Massachusetts

NEW YORK (AP) ― Rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel are teaming up for their first joint concert to benefit Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Obama plans to attend the concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Oct. 16, the day after Obama’s final debate with Republican John McCain at Hofstra University, located several miles outside the city in Hempstead, N.Y.

Seeing the two superstars together won’t come cheap. Tickets start at $500 and range up to $10,000.

The event was first reported by the Huffington Post Web site and confirmed by an Obama aide.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Britney Spears’ attorney has asked a judge to delay the singer’s upcoming trial on a misdemeanor charge for driving without a valid license.

Attorney J. Michael Flanagan filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday seeking a stay in the criminal case. Flanagan also wants an appellate judge to order the judge overseeing the case to grant Spears’ motion to dismiss.

Flanagan has twice requested a dismissal of the case, saying that Spears should be allowed to pay a $10 fine and not face a criminal trial.

The 26-year-old singer is scheduled to go on trial in October on a single misdemeanor charge that she did not have a valid California license when she hit a parked car in August 2007 and left the scene.

Flanagan also argues in Monday’s filings that Spears is unable to meaningfully participate in her defense because of her conservatorship. (Read the full post about ‘Britney Spears Files Appeals In Driving Case’…)

NEW YORK (AP) ― The first debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, seen by an estimated 52.4 million viewers on Friday, was one of the first events of the presidential campaign that was not a huge TV hit.

The audience was 10 million less than the first debate between President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry in 2004, according to Nielsen Media Research on Monday.

It wasn’t even one of the 10 most-watched presidential debates, falling well short of the record 80.6 million people who saw the only debate between President Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980, Nielsen said.

Nielsen’s count includes 11 networks that televised the debate: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC America, Telemundo and Telefutura. (Read the full post about ‘First Debate Seen By 52.4 Million Viewers’…)

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) ― Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has been released from a Georgia hospital after suffering severe burns in a fiery plane crash more than a week ago.

Hospital spokeswoman Beth Frits says Barker was released on Monday morning.

Barker and celebrity disc jockey DJ AM were the only survivors of the crash just before midnight Sept. 19 at the main airport in Columbia, S.C. Two pilots and two other passengers were killed.

DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, was released from the hospital last week. (Read the full post about ‘Ex-Blink 182 Drummer Released From Hospital’…)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Prosecutors have charged two people involved in an accident that injured Shia LaBeouf with giving police false information.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said Monday it filed one misdemeanor count apiece for Herbert Simon, 22, and Kimberly Bent, 21. A spokeswoman for Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley’s office said Bent told police after the crash that she was driving, but that investigators suspect Simon was behind the wheel.

LaBeouf was initially arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, but prosecutors announced Thursday that there was “insufficient evidence” to file a formal charge. (Read the full post about ‘Pair Involved In LaBeouf Crash Charged’…)

CONCORD, N.H. (WBZ) ― The cigarette tax in New Hampshire will go up 25 cents at midnight, increasing the tax to $1.33 a pack.

Legislators voted in the spring to leave the tax at $1.08 a pack until the end of September, but to raise it on October 1 — Wednesday — if the tax did not bring in $50 million in three months.

Peter Boisvert of the state revenue department said as of Tuesday afternoon, revenues were a little over $2 million short of that figure.

Even with the increase to $1.33 a pack, New Hampshire’s tax is lower than those in surrounding states.

Click here to see what other states charge for taxes on cigarettes. (Read the full post about ‘Cigarettes Tax Increases In N.H. At Midnight’…)

BOSTON (AP) ― The brain-damaged girl who survived after an infamous end-of-life legal battle with the state will not be called to testify against the man prosecutors say helped beat her into a coma, according to a notice filed Tuesday.

Prosecutors withdrew their plans to seek testimony from 14-year-old Haleigh Poutre one day before a hearing was scheduled in Hampden Superior Court to determine if the girl was mentally competent to be a witness.

Authorities say Haleigh was severely beaten in 2005 by her stepfather, Jason Strickland, and her adoptive mother, Holli Strickland.

Jason Strickland is scheduled to go to trial on assault charges Oct. 29. (Read the full post about ‘Poutre, 14, Won’t Be Called To Testify’…)

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Wednesday’s Janet Jackson concert in Boston is being postponed, because the singer was hospitalized Tuesday.

Jackson was hospitalized in Montreal, a publicist said she suddenly got sick during a sound check. She is being monitored by doctors, but no more information is being released about her illness.

Janet Jackson was scheduled to perform Wednesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

There is no information yet on when the show may be rescheduled. Live Nation Tours said fans should hold onto their tickets, which will be valid for the rescheduled show date.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc.

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AMHERST (AP) ― A toddler has been struck and killed by a school bus while waiting at a stop with an older sibling and parent in Amherst.
 
The accident happened about 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Amherst interim co-superintendent Helen Vivian told the Daily Hampshire Gazette that a 2-to 3-year-old toddler died.

The toddler’s sibling was a student at Mark’s Meadow Elementary School.

Additional details about the accident and victim were not immediately released.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

(Read the full post about ‘Toddler Killed By School Bus’…)

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Certified Financial Planner Susan Kaplan of Kaplan Financial Services in Newton joined us for a live chat on wbztv.com, answering viewers’ questions about their personal finances.

Lou_Ann: How will this mess affect the people on Social Security disability or any other government income that is fixed?
Susan_Kaplan: It won’t affect you at all.

Heather: What will the failing financial business do to a person with nothing in stocks and without a mortgage?
Susan_Kaplan: It will do nothing in terms of stocks or mortgage. But if you want to borrow money or if your job depends on the financial markets, it might affect you. (Read the full post about ‘Chat Transcript: Your Personal Finance Questions’…)