Recent Headlines

September 12, 2005

For Jackson, this is no world of 1985

SCOTT STEEPLETON
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

"We Are the World" is one of the most successful charity singles ever. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, who joined an all-star lineup including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper and Stevie Wonder, the 1985 recording raised $64 million to benefit famine victims in Ethiopia.

Twenty years later, the suffering is happening across three Gulf states, and Jackson, who is spending time in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, after beating a child molestation rap in a courthouse not far from his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos, is trying to put together another star-studded charity single, "From the Bottom of My Heart," to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

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September 10, 2005

Jackson juror now wants out of book deal
"It sounds like he's flip-flopping again," publisher says

SCOTT HADYLY
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

One of the jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation case who had second thoughts about voting to acquit the pop star now has second thoughts about signing a contract to write a book, filing a lawsuit this week in Santa Maria to get out of the deal.

Ray Hultman, 62, and another juror, Eleanor Cook, 79, have both publicly stated that they believe Mr. Jackson was guilty despite voting with the rest of the jury in June to acquit the star. They made the statements during an interview on MSNBC in which both also announced they were working on separate books about their experiences on the case.

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