Details on Surrogate Mother Conceiving Sarah Jessica Parker's Twins Unveiled

It is reported by Star Magazine that the surrogate mother who conceives Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's twins is a 26-year-old divorcee.

While there hasn't been any single information given by Sarah Jessica Parker or her people about the surrogate mother who conceives her just-announced twin daughters, Star Magazine has reported the woman is a 26-year-old divorcee. Moreover, it is said that she is nearly seven months pregnant with Sarah and husband Matthew Broderick's babies.

The celebrity couple are said deciding to seek help from a surrogate mother last year in the wake of mounting reports that Matthew cheated on Sarah with a 21-year-old youth counselor. And once they found the right person, they paid her for "tens of thousands" of dollars to carry the babies, which are due to be born in Sarah's home state of Ohio.

Star Magazine promises some details about the surrogate mother and her comment on carrying the famous couple's babies on its newest issue. Meanwhile, there hasn't been denial or confirmation from Sarah and her camp about the particular report.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, who have been married since 1997 and already had a 6-year-old son, had their representatives announcing on Tuesday, April 28 that they are expecting twin girls through a surrogate pregnancy. The babies are due to be born this summer.

Flash Flooding Prompts Closure of All Fort Bend ISD Schools

This was posted on the Fort Bend ISD web site:

"Fort Bend ISD is Closed Today, Tuesday, April 28, due to inclement weather conditions!Due to inclement weather conditions, all schools and support facilities in Fort Bend ISD are CLOSED today. Safety for students and staff is our main concern."

I did check the HISD inclement weather hotline (713-267-1704 ) and they are still open as of 7:11 am.

ACL Fest 2009 lineup announced

What: The lineup for the eighth annual Austin City Limits Music Festival was released today by concert promoters C3 Presents.

Confirmed: The worst-kept secret in the Austin music scene — headliners will be Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, the Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon, Ben Harper and Relentless7 , and Thievery Corporation.

When: Oct. 2 to 4 at Zilker Park

Tickets: Three-day passes are $185 at aclfestival.com.

What you get: More than 130 artists will play the three-day shindig, including Sonic Youth, Mos Def, Flogging Molly, Lily Allen and the Decemberists. The grids: Now we wait to see who’s playing against whom and who’s headlining when.

Breaking down the lineup a little, we find:

ACL first-timers: Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, the Beastie Boys, John Legend, the Dead Weather (Jack White’s new band), the Levon Helm Band, Sonic Youth

Austin-based highlights: Ghostland Observatory, Asleep at the Wheel (every festival and counting!), the Scabs, Reckless Kelly, Black Joe Lewis, Papa Mali, Heartless Bastards, Terri Hendrix, Leatherbag, Nelo

R&B and hip-hop: John Legend, Mos Def, the Knux, Michael Franti & Spearhead

Take precautions against swine flu, say county officials

County residents are being urged to take precautions against swine flu at schools, offices and other public places after a weekend of escalating infections triggered global concerns and prompted U.S. officials to declare a public health emergency.

No new local infections were reported, and the number of people sickened by the disease in the region remained at four.

But public health officials here and across the nation remained on high alert, predicting that more illnesses will be identified as testing of patients with flu symptoms intensifies. As of last night, they had confirmed 20 cases in California – including three in Imperial County – Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas. None of the patients died, and most recovered quickly.

Yesterday, epidemiologists also detected swine flu for the first time in Canada and confirmed more patients in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak with more than 1,600 possible infections and 103 deaths potentially linked to the disease.

“We expect the numbers to change. We expect additional states to identify this virus as we go forward,” said Dr. Ann Schuchat, director of respiratory diseases at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

She and other researchers still don't know why the U.S. cases have been milder than those in Mexico. But Schuchat warned that more serious infections were likely as the spectrum of patients widens.

“I do fear that we will have deaths here,” she said.

The federal government hasn't banned travel to Mexico, but it's asking travelers to follow preventive measures normally recommended for the common flu season. Those include canceling trips and not venturing into public places when sick. Everyone also should wash their hands frequently and avoid people who seem ill.

U.S. epidemiologists are in Mexico to help health officials there set up sophisticated labs capable of testing specimens for swine flu, Schuchat said.

Analyzing a specimen to determine whether it's a common form of influenza is a fairly routine process that can be done at many laboratories around the world. But when an unidentifiable sample turns up, specialized equipment is needed to decode its genetic makeup and match it to the known genetic fingerprint of swine flu.

Health officials in San Diego County are able to identify common strains of flu but must forward unidentifiable samples to the CDC's labs in Atlanta.

Mexico lacks swine-flu detection facilities. It initially sent samples of unidentifiable flu to Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, where the first seven cases from Mexico were identified.

On the domestic front, the White House's emergency declaration yesterday allows federal resources to flow to state and local health agencies investigating swine flu.

President Barack Obama's administration sought to reassure Americans by comparing the emergency declaration with preparing for an approaching hurricane.

“Really, that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during a news conference.

The public health emergency enables authorities to bypass regulations if they interfere with fighting the disease, such as a California law limiting how many patients each hospital nurse can treat, said Dr. Wilma Wooten, public health officer for San Diego County.

In addition, Napolitano said her agency would release 25 percent of the 50 million doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, prescription flu drugs that the federal government has stockpiled. States with confirmed cases of swine flu will receive priority distribution, she said.

An adequate supply is important because the antiviral medications work best when they're administered within 48 hours of symptoms appearing.

Wooten said the county has its own stockpile – enough to treat all first responders and still have 300 doses available for public distribution.

As a precaution, she said, local hospital staffers and public health workers who had direct contact with swine flu patients have received the treatment prophylacticly.

While the makers of Tamiflu and Relenza reported healthy inventories in the United States, supplies of Tamiflu had sold out by yesterday at some pharmacies along Avenida Revolución in Tijuana, where the medicine is sold over the counter.

Store workers said there had been a run on the drug, particularly from U.S. customers. They expected to restock the medication this week.

Worry about swine flu prompted the closure of several schools for today in New York City, San Antonio and suburban Sacramento, where a sick seventh grader was being tested for the disease.

No such action is being taken in San Diego County, where three youngsters have contracted the illness.

As they did last week, county health officials yesterday refused to identify the local high school, elementary school and day-care center where these patients attend classes.

Wooten said there was no need to take broader precautions because all of the youngsters have fully recovered from the flu and no other students at their schools have become ill.

“The principals and administrator at the three facilities are well aware of the situation,” she said.

It wasn't clear whether parents of other students at the schools were told about the infections.

At the U.S.-Mexico border crossings, U.S. customs agents have stepped up health screenings in hopes of blocking the spread of swine flu. They said the extra efforts shouldn't cause significant delays.

But taking time for medical surveys at the San Ysidro Port of Entry – the world's busiest border crossing – could create a logistical challenge during commute hours.

Agents are questioning border crossers about their health if they appear to have the flu. Anyone with symptoms could be pulled out of line for further questioning by health officials, and they might not be allowed to enter the United States.

Similar screenings are being done at San Diego's Lindbergh Field, which has three international flights – two from San José del Cabo in Mexico and one from Vancouver, Canada – according to its Web site.

Airport officials said they didn't expect the procedure to disrupt operations.

No cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Baja California, the state's health secretary, José Guadalupe Bustamante, said yesterday. But health authorities in that region were reviewing the case of a 7-month-old girl who died of pneumonia Friday in Tecate's Hospital General, he said.

While severe cases of flu can lead to pneumonia, the potentially dangerous lung infection can have other causes.

Source: signonsandiego.com

Dove Award Winners Announced!

Did you catch last night's Gospel Music Awards? I was all set to watch it, flipped on the TV, punched in channel 189, and got...a dark screen with some writing on it. The screen screamed at me "NOT AUTHORIZED". Suddenly, the Gospel Music Channel is no longer a part of the basic Comcast Digital service. Grrrrr. So, I had to settle for reading the Twitter updates from the artists, which was actually pretty neat to hear/see their live view. If you're curious to see the complete list of winners, GospelMusic.org has it. Here is the list of the "big category" winners:

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Steven Curtis Chapman

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Tenth Avenue North

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Steven Curtis Chapman

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Give Me Your Eyes”; Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram; Sitka 6 Music/Essential Music Publishing (ASCAP), Peertunes Ltd. (SESAC), Grange Hill Music (SESAC), Windsor Way (SESAC)

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Brandon Heath

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Natalie Grant

GROUP OF THE YEAR
Casting Crowns

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Bernie Herms