Author: Sean Patterson

The U.S. has been suffering from an economic lull for years now, and workers have been feeling the pinch.

This year, congress delayed budget measures until the recent sequester resulted. That means that now even government employees will begin to be affected by the economic situation. If the government cuts laid out by the sequester are not covered in the near future, some government employees may be forced to take furloughs, less politely known as extended unpaid leave.

According to an Associated Press report, The White House this week has announced that President Obama will be making a gesture to show his solidarity with government employees who are facing the prospect of furloughs. The president will be returning 5% of his yearly salary to the U.S. Treasury.

Since 2001, U.S. Presidents have been paid an annual salary of $400,000. President Obama‘s symbolic contribution to the treasury amounts to $20,000.

Other U.S. politicians are also announcing that they will be giving up money in response to the sequester. According to the AP report, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will return 14 days’ worth of salary to the U.S. Treasury, which is symbolic of the two-week cut in pay Defense Department employees could end up taking. Alaska Senator Mark Begich has also announced he will return part of his salary to the treasury.

Sometimes, judging whether someone has had plastic surgery can be easy.

Take, for example, Valeria Lukyanova, the Russian woman who has had her body warped into the shape of a Barbie doll and doesn’t resemble a human being any longer.

Determining the status of someone’s nose in Hollywood becomes a bit harder, where it seems every celebrity has had some sort of work done. While some will openly admit to having their lips done, others will go to their grave denying that certain parts of their body are not entirely flesh.

This week’s Hollywood plastic surgery rumors are surrounding Hayden Panettiere. The actress was recently photographed on a Miami Beach wearing a skimpy bikini. The pics sparked rumors on the web that Panettiere’s breasts may have been augmented in the recent past, as they appear larger than they did around the time she was starring in the Network TV show Heroes.

In an interview last fall, Panettiere stated that tabloid headlines had given her body dysmorphia in the past. The actress claims she is over her body issues, and she has not addressed the current speculation via her Twitter account. Everyone else on Twitter, however, has been talking about Panettiere’s chest quite a bit:

(Image courtesy Hayden Panettiere via Twitter)

The U.S. border with Canada is generally more peaceful than the U.S. border with Mexico, but an incident this week shows that the northern border is also used for drug smuggling. A drug bust that took place this week in both Washington state and British Columbia means that parties in the Northwest U.S. will be a bit more demure over the next few weeks.

According to an Associated Press report, four people have been arrested in connection with an attempt to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Canadian border.

Two of those arrested were men caught by the American Border Patrol trying to smuggle a reported 58 pounds of MDMA (also known as ecstasy) into the U.S. near the small town of Sumas, Washington this week. They were dressed in camouflage clothing and carrying backpacks. One of the men was captured, and the other was reported by the border patrol to have fired gunshots and fled back into British Columbia, where he was later caught.

The other two suspects are reported to be a man and a woman who told authorities they would be paid $11,000 to haul the MDMA to San Francisco.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has died. She was 85.

According to a report from the Associated Press, Jhabvala died in New York after battling an unnamed illness.

Jhabvala got her start in the film industry in 1963, when she penned the screenplay adaptation for her novel The Householder. From then on, she collaborated with Merchant Ivory Productions on over 20 movies. She won best adapted screenplay Oscars for her work on both Howards End and A Room with a View.

In addition to her success as a screenwriter, Jhabvala was also an award-winning novelist. She began writing in the 1950s, with stories about life in India. She won the 1975 Booker Prize for her novel Heat and Dust, which tells the story of a woman who travels to India and falls in love with a Nawab.

(Image courtesy Cmacauley/Wikimedia Commons)

The WWE may dominate the world of professional wrestling, but it will soon find itself paying up for using one of its former wrestlers’ images.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the WWE has settled a lawsuit with Owen Hart’s widow, Martha. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2010, alleged that Owen Hart’s estate is owed royalties for the WWE’s use of the wrestler’s image in the years since his death. It also claimed that the WWE had violated a contract restricting the use of Hart’s image, including his name. The details of the settlement have not yet been made public.

Owen Hart died on May 23, 1999 during a WWE (WWF at the time) pay-per-view event billed as Over the Edge. The 34-year-old wrestler was to have entered the ring by being lowered from rafters of the Kansas City, Missouri arena where the event was taking place. During the stunt, Hart’s harness malfunctioned and the wrestler fell over 70 feet to the ring below. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Hart family has already sued the WWE for negligence over Owen’s death, and received an $18 million settlement in 2000.

(Image courtesy Mandy Coombes/Wikimedia Commons)

There are many places in the U.S. associated with the illegal drug trade, but the state of Connecticut isn’t usually mentioned as one of those places. However, U.S. officials demonstrated this week the the U.S. war on drugs extends to the Northeast as well.

Reuters is reporting that around 100 people were arrested today in connection with heroin and cocaine trafficking. Authorities claim those arrested were part of two “gangs” that imported the drugs to Southeastern Connecticut from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The arrests took place in four different New England states (Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts), as well as in Puerto Rico. Those arrested will be tried in the U.S. District Court in New Haven.

The arrests came after a 15-month investigation led by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to the Reuters report, the investigation included “more than a dozen law-enforcement agencies.” In addition to the arrests, police claim that they seized money, weapons, and drugs during the bust.

An image of Jesus that has hung in a Jackson, Ohio middle school for over 60 years and was recently moved to a Jackson high school has now been taken down.

According to an Associated Press report, the Jackson City School district has agreed to take the picture down amid first amendment concerns.

The picture was hung in Jackson Middle School in 1947. It is owned by the school’s Christian Hi-Y Club, which took the picture down on Wednesday.

The decision to take the picture down came after a student and two parents, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, had sued the school district. The lawsuit claimed the picture was unconstitutional, as it promoted a particular set of religious beliefs.

Superintendent Phil Howard told the AP that the decision was based on the high cost that battling the lawsuit would cost. The school board had initially voted to keep the picture up, arguing that removing it would violate the Hi-Y Club students’ free speech rights.

There may be no crying in baseball, but Tom Hanks demonstrated this week that there is plenty of room for emotion on Broadway. The actor this week made his Broadway debut in the play Lucky Guy.

According to a New York Post report, Hanks teared up after the play, while receiving a standing ovation. He told the publication that he had wanted to take a bow with the show’s writer, Nora Ephron, who died last year after a battle with leukemia. From the Post:

Of the emotional curtain call, Hanks told us, “That was a tough moment. We were going to do this, and Nora and [show director] George C. Wolfe were going to walk out onstage. I miss her. What more can you say?”

Hanks and Ephron, apart from being personal friends, have a long history of working together in Hollywood. Ephron wrote and directed the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle, and followed that up with 1998′s You’ve Got Mail.

As for Lucky Guy, the show is getting mixed reviews as a play, though some critics have praised Ephron’s writing.

Kendra Wilkinson may be skilled at modeling, but it turns out that high-diving isn’t her thing. This week, the former Playboy model was failed to make her dive on the new ABC reality show Splash, which features celebrities learning how to dive.

Wilkinson successfully made a dive on the show’s previous episode, but got cold feet on this week’s high-dive attempt. She stood on the top of the platform and began to cry as her co-diver, Rory Bushfield (a professional skier by trade), attempted to encourage her to dive. Eventually, Wilkinson decided that she could not get over her fear of heights and would not be diving. The host informed her that she would be eliminated from the show as she repeatedly said, “I’m sorry” to the live audience.

After the show, Wilkinson took to Twitter to explain her anxiety and apologize to her fans. She also fended off the heavy criticism that was tweeted her way. She explained that signing up for the show was a “big mistake” and that she had thought about quitting during last week’s episode.

Cult film director Jesus Franco has died. He was 82.

According to a report from the National Enquirer, Franco died on the morning of April 2, though the cause of death has not been revealed. He was reported to have been working on his latest movie, titled Al Pereira vs. the Alligator Women.

Franco began his career in 1961 with the cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which features a killer who attempts to steal women’s faces. He went on to direct well over 100 movies, most of them low-budget horror, exploitation, or sexploitation. He was fond of using pseudonyms in the credits of his movies, and often went under the names Jess Franco and Clifford Brown. Though he never found mainstream success, he became well-known in cult-horror fandom for movies such as Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein, Oasis of the Zombies, and Vampyros Lesbos.

Roger Ebert, perhaps the most well-known film reviewer in history, has announced that he will be taking “a leave of presence.” Though Ebert stressed that this does not mean he will quit writing for good, it does mean that his output will slow significantly.

Ebert made the announcement in a post to his Chicago Sun-Times blog. The reason for his leave was also revealed in the post – his cancer has returned. He is currently being treated with radiation therapy. Ebert was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002, and lost his ability to speak after complications from surgery in 2006.

Ebert used his post to thank his colleagues and everyone who has helped him in his 46-year career. He has stated that he will now leave most of the reviewing work to his hand-picked reviewer colleagues. Ebert expressed excitement that he will be reviewing only the movies he wants to. He may also begin writing about his health troubles. From the post:

At this point in my life, in addition to writing about movies, I may write about what it’s like to cope with health challenges and the limitations they can force upon you. It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital. So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.

Ebert’s film review website, rogerebert.com, is being re-launched with a new design the writer states is “highly interactive and searchable.”

Former New England Patriots head coach Chuck Fairbanks has died. He was 79.

According to a statement by the Patriots organization, Fairbanks died in Scottsdale, Arizona after a prolonged battle with brain cancer.

“As a Patriots season ticket holder, I remember the excitement that was generated by the hiring of Chuck Fairbanks from the University of Oklahoma in 1973,” said Robert Kraft, CEO of the New England Patriots. “Coach Fairbanks gave the Patriots instant credibility. For Patriots fans of that era, Fairbanks was the Bill Parcells before Bill Parcells. Meaning, he did for the Patriots in the ‘70s what Bill Parcells did for the team in the ‘90s. He delivered the franchise’s first 11-win season in 1976 and earned a home playoff game after winning the division in 1978. It was the first time in franchise history that we hosted a playoff game. He introduced the 3-4 defense to the NFL during his Patriots tenure, which remains a part of his NFL legacy. It is a sad day for a generation of Patriots fans who enjoyed his era of coaching. My thoughts and prayers are with the Fairbanks family and all who mourn his loss.”

Fairbanks played football in college at Michigan State, and went on to coach a Michigan high school football team after graduating. In 1958 he stepped up to an assistant coaching position at Arizona State University and went on to be a coaching assistant for the University of Houston and the University of Oklahoma.

In 1967 Fairbanks became the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. He led the team to three Big Eight Conference titles before leaving to become the head coach of the Patriots in 1973. Fairbanks had mixed success in the NFL, and returned to college football in 1979 as the head coach of the University of Colorado football team.

It seems that Amanda Bynes is dedicated to her strange new style and behavior.

According to an E! News report, the former child star missed a court hearing this week, with the judge granting the actress a continuance. Bynes’ attorney is reportedly waiting on Bynes to sign papers for a negotiated plea deal for the charge of driving on a suspended license.

Last year, Bynes was arrested in April for a D.U.I., though she claimed she doesn’t drink. Later in 2012 she was charged in a hit-and-run incident and had her driver’s license suspended.

Since that time, her agent and publicist have dropped her as a client and she has moved to New York. Bynes has now turned to Twitter as her source of publicity, showing off her new cheek piercings and some intense makeup experimentation.

Bynes is continuing her streak of odd Twitter posts, with cryptic messages and a rather pointed invitation to R&B star Drake:

Though former child star Hilary Duff has been out of the spotlight for a few years, she’s still a large enough presence in Hollywood that her appearance on the most popular current network TV sitcom can still make waves. It has been announced that Duff will be guest-starring in the season finale of Two and a Half Men, which is filming this week.

According to an E! News report, Duff will play a love interest for Ashton Kutcher‘s character, Walden Schmidt. Marilu Henner will play Duff’s grandmother in the episode, and will also be a love intrest for Schmidt.

Duff has tweeted out her excitement about being on the CBS show, and indicated that her character is a “crazy drunk girl.”

Duff is best known for playing the title role in the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire. She married NHL player Mike Comrie in 2010, and the couple gave birth to their first child just over one year ago, in March 2012.

Jane Henson, wife of Muppets creator Jim Henson, has died. She was 78.

According to The Jim Henson Company, Henson died at her Connecticut home yesterday after a prolonged battle with cancer. The company has set up a tribute page featuring photos from her life and audio from an address she made to The Jim Henson company made last year.

Jane Henson was born Jane Nebel, and met Jim Henson at a puppetry class at the University of Maryland. The couple went on to create the show Sam and Friends and the Muppets. The couple were married in 1959, and had five children together. Though they were separated in 1986, Jane would go on to continue her association with The Jim Henson Company.

Jane collaborated on several Muppet projects, including The Art of The Muppets museum exhibit, The Muppet Show on Tour, and Sesame Street Live She also served on the board of The Jim Henson Foundation, co-founded The National Puppetry Conference, and founded both The Jim Henson Legacy and The Jane Henson Foundation.

(Image courtesy The Jim Henson Company)

Finding Nemo is generally regarded as one of Pixar‘s finest animated films. With that in mind, the question naturally arises: why Cars got a sequel before Nemo?

That question is now irrelevant, as Pixar has officially announced the sequel to Finding Nemo, titled Finding Dory. The movie will focus on Dory, the clumsy Pacific regal blue tang sidekick in Finding Nemo. Finding Dory will be directed by Andrew Stanton, who directed Finding Nemo as well as Pixar’s WALL-E. According to the new Finding Dory Facebook page, the movie will be released in November 2015.

Though the Nemo sequel has been rumored for some time, the official announcement came, fittingly, from the voice of Dory herself. Ellen DeGeneres made the announcement this week on The Ellen DeGeneres show.

With politicians everywhere coming to grips with gay marriage and even Bill O’Reilly admitting that that gay marriage supporters have a “compelling argument,” there really has never been an easier time to come out of the closet in the U.S.

This week, Magic Johnson’s son, Earvin Johnson III, was tacitly outed to the American public by the L.A. paparazzi. TMZ is reporting that the 20-year-old was spotted in L.A. with a man the publication states is his boyfriend. Johnson is reportedly a student at NYU.

The Paparazzo who accosted Johnson questioned him on the Lakers, the Dodgers, and Dodger Stadium’s plumbing situation.

TMZ quotes Magic Johnson as saying he and his wife are “very proud” of his son and that they “love EJ and support him in every way.”

New York state Senator Malcolm Smith was arrested today in connection with an alleged bribery scandal involving Smith gaining ballot listing for New York City’s Republican mayoral primary.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Smith and five other politicians were arrested on charges of bribery, extortion, and fraud. The other arrested individuals include New York City Council Member for Queens Dan Halloran; Queens County Republican Party Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone; Bronx Republican Party Chairman Joseph Savino; Spring Valley, New York Mayor Noramie Jasmin; and Spring Valley Deputy mayor Joseph Desmaret. Smith is a democrat and a state senator for New York’s 14th district, which covers parts of the Bronx and Queens.

Smith and Halloran are accused of arranging $40,000 in bribes to have Smith’s name appear on the Republican primary ballot for the New York City mayoral race in 2013. Halloran is also accused of having received nearly $25,000 to steer city council discretionary funding to a company named by his briber, who was an undercover FBI agent.

“Today’s charges demonstrate, once again, that a show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government,” said Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for Manhattan. “The complaint describes an unappetizing smorgasbord of graft and greed involving six officials who together built a corridor of corruption stretching from Queens and the Bronx to Rockland County and all the way up to Albany itself. As alleged, Senator Malcolm Smith tried to bribe his way to a shot at Gracie Mansion – Smith drew up the game plan and Councilman Halloran essentially quarterbacked that drive by finding party chairmen who were wide open to receiving bribes. After the string of public corruption scandals that we have brought to light, many may rightly resign themselves to the sad truth that perhaps the most powerful special interest in politics is self-interest. We will continue pursuing and punishing every corrupt official we find, but the public corruption crisis in New York is more than a prosecutor’s problem.”

Though the split has been known of for a while, singer John Mayer went ahead and officially acknowledged this week that he and singer Katy Perry are no longer in a relationship.

Mayer spoke about the couple’s relationship on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He related that the relationship was private throughout and that he would prefer to keep it that way even now. During the interview Mayer seemed at ease

“Coupling is a tricky thing,” said Mayer.

Mayer went on to talk about his new, relaxed life in Montana. He also touches on his love of scotch, and how he has had to cut down on the beverage now that his body can’t “just shake everything off” any longer.

Diet company Nutrisystem today announced that actress Melissa Joan Hart has signed on as the “brand ambassador” for the diet system.

Hart rose to fame in the early 90s in her role as Melissa Darling on the Nickelodeon TV show Clarissa Explains it All. She went on to play Sabrina Spellman in the long-running ABC TV series Sabrina the Teenage Witch. She currently stars in the ABC Family TV series Melissa & Joey.

“I love working with Nutrisystem,” said Hart. “The Program is really delivering results for me and I look forward to long term success, staying motivated and helping others do the same.”

Hart gave birth to her third son with husband mark Wilkerson last September. She has also written a memoir titled Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life, which is scheduled to be published in October 2013.

Nutrisystem in a statement claimed that Hart has lost twenty pounds on the company’s diet.

“We are thrilled to be helping and working with Melissa,” said Keira Krausz, CMO at Nutrisystem. “She mirrors our values and will resonate with our customers as authentic. Moving forward, you’ll see us have an appropriate mix of inspiring celebrities and real life customers who have also enjoyed success. We think dieters are savvier than ever and really appreciate someone who – above all else – is relatable.”