By Associated Press, Published: August 17

PARIS — An airline passenger says her Paris-to-Dublin flight was delayed nearly two hours after celebrated French actor Gerard Depardieu urinated on the plane ahead of takeoff.France’s Europe-1 radio aired an interview with the passenger, identified only by her first name Daniele, saying that Depardieu appeared inebriated and announced “’I need to piss, I need to piss.” The passenger said when the cabin crew told him to remain seated during takeoff, “he stood up and did it (urinated) on the ground.

A spokeswoman for City Jet, the Dublin-headquartered airline that operated the Tuesday evening flight, confirmed that such an incident had taken place. But spokeswoman Karen Gillo said Wednesday privacy issues prevented her from naming the passenger, who was escorted off the plane along with his two traveling companions and their luggage.Calls for comment from Depardieu’s agent went unanswered Wednesday.One of France’s most famous actors, Depardieu, 62, has appeared in more than 150 films, including 1986’s “Jean de Florette” and 1990’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

The actor is also a Paris restaurateur and the owner of a vineyard in Burgundy.

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The US skiing team has dismissed an 18-year-old member of its development squad, after he was accused of getting drunk and then urinating on a fellow passenger aboard a JetBlue flight to New York City.

Robert “Sandy” Vietze was detained by police at New York’s Kennedy airport on Wednesday morning, after arriving on a red-eye flight from Portland, Oregon. He faces a federal misdemeanour charge of indecent exposure, according to the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

The US Ski and Snowboard Association executive vice-president of athletics, Luke Bodensteiner, said in a statement that Vietze had been dismissed from the team for conduct violations. “Based on the information we have, Sandy Vietze is in violation of the USSA code of conduct and team agreement, and has been dismissed from the team,” confirmed Bodensteiner.

Vietze was nominated to the development team this spring after excelling as an alipine skier at the Green Mountain Valley school, a top ski academy and high school in Waitsfield, Vermont, where tuition costs as much as $42,384 a year. He had been scheduled to compete on the national ski team’s developmental squad for the 2011-12 season.

A Port Authority police department detective wrote in court documents that Vietze told him he had consumed five or six beers and two rum and cola cocktails before boarding the flight. He said he passed out in his seat and awoke to find himself being yelled at by the father of a 12-year-old girl. The girl’s father told the detective that when he returned from a trip to the bathroom at 2.30 am, he found Vietze urinating on his daughter. The man described Vietze as “out of it”.

The Port Authority initially told news outlets on Thursday that federal prosecutors had decided to drop the indecent exposure charge, but a spokesman for the US attorney’s office, Robert Nardoza, said on Friday that the case is still pending. The charge carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and a possibility of up to a year in jail, although time behind bars would be very unusual in such a case.

www.guardian.co.uk

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and these stories will only proliferate if airlines add a fee to pee.  Amtrack looks better and better…

KTLA News12:43 p.m. CDT, July 19, 2011

CORONADO, Calif. (KTLA) — Authorities continue to investigate a possible link between the deaths of a multi-millionaire’s girlfriend and 6-year-old son at Spreckels Mansion in Coronado.

Police were called to the seaside home of of Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp founder and CEO Jonah Shacknai around 10 a.m. July 11 after his 6-year-old son, Max, was critically injured from what police said was reported as a fall from a staircase in the home, Coronado Police Chief Louis Scanlon said.

The boy later died of his injuries.

The family released the following statement Sunday night:

“With great sadness, Dina and I convey the tragic passing of our beloved son, Max (affectionately known as Maxie). Despite heroic efforts on the part of paramedics and hospital staff, he was unable to recover from the injuries suffered early last week. His loving, kind and vibrant spirit will forever be in our hearts and those whom he touched every day. The loss to our families, Max’s many friends of all ages and teammates, and the community is immeasurable.”

Max’s death is the second in less than a week at the mansion. Two days after Max’s injury, the body of his father’s 32-year-old girlfriend, Rebecca Nalepa, was found bound, nude and hanging from a second-story balcony overlooking the courtyard. Shacknai’s brother, Adam, a resident of a guest house on the property, found Nalepa, according to Captain Tim Curran of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department homicide squad.

Adam Shacknai alerted authorities by calling emergency 911 and cut down the unclothed body, which then fell into the courtyard, Curran said at a news conference Thursday.

Shacknai was not present in either case when authorities responded to the residence. When Shacknai’s son fell, authorities say they found only the injured boy and Nalepa at the home.

Both brothers and Jonah Shacknai’s ex-wife, Dina Shacknai, the mother of his 6-year-old son, were being questioned as witnesses in the investigation and were cooperating with detectives, Curran said.

Investigators say Nalepa and an unidentified 13-year-old were the only people home when Max was injured.

Authorities declined to discuss Jonah Shacknai’s current whereabouts.

The Arizona Republic newspaper cited his former mother-in-law, Nancy Romano, as saying Jonah and Dina Shacknai had been with their son since he was hospitalized.

Curran said no one has been detained or was considered a suspect in the case, which investigators have not so far labeled as the result of foul play even though Nalepa was found with her hands tied behind her back and her feet also bound.

Curran said investigators have not ruled out suicide.

“Because of the unique and bizarre circumstances, it has yet to be determined whether this is a homicide or a suspicious death,” Curran told reporters. “This is a very bizarre death. There is no doubt about it.”

KSWB-TV is reporting that Nalepa was distraught and crying when she turned her dog over to a kennel hours before she was found dead. Her autopsy results have been sealed and toxicology results were pending. A determination on her cause of death could be made later this week.

A homicide detective tells the station that the deaths may be connected, but declined to elaborate.

Court records show Jonah and Dina Shacknai, his second wife, had their divorce finalized in January of this year, though Romano told the Arizona Republic that her former son-in-law and Nalepa had been together for about two years.

Nalepa, who was herself divorced in February, had her maiden surname of Zahau legally restored in May, according to court records in Arizona.

Medicis issued a brief statement on the incident without giving details.

“The Medicis family is deeply saddened to learn of a tragic incident at a California property owned by Jonah Shacknai,” the company said. “Our thoughts are with Jonah and his family and ask that the family’s privacy be respected during this difficult period.”

Land records show that Shacknai, 54, whose Scottsdale, Arizona-based company is maker of the acne treatment Solodyn and wrinkle-filler Restylane, purchased the 27-room landmark property known as the Spreckels Mansion in October 2010.

Shares of the company, which reported 2010 revenues of $700 million, tumbled by as much as 5 percent following news of the investigation.

Dude, when you find a nude body hanging from a balcony with feet and hands bound – you can pretty much rule out suicide… don’t women choose sleeping pills to bite the big one?

Poppy and seven friends had manicures, pedicures and makeovers. They dressed up with fake tattoos, drank pretend champagne in the back of a pink pamper bus and ate a designer cake costing £250.

Poppy wore a £300 dress for the party, adding nail varnish, eyeshadow and hair extensions.

Miss Burge told Closer magazine: ‘Poppy isn’t interested in bouncy castles or pass the parcel, so I splashed out on something a little more grown-up.

‘The girls got lots of attention from our neighbours.

‘They love having all eyes on them and were posing and pouting for photos,’ she said. 

As well as the breast enlargement voucher, Miss Burge bought her daughter thousands of pounds worth of gifts, including a £250 computer, a £450 pink Swarovski crystal ring and necklace set and the promise of a £4,000 spa break.

The main event though, was the breast enlargement voucher.

Poppy says: ‘I wanted a new computer, a holiday and a voucher for surgery. When I got it all, it was a dream come true. All my friends were jealous.

‘I can’t wait to be like Mummy with big boobs. They’re pretty.’

Exotic: The voucher formed part of a £12,000 ‘pamper party’ laid on by Miss Burge to celebrate Poppy’s birthday

Miss Burge, who lives in a £500,000 four-bedroom home in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, is more than capable of paying for the lavish celebration thanks to the lucrative business she runs organising plastic surgery and swinging parties and writing erotic novels.

Admitting that her daughters Charlotte, 25, Hannah, 17 and step-daughter Jazzy, 17, have already had Botox and are planning further surgery of their own, Miss Burge reveals a worryingly blasé attitude towards surgery. 

Set to celebrate her 51st birthday later this year with £51,000 of surgery including a facelift, bottom implants and liposuction, she plans to allow her youngest daughter to watch the procedures on video.

She said: ‘I want Poppy to see what will happen.

‘Some people think it’s controversial and I get angry when strangers say I’m a bad mother because I don’t think there’s any harm in giving her this gift.

‘Poppy is a normal kid who is good at sports and loves playing outside. Girls don’t want Snow White and Cinderella any more.

‘They want to be WAGs and famous like Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga. I’m just supporting her and making her dreams come true.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2000871/Sarah-Burge-Human-Barbie-gives-daughter-boob-job-voucher-7th-birthday.html#ixzz1RfMUIDHO

No mortgages for the pregnant?

By Polyana da Costa · Bankrate.com

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Who says you can’t have a baby and get a mortgage at the same time?

Some lenders and mortgage insurance companies do.

Federal law prohibits housing discrimination in sales, rental, and lending based on a person’s sex or familial status. According to HUD, that includes pregnancy. But some companies don’t seem to understand that.

Stories of women who are denied a mortgage loan because they are on, or about to go on maternity leave, happen more often than you think. Lenders claim they are putting the loan on hold because of the temporary loss of income and won’t approve the loan until mom returns to work.

No matter how they try to spin this, it’s just wrong. Taking 12 weeks off to take care of your newborn isn’t the same as being unemployed. And HUD will back me up on this one.

“Pregnancy is not a basis to deny or delay a loan. It’s just that simple,” says John Trasviña, HUD assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “Mortgage professionals may verify income and other resources and have eligibility standards, but they may not single out women on maternity leave to deny or delay loans that they are otherwise eligible for.”

HUD started cracking down on this problem last year after The New York Times published a story shedding light on the issue.

This week, HUD announced a settlement agreement with a company it had investigated, Cornerstone Mortgage Company, a national mortgage lender based in Houston, which HUD has accused of “engaging in discriminatory lending practices against expectant mothers.”

The agreement resulted from a complaint made by a woman who claims the lender changed the status on her application when it learned she was on maternity leave. The woman alleges Cornerstone conditioned the approval of the loan on her return to work, which she eventually ended up doing, according to settlement agreement.

Cornerstone denies any wrongdoing or discrimination and claims it “engaged in prudent loan underwriting,” according to settlement document,  but agrees to pay the woman $15,000 and create a $750,000 fund to compensate other Cornerstone borrowers who experienced discrimination because they were on pregnancy or maternity leave at the time they were applying for a loan.

Cornerstone will have to notify all borrowers who applied for loans during a two-year time frame and the fund will pay as many as 100 claimants.

But as many other human beings, mortgage professional’s don’t learn from others’ mistakes.

HUD also announced this week that it has filed a lawsuit against mortgage insurer MGIC charging the firm with “discriminating against a Pennsylvania family by denying their application for mortgage insurance unless and until the wife returned to work from maternity leave.”