Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has announced she will be stepping down from her post as the state’s highest-ranking official on July 26 and will not seek re-election to a second term in 2010.

In a press conference held in her Wasilla, Alaska, hometown Friday, Palin — who has 18 months left in her first term of office — said she would be devoting more time to her family, though political insiders also speculate she is shifting her focus onto a 2012 bid for president.

“I never believed that I nor anyone else needs a title to do this, to make a difference,” Palin, flanked by her husband, Todd, told reporters. “I’m determined to take the right path for Alaska, even though it is unconventional and it’s not so comfortable.”

SUBSCRIBE TO US WEEKLY!

Palin, 45, announced that the state’s Lt. Governor Sean Parnell would assume the role of Alaska’s chief executive at the end of the month.

Earlier this spring it was announced Palin — who served as Arizona Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate in 2008 — inked a book deal with the HarperCollins imprint to detail her Alaskan childhood through last year’s presidential campaign and beyond.

The as-yet-untitled tome is expected to cover her political beliefs and her family life, including the pregnancy of her teenage daughter, Bristol Palin, who gave birth in December to a son, Tripp.

“In fairness to my family, this is going be a good opportunity for them, too, because there have been so many misperceptions out there about who we are and what we believe in, and I’m excited to get to put my journalism degree to work and tell my story as it relates to my family,” Palin said.

Although financial terms were not disclosed, Palin is expected to get a multimillion-dollar contract.

Source

In an unsurprising twist, Debbie Rowe wants custody of her two children by Michael Jackson.

TMZ reports:

Debbie Rowe will fight for custody of Paris and Michael Jr., the children born during her marriage to Michael Jackson — this, according to NBC 4 in Los Angeles.

According to the NBC 4 website, Rowe said during a 90-minute phone conversation, “I want my children.”

Rowe says she will seek a restraining order to keep Joe Jackson away from the children.

Rowe also says she’ll submit to a DNA test to prove she’s the biological mother.

Source

Lindsay Lohan’s 23rd birthday isn’t until tomorrow, but she’s already managed to profit off the day.

According to sources, the troubled starlet was paid a cool $70,000 by the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to host an all-day “pre-celebration” at the hotel’s Wet Republic pool party last Saturday.

At the event, which served as a promotion for her Sevyn Nine self-tanning mist, Lohan changed bathing suits five times before throwing on club gear and dancing to Michael Jackson songs for the rest of the night.

But friends of Lohan say the event was less of a celebration and more of an urgent attempt to pull in some cash. “None of her really close friends were there,” said our insider, who noted that ex-girlfriend Samantha Ronson was also missing from the festivities. “The only person who was even known was Brittny Gastineau.”

Lohan didn’t drink at the party and actually allowed her photo to be taken. She was also overheard saying she was still distraught from publicity over the disappearance of jewelry she’d modeled for a recent Elle magazine photo shoot in London.

The hard-partying actress is planning to have “a small private party with friends in LA” tomorrow, according to our source — but her mom, Dina, and sister, Ali, have been asking her to come home to Long Island and spend her birthday with her family.

This wouldn’t be the first time Lohan has tried to make a buck off her birthday. She was scheduled to have her 21st bash in conjunction with Las Vegas nightclub Pure, but the party was canceled after Lohan checked into rehab. She also tried to find corporate sponsors for her 22nd birthday by setting up a Web site. A rep for MGM did not return a request for comment.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Sure she got clobbered last November, but could Sarah Palin beat Barack Obama in a good old-fashioned footrace?

“I betcha I’d have more endurance,” the Alaska governor, a longtime runner (and marathoner) says in a folksy and revealing interview on RunnersWorld.com. “So if it were a long race that required a lot of endurance I’d win.”

As for going one-on-one with President Obama on the basketball court, last year’s running mate to GOP presidential candidate John McCain – who was known as “Sarah Barracuda” on her high-school hoops team – is not so cocksure. “[He] towers over me and I wouldn’t be complaining about an unfair advantage there, but maybe I’d do better playing H-O-R-S-E with him than one-on-one.”

Palin, 45 and a mother of five, tells Runner’s World that the only time she’s never run is when she was “too pregnant,” noting, “I feel so crappy if I go more than a few days without running … Sweat is my sanity.”

The governor is a regular along the trails in Anchorage and Juneau, but she may be hard for photographers or tourists to find. “When I run, I’m totally incognito because I’m not wearing the trough of full makeup,” she boasts. “I can go running through a mob of tourists and they don’t recognize me.”

If anything, it will be her very specific soundtrack giving her away. Palin tells the magazine she kicks off her runs by cranking up the “old Van Halen and AC/DC, then I get into my country music, then I always wrap it up with a couple mellow Amy Grant songs.”

And for the record, those would be playing on an iPod, not the clunky CD player she was lugging around until recently. “The kids finally convinced me not only was it not cool but it also wasn’t practical.”

Source

Guess she does her own stunts!

Diane Keaton may have been wearing some extra padding, but that didn’t stop the actress from getting a little roughed up on the set of her new movie, Morning Glory. Keaton, 63, injured her head while filming Monday in New York.

“Diane Keaton is in good health and spirits following a fall on set of Morning Glory where she bumped her head,” a statement released by Paramount Studios reads. “The actress was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests and has been cleared by doctors to return to work tomorrow.”

Keaton sported a sumo wrestling costume for the scene in the comedy, which costars Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford.

I’m just happy that she went to the hospital to be on the safe side. You never know, right?

Source, Bauer-Griffin

TV series, uh-huh. Marriage, uh-uh.

“I’m getting my own talk show on HLN, so I don’t have to get married anymore,” Joy Behar is quoted as announcing, reports New York’s Daily News. “Actually, I got cold feet again, so I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s off the table. What’ll happen is, when I decide to do it, I’ll do it, and then everybody will know I did it. I can’t make up my mind.”

In March, Behar, 66, quasi-announced her engagement to longtime companion Steve Janowitz.

Then again, how seriously did Behar really take her engagement? When her View colleague (and producer) Barbara Walters offered to throw the wedding and asked, “How many people do you want?,” Behar replied with her usual tongue in cheek: “I don’t know. How many can you afford?”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Megan Fox apologizes to this boy. DListed

Khloe & Kourtney Kardashian in bikini’s in Miami. Hollywood Tuna

Jennifer Aniston on the set of Bounty Hunter in New Jersey! PopSugar

Madonna has her new baby! IDLYITW

Paris Hilton’s family hated Doug Reinhardt! Superficial

Taylor Lautner on the red carpet in Toronto! Lainey Gossip

Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett are getting married again! Pop Eater

Adam Lambert’s first single: “Want” Hollywire

Perez Hilton claims Will.I.Am attacked him! ASL

Mirand Lambert gets beauty tips from Nicole Kidman. Make Her Up

Rachel Griffiths has her third baby! Celeb Baby Scoop

On set pics of Dakota Fanning in “The Runaways”. INO

Chris Brown: The preliminary hearing FAQ’s. Popsquire

Miley Cyrus flirts with Aaron Carter. Allie is Wired

Sienna Miller and Balthazar Getty back together? Celebitchy

New Moby video! Here’s “Pale Horses”. Popbytes