The media mogul Oprah Winfrey will end her iconic daytime talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” in 2011 as she prepares to start a cable channel of her own.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey’s production company confirmed Thursday evening that Ms. Winfrey will make the announcement on her program on Friday. The plans were first reported by WABC, the ABC station in New York City.
“The sun will set on the Oprah show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011,” WABC said.
In a statement, CBS Television Distribution said, “We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors. We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well.”
Ms. Winfrey, 55, informed her talk show staff of the decision on Thursday afternoon. The news immediately rattled the television world, which had expected that she would make a decision about the fate of her program by the end of the year.
After her broadcast talk show winds down, Ms. Winfrey will concentrate exclusively on her forthcoming cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The channel is a joint venture between her production company and Discovery Communications. Getting the channel off the ground has proved challenging amid management turnover and an uncertain advertising climate.
OWN will have its premiere on cable in January 2011, according to a person with knowledge of Ms. Winfrey’s decision who insisted on anonymity. That timeline will theoretically give Ms. Winfrey about nine months to promote her cable channel on her existing show.
“The Oprah Winfrey Show” remains the most successful talk show in syndication, reaching about seven million viewers a day. It has been vital to the success of ABC, whose local station group has been the primary home of the show since it started in syndication in 1986.
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Oprah Winfrey To End Her Show
No More Hand Helds: ITS THE LAW!
I’m extremely happy this law has finally come to pass! I’m SOOOO very against texting, calling and whatever else while driving. While this is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t eradicate the ENTIRE problem. Sure, being occupied by dialing and texting is a major issue contributing to accidents … but what about being distracted PERIOD? It’s not just the fact that you’re taking your eyes off the road, its also the fact that your judgement and perception is skewed because your attention is with whomever you are speaking to on the phone.
It’s important to understand that not all of us are people that can do two things at once. Many people cant even chew gum and walk nevermind operate a vehicle and talk on the phone.
I just hope people take this law seriously and understand the consequences. It shouldn’t take a fender bender, or worse a DEATH for someone to realize how dangerous this is. You could be the safest driver in the world but if someone ELSE isn’t paying attention you could lose your life or the life of someone you love.
PLEASE drive responsibly and don’t take this issue lightly.
An Ontario law came into effect Monday making it illegal for drivers to use hand-held cellphones, BlackBerrys and other electronic devices while behind the wheel.
Drivers are forbidden to use hand-held devices to talk, text or email while behind the wheel, or to use portable video games or DVD players.
The only exception to the ban is a 911 call.
“This law is about keeping your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel,” Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said at a news conference in Toronto Monday. “We need to prevent these unnecessary road accidents and I believe this law will do just that.”
Hands-free cellphones remain legal, and global positioning systems are allowed if they’re secured to the dashboard.
The Ministry of Transport said the ban is needed because driver distraction is a factor in 20 per cent of all road accidents. Bradley said one U.S. study found texting boosted the risk of a collision 23 times.
Starting Feb. 1, drivers could face fines of up to $500 if they’re caught violating the ban. There are no demerit points attached to the law.
‘Positive step forward’
Toronto police Insp. Gary Meisner, speaking on behalf of Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, said Monday that police are looking forward to the legislation, which he described as “a positive step forward and an important one for improving public safety.”
Police will be warning motorists for the first three months to stay off the phone instead of handing out tickets. But drivers can still be charged under existing dangerous or careless driving laws, which have fines of up to $1,000, six demerit points, a driver’s licence suspension and possible jail time.
A survey released in September showed that about 92 per cent of Ontario drivers intended to obey the law.
Newfoundland and Labrador became the first province to ban the use of hand-held cellphones in 2003, while Quebec and Nova Scotia both moved earlier this year to stop drivers from using hand-held cellphones. Similar legislation has also been introduced in British Columbia.
Saskatchewan and Alberta have also announced their intentions to table similar legislation this fall.
More than 50 countries and jurisdictions around the world have banned cellphone use while driving.
BLOOMFIELD, Mo. – Walking hand in hand with her mother, Hester, 24-year old Heather Renae Ellis, trudged grim-faced into the Stoddard County Missouri Justice Center for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday afternoon. The former pre-med student faces four felony counts and possibly fifteen years in prison that stem from a January 2007 arrest after allegedly “cutting in line” at a Kennett, Missouri Wal-mart.
Pastor Nathan Ellis says of his daughter, “She’s fighting for her life. this has been an outright attempt to destroy her future and assassinate her destiny and I’m proud of her for the fact that she’s standing on truth.”
But, confronted with a change of venue in the nearly three year old case, Ellis and her family did not have to come alone to the small ultra-conservative Southeast Missouri community of Bloomfield…where her trial is scheduled for November 18th.
Members of local civil rights groups from neighboring Sikeston and Cape Girardeau joined forces with a representative from the St. Louis ACLU and the Memphis chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in quietly demonstrating their support for Ellis.
Harry Howard, of Sikeston opined, “We’re just wondering how we can get more support. Not only the area, but state-wide and nationally to get more sounding board for people who don’t have a voice. There’s so many cases.”
Reverend Mongtomery asserted, “This is without question an injustice. We see that and our concern beyond that is the Klu Klux Klan is trying to intimidate the family. But, we’re gonna stand with them as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and try to get as much support as we can.”
The change in venue could prove to be one of the toughest any African-American defendant could ever face. Located fifty miles north of Kennett, Bloomfield’s black population measures less than one percent of it’s two-thousand residents. Statistics from the Missouri Department of Justice indicate the county’s judicial system is considered one of the strictest in the state in terms of convictions and sentencing. A reputation those in the area, both black and white, openly fear.
Deborah Young, President of the Cape’s NAACP exclaims, “This is a very tough place to play ball. You will see injustice in all of her glory right here in the Boothill of Missouri.”
However, it would seem a comfortable setting for Dunklin County District Attorney, Stephen Sokoloff, to dominate the proceedings as he did during the twenty-minute hearing on Wednesday. With cameras barred from the courtroom, Sokoloff told Judge Joe Satterfield he has now turned over all discovery evidence to Ellis’ new attorney, T.J. Hunsacker, including video tapes from the Wal-mart, Sokoloff has insisted in the past, will definitely prove Ellis is guilty of the allegations. Sokoloff also provided a motion to exclude some of the defense witnesses in the case.
After the hearing, Sokoloff would only respond, “No, I don’t comment on anything prior to trial. I let the evidence speak for itself. I think it’s inappropriate to be discussing those things.”
Under orders from attorney Hunsacker, Ellis did not given an on-camera interview. However, she did participate in a prayer ceremony at the end of the hearing with family and supporters.
The power of prayer…..Heather Ellis… may now very well…. need to believe in.
Derrion Albert
Video: Teen Attacked, Beaten to Death in Melee
Help Police Find Derrion Albert’s KillersUpdated: Sunday, 27 Sep 2009, 8:18 AM CDT
Published : Saturday, 26 Sep 2009, 9:00 PM CDTBy Darlene Hill, FOX Chicago News
This is the hard lesson some students at Fenger High School have to deal with after a day of learning. For them it’s a hard lesson of reality on the streets.Thursday after school, two rival gangs got into a fight three blocks from the high school.
In all four students were beaten in that melee — one was released from the hospital Friday morning.
While police continue their investigation, some students say they don’t want to go back to Fenger next week.
Rival gang members have been fighting for a month — and each time one of their fellow classmates is injured.
No knives and no guns were used in Thursday’s fight. Just fists, feet and boards.
Derrion Albert, 16, was struck in the head by one of those boards.
Seconds later the honor student hit the pavement. That’s when witnesses, who are other high school students, say gangbangers began stomping on and punching Albert.
Derrion Albert’s mom said witnesses told her he was “trying to help another student and kind of got mixed in with the crowd of the fight and he was hit.”
A senior who witnessed the whole thing says the melee lasted less than five minutes.
The video shows students and workers from a nearby community center rescue the boy — but many out there knew it was too late.
Surveillance videos are mounted on businesses in the Roseland area, but Chicago Police say those don’t show faces.
Police have a copy of this footage and it may help identify Albert’s killers.
But while that investigation goes on, students say they will remember Derrion Albert as a good kid. A quiet, smart kid with no gang affiliation. But just a kid who may not have had enough street smarts to go another way.
If you can identify any of the people allegedly involved in the death of Derrion Albert, please call Area Two of the Chicago Police Dept. That number is 312-747-8272.
I just witnessed a murder. Thirty minutes ago I was going crazy with my friends on twitter laughing and carrying on, oblivious to the #1 Twitter trending topic. I went to a website and saw a thread made about a beating death. I realized the name on the trending topic was that of the victim named in the thread. I read all the posts and comments and my heart felt so heavy. I didnt want to watch it but I felt like I needed to. A lot of sick things have been shown to me over the internet but nothing so graphic, brutal and evil. These KIDS, these CHILDREN beat a child to death and for what? Because he tried to help another student? Really? I live in Canada, and have never been personally exposed to gang violence and for that I thank my mother and the good Lord above. I’m lucky. But I’m not so naive or sheltered to know that it exists – however, I didnt need nor want nor wish to see this. The brutality in which these blows and punches and kicks were delivered shakes me to core. To the point where my entire mood switched off immediately. I couldn’t smile anymore. I couldn’t laugh anymore. I feel sick. I just witnessed a 16 yr old child get killed. This is messing with me and I dont live anywhere near him, and I sure as heck didn’t know him but i feel so BAD. I urge anyone reading this blog right now to PLEASE contact the Chicago Police Department (the number is listed above) if you have ANY information. Bring these murderers to justice. They beat this kid to death. Don’t stand idly by. PLEASE. Kids killing each other! This has to STOP. When will people LEARN!?
My prayers are with Derrion Albert’s family tonight. I pray for your strength. I pray for God to protect you. I pray for those students that witnessed this. How I felt in the comfort of my home watching cant in ANY way compare to what they witnessed BEING there.
God bless you, Derrion Albert. May you rest in peace.
New York: Dalton Chiscolm has filed a $1,784 billion, trillion plus $200,1640,000 lawsuit against the Bank of America. US District Judge Denny Chin was unable to make sense of lawsuit and demanded clarification from Chiscolm by October 23.
Even if the unlikely lawsuit were to succeed Chiscolm won’t collect what he demands. The sum he is asking for is billions of times larger than the entire world’s GDP for last year which stood at a mere $60 trillion.
“These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale. If he thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense,” said Professor Sylvain Cappell from New York University.
New York: Dalton Chiscolm has filed a $1,784 billion, trillion plus $200,1640,000 lawsuit against the Bank of America. US District Judge Denny Chin was unable to make sense of lawsuit and demanded clarification from Chiscolm by October 23.
Even if the unlikely lawsuit were to succeed Chiscolm won’t collect what he demands. The sum he is asking for is billions of times larger than the entire world’s GDP for last year which stood at a mere $60 trillion.
“These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale. If he thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense,” said Professor Sylvain Cappell from New York University.
Lawyers for the couple convicted in the infamous beating death of Randal Dooley argued today they deserve a new trial because the jury reached its verdict based on emotion rather than the evidence.
Tony Dooley, now 43, and Marcia Dooley, now 39, asserted their 2002 trial was unfair, resulting in second-degree murder convictions and blamed trial judge Justice Eugene Ewaschuk for several legal errors, some of which incited and confused the jurors.
“This may well be the worst case of child abuse in Canadian penal history,” said Ewaschuk, who sentenced Marcia in April 2002 to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for at least 18 years. Tony received life imprisonment with no parole for at least 13 years.
“Ewaschuk repeatedly referred to the deceased as “poor, pitiful Randal” and displayed his acceptance of the Crown position that Tony Dooley mistreated Randal,” Clayton Ruby, Tony’s lawyer, told the court.
“Please do not give in to your natural human emotion of dislike for the Dooleys and the way they mistreated poor pitiful Randal,” said Ruby, quoting Ewaschuk’s instructions to the jury.
The judge used “poor, pitiful Randal” so often the jury might have mistaken it for his proper name, he asserted.
While the judge reminded the jury to assess the evidence in an objective, dispassionate way to render verdicts based solely on the evidence, Ruby said his inflammatory language – including calling Randal’s body “recked, ravaged” – was a call to punish the parents.
When Ruby said his client didn’t mistreat his son, Justice David Doherty interjected, saying, “Tony Dooley conceded he belted the child” at the end of August and Randal never attended school in September because of the father’s fear of detection by the authorities.
Ruby said those injuries aren’t related to the child’s tragic death on Sept. 25.
“Tony was frequently absent from home (from late November 1997 to mid-May 1998, he was in the U.S.) and he didn’t participate in the assault or assaults,” said Ruby.
Ruby argued that for Tony to be convicted as an aider or abettor to the murder his conduct must have had the effect of aiding or encouraging Marcia to kill Randal.
“By failing to do his duty to protect his child, it effectively created open season on the victim,” shot back Doherty.
“I don’t like the phrase open season,” countered Ruby.
“Well, it opened the door to continued abuse or facilitated it,” added Doherty.
An autopsy found that Randal suffered 13 fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, four brain injuries and bruising and welts from head to toe. The 42-pound, seven-year-old died Sept. 25, 1998 after having endured prolonged, horrific abuse.
Evidence of prior incidents of abuse by the accused couldn’t be used to prove that the accused were the type of people likely to deliver the fatal blows against Randal.
“He failed to warn the jury that it could not engage in general propensity reasoning to conclude from Marcia’s past conduct that she was a bad person and therefore likely to have committed the offence charged,” wrote defence lawyer Marie Henein, who represents Marcia.
“The trial judge also failed to warn the jury that it could not punish Marcia for her past misconduct by finding her guilty of (murder) when, in fact, the jury was not instructed that it must first be satisfied the prior abusive conduct actually occurred before any use could made of it,” wrote Henein in her filings with the court.
The jury also had to decide whether Marcia or Tony “actually committed the prior abuse,” and especially the prior head injuries, noted Henein.
Marcia’s longer sentence showed the judge concluded that she “was signficantly more blameworthy and deserving of a harsher punishment.”
Tony Dooley admitted he inflicted a vicious beating – which shredded an imitation-leather belt – on his son on Aug. 30, 1998, which kept him out of school as the father feared detection by the police or CAS, added Henein.
The tiny boy, who emigrated as a healthy but small boy fromJamaica in November 1997, suffered a facial injury from Marcia for losing his mittens in January, a broken arm in February and had 25 criss-crossing whip marks on his back in April, all months before the homicide, the trial heard.
The appeal is expected to last through Thursday but may conclude earlier.
FUCK them … seriously. Treated unfairly? Verdicts rendered on emotion rather than evidence!? Tony Dooley ADMITTED he beat this child. But because it can’t be PROVEN the prior abuse was done in a timely manner and it contributed to his death, at the hands of these two people, they want a new trial? WHO ELSE could have beaten this child so badly!? How else do you suppose jury’s render a verdict when the guilty ADMITS his guilt of abusive conduct!? What more evidence do you NEED?
You don’t suppose poor little Randal didn’t feel he was treated unfairly – when he was brutally murdered at the hands of the very people that were supposed to do everything in their power to protect him? Fuck you Marcia and Tony. You both should burn in hell. How dare you even THINK of asking for a new trial. Bastards.
This case has ALWAYS haunted me. I’m not sure why, but I think about Randal Dooley often from time to time and I cry when I think of the abuse this child endured. The extent of his injuries, not just at the time of his death but in the few years he was here after emigrating from Jamaica, are horrific. It makes me sick to my stomach to know people out there can do this to a child. 42 pounds he was when he died. I lifted my 35lb 5 yr old daughter from the couch and carried her to bed tonight and realized I could never harm her. And I imagined her tiny body suffering from the same injuries Randal had and my heart broke a million times over. I have ZERO sympathy for Marcia and Tony. I truly hope they rot in hell.
Gone but never forgotten, Randal.
Years ago, I used to frequent a local social networking community website called Tdotwire (or TDW as its commonly known). In my time there, the site was known as one of immaturity, exposures, gossip and rumours. I had my part in some and also had my share of scandal. When you are young you do stupid things – it got old pretty quick. One of the rumours floating around the site was that one of the members had HIV. We all knew who he was but no one could prove it and no one knew if it was simply the act of a jealous or crazy ex-girlfriend. We laughed it off but the damage was done. It would’ve sucked if this guy DIDN’T have HIV and his face was known all over the GTA as a guy that DID have it. Then this story (shown below) was brought to my attention yesterday. I looked at his face and didn’t place it AT ALL. BUT, as I sit in class and check my facebook notifications via my gmail account (Facebook is blocked at my school) I saw someone send me a comment asking if I remembered this situation from TDW. And when I looked again at the photo I DID recognize him. He looks a little different but without question thats the same guy. I didn’t know his name was Lester Felix. So all those years ago, whomever aired out his HIV status wasnt lying. It wasn’t malicious rumours or gossip. It was truth. He apparently had HIV since 2005 and that’s around the time the “rumours” started. This was already horrific for me to read but now it’s just absolutely surreal. Please wrap it up, everyone. You just really never, ever know 
…•…
Donna Hayward is a heavy woman with a kind face, a vulnerable mother of two who fell easily for the smooth-talking Lothario who seemed to look past her weight and into her giving heart.
But now he has been accused of keeping the most heinous of secrets — not just from her, but from so many of his other lovers as well.
Lester Felix, the handsome 28-year-old she has been sleeping with for more than a year, has just been charged with aggravated assault for allegedly having unprotected sex without disclosing he has HIV — a medical condition he has had since 2005.
“Police believe there may be other victims,” their release said last week.
She is one of them.
IN SHOCK
Hayward sits in her cousin’s Scarborough apartment in a heavy haze of shock and cigarette smoke, her eyes swollen by a torrent of tears, paralyzed with fear as she waits to learn if she is now infected with HIV.
“I’m not that lucky to escape it, I know that,” says Hayward, 32. “If I have this, this a death sentence for me. I just keep thinking about my kids. Last night I cried myself to sleep. I’ll never see my kids finish school; I’ll never see my kids get married. Everybody says to stay positive, but it’s hard to.”
She initially met Felix online through a Facebook group called “BBWS (big boned women) worldwide and the black men who luv them” and began their relationship several days after meeting in person last August at one of the group’s social outings at a downtown club.
She weighed more than 300 pounds at the time — she’s lost about 50 since then — but for the first time, her size wasn’t a handicap.
“I felt that nobody would be interested in me and then there’s this good-looking guy asking me out; I thought he was someone who saw past the outside … “
There will be many who will blame her for her misfortune, but no one does more than herself. Hayward wanted to use condoms, but says Felix told her he was allergic to latex and assured her he was “clean” — so she agreed to unprotected sex, a mistake she ‘ll always regret.
“You’ve got to be smart. If a guy won’t wear a condom, then don’t be with him because men will tell you anything to get what they want.”
They were together often, but Hayward was sometimes intimate with her children’s father and she was aware Felix was also sleeping with many other women he had met online. In fact, he once asked her to referee between two of his dates who had shown up at his Scarborough apartment at the same time.
She always came to his defence, she says, and even lavished him with presents. Hayward is on disability benefits because she suffers from depression, but after winning a few thousand dollars in a lottery, she gave him whatever he requested, from a cellphone to groceries.
He’s now accused of giving her the most horrible gift in return.
WARNING ISSUED
Hayward only learned of his arrest after her Facebook group issued a warning Friday urging anyone who had had sexual contact with Felix to contact police.
“I just burst into tears,” she recalls, “because he knew I had children, he met my children. I can’t believe somebody could be that cold-hearted.”
It has been almost 24 hours since then and the shock is slowly giving way to anger — anger that she might have unwittingly infected her “baby dad;” anger that her time with her two young daughters may have been cut short.
“What right did he have to play God with my life?”
This waiting for test results is torture and part of her yearns to hide until she learns her fate, but Hayward feels she has a duty to go public and encourage Felix’s other partners to get tested and speak to the police as she has.
“It’s embarrassing to come forward, to admit that I was with him, but hopefully me being strong enough to do this will help other people,” she says, her eyes filling with tears once again.
“I know there are other girls. I don’t want him to be able to do this ever again.”
Via: The Toronto Sun
Texting While Driving PSA
I believe as graphic and hard hitting as this video is, it should be seen by everyone. I, myself, have had to ask a friend of mine to not do this while I was in her car with my own child.
Please remember this IS a graphic video.
RIP DJ AM
RIP DJ AM (Adam Goldstein)
March 30, 1973 – August 28, 2009DJ AM was found dead this morning in an apartment on Lafayette Street in Manhattan.
Sources said drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment and cops are looking into whether it was an overdose.
Nearly a year ago, DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, escaped a plane crash in South Carolina.
The Learjet he and Travis Barker were on overshot the runway and burst into flames. He suffered severe burns in the crash.
Barker’s ex-wife, Playmate Shanna Moakler, responded to news of DJ AM’s death on Twitter, writing, “My deepest condolences for DJ AM, you were a great artist and will be severely missed. My thoughts and Prayers to his family and friends.”
DJ AM’s last post on Twitter, dated Tuesday, was a line from a Grandmaster Flash song: “New york, New York. Big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems.”
He was scheduled to have deejayed at Dusk in Atlantic City Tuesday and then tonight at Rain in Las Vegas.
Among others, DJ AM dated Nicole Richie and Mandy Moore.
Source: Via NY Post
.... Says What?