A judge ordered an audit of Chris Brown’s community service progress Tuesday after a prosecutor handling his felony assault case cited a possible discrepancy in the amount of work he has performed.
Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray requested the audit because she said the records are not clear on how many hours Mr. Brown performed and where the work has been done. Mr. Brown had been allowed to perform six months’ worth of community labor in his home state of Virginia, but a judge said probation officials in Los Angeles should review detailed records to ascertain how much work he actually has done.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg said Mr. Brown had completed a significant number of hours, but did not elaborate.
Mr. Brown’s attorney Pat Harris did not object to the audit, and said after the hearing the issue was related to which jurisdiction his client performed his community service in.
The judge said part of the issue was that the court hadn’t received detailed logs of Mr. Brown’s community service, which is supposed to comprise of graffiti removal, roadside cleanup and other manual labor. Judge Schnegg said those logs previously had been provided, but not updated recently.
Mr. Brown, 23, remains on probation for beating his then-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009. He has completed domestic violence and anger management counseling.
Judge Schnegg ordered Mr. Brown to appear at the next hearing, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 21. It will be the first time Mr. Brown has had to appear in court in several months, and the R&B singer generally has received favorable reports from probation officials and Judge Schnegg.
There was no mention of the recent New York City bottle-throwing nightclub brawl that left Mr. Brown with a cut on his chin, or a woman’s claim that the singer had snatched her cellphone in Miami after she tried to take a picture of him.
Martha Stewart to remain at her company into 2017
Martha Stewart will stay at the company she founded, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., as chairman and also will be its chief creative officer through June 2017.
According to the Associated Press, the lifestyle, media and merchandising company also said Tuesday that Lisa Gersh is the new CEO. Ms. Gersh had been named president and chief operating officer in May 2011 with the expectation that she would assume the CEO role.
Charles Koppelman, the former chairman of the board, had served as CEO during a series of management changes. Ms. Stewart took over as non-executive chairman in May. She had rejoined the board in September at the end of a five-year ban on serving as a board member or as an executive of a public company as part a settlement with federal regulators related to insider trading.
“I look forward to continuing our drive towards sustainable profitability,” Ms. Gersh said in a statement. “We are focused on elevating the iconic Martha Stewart brand to an even higher level and putting our content and products in reach of even more consumers.”
The New York company has posted an annual loss for four straight years.
Judge won’t stop Octomom appearance at strip club
An effort to cancel a strip-club performance by the woman known as “Octomom” has been denied by a Florida judge.
Circuit Judge Timothy McCarthy has ruled against holding an emergency hearing requested by T’s Lounge in West Palm Beach, saying the situation does not “constitute a legal emergency.”
T’s Lounge was trying to thwart Nadya Suleman’s scheduled appearance Friday at a competing club. She had signed a contract to dance topless at T’s this week, but later backed out in favor of the Playhouse Gentleman’s Club in Hollywood.
Miss Suleman’s show can go on, though a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against her by T’s will likely proceed.
Messages left for her spokeswoman were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Guitarist Slash gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Guns N’ Roses guitar legend Slash was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday - with fellow former hell-raiser Charlie Sheen joining those paying tribute.
The British-American musician said the award was particularly fitting because he went to school nearby, and spent his formative years on Hollywood Boulevard dreaming of becoming a rock star like Led Zeppelin, Agence France-Presse reports.
“This is a really special acknowledgment … it’s the coolest thing you could ever get,” he said as hundreds of fans gathered for the ceremony outside Hard Rock Cafe, just down from the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
“I’m such a part of this scenery. I went to school here, and started playing guitar here, literally 100 yards down the street. … I got a very Technicolor education up here,” added the guitarist, who was born in London.
Mr. Sheen, who has had his own battles with drugs and alcohol over the years, joked that the first time he met the guitarist, “I was so excited I called him ’Smash.’ “
Following the ceremony, the 46-year-old musician - whose real name is Saul Hudson - posed for photos with his wife, Perla Ferrar, and their two sons.
After quitting Guns N’ Roses in the mid-1990s, the guitarist had success with other bands, including Slash’s Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, before embarking on a solo career.
While a typical rock wild man in his early heyday, Slash has been clean and sober for several years, and has even reportedly stopped smoking.
• Compiled from Web and wire reports
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