George Rene Francis died he was 112
George Rene Francis, who was listed as America’s oldest man by the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles, died of congestive heart failure at a nursing home in Sacramento, the newspaper said in a story on its website.
The Bee reported that Francis, a black man who was born in New Orleans on June 6, 1896 and grew up in the South, told the newspaper in a recent interview that he had voted with pride for Barack Obama in the November presidential election. Obama will be the first black US president when he takes office on January 20.
“I think he’s great because he’s black,” Francis told the Bee. “Because the white people thought the Negro would never be promoted. I think it’s beautiful.”
Francis, who left school after sixth grade and briefly had a career as a boxer, moved to California in 1949 and found work as a chauffeur, auto mechanic and barber.
His wife, Josephine, died in 1963 after 46 years of marriage.
The Bee reported that Francis was survived by four children, 19 grandchildren and more than 30 great-grandchildren.
With the death of Francis, Montana resident Walter Breuning becomes the country’s oldest man at 112 years and 98 days old. America’s oldest woman is 114-year-old Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles.
The oldest living person is 115-year-old Maria de Jesus of Portugal, who was born on September 10, 1893, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
A man tried to kill his girlfriend with a knife and fork
According to investigators, Arlen Arguijo was involved in an argument with his live-in girlfriend on the corner of Lake Wood Road and Kirk Road Saturday afternoon. Arguijo pulled a fork out of his pocket and tried to stab the victim several times. He then grabbed a folding knife and attempted to stab his girlfriend, telling her he would kill her and her children.
The victim sustained lacerations to her fingers as she fought to get away. A witness to the fight intervened and the victim was able to get away.
Arlen Arguijo now faces attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges.
Hubby: If you slept with my wife, get a test
A Toronto man who was infected with the HIV virus by his stripper ex-wife is pleading for other men who may have had sex with her to get tested for the disease. “I know there were other men she slept with,” Percy Whiteman claimed yesterday of his ex, Suwalee Iamkhong, who’s fighting deportation from Canada. “I am lucky that I was able to find out early.”
Iamkhong, 39, arrived in Canada from Thailand in 1995 and danced at Toronto’s Zanzibar Tavern for most of her career, which lasted until 2004.
NO EVIDENCE
While Whiteman alleges his former wife had sex with other men, no evidence has yet been presented publicly.
She was sentenced in August 2007 to three years in jail after being convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm for infecting Whiteman with HIV. Whiteman, who married Iamkhong in 1997, told court that he didn’t know she had AIDS until the woman fell ill in 2004.
The Canadian government wants to deport Iamkhong, who is being detained in an immigration holding facility. A final deportation date has not been set.
Whiteman sponsored Iamkhong and according to immigration laws, is financially responsible for her until 2011.
“I don’t think justice was fully served,” he said. “She should have been deported a long time ago for what she’s done to others.”
Whiteman has since founded Positive Survivors Living with HIV AIDS to help men in similar situations.
‘LIFE AT STAKE’
Ex-NFL Player Charged With Raping Teen Student
WRENTHAM, Mass. — A former NFL lineman and high school football coach was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail Tuesday after he was charged with raping a 15-year-old female student whose father allegedly found hundreds of text messages she received from the man.
Danny Villa, who played six seasons with the New England Patriots and was the athletic director at Walpole High School, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Wrentham District Court to three counts of rape of a child over 14 and three counts of enticing a minor. Judge Warren Powers also told Villa to stay away from the girl and her family, Walpole schools and any children under 16 except his own.
Villa’s attorney, Heather Baer, said she planned to appeal the bail decision.
Prosecutors said Villa was the girl’s basketball coach before she entered high school. The girl told police she had always been good friends with the 44-year-old Villa. more
Banker Buys $37 Million Apartment After Getting $25 Million Buyout
Peter Kraus, 55, paid the staggering sum for a five-bedroom co-op on New York’s posh Park Avenue after getting a $25 million buyout from Merrill Lynch when the company was sold to Bank of America in September, the New York Post reported.
The 15-room apartment — featuring 11-foot-high ceilings, four fireplaces, three maid’s rooms, a mahogany-paneled library and a gym upstairs — sold for twice what the previous owners, Democratic fundraisers Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, paid for it nearly two years ago, the Post reported. more
Illinois Man Arrested After Using Pay Stub as Bank Robbery Note
CHICAGO — The robber’s threatening note made a Chicago bank job easy to solve: The FBI says the suspect wrote it on his pay stub.
An FBI affidavit says the man walked into a Fifth Third Bank on Friday and handed a teller a note that read “Be Quick Be Quit [sic]. Give your cash or I’ll shoot.”
The robber got about $400 but left half of his note. Investigators found the other half outside the bank’s front doors. Authorities say that part of the man’s October pay stub had his name and address.
The suspect was arrested at his Cary home. A judge ordered him held without bond Monday. If convicted of bank robbery, he faces 20 years in prison.
Did you know this Whoopi Goldberg trivia?
Did you know that Height her height is 5′ 5″?
2000: Broke up with boyfriend of five years Frank Langella.
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Did you know that Has a tattoo of Woodstock (the bird from the Charles M. Schulz‘s “Peanuts”
Did you know that She was awarded The Annual Kennedy Centre Mark Twain Prize for Comedy? Did you know that Chimps are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror.
Did you know that:
Chimps are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror.
Starfish don’t have brains.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Shrimp’s hearts are in their heads.
Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
Who is Ashlee Nicole Wentz?
Who is Ashlee Nicole Wentz? The world knows her as Ashlee Nicole Simpson. She is now professionally known as Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, she is an American pop rock singer-songwriter, and occasional actress. Simpson-Wentz, who is the younger sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson, rose to prominence in mid-2004 through the success of her number-one début album Autobiography and the accompanying reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show. Simpson received widespread criticism when she used a pre-recorded vocal track on Saturday Night Live in October 2004. Following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released a second number-one album, I Am Me, in October 2005. Her third album, Bittersweet World, was released in April 2008. The following month, she married fellow musician Pete Wentz and announced that they were expecting a child. On November 20, 2008, Simpson-Wentz gave birth to their son, Bronx Mowgli Wentz.
Simpson was born in born October 3, 1984 in Waco, Texas, and raised in Richardson, Texas. She is the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now her manager) and Tina Ann Drew.
Ashlee attended Prairie Creek Elementary. An accomplished dancer, Simpson began studying classical ballet at the age of three, and was admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of eleven. Around that time, she suffered from an eating disorder; the condition lasted about six months, and she dropped to about 31 kg (70 pounds) at 159 cm (5 ft 2 in), but her parents then stepped in and got her to eat more. After her sister Jessica Simpson landed a record deal, the Simpson family decided to move to Los Angeles, California, where Ashlee began appearing in television commercials.
When Jessica became a star after releasing her first album, Ashlee became one of her backup dancers. Later, Ashlee began appearing in films and television series, including an episode of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 2001, a minor role in the 2002 film The Hot Chick and a recurring role, 39 episodes from 2002-2004, on the family drama series 7th Heaven.
Ashlee recorded a song called “Christmas Past, Present and Future” in 2002 for the holiday album School’s Out! Christmas, later to be re-released on Radio Disney Jingle Jams in 2004 and 2005. In the summer of 2003 she released a song titled “Just Let Me Cry” for the soundtrack of the film Freaky Friday. Eventually, Simpson signed a record deal with Geffen Records.
hen Simpson first broke onto the music scene in 2004, she was set apart from her sister’s already established image by a different musical style, different fashion choices, and a more assertive personality. Simpson’s songs have been characterized by rock elements absent from her sister’s music, and, particularly during the time of her initial stardom, Simpson would often wear outfits highlighting a more rock or punk-influenced sense of style. Her fingernails and toenails have often been painted black. Over time, Simpson has moved toward more typically feminine styles. In March 2008, she said that “I like to get dressed up now, and that’s something I’ve never been into before” and “I like to be feminine and sexy.” According to Simpson, in her sense of style she tends to “mix and match”.Previously blonde like Jessica, she dyed her hair dark during the recording of the MTV reality show after she finished filming for the 7th Heaven television series. In November 2004, she debuted a shorter haircut with the same dark color. Following the end of her Autobiography tour, in early May 2005 she moved back to a blonde color; she remained blonde until January 2008, when she appeared with a red hair color.
She has seven tattoos: a star on one wrist, two cherries on her ankle, the word “love” on her other wrist, the number “3” added to one wrist in 2007, and a large peony flower on one wrist in early March 2008.
Simpson and her sister were tied for third on oft-quoted celebrity-fashion critic Richard Blackwell’s list of the worst-dressed celebrities of 2004. Blackwell quipped that “from gaudy to grim to downright frenetic these two prove that bad taste is positively genetic.”
Simpson’s relationship with actor Josh Henderson lasted for nearly two years and was shown ending in the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show. Soon after, she began dating fellow musician Ryan Cabrera. That relationship was also featured on the show, and Simpson appeared as Cabrera’s love interest in the music video for his song “On the Way Down”. The two were reported to have split in August 2004 due to their hectic schedules, but they resumed their relationship for a while afterward, before ending it again in early 2005. Simpson said afterward that they were still friends, although rumors suggested that Simpson did not like the fact that Ryan had moved on to Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas.
At the beginning of her music career, Simpson said that she would not discuss her sex life, in contrast with her sister, who had openly stated her intention to practice sexual abstinence until marriage. “I decided that I didn’t want to talk about that because it’s super personal,” Simpson said of the situation.
In 2005, rumors began circulating that Simpson was in a relationship with Wilmer Valderrama, who previously was involved with Lindsay Lohan. Simpson’s single “Boyfriend” was reported to be about the situation, but she said that the song “is about [how] every girl out there sometimes thinks you stole her boyfriend. It’s just making fun of that.” Valderrama subsequently said on Howard Stern’s radio program that he had sex with Simpson, but claimed the incident was unrelated to his break-up with Lohan. Later that year, rumours arose that Simpson was secretly dating another Joe Simpson-managed actor, Viva La Bam’s Chris Raab. In February 2006, she told Seventeen magazine that she was dating bandmate Braxton Olita and went on a 10-day vacation with him to Hawaii.
In November 2005, eTalk broadcast a video of a late-night visit made by Simpson to a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant in Toronto, Canada. Simpson appeared to be intoxicated in the video, and was shown arguing with an employee, as well as rejecting a customer’s attempt to get an autograph from her because he wouldn’t kiss her feet. According to Simpson in a 2006 Elle interview, she was “a little tipsy”, and the customer had first called her “gross” before he had realized who she was, at which point he asked her for an autograph. She said that she told herself to “grow up” after the incident.
In February 2006, Simpson was honored by MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL), as the “Bounce-Back” artist. The award was given to her for being able to recover from the negative moments of her career and release another #1 platinum album.
Simpson reportedly had a nose job in April 2006. When asked about it in an interview in May, Simpson neither confirmed nor denied it. In the May 2007 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, she said that she was not insecure about her appearance and had not been beforehand. She said that plastic surgery was a “personal choice” that one should only decide to do for oneself and not for others. Joe Simpson said of the surgery in a September 2007 interview that “there was a real problem with her breathing and that was cured”. In March 2008, she said that “as long as people have two eyes” they could determine whether she had a nose job.
In the June 2007 edition of Cosmopolitan, Simpson said that she hasn’t lip synched since her Saturday Night Live incident, that she has “a little crush on Christian Slater”, feels sexiest in bed, and that you can and can’t have a good relationship without amazing sex.
Simpson was ranked as one of the “Hottest Women in Pop/R&B” by Blender in January 2007. She was later voted as number 16 in Maxim’s 2007 Hot 100 list.
In June 2006, it was reported that Simpson seriously considered but later turned down a $4 million offer to pose nude for Playboy.
In early September 2006, Us Weekly reported that Simpson and Braxton Olita had split up. Simpson’s rep said that the couple “broke up about a week ago. They have decided to take a break.”
Eventually the two began to acknowledge the relationship. In mid-2007 Wentz spoke about their relationship to InTouch magazine, saying of Simpson that “I have never met somebody who makes me feel the way she makes me feel”, although he denied rumors of engagement.Simpson has since discussed their relationship in a number of magazine interviews, including the September 2007 issue of Seventeen magazine and the December 2007/January 2008 issue of CosmoGIRL!. In March 2008, Simpson and Wentz presented the award for Favorite Reality Show at the 2008 Kids’ Choice Awards.
The couple announced that they were engaged on April 9, 2008. Simpson had previously been wearing what she described as a “promise ring” from Wentz for several months. On April 14, Us Weekly and OK! magazine reported that Simpson is pregnant. Wentz promptly denied this in an e-mail to MTV News, although Simpson, in an interview the next day, chose not to confirm or deny the report, saying that it was something to “keep personal”, and on TRL she noted that rumors claiming she was pregnant had been appearing for so long that, if they were all true, she “would have had a baby by now”. Due to the marriage, Ashlee has legally changed her name from Simpson to Wentz with her stage name changing to “Wentz”. Simpson says:“I think that that’s something that a woman should do when they’re marrying a man. It’s a tradition that I think is a great tradition.”
On May 28, 2008, Simpson and Pete Wentz announced on Fall Out Boy’s official website that they are expecting their first child. “While many have speculated about this, we wanted to wait until the press was gone to have our first child. This is truly the most joyous time in our lives and we are excited to share the happy news and start our family.” On November 20, 2008, Simpson gave birth to their son, Bronx Mowgli Wentz.
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Who is Eva Jacqueline Longoria Parker
Who ia Eva Jacqueline Longoria Parker? The world knows her as Eva Longoria an American film and television actress. She rose to fame by playing Isabella Braña Williams on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. She now plays Gabrielle Solis in the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, and stars in the film Over Her Dead Body. She has also become a nationally recognized model after appearing in several high-profile advertising campaigns and numerous men’s magazines, reaching #14 in the FHM “Sexiest Women 2008” poll. Longoria is also known for her relationship with NBA guard Tony Parker, whom she married in 2007.
Longoria Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born March 15, 1970 in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, 
Texas, the daughter of Mexican-American Catholic parents, Enrique Longoria, Jr. (born in Rachal, Brooks County, Texas) and Ella Eva Mireles (married in Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas). Eva’s ancestry traces to Southern Mexican immigrants who immigrated to the USA.
She is the youngest of four daughters, her sisters being Elizabeth Judina, Emily Jeannette, and Esmeralda Josephina. The family lived and worked on farmland that had been handed down to them from past generations, but they often had very little money; Enrique and Ella struggled for many years to give their children a decent upbringing. Longoria showed viewers an introspect into the hardship she faced in her formative years growing up poor on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006; she took cameras on location to the family farm and showed how spartan they were still living. Longoria admitted that only when she made it in show business did things begin to look better for them financially. In an interview with Dateline’s Stone Phillips, Longoria also revealed the snubbing she received from her siblings. She said “I grew up as the ugly duckling. They used to call me ‘la prieta fea,’ which means ‘the ugly dark one.'”
Longoria originally wanted to be a fashion model and sent in photos to a modelling agency but was declined because of her height. Longoria attended Marvin P. Baker Middle School and later Roy Miller High School; she subsequently received her Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology at nearby Texas A&M University-Kingsville. During this time, she won the title of Miss Corpus Christi, USA in 1998. After completing college, Longoria entered a talent contest that led her to Los Angeles; shortly after, she was spotted and signed by a theatrical agent.
Longoria landed her first television role in 2000, guest-starring in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. Another guest appearance in General Hospital the same year brought her big break on the popular American soap opera The Young and the Restless, in which she played psychotic Isabella Braña Williams from 2001 to 2003. People en Español listed her among its “Most Beautiful People” for 2003. After leaving The Young and the Restless, she was seen on the now-cancelled Dick Wolf revival of Dragnet. Although it lasted only two seasons, the show gave Longoria another leading star credit to her name. Following Dragnet, she starred in two ill-fated productions – Señorita Justice, a poorly received direct-to-video film, and a television film titled The Dead Will Tell. In 2004, Longoria landed a role that elevated her to the A-List. She starred as adulteress Gabrielle Solis in the worldwide break-out ABC hit Desperate Housewives. As the show became an overnight sensation, Longoria’s career was well and truly launched. But she has never considered her career to have jumped off so suddenly: “I think it’s funny when people say I’m an overnight sensation, because I’ve been working at it for 10 years.”
Shortly after her debut on Desperate Housewives, Longoria starred in a poorly received direct-to-video film titled Carlita’s Secret, for which she was also co-producer. In 2005, she was rewarded for her performance as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives when she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy along with her co-stars. Even though neither Longoria nor any of the rest of the cast won, she was awarded the ALMA Award and named entertainer of the year. She also starred opposite Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland in the 2006 thriller The Sentinel, which was her first major role in a theatrical movie. In 2006 she played the character Sylvia in Harsh Times starring Freddy Rodriguez and Christian Bale.
Longoria continues to be included in lists of Hollywood’s Most Beautiful and was listed #1 in Maxim’s Hottest Female Stars of 2005 and 2006, becoming the first woman to top the list in two consecutive years. She was ranked #9 in the magazine’s Hot 100 of 2007 list. In honor of Maxim’s 100th issue in 2006, Longoria was featured on a 75-by-110-foot vinyl mesh replica of its January 2005 cover located in the Las Vegas desert. It has been rumored that she will play Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp in the upcoming Avengers film due to the fact that she has been spotted reading core Avengers titles such as The New Avengers annual and Marvel Adventures: Avengers.
In January 2007, Longoria was chosen to be the first face of Bebe Sport. She appeared in the Spring/Summer 2007 campaign, photographed by Greg Kadel. The actress also holds model contracts with L’Oreal and Hanes, New York & Co.
She also has started a contract with Magnum Ice-Cream and with L’Oréal. She is also part of Microsoft’s “I’m A PC” ad campaign
On November 30, 2006, she became engaged to Spurs point guard Tony Parker. The couple were officially married on July 7, 2007, because French law requires couples who marry to make their vows official at a city hall. They had their lavish church wedding on July 7, 2007, in Paris. Their marriage had its first ordeal when the French model Alexandra Paressant claimed to have had an affair with Parker.In 2008, Longoria opened a restaurant in Los Angeles called Beso, which translates to “kiss” in Spanish.
Longoria owns a house in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Dell neighborhood that she purchased in 2006 for $3.6 million.
Longoria also owns a house in the Velano Country Club in Chino Hills, California
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Jena 6′ figure shoots himself
Monroe police Sgt. Cassandra Wooten said the wound was not life-threatening.
Bell was one of six black teenagers who faced adult felony charges in the 2006 beating of a white classmate in the town of Jena. The beating followed months of racial tensions in the community of 3,000 after three white students hung a noose in a tree whose shade was traditionally off limits to blacks at Jena High School. more
Who is Rebecca Alie Romijn
Who is Rebecca Alie Romijn? Rebecca is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her role as Alexis Meade on the hit show, Ugly Betty.
She was born born November 6, 1972 in Berkeley, California, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Kuizenga), a public school English teacher and textbook author, and Jaap Romijn, a custom furniture maker. Her father, a native of Barneveld, the Netherlands, is Dutch, and her mother is a second-generation Dutch American who met Romijn’s father while studying in Europe. Romijn’s maternal grandfather, Dr. Henry B. Kuizenga, was a Presbyterian minister and seminary professor. Her maternal grandmother is first cousins with Dorothy Letterman, David Letterman’s mother. Many sources say that she was once nicknamed the “Jolly Blonde Giant” but she has admitted to making that up ‘for a laugh’,and because she is almost 6 ft. tall. While studying music (voice) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she became involved with fashion modeling and eventually moved to Paris for more than two years. She stands 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m) tall.
Among other jobs, Romijn modeled for the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated and for Victoria’s Secret. She also was the host of MTV’s House of Style from 1998 to 2000. Rebecca is a fixture on annual lists of the world’s most beautiful women by publications such as Maxim (2003–2007), AskMen.com (2001–2003, 2005–2006) and FHM (2000–2005).[10] She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled “Chinatown.”
In 2000’s X-Men, Romijn had her first major movie role as Mystique; she returned to the role in 2003’s sequel X2: X-Men United, and again for X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). In these movies her costume consisted of blue makeup and some strategically placed prosthetics on her otherwise nude body. In X2: X-Men United she shows up in a bar in one scene in her “normal” look, and also in X-Men: The Last Stand, she appears as a dark-haired “de-powered” Mystique. She had her first leading role in Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale (2002). She also has starred in movies such as Rollerball, The Punisher and Godsend. She played the leading role in Pepper Dennis, a short-lived TV series on The WB. This series showcased Romijn’s talents for comedy, singing, modeling, drama, and adventure.
In January 2007, Romijn made her first appearance on the ABC series Ugly Betty as a full time regular. She plays Alexis Meade, a male-to-female transsexual and the sibling of lead character Daniel Meade. In April 2008, however, it was reported that Romijn would only be appearing as a recurring character in season 3 due to a change in direction by the writing staff. In November 2007, Romijn made a guest appearance on the ABC series Carpoolers, where she played the ex-wife of the character Laird, played by her real-life husband Jerry O’Connell.
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She married actor John Stamos on September 19, 1998. During her marriage, she used the name Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in both her personal and professional life. The couple announced their separation on April 12, 2004, and divorced on March 1, 2005. She has since returned to using her birth name.
Romijn was asked by Elle magazine in April 2002 whether making Femme Fatale had given her any new ideas about her sexuality. She said, “You know, in my early twenties I wondered if I was interested in women and so I kind of, well … did my homework. [Grins] And it turns out I’m pretty straight”.
On September 19, 2005, Rebecca announced her engagement to actor Jerry O’Connell. The date of the announcement was controversial, as it would have been her seventh anniversary with Stamos, if not for their divorce. On July 14, 2007, Romijn married O’Connell in Ojai, California.
On July 28, 2008, it was announced that Romijn is pregnant. According to Us Weekly magazine, she and O’Connell are expecting twins due in the winter. People magazine reports that the babies are girls, conceived without the assistance of fertility drugs. They are planning on naming one of the girls Dolly after Dolly Parton. more
DNA test doesn’t stop Oklahoma man’s child support liability
“She said, ‘Yeah, 100 percent sure you’re the dad,’ so I didn’t question it past that,” the man said.
But that man, who asked to remain anonymous because of pending litigation, says testing shows otherwise. He provided The Oklahoman with a copy of genetic test results dated Nov. 10 from Identigene showing he is not the father. State law, though, compels him to continue paying child support even though he’s not a biological parent — and there are more like him.
Nearly 25 percent of about 3,000 paternity tests conducted by the state Department of Human Services from July 2007 through June ruled out the supposed father as the biological parent. Nationally, that number reaches nearly 30 percent, according to the American Association of Blood Banks.
State limitsDHS only performs genetic testing within the first two years of a child’s life, which is the state limit on contesting paternity.
After the two years, “it comes into the best interests of the child and protecting the child to ensure that there’s a source of reliable support,” said Jeff Wagner, spokesman for the DHS Child Support Enforcement Division.
The child the Oklahoma man pays child support for is nearly 5 years old. more
Freddie Hubbard (Jazz Great) Died he was 70
Then in May 1961, Hubbard played on Ole Coltrane, John Coltrane’s final recording session with Atlantic Records. Together with Eric Dolphy, Hubbard was the only ‘session’ musician who appeared on both Ole and Africa Brass, Coltrane’s first album with ABC/Impulse! Later, in August 1961, Hubbard made one of his most famous records, Ready for Freddie, which was also his first collaboration with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Hubbard would join Shorter later in 1961 when he replaced Lee Morgan in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He played on several Blakey recordings, including Caravan, Ugetsu, Mosaic, and Free For All. Hubbard remained with Blakey until 1966, leaving to form the first of several small groups of his own, which featured, among others, pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Louis Hayes.
It was during this time that he began to develop his own sound, distancing himself from the early influences of Clifford Brown and Morgan, and won the Downbeat jazz magazine “New Star” award on trumpet.
Throughout the 1960s Hubbard played as a sideman on some of the most important albums from that era, including, Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, and Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil. He recorded extensively for Blue Note Records in the 1960s: eight albums as a bandleader, and twenty-eight as a sideman. Though Hubbard never fully embraced the free jazz of the ’60s, he appeared on several landmark albums in the genre: Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch, and John Coltrane’s Ascension.
Hubbard achieved his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of albums for Creed Taylor and his record label CTI Records. Although his early 1970s jazz albums Red Clay, First Light, Straight Life, and Sky Dive were particularly well received and considered among his best work, the albums he recorded later in the decade were attacked by critics for their commercialism. First Light won a 1972 Grammy Award and included pianists Herbie Hancock and Richard Wyands, guitarists Eric Gale and George Benson, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Airto Moreira. In 1994, Freddie, collaborating with Chicago jazz vocalist/co-writer Catherine Whitney, had lyrics set to the music of First Light.
During 1970-1974 Hubbard was the biggest star of the CTI label, overshadowing Stanley Turrentine, Hubert Laws, and George Benson.[8] Columbia’s VSOP: The Quintet, album was recorded from two live performances, one at the Hearst Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977, the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977. Musicians joining the trumpeter for this landmark performance were the members of the mid-sixties line-up of the Miles Davis Quintet (except the leader): Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophones.
In the 1980s Hubbard was again leading his own jazz group, attracting very favorable notices for his playing at concerts and festivals in the USA and Europe, often in the company of Joe Henderson, playing a repertory of hard-bop and modal-jazz pieces. Hubbard played at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival in 1980 and in 1989 (with Bobby Hutcherson). He played with Woody Shaw, recording with him in 1985, and two years later recorded Stardust with Benny Golson. In 1988 he teamed up once more with Blakey at an engagement in Holland, from which came Feel the Wind. In 1990 he appeared in Japan headlining an American-Japanese concert package which also featured Elvin Jones, Sonny Fortune, pianists George Duke and Benny Green, bass players Ron Carter, and Rufus Reid, with jazz and popular music singer Salena Jones. He also performed at the Warsaw Jazz Festival at which Live at the Warsaw Jazz Festival (Jazzmen 1992) was recorded.
Following a long setback of health problems and a serious lip injury in 1992 where he ruptured his upper lip and subsequently developed an infection, Hubbard was again playing and recording occasionally, even if not at the high level that he set for himself during his earlier career. His best records ranked with the finest in his field.
In 2006, The National Endowment for the Arts honored Hubbard with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award.
On December 29, 2008, Hubbard’s hometown newspaper, The Indianapolis Star reported that Hubbard died from complications from a heart attack suffered on November 26 of the same year. Billboard magazine reported that Hubbard died in Sherman Oaks, California. more
Who is Taylor Alison Swift?
Who is Taylor Alison Swift? Swift is an American country pop singer. Signed to the independent Big Machine Records label in 2006, she made her debut on the Billboard country charts with the release of her debut single “Tim McGraw”. This song, which peaked at #6, was the first of five singles from her self-titled debut, which was released in late 2006 and re-issued in 2007, and has been certified 3× Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. Following “Tim McGraw” were the #2 “Teardrops on My Guitar”, the six-week Number One “Our Song”, the #3 “Picture to Burn” and another Number One in “Should’ve Said No”. All five singles from her debut were Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, as was her song “Change” from the AT&T TEAM USA Soundtrack. Her second album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008 and its lead-off single “Love Story” has become her highest Hot 100 hit. The New York Times names Swift “one of pop’s finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and [is] more in touch with her inner life than most adults”.
Swift was born December 13, 1989 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Scott and Andrea Swift. She has one younger brother, Austin.Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a stock broker father and stay-at-home mother. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page long poem entitled “Monster In My Closet”. At the age of ten, Swift began to perform around her home town, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs, and also started writing songs.
Swift’s singing influences include her grandmother and LeAnn Rimes. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Taylor’s tastes always ran more toward country and she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age. She also credits the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain for demonstrating how much impact can be made by “stretching boundaries”.
At age eleven, Swift made her first trip to Nashville hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label on Music Row. Swift faced rejection, not just from record labels, but also from her peers. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament; her rendition of the national anthem completely moved the crowd.
Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was 12. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was 14, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb. When Swift was 15, she walked away from a development deal with RCA Records because the company wasn’t interested in her recording her own songs. Swift then performed at Nashville’s songwriters’ venue, The Bluebird Café, catching the attention of Scott Borchetta who signed her to his newly-formed record label, Big Machine Records. She also became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house
Swift has surpassed the 133 million mark for music streams on MySpace. She is currently ranked in the Top 10 for the most MySpace visits for all genres of music, and is MySpace’s current top-ranking Country artist. Swift is the most searched musical artist on MySpace in 2008.
Regarding “Tim McGraw”, Swift said, “I wrote the song in my freshman year of high school. I was dating a guy who was about to go off to college. I knew we were going to break up so I started thinking of all the things that I knew would remind him of me. Surprisingly, the first thing that came to mind was that my favorite country artist is Tim McGraw.” “Tim McGraw” peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for the week of January 27, 2007. The song’s music video set a record by appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC’s fan-voted weekly Top 20 music countdown show, and reached number one on CMT’s video charts. The video also won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of “GAC Short Cuts”, a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country music channel.
On May 15, 2007, Swift performed “Tim McGraw” at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. On August 21, 2007, Swift performed live on the season finale of America’s Got Talent.
The second single from the Taylor Swift album, “Teardrops on My Guitar”, was released February 24, 2007. The song was inspired by a true event during her time in high school in which she liked a boy named “Drew Hardwick.” He only saw Swift as a friend and a go-to person for advice about his relationship with his girlfriend. She noted she heard “through the grapevine” that Drew is well aware the song was written about him. “Teardrops on My Guitar” originally made its peak positions in Summer 2007, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Country Chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released to the Hot 100 and Pop 100 in late 2007 with a Pop remix that brought “Teardrops on My Guitar” to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100.
In October 2007, Swift’s songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter/Artist of the Year Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.
On November 7, 2007, Swift won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed “Our Song,” the third single from her album, which would go on to become her first #1 song the week of December 22, 2007, where it leaped up from the #6 spot. This was the biggest jump to Number One since January 1998, when Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile”, also jumped from #6 to #1. “Our Song” spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts and also peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the Billboard Pop 100.
Swift also recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, that was released October 16, 2007, exclusively available at Target stores. The album, which was not as successful as her self-titled debut, featured both holiday classics such as “Last Christmas” and original songs written by Swift.
Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift’s successful single, “Picture to Burn” was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted early in 2008 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Chart in the spring of 2008.
Swift was cover girl of Seventeen in the June 2008 issue. She was also named number fifty-two on Maxim’s sexiest women of ’08.
Big Machine Records announced the release of “Should’ve Said No” on Monday, May 19. The song is the fifth and final single from Swift’s debut album. She performed it on 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. The performance started off with her dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, but soon after a short black halter dress was revealed. In the last minute of the song, she went backstage to perform the final verse under a cascading waterfall. Swift had wanted to do that performance on stage with the water and the change of clothes since she was ten years old.[28]
In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album at #2 the same week, Swift became the first artist to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart since LeAnn Rimes did so in 1997.
In July 2008, Swift graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, TN which offers a home schooling program. “Should’ve Said No” became her second Number One single for the chart dated August 23, 2008. more
Who is Maria Menounos?
Who is Maria Menounos? She is an Greek American actress, journalist, and television presenter known at home for her appearances as a correspondent for The Today Show and Access Hollywood, and abroad for Lal Kostas co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece.
Menounos, a Greek American, was born June 8, 1978in Medford, Massachusetts, and is fluent in the Greek language. At age 17, she was an employee of Dunkin’ Donuts with aspirations to be something more. Menounos attended the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. In 1995, Menounos began to compete in beauty pageants. The following year, she won the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA and competed at Miss Teen USA where she failed to place in the top 10. Menounos did however place in the top 15, receiving an honorary mention, during the preliminary competition; Menounos placed 13th in preliminaries. The pageant was won by Christie Lee Woods. Maria would go on to compete for the title of Miss Massachusetts USA 2000; she placed as the 1st runner up.
Entertainment Tonight hired Menounos as a correspondent in 2002, where she reported on movies, music and fashion. ET executives offered her a hosting gig for ET on MTV & VH1; she left the program in 2005 to focus on her acting career, though she would eventually join rival program Access Hollywood later that Fall as a special correspondent. She went on to co-host a few episodes of the Today Show in the late summer and fall of 2006 as well as in April 2007.
In 2003, Menounos appeared on the November 30 episode of Punk’d where she was one of many celebrities caught in the awkward and embarrassing “Red Carpet Interviews”.
In the summer of 2005, she appeared in the comic book film Fantastic Four, where she played a nurse who is romanced by the “Human Torch”, played by Chris Evans. Her likeness and voice was featured in the 2005 Electronic Arts video game, From Russia with Love as Eva Adara, Red Grant’s henchwoman, which stars Sean Connery as James Bond. She is also the spokesperson for Pantene hair products.
Menounos signing autographs at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada.
Menounos presented the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest (along with Greek singer Sakis Rouvas) that took place in Athens.
Menounos is a correspondent for The Today Show as well as Access Hollywood in an overall deal with NBC Universal to act in films and television shows. She also has recurring roles on CBS’ Without a Trace and as Jules in the second season of The CW’s One Tree Hill (during its run on The WB).
Menounos also appeared on the Scrubs episode “My Extra Mile”, which aired in May 2006 where she is attracted to John Dorian because she likes his hair.
In 2006, Menounos appeared in the music video for “A Public Affair” by Jessica Simpson. In April 27, 2007, Maria starred in Kickin’ It Old Skool. In 2007, Menounos continued in her run as international spokesperson doing print and television commercials for Pantene hair products as well as print ads for New York & Company.
On December 17 – December 20, 2007, Menounos hosted the reality game show miniseries Clash of the Choirs.
In 2008, she became the host of “Hollywood Green” on the “Planet Green” network. “Maria Menounos brings glamour to green living as the hostess of Hollywood Green. Both as the special correspondent for daily entertainment newsmagazine “Access Hollywood,” and on Hollywood Green, Maria provides TV viewers with comprehensive coverage of entertainment and news personalities.”
In 2008, she also had a very memorable role in the movie Tropic Thunder.
In 2008, she became the first journalist to interview the entire Obama family as a whole. She is represented by Creative Artists Agency.
In May 2008, played in the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Huntington Beach Open, but was eliminated in the qualifying round. On July 13, 2008, Menounos starred in the celebrity softball game at Yankee Stadium in New York. more
Man Robs Bank with his check stub, arrested
CHICAGO — The robber’s threatening note made a Chicago bank job easy to solve: The FBI says the suspect wrote it on his pay stub.
An FBI affidavit says the man walked into a Fifth Third Bank on Friday and handed a teller a note that read “Be Quick Be Quit . Give your cash or I’ll shoot.”
The robber got about $400 but left half of his note. Investigators found the other half outside the bank’s front doors. Authorities say that part of the man’s October pay stub had his name and address.
The suspect was arrested at his Cary home. A judge ordered him held without bond Monday. If convicted of bank robbery, he faces 20 years in prison.
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