The Real Story behind Justin Bieber, a school, and that $100,000 check
Last week, Justin Bieber made headlines everywhere for donating $100,000 to a high-poverty school in Las Vegas. But the real story is not Justin’s benevolence (although it’s noteworthy), the real story is the woman behind the school — and how that check might not have found it’s way into the school’s coffers were it not for her.
In a segment of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, scheduled to air on Jan. 4, 2012, Bieber is shown handing a $100,000 check to Whitney Elementary School Principal Sherrie Gahn. In addition to donating the money, Bieber also performed for the kids and handed out Christmas presents.
Reporter Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post notes that 85% of the students attending Whitney Elementary live at or below the poverty level. “Many live in houses without heat, electricity and running water,” she writes. But the students’ standardized test scores have gone up significantly since Sherrie Gahn has been the principal there.
She arrived at Whitney about eight years ago and promised Whitney parents that she would help them with their bills — and even help pay college tuition for any students who went — if they would work with her to raise children “of character.”
Here’s what she told Ellen DeGeneres that she told parents: “I’ll pay your electrical bill, your utilities, I’ll give you food or clothes, whatever you need, as long as you give me your child and then help raise that child as a person of character.”
Kobe Bryant and Deieon Sanders are Losing Their Trophy Women
It’s not easy to feel sorry for women who chase rappers and professional athletes. These types of women consistently fall into the category of gold diggers with no moral compass or self-esteem. They tend to pursue feebleminded rappers and athletes (or rapletes) who lace them with expensive gifts to boost their male egos, but who have no intentions of ever being faithful to their trophies. In other words, these couples deserve each other.
Not surprisingly, LA Lakers star Kobe Bean Bryant has been served with divorce papers by Vanessa Bryant, his wife of 10½ years. According to celebrity gossip blog TMZ.com, Vanessa caught Kobe cheating with “multiple women” over the years … but his latest affair was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Kobe, 33, was charged with sexually assaulting a Colorado resort hotel clerk in 2003. But that case was settled out of court after Kobe admitted that he could see how she might have thought he was raping her.
In Case You Missed It: Real Housewives of Atlanta, Ep 7 “Law By Sheree”
Bravo’s popular ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta‘ reality series usually airs on Sundays, but Bravo aired a special court episode last night titled “Law By Sheree”.
In this episode, Sheree’s former ATM machine (former pro baller Bob Whitfield) has run out of funds (Whitfield claims he only brings in $3,000 a month). So Whitfield takes Sheree to court for modification of his child support payments, meaning he wants to modify the child support amount that he has reportedly aready paid.
The Atlanta law community is buzzing about the business practices of local “celebrity attorney” Phaedra Parks. From accepting drug money in parking lots with no receipts, to sending her assistants to chase down Sheree for her $5,000 retainer fee rather than have her transfer the funds into the law firm’s business account like everyone else does.
It all seems dubious and rather bizarre. But I guess it makes for better “reality” TV. It’s probably no surprise that Phaedra failed the Georgia bar exam the first time she took it in 1998 — the year she graduated from the University of GA law school. She sat for the bar exam a year later in 1999, and this time she passed. But she’s in good company; the late John F. Kennedy failed the New York bar exam twice before finally passing on the 3rd try.
In Case You Missed It: Real Housewives of Atlanta, Ep 6
Local “celebrity attorney” Phaedra Parks represented one of her clients in court on a drug charge in last night’s episode of ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’. Afterwards, in the parking lot, the enterprising young man peeled a couple of Gs off of a thick wad of cash and handed the money to Phaedra who quickly tucked the cash into her purse. I tried to reach my own attorney last night to ask her if accepting drug money on camera was legal. Maybe she didn’t answer her phone because she was laughing so hard.
Soulja Boy is flat broke – and about to be evicted
Rapper Soulja Boy has more problems to worry about than drug busts and poor album sales. Gossip website TMZ reports that the rapper is about to be evicted from his Buckhead condo near Elton John’s old digs.
Soulja’s 2011 has included … lying about buying a private jet, pissing off the military with one of his songs and getting arrested for allegedly carrying weed and a gun in a briefcase.
Now TMZ has learned the rapper, real name DeAndre Way, has not paid his November rent for his Atlanta pad — a whopping $4,725 — so he’s been served with eviction papers. Soulja has until December 5 to pay up, or risk getting thrown out. Source
Movers, sheriff’s deputies refuse to evict 103-year-old woman (video)
Not many people live to be 103 years old. But rather than celebrating her 104th birthday in 3 weeks, Vita Lee worries about staying in her home.
Channel 2 Action News reports that movers hired by Deutch Bank, and sheriff’s deputies arrived at the ranch style home yesterday to evict Ms. Lee and her 83-year-old daughter as community activists and Channel 2′s Ryan Young gathered outside. But after seeing Ms. Lee in her fragile state, the movers and sheriff’s deputies refused to go through with the eviction.
“I saw the sheriffs who came to put them out take off and leave. I gave all glory to God,” community activist Michael Langford said.
“This family has been waging a war against Deutch Bank,” said community activist Derrick Boezeman.
The eviction action was too much for Ms. Lee’s daughter. An ambulance rushed her to Grady hospital as news cameras rolled.
When Ms. Lee was asked if she knew she was being evicted, she said, “No. I knew they didn’t know what they was doing. God don’t let you do wrong.” She added: “You know, the Bible says ‘once a man and twice a child’. I’m a child, 104-years-old. Don’t put me outdoors at 104.”
Young explained that the house and case have been in the court system for years. Ms. Lee and her daughter has shared the home on Penelope Street in Northwest Atlanta for 53 years.
Ms. Lee had one last message for the ruthless bankers: “Please don’t come in and disturb me no more,” she said. “When I’m gone y’all can come out here and do anything you want to do.”
Usher and Tameka don’t get along for the sake of their kids
Usually when completely mismatched couples get together, the fake excitement and passion that they feel for one another is fueled by a brain chemical called Dopamine — not to be confused with eternal love.
This chemical helps to remove the hesitancy, uncertainty and doubts that one might feel so that they can quickly get to the matter at hand — hot, passionate, sticky sex in order to populate the earth.
The street drugs cocaine and Ecstasy work in much the same way.
So once that Dopamine stops leaking in their brains, some normalcy is restored and these couples are often left wondering what the heck they saw in each other in the first place.
That’s the dilemma that R&B crooner Usher Raymond and his ex-wife, Tameka Foster, faced before they got divorced. To complicate matters even further: they have two sons together.
Now word is spreading around the industry that Usher and Tameka are no longer on speaking terms with each other. They say that if Usher wants to communicate with Tameka he sends word through a liaison.
I also heard that Usher has much more than joint custody of his kids, and that the children are with him more than they are with Tameka. But, according to gossip website TMZ.com, that information appears to be inaccurate — Usher and Tameka still share joint custody of their boys, but now Tameka wants a judge to strip Usher of his parental rights because he closed her Saks Fifth Avenue card.
