Jail time in Arizona canceled for Ross

Jail time in Arizonacanceled for Ross
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Diana Ross, who served her sentence for an Arizona drunken-driving conviction in Greenwich, Conn., won't have to return to Tucson to spend more time in jail.
On Monday, a city judge rescinded his order calling for the 60-year-old singer to return to Tucson to serve 48 consecutive hours in the Pima County Jail.
Ross, who pleaded no contest in February to a drunken-driving charge, arranged to serve her jail sentence in Greenwich, where she lives. But based on an account from Greenwich police, Tucson City Court Magistrate T. Jay Cranshaw found that she failed to serve 24 consecutive hours as required by Arizona law.
Ross spent 221/2 hours at the Greenwich jail between Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 before being released because there was no female guard on duty for the remaining 11/2 hours.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors told Cranshaw during a hearing last week that Ross should be credited with having served her full sentence.
In all, she served 47 hours in the custody of Greenwich police over a three-day span, Cranshaw found.
In the ruling Monday, Cranshaw said Ross was not at fault for her early release.
"It's the right thing to do," said James Nesci, one of Ross' attorneys. "We still don't know why there was a discrepancy. It doesn't matter. She has completed the sentence. She's done."
J.Lo's mom hits$2.4 million jackpot
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Jennifer Lopez isn't the only one in her family with a million-dollar booty. J.Lo's mom, Guadalupe Lopez, beat astronomical odds Saturday night when she played a dollar "Wheel of Fortune" slot machine at the ritzy Atlantic City Borgata -- and hit a $2.4 million payout.
"It was divine intervention," Guadalupe Lopez declared after her $3 investment generated a more than 800,000-fold dividend.
"I have a great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe ... and had just looked up at the $2 million and said a little prayer to her when I hit the jackpot. Our Lady really looks out for me," she told the slot machine owners, who issued a press release touting the "anonymous" winner.
Borgata sources and J.Lo's camp confirmed the winner Lopez's mom.
The retired Bronx kindergarten teacher, a Borgata regular, had been playing for about 10 minutes when the three winning "Wheel of Fortune" symbols popped up.
Backstreet Boys are back
LOS ANGELES -- You just can't keep a good boy band down. After a two-year break, the Backstreet Boys are at work on their first album since 2001's "Black and Blue," reports Billboard Online.
In a post on the Web site of its management company, Wright Entertainment Group, the group reveals, "All five of us went back into the studio this past February and have been working to create what we think will be our best album yet. It has been really great being back together working on our music."
The as-yet-untitled album is being targeted for a summer release on Jive. "We will be touring in the United States this fall," the post adds.
Notable death
Paul Atkinson, who played guitar in the British invasion band The Zombies and later became a successful music industry executive who signed such acts as ABBA, died Thursday, said his publicist Susan Clary. He was 58.
Today's birthdays
Composer-conductor Andre Previn is 75. Actor Ivan Dixon is 73. Country singer Merle Haggard is 67. Actor Billy Dee Williams is 67. Actor Roy Thinnes is 66. Movie director Barry Levinson is 62. Actor John Ratzenberger is 57. Actress Marilu Henner is 52. Figure skater Janet Lynn is 51. Actor Michael Rooker is 49. Actress Ari Meyers is 35. Actor Paul Rudd is 35. Actor Jason Hervey is 32. Actor Zach Braff is 29. Actress Candace Cameron is 28. Actor Bret Harrison is 22.