LOS ANGELES — A judge refused Friday to take temporary guardianship away from the paternal grandparents of two young children whose mother was found slain in Mexico.

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Mexican investigators consider Bruce Beresford-Redman, a former “Survivor” producer, a suspect in his wife’s death. A judge Friday denied his request to resume responsibility for their children. 2010 Associated Press file

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During an emotional hearing, Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff made the ruling in the case of the children of former “Survivor” producer Bruce Beresford-Redman, who has been considered a suspect by Mexican investigators in the death of his wife, Monica.

He has denied any involvement.

A lawyer for David and Juanita Beresford-Redman, whose temporary guardianship of their son Bruce Beresford-Redman’s children was extended during a hearing last week, filed an ex-parte motion Thursday in which their son asked to resume parental responsibility and they requested to resign their temporary guardianship status.

Bruce Beresford-Redman said in the motion he had been living with the children, Camila and Alec, since last Sunday. He returned to Southern California after being detained in Mexico.

The body of Bruce Beresford-Redman’s wife and the children’s mother was found April 8 in a sewer at a resort in Cancun, where the couple and their children were vacationing.

On Friday, Beckloff ordered that competing petitions for permanent guardianship by the grandparents and by Monica Beresford-Redman’s sister Carla Burgos still proceed to a hearing June 17 to set a trial date. The grandparents then withdrew their ex-parte motion.

The judge also refused Burgos’ request for the children to attend a memorial service Sunday.

Sheen gets new court date over domestic violence charges

ASPEN, Colo. — Actor Charlie Sheen has a new court date over domestic violence allegations involving his wife, as settlement talks continue.

Sheen has pleaded not guilty to menacing, criminal mischief and assault charges stemming from an argument with his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen, on Christmas Day at an Aspen home.

A hearing is scheduled June 18, but The Aspen Times reported that the court this week set another hearing for June 7.
Sheen’s attorney Richard Cummins told the newspaper the hearing was set “in contemplation of a final disposition being made that’s acceptable to the district attorney’s office.”

50 Cent drops 50 pounds

NEW YORK — Losing 50-plus pounds was a complicated process for 50 Cent – but not an entirely new one.

The rapper, who plays a football player with cancer in the upcoming film “Things Fall Apart,” dropped from 214 pounds to 160 in nine weeks after liquid dieting and running on a treadmill three hours a day.

But the 33-year-old said that when he was shot in the jaw in 2000, he could take in only liquids, and his weight dropped to 157.

“This time it was a lot tougher for me,” the 6-foot-tall rapper said Friday.

“I had to discipline myself not … to actually have myself be in the physical state to convey the energy I felt. It’s a passion project for me.”

‘Idol’ singer not blaming ex

LOS ANGELES — If Crystal Bowersox really wanted to lay blame for not winning “American Idol,” she could put it on her boyfriend.

The 24-year-old musician from northwest Ohio told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show that she and Tony Kusian broke up by mutual decision Tuesday morning, the day of her last chance to perform for votes on “Idol.”
Bowersox said “Big Tony” was a small-town guy and didn’t like the Hollywood lifestyle.

The earthy singer and single mother said the breakup “put that fire in my belly” for her performance.

The “Idol” title went to Lee DeWyze on Wednesday’s show.

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