Queen Latifah’s Mother Rita Owens Passes Away Condolences are in order for Queen Latifah today , as she is mourning the loss of her mother Rita Owens. The actress and musician shared in an exclusive statement to People that her mother succumbed to complications from a heart condition that she’s been battling for over ten years. “It is with a heavy heart that I share the news my mother, Rita Owens passed away today. Anyone that has ever met her knows what a bright light she was on this earth. She was gentle, but strong, sweet, but sassy, worldly but pragmatic, a woman of great faith and certainly the love of my life. She had struggled with a heart condition for many years and her battle is now over. I am heartbroken but know she is at peace. Thank you for your kindness, support and respect for our privacy at this time. Much Love, Dana Owens (aka Queen Latifah), forever Rita Owens’ daughter.” The issue of heart disease was naturally an important one for both Latifah and her mother. So much so that the two starred in a PSA for the American Heart Association back in 2016. Our thoughts are with Queen Latifah as she goes through this difficult loss. Getty Continue reading →
Did Aubrey O’Day Smash Russell Simmons? Aubrey O’Day apparently was never too shy to pick up a new, highly successful boo while on the job. After news broke that she had an affair with Donald Trump, Jr. toward the end of her time on Celebrity Apprentice, Page Six uncovered an old podcast she appeared on where she detailed an affair with yet ANOTHER man she met on a reality show set. While appearing on the “Risk!” podcast back 2012, A ubrey revealed that she and a man she would not name shared a flirtation while she was filming an unnamed reality show. She describes how after the finale she and the man went for it in a nearby bathroom… “I was walking through the hallways and got pulled into this bathroom, and he threw me up against the wall and looked at me for two seconds and then we started making out like crazy… …he goes to rip off my dress and…he’s like ‘Holy f–k — I’ve never seen Spanx that big in my life!’” O’day said that she and the man began a relationship, including lots of phone sex and Skype sex. He even called her “Spanky,” due to the big ol’ drawls she had on the first time they hooked up in a public bathroom. However, she knew things couldn’t last. “Like, I think I’m great, but he hangs out with, like, Victoria’s Secret models, he’s at dinner with huge celebrities, he runs with the biggest agents and managers and like, he’s the s–t. So I can’t really trust this person. We’re from different worlds.” But who could this man be? Well, in addition to appearing on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ Aubrey showed face in two episodes of Russell’s (somewhat obscure) 2010 reality show, ‘Running Russell Simmons.’ As such, folks are speculating that this was the model-loving mogul she spoke about. Given the new info we’ve all gotten on Russell in the last few months and how familiar that sounds to how he’s (allegedly) gotten down in the past …it could be true. Of course, Russell’s people tell Page Six he isn’t the man in the story. “Russell Simmons never had an intimate relationship with Aubrey O’Day. To be clear: He was not the man Ms. O’Day described as having met on a TV game show that she had a romantic relationship with.” Hmm…what do you think? Getty/Splash Continue reading →
Ralphie May launched his comedy career after being the first runner-up on Last Comic Standing in 2003. Since then, he’s had endless stand-up specials. Unfortunately, Ralphie May has died at the age of 45. And we have a few details about that. … Ralphie May often joked about his own mortality. During one stand-up special (I want to say that it was Girth of a Nation , but I can’t swear to it), he refers to how surely no one in the audience would be surprised if he fell over dead of a heart attack at that very moment, given the degree of his obesity. In his no-holds-barred stand-up (including titles — again, he had a show titled Girth of a Nation ), he didn’t shy away from referring to his weight. Some of his clothing seemed selected to emphasize his frame rather than, as many might do, minimize it. TMZ reports that Ralphie May has died of cardiac arrest. After a 6-week battle with pneumonia during which he nonetheless continued to perform his shows in Vegas, Ralphie died of cardiac arrest. He was in a private residence in Vegas, and that is reportedly where someone discovered his body. After 10 years of marriage, Ralphie and his wife and fellow stand-up artist Lahna Turner had gotten a divorce … which quickly became an ugly custody battle. Back in October of 2015, Lahna Turner filed divorce documents, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son, and the fight over custody has continued even in 2017. Earlier this year, Ralphie May — who has never been shy about his fondness for marijuana — even agreed to random drug tests in order to be allowed to have visitations with his children. He was granted two visitations a week (which were to be supervised) and an additional Skype call. Ralphie will be remembered for more than just his comedy career. (Though we expect Netflix views of his shows to go up over the weekend) In late June of 2016, TMZ reported that Ralphie May had saved a baby’s life . In an airport, the baby was choking and the mother cried out for help. One person tried but failed to help, and then Robbie successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver and restored the baby’s ability to breathe. It’s not really a surprise that he learned it — custody battle or no, he was a parent, and he’d no doubt learned as so many parents do about how to potentially save their children’s lives. Or maybe he’d just picked it up like others do, from television or whatever. It’s easy to see celebrities who just do one thing — like comedy — as totally one-dimensional when, in reality, they’re anything but. While Ralphie May joked about his mortality and would doubtless joke about his own demise if he could, this is definitely sad news. He had a tremendous talent for making people laugh and bringing people joy. We can only imagine how much his chidlren will miss him, because even those who were merely his fans are already in mourning. Rest in peace, Ralphie. View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Died in 2017: In Memoriam
if you watch Teen Mom online , you know that Amber Portwood’s fiance, Matt Baier, is pretty much the worst. This current season has been described as a sort of “apology tour” for Baier , but it could more accurately be called a “hey, everyone, I’m not as big of a douche as you thought!” tour. Baier seems to be making an effort to convince fans that Amber isn’t actually making the worst mistake of her life by marrying a middle-aged gold-digger who tried to bang all her co-stars with scenes like this “bonus clip” from the most recent episode: Matt Baier Plans Amber’s Surprise Party Does MTV have some stake in rescuing Baier’s reputation? Everyone who watched Teen Mom OG Season 3 Episode 5 knows that Is this clip intended to show us that Baier went to such great lengths as calling Amber’s cousin to get her out of the house for a couple hours? Did Baier complain that he didn’t receive enough credit for throwing such a “wicked pissah”? It’s possible we’ve devoted way to much though to this. In any event, many fans believe that Baier’s main goal in hosting the party was to make nice with Amber’s baby daddy, Gary Shirley. That may seem admirable, but knowing Baier, we can’t help but see the selfish motivation behind his actions. “Gary [Shirley] and Kristina are coming,” Matt tells Amber’s understandably surprised cousin at one point in the episode. “I just invited him because it’s not like he’s not a major part of our life, so I just invited him.” You may remember that Shirley was the first one to call Amber’s attention to the fact that Baier is a deadbeat dad . Seems like an odd to “just invite him” to a party for the hell of it. It also seems like the move of a guy who’s out to convince the people in his life (especially his meal-ticket, Amber) that he’s not what he appears to be: Which is of course, a conniving jerk. What makes Baier worse than Adam Lind and the other horrendous exes of the Teen Mom franchise is that he’s actually considerably smarter than them. It pains us to pay him that compliment, but then again he’s also about two decades older than his co-stars. And sadly, the guy seems to be devoting the sum total of his intellect to wriggling out of child support payments and convincing his girlfriend that he’s not his terrible as everyone says. In conclusion: trying to not look like a D-bag somehow actually makes Matt Baier look like MORE of a D-bag. We don’t quite understand it, either.
if you watch Teen Mom online , you know that Amber Portwood’s fiance, Matt Baier, is pretty much the worst. This current season has been described as a sort of “apology tour” for Baier , but it could more accurately be called a “hey, everyone, I’m not as big of a douche as you thought!” tour. Baier seems to be making an effort to convince fans that Amber isn’t actually making the worst mistake of her life by marrying a middle-aged gold-digger who tried to bang all her co-stars with scenes like this “bonus clip” from the most recent episode: Matt Baier Plans Amber’s Surprise Party Does MTV have some stake in rescuing Baier’s reputation? Everyone who watched Teen Mom OG Season 3 Episode 5 knows that Is this clip intended to show us that Baier went to such great lengths as calling Amber’s cousin to get her out of the house for a couple hours? Did Baier complain that he didn’t receive enough credit for throwing such a “wicked pissah”? It’s possible we’ve devoted way to much though to this. In any event, many fans believe that Baier’s main goal in hosting the party was to make nice with Amber’s baby daddy, Gary Shirley. That may seem admirable, but knowing Baier, we can’t help but see the selfish motivation behind his actions. “Gary [Shirley] and Kristina are coming,” Matt tells Amber’s understandably surprised cousin at one point in the episode. “I just invited him because it’s not like he’s not a major part of our life, so I just invited him.” You may remember that Shirley was the first one to call Amber’s attention to the fact that Baier is a deadbeat dad . Seems like an odd to “just invite him” to a party for the hell of it. It also seems like the move of a guy who’s out to convince the people in his life (especially his meal-ticket, Amber) that he’s not what he appears to be: Which is of course, a conniving jerk. What makes Baier worse than Adam Lind and the other horrendous exes of the Teen Mom franchise is that he’s actually considerably smarter than them. It pains us to pay him that compliment, but then again he’s also about two decades older than his co-stars. And sadly, the guy seems to be devoting the sum total of his intellect to wriggling out of child support payments and convincing his girlfriend that he’s not his terrible as everyone says. In conclusion: trying to not look like a D-bag somehow actually makes Matt Baier look like MORE of a D-bag. We don’t quite understand it, either.
Real-life Fault in Our Stars couple Katie and Dalton Prager are gone from this world, but not forgotten among those lucky enough to know them. Nor will these bright lights ever be. Their final days were, both tragically and inspirationally, emblematic of the duo relationship as a whole, as they put on the best face they could. With each knowing their all-but-certain fate was to pass away from the cystic fibrosis disease that brought them together, they were somber. Never, though, were they pitiful. After Dalton Prager died last Saturday, his family found comfort thinking that he was paving the way for his wife of five years, to join him. Katie Prager died yesterday. “He’s a gentleman,” Dalton’s dad Dave told People magazine. “Everybody’s in the belief that Dalton was there to open heaven’s gate for her.” Katie’s death on Thursday came after she decided to forego hospital stays and spend her final weeks at her Kentucky home in hospice care. Dalton, meanwhile, was hospitalized in Missouri on the very day he had planned to travel to lend Katie support and see her one more time. Both were born with cystic fibrosis, which restricts and worsens the ability to breathe over time, and carries an average life expectancy of 40. Although each received a lung transplant (Dalton in 2014, and Katie in 2015) neither fully recovered and they died within the same week. By the end, the time they spent together since their surgeries was measured not in days, but in hours, and still their love story endured . Dalton, who was most recently on a ventilator and often sedated in his hospital room, was able to connect via Skype with Katie last week. “You could tell he was struggling in his own pain,” says Dave. “When he saw Katie, his eyes just lit up. He wanted everything to look positive for her. He pulls that off quite frequently for her.” For her part, “Katie was just always positive reinforcement for him,” says Dave. “That was one of their deals with each other.” “‘It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.'” But the next night, it was not. Dalton “wasn’t coherent enough to communicate,” Dave says, adding in the possible understatement of all time that “that was tough.” He died the next afternoon, as Katie’s family gathered for an early Christmas because her doctors predicted she wouldn’t make it that long. Katie and Dalton last saw each other in person in July, for just a few minutes in Katie’s hospital room on their fifth wedding anniversary. Dave had driven with his son to pull off the visit. “He was not in good shape then,” Dalton’s dad says. “I was a little scared.” “Seeing Dalton sitting on the hospital bed next to Katie … I hadn’t seen Katie for a while, and she was very thin, very frail.” “It almost made Dalton look normal size. I don’t think Dalton looked at it that way. He was just glad to be there with her.” Talking with Katie after Dalton died, “you could tell she was heartbroken,” says Dave. “I don’t know if that was the final straw for her.” In the end, Dalton’s dad couldn’t be prouder. His son, he says, feared he might never experience romance at all: “He didn’t think he’d ever find somebody that would accept him.” Dalton also fretted that he’d be forgotten, even as he earned high school and culinary school degrees, got married, bought a house and traveled. “He darn-near accomplished everything he wanted to,” says his dad, and “If this is his legacy, to get the word out about cystic fibrosis?” “I think he would love it.”
Real-life Fault in Our Stars couple Katie and Dalton Prager are gone from this world, but not forgotten among those lucky enough to know them. Nor will these bright lights ever be. Their final days were, both tragically and inspirationally, emblematic of the duo relationship as a whole, as they put on the best face they could. With each knowing their all-but-certain fate was to pass away from the cystic fibrosis disease that brought them together, they were somber. Never, though, were they pitiful. After Dalton Prager died last Saturday, his family found comfort thinking that he was paving the way for his wife of five years, to join him. Katie Prager died yesterday. “He’s a gentleman,” Dalton’s dad Dave told People magazine. “Everybody’s in the belief that Dalton was there to open heaven’s gate for her.” Katie’s death on Thursday came after she decided to forego hospital stays and spend her final weeks at her Kentucky home in hospice care. Dalton, meanwhile, was hospitalized in Missouri on the very day he had planned to travel to lend Katie support and see her one more time. Both were born with cystic fibrosis, which restricts and worsens the ability to breathe over time, and carries an average life expectancy of 40. Although each received a lung transplant (Dalton in 2014, and Katie in 2015) neither fully recovered and they died within the same week. By the end, the time they spent together since their surgeries was measured not in days, but in hours, and still their love story endured . Dalton, who was most recently on a ventilator and often sedated in his hospital room, was able to connect via Skype with Katie last week. “You could tell he was struggling in his own pain,” says Dave. “When he saw Katie, his eyes just lit up. He wanted everything to look positive for her. He pulls that off quite frequently for her.” For her part, “Katie was just always positive reinforcement for him,” says Dave. “That was one of their deals with each other.” “‘It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.'” But the next night, it was not. Dalton “wasn’t coherent enough to communicate,” Dave says, adding in the possible understatement of all time that “that was tough.” He died the next afternoon, as Katie’s family gathered for an early Christmas because her doctors predicted she wouldn’t make it that long. Katie and Dalton last saw each other in person in July, for just a few minutes in Katie’s hospital room on their fifth wedding anniversary. Dave had driven with his son to pull off the visit. “He was not in good shape then,” Dalton’s dad says. “I was a little scared.” “Seeing Dalton sitting on the hospital bed next to Katie … I hadn’t seen Katie for a while, and she was very thin, very frail.” “It almost made Dalton look normal size. I don’t think Dalton looked at it that way. He was just glad to be there with her.” Talking with Katie after Dalton died, “you could tell she was heartbroken,” says Dave. “I don’t know if that was the final straw for her.” In the end, Dalton’s dad couldn’t be prouder. His son, he says, feared he might never experience romance at all: “He didn’t think he’d ever find somebody that would accept him.” Dalton also fretted that he’d be forgotten, even as he earned high school and culinary school degrees, got married, bought a house and traveled. “He darn-near accomplished everything he wanted to,” says his dad, and “If this is his legacy, to get the word out about cystic fibrosis?” “I think he would love it.”
More than 50 Walmart workers and supporters were arrested in downtown L.A. Thursday night fir protesting what they called the retailer’s “poverty wages.” Surrounded by 100 police officers in riot gear and a helicopter circling above, organizers claim this was the largest act of civil disobedience in Walmart history. Walmart Civil Disobedience Leads to Over 50 Arrests The 54 arrestees, with about 500 protesting Walmart workers , clergy and supporters, obtained a permit to demonstrate outside LA’s Chinatown Walmart. Those who refused police orders to clear the street after the permit expired were arrested without incident. Those who fail to post $5,000 bail were jailed overnight. Their primary demand to Walmart: pay every full-time worker at least $25,000 a year. Anthony Goytia, 31 and a father of two, said he believes he’ll make about $12,000. It’s a daily struggle, he said, “to make sure my family doesn’t go hungry.” “The power went out at my house yesterday because I couldn’t afford the bill,” Goytia said. “I had to run around and get two payday loans to pay for my rent.” “Yesterday we went to a food bank.” Goytia participates in clinical trials and sells his blood plasma for extra money. He has been asking his managers for full-time employment for a year and a half. Instead, he said, they hire temporary workers, who can be fired at any time. So Goytia was one of several dozen Walmart workers on strike, calling for an end to low wages, unpredictable part-time hours and retaliation for speaking out. They were joined by other employees on their days off and dozens more who rode buses from Northern California to join their efforts outside the store. The actions in Los Angeles this week are the first in what organizers said would be a series of protests leading into the holiday shopping season. The protesters said that Walmart can afford to pay every worker at least $25,000 a year, pointing to Walmart’s $17 billion profit from the latest year. The founding Walton family’s fortune alone, the protesters argue, is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of American families combined. Walmart CEO Bill Simon disclosed in a presentation recently that approximately 475,000 Walmart employees are paid more than $25,000 a year. That leaves 525,000 to 825,000 Walmart workers earning less. U.S. House Democrats seeking to boost the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour have criticized Walmart in particular for its low wages.
Connie McCallister, a Wausau, Wisconsin woman who was 16 when she disappeared more than nine years ago, has been found living in Mexico. Sources say she could return home as early as Thanksgiving. Wisconsin Woman Abducted at 16 Found In Mexico McCallister, now 25, disappeared with her then 22-year-old boyfriend on August 15, 2004, when she was an honor-roll student at Athens High School. Her aunt, Florence Volzka, said the boyfriend drugged her to get her to Mexico, and that at one point, she was badly beaten and treated at a hospital. Someone helped her get a new identity, she added. McCallister got involved with a man who abused her, Volzka said, then found a good man whom she ended up marrying. She now has three young daughters. She escaped her initial captor /abuser, sources believe, but said since McCallister didn’t know Spanish, it was hard for her to contact family in Wisconsin. A church missionary recently met McCallister, learned of her plight and contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children this summer. Wausau Police Capt. Greg Hagenbucher confirmed it is McCallister, who “did ask for help in getting home, but she won’t come back without her children.” He did not immediately offer an update on the then-boyfriend, who is also wanted on charges of first-degree sexual assault involving an unrelated victim. A group of volunteers at Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Athens, Wisc., is currently raising money to bring McCallister and her kids home. “We want to use this as an example for families with missing relatives to never give up hope,” Judy Weise, a family friend and church administrator said. “There’s always a chance their loved one could come home. Don’t ever give up hope.” Officials with the U.S. Consulate are working with McCallister to gather the required documents and ID records necessary for McCallister to return. McCallister is petitioning the court so her husband can join her in the U.S. Her aunt, Volzka said they will live with her and then move to another nearby when she back on her feet. She hopes to have her home by Thanksgiving. “She’s excited and she’s cautious and she knows it’s going to be whole new world again and she’s afraid,” Volzka said. “There are a lot of adjustments.” McCallister’s mother, Cindy McCallister, now lives in Florida. “I never gave up any hope of her,” Volzka, 56, of Medford, said by phone. “I always thought she would find a way home. She is very close knit with the family.” Volzka added that she first spoke with her in September through Skype and she looks the same, but with longer hair. “I cried for an hour,” she said.
It’s back to school time and you know what that means. Your very vulnerable freshman daughter is being exposed to all kinds of dangerous situations and misogyny. Such as the scenario painted by this SMU chant which was part of a freshman week event that pretty much promotes underage forced sex … Here’s more info via CTV News : Student orientation leaders at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax will undergo sensitivity training after some of them were captured on video chanting about non-consensual sex with underage girls. In the video taken during frosh week activities and posted on Instagram, both male and female student leaders can be seen taking part in what a university spokesperson called a “sexist and offensive” chant. “SMU boys, we like them young,” the students can be heard singing at the start of the video. The chant includes the phrases: “Y is for your sister,” “U is for underage,” and “N is for no consent.” It was performed by student leaders in front of about 300 first-year-students on Monday. “This is a disappointing, discouraging and, quite frankly, an offensive video and we’re, I guess, taken aback,” Keith Hotchkiss, SMU’s senior director of student services, told CTV Atlantic. Jared Perry, the president of the university’s student association, which organizes frosh week activities, has apologized. “We’re sorry this went through,” he said. “Now we’re looking forward into the future and the chant will never take place again. We’ll be educating our leaders.” SMU spokesperson Steve Proctor told The Canadian Press that a less sexist version of the chant has been performed on campus in the past. St. Mary’s University Student Association President Jared Perry says he feels terrible and an investigation will be launched into the incident. He also has resigned from his post and says he plans to devote his energy to bringing attention to the issue and turning this negative into a positive. YouTube Continue reading →
Breaking Sports Video
