MEL Gibson and Paris Hilton have inspired California lawmakers to propose legislation to protect celebrities caught breaking the law.

Amid concern over the frenzy of entertainment internet blogs and tabloids competing for inside information on Gibson’s tirade during a drunk-driving arrest and Hilton’s days in jail, state lawmakers have taken steps to clamp down on some forms of chequebook journalism.A bill currently going through the Legislature will - if passed - make it a crime for law enforcement or court employees to profit by releasing confidential information gathered in criminal investigations or unauthorised photographs of people in custody.

The proposed legislation - which was requested by controversial Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, whose staff dealt with Gibson and Hilton - has outraged the media in the golden state. Tom Newton, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association said the measure would whittle away press freedoms for the convenience of celebrities.

“It’s the Paris Hilton and Mel Gibson Protection Act,” he told The Los Angeles Times.

“Fundamentally, it attempts to regulate news gathering and criminalise it.”But proponents said outlawing celebrity leaks and punishing public employees who take cash from the media was a necessary move to restore faith in the state’s justice system following allegations of law enforcement officials providing prohibited information for cash

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, who introduced the bill at Sheriff Baca’s request, said the digital media age and obsession with celebrity news made the law a necessity. “I felt it was important to help law enforcement to maintain the integrity of the criminal justice system,” she said.

“So-called traditional media (have) obtained information and pictures through official channels and via the Public Records Act.

“The new Internet media and others have recently been attempting to circumvent the system by offering law enforcement officials money for information and pictures of celebrities.”

Ms Brownley said the bill would not quash acts protected by state whistle-blower laws, including the release of information involving allegations of improper activity by government agencies or officials. Sheriff Baca’s office is investigating the leak of Gibson’s police report to LA celebrity news agency blog TMZ after the star’s arrest in July last year - which subsequently made headlines around the world.

“When we arrested Mel Gibson we lost control of the information and it ended up on a blog,” Baca said.

“The question is whether that was done for profit or gratuitously.”

The investigation has not found evidence that police documents and information in Gibson case was released to TMZ for financial gain.

TMZ published parts of a deputy’s account of the actor-director spouting anti-Semitic remarks as he was being arrested for drink driving in Malibu.

The bill would make it a misdemeanor for those entrusted with such material to receive financial gain in exchange for confidential information obtained in a criminal investigation or to solicit or offer financial compensation for such information.

The ban would include “any unauthorised photograph or video taken inside any secure area of a law enforcement or court facility”.

Sheriff Lee Baca said the law was a necessity in an age when a photo of a jailed Paris Hilton could have reportedly fetched up to $US500,000 ($A620,00).

“It was like putting a bounty on her,” Baca said.

No photographs have been published of Hilton in her cell during her 23-day sentence at LA’s Century Regional Detention Facility Hilton for violating the terms of her probation on alcohol-related charges of reckless driving.

Sheriff Baca said he was concerned about confidential information being sold even if it was not about celebrities.

“We in law enforcement have a tremendous amount of information (and providing it to anyone) for profit is wrong,” he said.

Recently allegations of California law enforcement officials releasing confidential information have made headlines in the US.

Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano, who was recently charged for illegal wiretapping, alleged that he paid members of law enforcement agencies for confidential information while doing background checks in cases involving celebrities, including comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon.

In another incident, an Los Angeles Police Department investigation determined last month that one of the agency’s officers used a mobile phone to shoot video of the rapper known as The Game as he was held in a jail cell after being arrested.

The video, provided to TMZ, showed the entertainer bragging and waving a wad of money.

TMZ posted the video May 12, the day after police arrested the rapper at his Glendale home on suspicion of making criminal threats.

Investigators said the unidentified officer insisted that he provided the video to TMZ for fun and they had not found any evidence that the officer was compensated. (source: modelsblog.info)

Tyra Banks on the Cover of Ebony Magazine

America's Next Top Model's Tyra Banks, along with other black beauties grace the cover of Ebony magazine's September issue, which is out in the market today. Celebrating the influence of Blacks in the fashion world, the monthly magazine for the African American market features a 50-page spread that will pay homage to various fashion designers, stylists, models and fashion icons.Banks, 33, has made a name for herself in the fashion industry with her extensive print and runway work for advertising giants such as Cover Girl, Victoria's Secret, and Tommy Hilfiger just to name a few. Marked as the first African American woman on the covers of GQ and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, she has taken her modeling expertise onto the television circuit, with her highly rated competitive reality series America's Next Top Model. She is also currently hosting her own daytime Emmy Award-nominated talk show, The Tyra Banks Show."A lot of the times the fashion world doesn't give a lot of attention to American Black girls from urban areas," Banks said. "I don't mean to pat my own back, but America's Next Top Model pulled down the curtain to this world that people thought they couldn't be a part of. Now every girl is like, 'I want to be a model.' I feel like the world is more accessible, but by no means is it less prestigious." Apart from the host of America's Next Top Model, Somali-American model Iman, 52, is also featured on the cover. Known for representing Yves St. Laurent, she is currently CEO of Iman Cosmetics, Skincare and Fragrances, a line she established to market a selection of products for women of color.Kimora Lee Simmons, 32, and Alek Wek, 30, round up the September cover girls. Simmons is known as a retired model and the head of design for urban fashion line Baby Phat, while Wek is noted for representing high-profile designers on the runway, including Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and John Galliano. (Source: Ebonyjet.com)

Next Top Model to Be Next Mom?

Adrianne Curry is shaking in her high heeled hooker boots over a pregnancy scare. Did she miss her special “monthly visitor”? Actually, no. But she did hear from a “psychic medium” that she is at high risk of finding a bun in her oven and needs to be “super careful.”
According to Curry’s latest MySpace rant, her medium has asked her numerous times if she’s pregnant, freaking the outspoken reality star out! She’s even gone so far as to take two pregnancy tests in the last three weeks. Here’s a tip — stop having sex!
So far, no Baby Brady in sight. One might think that the medium would have seen this article coming. Spooky! (Souce: modelsblog.info)

Kate Moss Line Made by “Slave Labor,” Says Sunday Times

Britain’s leading weekend newspaper, The Sunday Times, has accused UK retailer Topshop of using “slave labor” to produce its range of clothes designed by supermodel Kate Moss.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sunday Times reported in its latest edition that factories supplying the retail empire of Sir Philip Green, the owner of Topshop, were grossly exploiting immigrant factory workers in Mauritius and paying them a mere $8 for a 12-hour day.
Workers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India were reportedly recruited for fees of around $725 by agents, flown to Mauritius and then locked in compounds were they were forced to work 70-hour weeks, for far less than the wages they were originally promised.
Green, one of the UK’s richest men’s who ranks seventh on the Sunday Times’ own Rich List, told the paper he was monitoring conditions in the factories where his sub contractors produce clothes for his wide ranging fashion empire. Green’s Arcadia holding company also owns Topman, Burton, Miss Selfridge and Burton, and last year launched a collection “designed” by supermodel Moss.
Though his fortune is estimated at ?4 billion (or $8 billion) Green’s firm Arcadia has not signed onto an ethical charter on fair trading, whose signatories include Next and Marks & Spencer. Firms such as Nike and The Gap, which had been widely criticized for using supplier factories with poor working conditions, have since set up independent vetting procedures and published regular reports of their findings.
Workers in a plant owned by Compagine Mauricienne de Textile (CMT) in Mauritius, which produces Moss’ collection, have gone on strike to protest their conditions. In response many have reportedly been deported back to their own countries after apparently being threatened members of the armed forces.
According to the UK weekly, as many as 50 workers are crammed into 20ft-30ft dormitories and paid as little as $25 per week for 70-hour weeks.
Their sorry plight contrasted starkly with the lifestyle of Green, who spent last week on his 165-foot yacht Lionheart on a cruise in Turkey.
“I sent inspectors to factories to look at the working conditions, to see that they are not working in sweatshops, that the working conditions are good. I can’t stand there and count how many people are working,” Green told (Source: modelsblog.info)

10 reasons why Paris Hilton is a business genius

She’s been to prison like Martha Stewart. She’s launched her own clothing lines, for both people and dogs. She’s even been mentioned by Robert Redford as a harbinger of doom for his Sundance Film Festival. (Redford said the event has become “a big fat market where you have people like Paris Hilton going to parties.”) But it turns out the true Paris Hilton is actually a business wizard of unparallelled brilliance.
1. When she met the CEO of the Guess fashion line, she wooed him by recounting an encyclopaedic knowledge of company’s history. He signed her up on the spot. (cf: Simon Ambrose in the penultimate week of The Apprentice.)
2. Parlux Fragrances have described her as “a marketers’ dream” and estimated that by signing up her to endorse a perfume range they tripled the company’s value.
3. She got paid $1million to fly to Austria, wave at a crowd and tell them she loves Austria. “But why do you love Austria?” she was asked. “Because they pay me $1million to wave at a crowd,” she smiled. You can’t argue with that.
4. She’s lucky. When footage of her having sex leaked onto the internet, propelling her into the headlines, the silver lining was it’s timing: shortly before the debut episode of her reality television show The Simple Life.
5. She’s lucky more than once. In the week she published a book ‘written’ by her famous dog Tinkerbell, the chihuahua went missing for a few days, putting the book into the media spotlight.
6. She knows which opportunities to decline: “I turn down perverted things, like a Paris Hilton blow-up doll.” One must have one’s standards.
7. She’s lauded by other businesspeople. A successful real estate magnate - OK, her father Rick – says of her successes: “She hasn’t tried to spread herself too thin.”
8. How many other ‘dumb blondes’ have seen their book spend five weeks on the New York Times best-seller list?
9. She was reportedly recently offered $1 million by The Learning Annex to teach a 60-minute class on “How to Build Your Brand.” This would make her the second-highest paid Annex speaker, behind her friend Donald Trump.
10. She admits that she encourages people to believe she is dumb and “laughs all the way to the bank” as a result. (Source: modelsblog.info)

Paris Hilton & Nicky Hilton asking $500,000 for New Year party appearances

Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton are reportedly offering their hosting services for New Year’s Eve celebrations in Las Vegas - but with a $500,000 price tag.Paris is said to have asked for just $100,000 for the night’s appearance last year but with her sister, and after her jail-time, her price has gone up.
A Las Vegas source told the New York Post: “Paris and Nicky are shopping their partying ways to Vegas at the price of around $500,000 - only they have the guts to ask for that amount - for a multiple-day New Year’s Eve bash.”
“Paris will ‘party’ at a few spots and Nicky will bless the lucky host with a fashion show of her wares and model herself.”
But the source added that it’s unlikely that anyone will take them up on the deal because the tide is turning against the heiresses: “[the Hiltons] are so desperate now, they should be paying the clubs for good PR, not the other way around.” (Source: modelsblog.info)