Blog Posts by Associated Press

Vidal Sassoon died yesterday at the age of 84.By SANDY COHEN
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, who undid the beehive with his wash-and-wear cuts and went on to become an international name in hair care, died Wednesday. He was 84.

Sassoon died at his home on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, police spokesman Kevin Maiberger said. Officers were summoned to the home at about 10:30 a.m., where they found Sassoon dead with his family. They determined that he died of natural causes, and there will be no further police investigation, Maiberger said.

When Sassoon picked up his shears in the 1950s, styled hair was typically curled, teased, piled high and shellacked into place. Then came the 1960s, and Sassoon's creative cuts, which required little styling and fell into place perfectly every time, fit right in with the fledgling women's liberation movement.

Watch the trailer: Vidal Sassoon The Movie

"My idea was to cut shape into the hair, to use it like fabric and take away everything that was

Associated PressMODESTO, Calif. (AP) - A former California teacher who made national headlines when he left his job and family to move in with an 18-year-old student was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing a different student more than a decade ago, police said.

Christopher James Hooker, 41, was arrested for investigation of oral copulation with a minor.

Police said the case stems from a 1998 relationship he had with a 17-year-old student from Davis High School in Modesto, where he once taught.

Hooker appeared in court Friday. A judge set his bail at $50,000 and assigned him a public defender, the Modesto Bee reported.

Hooker requested that his bail amount be reduced, and the judge set a hearing next Tuesday to consider the matter.

Watch: ABC News' exclusive interview with Hooker and Powers

Police said the investigation started after Hooker announced his relationship in February with Jordan Powers, whom he taught at Enochs High School in Modesto.

Appearing on numerous

By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- New research suggests doctors are contacting patients on Internet dating sites and engaging in other unprofessional online behavior - and sometimes getting caught.

That's according to a survey of most state medical boards that license and discipline doctors.

Most boards said they'd received at least one complaint about unprofessional online behavior; 25 percent had received more than three complaints.

The most common violation was asking patients out online. Others were prescribing medicine and overstating medical credentials online.

More than half said complaints led to serious punishment including revoking medical licenses.

The survey appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Violations occurred over about 10 years.

The Federation of State Medical Boards is considering adopting professional guidelines for doctors' use of social networks and other online behavior.

When Robert Collins of Baltimore returned from a leave of absence from his job as a security guard he was asked for his Facebook login.SEATTLE (AP) -- When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.

Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn't see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.

Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn't want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A county corrections officer in Washington state has been charged with bigamy after Facebook discovered two women were connected to him and suggested they might want to be "friends."

Pierce County prosecutors say Alan L. O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing wife No. 1.

Wife No. 1 recently found out about Wife No. 2 when Facebook detected their connection to O'Neill and suggested the friendship connection.

Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The News Tribune ( http://is.gd/cRE9Mf ).

[Watch: Dad shoots daughter's laptop after Facebook rant]

"An hour later the defendant arrived at (Wife No. 1's) apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, `No, we are still married.'"

Neither O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name

FILE - Jan. 25, 2011 file photo, Janice Berenstain displays a copy of the first book.PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Jan Berenstain, who with her husband, Stan, wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bears books that have charmed preschoolers and their parents for 50 years, has died. She was 88.

Berenstain suffered a severe stroke on Thursday and died Friday without regaining consciousness, her son Mike Berenstain said.

The gentle tales of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear were inspired by the Berenstain children, and later their grandchildren. The stories address children's common concerns and aim to offer guidance on subjects like dentist visits, peer pressure, a new sibling or summer camp.

The first Berenstain Bears book, "The Big Honey Hunt," was published in 1962. Over the years, more than 300 titles have been released in 23 languages - most recently in Arabic and Icelandic - and have become a rite of passage for generations of young readers.

"They say jokes don't travel well, but family humor does," said Jan Berenstain told The Associated Press

Haydee Ibarra looks at her 14-week-old daughter, Melinda Star Guido, at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. At birth, Melinda Star Guido tipped the scales at only 9 1/2 ounces, a tad less than the weight of two iPhone 4S. Most babies her size don’t survive, but doctors are preparing to send her home as soon as the end of the month. Melinda is believed to be the second smallest baby to survive in the United States and the third smallest in the world. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) LOS ANGELES (AP) - One of the world's smallest surviving babies is headed home.

Melinda Star Guido weighed only 9 ½ ounces at birth- less than a can of soda. After spending her early months in the neonatal intensive care unit, a team of doctors and nurses will gather Friday to see her off.

Melinda has been growing steadily and gaining weight since she was born premature at 24 weeks in August at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. She is the world's third smallest baby and the second smallest in the U.S.

Now weighing 4½ pounds, doctors said Melinda has made enough progress to be discharged. It's too early to know how she will fare developmentally and physically, but doctors planned to monitor her for the next six years.

• See more amazing photos of baby Melinda before she leaves for home

Most babies this small don't survive even with advanced medical care. About 7,500 babies are born each year in the United States weighing less than 1 pound, and about 10 percent

It may come across as an extreme case of nuptial nostalgia: A now-divorced man saying a photography studio should pay to recreate his wedding to make up for what he considers flawed pictures and video.

But after being branded a "groomzilla," Todd Remis said Tuesday his now-notorious lawsuit is about holding a business to a pledge, not holding onto a broken marriage.

"It was their failure to deliver after a promise and a handshake" agreement to retouch the photos, Remis said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. "How could a business treat a customer this way?"

It was his first public response to a flurry of acidic commentary on the case in recent months.

While suits over wedding photographs aren't unusual, what set Remis' case apart is his mention of wanting to reconstitute the ceremony and celebration of a bygone union. He said during sworn questioning this summer that the two began divorce proceedings in 2008. The split was final in 2010, and he said he