TEAM OF 2006/2007

GO HABS GO !!!

GO HABS GO !!!

Woody Harrelson’s father dies in prison

Woody Harrelson’s father dies in prison
Charles Harrelson, 69, found dead in cell at Supermax federal facility

Charles Harrelson was the convicted hired assassin of San Antonio federal judge John Wood and the father of actor Woody Harrelson.



DENVER - Actor Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, died of a heart attack in the Supermax federal prison where he was serving two life sentences for the murder of a federal judge, officials said Wednesday.

Charles Harrelson, 69, was found unresponsive in his cell on the morning of March 15, said Felicia Ponce, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman in Washington.

Fremont County Coroner Dorothy Twellman said an autopsy showed Harrelson had severe coronary artery disease. She said he probably died in his sleep. “It appears it was very sudden.”



Charles Harrelson was convicted of murder in the May 29, 1979, slaying of U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. outside his San Antonio, Texas, home. Prosecutors said a drug dealer hired him to kill Wood because he did not want the judge to preside at his upcoming trial.

Charles Harrelson denied the killing, saying he was in Dallas, 270 miles away, at the time.

Wood, known as “Maximum John” for the sentences he gave in drug cases, was the first federal judge to be killed in the 20th century.

Charles Harrelson was transferred to Supermax, the highest-security federal prison, after attempting to break out of an Atlanta federal prison in 1995. Other inmates at Supermax, about 90 miles south of Denver, include Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing coconspirator Terry Nichols and Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph.





His son got his start in acting as Woody the bartender on “Cheers” beginning in 1985 and went on to star in films including “Natural Born Killers,” “White Men Can’t Jump” and “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”

Woody Harrelson’s publicist did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

The actor was just 7 when his father was first sent to prison, for murdering a Texas businessman. He was in college when his father was convicted of the judge’s assassination.

Carbonneau gives nod to Halak in net

Jaroslav Halak





MONTREAL (CP) - Hot rookie Jaroslav Halak will be in the Montreal Canadiens net until he loses a game, coach Guy Carbonneau said Thursday.

Halak, the starter in each of Montreal's five consecutive victories, will be in goal again on Friday night against the Senators in Ottawa.

''If he wins, he'll be in there Saturday night (at home against Buffalo) and if he wins again, he'll be there Tuesday night (at home against Boston),'' Carbonneau said.

''If he loses? I haven't figured that out yet.''

Carbonneau seemed to step back somewhat from a statement earlier this week that No. 1 goalie Cristobal Huet may return from a hamstring injury in one of the weekend games.





But it is still possible. Huet was to see a doctor on Friday, hoping to get clearance to return. The French goaltender has been out since he tore his left hamstring during a Feb. 14 game against New Jersey.

In Huet's favour is that he has earned at least one point (three wins and two extra-time losses) in five starts against the Sabres this season.

Carbonneau wants to get Huet in a game or two to get his reflexes back before the playoffs, but the Canadiens are in a six-team battle for the last three Eastern Conference spots and right now are riding Halak's hot hand.

''Cristobal did the job for us last year,'' Carbonneau said. ''If the opportunity is there to put him in the net, we will, but as long as Halak is winning, it's not urgent.''

The Canadiens also have goaltenders David Aebischer and Michael Leighton on hand, although neither is expected to see action any time soon.

Halak, 21, has been solid through the Canadiens winning streak, allowing only 10 goals in five games to improve to 8-4-0 since he was called up from AHL Hamilton when Huet got hurt.

Montreal is 3-3-1 against the Senators this season, but lost the last two in back-to-back games in early February.

''They're a team that likes to attack and force things,'' said Carbonneau. ''They'll bring three in to forecheck and their defence will pinch and that's when you have to catch them.

''That's what we've been doing lately - taking advantage of two-on-ones and three-on-twos.''

Another bright spot of late for the Canadiens has been their forward lines, which have all been producing.

Alex Kovalev, who has two goals in each of the last two games, is dangerous on a trio with rookies Guillaume Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre, but more impressive has been Tomas Plekanec between Chris Higgins and rookie Andrei Kostitsyn.

''When we weren't winning earlier, maybe we were relying on one line too much,'' said Higgins. ''Now all our lines are producing and that makes it easier to win.

''It makes it tougher for the opposition to play against us because they usually have one defensive line to play against your big line, so it's worked out well for us.''

Plekanec has goals in each of his last three games to reach 20 for the season, a career high. Kostitsyn has 11 points in 13 games since he was called up on Feb. 22.

''I think he's got his confidence now,'' Higgins said of Kostitsyn, a fine skater and passer. ''He knows his role and he's comfortable playing with Tomas and I.

''We like getting him the puck because he's a pretty skilled player.''

Celbutante Paris Hilton could face up to 90 days in jail if a judge finds she violated her probation.

LOS ANGELES — City prosecutors said Thursday they will ask a judge to revoke Paris Hilton's probation in a reckless driving case, a move that could lead to a jail term.
The decision followed an investigation into whether the hotel heiress and reality star violated terms of her probation by driving last month with a suspended license.

"We're confident we have sufficient evidence to prove that her license was suspended and that she had knowledge of that suspension," said Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. He declined to elaborate on the evidence, citing an ongoing investigation.





Hilton could face up to 90 days in jail if a judge finds she violated her probation, Velasquez said. A hearing was scheduled for April 17.

In January, Hilton pleaded no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving stemming from a Sept. 7 arrest in Hollywood and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.




Hilton was pulled over on Sunset Boulevard on Feb. 28. Police said they saw her blue Bentley Continental GTC speeding with its headlights off. She was ticketed for misdemeanor driving with a suspended license.

Hilton's spokesman Elliot Mintz said at the time that she hadn't been aware that her license was suspended.

Mintz did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Eminem, ex-wife call truce

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. Eminem and Kim Mathers agreed Monday not to criticize each other in public for the sake of their daughter.

The decision was made following a court hearing in which the 34-year-old rap superstar and his ex-wife agreed that insulting each other could prove harmful to their 11-year-old daughter, Hailie.

Eminem filed a motion in Macomb County Circuit Court earlier this month that sought to prevent Mathers from making "derogatory, disparaging, inflammatory and otherwise negative comments" about him in the media.

Mathers, who has twice married and divorced the rapper, blasted Eminem in recent TV and radio interviews, including one on a Detroit radio station in which she said he was unfaithful and uncaring - and disparaged his sexual prowess.

She attended the hearing and a closed-door meeting beforehand in the chambers of Friend of the Court Referee David Elias. Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, wasn't in court, but spoke by telephone in Elias' chambers.

The two sides agreed to the deal, which was announced at the court hearing.


"We're happy the court was able to bring this matter to a just and equitable resolution," Eminem's lawyer, Harvey Hauer, said outside the courtroom.

Michael J. Smith, Mathers' attorney, said the decision was reached "for the full benefit of the child."

Smith said Eminem and Mathers have "to attempt to promote a good relationship" and "can't talk bad about each other to the child."

However, Smith said the order doesn't prohibit Eminem from performing songs in which he is critical of his former wife.

Eminem has assailed Mathers with his lyrics.

The couple married in 1999, divorced in 2001, remarried in January 2006 and separated three months later. Their second divorce was finalized in December.

Their daughter, Hailie, was born in 1996.

Eminem has won nine Grammy Awards, including best rap album for "The Slim Shady LP," "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "The Eminem Show." He won an Oscar for the song "Lose Yourself" from the hit 2002 film "8 Mile."

Who's your daddy?

Decide for yourself!





March 20, 2007— A DNA test was ordered by a Bahamian court judge on Tuesday to determine who is the real father of Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn.

Virgie Arthur, the late Playboy playmate's mother, confirmed to ABC News that a test was ordered in a closed court hearing on the Bahamian island of Nassau, though she declined further comment on the day's proceedings.

Larry Birkhead, the man many believe to be the father of the 6-month-old baby, was jubilant as he emerged from the courthouse.

"I feel great,'' he said, adding, "it's been a good day in court for me.''

Howard K. Stern, who is listed as the father of the child on her Bahamian birth certificate, also declined to comment after court.

It remains unclear whether he will comply with the order. Should he challenge the order, the paternity mystery could drag on for another month or more. But if he complies and allows the baby's DNA to be tested, the vexing question of who fathered Smith's baby daughter will finally be answered.

The paternity test is one of a series of legal battles regarding the untimely death last month of Anna Nicole Smith.

There's also the custody fight. Smith's mother Virgie Arthur was in a Bahamian court last week trying to wring custody of the baby away from Stern, whom she says is an unfit father, if a father at all.

And while Bahamian and Florida police have both insisted that their ongoing probe into Smith's death is not a murder investigation, new evidence they turned up was enough to delay a Florida medical examiner from announcing his findings last week. Bahamian police met with Florida investigators last week at the hotel where Smith died.

Paris and Nicole to work as camp counselors

Once-feuding friends must come together on ‘Simple Life’
Nicole Richie, left, and Paris Hilton will be back together working at a camp on the next season of "The Simple Life."



NEW YORK - On-again friends Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are taking “The Simple Life” — which shows the tabloid-ready celebutantes thrown into everyday situations with real people — to camp.

After last season’s format allowed the then-feuding friends to have little to do with each other, this year’s edition brings them together again.

“The Simple Life Goes to Camp,” set to debut in May, has Hilton and Richie working as counselors at Camp Shawnee in the mountains near Los Angeles, E! Entertainment Television Inc. announced Wednesday. The camp will be host to five different specialty groups: Wellness Camp, Pageant Camp, Couples Camp, Survival Camp and Drama Camp.


Hilton, 26, and Richie, 25, will be expected to eat, sleep and keep the same schedule as the campers. They will be working under the direction of various experts, the network said.



“The fact that Paris and Nicole are friends again and will have to survive without their luxuries at a family run camp in the middle of nowhere takes us back full circle to the original concept that makes this show so much fun,” Lisa Berger, who oversees original programming and series development, said in a statement.

“Paris and Nicole will be advising and training girls and their moms for beauty pageants, or providing therapy for couples seeking to strengthen their relationships,” she said.

Meanwhile, Richie has been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, or low-blood sugar, her publicist confirmed Wednesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Bewigged, Bothered and Bewildered BRITNEY ??

- Poor Britney Spears. The newly bald pop star finally landed in rehab , according to People.com. For gossip fans, it’s been a long time coming. During months of hard partying, occasionally with the likes of fellow bad girls Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, Brit has been photographed in various stages of dishevelment, with and without underwear. Last week, she apparently checked into and then out of a rehab center in Antigua—all within a matter of hours. Then she made her way to Los Angeles, where she shaved her own overprocessed locks in a hair salon in Tarzana, Calif. After that, she stopped at a tattoo parlor to get a cross inked on her hip and a pair of lips on her wrist. The next day she pulled on a platinum wig and hit a few bars.



Her mother, along with everyone else who cares about her, must be appalled and worried sick. Personally, I feel a little relieved. Relieved at the possibility (even if it’s a remote one) that the rest of Britney’s horrifying breakdown will take place in private. But I’m also relieved for a very selfish reason. I no longer have the slightest fear that my daughter will want to be like Britney Spears when she grows up. As I described in a recent cover story for NEWSWEEK called “The Girls Gone Wild Effect,” our kids are being bombarded with images of underdressed, oversexed celebrities, often falling-down drunk. Rich, beautiful and untouched by responsibility, these celebs are like a dog whistle for young girls. It’s not that girls set out to emulate them, but they can create a sense of normalcy about behavior—drinking, smoking and casual sex—that is dangerous for teens I’m not the only concerned parent: A recent NEWSWEEK poll found 77 percent of Americans believe that Britney, Paris and Lindsay have too much influence on young girls.






In truth, I really wasn’t that worried about Britney in particular; my kid is only 6, and Britney has been on a long, steep slide from her days as a perky pop princess. Thanks to her very public antics, her influence has been steadily waning. Last month, the founder of her biggest fan site pulled the plug saying, “it is very hard to maintain the respect needed to keep things going.” Fifth graders told NEWSWEEK that they had begun to turn on Brit, because she didn’t seem to be taking very good care of her two young sons—not to mention that whole no-underwear thing.

When out-of-control celebrities get too out of control, they quickly lose their appeal. Other famous bad influences have managed to scandalize us while staying firmly in charge. Madonna made us blush when she writhed on the floor in a wedding dress or published a coffee table book glorifying nearly every sexual fetish you can think of. Yet she always managed to wield scandal as a weapon, and with each new wave of controversy her fame grew. She seemed to carefully calculate just how far she could go. But while Madge has done her time with the tabloids, it’s impossible to imagine her stumbling around drunk with smudged make up and nasty hair extensions.

Even as I worry about the bad-girl effect on my very own girl, I know I am partly to blame. I am an avid consumer of celebrity gossip. I am always happy to see US magazine. I start the day with the New York Post’s Page Six. I really can’t read enough about Paris Hilton. I have always had a big weakness for bad girls. These celebs seem wild and independent and free to do whatever the hell they’d like. I really hope my daughter never hears about Britney’s latest misadventures. But if she does, I think it will be pretty easy to convince her that Brit is no role model. The girl really is a walking, talking teachable moment. And I believe that my daughter, like other kids, will learn her values from me, at home. Plus, she thinks not wearing underwear is really gross.

Snoop Dogg arrested in Sweden

Snoop Dogg held overnight in Sweden

Stockholm police arrested US rap star Snoop Dogg and a woman in her early 20s early on Monday for suspected narcotics use, a police official said.

Snoop Dogg, 35, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was detained at 1:25 a.m. and released nearly four hours later, duty sergeant Mats Brannlund of Ostermalm police said.

"He was arrested for use of narcotics. It's illegal in Sweden to use them, even to have it in your system," he said.

"You can see that a person indicates that he has used narcotics in looking at his eyes or his movements. (Police) suspected that he had taken drugs."















Snoop Dogg played Stockholm's Globe Arena on Sunday and was due to play the Oslo Spektrum later on Monday with fellow rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs as part of a joint European tour. Oslo-based concert promoter Atomic Agency said Snoop Dogg was en route to the Norwegian capital.

Media representatives for the rapper were not immediately available for comment.

Brannlund said police took "body samples" from Snoop Dogg and the woman and sent these to a laboratory for tests. Results are due in two to three weeks and the rapper could face a fine if the tests confirm drug use.

Such fines are means-tested and "if he earns a lot, it can be a couple of thousand (Swedish crowns) ($280)", he said.

Police said Snoop Dogg and the woman, also a foreigner, were travelling in a car in the centre of Stockholm with one other person. They did not disclose the name of the woman.

Snoop Dogg was arrested in Los Angeles in January for deadly weapons possession after airport security found what police said was a collapsible baton in his luggage.

PLAY IT NOW !! DEAL OR NO DEAL

Deal or No Deal Game

Britney Britney Britney !?!?!?

An appearance in family court sought by Kevin Federline amid a child custody dispute with Britney Spears was canceled Thursday as reports surfaced that she was back in rehab.

Spears returned to the Promises Malibu Treatment Center late Wednesday, according to reports from TMZ, "The Insider" and "Extra." Her mother, Lynne Spears, drove her to the center, "Extra" and "The Insider" said.

The 25-year-old pop star previously left the Promises center Wednesday, according to "The Insider," less than a day after arriving. The center specializes in treating drug and alcohol abuse.

Last week, Spears sought treatment at a center in the Caribbean but also checked out after a day, according to various reports.

Spears and Federline reportedly agreed Wednesday night that he would keep their two young sons while Spears was in rehabilitation, a program that takes between 30 and 45 days.

Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said Federline's attorney had contacted the court Wednesday and asked to make an appearance in which one side in a dispute can come into court without prior notice.

He said Federline lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan called the court's bailiff Thursday morning "and indicated nothing is going to happen today."

It wasn't known what issue the 28-year-old Federline planned to raise.

"There was no official court date scheduled today and there is no future court date scheduled," Kaplan said in a statement issued by his publicist, Michael Sands.

"Kevin continues to be a very focused father with his children with hands-on management," the statement continued.

Federline sought spousal support and sole custody of Jayden James, 5 months, and Sean Preston, 17 months, after Spears moved to end their two-year marriage in November, but a temporary order issued Feb. 1 granted joint custody through this month.

Gina Orr, a publicist at Jive Records, Spears' label, did not respond to e-mail and phone messages.

Last Friday, Spears arrived at a San Fernando Valley hair salon, grabbed an electric razor and shaved her head bald. Afterward, she visited a tattoo parlor, where she had a pair of red-and-pink lips inked onto her wrist. Then she went out clubbing with friends before apparently checking into Promises.

Whether her recent behavior will damage her recording career is hard to say, said Vibe magazine music editor Jon Caramanica.

Spears, whose 1999 debut album, "… Baby One More Time," sold more than 13 million copies, hasn't released a new album since 2003. Before her troubles began she had promised one this year, and Caramanica suggested that might be a good outlet to address what she's going through.

"I think the best thing she could do is make an album that engages with this subject matter in some way," he said. "Not only to have a good album but to have an album that's a declaration of emotional health."

Behind Hollywood's velvet ropes The Hilton tapes

It was a perfectly sunny L.A. afternoon, a charming curb-side restaurant right there in the sweet spot of the Sunset strip, lunch with a couple of members of an extremely exclusive club.

And one of them popped up and was across the place — and back — before I quite understood what was up.

“______,” she told me, sitting down again. “He was the guy in the Paris video...” THAT Paris video.

A friend of hers, apparently. Or was he? As we had been discovering, the tight little world inhabited by the people who show up week after week on the covers of tabloid magazines is not quite the bright wonderland lots of us like to imagine.

Behind those velvet ropes, our lunch companions told us, it's a sometimes dangerous world, inhabited not just by the famous or the wanna-be famous, but by dark characters, bottom feeders and bad boys intent on making use of those very faces you see on the tabloids.




Paris Hilton helps solve a crime. Sort of. Watch a preview of the Dateline Saturday report.


Our purpose, when we started, was to look into a terrifying home invasion robbery way up in the nosebleed section of Bel Air. I mean, way up. Nancy Reagan’s neighborhood. Homes so expensive you can’t even see them, in there behind their hand built gates, up their hedge-lined private driveways.

The victim of this robbery is a celebrity himself: Joe Francis, the man behind a ridiculously profitable moral quagmire called “Girls Gone Wild.” Joe has been flogging his videos - college girls lifting their tops for the camera, playing sex games with each other, etc, etc - long enough to have built a boy’s dream of a lifestyle.

Here is a partial list of Joe’s toys: private jets (2), Bentley, Ferrari, the really nice house, other big house across the country, a place in the Caribbean.... and... friendships with people who are famous.

Like Paris Hilton. Who says, the second Joe’s name comes up, “He’s NOT my ex-boyfriend.”

But did she know who got into his house one night, tied him up, threatened to kill him, forced him to make a video apparently aimed at making him look gay?

And thus, from our curiosity about a robbery, we found ourselves drawn into the bizarre world of Hollywood night life.

We listened to Paris call herself "like, not that smart." We heard her memory improve remarkably... after a sandwich.

Paris Hilton interview

• Paris Hilton: Amateur detective?


Listen to the excerpts from Paris Hilton's law enforcement interview that helped solve a crime. On Dateline NBC .com



What’s it like behind those Hollywood velvet ropes?

Next time you find yourself in a check-out line and your eye is drawn to some ultra-famous party girl — or boy — splashed on a tabloid cover and you wonder, just for a second, how cool it must be to live in that world... you might remember this simple definition of celebrity life, from an L.A. County prosecutor named Hoon Chun: “Its a jet-set version of high school.”

DETROIT - Kim Mathers, the ex-wife of Eminem, says her on-again, off-again relationship with the Grammy-winning rapper is over and done

"I never spoke up about it before because I always felt something for him," Mathers told Detroit radio station WKQI-FM in a live interview.

"Now I have vomit in my mouth if I'm around him or hear his name. There's nothing left in me for him. Nothing."

Mathers, who has generally avoided the spotlight in the past, said she wanted to tell her side of the story to her family and to Eminem's fans, who know her mostly from the rapper's unsympathetic depiction of her in his lyrics.

Asked the most surprising thing about her life with the Eight Mile star, Mathers said, "Sex was bad."

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, issued a statement urging his ex-wife to stop talking about their relationship in the media.

"It's a shame that I've moved on and Kim hasn't. Her ongoing press campaign is doing nothing but harm to the children, and for that I feel truly sorry. For their sake, I wish she would stop," he said.


The couple's first divorce, finalized in 2001, prompted both a custody battle over their daughter, Hailie, and Eminem's hit Kim - a graphic rap fantasy about his ex-wife's death.

His song Mockingbird from 2005 refers to her cocaine addiction in a rapped explanation of their split.

Mathers, who tried to commit suicide after watching Eminem perform Kim onstage in 2000, told the announcers on the Mojo in the Morning show she was still troubled by her portrayal in her ex-husband's songs.

"People hear them and praise him. It bothers me, because it's nothing like that in the real world," she said.

Eminem had used an earlier appearance on the same radio show to announce that he and Mathers had reconciled and would remarry.

Both Eminem and Mathers have battled addiction and legal problems in recent years.

Mathers pleaded guilty to cocaine possession in 2004, and said Friday she also was a recovering alcoholic

"I made a lot of mistakes, and I am sorry, but I have learned from them. I will never be that person again," she said.

The couple reconciled in 2005, remarried in a January wedding in a Detroit suburb, but then separated weeks later. In addition to their daughter, the couple also cares for Hailie's cousin, Alaina.