THURSDAZE
July 11, 2008
According to the National Inquirer Dana Owens was vacationing in the Virgin Islands when the incident occurred. Details are sketchy, but what is known is that Queen Latifah was on a rented scooter when she lost control of the vehicle and ‘went flying’.
A source tells the tabloid, “She’s lucky she wasn’t killed. Fortunately, there weren’t any cars or other scooters behind her when the accident occurred.”
The source also added: “Luckily, she didn’t break any bones. But she was suffering and was prescribed painkillers.”
Story Developing…
“My mother would kill me if I posed nude!” she said.
R&B star Rihanna has vowed never to pose for a naked photoshoot – because her mother would “kill” her.
Although the singer has proved she isn’t shy about shedding her clothes in the name of work – she appeared wearing just gold body paint for her 2007 “Umbrella” video – she refuses to strip off for a magazine.
She tells MTV.co.uk, “My mother would kill me if I posed nude!
“When I did that metallic body paint stuff for my Umbrella video, I didn’t do it to show my body. I didn’t do it for people to like me. I did it because it was a cool visual, unexpected, and it looked hot.
“I have done a lot of photoshoots for magazines but it’s always great to be shot for a cover because you know that you are looked at as a fashion icon.”
Katie Perry Still On Top
“I Kissed a Girl” is on top for the third week in a row.
LOS ANGELES, July 10 (UPI) — Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” is No. 1 on the U.S. record chart for a third week, Billboard.com reported Thursday.
Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 is Rihanna’s “Take a Bow,” followed by Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” at No. 3, Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” at No. 4 and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” at No. 5.
Rounding out the top tier are Chris Brown’s “Forever” at No. 6, Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” at No. 7, the Jonas Brothers’ “Burnin’ Up” at No. 8, Plies’s “Bust It Baby Pt. 2” featuring Ne-Yo at No. 9 and Miley Cyrus’ “7 Things” at No. 10.
Brother: Madonna is In Love With Herself
The superstar’s brother writes that his big sis is self absorbed
According to Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, A-Rod isn’t the only person in love with his sister. In his new tell-all, Life With My Sister Madonna, he claims that the Material Girl is quite fond of herself as well.
Usher is showing off his baby son in a new photoshoot for Essence magazine.
R&B cat Usher is showing off his baby son in a touching new photo shoot for Essence magazine.
Father and son, Usher Raymond V, appear together on the cover of the new magazine with the adorable tot sporting a wool one-piece and a country cap.
Inside the August issue of the magazine, Usher dances for his staring child in one lovely shot, and the pair poses topless for two stunning family photos.
The final portrait, taken by snapper Timothy White, features little Usher asleep in his father’s arms.
In the accompanying article, the singer tells actor Hill Harper his baby son has changed his life.
He explains, “I thought I had felt love before. But the moment I heard my child’s voice, I broke down and cried.”
And now, Usher Sr. insists his leading goal in life is to become a role model for the tot: “He’s gonna admire me, he’s gonna look up to me. He’s gonna say… ‘I wanna be like my father.'”
The Essence article also features the printed lyrics of “Prayer For You,” the touching poem Usher wrote for his newly-born son and then turned them into a song for his current album “Here I Stand.”
The newlywed says at one point she felt so low, she wanted to disappear
Before Mariah Carey wed Nick Cannon, the diva tells Elle magazine that she “dreamed” of being kidnapped.
“When I was in an unhappy place in my life … I always wanted to be kidnapped,” the singer tells the mag. “I just wanted a way out, but I didn’t have one.”
Well she’s singing a different tune now.
The singer gushes about how hubby Nick Cannon proposed-twice!
On the rooftop of her Manhattan apartment he proposed with a 17-carat diamond hidden inside a candy ring pop.
“They’ve been calling me Cinderella since I first started out,” she says of the fairytale-worthy proposal,” she says. “Most people would think, Okay, please! This doesn’t happen in real life.”
Then only a few days later, he popped the question again.
“He sort of kidnapped me and took me on a helicopter ride,” she says. “Then he re-proposed.”
LOS ANGELES, July 9 (UPI) — Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III is No. 1 on the U.S. album chart, Billboard.com reported Wednesday.
Coming in at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 is Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, followed by the soundtrack to Disney’s Camp Rock TV movie at No. 3, G-Unit’s T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight) at No. 4 and John Mayer’s Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles at No. 5.
Rounding out the top tier are the compilation CD Now 28 at No. 6, Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus at No. 7, Usher’s Here I Stand at No. 8, Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad at No. 9 and Disturbed’s Indestructible at No. 10.
MONDAY’S MADNESS
July 8, 2008
“It’s amazing!” Cannon, 27, told Usmagazine.com at the Christian Audigier nightclub grand opening in Las Vegas Thursday night.
“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” he continued.
The Wild ‘N Out host tied the knot to Carey, 38, in a hush-hush ceremony in the Bahamas on April 30.
[Nick’s] plan is to have one [wedding] every year,” Carey gushed to Ellen DeGeneres two weeks later. “Instead of trying to be like, ‘You’re invited, but shhh, don’t tell anybody,’ we’re just going to have another one [wedding] next year.”
Up next for the lovebirds? Babies!
“I always said if I found the right person who I felt would be on the same page as me in term of raising kids and having the same belief system, [we’d have kids],” Carey said.
Reuben Cannon told Us his half-brother Nick, “definitely wants kids,” and that he “loves [Mariah] more than any other girl.”
The couple got cozy on the set of her steamy video “Bye Bye.” Watch their chemistry.
A-ROD’S GETTIN A D-VORCE
Cynthia Rodriguez’s lawyer tells TMZ, “A-Rod may be an All-Star baseball player, but he’s flunked the All-Star team as far as marriage is concerned.”
Earle Lilly is repping Cynthia in the divorce case, which will be launched tomorrow when she files legal papers in Miami. Lilly claims Alex Rodriguez, who’s already banked more than $250 mil, and Madonna have been having an affair “and are still together.” He says they were together after his game yesterday and together today as well.
Lilly says, “We’re not gonna lose this case.” He acknowledges a prenup exists but it’s “too early” to decide if he’ll challenge it. He says there will be a “huge settlement” in the case but “not hundreds of millions of dollars.” Lilly says A-Rod’s estate is “vast … beyond what anyone knows.”
He says, “Cynthia is tremendously traumatized and devastated,” adding the legal papers he’ll file tomorrow will claim she’s the victim of “emotional abandonment.” Lilly says A-Rod has seen his six-week-old baby “once, maybe twice, but that’s it.” He says there’s no question — when the ink is dry she will be the primary custodial parent.
Madonna will not be specifically named in the divorce papers. Lilly says infidelity is a “major cause” for the divorce, but not because of any one allegation. Rather, he says, there were a series of dalliances and “Madonna was the last straw.”
Lilly says Cynthia did not have an affair with Lenny Kravitz and that her relationship with him is “totally innocent and puristic.”
Will Smith did Hancock a solid.
Smith has star-powered the poorly reviewed superhero hybrid to a $66 million opening weekend, and a No. 1 finish, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
WALL-E, last weekend’s champ, stayed strong, grossing another $33.4 million, but finished a distant second.
Hancock goes down as Smith’s seventh straight movie to open No. 1. If you count Shark Tale, the 2004 animated comedy, as a Smith movie, his streak stands at eight straight.
Overall, Hancock has grossed $107.3 million since “previewing” on Tuesday night and “opening” on Wednesday.
Looking strictly at the movie’s first five days, Wednesday-Sunday, Hancock took in $100.4 million, per Box Office Mojo stats, far behind the pace of this summer’s two leading movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($152 million) and Iron Man ($112.1 million).
Among Smith movies, Hancock becomes his top Fourth of July opener, a testament to the star’s drawing power, yes, but also inflation.
Run the movie math (divide the opening weekend gross by the average ticket price), and the numbers show Independence Day, Smith’s signature Fourth of July hit, sold nearly two million more tickets in its opening weekend in 1996 than Hancock did this weekend.
It’s actually better not to run the movie math. Not if you want to enjoy the holiday weekend to the fullest.
Other box office notes:
* Where WALL-E remained hot and pushed its two-weekend total to $128.1 million, Angelina Jolie’s Wanted (third place, $20.6 million; $90.8 million overall) cooled off considerably, with business down 60 percent.
* In its third weekend, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the critically praised Abigail Breslin family film, opened wide and died—a doll-sized $3.6 million (eighth place) off nearly 1,850 screens.
* Speaking of the dearly departed, Mike Myers’ The Love Guru ($1.7 million) dropped out of the Top 10 after just two weekends.
* Looking on the bright side of a big giant bomb, The Love Guru, at $29.3 million overall, is the highest-grossing Justin Timberlake movie of all time. As long as you don’t count Shrek the Third as a Justin Timberlake movie. Which you really shouldn’t.
* The 1990s-nostalgia trip The Wackness, starring Drake & Josh’s Josh Peck, was the star in limited release, grossing $145,064 at six theaters. Its per-screen average of $24,177 was the tops for any movie of the weekend.
* Despite three movies taking in more than $20 million, the Hancock-led Fourth of July was 4 percent smaller than last year’s Transformers-led Fourth of July. The setback set 2008’s overall business once again behind 2007’s.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Hancock, $66 million
2. WALL-E, $33.4 million
3. Wanted, $20.6 million
4. Get Smart, $11.1 million
5. Kung Fu Panda, $7.5 million
6. The Incredible Hulk, $5 million
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $3.9 million
8. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, $3.6 million
9. Sex and the City, $2.3 million
10. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $2 million
That’s what some are saying. The ever so “credible” Star Magazine is spreading rumors about Jermaine Dupri and Janet Jackson has secretly married.
According to the gossip rag the two didn’t want to deal with the stress and pressure of a huge wedding. From what I hear people close to the power couple know, but that’s about it.
Though the music mogul has been very clear about revealing this, saying when he and his superstar girlfriend Janet decide to tie the knot, the entire world will know, I still felt the need to email the mogul himself for a response. However, as of press time he hasn’t responded.
Nearly 24 hours after being released on $500 bail for assaulting a fan, Gym Class Heroes’ front man Travis McCoy has a warrant out for his arrest.
According to TMZ, police have been ordered to take McCoy in for questioning after investigating his third degree assault charge. Arrested Tuesday evening after allegedly breaking his microphone in to a disgruntled fan’s head when reportedly called a “f*cking ignorant n*gger”, the lead singer was released on a bond the following morning.
Performing on the Vans Warped Tour, the rock-hop star initially requested the audience member to re-state his direct comment towards him before inflicting harm on to the victim.
Quickly apologizing for his reaction, McCoy also tried reasoning with the crowd before being arrested shortly afterwards.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But when someone calls you something that ignorant and that offensive, you have to bash their head in with a microphone.”
The band is currently scheduled to perform at the Superpages.com Center in Dallas, Texas this evening.
The Essence Music Festival will be brought some of hip-hop and R&B’s biggest acts to to New Orleans this Independence Day weekend.
Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and comedian Chris Rock headlined some concerts in the evening, while some of the nation’s most influential speakers, artists, authors and leaders enlighten festival-goers in the day. Also on the bill are Frankie Beverly, Keyshia Cole, Jill Scott, J. Holiday, LL Cool J, Musiq, Morris Day & The Time and Patti LaBelle.
“The Essence Music Festival is truly the ultimate party weekend this Fourth of July; celebrating Black culture with an unparalleled combination of music, arts, and empowerment,” says Michelle Ebanks, President, Essence Communications Inc. “We have an extraordinary line-up of A-List talent in the Louisiana Superdome and the daytime Essence Empowerment Seminars are covering the issues impacting our community with critical examination, motivation and inspiration.”
The Essence Empowerment Seminar Series will feature Tyler Perry and friends, Soledad O’Brien, Dr. Bill Cosby, Reverend Al Sharpton, Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Hill Harper, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and Tom Joyner, among other notable figures.
The Festival also offers the Essence Marketplace in the daytime, with quality fine arts & crafts by African-American vendors from all over the world.
Maybe it’s time for Black Sabbath devotees to renounce their fanhood: Ozzy Osbourne is moving into Osmond territory.
According to Variety, Fox has given a six-episode pickup to an hour-long variety show hosted by the 59-year-old erstwhile Prince of F–king Darkness, 55-year-old wife Sharon, 23-year-old son Jack and 22-year-old daughter Kelly, that’s said to be a throwback to such programs of yore as—gulp—ABC’s Donny and Marie and CBS’ The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
The untitled Osbourne project is being overseen by James Sunderland, the executive producer of NBC’s America’s Got Talent, on which the family matriarch serves as a judge.
Unlike their heady days on The Osbournes, the reality show that ran from 2002 to 2005 on MTV and earned the family Emmys, the new format will attempt to mix musical guests, comedy skits and game-show segments with in-studio audience participation and man-on-the-street-style bits.
One idea being bandied about, per the trade, is a segment titled “The Osbournes Meet the Osbournes,” in which the heavy metal clan hang out with another Osbourne family.
The show will be shot in Los Angeles and Fox aims to kick things off with a Christmas special.
Speaking of variety, Spike Lee—who’s tackled all sorts of genres on the screen—is reportedly headed for the Great White Way.
The Oscar-nominated helmer plans to film three performances of the Broadway musical Passing Strange for a future broadcast on a cable network.
Lee will record two of the black-themed production’s shows in front of audiences and a third without. No word when shooting will get under way, but Passing Strange, about a young black musician on a spiritual journey to Amsterdam and Berlin, could use the added television exposure.
Even though it won a Tony for Best Book last month, the musical has played to half-empty houses and seen its ticket sales slip from $300,000 a week to $245,000 for the week ended June 29.
OOH…MADONNA AND HER HUSBAND
SPOTTED TOGETHER!!!
Madonna and Guy Ritchie reportedly were spotted holding hands as they dined out in New York, despite persistent rumors they are planning to divorce.
People.com said the celebrity couple were seen holding hands when they arrived at and departed ‘Cesca, an Italian eatery in Manhattan, Tuesday night.
One witness told the entertainment news Web site the pop star and her filmmaker husband seemed “like a normal couple that just wanted to have a nice dinner out.”
“They looked very unassuming. Not like they were looking for attention,” the observer said. “Everyone was whispering and saying: ‘Wow, that was Madonna. She is supposed to be separating from her husband. I can’t believe she is here.'”
Madonna’s spokeswoman issued a statement Tuesday insisting there are “no plans” for the pair to split up, contrary to reports claiming the couple has been consulting divorce attorneys.
Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus stunned the crowd at a charity concert in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday by making a surprise appearance alongside country star Jeffrey Steele.
Steele hosted the event in memory of his 13-year-old son Alex, who was killed in an all-terrain quad bike accident last year, to raise money for charity.
And the singer was just as shocked as the crowd when 15-year-old Cyrus appeared on the stage, asking to sing a duet with him, according to People.com.
The pair performed hit track “Simple Song,” which was originally recorded by Cyrus – and was the only song written by Steel that appeared on his son Alex’s MP3 player when he died.
And after a second duet – a rousing rendition of Steele’s Hollywood Girl – the country singer paid tribute to Cyrus, telling the crowd, “Miley might live in Hollywood, but in her heart, she’ll always be our Tennessee girl.”
Top music producer Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins is determined to “reinvent” Britney Spears and launch a successful career comeback for the troubled star.
The pop singer – currently celebrating the birth of her younger sister Jamie Lynn’s daughter Maddie – has had a rocky year, which she has spent fighting an ongoing custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
But Grammy-winning producer Jerkins, who produced remixes for Spears’ tracks “Overprotected” and “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” insists her new music will resurrect her troubled public image, according to People.com.
He says, “I’m trying some new things (with Spears)Â… I’ve always worked with Britney and I love working with her.
“I’m try to reinvent her and reinvent myself with her project. It’s about to be her time again.”
KANYE CAN GIVE A F$%! ABOUT WINEHOUSE!
Kanye West has laughed off Amy Winehouse’s recent scathing comments about him – insisting he must have “really made it” if the troubled singer hates him.
Winehouse lashed out at the Stronger hitmaker during her set at British music festival Glastonbury on Saturday, telling the crowd she was pleased to be opening for rapper Jay-Z and not a “c*** like Kanye West!”
But West has refused to take the insult personally – dismissing Winehouse’s rant in a post on his Web site.
He writes, “This just in… Amy Winehouse hates me!!! Now I’ve really made it!!! LOL (laugh out loud)!!!!”
Mom died after baby cut from womb: Police
Star News Services
Published: Wednesday, July 02, 2008
LOS ANGELES – A 23-year-old accused of killing a woman by cutting the baby from her womb was behind bars in northwestern Washington state Tuesday, local television KOMO reported.
The suspect, identified as Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong, called police Friday, saying she had just given birth and feared her baby had died.She finally confessed that she had killed the baby’s mother, whose body was found with “massive trauma to her stomach area.”
‘Star Spangled Banner’
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
A jazz singer shocked some Denver residents after replacing the words to the national anthem with those of the “Black National Anthem” during the annual State of the City address this week.
Rene Marie was asked to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper delivered the annual address on Tuesday. Instead, she sang the lyrics of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — a hymn commonly referred to as the “Black National Anthem” — to the tune of the national anthem, MyFOXColorado.com reported.
“If anyone has got a right to be angry it’s probably me,” Hickenlooper told the station. “I guess what I feel most is just deeply disappointed.”
The mayor said only Marie, her husband and a musical adviser knew what the local jazz singer had in mind.
“What she said was that she was very sorry, that she meant no disrespect, that she was trying to make a creative expression of her love for the country,” Hickenlooper said.
But the change in lyrics angered many residents, including City Councilman Charlie Brown.
“I was mad,” he told MyFOXColorado.com. “I almost walked off the stage.”
Brown said the matter needs to be addressed. “There is no substitute for the national anthem.”
TUESDAY PIFFERY! – Welcome to the new spot!
July 1, 2008
LIL WAYNE HURTS FEELINGS IN CANADA
Lil’ Wayne is gettin a little big headed…He was supposed to make an appearance @ th Tribe Hyper Club in Montreal. There’s not telling whether or not he was to perform since he’s bigger than night clubs. Still, promoters at the club told people all night he was on his way. A bouncer even said Wayne was at the airport on his way there. Never showed up. Now, they say Wayne was to do another show on the 30th. I hope he makes it, because fans are quick to go from hurt to anger…
The Australian hometown of the late actor Heath Ledger named a theater in his honor Tuesday for his commitment to acting.
The $87 million, 575-seat Heath Ledger Theater in Perth is a fitting tribute because Ledger was always supportive of other young actors, Western Australia state Premier Alan Carpenter said at a naming ceremony.
Kim Ledger, the actor’s father, called the tribute a pleasant surprise.
“He was such a giver to the arts right across the board. I really feel that there’s not a lot of things he’d put his name to, but he’d put his name to that,” said Kim Ledger, who attended Tuesday’s ceremony.
Kim Ledger said family members would travel to New York later this month to attend a screening of “The Dark Knight” Heath Ledger plays the Joker in the movie, his final full film role. The actor’s performance has already been lauded by critics.
The renewed attention on his son because of the film has made the family’s grieving process difficult, Ledger said.
“It’s just been a little more public and the films make it a little more public as well,” he said. “It’s been a little bit hard, but we’ve always been extremely proud of his work and that hasn’t changed.”
Ledger received a best-actor Academy Award nomination for his role in 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain.”
“The Dark Knight” opens in theaters July 18.
ALICIA KEYS TO RETIRE?
There’s a word on the street that Alicia Keys is going to retire by the age of 30. It seems like more of an plot to store the perverbial nuts for the winter meaning that her real plans seems to be…is to work really hard from now until 30, so she can be straight on the money side. At that point, she will take some time to travel the world and see things you can’t see when touring. “I am working hard now so I have the choice to retire when I want. I would like to travel the world and stay in places instead of having to move on like I do now. I want to experience difference cultures,” she told contactmusic.com. I don’t see it happening. Her music is way to classic to just depart like that.
MENTHOL CIGARRETTES
The Congressional Black Caucus is calling for changes to a House tobacco-regulation bill, demanding that the legislation place restrictions on menthol cigarettes, the type heavily favored by African-American smokers.
The 43-member caucus is taking aim at a provision in the bill that would ban candy-, fruit- and spice-flavored cigarettes but that specifically exempts menthol. In recent weeks the exemption has become the focus of controversy because menthol brands are heavily used by black smokers, who develop a large share of smoking-related cancers and other health risks.
Donna M. Christensen, the Congressional delegate from the United States Virgin Islands who heads the black caucus’s health task force, said the caucus was working with Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is House bill’s sponsor, to address concerns about menthol.
“We are very aware and gravely concerned about the disproportionate incidence of lung cancer in the African-American community and, along with so many minority health experts, have long been concerned about the role menthol may play,” Ms. Christensen said in an e-mail response to a reporter’s query.
Ms. Christensen did not disclose the exact wording of any proposed changes to the legislation. But she said the group was working to strengthen the bill’s language on research and reporting about menthol and to give the Food and Drug Administration explicit authority to ban menthol.
On the other side of the debate, Lorillard, the cigarette company that would stand to lose the most from a ban on menthol, is mounting a counteroffensive. In e-mail messages sent on June 22 to smokers of its leading menthol brand, Newport, the company urged them to call their Congressional representatives.
“Urgent! Urgent!,” the message said. “Congress wants to make it illegal to smoke Newports and other menthol cigarettes. Call your member of Congress now and tell them to oppose any amendment to ban menthol cigarettes.”
A spokesman for Lorillard, Michael W. Robinson, said, “We think it’s important that consumers know what’s going in Washington and have an opportunity to make their voices heard.”
The legislation has passed crucial committees in both the House and the Senate, and supporters are hoping for floor votes this year. Mr. Waxman has predicted a House vote after members return from the July 4 recess.
With or without a menthol exemption, enactment of the bill is not a certainty.
Opponents of the proposal are hoping that opposition from the White House, as well as tobacco state senators, along with a series of delays in moving the bill to the House and Senate floors and an abbreviated election-year schedule, might mean the bill would not be adopted this year.
Menthol is a racially charged additive, in part because of the tobacco industry’s heavy marketing of mentholated cigarettes to African-Americans since the 1950s. The flavor helps to mask the harsh taste of cigarettes and may make it easier to start smoking,
Menthol brands account for 28 percent of the $70 billion American cigarette market. While only 25 percent of white smokers choose menthol cigarettes, an estimated 75 percent of African-American smokers do.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health officials have raised concerns about the possibility that menthol cigarettes might increase tobacco addiction and possibly cancer rates among black smokers.
There is also evidence that some menthol brands, including Newport, contain among the highest level of nicotine of leading cigarettes. Some experts believe that higher nicotine levels increase the addictiveness of cigarettes.
Some lawmakers have said the decision to exempt menthol from the bill’s flavorings ban was intended to win support for the legislation from Philip Morris, the country’s dominant tobacco company, whose Marlboro Menthol is the second-leading menthol brand.
Some smoking opponents have said they consider the menthol exemption as a necessary compromise to get the legislation passed. They have said that the bill as currently drafted would give the F.D.A. the authority to limit or eliminate additives, including menthol, if proved to be harmful.
The American Medical Association, in its meeting in Chicago in June, voted to ask its board to consider the question of whether menthol should be banned. The decision effectively rebuffed members who had wanted the group to speak out this year against the bill’s menthol exemption. Leaders of the organization cited the possibility that removing the menthol exemption might disrupt the compromise that has engendered broad support for the bill on Capitol Hill.
Some supporters of the bill’s current language on menthol have argued that, because menthol is widely used by many smokers, the effects of banning it outright are hard to predict. Among possibilities they have suggested is that menthol smokers would turn to an illicit cigarette market to obtain menthol cigarettes.
In a letter to several lawmakers on June 11, a coalition of health groups, including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, reiterated their support for the bill without changes to the menthol provisions.
“The impact of modifying or prohibiting such a large portion of the current cigarette market is unclear,” said the letter, sent to Mr. Waxman as well as John D. Dingell of Michigan and Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, House Democrats who head the Committee on Energy and Commerce and its health subcommittee.
The Congressional Black Caucus took up the menthol issue in June after Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, an African-American who was the secretary of health under President George H. W. Bush, met with members of Congress and their staffs to voice concerns about the bill’s treatment of menthol.
Dr. Sullivan, president emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, was one of nearly a dozen former federal health officials who had signed a letter expressing concern about the bill’s treatment of menthol.
A black antismoking organization, the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, withdrew its support for the bill in late May, citing the menthol exemption.
4 day work week in UTAH!
Utah this summer will become what experts say is the first state to institute a mandatory four-day work week for most state employees, joining local governments across the nation that are altering schedules to save money, energy and resources.
Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he’s making the change to reduce the state’s carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility.
RELATED STORY: Gas prices spurring switch to 4-day week
“The reaction (from the public) has been very much a willingness to give this a go,” he says.
The change will apply to about 17,000 employees, roughly 80% of the state workforce, Huntsman says. Public universities, the state court system, prisons and other critical services will be exempt. Residents still will have sufficient access to state offices, many staying open from 7 a.m.- 6 p.m., and more than 800 state services are available online, he says.
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Leslie Scott, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Directors, says Huntsman’s action is a first. “Most states have a four-day work week option for their employees, but Utah is the first to go to a mandatory four-day work week,” she says. “A good number of the states are encouraging their agencies and managers to offer a four-day work week whenever possible.”
The four-day work week is fairly common among city and county governments. Rex Facer, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University whose research team is studying the four-day work week concept, estimates that about one-sixth of U.S. cities with populations above 25,000 offer employees a four-day work week. His projection is based on the team’s continuing survey of 150 city human resource directors.
Facer expects more cities to begin shuttering offices on Fridays. “The increasing pressures the American is facing around gas prices is certainly a significant factor, and the overall fiscal pressures governments are facing in general,” he says.
Jacqueline Byers, director of research at the National Association of Counties, says the four-day work week is gaining in popularity among county governments. Marion County, Fla., has a mandatory four-day work week for employees; Oconee County, S.C., and Walworth County, Wis., have it for road work crews, while Will County, Ill., has it for the auditor’s office. Oakland County, Mich., is seeking volunteers for a four-day work week, and Miami-Dade County, Fla., and Suffolk County, N.Y., are moving toward it, she says.
“They like it for a couple of reasons,” says Byers. “They’re not able to give raises, so this is like a bonus, to cut off one day’s commute. Also, if they can close a whole department (for a day), they save money for the county.”
It takes some adjusting. “One thing that has to be changed is the level of expectation from taxpayers, because they’ve always wanted five-day access,” Byers says. “They have to adjust to offices that are open longer on weekdays, but closed on Fridays.”
Cities offering employees condensed work weeks include Coconut Creek, Fla., Birmingham, Ala., and Avondale, Ariz., according to the National League of Cities.
In Utah, the new schedule starts Aug. 4. In the meantime, Huntsman says, the state is moving to iron out problems for employees with child-care concerns and those using public transportation that currently would not accommodate a longer workday.
Huntsman says the change will help Utah reach its goal of reducing energy use 20% by 2015.
Beyond the energy and financial implications, the four-day work week is a quality-of-life issue for many. Huntsman says it is especially popular among younger employees and that his action will make Utah more competitive in luring talent.
Facer agrees that an improved “work-life balance” often results from a shorter work week.
“More and more young workers are entering the work force,” Facer says. “They’re looking for ways to enhance their work-life balance. Alternative work schedules offer more of this work-life balance than do traditional work schedules.”
What are the pros and cons of a four-day work week? Would you switch to a four-day week if you could? Would you rather have government offices open five days a week or open longer hours for four days a week?
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THE JUMPOFF W/ DRE BOOGS ON POWER 105.7 