Judge OKs Race Suit Against Universal
A federal judge has ruled that Universal Pictures must go to trial in the first racial discrimination case brought by the government against a Hollywood studio, the Los Angeles Times reported. The suit, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2003, alleges that a first assistant director on the studio’s hit “2 Fast 2 Furious” was fired because he was African American. The suit alleges that Universal violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The studio denies the charges and had sought to have the case dismissed. The EEOC filed the suit on behalf of Frank Davis, now 47, who at the time of his firing had been directing for at least 12 years.
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Names take aim at Vanity
Brad Grey and a collection of stars with ties to the current Paramount chief executive are fighting back against Vanity Fair, Variety reports. Grey and several former clients, including Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler as well as a rep for the late Chris Farley, have come forward with claims that the magazine’s story on the Anthony Pellicano scandal is inaccurate. In contradiction to the story, Pitt, Sandler and the Farley rep deny ever hiring the P.I. In addition, HBO has denied that Grey once pushed a TV show based on Pellicano as a replacement for “The Sopranos,” as the mag also reported. The Vanity Fair story was published on its Web site on Wednesday and will appear in the June issue, due on newsstands May 3.
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College Crackdown Looms on Movies, Music
The movie and recording industries joined forces Thursday in stepping up their efforts to put a stop to widespread online theft of films and music by students on university campuses, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America sent letters to 40 university presidents in 25 states asking for their cooperation in cracking down on students who are engaging in Internet theft. College administrators are being asked to evaluate their LAN systems and take steps to curtail any abuse by using blocking or filtering devices that can restrict certain activities on the system.
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Illegal Immigrants Skip Work Amid Roundup Rumors
Thousands of illegal immigrants across the U.S. stayed away from work and school, skipped medical appointments and scrapped purchases this week as rumors spread that authorities are rounding up undocumented residents, the Wall Street Journal reported. The rising panic is fallout from last week’s move by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to crack down on employers who purposely hire undocumented immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations over the past year resulted in the arrest on April 19 of 1,187 employees and seven current and former managers of IFCO Systems North America. With 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, ICE normally targets those with criminal records who have evaded deportation orders. In terms of employers, the agency typically investigates companies believed to systematically hire undocumented immigrants for commercial gain.
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Air some of the dirtiest in the nation
Don’t take a deep breath to prepare to hear this news, reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The air in the Long Beach, Riverside and Los Angeles metropolitan area is the most polluted in the United States, according to a report released by the American Lung Association on Thursday. The results certainly aren’t surprising to health officials, but in recent weeks, there has been a movement to do a little bit more than just report the bad news, such as a comprehensive plan adopted by the California Air Resources Board last week.
Agencies are pushing for new measures to cut into the pollution being spewed out by cargo-carrying trucks, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and the massive transportation system that moves goods from that complex.
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