newsmakers

March 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

Twitter followers follow O’Brien

CONWAY TOWNSHIP, Mich.

Last week, Sarah Killen had three Twitter followers. This week, she has 20,000 — as well as a new iMac computer and offers to help pay for a dress and drinks for her wedding. The unsuspecting rural Michigan woman has one out-of-work late-night talk show host to thank for her newfound online popularity — Conan O’Brien.

O’Brien decided last week to pick Killen as the only person he would follow on Twitter, turning the 19-year-old’s life upside down.

The deposed “Tonight Show” star has taken to Twitter to reach the masses and has amassed more than a half-million followers. But up until Friday, O’Brien wasn’t following the feeds of anybody else.

Enter Killen, who is finishing up her high-school requirements, preparing to make the jump to college and getting married in September. “I’ve decided to follow someone at random,” O’Brien’s posting read at 3:55 p.m. on Friday. “She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change.” Immediately after O’Brien started following her, Killen — whose Twitter handle is “LovelyButton” — picked up followers at a rate of 150 per minute.

Marie Osmond says faith sustains her

LAS VEGAS

Marie Osmond told a Las Vegas Strip audience as she returned to the stage less than two weeks after her son’s apparent suicide that she has relied on her spirituality to cope with his death “Little did I know I would be relying on my faith, especially as much as I did this past week,” Osmond said before dedicating a song to her 18-year-old son, Michael Bryan, whom she called “my angel.”

“How she got through that I will never know,” her brother Donny Osmond said after his sister’s solo performance.

“I hope you all appreciate what she’s going through tonight,” he said. “She’s a strong woman.”

The Osmonds’ teary return to the Flamingo Las Vegas on Tuesday night came one day after funeral services for Bryan in Provo, Utah. “God bless you all,” Marie Osmond told the supportive audience. “The way Osmonds survive is we keep singing, and that’s what we want to do tonight. I know my son would want that.”

Animal activists target Calif. sushi restaurant

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

Federal agents are investigating a high-end Santa Monica, Calif., sushi restaurant, following a video sting orchestrated by the producers of the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove.”

U.S. attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek said Tuesday that Santa Monica’s The Hump restaurant is under investigation for serving slices of the endangered Sei whale.

Film director Louie Psihoyos says two animal activists used a tiny video camera to record a $600 “omakase,” or chef’s choice, meal. They pocketed a sample and sent it to an Oregon State University professor who confirmed it was whale.

The team visited the restaurant three times since October, once sitting at the bar to observe preparation and once with federal agents.

Sheen will return to sitcom soon

LOS ANGELES

A spokesman for Charlie Sheen says the actor will soon be back at “Two and a Half Men” after undergoing rehab that temporarily halted production of CBS’ top-rated sitcom. Publicist Stan Rosenfield says Sheen will be returning to work and shooting will resume next Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Last month, Rosenfield announced that Sheen had voluntarily entered a rehab facility “as a preventative measure.” He didn’t specify why Sheen was seeking treatment. The 44-year-old actor still faces legal problems arising from a fight with his wife in Aspen, Colo., in December. The most serious charge carries a maximum three-year prison term. Sheen hasn’t entered a plea. He is due back in court Monday.