Casino, DA: Charles Barkley’s Debt Still Unpaid May 20, 2008

LAS VEGAS — Just one day after former NBA great Charles Barkley said he paid his loan to the Wynn Hotel-Casino and was giving up gambling for a while, casino officials — along with Clark County District Attorney David Roger — said Barkley’s $400,000 gambling debt is still outstanding.

 

During an announcement Tuesday, Wynn officials and the district attorney’s office said there’s been no payment and no contact with the former NBA star and TV analyst.

 

During Turner Network Television’s pre-game show before the NBA playoffs Monday, Barkley said the debt had been paid and he was giving up gambling.

 

In a complaint filed last week, Rogers said Barkley borrowed four $100,000 gambling markers from the Wynn on Oct. 18 and 19. When he finished playing, the report said, Barkley left the debt unpaid.

Officials from the Wynn said they are not allowed to comment on a pending case.

 

The district attorney’s office has yet to hear from Barkley. Roger has promised to file a criminal complaint if Barkley doesn’t pay up by June 9.

$175 Hamburger on Wall Street May 20, 2008

NEW YORK (AP)– Despite the economic downturn, a Lower Manhattan restaurant is now offering a $175 (euro112) hamburger.

The opulent and extravagant burger is made of Japanese Kobe beef, topped with gold flakes, black truffles, a thick slab of seared foie gras and aged Gruyere cheese.

Wall Street Burger Shoppe co-owner Heather Tierney thinks of it as “a work of art.”

Tierney says the item attracts Wall Street types who down a few beers and then fork over $175 (euro112) to “show off in front of their friends.”

CSI Team Heads to Manson Ranch To Dig May 20, 2008

RIDGECREST, California (AP) — Decades after law enforcement raided the ranch where Charles Manson hid following a 1969 killing spree, detectives and scientists are returning to hunt for undiscovered graves.

group of about 20 people, including scientists and law enforcement personnel, headed to the secluded ranch within Death Valley National Park early in the morning and started digging.

The team includes specialists in detecting disturbed soils and chemical markers that indicate likely grave sites.

“It’s going to be back-breaking manual labor,” said Carma Roper, a spokeswoman for the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department.

The expedition to the secluded ranch in the rugged Panamint Mountain range is expected to last through Thursday. Temperatures in the park are forecast to surpass 100 degrees.

For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson victims — hitchhikers who visited the ranch and were not seen again, and runaways who drifted into the camp, then fell out of favor.

The decision to further investigate the site where Manson and his followers hid following the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others came after initial tests in February found at least two sites that could be graves.

A group including two national lab researchers, a police investigator with a cadaver-sniffing dog, and an anthropologist with a magnetic resonance reader determined there was enough evidence to contact the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department.

After further soil sampling with inconsistent results, Sheriff Bill Lutze agreed to the exploratory excavation. The National Park Service has closed the ranch to the public for the duration of the dig.

The searchers will use technology that wasn’t available when Manson and his followers were arrested nearly 40 years ago, such as radar, magnetometers and portable gas-chromatograph and mass spectrometers that can detect chemical markers characteristic of bodies in decomposition.

They will also dig with shovels, Lutze said.

Manson is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison.

Sen. Edward Kennedy has malignant brain tumor May 20, 2008

BOSTON – A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics’ most enduring figures. “He remains in good spirits and full of energy,” the doctors for the 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.

They said tests conducted after the seizure showed a tumor in Kennedy’s left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

Kennedy has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

“He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital,” said the statement by Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy’s primary care physician. They said Kennedy will remain in the hospital “for the next couple of days according to routine protocol.” Kennedy’s wife and children have been with him each day since he was hospitalized. Senator Kennedy’s son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., plans to stay at the hospital for the time being. “Obviously it’s tough news for any son to hear,” said spokeswoman Robin Costello. “He’s comforted by the fact that his dad is such a fighter, and if anyone can get through something as challenging as this, it would be his father. So he’s optimistic, he’s hopeful, but obviously he’s concerned.” President Bush was notified by his staff of Kennedy’s diagnosis at 1:20 p.m. “He said he was deeply saddened and would keep Senator Kennedy in his prayers,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year — and the most common type among adults. It’s an initial diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing. Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower growing. News of the diagnosis hit hard for colleagues on both sides of the aisle. “I’m really sad,” former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said when told in a Senate hallway about Kennedy’s condition. “He’s the one politician who brings tears to my eyes when he speaks.” “I am so deeply saddened I have lost the words,” Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said in a Senate hallway. Warner said he and Kennedy had been friends for 40 years. Both served on the Senate Armed Services Committee together. Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy. His eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and his brother Robert was assassinated in 1968. Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for Sen. Barack Obama in February, and most recently last month. Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts and the Senate’s second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012. Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after the vacancy occurs.

Spencer Pratt Fires Back at Bruce Jenner May 20, 2008

The feud is heating up! Spencer Pratt has words for Brody Jenner’s dad Bruce who dubbed him a “bad influence.”

“That’s a bold statement for someone who only decided to try and be Brody’s father after Brody got famous,” Pratt says. “He should focus more on trying to be a father and worry less about Brody’s influences. Brody’s doing just fine.”

Bruce Jenner told Us that he blames Brody’s pals including Frankie Delgado and Pratt for Brody’s womanizing ways.

“He’s been brought down by all his friends,” Bruce said. “It’s not really him. He’s a homeboy.”

DWTS’ Cristian de la Fuente to Undergo Arm Surgery Friday May 20, 2008

Chilean soap star Cristian de la Fuente is undergoing surgery for a torn tendon in his arm less than a week after the Dancing With the Stars finale.

“I have surgery Friday — there is not a lot I can do or plan for six weeks,” he said after Monday night’s show. “Hopefully, I will also go on a nice vacation, then go to work.”

Fuente was briefly hospitalized after suffering a severe muscle cramp in his arm while performing the samba in late April. Despite some pain (and rumors that he’d leave the show), he decided to stay on board.

He said he has already accomplished so much.

“Being in the finals is our goal,” he said. “When I had an accident, I thought it was not going to happen.

“I am not the best dancer, and I have not been the best dancer from the beginning,” he added. “I am happy we made it this far.”

He said tonight’s finale will air live in Chile for the first time.

“That, for me, is very touching because my country wants to know how I am
doing on the show,” he said. “It’s great to have their support.”

Country Star Dierks Bentley Expecting First Child May 20, 2008

Dierks Bentley and wife Cassidy are expecting their first child this fall, the country star reveals on his fan Web site.

“Cass’s eggo is preggo!” he writes on the premium section of his site. “We are excited about adding onto the family, but we aren’t too sure how the current kids, Jake and George, are going to feel about it.”

Jake and George are the couple’s dogs.

Bentley, 33, and Cassidy, 32, eloped in 2006 in a little chapel in Mexico, where Bentley is now on vacation. “Mexico has always been a special place for us,” writes Bentley.

He says the couple have “gone back and forth” on whether to find out the baby’s gender. “At this point, we are keeping it a surprise until it happens this fall,” he writes.

Bentley recently released Greatest Hits/Every Mile a Memory 2003-2008 with 10 hits, two new songs and five live recordings that his fans chose.

Lindsay Lohan Sued Over Alleged Fur Coat Theft May 20, 2008

The fur is still flying in the case of Lindsay Lohan and the missing mink coat: Now the actress has been slapped with a lawsuit accusing her of taking the fur without permission.

Masha Markova, 22, claims that the Mean Girls star took her $12,000 golden sheared mink coat when they were both at the New York City nightclub 1Oak in January, the Associated Press reports, citing papers filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court.

Markova, a New York college student, says she was flipping through a magazine and found a photo of Lohan wearing her coat. “It was my coat. It was no doubt,” she told the New York Post.

The coat reportedly was returned to her by the club in February.

There was no immediate comment from Lohan’s reps on the lawsuit.

It’s Official: Katie Holmes Heading to Broadway May 20, 2008

Katie Holmes will be spending a lot more time in New York City this fall: The actress has signed on to make her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.

Holmes, who had been reportedly in final negotiations for the part last March, will join John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson in the revival this fall.

Holmes will play a woman who visits the family of her former lover, a missing pilot. It will be her first play since high school and Holmes will be on stage six nights a week.

Sources: Husband’s Alleged Affair Caused Shania’s Split May 20, 2008

What caused the sudden breakup of Shania Twain and her husband, music producer Robert “Mutt” Lange, after 14 years of marriage? His relationship with another woman, say several sources.

Reached by PEOPLE after the separation was announced in a statement, Lange called the split “an unfortunate thing.” He added, “It’s literally just a growing apart, that’s all.”

But sources close to the situation say a third party was involved: Marie Ann Thiébaud, a longtime secretary and manager of the couple’s chateau in Switzerland. “Mutt and Marie Ann left their spouses for each other and are still in a relationship,” says one source.

Lange denies the claims. “It’s absolutely not the reason [for the separation],” the famously reclusive producer told PEOPLE when asked about the alleged affair. He also denied that he was in a romantic relationship with Thiébaud: “I’m not, no,” he said. “It’s not true.” (Thiébaud could not be reached for comment.)

Twain, 42, and Lange, 59, married in 1993. They have a 6-year-old son, Eja (pronounced “Asia”) D’Angelo.

An insider says the “You’re Still the One” singer is “devastated. This came out of left field. . . She loved him.” Another source close to Twain tells PEOPLE the Canadian-born star is coping with the help of “a very close-knit group of family and friends.”