Connecticut

LOS ANGELES — Miley Cyrus, Jack Black and Usher were among the big stars who headlined Saturday night’s Kids Choice awards — along with a whole lot of Nickelodeon’s trademark slime.

Cyrus took home trophies for favorite female singer and TV actress. The star of the hit Disney Channel program “Hannah Montana” rocked the crowd of teens and tweens in Los Angeles with a live performance.

Jack Black hosted this year’s event, which included singer Usher blasting a sumo wrestler with a slime cannon and model Heidi Klum throwing herself into a wall covered with slime-filled balloons.

As for the other winners, “Drake and Josh” won in the TV show category, while “American Idol” takes home the reality show honors. (Read the full post about ‘‘Hannah Montana’ Wins Twin ‘Kid’s’ Awards’…)

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — A rape charge filed against heavy metal drummer Rikki Rockett has been turned over to the district attorney’s office for possible grand jury consideration, the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department says.

Rockett, who plays with the 1980s hair band Poison, was arrested this week in Los Angeles on a warrant stemming from the forceable rape complaint, Neshoba sheriff’s investigator Ralph Sciple said Friday.

He said the alleged rape occurred Sept. 23, 2007, at the Silver Star Casino in Philadelphia, Miss. The casino-hotel complex about an hour northeast of Jackson is owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

“The subject, Rikki Rockett, forcibly had sex with an adult in one of the hotel rooms,” according to the complaint filed with the sheriff’s office. (Read the full post about ‘Drummer For Poison Faces Rape Allegations’…)

NEW YORK — The New York Daily News is reporting that BALCO founder Victor Conte is expected to write a book about the sports steroids scandal.

The book has a working title of “BALCO: The Straight Dope on Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and What We Can Do To Save Sports.” It is scheduled for publication in September by Skyhorse Publishing.

Conte, off criminal probation as of midnight Sunday, claimed IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky fabricated an alleged confession by Conte and lied in court documents. Conte also said Novitzky was the subject of an internal investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration for allegedly leaking confidential investigative information about the case and for missing evidence.

The investigation apparently was closed after six months, the News said. (Read the full post about ‘BALCO Founder Plans Tell-All Book On Doping’…)

HOUSTON — Authorities are investigating the discovery of what appears to be a fetus in the bathroom of a Continental Airlines plane that arrived in Houston on a flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap said that while the plane was being cleaned about an hour after the plane landed Sunday, the cleaning crew found the apparent fetus. The medical examiner’s office will do an autopsy to determine if it was viable.

Dunlap said that if it is determined that a crime occurred, then the FBI will work with Houston police to determine where it occurred and continue from there.

SAN ANTONIO — The goal was an honor code that discouraged cheating and plagiarizing.

But the wording in a draft by students at the University of Texas at San Antonio appears to match Brigham Young University’s code — without proper attribution.

The student in charge of the honor code project said it was an oversight; he plans to include proper citation and attribution when the draft is submitted to the faculty senate.

Cheating experts say the case illustrates a sloppiness among Internet-era students who don’t know how to cite sources properly and think of their computers as cut-and-paste machines.

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — Stonyfield Farm is recalling several batches of its blueberry yogurt after consumers complained of finding plastic or glass fragments in the 6-ounce cups.

The company said there have been no reports of injury and they do not believe the problem is widespread.

The recall applies only to Stonyfield Organic Fat Free Blueberry Yogurt in 6-ounce cups carrying product codes printed on the cup bottoms that start with the following dates: April 13 08, April 14 08, April 15 08, April 25 08 and April 26 08.

The yogurt is sold at natural food stores and grocery stores nationwide. The company has ordered its distribution network to remove the affected products from shelves. (Read the full post about ‘Yogurt Recall Announced By Stonyfield Farm’…)

LOS ANGELES — Movie-goers laid their money down on “21,” a gambling romp that was the weekend’s box-office high roller with a $23.7 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess as math geniuses who make a killing at Vegas’ blackjack tables, Sony’s “21″ bumped off “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”, which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends.

“Horton Hears a Who,” distributed by 20th Century Fox, slipped to second place with $17.4 million, raising its total to $117.3 million. It is the first movie this year to pass the $100 million mark.

Despite solid holdover crowds for “Horton,” overall business continued to dip. (Read the full post about ‘‘21′ Cashes In $24M Jackpot In Theaters’…)

The New London DAY reports today, March 29, 2008, that House Armed Services Committee Chairman Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO) visited Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation yesterday at the invitation of 2nd District Representative Joe Courtney.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=6fff2166-5d67-4190-8603-1a75e3ddc347

This was Representative Skelton’s first visit to EB and he took the opportunity to express his support for the 313 ship Navy, visit the USS MISSOURI, under construction at EB, visit with Sailors in the area from Missouri, and say some nice words about Congressman Courtney.  This visit should increase the Chairman’s understanding of the need for two submarines a year and help get that approval in this year’s budget.

(Read the full post about ‘Courtney Gets Armed Services Chair to Visit EB’…)

Here’s some of the latest on legislative races from around the state.

In the 30th Senate District (Brookfield, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, New Milford, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Warren, Washington, Winchester, part of Torrington) Sen. Andrew Roraback is getting a challenger.

(Read the full post about ‘State Legislative Races Update’…)

Voters are continuing to register at a record pace even after the 2/5 primary, the Secretary of the State reported today in a release. Here’s how it breaks down:

“There is an incredible renewed sense of enthusiasm and interest in the political process,” said Bysiewicz. “The surge in voter registration we experienced before the February 5th primary has continued through March. This is great news as we head toward our goal of two million active registered voters for the 2008 presidential election.”

Currently, there are 1,941,035 registered voters in Connecticut. Among newly registered voters nearly 9,000 Democrats and 2,600 Republicans registered to vote.

(Read the full post about ‘Voter Registration Continues Record Pace’…)