The bed bug infestation that rocked Fox News back in March has resurfaced as a much less friendly beast: a lawsuit. FNC veteran Jane Clark is suing her employer because she "can no longer go to work after suffering emotional distress due to a continuous and ongoing bedbug problem at work." [TVN] As recently as April 30, she claims she was again attacked by the insects, even after her department was moved to a different floor. But FNC is pretty much off the hook (except for the worker's comp claim); she's named the building's manager Beacon Capital and the maintenance company, Triangle Services, as defendants.
Kanye West’s mother, Donda, who died of a heart attack after extensive plastic surgery, will live on forever in West’s song, “Dear Mama.” But she might also be remembered for spurring medical reform in California?
So after all the chatter about what Katie Couric's big announcement on this morning's Today show would be, and the revelation that she and NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson would be announcing a joint one-hour cancer telethon, here's the big reveal. And yes, Katie's legs are on display.
So was it hard to get the competing networks to work together on this? Of course not!, says Katie: "It was wonderfully easy, really. I think the opportunity to do something for the greater good, to set aside our competitive differences, to raise money and awareness for something that affects all of us … I think everyone said, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"
The only question that needed sorting out, then, was which network's morning show would get to make the big announcement. Guess that decision was made from a ratings standpoint. CONTINUED »
One thousand one hundred seventy-three pages chronicling John McCain's past eight years of health records stamp the Republican presidential hopeful with a clean bill of health: no cancer, strong heart, and cholesterol levels kept in check with pharmaceuticals.
The documents, officially released today (though the Associated Press managed to rush through 'em to deliver some preliminary finds already) aren't just part of McCain's push to prove he's well enough to run the country, but also, according to one theory, a way to slight the New York Times. CONTINUED »
Brace yourself.
This is a photo of Ogden Standard-Examiner photographer Ryan McGeeney. With a javelin spear through his leg.
(Click for larger version)
It landed there during the Utah state high school track tournament, with student Anthony Miles behind the throw. McGeeney, an ex-Marine who completed a six month tour in Afghanistan, did what any experienced news photog would: He got out his camera and snapped away. (No matter than it was probably McGeeney's fault; he's said to have wandered into an off-limits area.) [AP]
The spear went through one part of the leg and exited another. Most of the javelin was removed at the scene, the rest at the hospital, and McGeeney is recovering nicely.
Miles, meanwhile, went on to win the state title. CONTINUED »
"I've taken my cue from people here and from viewers, especially [cancer] survivors . . . who said, 'When it's time to literally flip your wig, you'll know,' " Roberts said. "I am not my hair," she said, quoting from the song by India.Arie. "I am the soul that lies within and that's it - no more wig. That's it." Roberts will auction her wig to raise money for a charity that helps "those who don't have insurance and can't afford this." [NYP]
Just like magazines claiming to be eco-friendly when they print on non-recycled newspaper, this whole idea about TV Turnoff Week is a complete farce.
The government-pushed effort asks parents and kids to keep the flat screen in the off position, so they can do more active things, like walk to Taco Bell for chalupas or chase down the ice cream truck on their bikes.
But why are we blaming the entertainment industry for Americans' need to walk sideways down an airplane aisle? CONTINUED »
Britney Spears isn't the only celebrity patient at UCLA who had her medical records rifled through: Farrah Fawcett also got the VIP treatment. She was at the university medical facility undergoing cancer treatments when her confidential documents were accessed, and now she's concerned the paperwork was sold to somewhere shady the The National Enquirer. In unrelated news, The National Enquirer was the first to report Fawcett's cancer had returned.
Both of these photos sit atop Yahoo's most-emailed list. You already know why people are sending them to friends, but do you actually care what these photos depict? CONTINUED »
CNN's newsroom might have had to deal with a tornado, but Fox News had an even worse enemy: bed bugs. An exterminator called the infestation, which was noticed a few weeks ago, as contained to a "very small area in the newsroom." But how to track down where the bed bugs came from? Home invasions! The homes of 20 employees were searched by the exterminator to find the guilty party, which led him to "the worst infestation he had seen in 25 years in the business." It's also led to everyone in the newsroom hunting down the diseased staffer.
If baseball fields can name their stadiums after corporate sponsors who send millions in naming rights their way, why not hospitals? An Ohio hospital renamed itself Nationwide Children’s Hospital when the insurance company Nationwide wrote a $50 million cheque. They also named the lobby after two retailers who sent in seven figures. And now they're offering the name of its emergency and trauma unit to Abercrombie & Fitch, the sexualized clothier who's paying $10 million for the privilege.
And though the gift might go a long way toward improving the health of children, plenty of outspoken groups are furious the hospital would sell itself to a company many think is a glorified child porn ring. Some 15 organizations don't want the unit named after a company who has shirtless male models, who might still be in high school, greet store customers, or a company who began re-publishing its quarterly magazine that sells apparel with models who don't wear any.
Nevermind that UCLA named its children's hospital after toy company Mattel, and Rhode Island Hospital slapped Hasbro's name on its own kids' unit; nobody cried foul there. Of course it was Mattel who had to recall nine million Chinese-made toys that contain lead and magnets that could harm children if swallowed. Good thing they have their own children's hospital.
WTK publicist Annett Wolf is working overtime to ruin relationships with the press.
After lying to Page Six about Patrick Swayze's medical condition, Wolf, seen here with client Ted Danson and wife Mary Steenburgen, is now issuing false statements to anyone who will listen.
In a statement released earlier this week, Wolf said: "Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is currently undergoing treatment. Patrick is continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects."
Actually, that's not the case if this OK! magazine report is to be believed. "Reports have Swayze playing the role of a gay cheerleading instructor in the romantic comedy Fired Up!, but a rep for producers of the film (currently filming in Los Angeles) say that although Swayze was once attached to the film, he withdrew from the film 'three weeks to a month ago.' The role is currently being played by John Michael Higgins (Wag the Dog)."
Is Page Six Magazine a hazard to your health? YES! But only if you work there.
An operative writes in to tell Jossip "there are hundreds of toxic black mold spores that have just recently been discovered growing behind a series of file cabinets" in front of the art/ad sales department.
"Many Page Six Magazine staff members have refused to show up to the office until the matter is thoroughly investigated. Apparently there was a recent flood (last spring) on the 9th floor of the NY Post offices and that is what spawned the spores."
Editor-in-chief Margi Conklin is said to have "expressed concern" over staffers' health and, more importantly!, is "concerned about making the Thursday night close in time for the Sunday edition of the Post."
"Many of the office members have suffered from unexplainable abdominal pains and a rash around their mid section." Hardship! Especially for the pregnant lady we hear is on staff. She's 'specially scaredy-cat.
Finally, another Western country is getting a little wide in the middle. The English are almost as fat as we are, and it’s only growing:
Experts say that most of the population will be obese by 2050 unless urgent action is taken and the associated rise in ill health would cost the NHS £50 billion a year.
The Government wants Britain to be the first major nation to reverse the rising tide of obesity and said it would focus on reducing within 12 years the proportion of children who are overweight back to the 2000 level of 26 per cent.At present, 30 per cent of children are obese or overweight.
When we see a fat couple on the subway, we wonder to ourselves if they could ever be happy considering how unattractive they both are. But then maybe they have a different, and equally valid, concept of beauty, they have found real happiness. And if everyone were fat, there would be no need to feel bad about being a little chubby or slightly morbidly obese. Except for heart disease. That shit is a killer.
Expensive tuna is the new cigarettes. A breathless Times report finds that the tuna sushi from high-class restaurants, the kind of places you might take a second date, could be deadly. What exactly high mercury does is unclear, but it causes health problems, and health problems causes death. Death is the worst.
But in a nice twist, ghetto tuna sushi from supermarkets is actually healthier than the expensive stuff. CONTINUED »
PRAY FOR SKINNY When it comes to diets and weight loss, women's magazines aimed at black women recommend fad diets and faith – one in 10 articles looked to God – while titles for white folks (sorry, "the mainstream") emphasize smaller portions and lower-fat foods. We recommend Nip/Tuck. [SH]
Breaking, and by breaking, we don't mean Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant breaking. This is much more important and interesting than that.
All those calories you think you're burning off at the gym, well, that's a lie. To be honest, we always had our doubts that doing the elliptical while watching Deal Or No Deal had any health benefit.
Now our suspicions have been confirmed by no greater source than the New York Times: CONTINUED »
American body image issues: is there no greater cash cow?
Well, Men’s Health latest attempt to profit on the cherubic adolescent of its readers, Eat This, Not That might be less plausible than a body designed by Jake. The diet created to give you SIX PACK ABS! [Ed: years of watching infomercials means we have to refer abdominals this way] might not give you the SIX PACK ABS! you crave and deserve. When you think about it, if you could get SIX PACK ABS! just by eating yogurt, don’t you think pledges at Zeta Chi would know?
CONTINUED »
Is the increasing popularity of competitive eating contests "feeding" into the country's propensity for weight gain and childhood obesity? Most say yes! Others, however, equate getting ready for a binge-eating contest to training for the marathon or even fine art!
"It's the same sort of person who, let's say, would train really hard and compete really hard in a marathon," said Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."
[IFCE Chairman George] Shea said there's no reason to be embarrassed about such events.
"Seeing these guys go at a 20 pound turkey is like poetry," he said. "It's like a dance."
We're thinking the poetry/dance simile is somehow more apt. That is, assuming that by "poetry" Shea meant "haiku to gluttony" and by "dance" he meant "8000 calorie binge."
