LAS VEGAS – Katy Perry’s doing her best get-out-the vote effort: At a rally for President Obama, she wore a tight white dress imprinted like a ballot, and a square box on her right hip filled in the names of Obama and Joe Biden.

Perry gave a free concert at a park in a historically minority neighborhood just northwest of downtown Las Vegas to screaming fans at about 9 p.m., the same time Air Force One landed at McCarran International Airport across town.

Obama later told the crowd, “I believe in you. I need you to keep believing in me.”

The Las Vegas campaign event drew more than 10,000 people, according to fire officials and organizers, with long lines still on sidewalks during Perry’s 30-minute performance before Obama arrived. The singer opened with a rendition of Al Green’s soul hit, “Let’s Stay Together,” and played five songs, including “Teenage Dream,” before ending with a thumping bass drum version of “Firework.”

Perry, who recently also played a free concert at an Obama event in Los Angeles, paused before the last song Wednesday to exhort people in the Las Vegas crowd to vote early.

“Don’t wait. Go tomorrow,” she said. “How many of you are 18 here? It’s going to be your first time, right?”

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Jepsen a Billboard Rising Star

NEW YORK – Carly Rae Jepsen has had a breakout year, and now she’s being rewarded by Billboard, which has named her its Rising Star of 2012.

The “Call Me Maybe” singer will be honored at Billboard’s annual Women in Music event, to be held in New York City on Nov. 30.

She’ll join Katy Perry, who has been named Woman of the Year.

In a statement Thursday, Jepsen says she was influenced by many female artists and hopes to inspire budding musicians the way her heroes inspired her. Jepsen says she is truly honored by the award.

Previous recipients include Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga.

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‘Diddy’ involved in SUV, car crash

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Sean “Diddy” Combs was a passenger in an SUV that was hit by another car in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, but the hip-hop and fashion mogul was not taken to a hospital.

Beverly Hills police Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said Combs was riding in a Cadillac Escalade on Sunset Boulevard Wednesday when a Lexus sedan turned left in front of it, and the vehicles collided.

Hoshino says Combs complained of pain, but said he would seek his own medical attention. No one from either vehicle was hospitalized.

Shalit unhurt in single-car crash

LENOX, Mass. – Former television movie critic Gene Shalit was unhurt after the vehicle he was driving struck a utility pole and came to rest against a house near his home in western Massachusetts.

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Police in Lenox say Shalit was the only occupant of the vehicle involved in the one-car crash just after noon on Wednesday.

The Berkshire Eagle reports that Shalit spoke with police after the crash, collected some personal belongings from his vehicle, then was picked up by someone else.

The 86-year-old Shalit, known for his bushy hair and mustache, reviewed movies for the NBC’s “Today” show from 1973 until he retired in 2010.

– From news service reports


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