Oprah Winfrey’s Mother Getting Sued for Unpaid Bill

A high-end clothing store in Brookfield, Wisconsin named Valentina is suing Oprah Winfrey’s mother, Vernita Lee, for not paying a bill. A civil complaint states that she owes the store nearly $156,000 for purchases and interest as of July 1st and has not made the monthly minimum payment of $2,000. A nonbinding mediation session is scheduled for September 16th.

California Bans Restaurants From Using Trans Fats

On Friday, California became the first state to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants . Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a legislation that will ban restaurants and other retail food establishments from using oil, margarine, and shortening that contains trans fats.
This legislation would start to take effect on January 1, 2010. Restaurants that violate the ban could face fines between $25 and $1,000 and the only exception would be food that is sold in manufactures' sealed packaging. Both California and Oregon already have laws that ban trans fat from being served in schools.

Trans fats are naturally in meat and dairy products in small amounts. Most trans fats are made when vegetable oil is treated with hydrogen to make baked and fried foods have a longer shelf life. Trans fats are considered bad because they are supposedly linked to coronary heart disease.

Rapper DMX Indicted on Charges

The rapper DMX has been indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Arizona for using a false name to avoid paying for a hospital bill. He has been charged with one count of theft and one count of taking someone else's identity. He went to Scottsdale's Mayo Clinic in April using the name “Troy Jones” to receive medical care even though his real name is Earl Simmons and didn't have any intentions on paying the bill.

Rapper DMX Arrested at Arizona Mall

The rapper DMX was arrested at a mall in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday after suspicion that he gave a false name and Social Security number to a hospital to avoid paying for medical expenses. He went to Scottsdale’s Mayo Clinic in April and used the name Troy Jones, even though his real name is Earl Simmons, and tried to avoid paying the $7,500 bill.

DMX started being investigated about this incident after an animal neglect investigation that happened last year at his Phoenix home. The bond for this recent case has not been set yet.

France Not Promoting Extreme Thinness

France might make it illegal to promote extreme thinness. The French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would make it illegal for anything and anyone, including fashion magazines, advertisers, and Web sites, to promote extreme thinness. Judges would be given the power to imprison and fine offenders of the crime up to $47,000 if they are found guilty of “inciting others to deprive themselves of food to an excessive degree.” Judges can also sanction the people or places responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose extreme thinness alters another person’s health.

The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes after the legislation won support from the ruling conservative UMP party. The bill is going to the Senate very soon. Last week, French lawmakers and fashion industry members signed a nonbinding charter on promoting healthier body images.

Leaders in the French couture are against having legal boundaries on beauty standards but some people also feel that encouraging anorexia or severe weight loss should be punishable in court. Doctors and psychologists that are treating people with anorexia nervosa are in support of the government being involved in the fight against the disease.

Mississippi Restaurants Banning Fat People

The Mississippi legislature is seriously considering a bill that would ban restaurants from serving food to very overweight people. The law would revoke the license of any restaurant that continues to serve the people. The state currently has a 30 percent obesity rate and they think that they could reduce that by not serving people that are very overweight.

ATM Gives Out Too Much Money

It is reported that an ATM at a Louisiana truck stop gave out $20 bills instead of $5 bills but authorities know who used it and plan to get back the extra $7,000 that it gave out.

The supervisor at the truck stop unplugged the machine after she heard that it was giving out too much money but the next morning she found that someone had plugged it back in. She says that she thinks someone who didn't work at the truck stop had rigged the machine to give out too much money but the ATM keeps track of who uses it. Charges could be brought against the people who got excess money from the machine.

Grave Headstone Repossessed

It is reported in Springville, Utah that a cemetery headstone of a teenager who died in a car crash was repossessed after a $750 bill was unpaid. Memorial Art Monument said, "If we gave a stone to everybody, we'd be out of business."

The teenager and two of his friends died when the car they were riding in smashed into a sport utility vehicle a year ago.

Memorial Art Memorial said the bills they sent were returned and they couldn't reach the teenager's mother, who had agreed a year ago to pay the balance, so they had to repossess the headstone. The teenager's former classmates raised enough money to pay the bill and it will be put back this week.