Daily News Feed 6.30.2009/Vocab: badinage

“Chilli” and “Pepa” Prepare New VH1 Shows
VH1 is giving two female hip-hop artists their own reality series — Sandra “Pepa” Denton of Salt-N-Pepa and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas from TLC. The as-yet-untitled series are scheduled to premiere in 2010. Eight half-hour episodes have been ordered for each. The “Pepa” series follows Denton as she begins her to search for love after living a celibate life for years. “Chilli” from R&B group TLC is also searching for romance and has enlisted the help of Brooklyn relationships expert Tionna Smalls. The network has also renewed “Celebrity Fit Club” for a seventh season and “Sober House with Dr. Drew” for a second season. (Continue Reading…)

Michael Jackson’s Mom Gets Kids, Estate Control for Now
Michael Jackson’s three children asked to see their father’s body in the UCLA emergency room after they were told he was dead, according to the lawyer for Jackson’s personal doctor. “My understanding is that they did” see the body, attorney Ed Chernoff said. On Monday, the children, ages 7, 11 and 12, were placed under the temporary guardianship of their paternal grandmother, Katherine Jackson, by a Los Angeles judge. The biological mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, Debbie Rowe, will be invited to a hearing next Monday in which the judge will consider who should have custody of them. She has, so far, not publicly indicated whether she will challenge the Jacksons for custody. (Continue Reading…)

Court Decision Could Change Hiring Practices
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide and make it harder to prove discrimination when there is no evidence it was intentional. New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities. (Continue Reading…)

badinage \bad-n-AHZH\, noun: