Bachelorette Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum are Married
Label: LifestyleAshley Hebert is a bachelorette no more!
The 28-year-old dentist and her construction manager fiancé J.P. Rosenbaum, 35, walked down the aisle on Saturday in Pasadena, California, reports People Magazine.
The ceremony, officiated by Bachelor and Bachelorette host Chris Harrison, was attended by familiar faces from the series including Ali Fedotowsky, Emily Maynard, and Jason and Molly Mesnick.
Video: 'Bachelorette' Ashley Hebert and Fiance J.P.'s Passionate PDA
Ashley and J.P.'s exchanging of vows will be televised December 16 on a two-hour special on ABC.
The season seven sweeties will be the second Bachelorette couple ever to televise their walk down the aisle, following in the footsteps of Trista and Ryan Sutter, who married in December 2003.
Israel rejects UN's endorsement of an independent state of Palestine
Label: HealthJERUSALEM — Israel on Sunday roundly rejected the United Nations' endorsement of an independent state of Palestine, announcing it would withhold more than $100 million collected for the Palestinian government to pay debts to Israeli companies.
It was the second act of reprisal since the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to support the Palestinians' statehood initiative. The following day, Israel announced it would start drawing up plans to build thousands of settlement homes, including the first-ever residential developments on a sensitive piece of land near Jerusalem. Actual construction would be years away.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the statehood campaign, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as "a gross violation of the agreements signed with the state of Israel."
"Accordingly, the government of Israel rejects the UN General Assembly decision," he said. Israel, backed by the US, campaigned against the statehood measure, arguing that only negotiations can deliver a Palestinian state.
Abbas returned home Sunday to a hero's welcome in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Some 5,000 people thronged a square outside his headquarters, hoisting Palestinian flags and cheering. Large posters of the Palestinian leader, whose popularity had plummeted in recent months, adorned nearby buildings.
"We now have a state," he said to wild applause. "The world has said loudly, 'Yes to the state of Palestine.'"
Abbas warned of "creative punishments" by Israel. Referring to the latest settlement construction plans, he said, "We have to realize that your victory has provoked the powers of war, occupation and settlements because their isolation is deepened."
The UN resolution endorsed the Palestinian position that its state include the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel rejects a full pullback to its 1967 lines and says the resolution is a way to bypass negotiations.
In Sunday's response, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the government would withhold taxes and customs collected from Palestinian laborers and businesses on behalf of Abbas' Palestinian Authority, which led the statehood campaign.
The money will be used to help pay off the authority's debts to Israel, including $200 million owed to the state-run Israel Electric Corp., government officials said. This month, more than $100 million was to have been transferred. Steinitz said Israel would decide later whether to withhold future transfers as well.
Boat Show may block Miami’s 2016 Super Bowl bid
Label: Business
This winter, the biggest NFL match-up in South Florida might be Super Bowl versus Boat Show.
As South Florida readies a bid for the 2016 Super Bowl, it must contend with a major potential conflict on the tourism calendar. The National Football League may move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend, already home to the five-day Miami International Boat Show since the 1940s.
It’s a significant enough conflict that, in the past, local tourism officials have declined to pursue a Super Bowl if it fell on boat show weekend. But this time around they may have no choice. For the first time, the NFL is requiring that potential host cities agree to a Presidents’ Day weekend Super Bowl if they want to pursue the big game at all, said two people who have seen the NFL request for Super Bowl bids.
The NFL “invited South Florida [to bid] knowing there was going to be an issue with Presidents’ Day weekend and the boat show,” said Nicki Grossman, Broward’s tourism director. “In the past, South Florida has not responded to a Super Bowl date that included Presidents’ Day weekend. This package is different.”
South Florida vies with New Orleans as the top Super Bowl host, with government and tourism leaders touting the game as both a boon to the economy and a publicity bonanza. But the notion of accommodating both Super Bowl and boat show — not to mention a major arts festival in Coconut Grove — strikes some top tourism officials as a bad idea.
“There is not sufficient hotel inventory available in Miami that weekend to host a Super Bowl,” said William Talbert, president of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have taken a close look at that weekend, and it’s not physically possible in Miami to host Super Bowl during the Presidents’ Day weekend because of the boat show and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The hotel inventory is all being used for these two great events.”
His comments are at odds with the region’s top Super Bowl organizer and reflect the burden that the boat show may be to South Florida’s Super Bowl hopes for 2016 and 2017. The NFL invited Miami and San Francisco to bid for the 2016 Super Bowl by April 1, with the loser vying with Houston for the 2017 game. Talbert said the bid package states both decisions will be made in May.
For now, South Florida’s Super Bowl organizers face a largely hypothetical challenge, because the current NFL schedule has the Super Bowl occurring two weeks before Presidents’ Day weekend. The bid requirements for the ’16 and ’17 Super Bowls include three consecutive weekends as possibilities for the game, with the latest falling on the Presidents’ Day holiday.
Still, possible logistical hurdles may combine with political obstacles if the Miami Dolphins resume their push for a tax-funded renovation of Sun Life Stadium, the Super Bowl’s South Florida home.
Last year, the Dolphins proposed that Broward and Miami-Dade counties subsidize a $225 million renovation at Sun Life as a way to keep the region competitive for Super Bowls and other large events. The renovation includes a partial roof that would prevent the kind of drenching Super Bowl spectators suffered in 2007 when a rare February downpour hit Miami Gardens.
Two dead, 30 injured at bus accident at MIA
Label: World
One male passenger was instantly killed and a second person died from injures after the top of a motor coach bus entering Miami International Airport smashed into an overpass at the airport’s arrivals entrance Saturday morning.
Thirty others were transported by ambulance to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Four of those were in critical condition, including the second passenger who died.
The male driver of the bus, who has not been identified, was not injured and did not require medical treatment, said Lt. Arnold Piedrahita a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman.
The accident, which happened at about 8 a.m., brought traffic in and out of the airport to a halt and authorities scrambled to rescue passengers trapped inside the large white bus, which was carrying 32 people.
The identities of the two dead passengers were not immediately released but authorities removed the body of a male passenger at about 11 a.m. A white Miami-Dade County van arrived at the scene about 10 minutes later to pick up the body.
Three people placed the body in a clear plastic bag, as six police officers used yellow plastic to block the view from arriving travelers. Two men carried the body off the bus at 11:20 a.m.
Piedrahita said the male passenger who died was sitting near the front of the bus. He was dead when emergency personnel arrived. The gender of the second dead passenger was not immediately released.
The front of the bus was so badly damaged that emergency personnel could not get inside through the front door. Instead, they used a Jaws of Life to cut a hole on the side of the bus, toward the rear, to remove the victims, Piedrahita said.
Many of those who were hurt suffered "major injuries," said Greg Chin, an airport spokesman.
According to public records, the bus belongs to Miami Bus Service Corporation, a Miami company owned by Mayling and Alberto Hernandez.
Mayling Hernandez, reached on her cell phone shortly after noon Saturday, to comment.
"I'm too busy dealing with this to talk at the moment," she said at 12:25 p.m. "I don't have time to talk about this at the time."
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the company has two drivers for its three passenger motor coaches.
The company had no unsafe driving or controlled substances violations based on a 24-month record ending on Oct. 26, 2012.
However, the company scored a 92.2 percent in the fatigued driving category, which means it exceeded the federal safety threshold based on roadside data or it has been cited with one or more serious violations in the past year.
At MIA, about a dozen fire trucks and six ambulances blocked the airport entrance, and traffic entering the airport was delayed by about 30 to 40 minutes. Although no flights were affected or delayed, traffic was tied up. Only one lane on the lower level arrivals entrance remained open through mid-day.
The departures entrance, on the upper level, was not blocked, but there was a long delay for many getting to or leaving the airport.
Pedro Gomez, a taxi driver, was among those stuck in traffic.
"We have been waiting three hours waiting to leave," he said.
People arriving from their flights were peeking from their windows to get a view of the scene. On the first floor, in arrivals, the crashed white bus remained on site with the top missing over the driver’s seat. Shattered glass covered the floor.
The back side emergency door was missing and a bus chair lay on the ground, as well as luggage, which had been packed into the lower level of the bus.
A large yellow sign warns drivers that the vehicles exceeding 8'6" cannot pass through, said Piedrahita, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman, adding that he did not know the height of the bus.
"You would think the driver should have know his bus was too high," Susan Lillis said, who flying in from Baltimore. "You would think he would have been here before."
Peter Beltre, a taxi driver, speculated that the bus driver miscalculated the height of the overpass in the arrivals area.
"I have seen buses that are too high have a section to drop people off," Beltre said. "There are yellow signs with warnings."
Hernan Garcia, who works at the airport, guiding cruise ship tourists to buses taking them to the Port of Miami, said: "It’s clear that the driver was not familiar with the airport. There are designated routes for these type of buses and it is prohibited to speed in this area."
Only taxi drivers were allowed in the arrivals lanes as of mid-morning. Traffic homicide detectives were still at the scene, measuring the area and collecting evidence.
Among some of the arriving tourists who spotted the crash scene was three-year-old Edwin Aparicio of Bogota, Colombia.
"Wow, like a can of sardines," he said in Spanish, referring to the top of the bus, which bended like an accordion as it hit the iron ceiling.
Buzzmakers: AJ is a Dad and Angus Apologizes
Label: LifestyleWhat had ET readers buzzing this week?
1. Charges Filed Against Lindsay Lohan
California prosecutors have officially filed charges against Lindsay Lohan.
The charges, which include willfully resisting, obstructing, or delaying an officer in the course of their duties, supplying false information to a police officer and reckless driving, stem from the car accident Lohan was involved in last June when she crashed her Porsche into the back of a dump truck on the Pacific Coast Highway.
All three charges are misdemeanors, and no court date has been set at this time.
The accident in June occurred when she was on her way to the set of Liz & Dick. According to The Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica prosecutors had been weighing charges against Lohan for weeks after police said they found evidence she lied when she claimed she was not behind the wheel of her Porsche.
The charges come just hours after Lohan was arrested early Thursday morning after a brawl broke out at a New York City nightclub. Lohan was arrested for allegedly punching a female patron at Club Avenue, and is facing third degree assault charges from the incident.
2. Nancy O'Dell Launches New App
ET host Nancy O'Dell is combining her love of two things -- reporting and kids -- by launching a new storybook app on iTunes.
The highly interactive app features a holiday theme and uses the story and games to educate users. The voice of Arty the cameraman is provided by Bryson Foster, the Muscular Dystrophy Association's National Goodwill Ambassador, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the MDA.
Nancy says of her endeavor, "As the host of Entertainment Tonight, one of the things I love most about my job is how much I learn by meeting interesting people and going to so many different places. So, I thought, how fun it would be for little kids to do that too! Obviously, they can't travel the world in reality by themselves, but they can via an app."
Nancy discloses, "Every app is a magical story as Ashby and her FUNtastic crew go on their adventures. And what better first assignment for a little reporter to cover than Santa's Big Premiere on Christmas Eve. Little Ashby files her report on what the Holiday Spirit is all about!"
Check out the app, available just in time for the holidays, here.
3. Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Welcomes Baby Girl
Backstreet Boy AJ McLean and wife, makeup artist Rochelle Deanna Karidis, had their first child together on Tuesday, In Touch reports.
According to the news source, the couple welcomed a baby girl named Ava Jaymes.
"We are all doing well and are thrilled to welcome Ava to the world," said the singer, 34.
Ava was born weighing 7 lbs. and 7 oz., according to In Touch.
AJ and Rochelle made their pregnancy announcement just four months after their Beverly Hills wedding.
AJ announced the baby's gender and name via Twitter in July.
4. Angus T. Jones Apologizes For 'Men' Remarks
In a self-written statement obtained by ET, Two and a Half Men star Angus T.
Jones breaks his silence on controversial remarks made by the actor about the series in a video testimonial for Forerunner Christian Church.
In the note, Jones apologizes for harm he might have caused to his colleagues for labeling the popular CBS show as "filth" and in urging viewers not to watch. He writes:
I have been the subject of much discussion, speculation and commentary over the past 24 hours. While I cannot address everything that has been said or right every misstatement or misunderstanding, there is one thing I want to make clear.
Without qualification, I am grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on 'Two and Half Men' with whom I have worked and over the past ten years who have become an extension of my family.
Chuck Lorre, Peter Roth and many others at Warner Bros. and CBS are responsible for what has been one of the most significant experiences in my life to date. I thank them for the opportunity they have given and continue to give me and the help and guidance I have and expect to continue to receive from them.
I also want all of the crew and cast on our show to know how much I personally care for them and appreciate their support, guidance and love over the years. I grew up around them and know that the time they spent with me was in many instances more than with their own families. I learned life lessons from so many of them and will never forget how much positive impact they have had on my life.
I apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed. I never intended that.
The video in question shows Jones opening up about his conversations with God and how his new-found religious beliefs led him to stop doing drugs and leading a selfish life.
5. Bobbi Kristina in Crash That Sent Car Off the Road
Bobbi Kristina Brown was cited by police after being involved in a car accident Wednesday in which the vehicle left the road and traveled down an embankment.
Police in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta confirmed to ET that a passerby called 911 just before noon to report that the black Chevrolet Camaro had veered off the road and traveled through a wooded area striking trees before eventually coming to a stop.
"The investigation revealed the driver lost control and the vehicle left Beaver Creek Road on the east side and traveled down an embankment," a police statement said. Damage to the vehicle was described in the statement as "moderate."
Upon the initial arrival, officers say they found Bobbi Kristina standing beside the vehicle and she was uninjured. "Our officer completed an official accident report and issued a traffic citation to Ms. Brown for the offense of failure to maintain lane," the police statement said.
Bobbi Kristina appeared to address the accident Wednesday on Twitter.
"My#PersonalGuardianAngel thankumommiss&loveumre u'lleverkno. NotAScratch&ok Wow,PraiseGod. @nickdgordon #SeriousChangeswithinME," she wrote.
She also tweeted: "#LETMELIVE without YOUppl crucifying me?! OH, yes now I remember .. YOUppl did the SAME DAMN THING2 JESUS.& he overcame you ALL. #NOWWATCH."
Brooklyn Bridge 'vandal' may have stolen Calvin Klein poster from art gallery
Label: HealthCops are investigating whether a grafitti artist busted yesterday for vandalizing the Brooklyn Bridge swiped an expensive Calvin Klein poster from a Manhattan art gallery, police sources said.
Enno Tianen, 32, of Queens was arrested about 1 p.m. for allegedly spraypainting the tag tag “LEWY” on the midspan part of the bridge on June 25, cops said.
Sergeant Kevin Cooper and Detective Nino Navarra, who work in the transit bureau, recognized Tianen’s tag from his previous arrests, and collared him, authorities said.
Police are eyeing whether he is responsible for stealing the poster, valued at $100,000 from an art gallery at 40 West 23rd Street in August 2011.
He was charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti, criminal trespass and possession of a grafitti instrument for the Brooklyn Bridge incident.
It cost $8,000 to repair and clean the New York City icon, cops added.
Boat Show may block Miami’s 2016 Super Bowl bid
Label: Business
This winter, the biggest NFL match-up in South Florida might be Super Bowl versus Boat Show.
As South Florida readies a bid for the 2016 Super Bowl, it must contend with a major potential conflict on the tourism calendar. The National Football League may move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend, already home to the five-day Miami International Boat Show since the 1940s.
It’s a significant enough conflict that, in the past, local tourism officials have declined to pursue a Super Bowl if it fell on boat show weekend. But this time around they may have no choice. For the first time, the NFL is requiring that potential host cities agree to a Presidents’ Day weekend Super Bowl if they want to pursue the big game at all, said two people who have seen the NFL request for Super Bowl bids.
The NFL “invited South Florida [to bid] knowing there was going to be an issue with Presidents’ Day weekend and the boat show,” said Nicki Grossman, Broward’s tourism director. “In the past, South Florida has not responded to a Super Bowl date that included Presidents’ Day weekend. This package is different.”
South Florida vies with New Orleans as the top Super Bowl host, with government and tourism leaders touting the game as both a boon to the economy and a publicity bonanza. But the notion of accommodating both Super Bowl and boat show — not to mention a major arts festival in Coconut Grove — strikes some top tourism officials as a bad idea.
“There is not sufficient hotel inventory available in Miami that weekend to host a Super Bowl,” said William Talbert, president of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have taken a close look at that weekend, and it’s not physically possible in Miami to host Super Bowl during the Presidents’ Day weekend because of the boat show and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The hotel inventory is all being used for these two great events.”
His comments are at odds with the region’s top Super Bowl organizer and reflect the burden that the boat show may be to South Florida’s Super Bowl hopes for 2016 and 2017. The NFL invited Miami and San Francisco to bid for the 2016 Super Bowl by April 1, with the loser vying with Houston for the 2017 game. Talbert said the bid package states both decisions will be made in May.
For now, South Florida’s Super Bowl organizers face a largely hypothetical challenge, because the current NFL schedule has the Super Bowl occurring two weeks before Presidents’ Day weekend. The bid requirements for the ’16 and ’17 Super Bowls include three consecutive weekends as possibilities for the game, with the latest falling on the Presidents’ Day holiday.
Still, possible logistical hurdles may combine with political obstacles if the Miami Dolphins resume their push for a tax-funded renovation of Sun Life Stadium, the Super Bowl’s South Florida home.
Last year, the Dolphins proposed that Broward and Miami-Dade counties subsidize a $225 million renovation at Sun Life as a way to keep the region competitive for Super Bowls and other large events. The renovation includes a partial roof that would prevent the kind of drenching Super Bowl spectators suffered in 2007 when a rare February downpour hit Miami Gardens.
Report on GOP shindig to remain sealed
Label: World
TALLAHASSEE --
Floridians will have to wait a little longer for details of that golf cart full of prostitutes.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal on Friday ruled in favor of anonymous petitioners who want to block the release of investigative reports about a gathering in the Bahamas sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida when Jim Greer was chairman.
Greer faces trial in February for allegedly defrauding the party of about $200,000. Reports of the party and prostitutes surfaced during a pretrial hearing in the summer.
Orlando Judge Marc Lubet declared the reports public record in July after hearing objections from Orlando lawyer Richard E. Hornsby who said he wanted to spare his clients from being embarrassed.
Hornsby said the four-page police report is “defamatory’’ and “salacious and basically harassing in nature.’’ He would not identify the clients who want to keep it sealed.
Lubet read the report and then asked prosecutors if GOP lobbyist Brian Ballard, former party finance chair Harry Sergeant III, former party executive director Delmar Johnson and Dane Eagle, a former aide to Gov. Charlie Crist who was elected to the Florida House in November, would be called as witnesses in Greer’s criminal trial.
When Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Michael Williams said all but Eagle are slated to be witnesses, the judge ordered the report released because it is part of the evidence turned over to defense attorneys in the criminal case. Under Florida law documents given to a defendant are public record.
But in a brief unsigned opinion Fifth District Court of Appeal Chief Judge Richard B. Orfinger and Judges Thomas D. Sawaya and Bruce W. Jacobus said “the documents should not be disseminated and should remain confidential at this time.”
They did not address the use of the report at trial, saying they would leave that up to the trial judge.
Johnson was Greer’s top assistant but has been granted immunity in return for his testimony against Greer. In a deposition released last month, Johnson said prosecutors asked him about the Bahamas event.
Johnson described a golf cart filled with women he presumed to be prostitutes.
Other witnesses questioned in the Greer investigation say the former GOP chairman often had parties for men only and refused to allow women unless they were “paid.’’
Ballard and Eagle have denied knowing about prostitutes at the gathering, which was designed to thank donors who helped support a property tax amendment the party supported.
Forbes Highest-Paid Musicians List
Label: LifestyleIn the Money
These musicians aren't just singing for their supper anymore! Forbes has come out with their list of the Highest-Paid Musicians of the year and some of the performers, Dr. Dre for example, to make it into the top 10 may surprise you. Click the pics, and let us know which artist(s) you think is worth their paycheck.
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