Snoop Dogg himself wasn't busted. But two people on the rapper's tour bus did get popped for pot. Authorities in Texas say the tour bus carrying the rap star was pulled over and two people were arrested on pot possession charges. The bust took place just a few hours before Snoop was to do a concert in Dallas.  An official with the Texas Department of Public Safety says a commercial vehicle inspection team pulled the bus over because the vehicle had an expired registration sticker. The official says troopers searched the bus after they smelled marijuana -- and their search turned up two ounces of the drug. Ethan Calhoun and Kevin Barkey were arrested on drug charges after admitting that the drugs belonged to him. Both were jailed and released after posting bond. They face fines up to $2,000 and six months in jail if convicted.

It may turn out to be a key bit of evidence in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery and kidnapping case. And the judge handling the matter says he wants to hear a tape that may help sway the case in the former football star's favor. Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass says he wants to hear a tape from a man claims to have an audio recording that contradicts testimony a witness gave in a preliminary hearing in the case. Michael McClinton testified that Simpson told him to bring guns to a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel last fall. A lawyer says the tape in question contradicts at least some of McClinton's testimony, but the lawyer isn't saying what parts may be called into question. Simpson is accused of organizing an armed posse to collect memorabilia from the two dealers. Simpson claims no guns were displayed and that he never asked anyone to bring guns to the room -- and that the items recovered belonged to him in the first place.

A kinder, gentler Bill Cosby? Maybe, if his comments at a town meeting in Baltimore are any indication. The comedian and actor urged people in Baltimore to empower themselves and nurture their children. But during his comments yesterday, he dialed back the scolding tone that has drawn criticism from some black leaders. In the past, Cosby has scolded members of the black community for not doing enough to help their children become productive members of society. But his comments yesterday were mostly positive and he didn't chastise parents. He even chose the Sly and the Family Stone song "You Can Make It If You Try" to punctuate his less confrontational message.

So much for Ludacris having a shot to become Barack Obama's running mate. The rapper's latest attempt to boost Obama's candidacy has been ripped by the campaign itself. The rapper's verse is being described as "outrageously offensive" to Obama's former rival Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and his current rival for the White House, Senator John McCain. The song, "Politics As Usual," claims Obama's becoming president is destiny. It uses the b-word to describe Clinton and says that McCain doesn't belong in "any chair unless he's paralyzed." The song also goes after the current occupant of the White House, saying George Bush is "mentally handicapped." The statement from Obama's campaign says while Ludacris "is a talented individual," the rapper "should be ashamed of these lyrics."

It's a legal battle between the "king of bling" and Wyclef Jean. The company founded by "Jacob the Jeweler" is going after the former Fugees star in court, claiming the hip-hop star owes him money for watches and jewelry he bought.  Jacob and Company Incorporated claims Jean got a bunch of bling for $765,100 -- and that he still owes a little less than half on the purchase. The suit says there have been "repeated demands for payment," but to no avail. Reps for Wyclef didn't respond to e-mails requesting comment. The company's founder, Jacob Arabov, has had his share of legal issues lately. He was sentenced in June to 2½ years in federal prison for lying to investigators of a multistate drug ring. The jeweler's other customers have included Kanye West, Madonna and Elton John.

Halle Berry may be getting some backup in her battle against the paparazzi. Some Los Angeles are leaders are trying to come up with tougher rules to keep at bay those who have the job of snapping photos of the stars. Officials from jurisdictions like Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Malibu and Calabasas are meeting today to discuss ways to fight back against the paparazzi. Among the ideas being floated about are to create a "safety zone" around celebrities or requiring paparazzi to carry credentials and laying down rules for their behavior. Last  week, Berry said she's seeking criminal charges against photographers who came up with photos of her and her four-month-old daughter. She claims the paparazzi trespassed in her backyard to get the shots.

It's unclear what her defense will be. But a former dormitory matron at Oprah Winfrey's school for poor South African girls has pleaded innocent to charges that she indecently assaulted and otherwise abused six teenagers and a fellow matron at the academy. The ex-matron looked nervous and sullen at the start of her trial, which is being held in Sebokeng, South Africa. The judge hearing the matter did grant a prosecution request for the rest of the proceedings, expected to last all week, to be closed to the public. She also will let the teenagers testify through closed-circuit TV to save them the trauma of confronting their alleged attacker in court. A prosecutor describes the girls as being "very scared and very, very emotional." If found guilty of indecent acts, the former matron faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in jail.

Black Eyed Peas are cooking -- cooking up a new album, that is. Fergie says she and the fellas are in the studio working on a new album, which will be their first project since they dropped "Monkey Business" in 2005. Fergie says the group wants to avoid copying "what's out there on the radio" now, but come up with something fresh. She thinks they want to be "artistic and pushing the envelope" on this project. She made the comments in Las Vegas, where she was promoting two new lines of shoes at a trade show. She is also working on a new movie, which will begin filming in the fall.

The head of the Congressional Black Caucus is calling it "a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past." The House of Representatives has issued an apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors. The apology covers both slavery and the Jim Crow segregation laws that persisted in many areas until the 1950's and 60's. The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week. Congress has issued apologies before. There was one for Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and one for native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws. Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations. The Cohen resolution doesn't mention reparations.

Here's a little something to chew on -- literally. You know the Chris Brown song "Forever?" It is actually a commercial for Doublemint gum. Instead of a situation in which a popular song becomes an ad for a product, Wrigley is expected to announce today that the song was actually crafted as a commercial for the gum. The Wall Street Journal reports that Forever is an extended version of a new Doublemint jingle that was written by Brown. It will actually start airing as a commercial next month. Brown is one of three singing stars who were signed to freshen up the image of three of Wrigley's best-known brands of chewing gum. Ne-Yo does a song that is an ad on the "kiss a little longer" slogan for Big Red gum while country star Julianne Hough did a song/ad for Juicy Fruit. An official with the label group that includes Brown's label, Jive, seems OK with the idea. He says while label suits were reluctant to do a song commissioned by a product maker, the song was so good, they decided to put aside their qualms.

Alicia Keys is getting glowing praise for a decision she made about an upcoming concert overseas. She's due to perform this week in Jakarta, Indonesia, a performance that was supposed to be sponsored in part by Philip Morris. But after getting pressure from anti-smoking advocates, she has decided to snuff out that connection. And that has put her in the good graces of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. A statement from Matthew Myers of the group says Keys "has set a positive example that should be followed by musicians and entertainers worldwide."  Tobacco companies in this country can't sponsor such show because the artists are popular with children. But that isn't the case in developing nations. 

Lil Wayne. Chris Brown. Usher. Who would you like to see win this year's MTV Video Music Award for best male video? It's in your hands -- literally, since fans will be able to vote for the winners. The nominees are in and voting has begun for the various categories. Other acts up for awards include Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Jordin Sparks, Flo Rida and T.I. The winners will be announced during a ceremony that will air live on September 7th at 9pm. It will air live on the East Coast and be shown on tape delay on the West Coast.

A lot of people thought it was cute when Taco Bell came up with an ad that asks the rapper to change his name to 99 Cent. But Fiddy isn't laughing -- he's suing. He has filed suit against the Mexican-themed fast-food restaurant, claiming the chain is using his name without permission. In the federal lawsuit filed yesterday, Fiddy notes the restaurant features him in a print ad asking him to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent. The lawsuit claim the company sent a bogus letter requesting the name change to the news media, but not to the rapper himself. The suit is seeking $4 million in damages, which can buy a lot of stuff off the ol' value menu. For his part, Taco Bell says the chain made "a good faith" effort to the rapper to change his name or to rap his order at the restaurant in exchange for a $10,000 donation to the charity of Fiddy's choice.

He bombed when he tried doing it on the BET Awards recently. But comedian D.L. Hughley got a better response last night when he told some Barack Obama jokes on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He said should Obama win the election in November, the idea of white guilt is "gonna be all over." He says white folks could then say: "we voted for the black guy, we're even now." He even took a poke at Jesse Jackson, for his comments about wanting to castrate Obama and for using the n-word in the process. Hughley noted that when "Seinfeld's" Michael Richards used the n-word repeatedly at a performance a couple of years ago, Jackson called for a boycott of the actor's work. Hughley says there would be a similar boycott of Jackson now, except no one can "find out where Jesse works."

 Last week, it was Whoopi Goldberg. Now it's Sherri Shepherd who is explaining herself on "The View." This time, Shepherd was defending herself over comments she made to a religious magazine about her past. She says she slept around a lot and -- in her words -- "had more abortions than I would like to count." But she ended up having to call her boss on The View, Barbara Walters, for saying to the magazine that she wished some other prominent Christian women could be on the show so they could "lay hands on Barbara Walters and get her saved." On yesterday's show, she said that was "a joke" that "didn't come off the way I wanted it to." She says Walters had "a great sense of humor" about it when she called her in Paris to apologize for any offense.  As for Walters' need for salvation, Shepherd says she told her she was "already in heaven" because she was in Paris.

It looks like Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was not only cheating on his wife, but might have been cheating on his mistress, too. An investigator's report says Kilpatrick sent and got text messages with "intimate or romantic content" to several woman who weren't his wife or former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty. It was a series of romantic messages sent to Beatty that led to the staffer's resignation and to perjury charges against the mayor. Both denied under oath they were involved in a sexual relationship. But the text messages they sent each other indicated otherwise.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton has caught a break. Federal prosecutors have decided not to seek criminal charges against him over his ongoing tax problems. His lawyers say the investigation was disbanded only after the government got a down payment Monday topping 1 million dollars on a tax debt that had threatened to land Sharpton before a grand jury.  Sharpton says he's "just grateful" the situation is now behind him.

If you're a fan of DMX, chances are you know as much about the legal system as you do the rap game, since he seems to run afoul of the law more often than he actually releases music these days. His latest run-in with the law is in the state of Arizona, where he's been indicted on felony charges.  Authorities say he tried to get out of paying medical expenses by taking on someone else's identity. Prosecutors in Maricopa County say DMX showed up at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale back in April and told staffers his name was "Troy Jones" and ended up getting care with the intent of not paying for it. He was busted this past Saturday at a mall in Phoenix. DMX is 37 and already faces two other indictments in the same county. One is a drug case and the other is on charges of cruelty to animals.

Things got physical yesterday when Omarosa appeared on Wendy Williams' talk show. Omarosa got into Williams' face for disrespecting her during the intro. Things got uglier when Williams grabbed Omarosa's book cover to hold it up to the camera, and Omarosa snatched it back. The Fox talk show host tells the AP "Omarosa is a delusional, D-list, pathetic woman." (WORD TO OMAROSA: Your fifteen minutes of fame is up too girlfriend, Wendy wasn't the ONLY D-list celebrity in this cat fight) During the interview, Williams called Omarosa "a typical angry black woman" (WORD TO WENDY: you're black girlfriend--and most of the times that I've heard you--you're damned angry) and suggested cosmetic injections could fix her wrinkles. Omarosa was a contestant on Donald Trump's reality TV show "The Apprentice."

Diddy has had an epiphany. In a new YouTube video, he says that he just finished with a good, hour and a half workout. So, instead of thinking about all his problems and how he's going to deal with them, Diddy says he thought about how thankful he is to have a healthy body and mind. He suddenly realized that he has ten fingers and ten toes, he can see, and he's running. He says those are just some of the many things that he takes for granted every day. Diddy says "some of ya'll ain't gonna get this" stuff and are "going to be hatin' on the blogs." But he says "it's all good." For the ones who get it or need to get it, "there it is."

Serena Williams plans to keep playing through a left knee injury despite advice from a doctor and her father that she rest with less than three weeks before the Beijing Olympics. She figures her injured knee "will be old news" by the time the Olympic tennis competition begins August 10th. Williams withdrew from Saturday's semifinals of the Bank of the West  Classic at Stanford after injuring her knee. She said that an MRI exam afterward revealed an inflamed joint. Williams, seeded second for this week's East West Bank Classic, received a first-round bye and is scheduled to play her opening match tomorrow against Czech Petra Kvitova. Williams says she's "taking it day-by-day" and will see how it goes.

DMX has been arrested for the second time this month. He was cuffed Saturday at a Phoenix mall on suspicion that he gave a gave a false name and Social Security number to a hospital to get out of paying for medical expenses. Earlier, this month DMX was arrested at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on outstanding warrants. And last month he was arrested in Miami on charges of attempting to purchase cocaine and marijuana. Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio says "I don't know why judges keep letting this guy out." He says "I'm hoping this is the one time he's going to pay the penalty for his offense."  DMC of Run-DMC is dealing with a serious health issue. He was scheduled to undergo surgery at a New Jersey hospital Friday to remove two major blood clots in his left arm. His publicist says he had been suffering from pain and swelling in his arm when doctors discovered the clots. She didn't know when he would be released and said he had canceled a planned performance over the weekend.

Snoop Dogg and his crew now have their picture with the Dalai Lama. The musician Moby writes on his Web site that he was going into a hotel in Philadelphia for a meeting with the Dalai Lama when he saw Snoop walking out just as the Dalai Lama arrived. He says they stopped and the Dogg Pound posed for pictures with him.

The latest "Batman" movie has set a new box office record for an opening weekend. "The Dark Knight" took in a record 155.34 million dollars this past weekend, topping the previous best of 151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007. A Warner Brothers executive says "We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did." The musical "Mamma Mia!" debuted at Number 2 with 27.6 million. Will Smith's "Hancock," was third with 14 million, followed by "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Hellboy 2."

Someone must have really wanted James Brown's belt that said "Sex Machine" on it. It sold for $4,750 at an auction in New York yesterday. His shoeshine box sold for $2,000, and a matching red leather sofa, love seat and armchair sold for $40,000. Musician Paul Shaffer bid $32,500 for Brown's medical bracelet, which identified Brown as diabetic and allergic to penicillin. Shaffer also bid $10,000 for Brown's Hammond organ. 

Jesse Jackson's use of the "n" word stirred up some controversy on "The View" yesterday. Whoopi Goldberg said the word flat out during their discussion of Jackson's comments and that quickly developed into the double standard conversation of why it's OK for blacks to say it but not whites. Whoopi Goldberg said blacks and whites live in different worlds.  Elizabeth Hasselbeck started to cry and asked "how are we supposed to then move forward if we keep using terms that bring back that pain?" Barbara Walters stepped in and used the opportunity to promote Barack Obama, saying Obama and others are trying to help the country move forward.

New York's governor and the NAACP are condemning the New Yorker magazine's satirical cover of the Obamas.  The cover depicts Barack Obama and his wife as flag-burning radicals. New York Governor David Paterson, the state's first black governor, says the cover is "one of the most malignant, vicious covers of a magazine" he's ever seen. He says "It depicted them as angry, hateful, violent and unpatriotic." Paterson spoke at the civil rights organization's national convention in Cincinnati. The NAACP has released a resolution that calls the cover "tasteless, Islam-a-phobic, mean spirited and racially offensive." It calls on other Americans who are offended by the cover to contact the magazine about their concerns. The New Yorker says it used satire "to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover."

Her doctor says she is doing better now. But Natalie Cole is battling Hepatitis C. A statement from her publicist says the diagnosis came after a routine examination, which turned up evidence of the virus. It's believed she got the disease as a result of her years of drug abuse. Her doctor says Cole "has had a terrific response to her medication" and no longer has evidence of the active virus in her system. However, Dr. Graham Woolf of Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles says while that gives her an increased chance of being cured, Cole also has "suffered significant side effects" from the medication she had to take to fight off the virus. Those include fatigue, muscle aches and dehydration. In the statement, Cole says she plans to "meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination."

As if it wasn't enough that Jesse Jackson was caught muttering that he wanted to castrate presidential candidate Barack Obama. Turns out the civil rights leader also used the n-word in the same discussion about the Democratic hopeful. Fox News says Jackson uttered the racial slur during an off-air conversation while taping "Fox & Friends." Jackson was complaining that he felt Obama was "talking down to black people" -- but used the slur to refer to his fellow African-Americans. Fox never aired those comments. But the other remarks about wanting to cut off a key part of Obama's anatomy were aired last week. In a statement after this latest controversy broke, Jackson apologized for his "hurtful words," and said there was "no justification" for using them. But he didn't specify what "words" he was talking about.

Kimberly Caldwell will be handling the host duties when a new reality show kicks off later this year. The show is called "Jingles" and is basically the search for the next big jingle writer. KISS frontman Gene Simmons will take part in the judging of contestants who try to write ads for various products. In case the name isn't ringing a bell, Caldwell was a contestant on the second season of "American Idol" and made it into the top 10 of singers competing for the title which was won that year by Ruben Studdard.

If you thought his music made you get up and move, imagine what an energy drink from George Clinton will do for you. The father of funk is hawking something called Atomic Dogg, an energy drink that contains "Horny Goat Weed" and is supposed to be "a make-you-feel-good, alert and rejuvenated drink." The musician has hooked up with Hall of Fame Beverages for the product.

They are going their separate ways. But as Al Reynolds and Star Jones part, he takes a big chunk of her heart with him. Reynolds says of Jones: "I still very much love her." And now he's speaking publicly about their failed relationship. He tells The Associated Press that other media outlets tried to interview him, thinking he wanted to trash Jones, but he wasn't interested in that. Instead, he taped an interview that is posted on YouTube. In it, he says their marriage began to fall apart last year and that the ongoing whispers that he is gay have damaged his reputation. For the record, he says he's straight and hasn't dated since the break-up.

A judge in New York says 50 Cent can keep the attorney he has working on his beef with his former girlfriend. The decision was made over the objection of the ex, Shaniqua Tompkins, who claimed she once consulted the same attorney, thereby creating a conflict of interest. But the judge disagrees. The judge notes while Tompkins and Brett Kimmell did talk about another matter, they didn't discuss the case at hand. The current case deals with whether the judge should freeze insurance money that might be paid out for the rapper's mansion, which burned to the ground recently. They have been beefing over the 2.4-million-dollar house where Tompkins lived with their 11-year-old son.  Authorities are still investigating the blaze, which they consider suspicious in nature.

An auction of James Brown's stuff is going forward. A judge in Columbia, South Carolina, has lifted a temporary stay that could have held up the sale of the late soul singer's possessions. The ruling paves the way for Christie's to begin taking bids on the more than 320 items for sale. Brown's former business managers, Buddy Dallas and Alfred Bradley, had argued that the auction should be stopped. They claimed the court shouldn't have been allowed to appoint new trustees to replace them as handlers of Brown's estate. Brown died on Christmas Day in 2006.  He was 73.

The hip-hop label that was the home to rappers like Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg is now in new hands. Global Music Group has purchased Death Row Records at auction. The sale went through last month and includes the label's back catalog and current artist contracts. The sale price: 24 million dollars. The purchase ends the saga of one of the most famous labels in modern music history. Under the control of Suge Knight, Death Row sold tens of millions of albums during the rap era. But the label collapsed under the weight of its own debt and mismanagement. Among the assets now under Global's control are unreleased material from Shakur that could result in another post-death release from the rapper.

Barack Obama is calling on blacks to ask more of themselves. Speaking at the annual NAACP convention, the likely Democratic presidential nominee said while Washington must provide more education and economic aid, blacks must also demand more of themselves. The speech is similar to ones he's made in the past about responsibility among African-Americans for their own lives. It's also similar to comments that drew a crude rebuke from Jesse Jackson last week. Jackson apologized after muttering into an open microphone that he wanted to castrate Obama for what he described as speaking down to blacks.

Not many movie fans want to "Meet Dave."  Eddie Murphy's new sci-fi comedy is a dud. "Meet Dave" cost about 55 million dollars to make -- but takes in just a little over 5 mil, with a seventh-place opening this weekend. The movie features Murphy in dual roles as a tiny alien and his spaceship - which is designed to look like a full-sized human for a visit to Earth. The sci-fi comedy genre hasn't been kind to Murphy. He's biggest bomb ever was "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" from 2002. It cost 90 million to make and took in just 4.4 mil during its entire run. 

Maybe the jokes Bernie Mac delivered Friday night would have been OK at a comedy club. But, apparently, they didn't work at a fundraiser for Barack Obama. Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. One guy in the audience yelled out: "It's not funny.  Let's get Barack on." About 15 minutes later, Obama tried to smooth things over with a joke of his own. He said "We can't afford to be divided by race. We can't afford to be divided by region or by class and we can't afford to be divided by gender, which by the way, that means, Bernie, you've got to clean up your act next time." Obama added "this is a family affair. By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."

Jeffrey Wright was arrested along with Josh Brolin during a bar fight early Saturday morning. It happened just after two in the morning at a place in Shreveport, Louisiana called the Stray Cat. Wright and Brolin were arrested along with members of their movie crew. All of them are in Shreveport filming an Oliver Stone movie about President Bush. Wright plays former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Filmmaker Spike Lee is joining in the criticism of Jesse Jackson. Lee says Jackson's crude remarks concerning Barack Obama were "unfortunate." But Lee predicts the Democratic candidate will still win in November. Lee says Obama's election would bring what he calls "seismic" change to the world. He adds the election will "change everything ... you'll have to measure time by `Before Obama' and `After Obama."' Lee made the comments yesterday in Beverly Hills, after taking part in a Television Critics Association panel.  Sunday, Jackson didn't realize his Fox News mic was on when he said he wanted to cut off a certain part of Obama's anatomy for speaking down to black people.

Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker has a new role -- behind the camera. He's an executive producer on the family drama "Fat Sells." HBO is picking up the pilot. The show is set in the world of the 46 billion dollar herbal supplement weight loss industry. Whitaker says "Fat Sells" will explore issues of image, self-esteem and power in our weight-obsessed culture. Whitaker is also developing a show for Showtime about the rise of the African American mafia in the 1970's.

After an eight year break, Tina Turner is hitting the road again. Turner will play 36 concerts in more than 20 U.S. and Canadian cities beginning October first. "Tina Turner Live in Concert" is being sponsored by Amway Global. The first stop will be Kansas City, Missouri.