Rapper Petey Pablo Arrested

The rapper Petey Pablo was arrested this morning at a North Carolina airport on weapons charges after he was caught trying to sneak a gun through airport security in a carry-on bag. He was supposedly on his way to Los Angeles and the MTV Video Music Awards. He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a stolen firearm. Since being arrested, he has posted $50,000 bail and has been released. He has to go back to court on Monday. Being that today is September 11th, it is probably not the best day to bring weapons through airport security.

Rapper Serves Prison Time in Arkansas

The rapper T.I. has to report to Forrest City's low-security federal prison by noon on May 26th. He has been sentenced to serve one year and one day in prison after pleading guilty in March to federal weapons charges. He has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of his charges in his three count indictment. He will be credited for the 305 days of home detention that he has already served, so he is likely to be at Forrest City prison for only two months. Unless there are custody or security concerns, he will be treated like any other prisoner and will be placed in the general population with the rest of the prisoners. When he is released, he will be on probation for three years and will pay a $100,000 fine as part of his sentence.

Rapper Snoop Dogg Testifies in Court

The rapper Snoop Dogg testified in court on Monday stating that he didn't hit a man named Richard Monroe Jr. who is claiming that he hit him with a brass-knuckle microphone during one of Snoop's concerts in 2005. Snoop stated that he immediately went back to his tour bus after Monroe jumped on stage and was tackled by security.

Monroe claims that he was seriously injured after Snoop, his entourage, and security hit him and poured alcohol on him during a performance of the song "Gin and Juice." He also said that he woke up backstage naked in a pool of blood after the incident. Snoop's attorney's say that Monroe was wrong to go on stage and security was just reacting because they thought that Snoop was being attacked when he went on stage. Monroe is suing for $22 million.

Man Gets Prison Time for Robbing Actress Kirsten Dunst's Hotel

A man named Jarrod Beinerman has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for burglarizing the actress Kirsten Dunst's New York City hotel penthouse suite. He was arrested in August 2007 on burglary and larceny charges after a security camera captured his movements in Manhattan's SoHo Grand Hotel. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of attempted burglary. An iPod, wallets, and purses were stolen from Dunst's hotel suite. Beinerman has also been ordered to receive drug treatment for his drug addiction and he faces sentencing on September 10th on a drug charge.

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.

Yahoo and McAfee Team Together to Bring Search Engine Security

Yahoo Inc. and McAfee Inc. are teaming up to offer alerts about possibly dangerous Web sites in search engine results generated at Yahoo’s search engine. The new search feature will allow people who search the Internet to see a red exclamation point and a warning next to links that McAfee finds as having dangerous downloads or using visitors’ e-mail addresses to send out spam. Dangerous downloads include adware, which shows unwanted advertisements, and spyware, which tracks users’ keystrokes and other actions secretly.

Yahoo and McAfee hopes that the new feature will help people feel more secure when searching on Yahoo’s search engine and visiting sites. Yahoo has chosen to delete the most dangerous sites from their search engine and currently has the second most popular search engine after Google.

This partnership could allow McAfee a way to expose more Internet users to its security software and encourage them to upgrade to the premium versions. McAfee can also use Yahoo’s search information to find sites to examine for security holes and use the information to upgrade its products. The McAfee technology that is used on Yahoo’s site is a lesser version of McAfee’s full SiteAdvisor technology that is free from McAfee.

Priest Caught With 7.7 Pounds of Coke Arrested

A Catholic priest was arrested on Friday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport after he was caught carrying 7.7 pounds of cocaine under his robes. At first, the priest refused to go through the routine body check for religious reasons. The man was then seen lining up at a different entrance gate. He was stopped and searched and drugs were found in packages taped to his body.

The priest was traveling from Bolivia and argued that his rights were violated by the search. When traveling to Europe, a person can’t refuse a body search and has to pass a security check.

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.”

Social Security Checks Rising

In January, Social Security benefits are rising by 2.3 percent. The average check will receive an extra $24 per month. This is not much considering that food prices, medical prices, and general costs of living are significantly increasing each year. This increase is the smallest since a 2.1 percent rise in 2004. Last year it was 3.3 percent and the year before that it was 4.1 percent. Nearly 50 million Americans get social security checks and another 4 million get Supplemental Security Income payments.

The average check for a retired couple currently is $1,722. Individuals get $623. Disabled workers get $981 currently.

The government says that millions of people will have to pay higher taxes next year because the maximum amount of Social Security earnings subject to the payroll tax will rise from $97,500 to $102,000. Baby boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, are going to be receiving Social Security payments soon. The first baby boomer will turn 62 next year. They estimate that between 2017 and 2041 Social Security will have completely depleted its reserves by paying out more in payments than it collects in payroll taxes and then each person will have to be completely responsible for their own financial well being without the help of the government for the rest of their life.

Snakes On a Plane

It is reported in Cairo, Egypt that a man was stopped at the airport just before he tried to board a plane heading to Saudi-Arabia. He had carry-on bags that were filled with live snakes and a few baby crocodiles and chameleons.

Airport security became suspicious of the man when the X-ray machine at the departure gate gave odd readings. Police opened the bags and found a large number of reptiles, including a cobra, trying to escape. The animals were confiscated and given to the Cairo zoo and the man was allowed to board his flight.

Transporting live reptiles out of the country is illegal in Egypt, but the man said he wasn't aware of that and the snakes, crocodiles,and chameleons were needed by a Saudi-Arabia university for scientific experiments.

Back in May another Saudi-Arabian man was caught in the Cairo airport trying to transport 700 live snakes in his luggage. He told the authorities that snakes were often kept by store keepers in glass jars in Saudi-Arabia or used as pets.