A band of fast-moving storms brought reports of more than one hundred possible tornadoes across the South on Saturday, toppling trees, snapping power lines and bringing the two-day death toll to 17. Emergency crews in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama worked to assess the damage as the storm system moved north into the Carolinas and southern Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency Friday after reports of tornado touchdowns in at least six counties. Three people were also killed in Autauga County after fallen trees crashed into mobile homes in the area, police said. Some of the death toll reads as follows: Three deaths in Washington County were reported, said Yasamie August, spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Two other deaths were previously reported in Oklahoma and seven in Arkansas. In Greene County, Mississippi, one death and six injuries were reported, officials said. And if that wasn’t bad enough… Rescue crews found a 34-year-old woman in bed with her 7-year-old, whom she had apparently come to comfort during the overnight storm, said Little Rock Fire Department Capt. Randy Davenport. The two were killed when a giant oak tree fell on the home, Davenport said. An 18-month-old child in another bedroom survived. Source
Some folks might call this nepotism. Diddy’s concubine Cassie, Kanye’s concubine Selita Ebanks and Jay-Z’s sister-in-law Solange Knowles have all been named as spokesmodels for Carol’s Daughter. The ladies are the subject of a recent WWD feature, which is excerpted below: Carol’s Daughter aims to showcase the customers who can’t be neatly slotted into one category or another. Take, for instance, Cassie, who is of black and Filipina descent, or Ebanks, who has Jamaican, Irish, Indian and African heritage and grew up in the Cayman Islands. Knowles is of African-American and French Creole descent. “They will serve as cultural ambassadors in bringing forth this acceptance that the definition of beauty is now colorless,” said Steve Stoute. “There are no longer boxes of white, black, Latina, Asian. More and more women are checking the other box.” According to Stoute, the trio was chosen because aside from their beauty “they share the vision and embody the messaging in their attitude, appearance, projects and core values.” “Carol’s Daughter doesn’t have just one direct demographic,” said Ebanks. “Solange’s hair is a different texture than mine; so is Cassie’s. Our skin and body types are different. Today, people are blended, and I think the three of us are a prime example. Women in my family range from vanilla to the deepest chocolate.” While the brand will continue to use longtime spokespeople and investors Jada Pinkett Smith and Mary J. Blige, as well as [founder] Lisa Price, in brand visuals, the three new spokeswomen speak to the “millennial generation, which is basically a colorless society,” said Stoute. So basically whether you rock a natural, a half shaved dome or a weave Carol’s daughter has all their bases covered… Congratulations concubines ladies! Source
Gwyneth Paltrow, who does 45 minutes of cardio five days a week, supplements her workouts with “muscular structure work” — toning, realigning and lengthening. Though she admits to loving food — and eating lots of it, too — Gwyneth Paltrow happily flaunts her fabulous bikini body on the May cover of SELF. In an interview about her new cookbook, My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family Togetherness, the actress opens up about her eating habits — she went macrobiotic fo
The AJC is reporting that Asheley Jewell has been discharged from Grady Memorial Hospital and is recuperating at home. As we previously reported, the 15-year-old Stephenson High sophomore was shot in the head and critically wounded last March in an apparent road-rage incident on Old National Highway. A $2,000 reward is being offered for information about Jewell’s shooting. Also, from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jewell’s family and friends will be in the area around Old National Highway and Jerome Road handing out fliers seeking information. They’re calling it “Justice for Asheley Jewell Day.” More information can be found at the Justice for Asheley Jewell Facebook page. Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477. Jewell is the daughter of Kandi Burruss’ late fiance, A.J. Jewell, who died in 2009 after a fight outside the Body Tap strip club. Read more here. RELATED: Asheley Jewell Speaking Again, Family Calls It A Miracle RELATED: Asheley Jewell’s Family Calls For Help In Finding Shooter RELATED: Asheley Jewell Shows Progress, Recognizes Mom’s Voice RELATED: Kandi Burruss’ Deceased Fiance’s Daughter Shot In The Head [VIDEO]
“We share with you that our daughter was born. Libertad, her name. Libertad!” the Motorcycle Diaries star, 32, announced via Twitter. Gael Garcia Bernal and Dolores Fonzi, an Argentine actress, are already parents to son Lázaro, 2. Gael García Bernal is now a father of two. “After the greatest week of my life — it’s getting even better — I thank you infinitely for your congratulations.” He was raised by his mother and stepfather, the photographer Sergio Yazbek. García Bernal studied at The E
In part two of our exclusive interview with Antonia “Toya” Carter, the reality star talks to Hot 107.9′s Beestroh and Jazzy McBee aka the Beauty and the Beest about her book Priceless Inspirations and what it’s like trying to make a name for herself outside of being Lil Wayne’s ex-wife and baby mother. Toya said that she tackles tough subjects in her book like rape, domestic violence, her mother’s well-documented drug addiction and being a teenage mother. She also talked more about her upcoming BET reality show, “Toya Carter: Family Affair.” Check it out below! RELATED: Toya Carter Discusses Reality Show & New Business Ventures [EXCLUSIVE] RELATED: VIDEO: “Bedrock Remix (ATL Version)” – Toya Can Rap! RELATED: So, What Did Lil Wayne Think Of Toya Rapping? RELATED: Lil Wayne Celebrates Daughter’s Birthday In Atlanta With Toya, Nivea, Baby & More [PHOTOS] RELATED: Tiny & Toya On Loving Bad Boys And Having Sex Too Soon RELATED: Lil Wayne’s Ex-Wife Antonia “Toya” Carter Remarries [RUMOR] Toya Carter: Family Affair TRAILER
Jamie Lynn Spears, who’s been more or less of the spotlight since getting pregnant at age 16, turns 20 today. She marked the occasion by joining Twitter! The sister of Britney Spears welcomed Maddie Briann in June 2008. The father is her former boyfriend/fiance Casey Aldridge. Who knows if they’re still on. Dude didn’t strike us as an upstanding, committed type of guy. We don’t know him personally, but that was our gut feeling. Either way, Jamie Lynn’s doing well. Here’s an adorable pic she shared of herself with Maddie … MOTHER AND DAUGHTER : Aww. Our little girl is growing up so fast. So is Maddie Briann for that matter! Join us in wishing Jamie Lynn Spears a happy b-day below!
Justin Timberlake was spotted getting his snuggle on with actress Olivia Wilde this weekend in Hollyweird: The Now costars hit The Roxbury in Hollywood Saturday night, and snuggled together in the VIP section until 1 a.m., when Timberlake, 30, requested they move to the patio so he could listen to hip hop. Wilde, 27, who in early March filed for divorce from her husband of eight years, Italian Prince Tao Ruspoli, has recently been spotted with Ryan Gosling. But on Saturday, she seemed perfectly in sync with Timberlake. The duo arrived at the club together, both were wearing white T-shirts and jeans, and both drank vodka. They also left together at 3 a.m. Y’all thought it was gonna be Olivia Munn , huh??? That JT character doesn’t waste any time at all when it comes to running through broads… Via People
Poor thang! This mother of two was forced to fend off her yayo snortin’ hubby with a knife and beat the charges after he ended up dead. Donna Cobb’s four-year roller coaster began when she was awoken by her coke-and booze-addled husband and ended with a jury deeming her an innocent battered woman nearly six months ago. Now Cobb has returned to work as a nurse’s aide at Harlem Hospital and continues to live in the same nearby apartment where she stabbed Kevin Cobb to death in November 2006. “I’m taking it one day at a time,” she told the Daily News in a recent interview. “I still think about it a lot, you know. I don’t think I’ll ever fully get over what happened.” Instead of criticizing and scorning her, she says, the neighbors and co-workers who watched her saga unfold have mostly rallied around her – but not everyone. “I have had some negativity from Kevin’s friends, saying ‘Murderer!’ whenever they saw me,” the 42-year-old mother of six said. “They pretty much didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t feel the need to explain anything to them.” In her 10 years with Kevin Cobb, with whom she had 12-year-old twin girls, he continually abused and threatened her, spitting on her and stealing her money, she said. On the night of the killing, the couple threw a party in their apartment. Kevin, who was unemployed, spent the evening guzzling a bottle of tequila and snorting cocaine . When a fight broke out, the couple kicked everyone out, but Kevin began muttering threats and accusing his wife of cheating, she said. She went into her daughter’s room to sleep but said she was awoken by Kevin punching her in the face, pulling her out of bed by her hair and kicking her. “I tried to fight him off,” she said. “I … ran into the living room. He came right behind me, punched me in my back. I fell. He started stomping me.” Cobb grabbed an elephant statue off the floor – one of many elephant-themed objects that decorate her home – and struck him over the head with it, temporarily stunning him. She ran into the bedroom, but Kevin gave chase, grabbed her and began choking her. “I was feeling for anything,” Cobb said. “I felt the knife, and I just poked him with it.” “I didn’t want him to die,” she added. “My kids have to be without a father, and it’s painful.” Her lawyer, Earl Ward, said he was pleased his client was acquitted but questioned why Cobb – a churchgoing woman and the family’s sole breadwinner – was prosecuted in the first place. “This is a woman who had no record, who goes to church every Sunday, and Fridays, too,” he said. “The idea that she was looking at a life sentence was extremely, extremely troubling. She was a classic battered woman.” Cobb said she and Kevin met in Harlem and had a true connection when they began dating in 1996. “In the beginning, Kevin was really sweet,” she said. “Kevin was very attentive to the children. He was a helpful, really charming, bubbly kind of person.” Things began to change in 1997 after Kevin moved in and started slapping her. Also around that time, Cobb realized Kevin had a drug problem after finding cocaine in his pockets. “He promised me that [he’d get help] a lot,” Cobb said. “I found a program for him to go to. … He wouldn’t show up.” Cobb said she is now focused on her grandchild and moving her family out of the apartment where the murder occurred. She said she still is coming to terms with Kevin’s death. “Throughout all the years of the abuse I experienced … I don’t think that’s something I’ll ever fully recover from,” she said. Man, F*ck A Thug for reals! This lady has six kids and a grandbaby — screw that monster. May he rot in hell. Source
We’re glad they’re diversifying Hood Nights (aka Sunday) on VH1… But “Mob Wives” though? Check out the series summary: Welcome to Staten Island, the land of fierce women who never admit to being allegedly “connected” — until now. Renee, Carla and Drita are no strangers to the good life, but now, with their husbands and fathers behind bars, they realize there is a price to pay. Left alone to pick up the pieces, these women face the harsh realities of “life” after informants have turned their families’ lives upside down. To these ladies, “loyalty is everything” so, when Karen Gravano (the daughter of infamous mob informant Sammy the Bull) arrives back on the Staten Island scene after 10 years away in Arizona — there is hell to pay. Karen’s return becomes explosive when she shows up at a party on loyalist, Renee Graaziano’s, home turf. The women are long-time friends who live in New York City’s “forgotten borough” Staten Island. Along the way, they battle their friends, families and each other as they try to do what’s best for themselves and their children. It’s not easy to maintain the lifestyle they were accustomed to when the family’s primary bread-winner is in lock-up. They’re determined to finally set the record straight and show the world that, while their lives may seem crazy at first glance, they love, laugh and get their hearts broken just like everyone else. Don’t judge them until you stand in their shoes. This is a real look at what it’s like to be born into or married to the mob. “‘Mob Wives’ is one of the most authentic and compelling series we’ve ever done at VH1,” said Jeff Olde, EVP Original Programming and Production, VH1. “At its heart are four strong women who either grew up in ‘the life,’ or married into it. They are all now at a defining moment, picking up the pieces and carrying on as their husbands or fathers do time. Each woman is re-examining her life to determine what’s best for her and her children. It’s not easy to maintain the lifestyle they were accustomed to when the family’s primary bread-winner is in lock-up. They’re determined to finally set the record straight and show the world that, while their lives may seem crazy at first glance, they love, laugh and get their hearts broken just like everyone else. Don’t judge them until you stand in their shoes. This is a real look at what it’s like to be born into or married to the mob. The series concept was developed by Jennifer Graziano and executive produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein of The Weinstein Company, Ben Silverman’s Electus and Graziano. Executive Producers for Left/Right are Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman, and Nina Diaz. Jeff Olde, Shelly Tatro, Kari McFarland, Rick Hankey are executive producers for VH1. Sean Gottlieb is supervising producer. “ Of course, only one of these women is actually a “Mob Wife.” Renee Grazziano is the daughter of Anthony Grazziano, one of the alleged bosses of “La Cosa Nostra.” Carla Facciolo is the daughter of an unidentified mobster and the wife… of a stock broker. And Drita D’avanzo is the wife of Bonanno/Colombo boss Lee D’Avanzo. Will you be watching “Mob Wives” when it kicks off on April 17? Source
