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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Feb 15, 2012
February 15, 2012
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Sucking the life out of the wire services:
Hope you didn't have your heart set on attending WHITNEY HOUSTON's public memorial in Newark, New Jersey this Friday --the event has been cancelled. A rep for the city tells TMZ.com the family did not want a public ceremony, but will have an invitation-only funeral service at the New Hope Baptist Church where she first flexed those fabulous pipes. Word is the family wants to keep things extremely private and the house of worship seats just 300 people.
Pastor MARVIN WINANS of Detroit's Perfecting Church will give the eulogy. He is part of the Gospel singing Winans family, and led the service when Whitney married BOBBY BROWN. NJ Gov CHRIS CHRISTIE ordered all flags in the state to fly at half mast on Saturday.Headline News' star NANCY GRACE has already given her take on the WHITNEY HOUSTON tragedy. While speaking to CNN's BROOKE BALDWIN, she pushed the envelope, insinuating there might be a different scenario other than a drug overdose:
"I'd like to know who was around her," she said. "Who, if anyone, gave her drugs following alcohol and drugs. And who let her slip, or pushed her, underneath that water?"
The possibility of pre-meditated death has never come up in the investigation so far, although Nancy seemed to be pushing that scenario: "Apparently, no signs of force or trauma to the body," Grace continued. "Who let Whitney Houston go under her water?"
There has been no determination of the cause of death in the case, by prescription drugs or other cause.Lots of talk about whether MAYA RUDOLPH, the former "Saturday Night Live" regular who specialized in her WHITNEY HOUSTON impersonations, will be doing an impersonation of the late star when she hosts the show for the first time this weekend.
TV Line reports the writers at SNL are indeed considering a skit but no word on what the content might be.
Too soon?Whitney Houston specials tonight:
--TV Guide Network has a one-hour special, "Whitney Houston, An Icon Remembered."
--Oprah's OWN will run "Remembering Whitney: The Oprah Interview," from Oprah's show in Sep, 2009.
--VH1 will debut a special on Whitney Houston’s legacy, including her appearances on "VH1 Divas" in 1999 and 2003, as well as "VH1 Honors" in 1996.Going Geek-dot-com /Caught in the Web:
Online dating sites don’t do well determining whether people have enough “chemistry” to make a match. The study in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest finds online dating sites encourage a shopping mindset. Researchers say that’s no way for people to make a strong connection. Lead author ELI FINKEL told CNN, “Not only is there no scientific evidence, despite the claims, [but] my team of co-authors have become pessimistic that there could ever be in principle an algorithm that could match people well, based on the approaches these sites take.” (Kaye)
Waiting to exhale:
A student in Kansas got more than she paid for when she bought a cheap textbook online.
The NY Post says college student SOPHIA STOCKTON cracked open the used copy of "Understanding Terrorism" and found a bag with white powder inside. At first, she thought it was anthrax, so she took it to the police. An officer analyzed the substance and said, "You didn’t happen to order some cocaine with your textbook?" Yep, it turns out her bargain book contained almost 400-dollars worth of the white drug. Cops figure the drug was left in the book by a previous owner. (Still) -
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