Trending on Thursday, June 16, 2011

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Trending on Thursday, June 16, 2011

New Evidence in Tupac Shakur Case?

Prison Inmate Dexter Isaac Claims He Was Hired for Robbery, Attack.

Tupac Shakur is back in the "searchlight," as the plot has thickened around hip-hop's most notorious murder victim.

Dexter Isaac, currently serving a life sentence for an unrelated crime, released a statement claiming that in 1994, James Rosemond, aka Jimmy Henchman, hired him to rob Tupac outside Quad Studios in New York for a $2,500 fee and the jewelry collected, minus a diamond ring Jimmy wanted for his girlfriend. Tupac was shot during the incident but survived.

The attack fueled the East Coast versus West Coast rap war that led to the murders of Tupac in 1996 and Christopher "The Notorious BIG" Wallace in 1997.

Dexter refrained from naming the shooter in the 1994 robbery. The police are investigating his claims.

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David Tyree Blasts Gay Marriage;

Super Bowl XLII Hero Warns of “Anarchy” 

Former NFL wide receiver David Tyree is enjoying another 15 minutes of fame-this time for speaking out against marriage equality.

In a video produced for the National Organization for Marriage, Tyree says "our country will be sliding toward anarchy."

Tyree was mainly a backup during his seven-year NFL career, but he will forever be remembered for his historic helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII, which led to the New York Giants defeating the 18-0 New England Patriots.

Tyree's inflammatory comments come days after his former teammate Michael Strahan came out in support of marriage equality and as New York State Senate gets ready.

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Unemployment Extension  

Federal extended unemployment benefits (up to 99 weeks in states with high unemployment) will continue through 2011.

Workers covered under the unemployment extension legislation collecting one of four tiers of benefits (ranging from 34 to 53 weeks) under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) will be able to move to the next tier. Workers collecting benefits under the Extended Benefits (EB) program which provides 13 to 20 weeks of additional benefits to workers living in high unemployment states will also continue to receive benefits.

In addition, unemployed workers who who are currently collecting 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits will be able to move into the federal unemployment benefits program once they have exhausted their state benefits.

The agreement does not include a tier 5 of unemployment for workers (99ers) who have exhausted all state and federal unemployment benefits.

Qualifying for Extended Unemployment Benefits: Check with your State Unemployment Office web site for details on who qualifies and when and how benefits will be paid.

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Rebecca Black yanks 'Friday' from YouTube -- happy now?

Rebecca Black wants "Friday" all to herself, it seems, requesting that YouTube take down the viral video that made her famous.

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black," reads the Web page that once held the pop tune so bad it was marvelous. "Sorry about that."

The dispute is over who own rights to Rebecca's image, according to TMZ, which got confirmation from the Black team that a takedown notice had been submitted as a result of a "dispute we have with Ark Music regarding the 'Friday' video."

Ark Music Factory produced the tune as part of a package purchased by Rebecca's family.

After logging more than 167 million free "Friday" views via its YouTube account, Ark earlier this week introduced a $2.99 three-day rental fee for the video — this after Mama Black in April threatened Ark with a lawsuit over master copies of the recording and sales of "Friday" ring tones, Popeater said.

To all the folks who wanted "Friday" to just go away -- happy now? Yes, that is a totally serious question.

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Rebecca Black: Police investigating 'Friday' death threats

Rebecca Black has received death threats: Take "Friday" off the Web or face the consequences. Who knew bad music could be so dangerous? At any rate, police are on the case.

Anaheim police are looking into a menacing call to Black's management company and an email to her production company, both received in March.

"In essence, the threats were related to getting the music off the Internet or they were going to kill her," Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Rick Martinez told KCBS. "We can't validate how serious they are, but we do take it seriously."

Black, 13, shot to fame in February with her YouTube upload of "Friday," the infamous tune dubbed by some as the "worst song in history." The video, with more than 111 million views, was shot by Ark Music Factory as part of a $2,000 package paid for by Black's mother.

Despite the parodies and threats, things are looking pretty good for Black. In fact, she now has something in common with the likes of Madonna and Lady Gaga: The guys from "Glee" will cover "Friday" in an upcoming episode.

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