Jackson’s autopsy results to be delayed, officials say

July 30, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County coroner’s office says release of Michael Jackson’s autopsy results will be delayed.

Coroner’s officials had said they were going to release the results this week, but Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Wednesday the announcement will probably not come until next week.

Winter did not discuss reasons for the delay.

Jackson died June 25.

A law enforcement official has said investigators are working under the theory that the powerful anesthetic propofol caused Jackson’s heart to stop. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Bob Barker asks Cherokee chief to end NC bear pits

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Former game-show host and longtime animal-rights activist Bob Barker has made a personal appeal to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina to stop exhibiting bears in pit-like enclosures at three local zoos.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that Barker met Tuesday with Principal Chief Michell Hicks and five members of the Tribal Council. He called the bears’ conditions inhumane and asked that they be turned over to a sanctuary in California.

“To think that with as advanced as our civilization is now that there is any place in the United States were bears are kept in pits is just unbelievable,” said Barker, who is part American Indian and grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “Just picture yourself, if your life, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, month after month, was in a pit.”

The bears are displayed in walled enclosures set into the ground at three local attractions that bill themselves as zoos and theme parks.

Hicks told the Asheville Citizen-Times that the tribe follows federal regulations in caring for the bears.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Richard Johnson is 82. Actor Edd “Kookie” Byrnes is 76. Blues guitarist Buddy Guy is 73. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 70. Singer Paul Anka is 68. Jazz saxophonist David Sanborn is 64. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is 62. Actor Jean Reno (“The Da Vinci Code,” “Godzilla”) is 61. Blues singer Otis Taylor is 61. Actor Ken Olin is 55. Actress Delta Burke is 53. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 51. Country singer Neal McCoy is 51. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 48. Actress Lisa Kudrow (“Friends”) is 46. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 45. Actor Tom Green is 38. Drummer Brad Hargreaves of Third Eye Blind is 38. Actress Christine Taylor (“The Brady Bunch Movie”) is 38. Actress Hilary Swank is 35. Actress Jaime Pressly (“My Name Is Earl,” “Not Another Teen Movie”) is 32. Actress Yvonne Strahovski (“Chuck”) is 27.