Star-studded roster mark Michael Jackson memorial

BY RAFER GUZMAN |rafer.guzman@newsday.com

Mariah Carey, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder and Jennifer Hudson are among the celebrity guests scheduled to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service, scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The list was released Monday afternoon by the Jackson family's publicists, who called it "preliminary and subject to change."

One person not mentioned, however, was Jackson's former wife, Debbie Rowe, who announced she would not attend just hours after she was reportedly confirmed for two VIP seats.

Rowe, who shared two children with Jackson, may be planning to fight the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson, for custody.

"The onslaught of media attention has made it clear her attendance would be an unnecessary distraction to an event that should focus exclusively on Michael's legacy," Rowe's attorney, Marta Almli, said in a statement. "Debbie will continue to celebrate Michael's memory privately."

Whether Jackson's family offered the tickets to Rowe or approved an initial request from her is unclear. A spokesman for the family did not comment.

Another notable absence: Jackson's friend Elizabeth Taylor, who said in her Twitter feed Monday afternoon that she will be mourning in private.

"I've been asked to speak at the Staples Center. I cannot be part of the public hoopla," Taylor wrote in a string of posts. "And I cannot guarantee that I would be coherent to say a word."

The invitations and turndowns underscored the hectic, whirlwind nature of the memorial, which will be attended by 17,500 people who obtained tickets through a random lottery. Even as those selected fans geared up for the historic event, tickets went on sale for thousands of dollars on eBay and Craigslist, though many of the postings were later removed. Local law enforcement officials, expecting a massive turnout, have been urging people to watch the memorial on television at home.

(In New York, the event will be simulcast at two movie theaters, the Clearview Chelsea Theatre in Manhattan and The Pavilion in Brooklyn, according to Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.)

According to several reports, Jackson will be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills Tuesday, possibly before the public event. No public funeral procession through city streets was scheduled, and it was not known if Jackson's body would appear at the Staples Center.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry said she'd "love it" if the Jacksons helped defray some of the city's expected costs for the memorial. But she noted that officials hadn't heard from the family.

Michael Jackson's Memorial Lures A-List Attendees, Participants

Beyonce, Brooke Shields, Mariah Carey Expected to Pay Tribute to Jackson

From : http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/MichaelJackson/story?id=8015494&page=1

At his public memorial service today in Los Angeles, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson may finally get his wish: to be treated like royalty. From all accounts, the services will likely be of the same caliber as those held 12 years ago for a real member of royalty: Princess Diana. It's only fitting, since Jackson was obsessed with the Princess of Wales and all things royal.

"He famously wanted to be in Princess Di's good graces and the good graces of the queen (Elizabeth II)," Jackson biographer Stacy Brown told ABCNews.com. "He was obsessed with royalty and wanted to be knighted."

ABCNews.com will live stream the Jackson memorial service starting live at 12 p.m. ET. ABC News Television live coverage anchored by Charlie Gibson begins at 1 p.m. ET.

Jackson never got the opportunity to be called Sir Michael Jackson, but after today's memorial, there will be no doubt that he was the King of Pop.

"You're talking about the A-list of all A-lists," said Brown, who co-wrote "Michael Jackson: The Man behind the Mask."

"Nobody is going to miss it," he said. "It's going to be the grandest of all red carpet events. It's going to be something you can only imagine was a Michael Jackson production -- his final production."

Media gear up to cover Michael Jackson's memorial service at Staples Center

TV, websites and social media gear up for a big day of coverage.

From : http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tvnews7-2009jul07,0,182782.story
By Maria Elena Fernandez
8:31 PM PDT, July 6, 2009

Just as in life, the King of Pop in death is poised to command nearly unprecedented media coverage.

Six days before he was to begin a 50-date comeback tour in London, Michael Jackson will instead be eulogized at a massive memorial service today at Staples Center. All the major networks and a host of cable news and entertainment channels, including CNN, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, TV Guide Network and TV One, plan to carry the event live at 10 a.m.

Here's a brief rundown of the coverage:

* MSNBC will begin its coverage at 8 a.m., with Chris Jansing anchoring. Fox News' Shepard Smith will anchor the day, beginning at 9 a.m. Meanwhile, CNN will start at 9 a.m. with Anderson Cooper, Larry King and Don Lemon as anchors. (CNN will carry the service on sister networks HLN, CNN International and CNN en Espanol as well.)

* On ABC, "Good Morning America" will air a special edition from Los Angeles and Charlie Gibson will anchor "Remembering Michael Jackson" with "Nightline" anchor Martin Bashir when the service begins. At 9 p.m., Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters will co-anchor a special edition of " 20/20," reporting on the highlights of the service. " Primetime: Family Secrets" at 10 p.m. will focus on Jackson's children.

* CBS' "The Early Show" will broadcast live from Staples, with Maggie Rodriguez and Harry Smith anchoring. Katie Couric will anchor the "CBS Evening News" at 6:30 p.m. and "48 Hours" at 10 p.m., both from Staples.

* NBC's "Today" will air a "split edition," with host Meredith Vieira in Los Angeles. Live coverage of the services, anchored by Brian Williams, will begin at 10 a.m. Williams also will anchor "Nightly News" from Staples Center. At 10 p.m., Lester Holt will anchor a special edition of "Dateline."

The event's ratings are expected to be record-breaking, according to television analysts. More than 1.6 million people registered over the weekend for a chance at one of 17,500 free tickets to the service and Jackson's death has dominated social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

For those without access to television, there are still options. KCRW-FM (89.9) will broadcast the event live and it will also be streamed online on several news sites, including latimes.com and www.hulu.com.

The service will also be seen in 88 movie theaters across 31 states, including Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood.

maria.elena.fernandez @latimes.com

3 killed, 7 injured in drive-by shooting at pizza restaurant outside Los Angeles

By Associated Press

PICO RIVERA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities in the Los Angeles area say three people have been killed and seven others injured in a drive-by shooting outside a pizza restaurant where a motorcycle group was hosting an event.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Keith Ho says 10 people gathered in the parking lot of the restaurant in Pico Rivera were shot at from a moving vehicle Saturday evening.

Ho says three people died at the scene. Seven others were hospitalized in stable condition.

Nobody inside the restaurant was injured.

A biker group known as the Old School Riders was hosting an event at the time.

Ho says investigators are trying to determine if the shooting was gang related. No arrests have been made.

Pico Rivera is about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Armstrong, old-school racing on tap at 2009 Tour

By JAMEY KEATEN

PARIS (AP) — France's anti-doping crusaders are stockpiling needles for testing blood and cups for sampling urine, and two new books on Lance Armstrong have just been released in France.

Must be about time for the Tour de France.

The seven-time champion is back from retirement, four years after his last victory. Teammate Alberto Contador, the 2007 winner and a top pre-race favorite, returns after Astana wasn't allowed to compete last year.

They are allies, but could become rivals too.

The race starts on July 4 with a challenging 15.5-kilometer (10-mile) prologue in Monaco, the tiny principality in southeast France. The pack will then head out along the Mediterranean, through the Pyrenees, across central France, into the Alps and then up the fabled Mont Ventoux a day before the July 26 finish in Paris.

Riders will dip into Spain, Switzerland and Italy during the 3,500-kilometer (2,140-mile) trek and face 20 major mountain climbs during the three weeks.

Tour designers have spiced up the route and revived some rules from the good old days in hopes that fans will have something — anything — to get their minds off the drug use that has marred cycling's premier event in recent years.

Judges from UCI, the sport's governing body, will be back, a year after they were kept out because of a bitter spat with Tour organizers over doping that has now been patched up.

The UCI has rolled out its "biological passport" anti-doping program, in which samples were taken from 840 professional riders to determine their body chemistry profiles. Any suspicious fluctuation from those levels could lead to penalties, even if no specific substance turns up in tests.

France's anti-doping agency, the AFLD, says it's going to target suspicious riders, rather than focus on random tests used in previous years, and will test for an unspecified new drug. The agency has also been authorized to freeze samples taken during the Tour. This allows them to be tested in the future for drugs that haven't yet been identified as performance enhancers.

"We know there are some particular substances and methods, and we are going to try to detect them, sooner or later," said Pierre Bordry, head of the AFLD, which helped nab six cheats at last year's Tour.

"There are things that aren't found in blood, but I'm not going to give an example, because I've learned over the years the people who advise athletes on doping adopt their programs based on drug-testers' mindsets," Bordry told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday.

For Armstrong, who famously insisted he was the world's most-tested athlete during his glory years and has never tested positive, the welcome back to a still largely suspicious France may not be warm.

Just weeks before the Tour's start, two books — "La Grande Imposture" (the Great Impostor) by anti-doping doctor Jean-Pierre Mondenard and "Le Sale Tour" (The Dirty Tour) by Pierre Ballester and David Walsh — have come out in France to capitalize on the media frenzy over the American's comeback.

Both books lay out repeated suspicions about Armstrong over the years, though neither breaks significant new ground.

Doping allegations have already depleted the field this year: Spain's Alejandro Valverde, the winner of the Dauphine Libere stage race and the top cyclist this year in the UCI rankings, has been forced to sit out because he is banned in Italy — which the Tour visits on July 21 — over doping allegations.

This Tour also offers some blasts from the past, including a team time trial in Stage 4 — the first since 2005. Injecting a taste of yesteryear from when riders didn't enjoy high-tech communication, Tour organizers have banned the use of earpiece radios in the 10th and 13th stages — a controversial move that will alter strategies by stripping riders of their coaches' advice during the stage.

Armstrong's longtime mentor and coach, Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel, hates the idea.

"On the radio ban in 2 stages of the TdF?" Bruyneel wrote on Thursday on his Twitter page. "I absolutely disagree. What's the benefit of returning to the prehistory?"

But Bruyneel should be comforted by the team time trial, because his Astana squad has four of the world's best riders: Armstrong, Contador, American Levi Leipheimer, and Germany's Andreas Kloeden.

Other innovations include an uphill finish at the moonscape-like Mont Ventoux in the next-to-last stage — an effort to dangle sporting suspense all the way up to the traditional cruise on Paris' Champs-Elysees for the finish.

Mont Ventoux's inclusion almost seems tailor-made for Armstrong, who has called it the toughest Tour climb "bar none" — and one he has never won at cycling's showpiece event.

With Valverde out, the smart money will be on Contador. He sat out last year because Astana was barred from racing because of a doping scandal in 2007. Other pre-race favorites include fellow Spaniard and 2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre; Cadel Evans of Australia, runner-up last year and in 2007; and Denis Menchov, a Russian who won the Giro d'Italia in May.

Other riders with outside shots include Leipheimer; Kloeden; Sastre, the leader of new team Cervelo; brothers Frank and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, with Saxo Bank; and American Christian Vande Velde, leader of Garmin-Slipstream.

And even though he's 37, and consigned by Bruyneel to be a support rider for Contador at least from the start, Armstrong can never be counted out. He finished a strong 12th in the Giro, and his rivals know that the man once known simply as "The Boss" has an unparalleled ability to dominate minds in the pack.

___

Associated Press Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS SUBS graf 24 to include teams and corrects that Sastre with Cervelo 'sted Saxo Bank.)

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Is network marketing a good business opportunity?

by With Cherryl Hanson-Simpson

Earning additional money has become a necessity for most people in these tough financial times. Gone are the days when persons could feel comfortable with a single source of income - for some people, a nine-to-five job has almost become an endangered species.

As people look for ways to supplement or replace their salaries, one business opportunity has risen to the forefront as a viable option. Network marketing, also called multi-level marketing (MLM), is now being seriously considered by many people as a route to starting their own business.

According to Wikipedia.com, network marketing is a selling strategy that compensates promoters of direct selling companies for product sales they personally generate, and for the sales of others they introduced to the company. By using referrals and word-of-mouth promotion, independent business owners receive compensation for the volume of sales they and their down-line team can generate.

Marketing concept or money scam?
This alternative method of marketing products has been underutilised by many people due to their ignorance of how it operates. Direct selling simply allows consumers to benefit from buying or selling products straight from the manufacturers or large distributors. The money that would normally be paid to wholesalers, retail outlets and advertisers can now be passed on as commissions to the end users.

Over the years, the network marketing model has received a bad reputation due to the actions of pyramid scheme operators claiming to offer legitimate MLM opportunities. Pyramid schemes entice people to join them by offering a monetary reward for enrolling others into the programme, without any product or service being consumed.

To distinguish a viable network business opportunity from a pyramid scam, you have to ensure that the main source of the commissions is coming from the sales of the company's offerings. If the plan offers impossibly high compensation payouts that are tied to pricey entry fees from new recruits, it may be a sign that the business is likely to be a non-sustainable operation.

The reality is that the multi-level rewards concept already exists in many organisations. Sales people earn commissions on their individual efforts, while their sales managers and their bosses also earn bonuses from the combined efforts of their teams.

For people who like helping people
Network marketing operations are, however, fundamentally unlike other businesses. Regular business owners may be accustomed to competing with others to ensure that they come out on top. On the contrary, being successful in network marketing requires that you work with others in your team to help them to build their own businesses.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad's Business School for People Who Like Helping People, confirms that "If you are a person who truly wants to help as many people as possible achieve their financial goals and dreams, then the network marketing business is worthy of your time". Kiyosaki reveals that network marketing offers several positive values that can make it fulfilling for the right people.

Good MLM opportunities will help you to develop your sales abilities, which Kiyosaki insists is the number one skill that all business people must have. He notes that most people aren't afraid of selling, they are afraid of rejection; and points out that the leaders in the business should help to guide you in facing and overcoming your fears about being rejected.

A creditable networking business should also offer education in areas such as leadership skills, communication skills, people skills, time management, money management and investing skills, goal setting and accountability.

Is this the business for you?
When evaluating a network marketing opportunity, here are a few questions to consider:

- What is the product or service being offered? You need to decide if the company's offering is something that you will personally use and feel comfortable recommending to others.

- Who are the principals in the organisation? Investigate who is in charge and their track record of success in business, just as if you are checking out any other business option.

- Are you comfortable being trained by the person who introduced you to the opportunity? If your potential sponsor is new to the business, can you get access to others in the line of sponsorship who can guide you?

- How is the money made? Make sure you have a clear understanding of how the compensation plan is designed. Is it possible to make a living doing this business full-time, or will it only bring in part-time income?

- Are you willing to do what it takes to become successful? Many people fail at network marketing, not because the business model or product line was not viable, but because they did realise that it required education and proper work ethics to succeed.

As you look for ways to increase your income, remember that network marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme that will effortlessly make you money overnight. However, if you're willing to be trained, and to then teach others to become successful in business, it just might be the opportunity you've been waiting for!

Cherryl is a financial consultant and money coach, and founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services. Get free financial tools and more practical advice at www.financiallysmartonline.com. Email comments to advice@financiallysmartonline.com. Please add this address to your email address book in order to ensure you receive a response.

Miss Hawaii : Scholarship

Please note that the following scholarship figures reflect the cash scholarship awards and tuition grant waivers made available to contestants in the year 2008. Please visit us soon as we will update this page with information that reflects the 2009 scholarship awards very soon!

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