Jan. 4 hearing set for Jackson’s doctor
A preliminary hearing in which prosecutors will lay out some of the evidence against a doctor charged in Michael Jackson’s death, Conrad Murray, will begin Jan. 4 in Los Angeles, a judge said Monday.
The hearing had been expected to begin later this year but was pushed back due to issues involving witness availability and the ongoing investigation, Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said.
After the hearing, which is expected to last at least two weeks, Pastor will determine if there is enough evidence to order cardiologist Murray to stand trial.
Murray, 57, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jackson in June 2009 at the age of 50. Authorities have accused Murray of administering a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol to Jackson in the bedroom of the singer’s rented mansion.
Anne Frank’s beloved tree topples over
The 150-year-old chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding from the Nazis was toppled by wind and heavy rain Monday.
The once mighty tree, now diseased and rotted through the trunk, damaged a brick wall and several sheds, but nearby buildings — including the Anne Frank House museum — escaped unscathed. No one was injured, a museum spokeswoman said.
The Jewish teenager made several references to the tree, now widely known as the Anne Frank Tree, in the diary that she kept during the 25 months she remained indoors until her family was arrested in August 1944.
“Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs,” she wrote on Feb. 23, 1944. “From my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind.”
She also wrote: “As long as this exists, … and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies — while this lasts I cannot be unhappy.”
Lady Gaga reigns as Twitter queen
Lady Gaga has surpassed Britney Spears as the most followed person on Twitter — for now.
She has more than 5.7 million followers, overtaking Spears during the weekend.
She posted a video late Saturday on YouTube, calling her fans her “little monsters” and thanking them for beginning “my reign as Twitter queen.”
Spears, Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres and an account run by President Barack Obama’s political organization, Organizing for America, all have more than 5 million followers.
Most-followed status often shifts rapidly, and fans frequently organize to boost their favorite’s tally.
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