Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Guilty Pleasures:

No winner in Wednesday night's drawing for the Powerball Lottery. That means Saturday night's drawing is valued at $200 million ($96.3 million cash value). Powerball is played in 41 states, Washington DC and the U-S Virgin Islands. Chances of winning the grand prize (all five numbers plus the powerball) are 1 in 195.2 million.

Top-3 Billionaires (Forbes.com):

The annual Forbes' list of the top billionaires is out, and BILL GATES, for years the world's richest man, has been booted from the top spot --but just barely-- by Mexico's CARLOS SLIM HELÚ, who made his money in telecom holdings. The top 3:
3. Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), $37 billion
2. Bill Gates, (Microsoft), $53 billion.
1. Carlos Slim Helú (Mexican telecom), $53.5 billion
   FYI: Other names you'd know: Oracle software guru Lawrence Ellison is 6th with $28 billion, Ingvar Kamprad (who founded Ikea) is 11th with $22 billion; the Walton Family (Wal-Mart) holds positions 12th,15th, 16th, 18th; NYC Mayor Bloomberg is #23 with $18 billion, the guy who founded H&M clothing, Sweden's Stefan Persson, is 13th with $22.4 billion, and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are 24th with 17.5 billion.
   Other software guys: #33, Steve Ballmer (Microsoft) with $14.5 billion, Paul Allen (Microsoft) and Michael Dell tied for 37th with $13.5 billion and Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos is 43rd with $12.3 billion.

The Airlines:

If you already have your dates picked out for summer vacation, you could save a whole lot on airfare if you buy tickets today.
   The biggest airfare sale of the year is on. Discounters led the way and the legacy carriers followed suit.
   Flights through November on most carriers are sharply lower, though restrictions like Friday and Sunday travel apply.
   The sale ends at midnight tonight. (Maiman)

Fashion Emergency:

MADONNA has tried her hand at acting, religion, parenting, marriage, music and is now ready to take over the world of fashion. People magazine reports the Queen of Pop is set to launch her own couture company called "MG Icon" with the help of the Iconix brand and finds the opportunity very "exciting." Fans can look for a line called "Material Girl" in the juniors department at Macy's this August, with fragrance and beauty products in stores next year.
  Always one to keep it in the family, the material mom is enlisting the help of her teenage daughter, LOURDES, to help with the designs. (Lee)

Reality Round-Up:

Next "Real Housewives" series will be in Beverly Hills. The Bravo cable network, which is expanding to a fifth night of primetime programming, says it's basing that night on the spin-off, along with three other new series including "Miami Social Club," "Million Dollar Decorators" and "Pregnant in Heels."
   And here's an interesting note: Daily Variety magazine says DARREN STAR is also working on a TV series based on the book, "I'm Not Myself These Days," about a man who is a powerbroker by day and a drag queen by night. That will be "an hour-long musical drama."

The Reel Deal:

Looking to see the trailer for the next "Twilight" film? It's out on the internet this morning around 9 am (Eastern) at: http://twilightthemovie.com/

Concert Info:

DONNY & MARIE returned to the stage Tuesday night, less than two weeks after her son MICHAEL committed suicide, and the day after his burial. Their show at the Flamingo Las Vegas has been dark since last Friday. Marie did a solo number dedicated to Michael whom she called (quote), "my angel." She told the sold-out audience, which was also filled with members of the press, that her faith and spirituality helped her cope with the tragedy. Donny said his sister was strong for just showing up. But, the OSMONDS are known for their showbiz ethics and professionalism, even when personal problems arise. Many in the audience were in tears as Donny & Marie sang their signature parting line, "May God keep you in his tender care, til he brings us together again." (Marino)

Former "American Idol" finalists ACE YOUNG and DIANA DeGARMO made their debuts in the Broadway cast of "Hair" Tuesday night. Playbill.com says the revival of the hit musical changed most of the performers this week with Ace and Diana expected to stick around for a while. Several reports say that for the show's final scene where the cast has the option of getting completely naked or not, Ace and Diana took it all off, and will probably do so every night. (Marino)