WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has raised at least $100 million in August, The Associated Press has learned, hitting that mark for a third consecutive month with a fundraising prowess that has let him outraise President Barack Obama so far this summer.
Romney raises
$100M in month
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has raised at least $100 million in August, The Associated Press has learned, hitting that mark for a third consecutive month with a fundraising prowess that has let him outraise President Barack Obama so far this summer.
The early numbers, which include money raised by the national Republican Party, will be publicly released next week. They were described by two people familiar with the figures who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share internal campaign matters.
The numbers were revealed on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., where delegates will nominate Obama for a second term. Federal records show that Romney and the GOP have pulled in more cash than Obama’s re-election effort in May, June and July, including money collected by the Democratic Party.
It is usually difficult for a challenger to raise more money than an incumbent holding a major elective office.
Ex-NFL star now Ripa’s co-host
NEW YORK (AP) — The only worry on Michael Strahan’s mind when he made his entrance Tuesday as the new co-host of “Live!”: “Don’t trip,” he summed up after the show.
He didn’t. When Kelly Ripa introduced him, the gap-toothed ex-football player jogged onto the morning show set and gathered her up in a bear hug, lifting her off her feet.
“When I was hugging Kelly, that’s when I was calming down,” Strahan explained.
The rest of the hour was clearly a snap for him and for Ripa, who was getting a permanent partner nine months after Regis Philbin retired from the show and after having welcomed Strahan and 58 other guests in the chair beside her.
Sugary drinks ban gets support
NEW YORK (AP) — The city’s planned crackdown on super-sized sugary drinks got prominent backing Tuesday from Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and other diet companies, who added their influence to the campaign ahead of a vote next week.
The announcement — made at a press conference featuring Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a top Weight Watchers official — was the latest in a volley of statements of support for both advocates and critics of the plan, which calls for restaurants, movie theaters, sports arenas, food carts and delis to stop selling sodas and other sugary drinks in servings larger than 16 ounces.
Bloomberg and other proponents call it a sensible way to encourage people to cut calories. Opponents see it as government overreaching.
Jackson copyright case gets settled
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s estate and a businessman working with the singer’s mother settled a copyright infringement lawsuit for $2.5 million on Tuesday, shortly before a trial in the case was slated to start.
The settlement also restricts Howard Mann and his companies from using Jackson’s likeness without permission in the future. It ends a year and a half of legal fighting over Mann’s use of Jackson’s name and likeness on a website used to promote unreleased songs, photographs and a book written by Katherine Jackson filled with recollections of her superstar son.
Mann is the CEO of Vintage Pop Media, which operated the website www.michaeljackson
secretvault.com until it was ordered shut down last month by a federal judge who ruled the site violated copyrights controlled by the singer’s estate.
Under the terms of the settlement, announced in court by estate attorney Zia Modabber, Vintage Pop Media Group is responsible for $2 million of the judgment, while the entity Vintage Associates LLC is responsible for the remainder. Vintage Associates is the custodian of the items that were at issue in the case.
Mann’s attorney, Lee Durst, declined comment after the hearing. “The estate is delighted this matter is behind us,” estate attorney Howard Weitzman said.
Among the items that had been improperly used were images from Jackson’s posthumous film “This Is It” and a silhouette of the singer dancing in “Smooth Criminal.” The settlement also blocks the usage of materials from “Thriller” that had appeared on Mann’s website.
A jury trial on how much Mann owes the estate had been scheduled to begin Tuesday, with an expert estimating a license for the works is worth between $5 million and $12 million.
Mann’s attorneys rejected a settlement offer last week of $2 million. They sought to introduce evidence that they were given bad legal advice about having to license the works and have considered calling Katherine Jackson as a witness. The Jackson family matriarch is one of the beneficiaries of the singer’s estate, along with his three children.
U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson has noted that Mann doesn’t appear to have the resources to pay a large judgment. The defendants’ ability to pay was not discussed in court on Tuesday.
__