Oprah Gives a Fat Check to Atlanta Educator
On Christmas Eve, Ron Clark, the creative, inspiring educator, got a Federal Express package from the Queen of Talk TV, Oprah Winfrey. It was $365,000. Turns out that Winfrey had been monitoring the success of his South Atlanta school and thought that $1,000 a day for an entire year made sense as she was looking for the recipient of her most generous gift this year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Clark, who said his school needs $2.4 million to operate, says the extra money will enable him to provide 26 full scholarships for a year. Last month, his academy also got $300,000 from Tony Cann, vice chairman of Promethean Ltd, the leading manufacturer of collaborative classrooms systems.

Foxx’s ‘Intuition’ Pays Off
Jamie Foxx’s third album, Intuition, debuted at No. 3 on the Top 200 Albums chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The disc’s success goes in part to the offerings of such sidemen as T.I. (on “Just Like Me”) and Ne-Yo and Fabolous (on “She Got Her Own”). With a total of 265,196 units sold in the first week, Intuition also reached No. 2 on the R&B Albums chart. The video for “Just Like Me” was the Spotlight video on VHI, netting more than 100 spins a week on VH1 Soul.

Birmingham mayor is arrested for alleged misdeeds. Federal agents arrested Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford, on Monday, charging him with taking bribes in exchange for doling out county financial business to a favored firm when he led the Jefferson County Commission from 2002 to 2006, reports The New York Times. Langford, 60, was charged in the 101-count indictment with taking over $230,000 in cash, clothing and jewelry for making sure that a well known Alabama investment banker and bond company owner, William B. Blount, got a portion of lucrative bond deals related to the financing of improvements to Jefferson County’s failing sewer system. Read the rest here.

50 Cent Gives Fans a Shot at Fame in New Reality Show.

Watch out Donald Trump!  50 Cent is filming his own “Apprentice”-like reality show, and word has it – it’s going to be off the chain!  The show, “The Money and the Power,” will feature 14 contestants living together and competing to earn a $100,000 investment from the rapper and business mogul. In the show, Fiddy will share his lessons on how to make it to the top.   Similar to Trump’s “The Apprentice,” the contestants are all hand-picked by 50 Cent himself to compete in “business flair, strength, ambition, fearlessness” and originality, according to MTV. The series will also feature special appearances by several celebrities, including fellow G-Unit member Lloyd Banks, rapper and actor LL Cool J and now former Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day. The show will premiere on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT)

Anquan Boldin’s pass defender is fined $50,000.

NFL receiver Anquan Boldin is recovering from a helmet-to-helmet hit that sidelined him in a Sunday game versus the New York Jets. The Arizona Cardinals’ Boldin was immobilized and carted off the field before being checked out for injuries at a hospital. Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt wants the league to review the play for violations. Jets safety Eric Smith, who delivered the hit to Boldin, has been suspended for a game and fined $50,000 for the indiscretion. NCAA player Dante Love was temporarily paralyzed in a recent game and is recovering from an injury after a similar helmet-to-helmet collision.

Ex-football star’s acquaintance admits wanting cash.

Former O.J. Simpson associate Thomas Riccio pulled down $210,000 from media outlets including TMZ.com for his hotel set-up of the football legend, Riccio says. The man who tape-recorded Simpson’s alleged robbery and kidnapping of memorabilia dealers in Vegas a year ago told Simpson’s lawyer on Monday that Simpson wanted the souvenirs as “heirlooms.” Simpson and his friend, C.J. Stewart, are on trial for multiple felonies after they were accused, along with four others, of forcefully taking thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia and Simpson family photos from the collectors. Simpson claimed the property had been stolen from him. Riccio testified that he first approached two California police departments and the FBI to tell them that Alfred Beardsley, one of the alleged robbery victims, was selling stolen property. After getting no response, Riccio told Simpson of the hotel room where Beardsley and his partner were keeping the property. Riccio says he planted a tape recorder in the room, later earning $150,000 from TMZ.com, $25,000 from “Entertainment Tonight,” $20,000 by a sponsor of Howard Stern’s radio show for his tape, plus $15,000 by ABC for an unrelated photo. Judge Jackie Glass ordered Riccio to disclose the amounts he earned, although he claimed that contracts prohibited his doing so. Do you think this testimony will lead to an acquittal of O.J. – or is he destined to go down, no matter what?

The Tigers’ Gary Sheffield has hit the Major Leagues’ 250,000th home run. The score, which totaled the number of homers by all players since the establishment of the pros, occurred during a Monday Detroit win against the Athletics. Sheffield’s grand slam, his second homer of the game, also leaves him just four shy of 500 career home runs. Starting with the National League, the first homer recorded occurred on May 2, 1876.

Golfer wins water war with 129,000 gallons per month

How huge would a crib have to be to use 129,000 gallons of water a month? Tiger Woods knows. The Orlando Sentinel reports that while an average home uses 10,000 gallons monthly, Woods’ house on Jupiter Island near Palm Beach soaks up over 10 times the norm. Fellow Floridian athletes Grant Hill and Dwight Howard put out eye-popping numbers, too: Hill reportedly used 263,000 gallons in May alone, Howard, 189,000 gallons in July. Sounds like plenty of pool parties or lots of toilet flushing – or maybe both.

Oprah’s mom allegedly owes store $150,000. The Valentina, Inc. boutique has named the mother of talk show diva Oprah Winfrey in a lawsuit claiming that an open charge account has gone unpaid. Vernita Lee allegedly has $155,547.31 in unpaid clothing and services, such as delivery. Her $2,000 minimum monthly payments on the account reportedly stopped without explanation or any further arrangements of pay. Fortunately for Ms. Lee, her daughter was recently listed as Forbes magazine’s top-earning TV celeb – again – checking in with a nine-figure net from 2007 to 2008.