Today's Hottest News

A Pink Bentley for Paris

2008-12-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

Paris Hilton's customized Pink Bentley has arrived. The hotel heiress recently received delivery of the car - a Christmas present to herself worth an estimated $200,000 - fulfilling a childhood fantasy of owning a vehicle like children's toy doll Barbie.

She said: "I've just always wanted a pink car. I think when you're a little girl and you have the Barbie corvette you're always like, 'Oh I wish I had a car like this one day,' so I think it just comes from being a fan of Barbie for so long."

"This is a car that I cannot drive every single day but I will be driving a lot. They put on protective tint on the windows so no paparazzi flashes can come through."

The 27-year-old socialite is planning to decorate the interior of the car in her favorite color to match its exterior.

Paris also told of her plans for the Christmas period, adding to website E! online: "I love going skiing so were going to be going to Aspen and then afterwards my sister and I are going to take some friends and go to Sydney in Australia, to host a huge party for New Year."

--Courtesy Exposay.

Dr. Jan Garavaglia identifies Caylee's remains

2008-12-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- The remains found in a wooded area last week in Orange County, Florida, are those of Caylee Anthony, authorities confirmed at a news conference Friday.

"It is with regret that I'm here to inform you that the skeletal remains found December 11 are those of the missing toddler," said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange County medical examiner.

The remains were confirmed to be Caylee's through a DNA match, authorities said.

Garavaglia said the cause of death was homicide, but she could not determine how Caylee was killed.

Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter. She could face a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said this month that they would not seek the death penalty.

Authorities said they called the jail where Anthony is being held to let her know about the discovery.

Caylee's remains were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony's parents' home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.

At the news conference, Garavaglia said that the remains were completely skeletonized and that no tissue was present. She said there was no trauma to the bones before Caylee's death.

Dr. Michael Bell, a forensic cardiopathologist and chief medical examiner of Palm Beach County, said hairs could still exist if the remains were completely skeletonized.

Garavaglia said toxicology testing was still being done on the remains.

The announcement marks the end of a six-month search for the 2-year-old.

"This is a sheriff's nightmare," Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said. "I think there's been an open wound in the community. No child should have to go through this, and we have far too many incidents like this across the country all the time."

Roy Kronk, the meter reader who found the remains and called the department four months ago, directing them to the site three times, came forward Friday.

He read from a prepared statement, telling reporters that "back in August of this year, I previously reported to Crimeline and to the sheriff's communications center that I had spotted something suspicious, a bag in the same area."

"I have been and will continue to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation by the sheriff's office and the FBI," Kronk said. He refused to provide details of what he saw at the site where the remains were found.

His attorney, David Evans, told reporters that Kronk "has no connection whatsoever to this case, has no connection whatsoever to the Anthony family or any of the proceedings that have gone on before. He is here as a concerned citizen and no more. Those who have specified to the contrary could not be more wrong."

Evans said Kronk was asking for privacy for his co-workers, who have been the subject of "intrusive news-gathering activities." Some of those colleagues, he said, "protected his privacy and sacrificed their own in doing so."

At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff's Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether Kronk's tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.

In one of those phone calls, Kronk reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a "cursory search" but found nothing, Nieves said.

Nieves said Thursday police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the "thoroughness" of the deputy's response but would not identify the deputy.

The meter reader "is not a suspect," Nieves said. "He is a credible witness."

Nieves' latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find Caylee's remains.

Kronk is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.

KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony's childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.

In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony "pretty much used to hang out there most of our time," would "snack on food for hours" and went there to "get away from our parents."

The Sheriff's Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader's tips as well.

Nieves also said Thursday that searchers combing the site after the skull's discovery had found "significant skeletal remains" consistent with those of a small child on the outer perimeter of the search area.

The area will be enlarged, and processing and searching of the site will continue, probably into the weekend, he said.

Some of the remains were sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, in an effort to identify them.

Sheriff's spokesman Carlos Padilla said last week that authorities believed the remains were Caylee's for three reasons: No other children were reported missing in the area; the remains were consistent with those of a child of Caylee's age; and the remains were found near the home of the grandparents, where the 2-year-old and her mother were living just before Caylee disappeared.

--Courtesy CNN.com.

Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law arrested on drug charges

2008-12-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

WASILLA -- A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. Sherry L. Johnston was charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.

Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old who received international attention in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Bristol Palin, 18, is due on Saturday, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath.

Troopers served the warrant at Johnston's home at the "conclusion of an undercover narcotics investigation," said a statement issued Thursday by the troopers as part of the normal daily summary of activity around the state.

Troopers charged Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance -- generally manufacturing or delivering drugs -- as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession.

Troopers released no other information, including the kind or amount of drugs, because details could jeopardize an ongoing investigation, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Asked how long the investigation had proceeded before Johnston's arrest, Peters would only say "a while."

The Palmer District Attorney's office had no comment.

Sherry Johnston was arrested around noon and booked at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, according to a booking officer there. She was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond just after 2 p.m.

No charging documents had been filed at Palmer courthouse by the end of the day, a clerk said.

Levi Johnston sat with Bristol and the rest of the Palin family in St. Paul, Minn., during Gov. Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention, and he joined the family on the stage afterwards.

When asked about the arrest, Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, issued the following statement by e-mail: "This is not a state government matter. Therefore the governor's communications staff will not be providing comment or scheduling interview opportunities."

Johnston didn't come to the door of her home on Caribou Loop Road outside Wasilla on Thursday afternoon. A teenage boy who answered the door said he couldn't provide any information.

--Zaz Hollander

Courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News.

Baruah Welcomes Nomination of Karen Mills To be SBA Administrator

2008-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON - (Business Wire) U.S. Small Business Administration Acting Administrator Sandy K. Baruah issued the following statement on President-Elect Barack Obama’s nomination of Karen Mills to be the next SBA Administrator:

“I applaud, and welcome, President-Elect Obama’s selection of Karen Gordon Mills to serve as the next Administrator of the SBA.

“Karen Mills has been a friend and professional partner over the years in both my roles as the assistant secretary of Commerce and the head of the SBA. She is ideally suited to lead the agency. Mills’ background is a combination of management, venture capital, and public policy, three elements key to leading the agency successfully. In addition, Mills has a record of bi-partisanship which is important to SBA and the small business community the agency serves.

“I am proud of the Agency’s record of reform, which has opened opportunity to small business owners throughout America, achieved record loan volume to small businesses, and ensured that communities affected by disaster have the resources to rebuild. Mills will head an agency that has vastly improved its delivery of services and has a dedicated team of civil servants to help carry out the agency’s mission.

“Along with the entire SBA team, I am committed to ensuring a smooth and collaborative transfer of power to the new Administration. Mills will have my full support in her new role during the transition and beyond.”

--Press Release courtesy of U.S. Small Business Administration.

Obama Expected to Name Karen Gordon Mills to Lead SBA

2008-12-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

Karen Gordon Mills is expected to be named by President-elect Obama as the new head of the Small Business Administration this afternoon, according to sources.

Mills is president of MMP Group, a private equity investor and adviser since 1993. From 1999 to 2007 she was founding partner and managing director of Solera Capital, a New York based venture capital firm. She is lead director of Scotts Miracle-Gro. Her husband is president of Bowdoin College.

She has been part of the president-elect's SBA transition team.

Obama is expected to announce the nomination officially this afternoon, but Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate's Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, already has released a statement congratulating Mills.

"Karen has a tremendous background in venture capital and lending, which will prove beneficial during these times in which small enterprises require every tool at their disposal to create new jobs," she said.

--Sharon McLoone

This article courtesy of washingtonpost.com.