Teena Marie: Autopsy Done; Toxology Pending; 911 Call Released
Investigators say an autopsy on R&B singer Teena Marie revealed no signs of trauma, but it likely will be weeks before a cause of death will be determined, reports the Associated Press.
Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Wednesday that toxicology tests that could determine Marie’s cause of death take about six weeks.
Winter says her body showed no signs of trauma and no illegal drugs were found in the Pasadena home where she died.
Meanwhile, TMZ has obtained the emotional 911 call made by Marie’s daughter Alia Rose.
The website reported…
During the call, she tells the operator, ““I’m scared, I’m so scared! She’s lost her color…her color is gone.” Eventually, the operator realizes there is nothing she can do for the singer — and instructs her daughter to wait outside for help. As we previously reported on the ER, officials believe the 54-year-old singer died of natural causes — possibly a massive seizure. 
DMX Sent To Arizona Mental Health-Unit
Troubled rap star DMX was admitted to a mental health unit in an Arizona prison facility on December 20th.
According to reports, the rapper, born Earl Simmons, was sent to the Flamenco Mental Health
Unit inside the Alahambra Prison complex.
The rapper was transferred to the mental-health unit on December 20th, after serving over a month in the infamous Tent City jail, run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
According to reports, DMX is barred from having visitors for 30 days while he is inside the mental-health unit.
When the rapper was being sentenced to a year in prison for violating his probation on December 16th, Judge Christine Mulleneaux noted that the rapper may suffer from bi-polar disorder or some sort of mental affliction.
DMX is serving the year in prison for violating his probation by drinking alcohol during a concert in November.
He later tested positive for cocaine, Oxycontin, driving with a suspended license and other infractions.
US soul singer Bernard Wilson dies at 64
US soul singer Bernard Wilson, a member of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, has died at the age of 64.
The baritone vocalist died on 26 December from undisclosed medical complications in Voorhees, New Jersey.
Wilson was part of the classic Blue Note lineup that also included lead singer Teddy Pendergrass - who died in January.
The group had a huge international hit with the songs If You Don't Know Me By Now and Don't Leave Me This Way.
The dance track The Love I Lost has been credited as one of the first disco records.
Wilson left the band in 1977, a year after Pendergrass's departure.
The singer's cousin Faith Peace-Mazzccua told the Associated Press that Wilson "left home at 16 as a pauper and came back home a millionaire".
She said her cousin kept performing until recently, adding, "He didn't take no stuff and he loved people."
Billy Taylor, US jazz musician and composer, dies at 89
The jazz musician and composer Billy Taylor has died in New York of heart failure at the age of 89.
Taylor had been playing professionally since the 1940s, and later became a TV and radio personality, presenting several jazz programmes.
His most famous song, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, became the unofficial anthem of the US civil rights movement.
Taylor was considered to be one of the most ardent advocates of jazz music.
He began his career in the 1940s in New York's jazz clubs, becoming house pianist in the legendary Birdland club, playing alongside jazz greats including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.
He later formed the Billy Taylor Trio, for which he composed hundreds of songs, including his most famous, which was later covered by Nina Simone.
Taylor believed jazz was America's classical music, and was committed to its proper teaching.
"One of the things that we have not done is to put jazz in the position that it deserves in our society," he told an interviewer in 2007.
"If you really listen to that, study that, everything you need to know about America is right there, and it's up to us who've experienced much of that to be able to share that."
Driven by this believe, Taylor set up the Jazzmobile movement in the 1960s, which promoted education through the arts and staged free concerts by high-profile jazz musicians in deprived areas of the US.
In later life, Taylor presented jazz programmes on National Public Radio in the US and was an arts correspondent for the CBS channel.
Taylor had a doctorate in music education, several honourary degrees, numerous awards including a Grammy and had served as Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.
He is survived by his wife, Theodora, and a daughter.
Indian Citibank 'fraudster' arrested
Police in India have arrested a Citibank employee accused of defrauding clients out of millions of dollars.
Shivraj Puri, 32, who is expected to appear in court later, told an Indian newspaper he was innocent.
The alleged fraud was discovered earlier this month in a branch of the global bank in Gurgaon, a wealthy suburb of Delhi.
The bank has said duped investors were promised quick, high returns from a bogus financial scheme.
It is alleged that Mr Puri funnelled the money into accounts controlled by three relatives.
Mr Puri reportedly handed himself in on Thursday, a day after police said he was wanted for questioning.
The accused told the Times of India newspaper after his arrest: "I have already given full details to the police. I have full faith in the judiciary. Truth will come out."
The alleged fraud came to light earlier this month when a client mentioned the scheme to a senior bank manager.
Citibank has not publicly put a figure on the sums involved, but investigators have said at least $20m (£13m) was stolen.
According to a police complaint filed by Citibank, and seen by the BBC, funds were transferred suspiciously at the bank's branch in the Delhi suburb from October 2009.
FSA fines treble to £89m in 2010
Fines handed down by the UK city regulator almost tripled during 2010 from the year earlier to £89m, figures compiled by the Financial Times show.
The year saw the Financial Services Authority (FSA) impose the largest fines in its history on JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
It also banned 60 people from working in the financial sector.
In a shake-up of regulation, the FSA will be replaced by the Consumer Protection and Markets Authority.
'Obsessed'
The figure for penalties compares with £35m in 2009.
However, fines in the UK are considerably lower than in the US, where big banking groups regularly pay more than $500m (£323m) between them each year.
JP Morgan was fined £33.3m in June - a UK record - after failing to keep client money in separate accounts.
Meanwhile, Goldman agreed to pay £17.5m after the investment bank did not tell the FSA that it was being investigated by US authorities.
Not all are supportive of the FSA's policy of levying large fines.
"The regulator continues to be obsessed with how its enforcement cases will play out in the media," Nathan Willmot, a partner at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, told the FT.
Source: FT
New £32m Thames road bridge at Walton approved
A £32.3m bridge over the River Thames has been given the go-ahead by the government.
The new Walton Bridge in Surrey will be the first road crossing to be built over the river in 20 years.
The structure, which will replace two "temporary" bridges at Walton and Shepperton, is due to be completed by the summer of 2013.
The Department of Transport will invest £23.8 with the rest of the money coming from Surrey County Council.
The decision comes after the authority reduced the scheme's cost by up to £5m.
'Hugely important'
Ian Lake, of Surrey County Council, said: "The new bridge will open another chapter in the long history of the River Thames.
"With Surrey's roads carrying nearly twice the national average traffic flow and the county being a powerhouse of the national economy, this is a hugely important scheme.
"Walton's new bridge will make a real difference to residents, commuters and businesses."
Liberal Democrat transport minister Norman Baker said: "The new bridge will bring long-term benefits for all those travelling in the area.
"Without this investment motorists would have faced huge disruption and delays as the temporary bridge reached the end of its life."
The project was approved in 2008 by the previous government but put on hold as part of the coalition's spending review.
Surrey County Council was granted a compulsory purchase order for the land last year.
The authority expects work to start on the bridge in January.