Octo-Doc Begs To Keep Practicing Medicine

Octomom's doctor, Michael Kamrava, is now pleading with a judge to let him keep practicing medicine ... even though the state Medical Board has already ruled to strip his license.

In court documents filed in L.A. County Superior Court ... Doc Kamrava requests a stay of the Medical Board of California's decision earlier this month to revoke his license -- and says he intends to appeal that ruling.

Kamrava claims the Board exceeded its jurisdiction and violated his due process right to earn a living.

If the court doesn't step in Kamrava's license will be revoked on July 1.

LAMediaWatch.com

Michael Jackson exhibit at Madame Tussauds Hollywood

Madame Tussauds in Hollywood unveiled its new limited-time exhibit, The Michael Jackson Experience, on Monday.

The exhibit features three wax figures of the King of Pop from various stages of his career -- the Jackson Five years, the Invincible Era and the "This Is It" Michael.

The exhibit, included as part of Madame Tussauds general admission price, runs through Labor Day.

Michael Jackson first sat for a Madame Tussauds wax sculpture in 1984. He was sculpted six times before his death and is the most widely exhibited figure in the Madame Tussauds worldwide empire.

LAMediaWatch.com

Red-Light Camera Set to Expire

LA's red-light camera program is set to expire at the end of July after the city council considered a motion Tuesday that would have extended the program.

The proposal, presented by Councilmen Tony Cardenas and Bernard Parks, would have prolonged the program for one year on a month-to-month basis. The city's Police Commission voted earlier this month to end the red-light camera program contract with an Arizona-based company.

After a lengthy discussion Tuesday at City Hall, the council did not have the votes to overturn the commission's decision.

The council's Tuesday meeting came one day after the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is led by LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, adopted a resolution to endorse red-light cameras as a safety tool.

LAMediaWatch.com

Megan's mouth got her fired from 'Transformers'

Michael Bay says Steven Spielberg demanded he dismiss Megan Fox from the third "Transformers" film after she compared Bay to Hitler.

Bay tells GQ magazine in an article appearing in its July issue that Spielberg, who is an executive producer on the film, told the director to "fire her right now" after Fox made the Hitler remarks to a British magazine last year.

Fox told the magazine before production began on the third "Transformers" installment that Bay "wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is."

The 25-year-old actress was replaced by Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," which opens next week.

Paramount confirmed Tuesday that Bay made the comments to GQ but did not elaborate.

LAMediaWatch.com

Kate Winslet, J-Lo nominated for Hollywood stars

Kate Winslet and Jennifer Lopez are among nominees announced Tuesday to get their star on Hollywood's storied Walk of Fame next year.

Jennifer Aniston and Scarlett Johansson can also get their names on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk in 2012, while actors Richard Burton and Malcolm McDowell, along with soul legend Barry White, will get posthumous stars.

"Simpsons" creator Matt Groening was also nominated, along with John Lasseter and Sumner Redstone from the film world, and musicians Boyz II Men and Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart.

The nominees were chosen from hundreds of applicants considered at a June 17 meeting of the committee, whose decision was ratified by the Chamber's board of directors.

While the nominations are for 2012, those chosen have up to five years to schedule ceremonies to unveil their stars, after which their selection will expire.

LAMediaWatch.com

Ryan Dunn died from crash's impact, fire

PHILADELPHIA - A coroner's report says "Jackass" daredevil Ryan Dunn and his passenger died from the impact and resulting fire of a car crash in suburban Philadelphia.

The Chester County coroner Tuesday lists blunt force trauma and thermal trauma as the causes of death. Toxicology results will take four to six weeks to complete.

The 34-year-old Dunn and his 30-year-old passenger, Zachary Hartwell, were killed early Monday. Police say Dunn's Porsche might have been traveling as fast as 100 mph when it crashed.

West Goshen Township police declined to discuss the investigation.

Mourners are placing flowers at the scene of the crash in West Chester. Police say Dunn's car jumped a guardrail, flew into a wooded ravine, struck a tree and burst into flames.

LAMediaWatch.com

CBS enters 10-year Grammy deal

NEW YORK - No need to change the channel: The Grammys will be on the CBS network for the next 10 years.

The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that it had reached a new deal to keep the awards show on the network, where the Grammys have aired since 1973. The network will also broadcast the now annual nominations concert special, which this year will air Nov. 30.

The Grammys are set for Feb. 12, 2012.   Both events will air live from Los Angeles.

This year's Grammy telecast in February featured stars like Eminem and Lady Antebellum. It drew the show's biggest TV audience in 10 years, with 26.6 million viewers.

Online: grammys.com

LAMediaWatch.com

Suspect in Stow beating ordered to serve time for parole violation

The man Los Angeles police have named as the prime suspect in a vicious assault on a San Francisco Giants fan at Dodger Stadium on opening day was ordered back to state prison Monday to serve 10 months for violating his parole.

Deputy Parole Commissioner Ali Zarrinnam ruled that there was sufficient cause to put Giovanni Ramirez, 31, back behind bars because he had access to a gun that had been placed in a laundry basket at the residence where he was staying.

The ruling buys time for the LAPD, which might otherwise have been forced to release Ramirez if it couldn't persuade the Los Angeles County district attorney's office to charge him in the Stow beating.

The LAPD has yet to present a formal case against Ramirez, who was arrested May 27.

LAMediaWatch.com

Vida Guerra hot body

Vida Guerra hot new body 2011

Skateboarders expected to descend on L.A.

(LA Times) Thousands of skateboarders are expected to take to the streets of downtown Los Angeles this afternoon for a group skate in celebration of "Go Skateboarding Day," event organizers said.

Slated to begin at 1 p.m., the "Wild in the Streets" event starts at Hollenbeck Park just east of downtown.  After a five-mile ride along an undisclosed route, skaters are to end at Lafayette Park.

The route will be made public just prior to the ride, said Raluca State, a spokesperson for Emerica, a skate shoe manufacturer organizing the event.

Roads will not be closed for the event, State added.

This is the first time it is coming to Los Angeles. State said it will benefit Boards for Bros, a nonprofit group that collects and refurbishes skateboards to donate to children who cannot afford them.

LAMediaWatch.com

KCET-TV Moving to Burbank

On Monday officials said the independent television station is headed to Burbank, moving to new headquarters at the Pointe, a 14-story office tower on Alameda Avenue.

The move follows KCET's announcement earlier this year that it had sold its current headquarters in Los Feliz to the Church of Scientology for a reported $42 million.

The station has struggled since splitting from Public Broadcasting Station earlier this year. Taking up 1½ floors at Pointe, KCET's new digs will measure 55,000 square feet, about half its current size.

At this point, no layoffs are planned as a result of the move. The station employs 125 people.

The station has been at its Sunset Boulevard site since 1970.

LAMediaWatch.com

LA Sparks roll back prices for 14th anniversary

The Los Angeles Sparks will mark the 14th anniversary of the WNBA's inaugural game by reducing the prices for all but the courtside seats to their 1997 levels for tonight's game at Staples Center against the New York Liberty.

Tickets that are usually priced at $55 or $36 will be sold for $20, while the price for the remaining non-courtside tickets will be $7.50.

The anniversary will also be marked by highlights from the Sparks' history being shown on the video board, all fans receiving a commemorative poster featuring the greatest players in team history and several players wearing the limited-edition Sparks 15th anniversary sneakers, including forward Tina Thompson, the only player to play in all 15 WNBA seasons.

Gingrich finance team quits

ATLANTA (AP) — The top fundraisers for Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign have abandoned his struggling bid amid anemic fundraising and heavy spending.

Campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond is confirming to The Associated Press that fundraising director Jody Thomas and fundraising consultant Mary Heitman have left the team.

The former House speaker’s campaign has been on life support since earlier this month when 16 top aides and advisers resigned en masse over disagreements with the Republican candidate.

Gingrich has insisted that he will stay in the race.

LAMediaWatch.com

ICANN Opens Domain Naming

Move over, dot-com — get ready for dot-anything.

The group that governs Internet domain names is opening up the system so that companies and organizations can apply to create their own versions of .com, .org or .gov. Under the new rules, instead of a coke.com, Coca-Cola might control the domain .coke and assign Web addresses such as drink.coke or bottle.coke.

The Marina del Rey group known as ICANN called it "one of the biggest changes ever" to the way the Internet's naming system works. With the domain expansion, the group of 22 existing suffixes — many of which were established in the early 1980s — could quickly balloon to hundreds or thousands. ICANN said more recognizable addresses would allow Web users to find what they're looking for more quickly.

ICANN has been planning the naming expansion for much of the last decade. The group, which has been the steward of the Internet's naming system since 1998, said it would begin accepting applications in January.

Internet observers expect that the initial expansion might bring 500 new options for site suffixes, which are called generic top-level domain names (or gTLDs). There are only 22 now, including the original eight, (.com, .edu, .gov, .int., .mil, .net, .org and .arpa).

Since 2000, ICANN has added 14 top-level domains, including .biz, .info and .jobs. Few of the new names have caught on, with .com remaining the standard across many industries.

Still it can be difficult and expensive to find new .com names, with the most desirable long ago snapped up by companies, individuals and speculators who stockpile names in hopes of selling them to the highest bidder.
LAMediaWatch.com

New graphic tobacco warning labels

Dead bodies, diseased lungs and a man on a ventilator were among the graphic images for revamped tobacco labels unveiled on Tuesday by U.S. health officials.

Proposed in November under a law that put the multibillion-dollar tobacco industry under the control of the Food and Drug Administration, the new labels must be on cigarette packages and in advertisements starting in October 2012.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg were to announce the nine new warnings at the White House, but the labels were released early Tuesday.  Click here.

They show images that may disturb some, including one titled "WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive," illustrated with a photograph of a man smoking a cigarette through a hole in his throat.

Others messages point out the dangers of secondhand smoke to children, tobacco's causal link to fatal lung disease, cancer, strokes, heart disease and death.
LAMediaWatch.com

Ryan Dunn's passenger identified

Ryan Dunn, left, and Zachary Hartwell, right, were killed in a car accident near Philadelphia on Monday, June 20, 2011. The man in the middle is unidentified. Dunn tweeted this photo shortly before the accident

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20072944-10391698.html#ixzz1PvWyDY2q

Police identified "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn's passenger as Zachary Hartwell. Dunn and Hartwell were killed when Dunn's Porsche skidded off a road outside Philadelphia.

Dunn and Hartwell were killed when Dunn's Porsche crashed into the woods before bursting into flames. Police said they identified Dunn through his tattoos.

Autopsies were to be conducted Monday, though it was unclear when the results would be released.

According to court documents, Dunn was charged in April 2005 with driving under the influence after crashing his car in West Whiteland Township, about 2 miles north of Monday's crash site.

LAMediaWatch.com

'Flights Over Neverland' for Jackson anniversary

California are being booked for the second anniversary of Michael Jackson's death.

The singer was 50 when he died on June 25, 2009. He owned the Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley for years.

Oxnard-based Channel Island's Helicopters says the half-hour "Flight Over Neverland" event costs $175 per person and $500 for a private flight of up to three people.

The Santa Barbara News-Press reports the flights run from 9 a.m. to sunset on June 24 and June 25.
A spokesman for the company says it has already booked about 100 passengers, with more seats still available for June 25.

The flights depart Santa Barbara Municipal Airport on June 24 and Santa Ynez Airport on June 25.

LAMediaWatch.com

Amy Winehouse Cancels Tour

TMZ reporting Amy Winehouse is canceling her ENTIRE European tour.

Maybe it was the Serbian fiasco over the weekend, when Amy took the stage and greeted the Belgrade audience by saying, "Hello Athens!" Maybe it was the fact that she was so out of it her backup singers had to step in and sing her songs.

Whatever the reason ... Amy -- who is fresh out of a week in rehab -- wisely 86'd her 12 city Euro-tour.

LAMediaWatch.com

No Deal Between Dodgers and FOX

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has rejected a proposed $3 billion television-rights deal between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fox, effectively negating a post-divorce property agreement reached by owner Frank McCourt and his ex-wife, Jamie.

The announcement set the stage for a potential legal battle between Frank McCourt and the league over control of the team.

Selig said he sent Frank McCourt a letter detailing the reasons for his decision. But he said the proposed deal was "structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt."

An attorney for Frank McCourt called Selig's decision "potentially destructive to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball." Steve Susman said McCourt and his attorneys "plan to explore vigorously our options and remedies."

Under the McCourts' settlement deal announced Friday, both sides agreed that Gordon would preside over a one-day trial Aug. 4 to determine if the team belongs exclusively to Frank McCourt or if his ex-wife has a 50-50 ownership under community property.

LAMediaWatch.com