WEDNESDAY, JULY 31
NATIONAL HEADLINES:
PFC. MANNING ACQUITTED OF AIDING ENEMY, BUT CONVICTED ON OTHER CHARGES
The former Army intelligence officer who leaked thousands of confidential government documents to WikiLeaks was acquitted yesterday of aiding the enemy, but convicted of most other charges. Pfc. Bradley Manning was found guilty of 20 of the remaining 21 counts, including leaking intelligence knowing it would be accessible to the enemy, releasing classified information and disobeying orders. Aiding the enemy was the most serious charge and carried a potential life sentence. The judge in Manning’s court-martial found that Manning had “no intent” to provide the enemy with classified information but was “negligent” in releasing the documents. He sent 700,000 documents to WikiLeaks in 2010, later admitting that he was disillusioned by American foreign policy. Manning, 25, still faces up to 136 years in prison for his other charges. The sentencing phase of his court-martial begins this morning.
SPANISH TRAIN DRIVER WAS TALKING ON PHONE BEFORE DERAILMENT
The driver of a train that derailed in Spain was reportedly talking on the phone when the train veered off the tracks, killing 79 people. Court documents show that Francisco Garzon, 52, received a call on his work phone from Spain’s national train company Renfe to inform him of the route he needed to take. Garzon also appeared to be consulting a paper document at the time of the accident. Black-box data recorders showed Garzon had been driving the train as fast as 119 mph seconds before the brakes were activated as the train rounded a sharp curve and the derailment occurred last Wednesday. That’s more than twice the legal speed limit. Garzon has been charged with 79 counts of homicide and numerous offenses of bodily harm.
OBAMA UNVEILS CORPORATE TAX REFORM PROPOSAL
President Obama delivered a speech in Chattanooga, Tennessee yesterday, during which he unveiled a corporate tax reform proposal. The president called for closing loopholes and certain deductions for big business in exchange for lowering tax rates. He also offered a trade-off in which new revenue from the tax reforms would be used toward spending on infrastructure and transportation projects. He called on Republicans for their cooperation. “Here’s the bottom line: I’m willing to work with Republicans on reforming our corporate tax code, as long as we use the money from transitioning to a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middle-class jobs,” he said. “That’s the deal.” But the GOP was unimpressed. They insisted that corporate tax reform should be coupled with individual tax reform, since many small-business owners file taxes under that structure. They also accused the president’s offer as being little more than a negotiating ploy.
NY APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS RULING TO STRIKE DOWN DRINK BAN
A New York appeals court yesterday upheld a ruling striking down Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial ban on large sugary drinks. A lower court decision in March had initially struck down the law, which would have prohibited the sale of sodas and other sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces by restaurants and city eateries. The state appeals court sided with the lower court’s ruling, saying the law was an illegal overreach of executive power. Bloomberg, however, was undeterred and vowed to fight on. "Today's decision is a temporary setback, and we plan to appeal this decision as we continue the fight against the obesity epidemic,” he said in a statement.
CAR CRASHES INTO KANSAS CITY DAYCARE, 4 INJURED
A car was sent careening into a Kansas City daycare yesterday after being rear-ended by an SUV. Three children and the driver of the SUV were reportedly injured in the crash. Two of the children had to be rescued from underneath the vehicle. The driver of the car – a Cadillac – reportedly fled the scene. About 40 children were inside Christian Academy Day Care at the time of the accident.
SHOWBIZ NEWS:
THE GIUDICES FREED ON BOND
The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa and Joe Giudice were in a New Jersey courthouse yesterday to surrender to federal authorities on 39 counts of fraud. The couple did not enter a plea and were freed on $500,000 bond (each). They had to surrender their passports, with their travel restricted to New York and New Jersey. Joe, who is not a U.S. citizen and could be deported back to Italy if convicted, will also be subjected to drug testing, although Teresa will not. They are both scheduled to be arraigned August 14th.
STEWART CURSES OUT PAPARAZZO
Kristen Stewart has had enough of the paparazzi. The Twilight star went off on a photographer as she was waiting for her ride outside a building in Los Angeles. Kristen was hiding behind a gate, when a paparazzo asked her “why are you saying f**k off?” She responded, [NOTE CONTENT] “Because you're a piece of s**t and you don't deserve to breathe the same air I do."
TAYLOR LAUTNER STEPS OUT WITH NEW GAL
Taylor Lautner has put rumors to rest regarding his love life. Reports claimed the Twilight star was in a relationship with his Tracers co-star Marie Avgeropoulos, and it appears they are true. The couple was spotted walking hand-in-hand around New York earlier this week. They were even seen taking a cell phone selfie.
LOHAN EXTENDS HER REHAB STAY
Lindsay Lohan is free to leave rehab today, but TMZ reports she’ll be sticking around a little longer. Sources tell the site Lindsay has decided to remain another three or four days to better help her transition back to the outside world. She’s expected to stay at a “lower level, sober living house.” Regardless, we know she’ll be out by Monday the latest, because that’s when she’s scheduled to guest host Chelsea Lately.
KIM TWEETS VIDEO OF ALLEGED TRESPASSING PAPARAZZO
Kim Kardashian was back on social media Monday but not for a happy reason. The new mom posted a Keek video, taken when a paparazzi allegedly trespassed on the family’s property in Calabasas, CA. The clip shows mom Kris Jenner running outside to confront the intruder, although you never actually see anyone in the clip. The footage was tweeted along with the message, “#Trespassing #GatedCommunityBreakIn #Dangerous #CopsCalled #WOW.”
J.LO TURNED DOWN BY THE VOICE
Just because she was a judge on American Idol doesn’t mean Jennifer Lopez plays favorites. According to the New York Post, J.Lo’s team actually contacted NBC last season to offer her services for the season finale of The Voice. “She made a formal offer to be on the show,” claims an insider. “They said no to that.” A rep for NBC confirmed she had approached The Voice, and claimed she was turned down over scheduling issues, since they had already booked Cher for the finale and they didn’t have time for two solo performances. The insider claims J.Lo wanted to do more than just perform; she was hoping “to have a recurring role” as a mentor, but that too was shot down.
HANNIGAN & DENISOF TO RENEW VOWS
Alyson Hannigan is getting married again. The How I Met Your Mother star revealed on Twitter that her husband Alexis Denisof recently proposed again and they plan to renew their vows. “My hubby @AlexisDenisof surprised me with the most romantic day of my life yesterday!' she tweeted. “Which included another proposal & ring! I said YES!” She then added, “Now we get to have our kids at this ceremony. It’ll be shorter. We’ll get to the cake sooner! YAY renewal!” The couple, who met on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and married in 2003, have two daughters,Satyana, 4, and Keeva, 14 months.
DRUNK KIEFER DOES BAR STRIPTEASE
Kiefer Sutherland isn’t always the tough guy he plays on TV. The actor, who is set to reprise his role of Jack Bauer for a new limited-run season of 24, got all liquored up at a bar in Calgary, Canada, over the weekend and started taking off his clothes. Kiefer was at the Bear & Kilt Freehouse with his Redemption costar Demi Moore and screenwriter Brad Mirman, and witnesses say he was being chatty and friendly with everyone in the place. In fact, he was so friendly, that customers began buying him shot after shot. And once Demi left, Kiefer seemed to let loose. “He was stumbling, he took his shirt off, he was dancing," one patron told the Toronto Sun."It was a funny experience."
PERRY REACHED OUT TO STEWART
After Katy Perry was photographed with Robert Pattinson earlier this year, the press claimed something was going on between them. Well, Perry says she is only friends with the Twilight star, and even contacted his former gal Kristen Stewart to put her mind at ease. "I sent her a text message saying, ‘I know you've seen all this stuff, but you know I would never disrespect you. I'm not that person,'" Katy tells Elle UK. ‘“I'm just trying to be a friend to him but it is unfortunate that I do have a set of t*ts.’”
BELL NOT RUSHING TO LOSE BABY WEIGHT
New mom Kristen Bell isn’t one of those actresses obsessed with losing their baby weight. In a new interview with Redbook magazine, Bell, who gave birth to daughter Lincoln in March, says she’s 15 pounds heavier than her pre-pregnancy weight and would be perfectly fine if it never came off. “I’m going to continue working out and see where it goes,” she says. “I’d like to get back down to where I was before the baby. … But if this is where my body wants to be, so be it. I’m not going to make myself miserable for the rest of my life trying to get back to where I was before.” She adds, “I like my Lincoln Leftovers because they’re proof I did something extraordinary. I gave life to my new BFF & she gave me a comical amount of midsection skin.” Besides, Bell’s fiancé Dax Shepard likes her new figure. “All he did was tell me he loved me chubby,” she reveals. “He even asked me to stay chubby after the baby was born.”
FORMER 7TH HEAVEN STAR POSES FOR MAXIM
Well, Mackenzie Rosman certainly isn’t a little girl anymore The 23-year-old, who starred as Ruthie, the youngest Camden daughter on the CW’s 7th Heaven, strips down to her undies for anew spread in this month’s Maxim magazine. In the accompanying article, Mackenzie discusses her former co-star Jessica Biel’s topless Gear magazine cover, which caused a lot of controversy back in 2000 (Biel was 18). "I was probably nine at the time, but I remember that. It was a big deal," she told Gear. "The magazine was banned on set, I think by orders of Aaron Spelling. I sneaked a peek at it, though. It was racy gossip amongst the women of 7th Heaven!"
ANISTON HINTS SHE NEEDED THERAPY AFTER BRAD SPLIT
Jennifer Aniston gives her younger self advice in the new issue of Glamour magazine. In an interview conducted by her We Are The Millers co-star Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer says she’d tell her twenty-something self, “don’t try so hard,” and to not “fret so much,” adding that she “did okay in my twenties.” But to her thirty-something self, who was married to Brad Pitt, she is more critical. “Thirties. Thirties," says Aniston. “Go to therapy. Clean up all of the sh-t. Clean up all of the toxins and the noise. Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self."
VAMPIRE DIARIES STAR SPLITS FROM WIFE
Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley has split from his wife of two years, One Tree Hill actressTorrey DeVitto. A rep for the actress says the pair is divorcing after two years of marriage, while Wesley’s rep adds they “remain good friends.” The couple met on the 2007 film Killer Movie and married in 2011.
HENSTRIDGE FILES FOR DIVORCE
Natasha Henstridge has filed for divorce from her husband of two years, Darius Campbell. TheSpecies star, 38, filed documents in Los Angeles court on July 23rd. The pair, who married in March 2011, told The Mail they made the “mutual decision” to call it quits, and asked for “privacy at this time.”
PRIVATE BENJAMIN’S EILEEN BRENNAN DIES
Actress Eileen Brennan, who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role opposite Goldie Hawn in 1980s’ Private Benjamin, died Sunday at her home in Burbank, CA from bladder cancer. She was 80. Brennan reprised her Benjamin role of Capt. Doreen Lewis in the TV adaptation of the film, which earned her a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. She is also known for her role as the good-hearted waitress in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show, and as brothel madam Billie in The Sting.
TV TIDBITS
● Private Practice’s Tim Daly will guest star next season on Hawaii Five-0. He’ll play a Texas Ranger in one episode, with a potential for it to be a recurring character. Hawaii Five-0 returns Friday, September 27th.
● Going the Distance’s Justin Long will guest star on Anna Faris’ new CBS sitcom Mom, which debuts Monday, September 23rd. The series stars Faris as a recovering alcoholic, and Long will play her “first shot at a meaningful relationship.”
● ABC Family has ordered a third season of Switched At Birth.
ROCK NEWS:
NIRVANA’S IN UTERO TO BE REBORN IN 20TH ANNIVERSARY FORM
The twentieth anniversary of Nirvana’s final album In Utero will not pass without fanfare, with several bolstered editions of the album due out September 24. Fans will have their pick of formats to add to their collection, including a 3-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition, a standard single digital/CD remaster of the original album, and a standalone DVD of the complete Live and Loudperformance culled from the band’s show at Seattle’s Pier 48 on December 13, 1993.
MUSTAINE DISDAINS INSINUATION OF TRYING TO ONE-UP METALLICA
Former Metallica member Dave Mustaine is laughing off any suggestion he tried to show-up his former band by deciding to cover the Thin Lizzy song “Cold Sweat” on Megadeth’s latest albumSuper Collider. Metallica covered the Thin Lizzy version of the traditional “Whiskey In the Jar” on their Garage Inc. album. Addressing the conspiracy theorists, Mustaine said, “There have been some smart alecks out there that say that we did it because we wanted to do a Thin Lizzy tune better than Metallica, but we’re not playing that game anymore. There are a lot of great Thin Lizzy songs, but ‘Cold Sweat’ just called my name…when I listen to those lyrics, I really identify with them.”
FOUR NEW GRATEFUL DEAD DIGITAL SETS AVAILABLE ON ITUNES
The long strange trip continues online with the announcement of four new Grateful Dead bundles being made exclusively on iTunes. As its title implies, The Complete Studio Albums Collectioncontains all 13 of the band’s studio albums, The Live Albums Collection holds seven concert sets recorded between 1969 and 1990, and the last two digital packages, The Complete Studio Rarities Collection and The Complete Live Rarities Collection bring together material reissued as part of two box sets – 2001’s The Golden Road and 2004’s Beyond Description. Finally, the new digital bookThe Golden Road and Beyond: A Grateful Dead Primer is available now for free on iBooks.
GABRIEL HIGHLIGHTS HYPOCRISY OF 70S PUNK ROCKERS
In a recent interview with UK music magazine MOJO, former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel tried to set the record straight about 70s punk rockers who looked down on band s like his for being made up of “snotty rich kids.” He said, “It used to piss me off seeing all these ‘people’s hero’ musicians – like Joe Strummer – who’d come from a similar background to mine but where keeping it quiet. In Genesis, we were always very straight about where we came from, and we were middle-class, not aristocratic.” Gabriel went on to say he “preferred the Clash musically” over the Sex Pistols, “But we were the declared opposition, what punk was there to destroy.”
GOV’T MULE CORRALS COSTELLO FOR CUT ON UPCOMING SHOUT! ALBUM
Jam band giants Gov’t Mule will release their tenth studio album Shout! on September 24. While recording the collection, frontman and guitar great Warren Haynes wanted feedback from musician’s musician Elvis Costello on a song called “Funny Little Tragedy.” Haynes explains, “I just thought I would get his advice. But…after he responded so positively, every time I would listen back to [the song] after that I would start thinking, ‘It sure would be cool to hear him singing it.’” Haynes got his wish, and the results of the collaboration debuted yesterday at Rollingstone.com.
NUGENT BLAMES “LIBERAL DEMOCRATS” FOR DETROIT’S BANKRUPTCY
He’s known by many names, one of which is the “Motor City mad man,” so you knew it was only a matter of time before Ted Nugent tossed his two cents into the debate about why Detroit recently filed for bankruptcy protection. Not surprisingly, the conservative right wing rocker says “liberal Democrats” are to blame for the city’s woes, saying, “We saw this coming. The entire suicidal course began before the ’67 riots and hasn’t changed since. It exposes the culture of taking what you can get and not caring what the outcome will be… Maybe people will see that has to stop now. Business as usual is over. Let’s just hope it’s not too late.”
SCHON OFFERS PERRY OLIVE BRANCH VIA FACEBOOK
Patiently certainly sums up how diehard Journey fans have been waiting for their dream to come true of Steve Perry one day rejoining the band. Last week, guitarist Neal Schon gave the group’s followers a glimmer of hope when he posted exceedingly kind things about his estranged bandmate on Facebook, along with a link to a lengthy radio interview Perry did in January 2012. In his post, Schon wrote: “Great Steve Perry interview. I hope we can reach out to each other and connect once again. We had amazing chemistry together. I love him with all the love and admiration you could even have. Steve let’s talk soon. Neal.”
BLONDIE’S HARRY EYEING RETIREMENT
Pioneering new wave and punk band Blondie may be forced to call it quits soon if lead singer and band focal point Deborah Harry, 68, decides to retire as she has hinted she may want to do. In an interview with UK’s Daily Mail, drummer Clem Burke said, “Debbie is 11 years older than the rest of us, so it’s on her mind. We’ve tried to keep it going for as long as possible, but it’s just not up to me. Nothing is finalized yet, but obviously there’s no Blondie without Debbie Harry.”
