Archive for September, 2010

Randy & Evi Quaid ARRESTED For Burglary

Monday, September 20th, 2010

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Actor Randy Quaid and his wife are facing burglary charges in California after the owner of the couple's old house reported they had been living there without permission.

A representative of the property owner called Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies Saturday afternoon to report that squatters had been staying in the guest house illegally. When deputies arrived at the house that evening, they found Randy and Evi Quaid, who said they had owned the property since the 1990s.

The property owner's representative provided documents that showed his client had bought the home in 2007 from a man who had purchased it from the Quaids several years earlier. A contractor showed police more than $5,000 in damages to the guest house that he believed was caused by the Quaids.

Police arrested the Quaids on charges of felony residential burglary and entering a noncommercial building without consent, a misdemeanor. Police also charged Evi Quaid, 47, with resisting arrest.

Bail was set at $50,000 each. Messages left with Quaid's attorney and agent were not immediately returned Sunday.

Last September, the couple was charged with defrauding an innkeeper of more than $10,000 as well as conspiracy and burglary after an invalid credit card was used at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Arnie Tolks had said an invalid card also was used at The Biltmore, a luxury resort in Santa Barbara.

Felony charges were later dropped against Randy Quaid, 59. Evi Quaid pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper and was sentenced to three years' probation. She was also ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.

Morgan Freeman & Myrna Colley-Lee DIVORCE Final

Saturday, September 18th, 2010

JACKSON, Miss. — Actor Morgan Freeman and his wife have finalized their divorce in Mississippi.

A Tallahatchie County judge entered the divorce decree on Sept. 15, William R. Wright, an attorney who represented Freeman, told The Associated Press. Terms of the divorce are sealed, Wright said.

"It was done without a trial," Wright said Friday. "Everybody is glad it's over."

Freeman and his now ex-wife, Myrna Colley-Lee, had separated in December 2007 after 26 years of marriage. The divorce was filed under seal in July 2008.

Wright said both Freeman and Colley-Lee live in Tallahatchie County in northern Mississippi where Freeman has a ranch near Charleston. Colley-Lee is a theater and film costume designer.

Kay Farese Turner of Memphis, Tenn., who represented Colley-Lee, said Friday that both parties "were relieved and pleased with the terms of the settlement."

Turner said Colley-Lee decided to remain in Mississippi because she has been active in the Charleston area with the schools and various arts programs.

"She has lots and lots of friends there and she had decided to stay there," Turner said.

The couple married on June 16, 1984.

Obama Administration To Require Abandoned Oil And Gas Wells Plugged, Idle Platforms Dismantled In Gulf Of Mexico

Friday, September 17th, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Wednesday it will require oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico to plug nearly 3,500 nonproducing wells and dismantle about 650 production platforms that are no longer used.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said a formal notice to leaseholders should make energy production in the Gulf safer and prevent potentially catastrophic leaks at wells that in some cases have been abandoned for decades.

Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, and other officials said the initiative was under consideration long before the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers and led to the spill of more than 200 million gallons of oil from an undersea well.

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lie beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and more than 1,200 oil rigs and platforms sit idle. An Associated Press investigation showed that many of the wells have been ignored for decades, with no one checking for leaks.

The order issued Wednesday requires operators to plug wells that been inactive for the past five years. Production platforms and pipelines must be decommissioned if they are not being used for exploration or production, even under an active lease.

The order addresses what is known in the oil and gas industry as "idle iron": wells, platforms and pipelines that are no longer used for production or exploration and do not serve a useful economic function.

Federal regulations require idle structures to be decommissioned – a process that involves plugging wells and dismantling and removing platform structures and pipelines – within one year of the lease's expiration date.

Historically, oil and gas producers have asserted that certain idle platforms, wells and pipelines were still valuable, because they might one day be used to support other active wells nearby. Oil companies have been reluctant to plug the wells and remove the infrastructure until the associated lease expired – sometimes years after the structures were out of use.

UM, DUH. Jessica Tells BF Eric Johnson ‘I Have A Major Crush On You!’

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Jessica Simpson Jess gushes about her man – AGAIN! Is it TMI? Or totally cute?
When is Jessica Simpson going to start playing it cool and stop gushing about her BF, Eric Johnson? The 30-year-old singer posted a pic of her hot new man on Twitter Sept. 14 with the caption, “I have a major crush on you.” OBVS!

Jess can’t seem to hold back from revealing all about her love life, especially when it comes to her obvious lust for Eric, a 30-year-old former NFL tight end, whom she started dating earlier this summer. In fact, just last month she tweeted yet another photo of she and her baller kissing with the caption: “YUM!”

Although we’re happy that Jess is happy, we think she should refrain from publicly going gaga for her man. That is NOT a good way to play it even semi-cool! What do you think, BFFs? Is Jess the queen of the overshare, or is she just adorably gushy about the dude she’s with?

Arizona Immigration Law Architects Turn Sights On 14th Amendment, Birthright Citizenship

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

s-ARIZONA-14TH-AMENDMENT-large300 Two of the legislative brains behind Arizona's controversial SB 1070 immigration law are now seeking to draft a bill that would cut down 14th Amendment protections, including perhaps the guarantee of birthright citizenship, provided to the children of illegal immigrants.

State Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, and Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, both sponsors of the state's recently passed strict immigration law, are spearheading a new effort to create legislation that, according to the Arizona Republic, "targets the children, possibly by adding notation on their state birth certificates that would identify them as children of illegal immigrants."

Though the final details have not been hammered out, and the Arizona Republic reports that any such bill would not be proposed until at least January, both Pearce and Kavanagh appear confident that the current dynamic of state and national politics makes it a promising time for the passage of such a measure.

If passed, however, the state of Arizona could be tempting additional lawsuits from the federal government, which has already mounted multiple legal challenges against SB 1070.

According to the Arizona Republic:

States have oversight over birth certificates and, to an extent, over who can receive state services, but citizenship is a federal issue. Creating different birth certificates, or giving different people different levels of access to state services based on information on birth certificates, would open the state to federal lawsuits. The lawsuits could argue that the state is pre-empting federal authority and violating federal laws that say all citizens are due equal protection.
But that might be exactly where the architects want their current plans to lead. According to Rep. Kavanagh, the ultimate goal of the legislation would be to get the Supreme Court to reconsider the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which allows for any child born in the United States to be given American citizenship.

Gay Saudi Diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, Seeks Asylum In U.S.

Monday, September 13th, 2010

WASHINGTON — A Saudi diplomat in Los Angeles reportedly has asked for political asylum in the United States, claiming his life is in danger if he is returned to Saudi Arabia.

The report Saturday by NBC News quoted the diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, as saying that Saudi officials have ordered him back to his country because he is gay and had become a close friend to a Jewish woman. Asseri in a letter also reportedly criticized the role of militant imams in Saudi society.

NBC said that Asseri, who is first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, was questioned by the Department of Homeland Security after he applied for asylum. The department declined comment to The Associated Press when asked about the diplomat. A call to Asseri's lawyer was not returned Saturday.

Yale's Top 3 Investment Officers Earned A Combined $10 Million In 2008-2009

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

s-YALE-UNIVERSITY-SALARIES-large Even though Yale's endowment saw a 33.9 percent decline from 2008 to 2009, its three lead managers collected more than $10 million in salary and benefits, the Yale Daily News reports.

Chief Investment Officer David Swensen and his deputy Dean Takahashi earned $5.3 million and $3.5 million respectively. Both received substantial raises from the previous year.

The Daily News has more:

The Internal Revenue Service form shows that the bulk of Swensen and Takahashi's earnings come from bonuses and incentives, which Yale doles out based on the long-term performance of Yale's endowment. In the fiscal year ending in June 2008, the endowment grew just 4.5 percent. The result was disappointing after performance in previous years, when Yale's endowment regularly jumped more than 20 percent in a single year, but the figure looked good a year later when the endowment fell by 24.6 percent during the fiscal year ending in June 2009.
In March, Hammond Associates Higher Education Group Director Richard Anderson praised Swenson's overall management style: "Swensen took risks and had a lot of real assets, and those returns were terrible," Anderson said. "But the real story is how Yale has done over the long term, and Swensen's done terrifically."

According to the IRS report, University President Richard Levin took home $1.5 million, making him the third-highest paid Yale employee.

Apple Shares App Store Review Guidelines, Relaxes iOS Development Restrictions

Friday, September 10th, 2010

s-STEVE-JOBS-large300 YORK — Apple Inc. on Thursday gave software developers the guidelines it uses to determine which programs can be sold in its App Store, yet it reserved for itself broad leeway in deciding what makes the cut.

The move follows more than two years of complaints from developers about the company's secret and seemingly capricious rules, which block some programs from the store and hence Apple's popular iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices.

The guidelines go some way toward addressing those complaints and broadening the discussion about Apple's custodianship of the App Store.

Software developer Nate Weiner said the approval process has always been "a black hole." A minor update to his Read It Later app, which saves Web pages, was rejected by the App Store for an unusual reason – it required user registration – and he had a hard time getting a response from the company.

"If you submit an app, you have no idea what's going to happen," he said. "You have no idea when it's going to be approved or if it's going to be approved."

The guidelines should be a big help, especially for novice developers, he said.

The rules consist of a long checklist, specifying, for example, that "apps that rapidly drain the device's battery or generate excessive heat will be rejected." Also bound to be rejected are "apps containing 'rental' content or services that expire after a limited time."

But some of the guidelines leave much for developers to figure out.

"We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, 'I'll know it when I see it'. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it," the guidelines say.

SPOILER ALERT! ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Chyler Leigh Spills: Lexie Grey Has ‘A Complete Breakdown’ In Season 7!

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

090810_Chyler_Leigh_544_XXXX Lexie’s totally scarred after her near-death experience at the end of last season!
Chyler Leigh’s character Dr. Lexie Grey has always seemed the most put together out of the Grey’s Anatomy cast — the only questionable act she has ever committed was changing her hair from brunette to blonde in season six — but that’s all about to change in the upcoming seventh season! Lexie “ends up having a complete breakdown and having to go into the psych ward,” Chyler shared during a Sept. 8 conference call for her new Lifetime movie, The 19th Wife.

“Right when we come back into it, you will start seeing the trauma manifest for every character,” Chyler said. And for Lexie, this means losing her mind.

In the two-part sixth season finale titled “Sanctuary” and “Death and All His Friends,” we saw Lexie’s world literally shatter when a shooter invaded Seattle Grace Hospital and go on a killing rampage. And Lexie’s newest love interest Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) was right in the line of fire! After finding him almost bleeding to death, Lexie finally told Alex that she loves him, much to her ex-boyfriend Dr. Mark Sloan’s (Eric Dane) disgust — he confessed to Lexie that he wanted her back. And even after Alex mistakes Lexie for his lost love Izzie (Katherine Heigl), Lexie remained by his side. This is exactly where season seven picks up.

Lexie, who has a well-noted photographic memory, “can’t shut her brain off so she can’t sleep,” Chyler told us. “She’s trying to rationalize what happened. A lot of it is guilt-driven because she feels incredibly guilty for what happens.”

“Everybody has to start doing mandatory therapy sessions to get cleared to go back into surgery,” she continued. “And everybody starts looking at my character differently. She feels like she has to tiptoe around everyone because they think she may crack again. She feels like she has to regain everybody’s trust.”

Lastly, Chyler confirmed that “there’s not much of a love triangle this season” between her, Karev and Sloan. “It’s a question of who is going to be there when she has this breakdown. … That gets shown right away in the first episode!”

Grey’s Anatomy returns for its seventh season Sept. 23 on ABC!

Iraqi Soldier Opens Fire On U.S. Troops, Killing 2

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

s-IRAQI-TROOPS-large300 BAGHDAD — An Iraqi soldier fired a barrage of bullets at American troops protecting one of their commanders during a visit to an Iraqi army base Tuesday and killed two of them, the first U.S. servicemen to die since President Barack Obama declared an end to combat operations in the country last week.

Even after the U.S. dramatically reduced the number of troops and rebranded its mission in Iraq, the attack was a reminder that Americans still have to defend themselves in a dangerous country where Iraqi forces only have a tenuous hold on security. Nine Americans were wounded in Tuesday's shooting.

The attack also showed that even inside the bases of U.S.-trained Iraqi forces, American soldiers can still face danger. Just on Sunday, Americans training Iraqi forces at a military headquarters in the heart of Baghdad had to help fight off a squad of suicide attackers, two of whom managed to breach the compound in an hour-long battle. U.S. helicopters and drones joined the fight, but no American personnel were hurt in that assault.

The Americans attacked on Tuesday were providing security for a commander attending a meeting with Iraqi military personnel at a base near the city of Tuz Khormato, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

The assailant opened fire after an argument and was killed in the shootout that followed, said the city's police chief, Col. Hussein Rashid. He did not provide details on the nature of the argument.

"This is a tragic and cowardly act and is certainly not reflective of the Iraqi security forces," said Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, the American commander in charge of U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

Cucolo stressed during the Sept. 1 ceremony marking the formal change in the American mission that his soldiers know the fight is not over. "There are groups here that still want to hurt us," he said last week.

The U.S. military is investigating Tuesday's shooting, and the names of the slain soldiers were being withheld until their families were notified.

At least 4,418 U.S. military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.