And if they don’t pick them up we can always rely on Aguilera

And if they don’t pick them up, we can always rely on Aguilera.. Suspicions of widespread corruption among public officials in Compton, the Los Angeles suburb synonymous with drive-by shootings and gangsta rap, came to a head with the arrest of the former mayor, the current city manager and three out of five city council members on charges of misusing public funds. The four others arrested yesterday are all close associates of his.The Los Angeles district attorney’s office has been investigating corruption in Compton for the past three years and is believed to have uncovered widespread evidence that city credit cards were used to bankroll trips to Las Vegas and Florida, expensive dental work, hotels, rental cars and a limousine – none of it in connection with city business.Eric Perrodin, the current mayor and a sworn enemy of Mr Bradley, works for the district attorney as a prosecutor. He now hopes to assert his own majority on the city council and sweep away the last remnants of the Bradley era.. Michael Jackson has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on blood-soaked voodoo rituals in an attempt to create money “out of thin air” and place curses on his perceived enemies, who include David Geffen and Steven Spielberg, according to the latest edition of Vanity Fair. These included the music impresario Mr Geffen and Mr Spielberg, who once turned down Mr Jackson for the part of Peter Pan in his unsuccessful fantasy film Hook.”David Geffen be gone! Steven Spielberg, be gone!” the article quoted the witch doctor as saying.

The session involved the slaughter of 42 cows and apparently cost Mr Jackson $150,000 (£95,000), which his business manager wired to a bank account in Mali.On another occasion, the Egyptian woman, called Samia, took Mr Jackson to a basement in Geneva and showed him what she said was $300m in cash. He could have the money, she said, with a villa and a yacht, if he did she what she asked. Subsequently, three men were flown from Switzerland to California at Mr Jackson’s expense to discuss the deal.Mr Jackson, the article continued, arranged for $1m in cash to be brought to his Neverland Ranch for the meeting. The pop star’s business manager at the time, Myng-Ho Lee, later reported receiving a $20,000 bill for the armoured truck that brought the money.Mr Lee was subsequently sent back to Geneva to see another voodoo doctor, who put on a show of sound, lights and pigeons before opening the door to a bathtub filled, he said, with $50m. The voodoo man said the money would disappear unless Mr Jackson paid thousands of dollars for the slaughter of poultry and other animals.The piece in Vanity Fair was written by Maureen Orth, who has run many investigations into Mr Jackson. The picture she paints is of a man becoming deluged in debt – some $240m, according to the piece – and incapable of cutting his expenses, which have peaked at more than $1m a month. Among his legal papers, Ms Orth found a $10,000 monthly charge from a chemist’s in Beverly Hills.Ms Orth also provided more details on what she said was a pattern of intimidation and monetary compensation for anyone who has referred to the child sex abuse issue.She quoted one of Mr Jackson’s maids, who said in an affidavit that Mr Jackson bleached his skin “because he does not like being black and he feels that blacks are not liked as much as people of other races”..

A British tourist was in custody in Colorado facing possible manslaughter charges yesterday after a skiing incident in which he apparently collided with an American who later died of massive head injuries. The district attorney’s office has until tomorrow to decide whether to bring more serious charges, such as manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.A local judge has set bail at $20,000 (£12,500), and Mr Wills’s coworkers at LTC Scafolding in Plymouth were trying to raise the money yesterday.Mr Wills’s brother, Darren Wills, said: “There was no foul play It was an accident. It is a case of two men colliding with each other.”Officials from the nearest British consulate, in Houston, Texas, said they were ready to provide standard assistance, such as finding a lawyer or arranging money transfers.Whether Mr Wills was in Colorado alone or with a group of friends was not clear.The victim’s son, Ryan Henrichs, 28, said that his father, Richard, 56, who was visiting for the weekend from Illinois, was on a beginners’ slope when another skier hurtled into him. The force of the collision sent Mr Henrichs flying out of his skis and into a tree about five feet away.His son rushed to help his father, as did an off-duty doctor. During the 10 to 15 minutes it took for the ski patrol to arrive, his father still had a pulse, Mr Henrichs said. The older man, an advertising salesman from Naperville, outside Chicago, was flown to hospital in the Denver suburb of Englewood, where he was declared dead shortly afterwards.Mr Wills was questioned by the ski patrol, but it was not immediately known what he told them The Henrichs party had no contact with him.