New York Daily News Reports
Christina Milian has something to sing about!
The 27-year-old singer is engaged to music producer boyfriend The-Dream, Usmagazine.com reports.
"We don't have plans yet -- but it hasn't [already] happened, that I can confirm," Milian said of her upcoming nuptials.
"We just want to have our closest friends and family there; it's not going to be too big."
The bride-to-be was reportedly proposed to with a six-carat engagement ring from Ivanka Trump's jewelry line.
Even though the big day hasn’t arrived, the couple already have kids on their minds.
"I love kids, and [Christina] loves kids probably more than I do," the producer said of his fiancee, who will soon be busy working on her upcoming album, “Elope.”
"I think when you're a female in this business, it's kinda hard to do the natural thing that you want to do," he said.
"You have to do your work -- then whenever she makes that time for herself -- she'll make that time [to have a baby]. In the next couple of years, there'll be something around."
This will be the first marriage for Milian, who previously dated “America's Got Talent” host and Mariah Carey’s hubby,
Nick Cannon. The-Dream's marriage to singer Nivea ended in late 2007.
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AllHipHop Reports
Producer Jermaine Dupri recently addressed footage that features him encouraging Adam “Pacman” Jones to “make it rain” in a strip club, shortly before an infamous shooting involving the star NFL player.
Jones is slated to take the stand as a star witness for the prosecution during the attempted murder trial of Arvin Edwards.
Edwards is accused of shooting three people in 2007, after Jones had an altercation with security inside of a Las Vegas strip club over $40,000 that had gone missing during an alleged fight between Jones and two strippers.
“I’m from a city where in Atlanta, we do this every day,” Dupri said. “You’ll hear this in Jeezy records. When Jeezy say he spends $10,000 on one song? That s**t is for real man. It aint no play."
After the shooting, Jones denied any involvement or knowledge of the shooting, but seven months later, he told investigators he had been approached by Edwards outside of the club.
Jones told police Edwards said he would retrieve the missing money for him.
Moments after speaking to Jones, Edwards allegedly fired into the crowd striking three people, including the strip club’s shift manager, who is permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Previously unreleased footage of the events inside of the strip club being used as evidence in Edwards’ trial was released by ESPN last week.
Both Jermaine Dupri and Nelly are featured in the video, although neither of them are accused of any wrong doing in the incident.
"A lot of yall comment on how stupid it is. It might be stupid to you, but this is what we do," Dupri continued. "We eat, we kick it, we throw money. Don’t make this one situation blow the whole thing out.”
Dupri explained why he was shouting to the strippers not to pick the money up off the floor, even though Nelly and Jones were showering tens-of-thousands of dollars upon them.
He also lent some credibility to Jones’ claims that he was attempting to break up two dancers who began to fight over the money.
“You’re not supposed to get your money until the dance is finished,” Dupri said. “These girls was picking the money up [as] soon as the money was flying, like someone was going to steal it. That kind of gave me an idea of the place that we were in. I was like ‘oh these girls are going to start fighting or something because they don’t know understand what the f**k is going on in here.’”
Arvin Edwards’ attempted murder trial is was supposed to start last week, but was moved to February 2010.
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They call their home Silicone City – and for good reason. Chantal Marshall and four of her daughters have had NINE boob jobs between them.
That makes them the British family to have had the most breast surgery – bra, er, bar none.
While most mums and their daughters enjoy shopping trips together, Chantal, 50, and her daughters have spent nearly £40,000 on visits to cosmetic surgeons to have their breasts enlarged.
Ripley, 18, Tara, 22, Terri, 25, Emma, 28, and mum-of-nine Chantal, of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts, now boast chest sizes ranging from 34DD to 32GG.
On one occasion, Emma and Ripley even ended up having breast enhancement surgery on the same day and at the same clinic as their mum.
Tara had booked her consultation aged 17 so she could have the op as soon as she reached the age of 18.
The sisters – all with matching blonde hair just like their mum – say that like most siblings they have always copied each other.
But they insist that when it comes their chest sizes, they aren’t at all competitive.
They reckon their desire for bigger boobs was inspired by Chantal – who is often mistaken by strangers for their sister.
Here they share their stories...
Mum Chantal
Age: 50; No of ops: 3; Spent: £13,500
CARER and mum-of-nine Chantal is a petite Size 10 and was 34B before her first op. She is now a 34DD.
She says: “Having nine children left my boobs looking like milk bottles. In 1996, after I had my seventh child, I had my first set of implants but I ended up even more unhappy.
“They looked like balls in socks rather than the pert, round breasts I had imagined. I was quite traumatised. So when Emma said she was going to have a boob job I was terrified. But when I saw how great they looked it made me brave enough to consider having mine done again and in February 2004 I had them enlarged to 34DD.
“Two years down the line I wanted to perk them up. So when Emma and my second youngest daughter Ripley said they were going to get theirs done I suggested we all went together.
“My daughters say I inspired them to have boob jobs but I’ve got them to thank for encouraging me to get mine done again. There’s no mistaking the family resemblance – but now we’ve got the boobs to match too!”
EMMA
Age: 28; No of ops: 2; Spent: £9,500
Emma is a beauty therapist and is a Size 12. Before her first enlargement she was a 34B. She is now a 34F.
She says: “We all laugh it’s Silicone City round our house. It’s amazing we’re the family with the most boob jobs in Britain – and we’re all really happy with the results.
“I first got my boobs done 10 years ago when I was just 18. I had a good figure but longed for more curves.
“I’d look at Baywatch on TV and think ‘they look stunning’. Then I’d look in the mirror and imagine myself with a bigger pair.
“I knew it would give me more confidence. So I got a loan and got my 34B cup enlarged to a D cup. I felt so much happier as they suited my curvy frame.
“I didn’t have any problems but they say you should have implants replaced after 10 years, which is why I went under the knife again.
I went for my second op with my mum and sister Ripley. “One of the first things we said when we came round from the anaesthetic was, ‘Let’s have a look at yours!’”
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RIPLEY
Age: 18; No of ops: 1; Spent: £4,500
Ripley, 18, fashion and design student and trained nail technician. She is a Size 8. Before surgery in March she was a 34C. She went up to a 34DD.
She says: “I’m the youngest in our family to have a boob job. Some sisters are competitive – but I’m as delighted by my sisters’ and mum’s boob jobs as I am my own.
“It’s brought us closer together – I couldn’t wait to get mine done.
“Although I’m a Size 8 I don’t like the ironing board figure like Keira Knightley’s. I prefer the womanly curves of J-Lo. I’d buy bigger bras and then pad them out with chicken fillets and padding.
“After seeing my sisters and the way they felt about having theirs done, I wanted to do the same.
“I managed to save up half the money I needed and then got a loan.
“Emma and I investigated on the internet and found surgeon Dr Hicham Mouallem at The Wimpole Clinic in London. He was brilliant.”
TERRI
Age: 25; No of ops: 1; Spent: £4,500
Terri, 25, is a dancer and lives in Papplewick, Notts. She is a Size 10. Before her boob job she was a 32DD. She is now a 32GG.
She says: “I once had a jokey argument with my sister Emma about who had the biggest boobs. But it was all friendly – there’s never been sibling rivalry as we’re very close.
“I had my boob job after my sister Emma. When I saw hers I knew I had to go and get mine done. They looked amazing and I was so jealous.
“I’ve always had quite big boobs but I wanted to go bigger. So I booked myself in with the same surgeon just one month later.
“Some people might think I’m crazy but it’s what I wanted. I saved up and luckily my boyfriend Paul helped towards the cost.
“I had no trepidations about going – I’d rather get my boobs done than go to the dentist. I’d hate to be flat-chested. Put it this way, if I was, I’d be putting 10 chicken fillets in my boobs and be wearing a jelly-bra.”
TARA
Age: 22; No of ops: 2; Spent: £8,000
Tara, a receptionist, is a Size 10. Before her first boob job she was a 34A. She is now a 34E.
She says: “Looks-wise my sisters and I share nearly everything. We’ve all got similar hair and facial features but when it came to boobs I was no way near as blessed.
“I never got any bigger than an A-cup and my boobs looked like two little eggs. Everyone said I looked fine but I felt I looked pear-shaped.
“I knew bigger boobs would make me happy but rather than getting upset about it, I decided that as soon as I was old enough I’d save up and have breast implants.
“I managed to save up the money I needed and as soon as I was 17 I booked a consultation.
“I had the op when I turned 18 and I was so excited that I almost fell off the hospital bed beforehand.
“After I had my daughter in 2005 I decided to have them done again. I love the fake look so I decided to go for a 34E. I feel amazing.”
Source : TheMirror.Co.UKRead more…
New York Daily News Reports
Jeffrey Alba's Bronx heroin mills had air circulators because the odor was so strong and there was a white dust fog. The windows were sealed up and lists of orders to be filled were taped to the walls.
The workers used tiny spoons to allot a half a grain of heroin for each glassine envelope - that's nearly 30,000 times for every kilo - working in shifts around the clock.
When authorities raided a fancy Riverdale building over the Fourth of July weekend, they expected to make a good-sized bust.
What they found stunned them - a half-million glassine envelopes of heroin and a drug mill the size of which no one has seen since the days of Leroy (Nicky) Barnes in the 1970s.
The find was a blunt testament to local and federal drug cops' growing concern: Heroin is back, with a vengeance.
Jeffrey Alba
The heroin is pure - as much as 90% when imported, and 50% to 60% at street level - and cheap. Snorting a $10 glassine envelope gives the same euphoria as an $80 OxyContin pill.
That has widened its appeal to younger, working-class and middle-class adults with no memory of the drug's havoc on a generation that injected it by needle in the late 1960s and early '70s.
"Everyone starts with the pills in the beginning," said a 22-year-old Suffolk County man in treatment at Phoenix House for a $600-a-day habit.
He started out as a high school dealer, pushing prescription painkillers and then heroin because "all the little rich kids were doing it." He started snorting it when he was 19 because he thought he could easily quit.
Heroin has gained cachet from trendy young users in the city. Downtown artist Dash Snow, whose Polaroids captured sex-and-drug scenes, died last week, apparently of a heroin overdose. He was just 27.
The demand has led to huge amounts of the white powder blanketing the city. Most of it is packaged here for sale in the suburbs, as far away as Boston and even cities near the Canadian border.
Thirty pounds - about 15 kilos - were seized in the Bronx mill, said the city's special narcotics prosecutor, Bridget Brennan. Her office grabbed 270 pounds of heroin in 2008, more than twice the 116 pounds confiscated in 2007.
"Everybody's alarmed," said Brennan.
"There is more heroin throughout New York State, from New York City all the way up to Buffalo," said Chauncey Parker, director of the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program for New York and New Jersey.
"It is a growing threat ... the purity level is alarmingly high, so people are sniffing it," Parker said.
"There's an increased demand in suburbia, because this is not your heroin of old," said Joseph Evans, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office. "It's intertwined with prescription drugs. People turn to heroin after using OxyContin."
"Prescription narcotics like Vicodin and Percocet are the gateway drugs to heroin," said Dr. Joseph Cannavo, unit chief and medical director of the chemical dependency unit at Flushing Hospital Medical Center.
Over the past 10 years, he said, the numbers of heroin addicts at his unit have quadrupled.
"They're decidedly younger, 18 to 22, middle-class, computer-savvy kids," Cannavo said.
Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal, founder of Phoenix House, said there's been a 10% rise in admissions for heroin addicts - to 33% of admissions - in the last few weeks.
"It certainly got our attention, but we have to look at it for a couple of months," he said.
He said snorting heroin does not lessen the devastation.
"Half the people go from snorting it to the needle," Rosenthal said.
The Suffolk County addict said he began shooting up a year into his habit. He was 6-feet-1 and weighed barely 130 pounds when he landed in an ICU.
In the heroin epidemic of the 1970s, 85% of Phoenix House admissions were for smack.
That was when the notorious Barnes formed a murderous syndicate of the seven largest drug rings who controlled heroin and other drug sales in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn.
They employed hundreds of mill workers, distributors and street dealers, and "inflicted incalculable damage on this city," prosecutors said at the time.
"Even in the Barnes era, they just cut out territories in the city," said a senior narcotics investigator in Brennan's office.
"But this [Riverdale] group was like a corporation, supplying the whole metropolitan area, Long Island, New Jersey."
The three Bronx mills in Riverdale and Pelham Parkway allegedly run by Jeffrey Alba were supplying dealers as far away as Boston, Evans said.
"The Northeast corridor has the most predominant heroin use, and 14% of all heroin seized in the U.S. is seized in New York City," Evans added.
The smack that turns up here is South American, exclusively, when as recently as 14 years ago, Asia supplied two-thirds of it. Authorities say the intricate, well-oiled Colombian cocaine networks handle heroin smuggled in via Mexico.
Investigators say a kilo costs $50,000 to $60,000 wholesale, a steep drop from when high-quality heroin would sell for $150,000 to $200,000.
"I think I became addicted the first time I took a bump, because it made me feel so good," the Suffolk addict said. "By the time I went into detox, I was up to 60 bags [glassines] a day."
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LATIMES Reports
A 15-year-old Los Angeles girl who navigated a single-engine Cessna through thunderstorms in Texas and took in breathtaking aerial views of Arizona’s sunsets — landed her plane to cheering crowds at Compton Woodley Airport today, becoming the youngest African American female pilot to fly solo across country.
Kimberly Anyadike took off from Compton 13 days ago with an adult safety pilot and Levi Thornhill, an 87-year-old who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. They flew to Newport News, Va., making about a dozen stops along the way.
Anyadike learned to fly a plane and helicopter when she was 12 with the Compton-based Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum, an after-school program that offers aviation lessons to at-risk youth and economically disadvantaged students. The organization owns the small plane.
She loved the feeling of streaking across the sky. She told her mom that it was like a wild ride at Magic Mountain.
Always up for a challenge, she came up with the idea to fly across the country a few months after learning to fly. Robin Petgrave, the aeronautical museum’s founder, warned that it would take a lot of preparation. “I told her it was going to be a daunting task,” he said, “but she just said, ‘Put it on. I got big shoulders.’ ”
Anyadike said she didn’t want to make the trip to set a record or become some kind of celebrity. “I wanted to inspire other kids to really believe in themselves,” she said. She also wanted to honor the Tuskegee Airmen, the U.S. Army Air Corps’ all-black combat unit who served during World War II.
“They left such a great legacy. I had big shoes to fill,” she said. “All they wanted to do was to be patriots for this country. They were told no, that they were stupid, that they didn’t have cognitive development to fly planes. They didn’t listen. They just did what they wanted to do.”
Anyadike’s Cessna and the other planes at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum are painted with red tails, similar to the Tuskegee Airmen planes.
During her cross-country trip, Anyadike met about 50 Tuskegee Airmen who autographed the Cessna. “That way they can fly with us forever,” Petgrave said.
How will the young pilot celebrate? “By sleeping,” she said with a giggle.
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The recent spate of violence was sparked by the arrest of high-ranking drug cartel member Arnoldo Rueda Medina.
CNN Reports
A federal judge ordered 10 municipal police officers arrested Saturday in connection with the slayings of 12 off-duty federal agents in southwestern Mexico, the attorney general's office said.
The federal officers' bodies were found Tuesday on a remote highway in Michoacan state, where at least 18 federal agents and two soldiers have been killed since July 11 due to drug-related violence.
Video from the scene showed three signs, known as narcomensajes, or narcomessages, left by the killers. They all stated the same thing: "So that you come for another. We will be waiting for you here."
The officers arrested Saturday are on the police force in the city of Arteaga.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose home state is Michoacan, responded to the violence by dispatching 1,000 federal police officers to the area. The infusion, which more than tripled the number of federal police officers patrolling Michoacan, angered Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy Rangel. He called it an occupation and said he had not been consulted.
Authorities said Wednesday they were searching for the governor's half-brother, who they say is a top-ranking member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel. The cartel is blamed for most of the recent violence in the state. The governor's brother, Julio Cesar Godoy Toscano, was elected July 5 to the lower house of Congress.
The governor has publicly urged his brother to surrender. There were no reports of his apprehension as of late Saturday.
The sudden spike in violence followed the arrest July 11 of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, described as a high-ranking member of La Familia.
La Familia members attacked the federal police station in Morelia to try to gain freedom for Rueda shortly after his arrest, authorities said. When that failed, cartel members attacked federal police installations in at least a half-dozen Michoacan cities.
Under Mexican law, the officers arrested Saturday will be held for 40 days while officials determine whether to formally charge them.
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AllHipHop Reports
Rapper Foxy Brown and R&B singer Toni Braxton are the latest celebrities to run afoul of the Internal Revenue Service.
Of the two, Brown owes the most, as the IRS is seeking $641,558 in federal taxes due to the state of New York.
A tax lien was filed against Brown in June for taxes owed as far back as May of 2003.
A tax lien was issued against the Brooklyn emcee for missing tax payments in the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The lien is the latest issue for Foxy Brown, who was accused of receiving favorable treatment while incarcerated on Rikers Island as part of a scandal currently dogging the New York Corrections Department.
Several top officials, including Correction Chief Peter Curico and prison Rabbi Leib Glanz have resigned due to allegations that Brown, Orthodox Jews and were treated better than other inmates.
In related news, this past March, the state of California issued a lien against R&B singer Toni Braxton and her husband Keirston Lewis as well, claiming the couple owes $79,315 in back taxes.
Braxton has faced financial hardships before, as she filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998 with over $1 million dollars of debt.
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CNN Reports
A former California police officer accused of sexually assaulting a motorist during a traffic stop pleaded guilty in federal court, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Feliciano Sanchez, 34, admitted in court Thursday that while on duty on May 16, 2007, he pulled over a female driver in a traffic stop and forced her to perform oral sex on him, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien, who heads the office for the Central District.
Sanchez, then of Los Angeles County's Bell Police Department, stopped the woman for speeding or weaving down the road, said central California U.S. attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek, citing court documents.
After learning the woman, identified as R.H. in court documents, did not have a driver's license with her, Sanchez told her he suspected her of drinking and her car would be towed, Mrozek said.
Sanchez offered to drive R.H. to her job, but instead drove her to the parking lot of an auto repair outlet in Bell, Mrozek said.
Sanchez placed his hand on his gun and forced her to perform sex on him in his patrol car, Mrozek said. Afterward, Sanchez drove R.H. to her work place, Mrozek said.
"Officer Sanchez brutalized a person he had sworn to serve," O'Brien said in the release. "As a result of his criminal conduct, Mr. Sanchez now faces a substantial amount of time in federal prison. His conduct eroded public confidence in law enforcement and cast a pall over his former colleagues who obey the law, proudly working to preserve public safety."
Federal prosecutors charged Sanchez with a civil rights violation, according to the release.
The crime carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison upon sentencing. Sanchez has been held without bond since his arrest in May 2007, Mrozek said. Sanchez's sentencing is scheduled for November 18.
Sanchez resigned as an officer after his indictment, Bell Police Department Capt. Anthony Miranda said. Miranda said Sanchez's case was a first for the department.
"We were in shock, and actually, disbelief," he said.
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Rap-Up.Com Reports
Ne-Yo has some words for his fans and the critics who won’t give him a break.
In an entry titled “THIS IS MY LIFE…” posted on Global Grind, Ne-Yo responded to an incident during his concert in Manchester, England on Thursday where he started to cry, prompting him to end the show early. He says the emotional outburst was caused by his non-stop schedule, which left him with a sinus infection. Watch The Video Here.
I’m currently on tour in the UK. This tour began right after a 4 month stint in Prague shooting a world war 2 movie. We’re in a different city in a different part of the UK every night, moving non stop. Since my first album, roughly 5 years ago, I’ve taken 1 vacation, and even that was about 2 years ago.
Basically, I have an issue with not knowing when to say enough is enough, so last night in Manchester, my body said it for me.
I got on stage energized and ready to go, even tho for the last 5 days I’ve been dealing with a sinus infection. I paid it no real mind, and kept on going, like I always do. My voice couldn’t take it. From the first song I knew something was wrong. I shoulda stopped there, but I come from a school where no matter what, the show must go on. It wasn’t until about 4 songs in that I came to the painful realization that my voice was done, literally nothing left, and that I would have to stop the show.
Now let me explain something to you:
When I say this music, that stage, my fans, THIS is my life, I’m not saying it cause it sounds good in a sound bite. THIS IS MY LIFE!! Not much else matters to me, honestly.
My music, my family and the people that appreciate my music…..the fans. THAT’S ABOUT IT!!
I’ve never had to stop a show, never dreamed I’d ever have to. So when I had to walk out on that stage and tell 12,000 of the people responsible for making me who I am that I could not perform for them, it literally broke my heart.
I cried harder than I have in a very long time with no shame whatsoever.
To anyone out there that would like to question my manhood because of this I’ll say this to you:
If the one thing you cared about more than anything else in the world was threatened or even taken from you, if you knew that the people you cared for the most you had to disappoint and it was your fault… and this didn’t spark some kind of emotional outbreak within you…then with no shame I’ll say you are truly a stronger man than I.
To the people of Manchester, know that I love you and I thank you for being so understanding and supportive. And I promise you that you will receive the show deserved.
Thanks to the fans for the love and concern.
And to the bloggers….go to hell.
Sincerely, Ne*Yo!!
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