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10-07-29 Michael Jackson Doctors Won't Be Charged In Singer's Death
 Seven doctors who treated the late Michael Jackson will not be charged in the singer's death. According to The Associated Press California officials said Wednesday (July 28) that they will not file charges against the doctors who were under scrutiny as part of an investigation launched by the state's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
Jackson passed away in June 2009 after suffering cardiac arrest. His personal doctor Conrad Murray — who was not one of the seven doctors included in the investigation — has been charged in his death and pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter after allegedly giving the star the potent anesthetic propofol.
"I am very disappointed," said Brian Oxman, an attorney for Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson. "The misuse of medications by Michael Jackson in the last years of his life was excessive and to fail to bring that to the public eye is ignoring reality." Oxman is serving as Joe Jackson's lawyer in a wrongful death suit against Murray.
Bureau spokesperson Christine Gasparac told the AP that one of the doctors who was under investigation was referred to the California Medical Board for prescribing drugs to one of Jackson's aliases, however, a spokesperson for the board did not confirm the referral. A spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Agency told the AP that it has also dropped its investigation into Jackson's doctors.
Murray lawyer Ed Chernoff has maintained that the doctor did not administer a fatal dose of propofol and has suggested that either Jackson gave himself the anesthetic or another person may have supplied the late star with the dose. However, an anesthesia expert has said the possibility of Jackson administering the drug himself is unlikely.
A preliminary hearing in the Jackson manslaughter case is slated for August and Murray faces a sentence of up to four years in jail.
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10-07-26 Germany's Love Parade Festival Canceled Permanently As Death Toll Rises To 19
 Nineteen people were killed and more than 340 injured at the annual Love Parade music festival in the German city of Duisburg on Saturday, the result of a stampede that occurred beneath an overpass at the entrance of the festival grounds. According to The New York Times, police had closed off the festival grounds on Saturday evening, citing overcrowding (there were some 1.4 million people inside the Love Parade at the time), but failed to close off the entrance to a 200-meter long tunnel that led to the site of the concert.
More and more concertgoers streamed into the tunnel, only to find that the entrance — reportedly the only entrance to the fest — was shut. It was only then that police succeeded in blocking the entrance to the tunnel, effectively sealing hundreds of people inside. Panic ensued, as those trapped in the tunnel tried desperately to turn around and leave. The chaos was compounded by revelers inside the festival, who, after being told by loudspeakers to exit the grounds, piled back into the tunnel.
Video footage shot by Love Parade attendees showed people scrambling to make their way out of the tunnel, climbing ladders or being pulled up to nearby ramps. In the chaos, many people were crushed. The Deputy Police Chief of Duisburg told the BBC that "14 people died on the metal steps leading away from the tunnel [and] two on a wall outside the tunnel."
In the aftermath of the stampede, rescue workers struggled amid the crowds to evacuate the wounded, and helicopters reportedly had difficulty carrying away the severely injured because there was not enough space for them to land. German media also reported that cell phone service in the system of Duisburg temporarily failed, and frantic parents drove to the scene of the festival looking for their children.
In the hours following the incident, critics blamed Love Parade organizers for being unprepared to handle such a mass of concertgoers, and said that the site of this year's fest — an old railway yard — was too small and unsafe. The prosecutor of Duisburg has called for an official investigation on the matter, and, at a press conference on Sunday, police said they were working with organizers and attempting to gather evidence in order to reconstruct the events that led to the stampede, but that "it will be labor and time intensive."
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, concertgoers had laid flowers and candles at the entrance of the gate, which was now blocked off by police barricades. And Love Parade organizer Rainer Schaller announced that, in light of the tragedy, he would be canceling the festival — which had been held off and on since 1989 — permanently, telling reporters, "The Love Parade has always been a joyful and peaceful party, but in future would always be overshadowed by yesterday's events ... out of respect for the victims, their families and friends, we are going to discontinue the event in the future, and that means the end of the Love Parade."
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10-07-21 Ke$ha Talks Touring With Rihanna: 'We Braid Each Other's Hair ... Naked'
 We're rather mystified by reports that Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour has been struggling to sell tickets. After all, from what Ke$ha tells us, it sounds like the can't-miss show of the summer.
"We have slumber parties and pillow fights and we braid each other's hair a lot," Ke$ha laughed. "We talk about boys, naked."
We'd pay $91.75 to see that. And while we suspect that Ke$ha — who, along with Travie McCoy, has been serving as the opening act on the Last Girl jaunt — was only kidding about those backstage shenanigans, she has been having a blast on the tour. She said that sharing the stage with Rihanna has been a highlight of her still-young career.
"Touring with Rihanna is incredible, you should come see it. It's really fun. I've been out with her for about two weeks now, and I just learn so much from her as a performer," she said. "She has one of the best voices of anyone I've ever seen live, and I kind of just take it as my opportunity to hype up thousands of people."
And though her duties as opener — and hair braider — are rather taxing, Ke$ha is also using days off from the tour to play headlining shows of her own. Because she's still got plenty of energy left in the tank, even after she's spent the whole night hyping the crowd ... and having pillow fights.
"It's epic. She's amazing live and her voice is just so good," Ke$ha smiled. "I'm kind of just, like, her hype girl. I take the stage and hype it up for 40 minutes."
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