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Spears gets one overnight stay a week with sons

"Visits will be monitored, but star’s lawyer requests her mom be supervisor"

LOS ANGELES - It wasn’t one of Britney Spears’ more overwhelming performances, but her live appearance in court won her back a piece of motherhood. Spears stood up for herself Thursday for the first time in her custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline and faced the court commissioner who took her kids away, citing drug and alcohol abuse by the pop princess. By the time the closed-door session was over, Spears was awarded one overnight stay a week with her two little boys even though she won’t be left alone with them — someone appointed by the court will be monitoring her. She spent about an hour before the commissioner, who earlier declined to rule on her emergency request to expand visitation. She then drove from the courthouse in a white Mercedes-Benz and was swarmed by news media at a stop light, escaping only after sheriff’s deputies ran from the courthouse to aid her. Neither Spears nor her attorneys spoke to reporters after the hearing. Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini announced that the visitation order had been modified to permit the children, who were recently placed in Federline’s custody, to have one overnight visit a week with their mother. Spears was previously allowed monitored visits with the children but no overnight stays. Parachini said he could not say who the overnight monitor would be. Spears testified during the hearing, he said. “Her voice was soft and respectful.” Federline agreed to the modification, his attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, said outside court. “He agreed — didn’t have to — but he agreed that he would allow that additional time ... provided that there were additional assurances in place that made him feel the kids were protected,” Kaplan said. Spears’ attorney had asked the court to consider her mother, Lynne Spears, as the monitor. Kaplan would not say when the first overnight would occur or who the monitor would be, but he said he opposes use of family members as court-appointed monitors because of a conflict of interest. Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, were married in October 2004 and divorced in July. Both must appear in court Oct. 26 for a status hearing. Spears came to court a few hours after a hearing in which only lawyers for both sides appeared before Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon in open court. He declined to rule on Spears’ emergency motion but told the lawyers to meet outside court to discuss the issue, which led to the singer’s appearance. “I’m doing good,” Spears said as she headed into court dressed in blue jeans, a long black sweater and aviator sunglasses. She sipped from a Coca-Cola can as she approached the courtroom. An attorney took it from her and placed it on a bench as she entered. Spears played nervously with her jeans pocket as she stood to be sworn in. The commissioner allowed Spears to keep her dark sunglasses on, telling her, “I understand you have a medical condition.” The condition was not disclosed. Reporters were then asked to leave and the hearing continued behind closed doors. During the earlier open hearing, Spears’ attorney, Anne Kiley, argued that overnight visits were critical for Spears to bond with her sons, 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James. “I do think it is an emergency for them not to have overnights with their mother, which they’ve always had,” she told Gordon. “What possible concern can he (Federline) have if there are monitors present?” she asked. In the original Oct. 1 order requiring Spears to relinquish custody, Gordon granted her some visitation but said a monitor must be present and the visits could be cut short if the monitor decided Spears’ behavior endangered the children. When he took the children away, Gordon said Spears had engaged in “habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol.” He ordered her to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week.

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Search warrants served in Anna Nicole case

"Investigators raid 6 locations, including office, home of late model's doctor"

State authorities investigating circumstances surrounding the overdose death of Anna Nicole Smith raided six locations Friday, including the offices and residences of two doctors. California Attorney General Jerry Brown declined to say what charges could be filed but said the probe involved the “prescribing and dispensing practices of several California licensed doctors and pharmacies.” Search warrants were served, and there were no arrests, he told a news conference. He added, “You don’t go to a judge and get a search warrant for somebody’s home unless you think some rather serious crime has been committed.” Brown said he launched the investigation on March 30 after he learned that the drugs involved in Smith’s Feb. 8 death were prescribed by California physicians and came from California pharmacies. Smith, a former Playboy Playmate, died of an accidental overdose of drugs, including a powerful sleep aid, at a Florida hotel. She was 39. Brown said he did not know if the probe could lead to exhumation of Smith’s body, which is buried in the Bahamas. Brown said investigators had learned “quite a lot” from Bahamian authorities, but he declined to elaborate on grounds that it might jeopardize the investigation. “We do know from the public record that there’s someone who’s dead and her body, upon investigation, is full of controlled substances and combinations of drugs that turned out to be illegal,” Brown said. Searches were carried out in Los Angeles and Orange counties “related to doctors who provided medical treatment or prescribed drugs for Anna Nicole Smith or her associates,” he said. Los Angeles County district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said a total of six locations were searched, including the homes and offices of two doctors, but she would not name the physicians. Ellyn Garafalo, a lawyer for Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed methadone to Smith shortly before she died, confirmed the doctor’s home and offices were among those raided but declined to comment further. Several people close to the model have fallen under suspicion since her death, including her psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. Agents from the California Department of Justice answered the door at Eroshevich’s offices Friday morning, but declined to say why they were there. They said the doctor was not in and provided a phone number for the department’s office of public information, which had no immediate comment. The attorney general said agents have so far reviewed more than 100,000 computer images and files, analyzed patient profiles and pharmacy logs and interviewed witnesses throughout the country and abroad. In what seemed to be a bizarre coincidence, celebrity Web site TMZ.com reported that Smith’s close friend and former attorney, Howard K. Stern, was at the home of Eroshevich when the officials arrived there to conduct a search. Stern, who was Smith’s lawyer as well as her long-time companion, was simply picking up his dogs from the house at the time, his spokesman said. At the time of Smith’s death, more than 600 pills, including 450 muscle relaxants, were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old, according to the documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request. Asked if the probe would expand to include the death of Smith’s son, Brown said: “We’re not setting any limits on this investigation.” Daniel Smith, 20, died less than five months before his mother. Authorities have blamed his death on a combination of drugs including methadone and antidepressants. The Medical Board of California said in April it was investigating Eroshevich, who, according to documents, authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Anna Nicole Smith’s hotel room the day she died. Eroshevich had traveled with Smith to Florida. A call to Eroshevich’s attorney, Gary Lincenberg, was not immediately returned. However, he told KNBC-TV that the investigation only concerned whether Eroshevich’s prescriptions followed state law regarding controlled substances. “This has nothing to do with whether or not Dr. Eroshevich in any way contributed to Anna Nicole Smith’s death,” Lincenberg said. California’s medical board also opened an inquiry to determine if there was any misconduct by Kapoor, who reportedly prescribed methadone to Smith. Methadone is a popular narcotic painkiller that is used as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs. Methadone overdoses can cause shallow breathing and dangerous changes in heartbeat. A lawyer for Howard K. Stern, Smith’s attorney and companion, has said she took the sleeping aid to cope with grief over the death of her son. Stern’s Los Angeles attorney, James T. Neavitt, did not immediately return calls Friday. Smith gave birth to daughter Dannielynn in September 2006, a few days before Daniel Smith died. Stern initially claimed to be Dannielynn’s father, but Smith’s ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead eventually showed he was the father and is now raising the child. The baby could inherit millions from the estate of Smith’s late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. A judge has appointed Birkhead guardian of the estate.

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Charlize Theron is Esquire’s ‘sexiest woman’

"Oscar-winning actress joins past winners Biel, Jolie, Johansson"

LOS ANGELES - Charlize Theron has an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award. Now she’s Esquire magazine’s “sexiest woman alive.” Past winners of the title include Jessica Biel, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson. The issue featuring Theron hits newsstands Oct. 16. Theron talked with the magazine about growing up on a farm, her political interests and her work, including her latest movie, “In the Valley of Elah,” a murder mystery set among U.S. troops newly returned from Iraq. “I wanted to make the movie precisely because it evades formulas about guilt,” the 32-year-old actress said. “I’m drawn to ambiguity.” Theron also candidly discussed her least favorite film, “Reindeer Games.” “That was a bad, bad, bad movie,” she said. “But ... I got to work with John Frankenheimer. I wasn’t lying to myself — that’s why I did it.” Theron won an Oscar for her role in “Monster.” Her screen credits also include “North Country” and “The Cider House Rules.”

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Michelle Rodriguez gets 6-month jail sentence

"Former ‘Lost’ star admits to violating probation"

LOS ANGELES - Former “Lost” star Michelle Rodriguez was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail for failing to complete community service and alcohol monitoring as part of her probation from a previous drunk driving incident. Rodriguez appeared before Superior Court Judge Daviann L. Mitchell, who ordered her to report to the county jail on Christmas Eve, the city attorney’s office said. Rodriguez “admitted violation of her probation by failing to provide proof of community service and by consuming alcohol three times while wearing an alcohol monitoring device,” City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. “She did file a document that said she completed community service on September 25th, but we obtained evidence that she was in New York that day,” Mateljan said. The document was required as part of 30 days of community service Rodriguez was ordered to serve for violating probation in a 2003 drunken driving case. Mitchell ordered Rodriguez to complete the community service cleaning streets and highways, and prohibited her from being granted early release for work furlough or electronic monitoring, Mateljan said. Calls to Rodriguez’s attorney Wednesday were not immediately returned. Rodriguez was on three years probation after pleading no contest to hit-and-run, driving on a suspended license and drunken driving in connection with two incidents in Hollywood in 2003. She violated her probation when she was arrested in Hawaii on a drunken driving charge in 2005. Rodriguez was ordered to spend 60 days in jail, but served less than a day because of jail overcrowding in May 2006. She was then ordered to perform community service and remain on probation until June 2009. Rodriguez appeared in one season of ABC’s “Lost.” Her film credits include “The Fast and The Furious,” “Blue Crush” and “Girlfight.” xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx Jennifer Aniston ranked No. 1 celebrity covergirl NEW YORK - When it comes to celebrity magazines, actress Jennifer Aniston is the No. 1 covergirl, according to a Forbes.com ranking of the top-selling faces. The former "Friends" star was followed by her ex-husband, actor Brad Pitt, the only man to appear in the top 10, who came in second. Actress Scarlett Johansson, Pitt's current partner Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon and Katie Holmes rounded out the top six spots. The Web site, www.forbes.com, analyzed the sales of six weekly magazines -- People, Star, Us Weekly, In Touch, OK! and Life & Style -- over a six-month period ending June 30, 2007. "We eliminated all non-celebrity and collage covers as well as special issues with exceptionally large rate bases," Forbes.com said. "Then we counted how many more-or-less issues the celebrity's cover sold, as compared with the magazine's average newsstand sales." Also factored in were the number of covers graced by a celebrity and their consumer appeal, which was rated by E-Poll Market Research. Singers and "American Idol" contestants Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson tied for seventh place, and were followed by actress and Jenny Craig spokeswoman Valerie Bertinelli and morning talk show host Kelly Ripa. And while pop star Britney Spears appeared on 18 covers during the six months, the collective sales were some 600,000 below average, Forbes.com said, and combined with her low appeal score of 3, placed her last among the cover subjects. The only celebrity to have a lower appeal rating than Spears was Paris Hilton, the Web site said.

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