Investigators and family of the former “Amazing Race” producer Jeff Rice, who was found dead in a Uganda hotel room last Friday, are waiting to learn more about what might have killed him — a cocaine overdose or suspected poisoning — from his assistant, who remains in critical condition in a Kampala hospital.
Rice’s body was found at the luxury Serena hotel in the capital city of Kampala. His assistant, Katheryne Fuller, was found unconscious.
“Ms. Fuller is slowly recovering, and when she is recovered enough we will be able to talk to her and find out more about what happened,” Uganda Police Force spokesman Asuman Mugenyi said. “She is not able to speak. Although she is responding to the treatment, she is not yet available to explain what transpired.”
Police say hotel staff noticed a man hanging on a balcony last Friday, and when they went to the room they found the 39-year-old’s body on the balcony and Fuller unconscious in the room. Staff called police and rushed the two to a hospital, where Rice was declared dead, police said.
Investigators initially believed Rice and Fuller may have been sickened by some type of food poisoning. Later Mugenyi denied reports that Rice had been poisoned after he rebuffed a shakedown attempt from local “thugs,” although friends remain skeptical.
“I was shocked. Jeff was someone who was terrific at his job,” Josh Gates, a friend of Rice’s told ABC News. “I don’t know exactly what to think about what happened to Jeff. I hear conflicting reports coming out of the region.”
Ugandan police said they have now ruled out poisoning and said further testing found high-levels of cocaine in Rice’s system. Sources said Rice and Fuller were working on an investigative documentary, and many fear they might have been targeted by locals.
“For him to pass away so young so suddenly is alarming, obviously, but also is surprising because he was someone who was really able to take care of himself in the field. He was excellent at what he did,” Gates added.
Rice was a veteran producer who worked on the latest season of the hit reality series “The Amazing Race” and the Emmy-nominated Animal Planet series “Whale Wars.” In addition to raising two young kids, Rice and his wife, Sally Blackman, operated a television and film production company called SB Productions in Durban, South Africa.
Katheryne Fuller’s father Stuart Fuller confirmed Rice were shooting a documentary, and other crew members who were with them should know more about what sickened them. Stuart Fuller said he is now with his daughter at the hospital in Kampala.
“She is OK. We are trying to get her back to South Africa. She needs medical attention that they can’t do here,” he said.
Nepalese Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 72, who says he’s only 22 inches (56 centimeters) tall arrives at the airport in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. Guinness World Records officials will be in Nepal this weekend to measure Dangi who hopes to be named the world’s shortest man. Dangi is hoping to snatch the title of the world’s shortest man from Junrey Balawing of the Philippines, who is 23.5 inches (60 centimeters) tall. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
The shooting that critically wounded an 8-year-old girl at a Bremerton school Wednesday was accidental, the Bremerton Police Department said. A third-grade boy at Armin Jahr Elementary School brought a gun to school and it discharged in his backpack and struck Amina Kocer-Bowman, a classmate.
Kocer-Bowman, was rushed to Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton and later airlifted to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. She underwent surgery and is listed in critical condition in intensive care, says KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporterAlison Grande.
The boy was arrested on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, bringing a dangerous weapon onto school grounds and third-degree assault based on criminal negligence, police said. He was booked into the Kitsap County Juvenile Detention Center. Investigators are working to find out how the boy gained access to the gun.
A new national museum telling the history of black life, art, and culture will soon begin taking shape as the 19th museum in the Smithsonian Institution to explore stories that have sometimes been left out on the National Mall.
A new national museum telling the history of black life, art, and culture will soon begin taking shape as the 19th museum in the Smithsonian Institution to explore stories that have sometimes been left out on the National Mall.
President Barack Obama and former first lady Laura Bush attended the celebration of the start of construction for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which comes during Black History Month.
It will be built between the Washington Monument and the National Museum of American History as a 7-level structure with much of its exhibit space below ground. A bronze-coated “corona,” a crown that rises as an inverse pyramid, will be its most distinctive feature. Organizers said the design is inspired by African-American metalwork from New Orleans and Charleston, S.C., and also evokes African roots.
The groundbreaking also marks the start of a public fundraising campaign to build the museum. Officials revealed about $100 million has been raised to date in private funds. This includes $5 million gifts from Wal-Mart, American Express, Boeing, Target and UnitedHealth Group. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lilly Endowment each gave $10 million in recent years.
Some celebrities also are supporting the project, including Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey, whose foundation gave $1 million.
A church in Jacksonville, Florida is coming under fire for its controversial decision to ban children from its church services.
Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church has banned children from attending Sunday services because their new pastor, Darrell Gilyard, is a registered sex offender and cannot have contact with children.
In 2009 Gilyard plead guilty to lewd conduct and lewd molestation of two underage girls. While he was the pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church Gilyard molested a 15-year-old girl and sent a lewd text message to another. Under the conditions of his plea agreement, Gilyard cannot have “unsupervised contact with children under 18 years old,” and his new church has taken extraordinary steps to help Gilyard stick to the terms of his deal.
Despite the seriousness of his offense, Gilyard’s return to the pulpit was swift. After being released from jail on December 28, he resumed preaching in January, and told reporters he hopes he can move past this incident and continue with his work.
“Somehow I will prove that life isn’t over when one has committed a crime for which he receives this heinous label,” Gilyard said through a text message. “You don’t have to languish on the fringes of society.”
Just when we thought this divorce couldn’t get any messier! Well, it did! Pilar Sanders and retired football legend Deion Sanders and engaged in an epic divorce battle, and the former just upped the antagonistic ante. BIG TIME. According to documents, Pilar is suing Deion for $200 million!!! The lawsuit stems from the Twitter rant of Deion’s daughter (from another relationship) Deiondra, in which the teenager accused Pilar of cheating on her father and referred to her as a “gold diggin hoe.”
In the court papers, Pilar effectively responds with: “Oh yeah? Well you made me that way!” Pilar’s attorney writes that his client believes Deiondra and Deion have been going after her with various “emotional weapons” for years including “dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation, denial and blame.”
The suit reads: “[Deion and Deiondra] even persuaded [Pilar] that she was and is worthless, a ‘gold diggin’ ho, and that no one else would want her.”
Moreover, Pilar makes the assertion that father and daughter, seen above, would scatter various weapons around the house and would try to scare her away by “hurting pets.” No details regarding this accusation are provided. With divorce proceedings underway between the pair, Pilar is demanding $50 million in actual damages and $150 million in punitive damages.
The story of late rap pioneer Heavy D will be chronicled in a documentary airing Sunday on Centric TV. Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D” will feature interviews with the Jamaican-born rapper’s family and artists such as Will Smith, Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah, according to Centric TV, the 24-hour channel that is part of the BET Network.
Heavy D, whose given name was Dwight Myers, is considered one of the most influential rap artists of the late 1980s and early 1990s, both as the front man for his group, Heavy D and The Boyz, and as a solo artist. He died last November at age 44, from a blood clot in his lung.
Centric said the documentary includes footage from Heavy D’s last televised performance, at the BET Hip-Hop Awards last October.
In addition to building his own successful music career, Myers was a big part of the careers of other black artists. Queen Latifah discusses in the documentary being mentored by Myers. Myers also was a record label executive who hired Sean “Diddy” Combs as an intern, and was producer to other rappers, such as Jay-Z.
Myers’ talents went beyond the studio to the theater and television. He appeared in “The Tracy Morgan Show,” “Law and Order,” “Boston Public” and other shows. He most recently played a courthouse guard in “Tower Heist.”
Check out this clip from the documentary… Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D airs February 26 at 11P/10C on Centric TV.
Former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Janet Hubert aka Aunt Viv chose the wake of Whitney Houston’s sudden death and Wendy Williams’ emotional reaction to Houston’s passing as a starting point for a letter that bashes Williams and the niche she created for herself in the entertainment industry. Read the letter below…
Dear Wendy,
This past weekend was a very difficult time for so many of us.
Though I never knew Whitney Houston, I felt a profound sense of loss and sadness. On Sunday morning I took my dog for a walk in the park across the street and still could not shake the sadness I felt. I wondered if what I was feeling was perhaps related to losing my mother and brother this past year, but then I thought no, it was something else.
I watched the funeral service with the rest of the world, and cried time and time again with each story that was told. I felt like I knew more about this amazing woman than ever before. We all watched her as a little girl, center stage, singing like a bird, she was destined for superstardom. To watch her center stage full circle in death was a feeling no mother should ever have to feel. I applaud Ms. Warwick, the pastor, and all others who formed a police line of love and protection around her that was impenetrable only to those who really knew her. We, the public accepted their decision to keep it private, but they allowed us to witness her Home Going ceremony, I don’t know if I could have been so gracious. WE felt like we knew her and we knew nothing about her except what we read and hear from people like you and other media outlets. I listened to her interview with you and was compelled to say out loud. “Go on Whitney tell her like it is,” when you pried into her life back then. I had my son in the same year as Ms. Houston; we did Ebony Magazine that same year, she introducing her baby girl and me my son. I am trying to be dignified, but here goes.
The Internet has become somewhat like the 10 commandments, and this is why… whatever is posted or commented on… is forever written in stone. Neither I nor anybody can stop anyone from making up stories, reviews, lies etc, cutting and pasting whatever they decide to put together like a bad buffet breakfast.
I have had some horrible meals shoved down my throat on the web that I had no parts of. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from a recent cut and paste meal from your beloved TMZ (THE MUDSLINGING ZONE). I believe you said once “If you heard it on TMZ then it must be true,” really Wendy?
The Internet is indeed the information highway, but it can also be “a Forum of Hate.” You said that morning with tears in your eyes, that you would not discuss Whitney any further, but you crucified her the whole time she was alive, as you do so many people on your show. I want to ask you why? What do you get out of this besides money?
How do you sleep at night knowing that you are one of the biggest bullies in the world disguised as HOT TOPICS? Celebrities are not topics we are people, just like everyone else, we hurt and we hear and we bleed real blood, not fake blood, just as you do.
How do we as parents teach our children to honor each other, treat each other with kindness when all they see are images of people like you who condone and promote meanness, rude reality TV stars, and your opinion as you berate world renowned people like Janet Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others you slam on a daily basis.
I keep asking myself why no one is saying anything about this. What the hell are they afraid of? Where are my sisters out there who feel as I do?
Well Wendy, I try to teach my son to stand up, shout, and scream when there is injustice. Yeah yeah, I know, I have been screaming for years and will continue to do so as long as there are images that depict black women as neck shaking, over bearing women who can’t get along.
A sister, a mother, a daughter, a star, left this world way too early; she was loved by the world. The world mourned, I don’t think that we needed you to try and take down another brilliant sister on that following Monday morning. (Your rude comments about Janet Jackson)
You started right back up without hesitation or pause… you need to stop Wendy. We need to stop, and the world needs to stop. I need to stop as well. There will be no more quotes from me to be misquoted. We need to join together, wrap our arms around our children, everybody’s children. Remember you have a child who will suffer every slingshot and arrow that gets thrown back at you Wendy; our public lives greatly affect our children.
I know I am going to suffer some arrows for writing this letter to you, I know you are loved by many, but remember this Wendy; they love you when you are up and they love to take you down. You will not always be up, you will not always be on the A list and attend all the parties. Ride the wave sister girl, but make sure you know how to swim when the ride is over. Artists are survivors, we work hard to build our crafts and careers and I ask that you simply remember that in the future.
I’m just sayin’ it like l mean it too.
Janet Hubert
Well, so far Wendy has yet to comment on Janet’s letter, we’re waiting to hear what she has to say.
If you’ve ever spent time on our Facebook page, you know we have some of the livest, most entertaining Facebook friends this side of the digital divide. So we knew if we wanted to get some juicy and authentic stories, they’d be the best people to ask. See what our Facebook friends had to say when we asked them to finish this sentence: “I knew he wasn’t into me when…”
…he was more interested in knowing how one of my female friends were doing…Example: How is so and so? When was the last time you talked to her? or Tell her to message or call me…smh. Man you trippin…
“I knew he wasn’t into me when…”
…I realized I was doing all the communicating. If a guy is into you, he’ll make an effort to talk to you. Even if it is about nothing! Lol
…over a year ago we both admitted to having feelings for each other….wait for it, BUT STILL HAVEN’T WENT ON A DATE!!!! Like seriously, I mean we’ve hung out and gone to the movies and what not. But he has yet to actually ask or take me out on a date…ugh, it’s annoying. We have everything in common, besides the age difference. I’m 21 and he is 27, but what difference does that make when we’re clearly so compatible. But I am too young and eligible to wait on this slow man, who clearly isn’t really all that into me…boggles my mind, grinds my gears, and pushes my buttons when he calls me by the nickname he gave me and only he calls me, but can’t muster up a simple “Hey CC, can I take you out?”
…he spent the night two nights in a row and didn’t touch me. When he said he would come see me 3 different times, but didn’t and ALWAYS had an excuse as to why he didn’t show up “I guess I’m just busier than I realize.”
…he started hitting on a co-worker because I wouldn’t put out. Or how about one Sunday morning he invited me to breakfast and I said I’m getting ready for church wanna come… and silence.
…I was doing ALL the giving, ALL the calling, ALL the initiating…and not even getting a thank you or grunt in response. It took me a while to get it.
…he went home to a different state but told me that he is a sort of “out of sight out of mind” type of person, then I didn’t hear from him for 3 days.
…he had excuses about why he could not spend time with me and did not make plans to be with me on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years.
…a girl he was secretly seeing tagged pics of herself on his FB wall and he told her he loved her! Smdh
…he got married to someone else while we were still in a relationship.
…everyone came before me!!!
…he never would pick up the phone and call, but would only send text messages.
…we had sex one night… Then the next morning I see him having breakfast with ‘her’ and neither of them would look at me. Ohh… She was a close acquaintance we all hung out with.
…I had been dating for about 2 years and never really thought much about settling down… until I met him. He was perfect! He had everything going for himself and I thought I was the luckiest girl to have found such a great catch. We went out a lot, he called me all the time. Then after a few weeks of bliss, he made plans with me and never came through. He called we talked about it and he apologized. Then he did it again, and again, and again. I made excuses for it for about 6 months, thinking that all he needed was time to see how good of a girl I was. The last time we saw each other I realized that the feelings I had for him turned to insecurity and bitterness due to how he actually treated me. I ended things a week later and haven’t looked back since.
…after 5 years of dating and no ring…my husband only waited 9 months.
What can you add to this list???
The wedding web site was elaborate and full of pictures of the happy couple. The bride-to-be excitedly tweeted every detail as she counted down the days to the big day. There were 23 attendants — not including the bride and groom — in the wedding party.
But former Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell and fiancée Yenicia “ Jenny” Montes called off Saturday’s ceremony just hours before the couple was scheduled to tie the knot! The 162 guests, who flew to an exclusive Dominican Republican resort for the celebration were informed at a welcoming party that the marriage was off, but did not receive any explanation why.
In phone conversations with the Washington Post Tuesday, Campbell declined to go into details but said the two came to a decision to “put things off” after discussing it for a couple of weeks. “I love her enough not to leave her at the altar,” he said. “I love her enough to talk to her before it gets that far.”
Campbell, who said he was still in the Dominican Republic with Montes and her family, denied Internet rumors that he had called off the wedding at the last minute.
“That stuff is just crazy,” he said. “Jenny’s a good person and I’m a good person. I don’t even know why people would put all those lies out there. ” He said the two decided to go ahead with the trip to the Caribbean Island and “just made a vacation out of it.” Except, of course, all their guests flew down expecting a wedding.
It was, to put it mildly, a surprising turn of events. 30 year old Campbell, and 32 year old Montes, have known each other for seven years and said their relationship was rooted in their deep friendship.
The two met when he first arrived in Washington in 2005 — he spotted the nightclub hostess dancing on a bar on her 25th birthday — and briefly dated.
“She was very independent,” Campbell told our colleague Ellen McCarthy two weeks ago for an “On Love” profile that was scheduled to run after their wedding. “She didn’t need anyone else to help her. I think guys appreciate that — someone who’s out there trying to take care of themselves, rather than trying to lean on somebody.” (Montes has always dreamed of owning a hair salon: “I’m not a stay at home mom.”)
Montes, for her part, was taken by Campbell’s manner. “He was such a gentleman,” Montes said at the time. “I could tell he was brought up by great parents.” The initial romance didn’t last, but their friendship did. “We wouldn’t call each other every day, but when we talked we would talk for a long time,” she told McCarthy. “When he had issues, problems, anything going on — relationship-wise, family-wise, or even if he had a bad day at work or during a game, he would call. He didn’t hide anything from me. I didn’t hide anything from him, because we were just friends.”
Two years ago, after Campbell had broken up with a girlfriend and was headed to play for the Oakland Raiders, their romance reignited and they started dating again. He proposed on New Year’s Eve of 2010 — his birthday — and the two moved in together in D.C., along with Montes’s 8-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Montes had been regularly tweeting about “Papi,” as she called her fiancé, their wedding and their house hunt in Atlanta. (“It Just hit me 2day that My signature is going 2 b Campbell n not Montes anymore,I need to start practicing my new campbell signature ASAP!”)
But her groom-to-be was dealing with career issues: On the verge of becoming a free agent with the likelihood of lucrative new contract, Campbell broke his collarbone in a Raiders game against the Cleveland Browns in October. He was sidelined for the rest of the season, his pro football future suddenly thrown into question.
A subdued Campbell told McCarthy two weeks ago he was stressed and exhausted by the elaborate wedding planning, but that doesn’t appear to be a big factor in the decision to call it off. “It’s just the fact that I have a lot going on right now with recovering from injury,” he said Tuesday. “There’s just so much going on in both our lives right now.”
The wedding web site was taken down Tuesday morning, and it’s unclear if the marriage has been postponed or called off for good. “We’re not trying to force anything right now,” Campbell said. “We’re taking everything one day at all time, trying to let all the air and the dust clear.”
S/O BMS
SWV is back with their new video to the single ‘Co-Sign’
Mariah Carey gets emotional over death of Whitney Houston
The police chief of Tutwiler Mississippi, and four other city employees were fired after a video posted on Youtube captured them cheering as cinnamon was poured into the mouth of a mentally disabled teenager. Town clerk Angela Chandler can be seen pouring cinnamon into the mouth of Danareus Martin, 18, who was doing community service at city hall as a way to pay off some misdemeanor fines.
Martin’s lawyer believes Martin was singled out for comments he made in court.
“He made some comments regarding the officers … that they weren’t doing their job and they weren’t right,” he said. And officers allegedly took those comments to heart. When Martin reported for duty, Pittman said he was taken to a shed behind city hall. The cops put on boxing gloves and gave him the opportunity to show ‘how the police aren’t nothing,’” he said.
The “cinammon challenge” involves swallowing a large amount of cinnamon without any water – a near impossible task that frequently results in people coughing a plume of the spice, choking and even vomiting.
Former Tutwiler Police Chief Terry Tyler (SEEN ABOVE) says, “It’s a bunch of lies and false allegations. I don’t have anything to hide. I don’t have anything to be ashamed of.” Click here to watch the video
The organizers of this year’s Brit Awards have issued an apology to Adele for cutting short her second acceptance speech of the evening an incident which led to the singer raising her middle finger to the crowd and millions of watching TV viewers in frustration.
The 23-year-old singer flipped the bird after her acceptance speech for collecting the British album of the year award was cut short by host, British comedian and actor James Corden. Despite the album of the year trophy being the Brit Award’s most prestigious prize, Adele was only allowed to utter a few lines of gratitude before being told to make way for a closing live performance from U.K. indie rock act Blur.
SHINGAI SHONIWA
