Sochi: The Olympics opened last night with pageantry on a grand scale to portray the history of Mother Russia. Islands of Russian scenery and history floated on cables over the stadium as choruses sang and appeared in native costume. A severe-looking President Vladimir Putin presided over it all high in the stands as the ceremony culminated with heroes of Russian athletics lighting the Olympic flame.

  Some developments had already occurred by the time of the evening celebration. One of the top mogul skiers in the world, 21-year-old American Heidi Kloser, was knocked out of competition even before her event began. Kloser fell during a practice run, fracturing her femur and tearing both her anterior and medial collateral ligaments in one leg. Her parents said that during the ambulance ride their daughter asked whether she’s still an Olympian, and they assured her she is.

 Indian luger Shiva Keshavan fell off his sled during a 70 mph training run but managed to hop back on and finish, a feat worthy of gold.

Nation: The Michael Jackson estate is in a tax fight with the IRS over what the singer was worth when he died. The estate filed a figure of $7 million, but the IRS says it’s $1.125 billion and levied a heavy fine for gross understatement of value. The estate valued the moonwalker’s likeness at only $2,105, even though a celebrity of his stature can earn more dead than alive. Jackson was a wild spender who had taken out a $350 million loan, but he also had interest in a trust that owned his music and the Beatles’, which is like owning a printing press for money.

Winter: The NY Times reports that the harsh winter has made for a shortage in propane, the fuel to heat many homes and run livestock farms. Propane is a byproduct of natural gas. At a time when US natural gas production is at its highest level ever, the demand for both natural gas and propane is causing a spike in prices, in some cases wiping out farm profits.

Woody Denies: Movie maker Woody Allen, in a letter published online by the NY Times, denies renewed allegations by his adopted daughter Dylan that he molested her as a child. Allen wrote, “I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter’s well-being.” Allen blames his former mate Mia Farrow for implanting memories of molestation in Dylan as revenge for Allen taking up with another of Farrow’s adopted children, Soon-Yi, now married to Woody. It’s complicated. Woody said this is his last word on the subject.

Kopek for Your Thoughts: The two most prominent members of the Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot have been kicked out of the group for performing at the Amnesty International show in Brooklyn where  the audience was charged admission. Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, made the publicity rounds in New York, including appearing on “The Colbert Report.” Both spent two years in Russian prisons for “hooliganism”, but were denounced on the Pussy Riot blog, which said charging admission “is highly contradictory to the principles of Pussy Riot.” For an anarchist group they seem to have some strict rules. 

Spoiler Alert! Olympic Results: Sage Kotsenburg of Park City, Utah, is the winner in the first Olympic snowboard slopestyle. The favorite, Mark McMorris of Canada, took bronze.

– US women’s hockey beat Finand 3-1.

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