A reality television producer charged with killing his wife while on vacation in Mexico is being sent from California to Cancun to await trial, a spokesman for his attorneys said Wednesday.

The attorneys were notified Wednesday that former “Survivor” producer Bruce Beresford-Redman was being extradited, spokesman Stephen Jaffe said.

The producer has been charged in Mexico in the death of his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman, whose body was found in a sewer cistern at a swank resort following an April 2010 family vacation.

Bruce Beresford-Redman opted in December not to appeal a U.S. court ruling upholding his extradition. Mexican authorities later said they had reached an agreement for his return.

Beresford-Redman has denied that he killed his wife and his attorneys have attacked evidence in the case.

The U.S. Marshals Service would not comment on Beresford-Redman’s extradition, citing a policy against discussing prisoner movements.

Read the full story

Former 'X Factor' cast members: Steve Jones, Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul. (Jones/Scherzinger photo by AP; Abdul photo courtesy Fox)

There will definitely be changes on Fox’ The X Factor next season.

Judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones have all left the show, which had consistently good ratings in its first season, but never reached the popularity of American Idol.

USA Today is among those reporting that Abdul and Scherzinger have followed Jones out the door. Jones reported his exit on Twitter on Monday.

Abdul was initially asked to join the show by X Factor executive producer and fellow judge and Idol cast mate Simon Cowell. Scherzinger replaced Cheryl Cole, who was brought over by Cowell from the British version of X Factor but left early on.

Read the full story

Among the top nominees: 'The Descendants', featuring George Clooney; 'Moneyball', starring Brad Pitt; and 'Hugo', with Asa Butterfield.

By DAVID GERMAIN

Martin Scorsese’s Paris adventure “Hugo” leads the Academy Awards with 11 nominations, among them best picture and the latest director slot for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

Also nominated for best picture Tuesday: the silent film “The Artist”; the family drama “The Descendants”; the Sept. 11 tale “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”; the Deep South drama “The Help”; the romantic fantasy “Midnight in Paris”; the sports tale “Moneyball”; the family chronicle “The Tree of Life”; and the World War I epic “War Horse.”

Leslie Streeter: Oscar Nominations 2012 — What do you think? | Oscars.com: Full list of nominees

The nominations set up a best-picture showdown between the top films at the Golden Globes: best musical or comedy recipient “The Artist” and best drama winner “The Descendants.”

“The Artist” ran second with 10 nominations, among them writing and directing nominations for French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, a best-actor honor for Jean Dujardin and a supporting-actress slot for Berenice Bejo.

Because of a rule change requiring films to receive a certain number of first-place votes, the best-picture field has only nine nominees rather than the 10 that were in the running the last two years.

Read the full story

Singer Etta James was best known for her song 'At Last.' (AP)

Etta James’ performance of the enduring classic “At Last” was the embodiment of refined soul: Angelic-sounding strings harkened the arrival of her passionate yet measured vocals as she sang tenderly about a love finally realized after a long and patient wait.

In real life, little about James was as genteel as that song. The platinum blonde’s first hit was a saucy R&B number about sex, and she was known as a hell-raiser who had tempestuous relationships with her family, her men and the music industry. Then she spent years battling a drug addiction that she admitted sapped away at her great talents.

In other words, she was one of music’s original bad girls.

“The bad girls … had the look that I liked,” she wrote in her 1995 autobiography, “Rage to Survive.” `’I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be.”

Click here for online guestbook | 2012 notable deaths

Read the full story

The cast and executives of 'The Artist' celebrate with the movie's canine star, Uggie. (AP)

The black-and-white silent film “The Artist” led the Golden Globes with three wins Sunday at a show that spread Hollywood’s love around among a broad range of films, including best drama recipient “The Descendants” and its star, George Clooney.

Wins for “The Artist” included best musical or comedy and best actor in a musical or comedy for Jean Dujardin.

The dual best-picture prizes at the Globes could set up a showdown between “The Artist” and “The Descendants” for the top honor at next month’s Academy Awards.

Photos: The Golden Globes | Full list of Sunday’s winners

Other acting winners were Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, and Octavia Spencer, while Martin Scorsese earned the directing honor.

“I gotta thank everybody in England that let me come and trample over their history,” said Streep, earning her eighth Globe, this time as dramatic actress for playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Williams won for actress in a musical or comedy as Marilyn Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn,” 52 years after Monroe’s win for the same prize at the Globes for “Some Like It Hot.” Read the full story

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert isn’t running for president — at least not yet.

During Thursday night’s episode of “The Colbert Report,” Colbert legally transferred his super political action committee to his friend and Comedy Central cohort Jon Stewart. Dropping by from “The Daily Show,” Stewart happily signed the documents and accepted the post, which was ceremonially observed by the two holding hands and bodily transferring the PAC powers.

The move potentially paves the way for Colbert to enter the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, his home state. Campaigning politicians are prohibited from simultaneously running super PACs.

But Colbert only hinted at such a decision, which he had grandly hyped ahead of Thursday’s show. In flirting candidate style, he announced that he is forming “an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for the president of the United States of South Carolina.”

Patriotically colored balloons were released in the studio while a graphic screamed “I’m Doing It!”

Stewart and Colbert hashed out the peculiar legalities of their arrangement. With Colbert’s lawyer (and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission) Trevor Potter on hand, they spelled out that while Colbert was legally forbidden from participating in strategy and advertising with the super PAC, he could still talk about his plans on his TV show and even volunteer for the super PAC.

Stewart declared Colbert vice president of youth outreach for the super PAC, which was renamed The Definitely Not Coordinated with Stephen Colbert Super PAC. Along with Potter, the three joined hands like a sports team and — with thick irony — cheered in unison: “Non-coordination!”

In 2007, Colbert attempted to enter the South Carolina primary but was stymied by filing fees. The super PAC could very well eliminate any such financial concerns. Colbert hasn’t publically revealed the amount raised from viewer contributions by the PAC, but on Thursday he repeatedly hinted that it was a shockingly large amount.

Colbert has otherwise been very transparent about the PAC’s workings, using it to parody the current system’s contradictions and potential conflicts of interest. Political action committees stem from a 2010 Supreme Court decision that changed the rules of corporate political donations.

A Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found that Colbert is polling ahead of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman in South Carolina. According to the survey, Colbert has 5 percent of the vote and Huntsman has 4 percent.
Upon reading those results on “The Report” on Wednesday, Colbert said: “This just got real.”

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say Heather Locklear was taken to a Southern California hospital for precautionary reasons after an emergency call was made from her home.

Paramedics and sheriff’s deputies responded Thursday afternoon to Locklear’s home in Westlake Village, which is 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Ventura County sheriff’s Capt. Mike Aranda says he did not know Locklear’s condition but deputies are not investigating.

Locklear has been hospitalized several times over the years. In 2009, she pleaded no contest to reckless driving after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of prescription medication.

The 50-year-old actress’s publicists did not return messages seeking comment.

Locklear and “Melrose Place” co-star Jack Wagner recently ended their engagement. She was previously married to Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, and they have a daughter together.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers (clockwise from left): Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, Flea, Josh Klinghoffer.

Due to Anthony Kiedis’ foot injury, the Red Hot Chili Peppers postponed their U.S. tour dates, including a show at Sunrise’s BankAtlantic Center on Jan. 20.

The new date, according to a release from the band’s representatives, is April 2. Tickets for the postponed date — which was sold out — will be honored at this rescheduled show. (If you had tickets for another show on the tour, click here to see when the group rescheduled it.)

According to the group’s representatives, Kiedis recently underwent surgery for to remove a crushed sesamoid bone and to correct a detached flexor tendon in his foot. He is expected to make a full recovery.

According to TMZ, Kiedis suffered the injury on the 2007 Stadium Arcadium tour, saying he got hurt “jumping off the bass drum”.

Harry Morgan as Col. Sherman Potter on 'M*A*S*H'. (AP)

By JEN CHANEY

Harry Morgan — the Emmy Award-winning actor best known for playing the no-nonsense but kind Colonel Sherman T. Potter on TV’s beloved “M*A*S*H” — died today at the age of 96, according to the Archive of American Television and other media outlets.

Morgan actively worked in Hollywood for an impressive six decades. For much of his career, he worked primarily in film, appearing opposite luminaries like Henry Fonda (“The Ox-Bow Incident”), Robert Mitchum (“Holiday Affair”), Jimmy Stewart (“The Glenn Miller Story”), Gary Cooper (“High Noon”) and Marlon Brando (“Teahouse of the August Moon.”) As the New York Times notes in its obituary, he ultimately co-starred in more than 100 movies.

But it was on television that audiences ultimately knew him best, first as Officer Bill Gannon on “Dragnet,” then as a different, more fatherly authority figure on CBS’s “*M*A*S*H,” a show he joined after McLean Stevenson, who played Lt. Col. Henry Blake, exited the program.

In an interview conducted back in 2004 with the Archive of American Television, Morgan said simply of playing Potter: “It was the best part I ever had.”
Read the full story

Don Kirschner was voted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame on Tuesday; Rod Stewart, already in the Hall as a solo artist, gets in a second time as a member of the band The Faces.

Nearly a year after his death, legendary producer Don Kirshner can boast a credit he wanted but never achieved in life: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

It was announced Tuesday that Kirschner, creator of “The Monkees,” “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert,” Brill Building mainstay and the man who helped introduce Neil Diamond, Carole King, The Eagles and others to wide audiences, would received the Ahmet Ertegun Award, a non-performer classification that in the past has been awarded to Clive Davis, Berry Gordy Jr. and David Geffen.

 Jack Wishna, CEO of Rockren, a company Kirshner was CEO of at the time of his death, called the producer “one of rock and roll’s greatest treasures” and noted that he was a “giant among his contemporaries, unwavering in his commitment to talent and excellence.”

 ”While we will miss him and his quick wit and infectious laugh, his footprint on rockcityclub.com and the world of music will remain forever. We are so happy for his wife Sheila and his family that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognizes our friend and partner with this incredible honor” Wishna added

 Also headed to the hall: Part-time Palm Beach resident Rod Stewart, who is already in as a solo artist but is now being inducted as part of The Faces.
Read the full story