53rd annual Grammy awards: The winners list

Record of the year:
"Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum

Album of the year:
"The Suburbs" - Arcade Fire

Song of the year:
"Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum

Best new artist:
Esperanza Spalding

Pop performance by a duo or group with vocals:
"Hey, Soul Sister" (Live) - Train

Pop vocal album:
"The Fame Monster" - Lady Gaga

Rock album:
"The Resistance" - Muse

Rap album:
"Recovery" - Eminem

Female country vocal performance:
Miranda Lambert, "The House That Built Me"

Country album:
"Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum


Producer of the year, non-classical:
Danger Mouse

Female pop vocal performance:
"Bad Romance" – Lady Gaga

Male pop vocal performance:
"Just The Way You Are" – Bruno Mars

Computer ties human as they square off on 'Jeopardy!'

(CNN) -- The computers haven't proven to be our trivia overlords just yet.

Give them at least until Wednesday.

An IBM supercomputer named Watson finished one round of the TV show "Jeopardy!" on Monday night tied with one of his human competitors and $3,000 ahead of the other.

The man vs. computer face-off won't be complete, however, until the final rounds of the extended trivia game show are aired on Tuesday and Wednesday.

IBM trumpets Watson, which has been in development for years and has the processing power of 2,800 "powerful computers," as a major advancement in machines' efforts to understand human language. The computer receives clues through digital texts and then buzzes in against the two other "Jeopardy!" contestants like any other player would. It juggles dozens of lines of reasoning at once and tries to arrive at a smart answer.

After getting off to a scary-good start, Watson did have a few stumbles.

'Never missed a Super Bowl' member dies at age 79

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- One of the men featured in a Visa credit card television commercial for having never missed a Super Bowl has died at age 79.

Though he wasn't able to make it to Texas, Bob Cook watched from his Milwaukee area hospital bed as his beloved Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the 45th Super Bowl earlier this month.

Cook's wife, Sarah Cook, said Monday that he died last week after a blood infection and other chronic issues.

Cook and the three other members of the "Never Missed a Super Bowl" club were the stars of the Visa ad leading up to the Super Bowl. The four attended all 44 Super Bowl games.

Cook had said recently he hoped he would make it to the 50th Super Bowl.

NASA craft readies for Valentine comet encounter

A NASA spacecraft is ready to get up close and personal with its comet sweetheart.

The Valentine's Day encounter between the Stardust craft and comet Tempel 1 will occur some 210 million miles from Earth. Flying at 24,000 mph, Stardust will come within 125 miles of the comet and use its camera to snap close-up images of the surface.

If all goes as planned, it will be the first time that two different spacecraft have visited Tempel 1.

In 2005, the comet received a not-so-romantic visit by another NASA craft named Deep Impact. Instead of flying by Tempel 1, Deep Impact fired a copper bullet that smashed into the comet so scientists could study the debris blasted out of the interior.

Female suicide bomber kills 1 policemen in Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) -- Police in southern Russia say a female suicide bomber has killed one policeman and wounded six others during an attempt to enter a police station.

Regional police spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov said the bomber blew herself up Monday in the central village of Gubden in Dagestan. He said the bomber tried to enter a local police station, but was stopped by a police patrol.

Dagestan is the largest province of the predominantly Muslim Northern Caucasus region and is beset by almost daily violence that stems from two separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya.

Also Monday, a suspected Islamic militant was killed in a shootout with security forces outside Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. Gasanov said two policemen were wounded during the shootout

This Valentine's Day, woman gives kidney to fiance

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) -- Not flowers and hearts, but a kidney: A Minnesota man will get a Valentine's Day gift of a lifetime.

Ron Spanier and fiance Amy Anderson are preparing for the kidney donation Tuesday at the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview.

Spanier's been on dialysis since last summer after a disease caused cysts in his kidneys. The two have a 3-month-old son. Spanier jokes that since Anderson gave him his first-born and a kidney, he figured he'd marry her.

Anderson tells the St. Cloud Times she understands the stress of medical problems. Her first husband died of a stroke. Anderson has two children from that marriage, a 10-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son. Spanier and Anderson will plan their wedding after they heal from the surgery.

Clashes in Bahrain before planned protest rally

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Bahrain's security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday at thousands of anti-government protesters heeding calls to unite in a major rally and bring the Arab reform wave to the Gulf for the first time.

The punishing tactics by authorities appeared to foil plans for a mass gathering in Bahrain's capital Manama, but it underscored the sharply rising tensions in the tiny island kingdom - a strategic Western ally and home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

At least 25 people were treated for injuries, and one man died after being found on the street with severe head trauma, according to family members.

Riot police - some firing bird shot pellets - moved against marchers trying to reach central Manama in an act that organizers intended as an homage to Egypt's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular revolt that drove Hosni Mubarak from power.

Bahrain's protesters, however, claim they do not seek to overthrow the ruling monarchy but want greater political freedoms and sweeping changes in how the country is run.

Social media sites have been flooded with calls by an array of political youth groups, rights activists and others to join demonstrations on Monday, a symbolic day in Bahrain as the anniversary of the country's 2002 constitution that brought pro-democracy reforms such as an elected parliament.

But opposition groups seek deeper changes from the country's ruling dynasty, including transferring more decision-making powers to the parliament and breaking the monarchy's grip on senior government posts. Bahrain's majority Shiites - about 70 percent of the population - have long complained of systemic discrimination by the Sunni rulers.

Political Circus: What Michelle Obama wants for V-Day

Washington (CNN) -- Politics is serious business -- but not all the time.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

On "Live! with Regis and Kelly" last week, first lady Michelle Obama said her ideal gift for Valentine's Day is -- jewelry.

"You can't go wrong!" she said.

"But we don't make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, because my birthday was (January) 17th, and Christmas ... so by February 14th we're kind of tired."

The first lady went on to say that the president is quite the romantic.

'Abraham Lincoln just added you on Twitter'

That's something you don't see every day in your inbox.

"While scanning the Web for any New York City events commemorating Abraham Lincoln's birthday on Saturday, I discovered that the 16th president, who was assassinated in April 1865, is, in fact, on Twitter," writes the New York Observer's Tom Acitelli.

Honest Abe's twitter name -- @1865lincoln -- is actually part of the publicity for Robert Redford's new movie "The Conspirator."

"Still, the effort behind the Twitter feed, which officially launches on Feb. 12, Lincoln's birthday, seems a noble enough one: to not only promote the movie (of course) but also to present the president's words in a digestible form for the kids today," Acitelli added.

Other woman thinks there were other women

The problems keep coming for former New York Rep. Christopher Lee, who resigned last week after Gawker exposed photos of the shirtless Republican responding to a Craigslist ad.

American Jewish leader made secret visit to Syria

A top American Jewish leader said Monday that a secret visit he recently made to Syria could be a sign that President Bashar Assad wants to improve relations with the West.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, also said the international community should proceed with caution as the Arab world begins to embrace democracy.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Hoenlein confirmed his recent one-day visit to Damascus at the invitation of Assad.

Hoenlein said his mission was humanitarian, that he was not acting as an envoy for Israel, and that he spent hours discussing a variety of issues with Assad. "There was no interpreter. It was just the two of us," he said.

Hoenlein refused to divulge details. "I assume my invitation came because he wants to improve some things," he said. "Maybe out of all of this some good can come."

Israel and the U.S. have expressed numerous concerns about Assad, ranging from Syria's poor human rights record to its support for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and links to armed anti-American groups in Iraq.

Grammy Awards show teams legends with new stars

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Millions of television screens reverted to black and white for a few minutes Sunday night as the 53rd annual Grammy Awards turned off the color for Bruno Mars.

It was a section of the show that emphasized the connections current popular music has to the past, on a night with several music legends are teamed with new stars, including Barbra Streisand, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan.

Mars sang his hit "Grenade," a performance that echoed back to the 1950s and Sam Cooke, or the 1960s and Otis Redding.

Janelle Monae followed with a futuristic soul performance of her song "Cold War," which brought the Staples Center crowd to their feet for a long standing ovation.

Rihanna made a triumphant return to the Grammys, two years after she canceled her performance hours after she was beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown.

Why men pop the question

(CNN) -- It's Valentine's Day and a good time to ponder one of our country's more mysterious customs: the marriage proposal.

This evening all over the country young dudes will pry off their Mets or Giants hats, pat down their hair, fall on bended knee and gaze up adoringly at the treadmill-enhanced lawyers or surgeons or account executives they have been sharing morning breath with for the last few years to ask, "Will you marry me?"

Women, in turn, will gasp, tears will well up in their bright eyes, and, in most cases, it seems, they will say yes.

It's odd, isn't it, the persistence of such an archaic and, as the women's studies professor would say, gendered ritual? In the post-feminist world, women can propose a dinner date, a raise or a hookup. They can suggest making child care 50/50, an IPO plan or a threesome. But they can never propose marriage. Ever. Unlike line repair, truck driving, running the House of Representatives or the State Department, question popping remains a man's job.

What price fine chocolate?

New York (CNN) -- True love may be priceless, but does that mean we should pay through the nose for fine chocolate on Valentine's Day- or any day?

The answer is unequivocally yes in the opinion of Rick and Mike Mast whose organic hand-crafted chocolate bars garnering rave reviews retail for $9.

"You get what you pay for," insisted Rick Mast, 34. "For me, chocolate shouldn't be something you can pick up at the gas station for a buck or two."

The Mast Brothers are not gourmet chocolatiers -- the artisans who melt down large blocks of chocolate and refashion the mix into delectable treats of all shapes and flavors. Rather, Rick and his brother Mike, 31, are true chocolate makers in the tradition of Willy Wonka's oompa-loompas, though the towering, red-bearded Masts -- Rick is 6'4", Mike 6'3" -- could hardly be confused with author Roald Dahl's fictional Lilliputian chocolate workers.

From a small store-front factory in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Williamsburg, the Masts are producing an intensely complex tasting chocolate -- yes, just the way fine wine should deliver layers of flavor -- even though their ingredients are as simple as can be: cacao beans and sugar.

"We don't dumb it down so it's not as exotic or as sexy an experience," said Rick Mast explaining why he adds no milk fat, cocoa butter or emulsifiers. "Chocolate should take you on a trip."

Birders prepare for count mindful of mass die-offs

PROVIDENCE, N.Y. (AP) -- Thousands of citizen-scientists across North America are getting out their tally sheets for the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a usually festive weekend given a more serious edge after the mass deaths of thousands of birds in the South this winter.

The National Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology sponsor the count. They hope to have more than 100,000 backyard counters for the Feb. 18-21 effort this year, especially after public attention on threats to birds was heightened when blackbirds fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve.

"An isolated event such as the dead birds in Arkansas may be within the range of normal ups and downs for an abundant species like the red-winged blackbird," said Janis Dickinson, director of citizen-science at the Cornell lab in Ithaca. "But the count can serve as an early warning system for worrisome declines in bird populations that result from more widespread problems."

The deaths in Arkansas - where officials believe the birds were spooked by fireworks - and subsequent bird kills in Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana aren't believed to be connected or a sign of widespread contagion.

WikiLeaks: NATO unimpressed by Russia's military

BRUSSELS (AP) -- NATO was not impressed by Russia's military performance after two large maneuvers in 2009 because its forces relied on aging equipment, lacked transport and suffered from manpower shortages, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable.

Russia's armed forces would be able to respond only to a small-to-mid-sized local conflict in the country's western regions, according to a cable from the U.S. mission to NATO released Monday on the WikiLeaks secret-spilling site. The maneuvers demonstrated they would not be able to fight in two small conflicts simultaneously or to mount larger-scale operations, the U.S. cable said, citing a report by NATO's military staff.

The documents also claimed that Russia's army and air force could not cooperate properly and lacked all-weather capability.

The NATO report followed two large maneuvers, codenamed Ladoga and Zapad, in Russia's western regions during 2009. They were intended to test the Russian military after its lightning 2008 victory over Georgia.

The operation, in which Georgia's U.S.-trained army was demolished within a week after it tried to invade the breakaway province of South Ossetia, set off alarm bells in NATO nations bordering Russia.

Iran court to target 'media crimes,' spurring fears of fresh crackdown

(CNN) -- Iranian officials said Sunday that the Middle Eastern nation will create a court focusing on "media crimes," according to state-run media reports, a move that has fueled fears Tehran is further intensifying its crackdown on journalists.

Abbas Zagholi, the head of Iran's Government Employees Court, said the new judicial branch "was necessitated by the special media crimes," according to a report in Khabar, a conservative publication run by backers of parliamentary Speaker and Tehran Mayor Ali Larijani.

"For certain reasons, such as great developments in mass media, the Tehran prosecutor felt the need to create a more independent court to deal with media affairs," Zagholi said.

Omid Memarian, a native Iranian and U.S.-based freelance journalist who said he talks regularly with journalists in Iran, said the new apparatus could spell greater attention, and prosecution, of those who don't mimic Tehranian government positions.

"The fear is that the media ... will be watched more intensely than in the past," said Memarian. "They will have more money, more judges and more people to focus on the media and target journalists."

Blast at hotel complex in Afghan capital kills 2

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a Kabul shopping and hotel complex Monday, killing two security guards in the second attack at a site frequented by foreigners and westernized Afghans in less than a month in the heavily secured capital.

The Ministry of Interior said the bomber detonated his explosives at the gates of the Kabul City Center shopping mall, which also houses the four-star Safi Landmark hotel. Two people were wounded in the blast.

"I was just outside my restaurant and suddenly I heard a huge explosion," said Ahmad Shah, 23, who works in a small eatery near the Safi Landmark. "I saw a large fire right at the gate of the City Center."

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the building was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan security forces. The blast destroyed the guarded entrance to the building and blew out windows. Several shops nearby also were damaged.

Severed body parts could be seen on the ground near the blast site.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack in a mobile phone text message sent to reporters.

Government officials, businessmen and foreigners regularly hold meetings at the Safi Landmark.

The Safi was heavily damaged a year ago when suicide attackers struck two residential hotels nearby, killing 20 people, including nine foreigners. After that attack, shops at the center, which sell jewelry, electronics and clothing, were closed for months.

City Center is Kabul's first Western-style shopping mall, and is one of the biggest in the capital.

Shopkeepers nearby said Monday's damage appeared to be confined to the guarded entrance area, which was fortified shortly after last year's attack.

LG Electronics' latest phone boasts 3-D screen

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- LG Electronics is showing off the first phone with a color 3-D screen and a 3-D camera.

The South Korean electronics company's Optimus 3D drew large crowds eager to give it a test run on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The screen produces the illusion of depth without the need for special glasses, and includes a pair of five-megapixel lenses for taking 3D photos and video.

The phone must be held at the proper distance and angle in order for the viewer to perceive depth. It runs on Google Inc.'s Android 2.2 operating system.

LG Electronics Inc. said the 3D phone will be sold in the spring, but it didn't announce a deal with a U.S. carrier.

Palestinian Authority Cabinet resigns

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- The Palestinian prime minister dissolved his Cabinet on Monday, in what appeared to be a new gesture inspired by unrest rocking the Arab world.

The internationally backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has been trying to show that it's responsive to demands for reform, following the mass protests that have toppled the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt. Over the weekend, the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced it will hold long-overdue elections by September.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad now has six weeks to name a new Cabinet. Although Fayyad is a political independent, he is expected to replace a Cabinet currently dominated by technocrats with supporters of Abbas' Fatah party in preparation for the elections, an aide said.

Abbas' political rival, the Islamic militant Hamas, dismissed the promise of elections and the Cabinet shakeup as empty gestures. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, after seizing the territory - sought by the Palestinians along with the West Bank for their state - from Abbas' forces in 2007. Hamas has said it will not participate in elections, but said it has its own Cabinet reshuffle in the works.

Also Monday, the Palestinian representative to the Arab League said the Palestinians will present a resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, seeking a condemnation of Israeli settlement construction. Barakat al-Farra said 14 members of the council support the resolution but that he fears the United States - one of five permanent members with veto powers - will vote against it.

Obama defends budget priorities

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama defended his $3.7 trillion proposal for fiscal year 2012 on Monday, characterizing the plan as a successful balance of sorely needed new investments and long-term spending reductions necessary to reduce the federal debt.

"While it's absolutely essential to live within our means ... we can't sacrifice our future in the process," he said while discussing his blueprint at a school in Baltimore.

Obama's plan includes program cuts meant to reduce deficits by $1.1 trillion over the next decade while boosting targeted spending in areas such as education. Major entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid remain largely untouched.

Some liberals have complained the cuts in the president's budget are too deep, while conservative leaders have said his plan doesn't go far enough to cut the deficit.

New education spending is needed to make sure "every American is equipped to compete with any worker anywhere in the world," Obama said. "We have a responsibility to invest in those areas that will have the biggest impact in our future."

But we also need to do "better by demanding accountability," the president added. "If we're going to walk the walk when it comes to fiscal discipline," some cuts "are necessary."

"What we've done here is make a down payment" on fiscal responsibility, but more work needs to be done, he said.

Valentine's Day kissing contest breaks record

Seven couples locked lips for more than 33 hours to celebrate Valentine's Day in the southern Thai beach resort town of Pattaya in what organizers claim is the longest recorded kiss in history.

The previous record — 32 hours seven minutes and 14 seconds — was set in 2009 by a couple in Germany, according to Guinness World Records.

Fourteen mostly Thai pairs entered the contest when it kicked off Sunday morning at 6 a.m. local time. By Monday afternoon, half were still smooching away on the white-marble corridor in a shopping mall, where tourists gawked and smiled at the spectacle, snapping pictures with glowing mobile phones behind a red rope.

"We didn't think we would find anybody that could break the record," said Somporn Naksuetrong, the manager of Pattaya's Louis Tussaud's Waxworks museum, which organized the competition. That seven couples apparently did so, he said, "is amazing."

The last couple left kissing wins a diamond ring worth 50,000 Thai baht (about $1,600), and a 100,000-baht ($3,200) cash prize.

Dodd-Frank ready for congressional close-up

(Reuters) - Republican lawmakers this week will test their strategy of stifling the Obama administration's financial reform law through oversight hearings when some of the biggest financial policymakers appear before Congress.

The highest-profile event will be on Thursday, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Banking Committee.

The panel will also hear from the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the two agencies that arguably have the most rules to formulate under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

While the Senate Banking Committee hearing will have the marquee names, House of Representative hearings on derivatives and debit card fee limits could provide more insight into how much relief regulators may be prepared to give.

Republicans have been highly critical of the Dodd-Frank law, passed last year with almost exclusively Democratic support. Although Republicans now control the House of Representatives, the Democrat-controlled Senate would be an obstacle to any amendments.

Police and protesters clash in Bahrain

(CNN) -- The unrest spreading through North Africa and the Middle East has reached the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain, according to reports from the state news agency.

At least three police officers and one demonstrator have been injured in clashes, the news agency reported. The injuries occurred during an attack on a police station during protests Sunday evening, the news agency said.

After three officers were injured, police fired on protesters with rubber bullets, causing one injury, the news agency said.

Further protests were scheduled to take place in Bahrain on Monday, making the country the latest in a string of nations to experience popular protests that began in Tunisia.

Protesters who have organized on Facebook, Twitter and with e-mails want political reforms, including a constitutional monarchy.

Recently, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa offered more than $2,500 to Bahraini families, ostensibly in celebration of Monday's 10th annivesary of the adoption of the country's National Action Charter.

Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Obama budget to cut deficit by $1.1 t

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama proposed a budget on Monday that would cut the U.S. deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years, setting the stage for a bitter fight with Republicans who vow even tougher spending controls.

Conservatives say Obama, a Democrat, is a tax-and-spend liberal, and they aim to make the 2012 presidential election a referendum on his fiscal track record.

Details of the budget proposal provided by the White House before its official release showed the deficit rising to $1.645 trillion in fiscal 2011, then falling sharply to $1.101 trillion in 2012.

This trend would trim the deficit as a share of the U.S. economy to 3.2 percent by 2015 from 10.9 percent this year.

"It's a start, it's a move in the right direction," said Philip Poole, global head of macro investment strategy at HSBC Global Asset Management in London. "It's a lot less than the Republicans wanted to see. It's not clear that this can actually be enacted," he said.

Muslim Brotherhood's key role in Egypt

London (CNN) -- One of the biggest questions hanging over the Egyptian revolution is the role of the Muslim Brotherhood. It's impossible to fully understand the importance of the Brotherhood's position today without referring to its violent past and its efforts since the 1970s to position itself as a mainstream religious and political movement in Egypt.

In the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, the Brotherhood reinforced this centrist position by recognizing the important role of young people in organizing the mass protests, calling for all opposition groups to unite against the Mubarak regime, and supporting Mohamed ElBaradei, a secular figure, as the main representative of the opposition uprising.

A historical examination of the Muslim Brotherhood reveals how far the group has evolved.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in the 1920s by the prominent Egyptian schoolteacher, Hassan al-Banna. By the end of the 1940s, its numbers had swollen to more than 500,000 on the back of three major causes: battling British colonialism, resistance to a new Jewish state and fighting corruption in Egypt. Now it is Egypt's most powerful opposition movement and has inspired Islamist movements worldwide.

Even though it was supposed to be apolitical and religious, in the 1930s al-Banna established a paramilitary wing. It carried out multiple operations against prominent Jews and targeted political leaders and judges in Egypt. In 1948, one of the Brothers assassinated Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Nokrashy. As a result, the security services killed al-Banna, creating a chasm in the Muslim Brotherhood between the political and paramilitary wings.

Nevertheless, the British-backed monarchy was still the target for the Brotherhood. It backed the three army officers, including Gamal Abdel Nasser, who led the Officer's Revolution in 1952, which toppled the monarchy.

Stephen Colbert to sail the high seas

(CNN) -- Call him Captain Colbert. Comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert is headed for the high seas.

Colbert will take part in the 777-mile Charleston Bermuda Race in May, organizers of the event have announced.

"The ocean has had a free ride for too long. Well, it has to deal with me now. Brace yourself, Atlantic!" Colbert, the host of American political satire show "The Colbert Report," said in a statement Friday.

Event organizers have designated Colbert, who is a native of Charleston, S.C., Honorary Captain of the Fleet.

The Charleston Bermuda Race is described by organizers as a "romp through subtropical waters." This year's competition will begin May 21 from Charleston Harbor.

Held every two years, the first-to-finish in Bermuda competition is open to sailors with boats that are at least 30-feet long.

Colbert, who took part in the race in 2005, will compete in one of race sponsor OnDeck's 65-foot ocean-racing yachts.

OnDeck is presenting the race with the South Carolina Maritime Foundation and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Grocery CEO resigns after arrest in child prostitution sting

(CNN) -- The chief executive officer of a Western grocery store chain resigned after he was arrested in a child prostitution sting, according to police and CNN affiliate KNXV.

Michael Gilliland, 52, was one of eight people arrested in the sting, said Steve Martos, spokesman for Phoenix police. He is accused of soliciting sex online from a girl who identified herself as a minor on Thursday, he said.

Nevertheless, "the suspect arranged a meeting with this underage female" and allegedly drove to a hotel to meet her, authorities said. "The suspect agreed to pay the underage female for sexual intercourse," police said.

Gilliand founded Wild Oats Market, which was bought by Whole Foods in 2007, and was the CEO of Sunflower Farmers Market. He was charged with felony child prostitution.

Sunflower said in a statement that Gilliland resigned from his executive position and from the company board of directors, according to KNXV.

"Sunflower appreciates the respect that Mr. Gilliland has shown for the company by his action, so that his personal affairs will not affect the company," acting CEO Chris Sherrell said in the statement.

Gilliland told the company "that he believes he is not guilty of the charges brought against him, and that he expects to be exonerated," according to the statement, KNXV reported.