Morgue duty for Lohan

January 19, 2008

Lindsay Lohan is about to see dead people. The 21-year-old actress will soon be working at a morgue as part of her punishment for misdemeanor drunken driving, her attorney told a judge Thursday. Lohan has also spent two months in rehab and has done some community service, the lawyer said at a hearing. Her two four-hour days at the morgue are part of a court-ordered program to show drivers the real-life consequences of drinking and driving. She must also spend two days working in a hospital emergency room. Lohan was arrested twice last year on DUI charges and pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges. She has already served 84 minutes in jail as part of the plea deal. (AP)

The Alabama Supreme Court sided yesterday with British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in a lawsuit filed by etiquette teacher Kathie Martin, who unwittingly appeared in his hit movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorios Nation of Kazakhstan." The justices overruled a lower court and said Martin can't sue Cohen and the companies that produced the movie in Alabama because she signed an agreement stating only courts in New York could hear any disputes that arose from her appearance. Martin did not immediately return a message seeking comment. (AP)

A financial adviser has testified that he warned Wesley Snipes that he could get into trouble if he didn't pay his taxes. Snipes is on trial on charges of tax fraud, conspiracy, and willful failure to file tax returns. He faces up to 16 years in prison. The 45-year-old actor allegedly stopped filing returns, illegally sought refunds totaling $11 million for 1996 and 1997 taxes paid, and drew fake checks to pay the US Treasury. Kenneth Starr, head of New York-based Starr and Co., testified Thursday that he tried to persuade Snipes to pay his taxes in a 90-minute telephone conversation in 2000. (AP)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named actor George Clooney, who has campaigned for refugees in Darfur, as a UN "messenger of peace" yesterday to promote its peacekeeping efforts. Clooney is the ninth UN messenger - people chosen from the fields of art, music, literature, and sports who have agreed to help focus attention on the UN's work. (Reuters)

Gary Collins was released from jail yesterday after completing his four-day drunken driving sentence. The 69-year-old TV personality and actor left the jail just after 6 a.m., Glendale, Calif., police said. Kiefer Sutherland, who is serving a 48-day sentence for drunken driving, remained at the jail. Officials said the 41-year-old actor will be released Monday. Collins pleaded no contest Dec. 6 to one misdemeanor count each of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher. He was cited after a traffic crash in Sherman Oaks. (AP)

Steve Harvey wants men to know: "At 50, you are still fly." And to prove it, he shaved his head and began exercising. In an interview in Jet magazine, the actor-comedian says he began his transformation after talking to a listener on his radio program, "The Steve Harvey Morning Show." "The girl said to me, 'Steve, you're 50 and you are over the hill,' " Harvey recalls. "I started thinking, 'Wow, I am over the hill?' I said 'OK, I got to do something to stop this line of thinking. Because at 50, I should not be thought of as over the hill.' " Harvey starred with Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer in 2000's "The Original Kings of Comedy." (AP)

A New York judge wants more information before she decides whether to let Foxy Brown get out of jail for repair of an electronic ear implant. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Melissa Jackson said Thursday she wants proof that deafness looms unless the 28-year-old rapper goes to a Los Angeles clinic for treatment. Brown was sentenced in September to a year in jail for violating probation. A judge had put her on probation after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault of two manicurists at a Manhattan nail salon in August 2004. (AP)

"I love you, handsome, gorgeous one!" - British singer Amy Winehouse, yelling in court to her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who was there to face charges of assault and conspiracy