newsmakers

newsmakers

Pneumonia forces Haggard to cancel

MACON, Ga.

Country-music legend Merle Haggard is being treated for pneumonia in a Georgia hospital and has had to cancel the rest of his January concert dates.

Publicist Tresa Redburn said she spoke to Haggard by phone Wednesday in his Macon hospital room.

The 74-year-old Haggard was taken to the hospital Tuesday after canceling a Macon show on short notice. He had at least four more dates scheduled for the rest of this month, from Kentucky to Oklahoma.

Tour manager Frank Mull tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that Haggard has been sick since leaving his home in northern California last week.

Bruno Mars clears up drug-possession case

LAS VEGAS

Pop star Bruno Mars was cleared of a felony cocaine- possession case in Nevada on Wednesday, after his attorneys told a state court judge the Grammy- winning pop star stayed out of trouble and met other conditions of a plea deal reached almost a year ago.

Clark County District Court Court Judge Jessie Walsh dismissed the case against the 26-year-old singer-songwriter of hits including “Just The Way You Are” and “It Will Rain.”

Mars, whose real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, didn’t appear in person for the brief hearing in Las Vegas.

He pleaded guilty last Feb. 16 to cocaine possession, but the judge postponed accepting the plea. She gave Mars probation, fined him $2,000 and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service and eight hours of drug counseling.

Mars acknowledged having 2.6 grams of cocaine when he was arrested in a bathroom in September 2010 after a nightclub performance at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Grammys end no-host shows with LL Cool J

NEW YORK

After seven years with a no-host format, the Grammys will have an emcee — LL Cool J.

The Grammy-winning rapper and actor says the Feb. 12 broadcast is “gonna be a great night” and says his hosting duties are a dream come true.

The Recording Academy already has named some performers — the Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars and Jason Aldean.

Though it will be LL Cool J’s first time hosting the Grammys, he has hosted the live Grammy nominations concert since it began in 2008.

The Grammys will be broadcast on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The rap legend is a star on the network’s “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

Vindicator wire services