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Houston was found underwater, had prescription drugs in room

From news service reports

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Whitney Houston was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was pulled from a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub, and she had prescription drugs in her room, authorities said Monday.

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Pauline Hayes sings Whitney Houston’s song “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” at a memorial for Houston outside the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Monday.

The Associated Press

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Angelina Jolie, seen on a visit to Turkey last year, said Monday that she hopes her directorial debut “In the Land of Blood and Honey” will provoke a wider discussion about rape.

2011 File Photo/The Associated Press

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Authorities said that there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston's body but that it could be weeks before the coroner's office completes toxicology tests to establish the cause of death. The 48-year-old singer had struggled for years with cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her behavior had become erratic.

Houston was found underwater Saturday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel by a member of her staff about 3:30 p.m., hours before she was supposed to appear at a pre-Grammy Awards gala, police Lt. Mark Rosen said. She was pulled from the tub and hotel security was promptly notified, he said. She was pronounced dead about a half-hour later.

"As of right now, it's not a criminal investigation," Rosen said. "We have concluded our portion of the investigation at the hotel."

Los Angeles coroner's assistant chief Ed Winter said there were bottles of prescription medicine in the room. "There weren't a lot of prescription bottles. You probably have just as many prescription bottles in your medicine cabinet," he said.

The coroner's office released the body to the family Monday morning. Two people who spoke with Houston's family said the singer would be taken to New Jersey. The two said Houston's family raised the possibility of a wake Thursday and a funeral Friday at Newark's Prudential Center, an arena that can seat about 18,000.

Houston was born in Newark and raised in nearby East Orange. She began singing as a child at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years.

The White House said President Obama's thoughts and prayers were with Houston's family, especially her daughter. Press secretary Jay Carney paid tribute to the singer's "immense talent" and called it a tragedy to lose somebody so gifted at such a young age.

A sensation from her first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s.

Big night for Adele was also big night for the Grammys

LOS ANGELES — It was a big night for Adele, and it was a big night for the Grammys.

Sunday's awards show on CBS was the second-most watched of all time, with a giant 39 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.

The only Grammy telecast with more viewers was in 1984, when 43.8 million tuned in. That was the year that Michael Jackson won a record eight Grammys. Last year's show attracted 26.7 million viewers.

This time, the performer of the evening was British torch singer Adele, who won all six awards for which she was nominated. She also performed live, as did Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Chris Brown, Jason Aldean, Kelly Clarkson and others. The show also featured tributes to Whitney Houston, the 1980s diva who died over the weekend.

Among viewers 18 to 49, the key demographic for many advertisers, the three-hour show delivered a 14.1 rating, the best since 1990.

Jolie film draws attention to rape

BERLIN — Angelina Jolie said Monday she hopes her directorial debut “In the Land of Blood and Honey” will provoke a wider discussion about rape – something that the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said could be extremely valuable in helping bring perpetrators to justice.

Jolie, who was being given the Cinema for Peace group’s “honorary award for opposing war and genocide” later in the day for the movie focusing on the war in Bosnia, said she wants viewers to be “uncomfortable” when they see the film.

Jolie’s writing-directing debut hurls two lovers – a Bosnian Muslim woman and a Bosnian-Serb man – from their tender relationship before the war into the horrors of prison camps where rapes occurred.

Miami Marlins get Showtime airtime

MIAMI — With their profile on the rise, the Miami Marlins are getting a TV show.

This season the Marlins will be the focus of Showtime’s documentary series “The Franchise.” That means unprecedented exposure for a team that has finished last in the NL in attendance each of the past seven seasons.

Showtime and Major League Baseball Productions said the Marlins were an appealing choice as a team in transition. They hired Ozzie Guillen as manager, spent $191 million to sign All-Stars Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell, and they anticipate sellout crowds nightly this year as they move into a new ballpark.