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FRIDAY, July3,2009
CALIFORNIA | STORY FROM A1
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
LOS ANGELES —
Even asplans were taking shapeThursday for a memorialevent for Michael Jackson attheStaples Center in down-town Los Angeles next week,theinvestigation into thecauses of his death appearedtodeepenandapossiblecustody battle emerged.
TheLosAngelesPoliceDepartmenthasasked thefederalDrugEnforcementAgency to assist in the in-vestigation of Jackson’s mys-teriouscollapse last week,heighteningspeculation thatprescriptiondrugsmay haveplayed a role in his death.
Thepossibility of a custo-dy dispute emerged afterDebbieRowe, the mother of Jackson’s older two childrenandhisformer wife, told theLosAngeles television sta-tionKNBCthat she wantedcustody of the two childrenshehadsharedwiththesinger.The couple divorcedin2000,andin1999sheagreed that Jackson wouldhave sole custody, accordingtoThe Los Angeles Times.ButonThursday after-noonEric George, Rowe’slawyer, told reporters on aconferencecallthat his cli-entwas not sure what shewantedtodo.“There’s nonews,” George said. “Debbiehasnotreachedafinaldeci-sionconcerningthependingcustody proceeding.”Earlierthisweek, JudgeMitchellBeckloffofLos An-gelesSuperiorCourt grant-ed temporary custody of Jackson’s three children tothesinger’smother, Kather-ineJackson. On Thursdayafternoon, the judge ap-proved a request by lawyersfor Rowe and KatherineJacksontomove a scheduledguardianship hearing to Ju-ly 13 from Monday.
ESTATE QUESTIONS
Ahearing will still takeplaceMonday, but it willdealwiththedisposition of Jackson’s estate, whichcouldalsoleadtoabitterlegalbrawl pitting KatherineJackson against the exec-utorsnamedina2002willfiledincourt on Wednesday.Rowe delivered two of Jackson’s children,12-year-old Michael JosephJacksonJr.,alsoknown asPrinceMichael,andParisMichael Katherine Jackson,11. Jackson had anotherchild,Prince Michael Jack-sonII,7,calledBlanket, whowas carried to term by asurrogate who has neverbeenidentified.Despite the potential forthoselegal battles, the Jack-sonfamily, along with cityofficialsand those from theStaples Center were prepar-ingagrand forum for publicmemorialofthesinger.The scale of the plannedevent reflects Jackson’s ef-fectonpop culture and onhisfans; the Staples Center,where the reigning NBAchampion Los Angeles Lak-ersplay, can accommodate20,000people.Planswereunderway to televise theevent for thousands of addi-tionalonlookers watchingoutsidefrom Nokia Plaza.Randy Phillips, chief exec-utive of AEG, the companythat owns the Staples centerand was promoting Jack-son’s London concert seriestobegin this month, said hewas waiting for KatherineJackson’s final approval.“As we speak, we’re work-ingon the details,” Phillipssaid Thursday afternoon. Hesaid he thought that it wouldbegin at 10 a.m. Tuesday andbefree to the public.
DEA ASSISTANCE
As plans for the memorialevent developed, the Los An-geles Police Departmentasked the Drug EnforcementAgency for help in its in-vestigation of Jackson’s death.
Aspokesman for the agen-cy, Rusty Payne, would notdiscuss the details of theinvestigation, but noted thatgenerally in cases involvingpossible prescription druguse, the DEA looks first forsources of supply, like onlinepharmacies.“Andthenofcourse thedoctors involved,” Payneadded. “Have they alwayspracticed within the boundsof legitimate medical treat-ment,what’s the doctor-pa-tientrelationship.”
Anautopsy was inconclu-sive pending toxicology tests.Jackson’s private physician,Dr.Conrad Murray, a cardiol-ogist, has said the singer hadshown no signs of illnessbefore he was discoveredwithonly a faint pulse in thebedroom of his rented Holm-by Hills home last Thursday.
Murray said he immedi-ately began performing car-dio-pulmonary resuscita-tion, but Jackson waspronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center a shortwhile later.
Tribute planned as probe deepens
JACKSON MEMORIAL:
The event would be at StaplesCenter. Meanwhile, LA police ask for federal help.
BYJONATHAN D. GLATERAND LIZ ROBBINS
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
SAN FRANCISCO —
The chief judgeofthefederalappealscourtinSanFranciscowasrebuked but not formallydisciplinedby a judi-cialpanelThursdayfor posting sexuallyexplicit material onhisprivate Web siteandfailingto removeitwhen he learned itwas publicly accessi-ble.Alex Kozinski wascarelessandshowed“poorjudgment”inpossess-ingoffensive material andfailingtokeep it private, saidthe11-judgepaneloftheU.S.Court of Appeals in Philadel-phia.Inadecisionthat it labeledanadmonishment,thepaneltoldKozinski that his con-duct“created a public con-troversy that can reasonablybeseenashaving resulted inembarrassmenttothein-stitution of the federal judi-ciary.”Butthepanelsaiditsawnoneed to punish Kozinskibecause he has now removedthepostings from his Websiteandpromisedtoinstallsafeguards.The panel alsonotedthat Kozinskirequested the inves-tigation himself, co-operated fully andapologized profuse-ly.“My unfortunatecarelessness...hasembarrassedthefed-eralcourts.Andforthis,Iamdeeply sor-ry,”Kozinski said in testimo-nytothepanel.Haditfound misconduct,thepanelcouldhave cen-sured Kozinski, temporarilyhaltedhiscase assignments,ortaken the first steps lead-ingtopossible congressionalimpeachment and removalfromoffice.Butthepanelmadenosuch findings, saidArthurHellman, a Universi-ty of Pittsburgh law profes-sorandauthority on judicialethics.
Panel rebukes judgeover online sex material
BYBOB EGELKO
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
AlexKozinski
directorPaul McDonnell.
RATE DISAGREEMENT
As with most parts of thestate’s budget drama, offi-cials disagreed Thursdayabout IOU specifics during ameetingofthe state’s three-memberPooledMoney In-vestment Board.Arepresentative of Trea-surer Bill Lockyer and Con-trollerJohn Chiang — bothDemocrats — voted for a 3.75percentinterest rate, withanOct. 2 maturity date.ButGov. Arnold Schwar-zenegger’s representativeonthepanelproposed a1.5percent interest rate andamid-June 2010 maturitydate. A new state law wouldallow the IOUs to be re-deemedearlierifconditionsimproved, the governor’s of-ficesaid.“Ithink 1.5 percent isreally fair,” said Tom Shee-hy, chief deputy director forpolicy in Schwarzenegger’sDepartmentofFinance.Basedonfigures from thegovernor’s office, the higherrate approved Thursday willcost the state general fundalmost $31 million in interestthroughOct.2—$19 millionmorethantherate the ad-ministration wanted.The controller’s officecounteredthat the 3.75 per-centrate will cost $25.8 mil-lion.AJune 2010 maturitydate would be unfair to IOUrecipientsand suggest toskittish investors that a bud-getdeal is still months away,thecontroller’s office said.Larry Sharp, president of Arrowhead Credit Union,said a 1.5 percent interestrate would have been unac-ceptable.“It’s not just the carryingcost of the money. We’ve gotthecost of handling (theIOUs) separately from ourchecks,” Sharpe said. As it is,hesaid,the 3.75 percentinterest rate may prove inad-equate if IOUs drag on.Nosediving state revenueand voters’ rejection of sev-eral budget-related ballotmeasures opened a $26.3 bil-lion hole in the state’s Febru-aryspending plan.
NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE
Schwarzenegger and leg-islative leaders will continuenegotiating over the longholiday weekend.Senate President Pro TemDarrellSteinberg,D-Sacra-mento,reported “significantprogress” since this week’sfailed votes. “I think it willtake a couple of days but Ithinkwe will get it done,” hetoldreporters.Othertoplawmakers tookatougher line Thursday.Inacolumn in the Huffing-tonPost, Assembly SpeakerKaren Bass, D-Los Angeles,said Schwarzenegger “hasabdicated his fiscal responsi-bilities” by opposing thisweek’s stopgap legislation.Schwarzenegger accusedDemocrats of being behold-en to public-employeeunions.
TheNew York Times News Servicecontributed to this report.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Companies that do business with the state, regional centers that serve the developmentally disabled, people expecting taxrefunds and others are in line for IOUs. State lenders, employees and other required payees will still get their checks.
BUDGET
CONTINUEDFROM
A1
SACRAMENTO
DMVoffices to shut3Fridays in a row
California’s budget im-passewillputaclosedsignonstate Department of Mo-torVehicles offices for threeconsecutive Fridays, start-ingnext week.Pursuant to Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger’s order tofurloughstate workers threedays a month, all DMV of-ficeswillbe closed July 10, 17and24.Drivers needing torenew their vehicle regis-trations or driver’s licensescandosoontheagency’sWeb site atwww.dmv.ca.gov/.Those with licenses orrenewals that expire on Fri-days when offices are closedwill have the penaltieswaived until the next busi-nessday.
LOS ANGELES
Conviction tossedin online bullying case
AfederaljudgeonThurs-day threw out the convictionofaMissouriwoman onchargesofcomputer fraudfor her role in creating afalseMySpaceaccounttodupeateenager, who latercommitted suicide.Judge George H. Wu saidthat he was tentatively ac-quitting the woman, LoriDrew, of misdemeanorcountsofaccessingcomput-erswithoutauthorization,andthat the ruling would befinalwhen he issued hiswritten decision.InNovember, a federal juryinLosAngelesconvict-edDrew of three misde-meanorcharges under theComputer Fraud and AbuseAct, a federal law designedtocombat computer crimes.
ButincourtonThursday,Wu said that the federalstatute was too vague whenapplied in this case and thatwere he to allow Drew’s con-victiontostand, “one couldliterally prosecute anyonewho violates a terms of ser-viceagreement” in any way.
SAN FRANCISCO
Judge wants full trialon gay nuptials ban
AfederaljudgeinSanFrancisco said Thursdaythat he wants to conduct afulltrialonalawsuit seekingto overturn California’ssame-sex marriage ban be-cause he expects the case toone day reach the U.S. Su-premeCourt.Duringhisfirst hearing onthesuit, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker said itwas his job as a trial judge tosettle any factual disputessurrounding the voter-ap-proved ban and its effect onthecivil rights of gays andlesbiansbefore the case goestoahighercourt.“I am reasonably surethat, given the personalitiesinthiscourtroom, this caseisonly touching down in thiscourt and it will have a lifeafter this court,” Walkersaid.The judge, who wasnamed to the bench by Presi-dentGeorge H.W. Bush, hasbeenasked to strike downProp.8asaviolation of theU.S.Constitution’s guaran-teeofdue process and equalprotection.
SAN DIEGO
Ex-Nixon aideKlein dies at 91
HerbertG.Klein, RichardNixon’s former White Housedirectorofcommunications,has died. He was 91.Family members said Mr.Klein died Thursday aftersuffering a cardiac arrest athishome in the San Diegosuburb of La Jolla.Mr.Klein became a specialcorrespondent for CopleyNewspapers after serving inWorld War II. There, hecovered Nixon’s 1946 con-gressional campaign, start-ingan association that even-tually led him to the WhiteHouse.Mr. Klein accompaniedVice President Nixon to Mos-cow in 1959 for historic meet-ingswithSoviet PremierNikita Khrushchev. He re-signed in 1973, one yearbefore the Watergate scan-dal forced Nixon to stepdown.Mr.Kleinreturned to jour-nalism and was named edi-toroftheSan Diego Union-Tribunein1980.
High-speed rail routewins U.S. designation
The clogged tourist travelroute between Southern Cal-ifornia and Las Vegas hasbeendesignated as a federalhigh-speed rail corridor.U.S. Transportation Sec-retaryRay LaHood says theroute is now part of theCalifornia rail corridor, adesignation that endorsestheviability of high-speedtraintravel in the region.
INBRIEF
FROM STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
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