Buzz Briefs: Nick Hogan, Toni Braxton

NEW YORK, May 9, 2008

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(CBS/AP) 
Judge: Nick Hogan To Jail For 8 Months

A judge in Florida says the 17-year-old son of wrestler Hulk Hogan should serve eight months in jail for reckless driving.

Nick Bollea was led off to begin his sentence immediately after Friday's ruling. He will be on five years' probation and lose his driving privileges for three years.

Authorities say Bollea was racing a friend in his father's sports car when he clipped a curb, spun out of control and slammed into a palm tree in downtown Clearwater, Florida, last August.

The impact left his friend critically injured and in need of lifetime medical care.

Bollea pleaded no contest to the reckless driving charge.


Toni Braxton's Las Vegas Show Postponed Until June

A hotel official says Toni Braxton's show at the Flamingo Las Vegas won't resume for at least another month.

Harrah's Entertainment spokeswoman Deanna Pettit says the target date to resume the show, "Toni Braxton: Revealed," is now June 6. The Flamingo is offering refunds for canceled shows.

Braxton's show has been dark since the 40-year-old entertainer was hospitalized overnight April 7 with what hotel officials said was a complaint of chest pain.

Pettit says she can't comment about Braxton's medical condition. Braxton has been treated in the past for pericarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart.

Braxton is a six-time Grammy winner for songs including "Un-break My Heart." Her two-year run at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel is scheduled to end in August.


Mary J. Blige Starts Women's Foundation

The queen of hip-hop soul is establishing a foundation to help women develop careers and gain self-confidence.

Mary J. Blige, whose current album is "Growing Pains," and Steve Stoute, who founded a youth-oriented brand consulting firm, say they're setting up the Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now.

They say the charity will fund scholarships, grants and programs that help women gain confidence and skills to succeed in careers.

It will concentrate first on the Yonkers area, where the 37-year-old Blige grew up. She and Stoute say they expect to expand to the New York metropolitan area and then the nation.


Foxy Brown Pleads Guilty

Rapper Foxy Brown has pleaded guilty to menacing a neighbor with her cell phone last year. She avoided jail based on time already served.

Brown and neighbor Arlene Raymond got into a fight last July over Brown blasting her car stereo outside their Brooklyn apartment building.

As part of the plea deal, the 28-year-old rapper wrote a letter apologizing to Raymond. Brown presented the letter to Justice John Walsh in a Brooklyn court on Thursday.

The judge extended Raymond's order of protection.

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, spent seven months in jail for a Manhattan case involving a fight she had with manicurists in a nail salon. She was released last month.


Judge Allows Notorious B.I.G.'s Family To Sue For Wrongful Death

A judge has reinstated a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G., reversing an earlier decision to dismiss the case.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper threw out the lawsuit March 21 after determining the family missed a state deadline for bringing a claim against the city and two former police officers. The lawsuit was originally filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, then moved to federal court.

The family appealed, and the judge reversed her decision after finding federal claims in the case can proceed, according to court papers obtained Thursday.

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Photos: The Famous & Their Feuds

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Cooper gave the family 20 days to file a new lawsuit and drop the state claims.

B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was gunned down March 9, 1997, while leaving a party at a Los Angeles museum. The 24-year-old performer's killing remains unsolved.

Two wrongful death lawsuits were filed against the city on behalf of the rapper's widow, mother and two children.

The first lawsuit, filed in 2002, alleges wrongful death and civil rights violations. It ended in a mistrial in 2005. The case remains active, with the judge allowing the family to amend the lawsuit because of newly discovered evidence.

Cooper's recent ruling involved the secondary lawsuit, which contends that rogue police officers conspired to kill Wallace and that the police department covered up their involvement.


R. Kelly's Porn Trial Jury To Be Selected

Jury selection was set to start Friday in the long-delayed trial of one of urban music's biggest stars.

Grammy-winning R&B singer R. Kelly faces child pornography charges, prompted by a videotape allegedly showing him having sex with a girl as young as 13.

The trial has been delayed for six years and another delay was possible after defense attorneys filed a motion Wednesday seeking to postpone the trial again. Judge Vincent Gaughan could rule on that request Friday.

The reasons for the motion were being kept secret, but it came as publicity surrounding the case heats up and some media speculated about who might testify.

Prosecutors will have to surmount several hurdles if they hope to prevail.

Chief among them is that the alleged victim, now 23, says it wasn't her. And Kelly's lawyers - including prominent Chicago attorney Ed Genson - haven't admitted it's Kelly in the video.

The 41-year-old Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The centerpiece of the trial is the video footage, which Gaughan ruled may be shown in open court.

Prosecutors claim the videotape was made some time between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1 2000, and that the girl was born in September 1984. Kelly was indicted on pornography charges June 5, 2002, after the tape surfaced.

It is unclear whether prosecutors have asked - or would be allowed - to tell jurors about accusations that Kelly allegedly had sexual relations with other minors, because some of the trial proceedings have been kept secret by the judge.

Media outlets, including The Associated Press, have filed a motion seeking to get court records and hearing transcripts unsealed. Gaughan said Thursday he would rule on that motion May 16.

Once it gets under way, the trial is expected to last several weeks.

Although he won a Grammy in 1997 for the gospel-like song "I Believe I Can Fly," Kelly's biggest hits are sexually charged songs like "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition" and his current single, "Hair Braider." He is due to release a new album in July.

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