where flooding reached 2 to 3 feet.

Contributing: Wallace McKelvey, The Daily Times, Salisbury, Md.; Associated Press

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No.16 LSU led 30-10 at the half and somehow escaped with a 30-24 win only after tight end Zack Pianalto dropped a game-tying, 6-yard touchdown pass on the last play of the game in the end zone with outside linebacker Stefoin Francois all over him.

“If I make that play, we win the game,” Pianalot said. “I feel I could’ve won it for us, and I didn’t.”

Pianalto also had his hands near a pass in the end zone the play before, but LSU safety Jai Eugene got his hand on it.

“We had guys that never quit,” Pianalto said. “We were down 30-10, and we came back and had a chance to win at the end.”

North Carolina, supposedly outmanned because of a rash of suspensions just days before the game, drove from its 27-yard line to the 6 in 66 seconds with no timeouts after LSU tailback Stevan Ridley fumbled to linebacker Quan Sturdivant, who was just cleared to play late Friday, at the North Carolina 27.

“Our football team won a football game in a very sloppy fashion,” a relieved LSU coach Les Miles said. “But it’s a victory. It may not be one that you take a picture of and hold it very near and dear, but eight to 10 years from now it will be just a win.”

And if UNC does not have the dozen suspensions, including several key star players like defensive tackle Marvin Austin, tailback Shaun Draughn, wide receiver Greg Little and most of the secondary, it could have been different.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of a group of kids and the way they fought to themselves back in the ballgame,” North Carolina coach Butch Davis said. “I mean our depth was unbelievably put to the test. All the depth got eaten up on special teams. Boy, it depleted our football team.”

If LSU does not have shooting stars Patrick Peterson and Russell Shepard, who played like like shooting guards in totalling 337 yards and scoring three touchdowns, it could have also been different.

Peterson, in his first college game as a returner, set the school record for return yards with 257 yards and just missed the SEC record. He brought back four punts for 157 yards with an 87-yard touchdown for a 23-10 lead lead in the second quarter and returned three kickoffs for 100 yards. But he had to sweat out those last two passes to Pianalto.

“My heart was beating out of my chest, I was so nervous,” Peterson said. “I was so glad when that last one ended up on the ground. It shouldn’t have come to that. We were up 20 points.”

Shepard rushed five times for 68 yards with a 50-yard touchdown run for a 14-10 lead midway through the second quarter. He also caught five passes for 68 yards wit ha 6-yard touchdown for a 7-0 lead in the first quater.

“My heart skipped a beat a couple of times, no three or four times at the end of the game,” Shepard said.

Despite losing nine starters and three other players because of ongoing sports agent contact and academic fraud investigations, North Carolina found itself leading favored LSU 10-7 midway in the second quarter following a 10-point run. The Tar Heels drove 82 yards in 13 plays for a touchdown on a 9-yard pass from quarterback T.J. Yates to fullback Devon Ramsey, tying the game 7-7 early in the second quarter.

Then Yates found wide receiver Jheranie Boyd for a 75-yard completion that set up a 20-yard field goal by Casey Barth to give the Heels a 10-7 lead with 8:24 to go before halftime. Boyd is normally sLittle’s backup.

LSU (1-0) responded immediately. Slot receiver Shepard lined up as the lone running back in the shotgun formation and took a handoff from quarterback Jordan Jefferson. He cut left off tackle Joseph Barksdale and was gone for a 50-yard touchdown and 14-10 lead with 8:06 to play before halftime.

LSU went up 16-10 moments later when Yates missed a shotgun snap in the end zone for a safety. When LSU forced a punt out of North Carolina’s next possession, it was Peterson’s turn.

Having just returned North Carolina’s two kickoffs 42 and 47 yards within five minutes and 25 seconds of one another, Peterson was just getting warmed up. He fielded a 50-yard punt by Grant Schallock at his 13-yard line, easily sprinted toward the LSU sideline and turned it up the field for an 87-yard touchdown and 23-10 lead with 4:01 to play before halftime.

After LSU stopped North Carolina three plays later, Peterson took another punt 37 yards to midfield to set up another score. He was not able to stand around and watch, though, as he had to be taken to the locker room for fluids and to catch his breath. After four returns of 213 yards over just 11 minutes and 12 seconds, he needed a break.

By halftime, Peterson already owned the LSU record for kick return yardage in a game with 244 – three punt returns for 144 yards and three kickoffs for 100. The 244 was also second in SEC history, and he had a whole other half to go.

Another burner ran the floor for LSU in Peterson’s absence. Wide receiver Rueben Randle sprinted by the suspension-depleted North Carolina secondary in the middle of the field, and quarterback Jordan Jefferson hit him in stride for a 51-yard touchdown and 30-10 lead with 2:28 to go before halftime.

But it was the Tigers’ secondary that nearly blew the game. New starting cornerback Morris Claiborne let Boyd get by him for a 97-yard touchdown catch from Boyd that cut LSU’s lead to 30-17 in the fourth quarter.

North Carolina then cut it to 30-24 with 2:32 to play in the game on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Yates to Erik Highsmith, finishing a 67-yard drive in 13 plays and getting Tiger fans very nervous.

LSU could have had a comfortable lead in the early going as a frazzled Tar Heel outfit fumbled on its first two possessions, but LSU cashed in only one.

Tailback Johnny White, who replaced suspended Shaun Draughn and suspended backup Ryan Houston in the lineup, fumbled on North Carolina’s second play of the 2010 season after a hit by defensive end Kendrick Adams. Safety Brandon Taylor recovered at the Tar Heel 35-yard line. LSU could not get a first down, though, and Josh Jasper missed a 44-yard field goal wide right.

A fumbled snap ended up in the arms of outside linebacker Lamin Barrow on North Carolina’s second play of its next drive, and the Tigers took over on the UNC 30. Eight plays later, Jefferson found Shepard for a 6-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead with 8:57 left in the first quarter.

“If we just play efficient football, the game’s not close,” Miles said.

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As of 4 p.m. ET, Earl’s center was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was moving northeast at 52 mph. The Canadian Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning for parts of Newfoundland.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Nova Scotia from Port Lhebert to Point Tupper. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Nova Scotia’s coast, Prince Edward Island and parts of New Brunswick.

The center of the storm passed 105 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass., overnight. It had weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

The storm was moving north at 30 mph with top winds of 70 mph and was expected to fizzle out over the gulf of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. In Nantucket, the emergency operations center was disbanded at 1 a.m., according to a assistant town manager Gregg Tivnan.

“We’re pretty thankful that we didn’t have a storm impact,” said Mary Parker, owner of Seven Seas Street Inn in Nantucket. “We expected branches down, but we didn’t have any damage to our property.”

Guests couldn’t get to the island for a day because ferries weren’t running, Parker said. And every shop on Main Street was boarded. Now the boats are running again and Parker expects a full house for Labor Day weekend.

Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm late Friday as it passed through New England waters. Cape Cod and the islands saw heavy rains but no notable damage.

Massachusetts felt “very minimal impact due to the storm,” said Peter Judge, spokesman for Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. There were about 1,800 power outages and those were down to a few hundred by early Saturday, Judge said.

Flooding affect some coastal roads but not homes, and Gov. Deval Patrick lifted the state of emergency. Local emergency managers told their state counterparts: “Don’t bother sending assessment teams this morning,” he said. The state emergency operations center was disbanded at 7 a.m.

In central New Jersey, a body found by fishermen in an inlet Saturday was identified as that of a swimmer who went missing Thursday in rough ocean surf spawned by Earl, police said. The medical examiner’s office hadn’t determined the cause of death for the man, Pardip Singh, who had gone swimming with friends at Belmar, about a half-mile from where his body was recovered.

Earl had caused flooding but no injuries and little damage on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Earl roared past North Carolina before daybreak Friday on its way up the East Coast, flooding parts of some barrier islands and knocking out electricity, but staying farther offshore than feared. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

By midday Friday, Earl had dropped to a Category 1 storm — down from a fearsome Category 4 with 145-mph winds a day earlier.

President Obama on Friday declared a state of emergency in 10 Massachusetts counties, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The action frees up federal funds to save lives and protect property and public health.

On Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts, officials had closed the port of Nantucket and the airport to protect the traveling public, said Gerry Connick, innkeeper at the Century House Bed and Breakfast.

Around Martha’s Vineyard, a few residents had boarded up windows, a mandatory curfew forced businesses to close by 2 p.m., and dozens of boats pulled out of Oak Bluffs Marina, harbormaster Todd Alexander said. On a normal Labor Day weekend with good weather, there would be 175 boats in the harbor. On Friday, only 32 boats had remained, tied to mooring lines for safety.

On Delaware’s beaches, the hurricane probably didn’t cause too much shoreline erosion, said Tony Pratt, a shoreline administrator for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

He said nor’easters often cause more destruction to the beach. Nor’easters often last for several days instead of just one — and that means the storm surge will be felt over a great number of high tides, he said.

“I think we have very little to worry about with this storm,” Pratt said.

Bethany Beach, Del., resident Margaret Young said Hurricane Earl proved to be mostly hype.

“They all last about one day,” Young said. “Before that, the sun is bright and shining and the ocean is wild. Afterward, it takes about a day for the water to settle down.”

On North Carolina’s barrier islands, the Outer Banks, the sun came out Friday afternoon and traffic increased during the day, even as water in some side streets reached the axles.

Earl’s skirting of the North Carolina and Virginia coast caused $25 million to $100 million in damage, said Tom Larsen, senior vice president of catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT.

A normal Labor Day brings 200,000 to 250,000 people to the Outer Banks, which have only 33,000 year-round residents, said Dorothy Toolan, spokeswoman for Dare County Emergency Management. “It’s one of our biggest holiday weekends,” she said.

Barbara Mosher, a reservationist at Nags Head Realty, said some visitors were coming back after evacuating earlier in the week and others were coming to start their vacations.

The parking lot outside was strewn with blue shingles from the building’s roof, but Mosher said there were no reports of damage to rental properties and the outlook for the weekend was “sunny and bright.”

“The storm is gone so we’re back to normal – sunshine and warm,” she said.

In Hyde County, N.C., emergency managers were also relieved.

“We are very lucky,” said Jamie Tunnell, Hyde County spokeswoman. “There was no major damage anywhere, no complete road closures or injuries.”

Ferry operations, which halted Thursday, will remain suspended until the U.S. Coast Guard can make sure the channels are cleared.

Peak winds reached 86 mph on Ocracoke Island, where flooding reached 2 to 3 feet.

Contributing: Wallace McKelvey, The Daily Times, Salisbury, Md.; Associated Press

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The seventh-ranked Horned Frogs didn’t slip up in a difficult season-opening test, despite a less-than-perfect performance.

Andy Dalton (FSY) ran for two touchdowns and threw for another score, making up for two interceptions and leading TCU to a 30-21 victory Saturday night over No. 22 Oregon State, which just missed making it to the Rose Bowl last season.

“We just beat the (22nd-ranked) team that I think should be ranked higher. I think it was a pretty good game. That’s how I judge quarterbacks,” coach Gary Patterson said. “A game like this, it didn’t have to be style points.”

Eight months after Dalton threw three interceptions in a Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State that soured the Horned Frogs’ breakthrough season, he scored on a 4-yard keeper at the end of the third quarter to put TCU ahead for good.

“I didn’t play the way I’m capable of playing,” Dalton said. “That is unacceptable on my part.”

The fourth-year starter has set some high standards.

Dalton hit 17-of-27 passes for 175 yards and ran 17 times for another 64 yards while becoming TCU’s winningest quarterback. His 30th career victory snapped a tie with “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh, who had held the mark alone since the mid-1930s.

Dalton is also the winningest active FBS quarterback.

“He’s very confident, crafty, and quick,” Beavers coach Mike Riley said. “Quick decision-maker, impressive player with really a lot of quick weapons around him.”

Ed Wesley ran for 134 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Jeremy Kerley (FSY) caught six passes for 49 yards and a score, and set up a touchdown with an impressive punt return.

The loss spoiled the homecoming for brothers Jacquizz and James Rodgers (FSY). Both scored touchdowns for Oregon State in their first college game in their home state. They are from Richmond, about four hours south in the Houston area.

“Those guys did a great job containing us, but we left a lot of plays out there today,” said James Rodgers, who had four catches for 75 yards.

Jacquizz Rodgers (FSY), who ran 18 times for 75 yards, was the Texas AP high school player of the year in 2007, playing at Lamar Consolidated.

Dalton’s interceptions came on the first TCU drive of each half, and both led to Beavers touchdowns.

Linebacker Dwight Roberson stepped in front of tight end Evan Frosch (FSY) on a short third-down throw at the Beavers 13 in the second half — after the Frogs had held the ball for seven minutes. That led to Jacquizz Rodgers scoring from a yard out for a 21-all tie.

TCU then went 71 yards in 12 plays, the last Dalton’s 4-yard run.

“I didn’t let those (interceptions) affect me,” Dalton said. “I knew I had to come back and play well.”

Dalton threw only five interceptions in the regular season a year ago. He now has five in his last two games.

Ryan Katz (FSY) made his first start at quarterback for the Beavers and was 9-of-25 for 159 yards and two touchdowns. He also had to kick the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety with about four minutes left. The play also gave the ball back to TCU and pretty much ended any chance the Beavers had to come back.

Katz was calling an audible when the center snapped the ball over the quarterback’s right shoulder.

“We should have stayed with the play,” Katz said. “That was on me. It was just a bad check.”

Kerley caught a one-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14 midway through the second quarter, then set up another score before halftime when he took a low punt on the run and bolted 34 yards up the right sideline.

Wesley made it 21-14 on an 8-yard run in the final minute of the first half.

While not as gutsy as the fake punt Boise State used to set up the decisive score in the Fiesta Bowl against TCU, the Beavers used a little trickery of their own. On fourth-and-1 from its 43, Hekker took the deep snap and then threw a 23-yard pass to Jordan Poyer.

Katz threw a 34-yard TD on the next play to Jordan Bishop (FSY) for a 14-7 lead.

Dalton was picked off by Lance Mitchell at the TCU 31 on TCU’s opening drive and two plays later, Katz hit James Rodgers running open into the end zone for a 30-yard score.

Dalton quickly made up for his first turnover scrambling in from the 6 to tie it at 7.

“Andy is a really good leader. He doesn’t let the play affect him,” said defensive end Wayne Daniels, who had both of TCU’s sacks. “He plays every play like it’s a brand new play. Since he does it, we all do it.”

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JetBlue Airways says that there will be no second exits for famed flight attendant Steven Slater — who captured America’s imagination with his profanity-laced loudspeaker tirade and jump down a plane’s emergency chute, beer in hand.

Spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said Saturday that Slater is no longer employed by the airline. She said the airline won’t release further details out of respect for Slater’s privacy.

Slater’s lawyer had said he loved flying and wanted to return to work, and Slater’s folk-hero status among tens of thousands of online fans had led some of them to urge the airline to keep him on.

The airline said at the time of the incident last month that Slater was suspended pending an investigation. It told employees in a memo that press coverage was not taking into account how much harm can be caused by emergency slides, which are deployed with a potentially deadly amount of force.

The former flight attendant still has to navigate the criminal justice system. He’s been charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing; his lawyer has said a passenger’s “lack of civility” prompted his behavior.

Despite Slater’s online popularity, some passengers came forward to criticize him as brusque and cranky throughout the 90-minute trip from Pittsburgh to New York. One passenger portrayed Slater as the instigator, saying he cursed without provocation at a woman who had asked about her bag.

His employment status was first reported by the NBC New York website.

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At least 500 buildings, including 90 downtown properties, have been designated as destroyed in the quake that struck at 4:35 a.m. near the South Island city of 400,000 people. But most other buildings sustained only minor damage.

Only two serious injuries were reported from the quake as chimneys and walls of older buildings were reduced to rubble and crumbled to the ground. The prime minister said it was a miracle no one was killed.

Power was cut across the region, roads were blocked by debris, and gas and water supplies were disrupted, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said. He warned continuing aftershocks could cause masonry to fall from damaged buildings, as could gale force winds due to buffet the region Sunday.

Canterbury University geology professor Mark Quigley said what “looks to us that it could be a new fault” had ripped across the earth and pushed some surface areas up about three feet. The quake was caused by the ongoing collision between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates, he said.

“One side of the earth has lurched to the right … up to 11 feet and in some places been thrust up,” Quigley told National Radio.

“The long linear fracture on the earth’s surface does things like break apart houses, break apart roads. We went and saw two houses that were completely snapped in half by the earthquake,” he said.

Roger Bates, whose dairy farm at Darfield was close to the quake’s epicenter, said the new fault line had ripped up the surface across his land.

“The whole dairy farm is like the sea now, with real (soil) waves right across the dairy farm. We don’t have physical holes (but) where the fault goes through it’s been raised a meter or meter and a half (3 to 5 feet),” he told National Radio.

“Trouble is, I’ve lost two meters (6 feet) of land off my boundary,” he added.

Experts said the low number of injuries in the powerful quake reflects the country’s strict building codes.

“New Zealand has very good building codes … (that) mean the buildings are strong compared with, say, Haiti,” which suffered widespread damage in a magnitude-7.0 quake this year, earth sciences professor Martha Savage told the Associated Press.

“It’s about the same size (quake) as Haiti, but the damage is so much less. Though chimneys and some older facades came down, the structures are well built,” said Savage, a professor at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University in the capital, Wellington.

“Thank God for earthquake strengthening 10 years ago,” Anglican Dean of Christchurch, Rev. Peter Beck, told TV One News on Sunday.

Euan Smith, professor of Geophysics at Victoria University, said the fact that there “were no fatalities … it’s quite remarkable.”

Experts were speculating the very soft soils of Christchurch had “acted like a shock absorber over a short period … doing less damage to smaller buildings. They will dissipate earthquake energy if they’re thick enough,” he told the AP.

Christchurch fire service spokesman Mike Bowden said a number of people had been trapped in buildings by fallen chimneys and blocked entrances, but there were no reports of people pinned under rubble. Rescue teams with sniffer dogs were continuing to check premises.

State geological agency GNS Science reported more than 40 aftershocks in the 24 hours following the quake, ranging in strength from magnitude 3.7 to 5.4.

A state of emergency was declared and army troops were on standby to assist after the quake, which was centered 19 miles west of Christchurch, according to GNS Science. No tsunami alert was issued.

Prime Minister John Key, who flew to Christchurch to inspect the damage, said it was “an absolute miracle” that no one had died.

He warned it could be months before the full extent of the damage was known, but said initial assessments suggested it could cost at least 2 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.4 billion) to repair.

“There is a major rebuild job here in Christchurch … and people are terrified at what took place,” he said Sunday.

Civil Defense officials lifted a curfew on the central city area Sunday morning, while police commander Superintendent Dave Cliff said only two arrests had been made overnight for breaching the security cordon set up to prevent people being injured by falling masonry.

“Some parts of the city are very dangerous” because of unsafe buildings he said, and a cordon would remain in place as gale force winds hit the region during the day.

Up to 90 extra police officers had flown in to Christchurch to help, and troops were likely to join the recovery effort on Monday, Parker said.

About 250 people had taken refuge overnight Sunday in accommodation centers at schools in suburban areas to house people forced out of their damaged homes, civil defense spokesman Murray Sinclair said.

Minister of Civil Defense John Carter said there was “a lot of damage to our key infrastructure … water, waste water systems.”

Christchurch Hospital said it had treated two men with serious injuries and a number of people with minor injuries.

One man was hit by a falling chimney and was in serious condition, while a second was badly cut by glass, hospital spokeswoman Michele Hider said.

Christchurch police reported road damage in parts of the city and cordoned off some streets where rubble was strewn about. Parked cars were crushed by heaps of fallen bricks, and roads buckled.

Civil defense agency spokesman David Millar said at least six bridges had been badly damaged and the historic Empire hotel in the port town of Lyttelton was “very unstable” and in danger of collapse. Several wharves at the port were damaged.

People in the city’s low-lying eastern suburbs were told to be ready to evacuate after power, gas, sewage and water systems were cut by the quake, Police Inspector Mike Coleman said.

Kiwirail rail transport group spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said 13 trains, mostly freight, had been halted, with some damage confirmed to lines north of Christchurch.

New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth’s crust where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year — but only about 150 are felt by residents. Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.

New Zealand’s last major earthquake registered magnitude 7.8 and hit South Island’s Fiordland region on July 16, 2009, moving the southern tip of the country 12 inches closer to Australia, seismologist Ken Gledhill said at the time.

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In 2009, that kid was Melanie Oudin, who beat Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals.

In 2010, that kid was Beatrice Capra and, well, let’s just say that Sharapova fared a little better this time around.

Overwhelmed by the stage, the circumstances, the 25 mph wind that knocked the neon lime visor off her head during a point, and — most of all — a solid Sharapova, the 18-year-old Capra didn’t win a game, let alone the match. Instead, 2006 U.S. Open champion Sharapova set up a fourth-round showdown with No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki by blanking the 371st-ranked Capra 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“This was a new day,” said Sharapova, the first woman to win love-and-love at the U.S. Open in the third round or later since Martina Navratilova did it in the 1989 quarterfinals. “And what happened last year — I didn’t really want to go into the match thinking about it.”

On her very first serve of the afternoon, Capra nearly sailed the ball all the way to the opposite baseline. That might have been a result of nerves and the ever-swirling wind, which made the U.S. flag above the stadium flap loudly and caused four midpoint stoppages in play when debris rolled onto the court. Plenty of brown, concession-stand napkins and one plastic sandwich bag floated out of the stands; even two white towels made like tumbleweed.

“This is probably the toughest conditions we’re going to get,” Sharapova said.

Actually, other than whiffing on one serve return, Sharapova handled the conditions rather well; others did not. Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the 2008 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, shanked one serve straight up in the air off the top of her racket frame and finished with 41 unforced errors in a 6-2, 7-6 (1) loss to No. 31 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

“You get frustrated with the wind,” Jankovic said, “because you want to hit balls in (a) certain direction, and they go everywhere except where you want them to go.”

There were no such surprises in early men’s action. Five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer reached the fourth round by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; No. 5 Robin Soderling, twice a French Open finalist, defeated Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; No. 19 Mardy Fish outlasted 32-year-old Arnaud Clement, the oldest man left, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; No. 21 Albert Montanes advanced when qualifier Ken Nishikori quit in the second set with a groin injury, two days after winning a grueling five-setter; and No. 17 Gael Monfils picked up a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 win over Janko Tipsarevic, who knocked off 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick in the second round.

Asked to describe the weather, Monfils said: “Awful. I mean, for me: awful.”

Capra, who’s from Ellicott City, Md., and trains at the Evert Academy in Florida, acknowledged struggling with the wind. She also acknowledged feeling jitters, and who could blame her, really? She won a U.S. Tennis Association playoff in August to earn a U.S. Open wild card; not only was this her first Grand Slam tournament — it was her first tour-level, main-draw event, period.

She became the lowest-ranked woman since 2002 to reach the U.S. Open’s third round by beating 95th-ranked Karolina Sprem in the first round, then 20th-seeded Aravane Rezai in the second.

And now she found herself going up against the 23-year-old Sharapova, someone Capra said she looked up to “when I was younger.” They never had met until Saturday.

So what was that like?

“Before the match, she would just walk past me and kind of, like, give me a glare, which is kind of intimidating,” Capra said. “After the match, when we shook hands, she was really nice.”

Oudin, who knows Capra from her junior days, sent a text message after the victory over Rezai, offering advice.

“I should have talked to Melanie before the match, because I was wondering — I was like, ‘Was Melanie this nervous before she played?’” Capra said. “I didn’t get the chance to, but I probably should have.”

Then again, the Capra of 2010 is not exactly the Oudin of 2009, a player who already had risen to 70th in the rankings before the U.S. Open, thanks to a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon that summer.

And, to be fair, the Sharapova of 2010 is not exactly the Sharapova of 2009, either.

“She doesn’t give you anything,” noted Capra, whose exit leaves Venus Williams as the only U.S. woman in the field. “Even though she’s beating me that badly, she’s still so focused.”

A year ago, Sharapova was still figuring things out after having right shoulder surgery in October 2008, still working her way back into match shape after missing the start of the season.

Against Oudin, Sharapova double-faulted 21 times, more than any woman had in any tour match all year.

Against Capra, Sharapova double-faulted five times, but otherwise was in strong form.

“I mean, I could have done better, and, you know, it was close in some of the games,” said Capra, whose parents, sister, grandparents, aunt and two friends were in the stands. “Plus, when you’re, like, losing that bad, it’s just in your head, like, ‘Just please let me win one game.’”

That’s what 2009 U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki’s opponents might have been thinking: She has won 36 of 39 games so far, including Saturday’s 6-1, 6-0 victory over Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan. That followed a 6-0, 6-0 shutout — known in tennis as a “double bagel” — in the second round.

The three games Wozniacki has lost are the fewest through three completed matches at any Grand Slam tournament since Mary Pierce dropped only two at the 1994 French Open.

“I have been feeling good out there,” Wozniacki said, the understatement of the week. “It just says something about how I’ve been playing, and the level I’ve been playing on.”

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“We are bringing the Italian dream and American dream together,” Batali, the best-known backer of a new food concept called Eataly, told CNBC, from the floor of the mega-retail store in the Flatiron District of Manhattan.

The 42,500-square-foot restaurant and grocery space also has a 4,500-square-foot open-air rooftop beer garden.

Within that area are seven full-service eateries, a café, wine shop, bakery and patisserie and a culinary educational center, where customers can get instructions on how to prepare various Italian dishes at home.

In addition to being known for his creative cooking, popular restaurants and self-promotion, Batali is also identified by his work garb—shorts and brightly colored Crocs. He owns 18 restaurants, including Babbo, Esca and Del Posto, and formerly hosted his own show on the Food Network.

The Batali-Bastianich Hospitality Group, a collaboration that includes Batali and the Bastianiches, son Joe and mother Lidia, restaurateurs and cookbook authors, are behind the Eataly venture, along with Oscar Farinetti, founder of the Eataly concept, which debuted in Turin, Italy, four years ago.

Lidia Bastianich hosts two cooking program on PBS, including “Lidia’s Italy.”

“We are very bullish on the outlook of the market because, it’s about a quality and enriching your lifestyle and the way you live,” Joe Bastianich told CNBC. “There will always be an active market in New York for that kind of stuff.”

“You can come and taste products, but it’s really about the retail business,” added Batali. “We want people to cook at home more, and that’s really the fundamental understanding of the Italian world.”

Kerima Greene contributed to this story

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