Thomson Reuters GINNY MCCABE May 31st CINCINNATI, May 31 (Reuters) - Police are investigating possible criminal charges in a Cincinnati Zoo incident in which a gorilla was killed in order to rescue a 4-year-old boy who had fallen into its enclosure, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. An animal rights activist group said on Tuesday it had filed a federal negligence complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the zoo, seeking the maximum penalty of $10,000 following Saturday's killing of the 450-pound ape named Harambe. "The failure of the Cincinnati Zoo to adequately construct this enclosure to protect both the public and the animal held prisoner there is a clear and fatal violation of the Animal Welfare Act," Stop Animal Exploitation Now said in its complaint letter to the USDA. Mounting outrage over the shooting death of the Western lowland silverback, which is an endangered species, sparked more than 460,000 signatures on online petitions at Change.org, some demanding "Justice for Harambe" and urging police to hold the child's parents accountable. Zoo officials were not immediately available for comment on either the negligence complaint or the police investigation but said on Monday the exhibit was safe and exceeded required protocols. Authorities are taking a second look at the possibility of criminal charges in the incident after police initially said no one was charged. "The incident at the Cincinnati Zoo involving the young child who fell into the gorilla enclosure is under investigation by the Cincinnati Police Department," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said in a statement. "Once their investigation is concluded, they will confer with our office on possible criminal charges." Witnesses said the child had expressed a desire to get into the enclosure and he climbed over a 3-foot (1-meter) barrier, falling 15 feet into a moat. His mother on Facebook said he suffered a concussion and scrapes but was otherwise fine. Zookeepers shot Harambe after the 17-year-old animal grabbed the boy and dragged him around. Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, on Monday stood by the decision to shoot the gorilla, saying he was not simply endangering the child but actually hurting him. The Gorilla World exhibit has been closed since the incident and will reopen on Saturday. Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the complaint from Stop Animal Exploitation Now had been received but that an investigation had not yet been opened. A review of the USDA inspection reports showed the zoo was cited in March 2016 for failing to close two doors near a service hallway that allowed two polar bears to enter the area housing dangerous items including cleaners and electrical wires. The bears had to be tranquilized before they could be returned to their enclosure, the report said. The zoo also was cited in November 2014 for deteriorating wood in two enclosures for horses and one for Eastern black and white colobus monkeys, the report said. Witcy sez : The USDA regulates zoos, circuses and marine mammal parks under the Animal Welfare Act, the only federal law that requires a minimum standard of humane treatment and care for animals in research, exhibition, transport and by dealers. (Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Gina Cherelus; Editing by Bill Trott)
May 30th 2016 2:11PM Outrage has continued to grow over the killing of a 17-year-old gorilla after a child fell into its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. And now, thousands are calling for the boy's parents to be held responsible. By Monday afternoon, more than 143,000 people had signed a "Justice for Harambe" online petition calling for the zoo, law enforcement and child protective services to hold the parents responsible. The petition is just one of 13 on Change.org related to Saturday's incident. The boy's family released a statement obtained by Newsy's partners at WCPO that said, in part, "... We extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the Cincinnati Zoo staff. We know that this was a very difficult decision for them and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla. ..." Multiple media outlets have reported the mother of the boy also posted a message to her critics on Facebook. The post read, "As a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off of their child and if anyone knows me I keep a tight watch on my kids." The message has since been taken down. The zoo made the decision to shoot Harambe, a male western lowland gorilla, to protect a 4-year-old boy who climbed into the animal's enclosure and fell into a moat. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered. The zoo's director said the Dangerous Animal Response Team decided against using a tranquilizer because it would take a while to set in and would agitate the gorilla. But not everyone agrees with the decision. One petition calls for an investigation into the zoo's actions, while another calls for the state of Ohio to create "Harambe's law," which would hold visitors accountable for actions that lead to the injury or death of an endangered animal at a zoo. This is only one comment from a person that were visiting the zoo when Harambe was killed : As for the boy, he is reportedly home after being treated at a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Surprisingly, this happens a lot! The parents should be held accountable. http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/11/us/child-injured-zoo/index.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3035390/2-year-old-injured-falling-cheetah-exhibit-zoo.html http://komonews.com/news/local/boy-2-mauled-to-death-after-falling-into-zoo-exhibit-11-22-2015-081610495
AOL.COM EDITORS May 27th 2016 Larry Hagman, the man who played oil tycoon J.R. Ewing in the TV drama "Dallas," was known as the life of the party. But before his death in 2012, he might've been steeped in regret. His last words to his daughter Kristina: "Forgive me." That's one of many revelations the Daily Mail detailed in Kristina Hagman's new book, "The Eternal Party: Understanding My Dad, Larry Hagman, the TV Star America Loved to Hate." Kristina says growing up with her TV-star father was — as the title indicates — a party, but she also says Larry struggled with substance abuse and infidelity. Hagman said, "People want to believe that he found it easy to quit drinking. ... But it's just not true." Hagman recounts trying LSD with her father, an experience that she said she didn't dislike. But the prevalence of drugs and alcohol in the Hagman household might've led to some dark encounters. Hagman said at 8 years old she was sexually assaulted by drugged-up young men who were supposed to be looking after her while her parents were gone. SHOPPING: BUY HAGMAN'S TELL-ALL BOOK And she alleges when she was 15, a high Dennis Hopper suggested she get in a jacuzzi so he could have sex with her. Larry Hagman had a liver transplant in 1995 that saved his life after years of alcohol abuse. He later died in 2012, just months after the reboot of "Dallas." While Larry reportedly had his own demons, Kristina says her father's complexities made him "a three-dimensional character." Her book is available in hardcover on June 7.
Published April 18, 2016 South Africa's former Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius appeared briefly in a Pretoria court where a judge scheduled five days in June to determine his sentence for murdering his girlfriend. The sentencing hearing for Pistorius will be held from June 13 to 17 at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. The 29-year-old double amputee sprinter, who was found guilty of murdering Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013, was greeted by a small group of vocal supporters outside the court. The sentencing hearing will be heard by Judge Thokozile Masipa, who presided over Pistorius's trial and found him guilty of manslaughter, a verdict that was overturned by a higher court that found him guilty of the more serious charge of murder. Pistorius appealed his murder conviction, arguing that a lower court erred when it overturned his manslaughter conviction. But at South Africa's Constitutional Court dismissed his appeal. The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years, although it can be reduced in some circumstances. Pistorius is expected to argue for a lesser sentence. He has already spent one year in the hospital wing of Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria. He is currently serving the remainder of his five year manslaughter sentence under house arrest and he stays at his uncle's home in Pretoria. Pistorius was cheered by his supporters, most of who were dressed in white, when he left the court and navigated his way through a scrum of reporters. A leader of the supporters, Don Hassett, appealed for a lenient sentence for Pistorius. "He knows it was wrong and he has admitted that, but the media has generated hatred against Oscar," Hasset told reporters. Before the proceedings a group of supporters gathered inside the courtroom and prayed for the athlete.
Thomson Reuters JOSEPH AX May 24th 2016 NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday ordered entertainer Bill Cosby to stand trial on sexual assault charges over allegations that he drugged and assaulted a woman in 2004. The ruling came after a preliminary hearing that Cosby, 78, attended in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in which witnesses testified about statements that Cosby and his accuser, Andrea Constand, gave to police in 2005. In court, Cosby responded with "thank you" when Judge Elizabeth McHugh announced her decision. She wished him luck. Constand, a former basketball coach at Cosby's Temple University alma mater, is the only woman whose accusations of sexual assault have resulted in criminal charges against Cosby. Once one of the most beloved U.S. entertainers, Cosby has been hit by a wave of sexual assault allegations from more than 50 women, although most of the cases are too old to be prosecuted. He has denied ever assaulting anyone. Constand told police she was attacked as she lay on a sofa "paralyzed" by drugs the entertainer had given her, said a former detective reading from a transcript of Constand's police interview. Cosby told her the pills would help her relax and "take the edge off." So Constand swallowed the pills, added a sip of wine and told the comedian that she trusted him, the former detective said. Less than an hour later, according to Constand, Cosby sexually assaulted her as she lay incapacitated by the drugs she had taken, the former detective said. Cosby's own 2005 interview with police in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, where the purported 2004 assault took place, also was introduced as evidence. Cosby admitted giving Constand 1-1/2 pills of the antihistamine Benadryl to relax her, Cheltenham Police Chief John Norris testified. Cosby said Constand never told him to stop and was fully conscious during what he called the "petting" encounter, which he said involved fondling of genitals, Norris testified. The hearing followed Sunday's Associated Press report of new revelations about Cosby from his 2005 and 2006 sworn depositions, including his admission that he gave drugs to a 19-year-old woman before having sex.
Witchy's view .....It's too bad all the people,businesses,even entire industries who,over the years,turned their backs on this story,pushed away the women who were victimized,pressured them to be silent,all just because Cosby was a cash cow and they didn't want to stop that flow of money he produced,aren't also on trial for these crimes because they are all nearly just as responsible.This all could have been stopped years ago....but there was too much money being made. Bill Cosby has brought this shame on his wife, his children, and himself. If he had not indulged in sexual activities outside of his marriage, he would not be facing a trial. His wife, Camille, knew what he was doing, but she wanted to "maintain her social and economic position". She should be ashamed of her herself. Maybe his son was murdered because of Bill's sexual actions. As we say down here , 'STUPID IS ' AS STUPID DOES." This S**T will drive you to drink ... HeHe
New York Magazine CATIE L'HEUREUX May 24th 2016 Ahead of Bill Cosby's Tuesday morning court appearance — for a preliminary hearing in Andrea Constand's sexual-assault case, one of his many lawsuits — newly revealed court papers released on Monday show the entertainer admitted to abusing women years ago. Questioned by lawyers for Constand's lawsuit in 2005 and 2006, Cosby acknowledged drugging and giving alcohol to women before having sex with them. At one point, an unnamed modeling agency would send him "five or six" young women weekly, the depositions show.
In the newly revealed interviews, as reported by the New York Post, Cosby admitted to giving pills to Constand, a former Temple University employee who claims he drugged and molested her at his Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He also describes giving Quaaludes to then-19-year-old model Therese Picking (now Therese Serignese): "She became, in those days, what was called high," Cosby said. Constand's lawyer asked whether Serignese gave consent for sex. "I don't know. How many years are we talking about? 197[6]?" he said. "I meet Ms. Picking in Las Vegas. She meets me backstage. I give her Quaaludes. We then have sex. ... I don't hear her say anything . . . And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection." He describes another 18- or 19-year-old woman who visited his home in 2000 to discuss her acting career: "On a later occasion, you had her masturbate you with lotion, did that ever happen?" Constrand's lawyer asked. "Yes," he said. "[She] used the lotion to rub your penis and make you ejaculate?" Cosby was asked. "Bingo," he replied. Constand's case, which Cosby originally settled with an undisclosed sum in 2006, reopened last year after dozens of women voiced similar claims. On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected Cosby's request to delay today's pretrial hearing.
Witchy's take on douchebag Cosby : Get this old perv behind bars................. he's trying delay it until he's DEAD........ WOMEN OF THE WORLD WANT THIS PIG BEHIND BARS AND BANKRUPT...... What a creepy predator in his private life. He presented such a clean, family man image to the public and had millions of admirers. We have been duped! Instead of trying to lie his way out of this, he should publicly apologize to all the young people who looked upon him as a role model. The only thing more disturbing than the Cosby doing all these things is his wife with that smug look on her face. She allowed all this because of his money. What garbage. Amazing how he was able to get by all this years , and fool people that he was a nice guy. What a POS................... HeHe
Mattie Shaw Mattie Shaw was the wife of John L. Nelson. Born: 1933 Died: 2002 Children: Prince, Tyka Nelson Date of Birth11 November 1933, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Date of Death15 February 2002, Edina, Minnesota, USA (lengthy illness) Mini Bio (1) Mattie Shaw was born on November 11, 1933 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for First Steps (1985). She was married to Hayward Baker and John L. Nelson. She died on February 15, 2002 in Edina, Minnesota. Spouse (2) Hayward Baker(1967 - 15 February 2002) (his death) (1 child) John L. Nelson(1951 - 1966) (divorced) (2 children) Trivia (5) Mother of singer Prince. Was a longtime social worker in the Minneapolis public school system. She was a singer who joined the Prince Rogers Trio in the 1950s. Ex-wife of John L. Nelson Mother of Prince's sister Tyka, and half-brother, Omarr. She was the daughter of Lucille (Bonnell) and Frank Shaw, both of whom were from Louisiana.
John L. Nelson Birth nameJohn Lewis Nelson BornJune 29, 1916 Louisiana, U.S. DiedAugust 25, 2001 (aged 85) Chanhassen, Minnesota, U.S. Years active1948—1966 Associated actsPrince, The Prince Rogers Trio John Lewis Nelson (June 29, 1916 – August 25, 2001), also known as Prince Rogers, was an American jazz musician. He was the father of musician Prince and a credited co-writer of some of his songs.
2Children Work with Prince References Life and career Nelson was born in Louisiana, the son of Carrie (Jenkins) and Clarence Nelson. The Nelsons had four other children. He traveled to Minneapolis to become a musician in 1948. Playing the piano, he used Prince Rogers as a stage name and started The Prince Rogers Trio with local musicians. Nelson maintained an on-off relationship with Vivian Nelson. With her, he had five children: Sharon (born 1940), Norrine (born 1942), Lorna (1943–2006), John (born 1944),[1] and Duane (1959–2011). In 1956, he met Mattie Della Shaw (1933–2002), at a show on the north side of Minneapolis. Shaw was an aspiring jazz musician who became the musical group's singer. Nelson married Shaw and the couple had two more children, musician Prince[4] (1958–2016) (who was named after his father's stage name) and daughter Tika Evene (born 1960) (usually known as Tyka). When Nelson's career failed in late 1960, the couple became estranged and formally separated in 1966. Nelson died on August 25, 2001, aged 85, in his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota. That year Prince dedicated Joni Mitchell's song "A Case of U", on his One Nite Alone... album, to his father. Children Sharon Louise Nelson (born 1940) Norrine Patricia Nelson (born 1941) Lorna Lee Nelson (1942–2006) John Rodger Nelson (born 1944) Prince Rogers Nelson (1958–2016) Duane Joseph Nelson (1959–2011) Tika (Tyka) Evene Nelson (born 1960) Stay tune , getting very interesting HUH ???
May 22nd 2016 Music legend Prince could've been dead for hours before he was found, according to a new report from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The report claims a paramedic who responded to the scene told people Prince was likely dead "for at least six hours." Staff found the music icon unresponsive in an elevator in his Paisley Park compound on April 21. The Star Tribune, which cites unnamed sources, also claims Prince got an IV at a local hospital the day before he died. However, it's unclear why. Just one week before he died, a private plane carrying Prince made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois. According to his representative, the singer hadn't been feeling well during his concert in Atlanta and felt worse once he got on the plane. At the time, the rep said Prince had been battling the flu. Multiple reports have claimed the singer had an addiction to opioids or painkillers. The Tribune previously reported a local family practitioner had been treating the singer for opioid withdrawal in the weeks leading up to his death. According to an affidavit from the local sheriff's office, that local doctor showed up at the musicians house to drop off test results just as he was pronounced dead. An attorney representing a California pain and addiction specialist has said Prince's staff also reached out to the doctor for help the day before the singer died. The doctor was unable to clear his schedule for the next day, so he sent his son to explain treatment options to the 57-year-old. That son is reportedly who called 911. Authorities haven't yet announced an official cause of death.
NBC News May 21st 2016 TOM WINTER, ANDREW BLANKSTEIN, ELISHA FIELDSTADT AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bill Cosby's wife underwent questioning that was at times contentious during a deposition in February involving a defamation case involving her husband. But Camille Cosby gave few answers in the six-hour-long deposition, often invoking spousal privilege and at times refusing to answer questions altogether, according to a transcript released Friday. "I'm done," Camille Cosby said at one point in reply to a question. At another time, she left the room where the Feb. 22 deposition was taking place. The deposition was conducted as part of a defamation suit filed against Bill Cosby by seven women who say they were portrayed as liars after accusing the comedian of sexual assault. Camille Cosby is not named in the suit. Bill Cosby has counter-sued the seven women who filed suit, also alleging defamation. Camille Cosby was read sections of her husband's 2005 deposition where he said he "had sex and we had dinners and sex and rendezvous" with Beth Farrier in the 1970s. However, when asked repeatedly if she thought her husband was being deceitful, or whether or not she had an opinion on whether Bill Cosby deceived her, Camille Cosby invoked marital privilege or said she had no opinion. When asked about honesty and what it means, Camille Cosby answered: "I'm not going to expound on this." When she was told she had to, she answered: "I do not have to. I'm done." Camille Cosby also refused to answer in the deposition whether or not it is a dishonest act or whether or not it is deceitful to give Quaaludes to someone for the purposes of sex.
About 50 women have publicly accused Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct going back decades. Cosby and his representatives have repeatedly denied the allegations. Bill Cosby faces a criminal case in Pennsylvania for allegedly drugging and molesting a former Temple University employee in 2004. Bill Cosby has not yet entered a plea in that case, but his attorneys have said he is innocent of the charges. The woman in that case is not part of the defamation suit. Camille Cosby invoked spousal privilege in the February deposition when asked whether or not her husband has been truthful with her. She did say she never obtained Quaaludes for her own use or someone else's use. She was asked by an opposing attorney, "now, can we agree that throughout your marriage, Mr. Cosby acted with a lack of integrity?" Camille's attorney, Monique Pressley, interjected immediately and instructed Camille Cosby that she did not have to answer that question or any others related to conversations with her husband. Camille Cosby replied: "And I won't."
When asked if she had an opinion on whether Bill Cosby acted with a lack of integrity, Camille Cosby said she wouldn't answer. Camille said she rarely watched television or read newspapers and when asked if "all of the information that you have regarding the sexual allegations against your husband came from conversation — whether conversations with your husband or conversations with counsel," Camille said, "That is correct. That's my answer." Bill Cosby Free on $1 Million Bail After Sexual Assault Charge Camille also said that she has no understanding and is unaware of what her husband said in the 2005 deposition where Bill Cosby said he obtained Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with. The lawyer for the seven women suing Cosby for defamation, Joseph Cammarata, asked her about Shawn Thompson, a woman who said Bill Cosby fathered her daughter, Autumn Jackson, in the 1970s. Jackson was convicted in 1997 of attempting to extort money from Bill Cosby to prevent her from telling a tabloid she's his daughter. He acknowledged he had an affair with her mother and had given her money. Camille Cosby said that Autumn Jackson is not Bill Cosby's daughter and that she is confident about that "because there was a test, a DNA test."
Camille said, "I do not have an opinion." However, later she said, "it was a big deal then, yes" when it was revealed that in the 1970s Bill Cosby had extramarital affairs. Camille Cosby was also questioned on April 19, but that transcript has not been released. Her lawyers argued unsuccessfully to stop the deposition, which a judge ruled she would have to give but said she could refuse to answer questions about private communications between her and her husband. An attorney handling a separate lawsuit against Bill Cosby revealed Friday that Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner provided sworn testimony Wednesday. In the sexual battery lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, Judy Huth says Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974, when she was 15. Bill Cosby's former lawyers have accused Huth of attempting to extort him before filing the case and have tried unsuccessfully to have it dismissed. Huth's attorney, Gloria Allred, said Hefner's testimony will remain under seal for now. Hefner also was named as a defendant in a case filed Monday by former model Chloe Goins, who accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008.
5/17/2016 BY TMZ STAFF Prince's siblings are now in a battle royale over how to market their late brother ... and make money in the process. We've learned more than a dozen lawyers representing Prince's 6 siblings have been at each other's throats, competing for ways to get money for their clients ... and quickly. Our sources say 3 and possibly 4 of the siblings and their lawyers have put together a TV package, with major music producers and famous artists who will perform Prince songs for a 2 hour TV special set to air in August. The plan is to make the 6 siblings co-producers, which will give them enough money to tide them over as the bank running the estate figures out how to dole out the cash. Here's the conflict. We're told Tyka and at least one other sibling is not on board ... she wants to produce her own special and control it. The other siblings are enraged Tyka gets to live rent free in a house Prince owned ... a house on which the bank is still paying the mortgage and home-related expenses. The siblings feel they too should get comparable support, but they're getting nothing ... thus their idea for the TV special. One source connected with the negotiations tells us, the lawyers met last week and "it's gotten really nasty. No one can agree on anything."
Witchy is very amused but not surprise , all leeches come from under their rocks to grab something for nothing ... stay tune , Prince's family may make Michael Jackson's family look like newbies ...HeHe
Prince's alleged niece and grandniece are officially in the game ... filing documents they believe prove they ARE blood relation to his royal purpleness. Turns out Prince's deceased half brother ... Duane Nelson Sr. had a daughter, Brianna ... and a granddaughter, Victoria. Both filed documents in Prince's probate claiming they are rightful heirs. For evidence, they included Duane Sr.'s 1958 birth certificate ... which lists John Nelson as Duane's father -- same as Prince.
As we first reported ... an attorney alerted the court of Victoria's existence. Brianna, on the other hand, came outta left field. Family sources tell us Tyka Nelson and the other established siblings have questioned whether Duane was actually blood. The new docs are a good start -- showing Duane's direct link to Prince -- but Victoria and Brianna will most likely have to submit to DNA testing as well ... to get a cut of the inheritance. Witcy sez now let the games began.......HeHe
The Hollywood Reporter MIKE BARNES May 19th 2016 Morley Safer TV Correspondent Morley Safer is a Canadian-American reporter and correspondent for CBS News. He is best known for his long tenure on the newsmagazine 60... Wikipedia Born: November 08, 1931, Toronto, Canada Spouse: Jane Fearer (m. 1968) Nationality: Canadian Children: Sarah Safer Education: Harbord Collegiate Institute, University of Western Ontario Net Worth: 10,000,000 (2012 - United States dollar) Data from: Freebase Morley Safer, a pillar of broadcast journalism as a member of CBS' 60 Minutes team for almost five decades, has died, the network said Thursday. He was 84. Safer, who helped change Americans' perception of the Vietnam War in 1965 with an eye-opening report about the torching of the village of Cam Ne. A native of Toronto, Safer earned a Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2009. He also collected 12 Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, two George Polk Memorial Awards and the Paul White Award from the the Radio/Television News Directors Association. Safer started with CBS News in 1964. He announced his retirement in May at the end of his 46th season with 60 Minutes; his last piece for the newsmagazine, a profile of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, had aired two months earlier. "After more than 50 years of broadcasting on CBS News and 60 Minutes, I have decided to retire. It's been a wonderful run, but the time has come to say goodbye to all of my friends at CBS and the dozens of people who kept me on the air," Safer said. "But most of all, I thank the millions of people who have been loyal to our broadcast." Said 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager: "Morley has had a brilliant career as a reporter and as one of the most significant figures in CBS News history, on our broadcast and in many of our lives. Morley's curiosity, his sense of adventure and his superb writing all made for exceptional work done by a remarkable man." Safer's August 1965 piece from Vietnam, in which he witnessed and reported on a U.S. Marines mission that destroyed the village of Cam Ne with flame throwers, matches and cigarette lighters, aired on the CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite. The segment prompted the U.S. military to issue new rules of engagement and earned the wrath of members of the Lyndon Johnson administration, who called CBS News executives "unpatriotic" and accused Safer of being a communist. Said Safer in the 2003 book Reporting America at War: An Oral History: "Cam Ne was a shock, I think. It's hard for me to know exactly, because I was 13,000 miles away, with really lousy communication, so I only got the reverberation of the shock. I think [viewers] saw American troops acting in a way people had never seen American troops act before, and couldn't imagine." In a memorable 1983 segment for 60 Minutes, Safer reported on new evidence that freed Lenell Geter, an engineer who had been wrongly convicted of armed robbery and was serving a life sentence in Texas. (Dorian Harewood played Geter in a 1987 telefilm.) In 2011, he interviewed Ruth Madoff on 60 Minutes about what she knew about the $65 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by her husband, Bernard. "Why would I ever think that there was something sinister going on?" she said. Safer was among several media types who played themselves on the second season of House of Cards. In the Netflix series, he grilled Francis Underwood, the scandal-plagued politician played by Kevin Spacey. "Morley Safer asks the hard questions," series creator Beau Willimon told THR in February 2014. "He's seen administrations come and go." Safer, along with such 60 Minutes cohorts as Don Hewitt, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Andy Rooney, Dan Rather, Steve Kroft and Lesley Stahl, was one of the country's most widely recognized broadcast journalists. He could be disarming and whimsical, and his ability to get people to open up led to entertaining interviews with such notables as Katharine Hepburn, Betty Ford, Dolly Parton and Jackie Gleason. Of his ease with Gleason in a 1984 report, Safer self-deprecatingly noted, "We both drink, we both smoke and both play pool. But we connected, and he really got into it." "Yes ...; But Is It Art?" his sly piece for 60 Minutes in 1993, wondered why three basketballs floating in water was considered high-priced contemporary art. A year later, he hosted a CBS News special that marked the retirement of longtime colleague Charles Kuralt. Safer was born Nov. 8, 1931, in Toronto. He began his career as a reporter for newspapers and wire services in Canada and England and served as a correspondent and producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. In 1961, Safer was the only Western correspondent in East Berlin the night communists began building the Berlin Wall. He joined CBS News in April 1964 as a correspondent based in London, opened the division's outpost in Saigon in 1965 and was named London bureau chief in 1967, inheriting an office once inhabited by Edward R. Murrow. He replaced Harry Reasoner, who left to anchor ABC's nightly newscast, on 60 Minutes in 1970. Safer authored Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam in 1990 and in 2009 donated his papers to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. In a 2000 interview with the Archive of American Television, Safer talked about his "pretty solid body of work." "It's not literary, I wouldn't presume to suggest that," he said. "But I think you can elevate it a little bit sometimes with the most important part of the medium, which is what people are saying -; whether they're the people being interviewed or the guy who's telling the story. It's not literature, but it can be very classy journalism."
Chloe Goins Vulture DEE LOCKETT The model who previously dropped a lawsuit against Bill Cosby that alleged he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008 has filed a new lawsuit against the embattled comedian, and she's holding yet another high-profile name accountable. Chloe Goins is suing Bill Cosby and Hugh Hefner for sexual battery, gender violence, and other charges over that same alleged 2008 attack. Goins, who was then 18, claims that Hefner introduced her to Cosby, illegally served her alcohol and possibly other substances, and told her to "lie down" in a bedroom when she appeared ill. "Hefner's actions of inviting and hosting young and impressionable and possibly minor children [at] his residence, and providing alcoholic beverages and or foreign substances was negligent at the very least," the lawsuit states. Goins also argues in her suit that Hefner "knew or should have known [Cosby] had a history of severe and serial sexual battery and or possibly rape of women." Goins's accusations fall within California's statute of limitations to prosecute. The L.A. District Attorney's office previously declined to charge Cosby, who is currently facing criminal charges of sexual assault in Pennsylvania. Hefner and his Playboy properties have been cited by several of Cosby's accusers as being involved in their alleged assaults. "I told my supervisor at the Playboy Club what he did to me, and you know what she said to me? She said: 'You do know that that's Hefner's best friend, right?' I said, 'Yes.' She says to me: 'Nobody's going to believe you. I suggest you shut your mouth,'" PJ Masten told New York last July. Witchy sez : Hurry, hurry, hurry ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and join the great Lawsuit Lottery!! Just one of the vast benefits of our modern American lawyer-ocracy! Nasty old men .... HeHe
BY ANDREA PARK @scandreapark 05/14/2016 Meet Haus the German shepherd – and rescue dog. Haus paid his owners back for adopting him from a shelter by stepping in when their daughter was threatened by a snake this week, the Associated Press reports. When a venomous Eastern diamondback rattlesnake appeared in the DeLuca family's Tampa backyard where 7-year-old Molly was playing, the heroic dog stood his ground, even after the snake bit his leg three times. Haus, whose kidneys were damaged by the bites, is currently recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of Tampa's Pearl Emergency Veterinary and Specialty Hospital. He is being treated with anti-venom and painkillers, Dr. John Gicking told the AP. "Without the pain medication, he's in pain," Gicking said. "He's responsive, he's alert and his leg is swollen and uncomfortable." A GoFundMe page set up to defray Haus' hospital costs has raised over $51,000 – well over the $28,000 goal – since Wednesday. The family has pledged to donate all the extra money to local rescue organization Heidi's Legacy Rescue and other charities. Molly's father Adam told the AP Haus has "exceeded [the family's] expectations all the way around" since they adopted him two months ago. "Right away, the kids were hugging and loving on him, he always took it, he never did anything. Whenever anyone came to the door, he would start barking and try to be protective," DeLuca said. "He has just been an amazing dog. He's the type of dog that when you want to go buy a dog, you pay thousands of dollars and that's the dog you get. But we adopted him and got him for free."
Variety PAT SAPERSTEIN May 15th 2016 Madeleine LeBeau, who played Humphrey Bogart's jilted mistress Yvonne, in "Casablanca," died May 1 in Spain after breaking her thigh bone. She was 92 and was the last surviving credited cast member of the classic film. Her stepson Carlo Alberto Pinelli confirmed her death to Variety. In "Casablanca," LeBeau gets teary-eyed when "La Marseillaise" is played and shouts "Viva la France!" She was among several cast members who were actually refugees from the German occupation. Her life echoed the film: After she made her screen debut in French film "Girls in Distress" in 1939, LeBeau and her husband, actor Marcel Dalio, fled Paris for Portugal. They were said to have received transit visas that allowed them to enter Spain and then Portugal before continuing on towards Chile. They were stranded in Mexico when their visas turned out to be forgeries and were able to enter the United States with temporary Canadian passports. She soon found work in Hollywood and appeared in Olivia de Havilland starrer "Hold Back the Dawn" and "Gentleman Jim," starring Errol Flynn, before being cast in "Casablanca." Her husband, who played Emil the croupier in "Casablanca," filed for divorce during the production. She starred in "Paris After Dark" and "Music for Millions" in Hollywood before returning to France after WWII. Among her European films were "The Royalists," "Cage of Gold," "Une Parisienne" and Federico Fellini's "8 1/2," as Madeleine, the French actress. She appeared in the French TV series "Allo Police" before retiring from the screen in 1970. She later married Italian screenwriter Tullio Pinelli, co-writer of "8 1/2" and "La Dolce Vita," who died in 2009. Condolences to family and friends ...........RIP Madaleine The PIC's
May 12, 2016 By Ian Drew, Esther Lee Rest in peace, Purple One. Several of Prince's close friends open up to Us Weekly exclusively in the new issue about the late singer and his secret, decade-old addiction to painkillers. Prince's battle with opioids presumably stemmed from chronic pain after a hip strain derailed his daily physical activity. One of the "Purple Rain" singer's musical collaborators, Sky Dangcil, tells Us that the legendary artist "took the pills to keep the show going." When the pain would become unbearable, the "When Doves Cry" singer would jet to his $12 million estate in Turks and Caicos, where he would just "rest his hips," says Dangcil, who deejayed and played violin for Prince from 2000 to 2007. "Everyone saw that his hips were turning into a bigger problem," Dangcil adds to Us. "He was always 'on,' so he wouldn't complain or say anything was wrong." In private, the 5-foot-2 singer struggled with his condition. "He was always in a lot of pain," Prince's longtime hairstylist Kim Berry tells Us. She speculates that his addiction to opioids likely stemmed from his round-the-clock commitment to his music (including sleepless marathon recording sessions), combined with "30 years of jumping off speakers with 4-inch shoes on." In 2010, the singer was forced to have hip replacement surgery. He also had to trade in his heeled boots for platform sneakers. "Walking around with a cane was not just to look supercool," Berry tells Us of the star.
CNN commentator Van Jones echoes what the others have noted. "He worked himself very, very hard," recalls Jones, who was friends with Prince for a decade. "He was never sitting around watching the Kardashians."
Prince appeared with actress Rosario Dawson and civil rights attorney/activist Van Jones on 'The View' in 2012. Heidi Gutman/ABC via Getty Images (Ironically enough, New Girl actress Zooey Deschanel revealed on Monday, May 9, that Prince ordered the Kardashians' cameos to be banned from his guest appearance on the Fox sitcom. "Everyone had gone out of their way to be there on that day, but Prince was running the show," Deschanel told Conan O'Brien.) The seven-time Grammy winner died at age 57 on April 21, in an elevator of his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The site was raided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday, May 10. "I can confirm the DEA's presence there," a rep for the DEA's Chicago division told Us Weekly on Wednesday. Prince's autopsy was completed on Friday, April 22, and the results are still pending.
For more on Prince's final days, his secret addiction and his legacy, pick up the May 23 issue of Us Weekly — on stands now.
