Lindsay Lohan to Wear Alcohol Monitoring Bracelet

On Monday, the actress Lindsay Lohan was ordered by a judge in court to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet. The bracelet receives a signal through the skin if she has been drinking and then sends the signal to the company that monitors it. Lohan also received strict restrictions on her probation that may affect her recent career plans. She has a probation hearing set for July 6th due to her not appearing in court last week for a scheduled progress report on the probation that involved two high-profile arrests.

Tyra Banks Writing Fantasy Novels

The TV show Host and former model Tyra Banks has signed a deal for a series of fantasy novels about modeling. Her first book is called "Modelland" and it is about a teen-aged girl in a make-believe society at an academy for exceptional models called Intoxibellas. The book will be published in the summer of 2011 and will cover issues from relationships to body images. The book is meant to empower women of all ages. Banks is set to end "The Tyra Banks Show" later this year after five seasons to launch her own production company called Bankable Studios.

Michael Jackson’s Doctor Gets TV Show

The doctor being investigated in the death of late singer Michael Jackson, named Dr. Conrad Murray, had gotten a deal with a British documentary crew to shoot footage of him during his first day back to work in Houston on November 23rd, 2009. The footage was shot for an upcoming one-episode TV special. The camera crew followed Murray around for the entire day, as he went to his office and to church. Murray hasn’t been paid yet but he will get an unspecified amount after the special airs. Murray is not allowing the company to air the special until after the Michael Jackson investigation is completed, which could possibly last a couple of years.

Kimora Lee Simmons Gives Birth to New Baby

On Saturday, Kimora Lee Simmons gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She is a former fashion model who is currently the CEO of the clothing design company Phat Fashions. The father of the child is the actor Djimon Hounsou. She was previously married to the hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons but the couple divorced in 2008 after being married for seven years and having two daughters together.

Singer Natalie Cole Receives Kidney Transplant

The singer Natalie Cole has undergone a kidney transplant and is doing well. She plans to postpone her summer tour, which was scheduled to start June 5 and last until November, while she recovers. She has been receiving dialysis treatments three times each week since September, which is unrelated to her diagnosis of hepatitis C. She announced that she had hepatitis C last year and said that the damaging liver disease was likely due to her previous drug use. She has received chemotherapy to treat the hepatitis disease and had kidney failure within four months of treatment. Without a kidney donor, she would have needed dialysis treatment for the rest of her life. A company called One Legacy, which is a regional organ-procurement agency, was able to find a kidney for her.

Actor Bruce Willis Countersues Production Company

On Thursday, the actor Bruce Willis filed a countersuit against the movie producers that are accusing him of breach of contract for backing out of a film project. Willis is accusing the producers of the film "Three Stories About Joan" of failing to demonstrate that they had full funding for the project by an agreed-upon deadline. Willis is seeking $8.7 million in compensation against two dozen defendants.

Last week, the producers of the film sued him for $4 million and accused him of quiting as the director of the film without notice, thus violating his contract.

Actor Bruce Willis Gets Sued

The actor Bruce Willis and his production company, Willis Brothers Films, are being sued in Los Angels for $4 million due to a breach of contract. The lawsuit claims that Willis Brothers Films agreed on a contract with Foresight Unlimited, Signature Entertainment Group, and Three Stories productions to produce the movie "Three Stories About Joan." Willis was suppose to star in the movie and direct it but on Sept. 29th Willis quit as the director without prior notice and violated the agreement.

Singer Prince Being Sued by Perfume Maker

The singer Prince is being sued by a perfume company named Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics Inc. that claims that he and his music publisher didn't honor a contract to help market a fragrance named after the album "3121." The company says that it licensed Prince's name, likeness, and the "3121" album to market the fragrance. The company says that it spent $2.5 million and agreed to pay Universal half of the net profits from the sales of the perfume but Universal and Prince haven't participated in promotions since the fragrance launched in July of 2007.

Michael Jackson Gives Up Neverland Ranch

The singer Micheal Jackson has decided to give up the title to his Neverland ranch and transfer the deed to a company that he partly controls. He filed a grant deed on Monday on the ranch that would make the new owner an entity called the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. is a joint venture between Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC.

Earlier this year, Jackson went into default on the $24.5 million that he owes on the property and Colony Capital bailed him out. Colony Capital is a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company that is ran by the billionaire Tom Barrack. The company also owns several properties in Las Vegas, including the Las Vegas Hilton. Neverland Ranch was called Sycamore Valley Ranch before Jackson bought it in 1988 and turned it into a miniature amusement park where thousands of children were invited to the property.

Jackson has been struggling to pay his debts to the ranch since his arrest in 2003 where he was accused of molesting a 13 year boy at the ranch. He has not been to the property since being acquitted of the charges.

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Set to Have Album Released

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, the late rapper of the group TLC, is going to have a solo album released on November 11th that is based on her past recordings that have never before been released. Funds from the album will to the Lopes’ foundation, which helps build orphanages and schools in Honduras. Lopes died on April 25, 2002 in Honduras from a fatal car crash.

Rapper Lil Kim Sued by Recording Company

The rapper Lil Kim is being sued by a recording company called Brookland Media for $2.5 million. The company states that she hasn’t delivered all of the recordings that their contract requires and they have already spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on recordings, equipment, and advanced payments after contracting the rapper this year. Court papers state that Lil Kim tried to change the contract and refused to continue recording unless the company agreed. Brookland Media wants the court to declare the contract as valid and wants to bar her from recording for another company.

Sony Laptop Recall

Sony Corp is recalling 440,000 Vaio laptop computers worldwide due to a wiring flaw that could cause overheating. The recall involves 19 models in the Vaio TZ series manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008. The company had improperly placed wires near the hinge connecting the body of the laptop and its display could wear quickly and cause a short circuit and overheating. A mistake in a circuit board inside the display could also cause overheating inside its rim. Sony has already received 209 reports of overheating worldwide and seven cases where people received minor burns.

Rapper Wyclef Jean Sued by Jewelry Company

or watches and jewelry that he bought. They say that he bought several items from the company between March 2002 and January 2006 that totaled $765,100. They say that he still owes $319,680 and they have demanded payment many times.

The founder of the jewelery company, known as “Jacob the Jeweler,” was sentenced in June to 2 ½ years in federal prison for lying to investigators about a multistate drug ring.

XM Satellite and Sirius Completes Merger

XM Satellite and Sirius Satellite Radio have completed their merger. The merged company will change its name to Sirius XM Radio Inc. Their stock will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol SIRI. The company now has more than 18.5 million subscribers and expects to save about $400 million in costs in 2009.

Death Row Records Auctioned

Death Row Records Company was auctioned for $24 million, which had released albums by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Tupac Shakur in the past. On June 24^th, Global Music Group Inc. purchased the music label and its black catalog and its current artist contracts because the company had gone down due to debt and mismanagement.

Financial problems came to Death Row Records recently when a former couple, named Lydia and Michael Harris, took the company to court and stated that they had helped found the label. They won a judgment of $107 million and tried to collect it in 2006. The label was not able to pay the amount and filed bankruptcy in April of 2006 and claimed debts of over $100 million. Also in 2006, a federal judge ordered for a bankruptcy trustee to takeover Death Row Records and said that the label had gross management. The decision to file bankruptcy saved the company from the decision of the court to appoint someone to take control of the record label and its assets.

Jackson’s Neverland Ranch Auction Canceled

The foreclosure auction for Michael Jackson’s Nerverland Ranch that was scheduled for this week was canceled after an investment company called Colony Capital LLC. bought the loan. Jackson hasn’t lived on the property for the past two years and is happy at the way things turned out. He recently had to go into default on the $24.5 million that he owes on the property and has struggled to pay his debts after his decline in finances after his arrest in 2003 on child molestation charges where he was later acquitted.

Jay-Z Close to Huge Business Deal

Jay-Z is close to a $150 million deal with Live Nation Inc. that will give the company a stake in almost every part of his career. The contract covers Jay-Z’s music and music related businesses for the next 10 years. Jay-Z would get a $25 million payment upfront and get advance payments of $10 million per album for at least three albums and he would get $25 million towards concert tours. Live Nation would also pay $20 million in exchange for publishing, licensing, and other rights.

The company is also expected to commit $50 million to finance Jay-Z’s investments and his entertainment venture, called Roc Nation, which is suppose to include Jay-Z’s own record label, music publishing, talent consulting, and managing projects. He plans to leave Def Jam if the deal goes through but he still owes Def Jam one more studio album. He was the president of Def Jam for three years but stepped down this past December because he and the label’s corporate parent, Universal Music Group, could not agree on a new contract.

The First Underwater Car

Rinspeed, a Swiss company, has built the world’s first functional underwater car. The car is electric-powered and can travel up to 77mph on land, 3mph on the surface of water, and 1.8 mph at 30 feet underwater.

Woman Says Damon Dash Drove Her Crazy

An Atlanta woman named Jamie Roberts is making claims with the Manhattan Supreme Court that Damon Dash drove her to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder after Dash exposed himself to her in 2004. She is suing for $30,000 and punitive damages.

Read More of the Story: http://www.nypost.com/seven/12192007/gossip/pagesix/rapper_made_me_bipolar_465799.htm

Charges Against Actor Shia La Beouf Dropped

The Charges against Shia La Beouf by Walgreens for refusing to leave a downtown drugstore were dropped. In a Chicago courtroom prosecutors said that they received a letter from Walgreen CO and a security company saying that they did not want to continue with the case. He was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing after being arrested at the Walgreen store. La Beouf was in the movie “Transformers” and will star in the new movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”