PIEDMONT, Calif. - The self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja" will welcome Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame to his home next month to help him raise money to defend himself at his upcoming federal trial.

Chong, one half of the comedy duo renowned for stoner movie classics such as "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams," will appear at a $125-per-head event March 4 at Ed Rosenthal's Piedmont home.

"The party will celebrate how far we've come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our rights," Rosenthal, 62, told The Oakland Tribune.

He's scheduled to appear in federal court March 19, and estimates his trial and related expenses could cost more than $300,000.

Famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he wrote for High Times magazine, Rosenthal was convicted of three marijuana-growing felonies in 2003, more than a year after federal agents raided sites including his Oakland home, an Oakland warehouse in which he was growing marijuana, and a San Francisco medical marijuana club he supplied.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his convictions in April 2006 based on juror misconduct.

Federal prosecutors filed a new indictment with additional charges in October, claiming Rosenthal from October 2001 through February 2002 grew marijuana, laundered money and falsified tax returns.

Beyonce, James Taylor, Melissa Etheridge among those to rock the Oscars

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Oscars are all about movies, of course, but on this night only music filled the golden guy's hallowed hall.

Beyonce, Celine Dion, James Taylor, Randy Newman and Melissa Etheridge were among those who stepped onto the Kodak Theatre stage on Friday evening to rehearse for Sunday's 79th Academy Awards ceremony.

Taylor and Newman performed "Our Town" from the movie "Cars," which earned Newman his 17th Oscar nomination.

Sitting on a stool in front of Newman's grand piano, Taylor chewed gum as he sang and played acoustic guitar. Both were accompanied by the Oscar orchestra. After several rehearsals, though, Newman still wasn't satisfied.

"I guess we can lower our standards and take a risk," he said to conductor Bill Ross.

They ran through the tune one more time.

The "Dreamgirls" - Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose - reunited to rehearse the film's three nominated songs. "Dreamgirls" director Bill Condon was on hand to oversee their performances.

Beyonce didn't bring an entourage, but she still sparkled like a superstar in towering stilettos, tight blue jeans and a bedazzled jacket. Rose also sported high heels. Hudson, considered the favorite for the supporting-actress Oscar, dressed down, pairing ballet flats with her casual miniskirt, leggings and T-shirt combo. Halfway through the rehearsal, she slipped into heels.

Dion practiced her new song, "I Knew I Loved You" - part of a tribute to Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who orchestrated the music for the 1984 film "Once Upon a Time in America." Dion's new song was written to that score.

Etheridge, accompanied by a three-piece band, filled the mostly empty theater with her big voice, singing the nominated song "I Need to Wake Up" from the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

"Just rock 'n' roll," she told the band, "because I'll be nervous up here looking at Meryl Streep."

While the stars took the stage, the musical backbone of the show - the orchestra - remained ensconced beneath it.

"It would be fun to be seen," said harpist Gayle Levant, who is playing her 13th Academy Awards this year. "It would be fun to have a camera come around here so we could wave and say `We're here, it's live, we're doing it."'

The Hollywood native typically plays on movie and television scores. She called the Oscar gig "the biggest honor in the world."

Principal cellist Stephen Erdody, who's on his fourth Oscar show this year, agreed.

"It's a prestigious thing," he said. "It's fun to do this. I just wish they could see us.

Attorney for Anna Nicole Smith's daughter says no funeral before Tuesday

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Anna Nicole Smith's funeral will not take place before Tuesday, the court-appointed attorney for the starlet's baby daughter said Saturday.

Richard C. Milstein said in a statement he was working as quickly as possible on the funeral details for the former Playboy centerfold, who died in a Florida hotel Feb. 8 at age 39.

Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin ruled Thursday to let Milstein decide where to bury Smith. Milstein agreed with Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, to bury her in the Bahamas next to her son.

Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, filed an emergency motion Friday asking Seidlin to reconsider his decision. It was not immediately known when Seidlin would rule on the emergency motion.

Arthur, who wants to bury her daughter near her home in Texas, will likely appeal in West Palm Beach if Seidlin refuses her emergency stay.

A medical examiner has yet to determine the cause of Smith's death.

It also was unclear Saturday when another Florida judge would rule on whether he has jurisdiction in the paternity dispute over 5-month-old Dannielynn. She was born and lives in the Bahamas with Stern. He was Smith's boyfriend and the father listed on the baby's birth certificate.

Stern, Los Angeles-based photographer Larry Birkhead and Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, all claim to be the infant's father.

A private hearing in the Bahamas to determine the girl's guardianship was expected to resume Monday between Stern and Arthur. The judge in that case has barred Stern from taking the girl out of the Bahamas until a custody ruling.

Debra Opri, Birkhead's attorney, has said that Arthur and Birkhead were united in their desire to see Smith buried quickly.

Snow closes Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska roads, drops more than 1 foot of snow on Wisconsin

DENVER (AP) - A large, fast-moving snowstorm closed sections of major highways on the Plains on Saturday and dumped more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest.

Seven deaths were blamed on the weather, all in traffic accidents on slippery Wisconsin roads.

Meanwhile, strong winds in southeastern Arkansas caused at least several injuries and cut a swath of damage about 5 miles wide near Dumas. Some residents were unaccounted for and police were making a door-to-door search, Arkansas state police said.

In Colorado, Interstate 70, a major cross-country route, was closed for about 200 miles in both directions from just east of Denver to Colby, Kan., because of blowing snow and slippery pavement, according to Colorado and Kansas highway officials.

Between Denver and the beginning of the highway closure, about 35 cars collided in a pileup in whiteout conditions Saturday morning on an icy section of I-70. No major injuries were reported.

The weather service reported wind gusts of 68 mph in the Denver area.

A number of other highways also were closed in the two states.

"Basically there's zero visibility at this time," Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barb Blue said just before noon.

A stretch of about 60 miles of I-80 was closed in both directions in western Nebraska, from Sidney to the Wyoming line, as snow was driven by wind gusting to 52 mph. Westbound traffic was barred from more than 270 miles of I-80, from North Platte to the Wyoming line, more than half the length of the state.

Farther east in Nebraska, a 30-mile stretch of U.S. 275 was closed by flooding.

Power was out for about 400 customers in western Nebraska, Nebraska Public Power District reported, along with scattered outages across the state.

"The snow is so wet it's sticking to power poles and power lines," said Bill Taylor of the National Weather Service office in North Platte. About 8 inches of snow had fallen in the north-central town of Ainsworth.

In addition to the snow on the western Plains, the vast storm system spread rain and thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, with locally heavy snow across Iowa and southern Minnesota.

The weather service posted blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, northern Illinois and Wisconsin.

As much as 15 inches of snow had fallen by Saturday afternoon at Galesville in southwestern Wisconsin. Up to 16 inches was possible by late Sunday in Minnesota, which would be the state's biggest snowfall so far in an unusually dry winter, the weather service said.

Flights continued operating Saturday at Denver International Airport, where thousands of travelers were stalled by a 45-hour shutdown during a pre-Christmas blizzard. The airport was on the western edge of the area of heavy snow and had only about an inch by late morning, spokesman Chuck Cannon said.

Elsewhere, however, airlines canceled 230 arrivals and departures at Chicago's O'Hare International and 40 at Midway in anticipation of snow, sleet and freezing rain, said Wendy Abrams, Chicago's aviation department spokeswoman. United Airlines planned to cancel all flights at O'Hare after 7 p.m., said spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.

Associated Press writers Oskar Garcia in Omaha, Neb., Steve Brisendine in Kansas City and Karen Hawkins in Chicago also contributed to this report.

Austrian avalanche kills skier, injures 2

GRAZ, Austria (AP) - A skier died Saturday and two others were injured after being buried in an avalanche in southeastern Austria, police said.

All three were Austrian males, but none were identified. The Austria Press Agency said the accident occurred as a group of six were skiing off piste in an alpine area near the city of Graz.

The two survivors were injured.

3rd body found in Guatemala sinkhole

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Emergency crews on Saturday found a third body in a 330-foot-deep sinkhole that had swallowed a dozen homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood.

The body of Domingo Soyos, 53, was carried out of the enormous fissure and identified by family members, medical crews said.

Soyos was the father of teenagers Irma and David Soyos, whose bodies were found floating in a river of sewage soon after the sinkhole opened on Friday.

Residents said there were other people unaccounted for, but emergency crews could not confirm that.

Officials blamed recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main for the tragedy. The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or other sinkholes could open up.

Police evacuated nearby homes and cordoned off a 500-yard perimeter around the crater. Security officials were on guard for possible looters and curious onlookers.

Toddler finds $1,300 in thrift store book

By: - MCDONOUGH, Ga. (AP) - Rhiannon Barnes may be the luckiest 15-month-old ever. Or maybe her baby sitter is the fortunate one.

While playing with a thrift store book bought earlier in the day for 25 cents, Rhiannon uncovered $1,300 in cash stuck between the pages. Her baby sitter Sheila Laughridge said she only bought the book at Rhiannon's insistence and was surprised when the toddler found a brown paper bag full of $100s, $50s, $20s and $10s.

Laughridge took the money, which dated as far back as the 1960s, to a local bank, where she received only $300 in exchange because most of the bills were in pieces. The rest of the tattered money was sent to the U.S. treasury department.

Rhiannon's mother, Shirley Barnes, joked that she's considering using her daughter's newfound talent more.

"What I want to do is put pieces of paper with numbers on them out on the table and have her pick them so that maybe we can win the lottery," she said.

Council to introduce ordinance limiting how long dogs can bark

CLIFTON, N.J. (AP) - The city of Clifton is not going to the dogs. At least not if the City Council has anything to do about it.

Later this month, the council is expected to introduce an ordinance setting a limit on how long dogs can bark.

Noisy canines will be defined as those that bark for more than 30 minutes on two consecutive days.

The city already has nuisance and "noise laws that can be used to address annoying and disturbing noises such as constant barking." But officials said those laws are sometimes difficult to enforce.

Police have to investigate complaints, and the city Health Department sent 11 letters last year warning that a summons could be issued if the barking continued, health officer John Biegel said. Clifton has issued 3,756 dog licenses this year.

Getting a summons is rare, because the person who complained must go to court to sign a complaint.

Fines for the new ordinance could start at $250, Biegel said.

184-year-old copy of Declaration of Independence could fetch up to $300K

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A rare, 184-year-old copy of the Declaration of Independence found by a bargain hunter scouring a thrift shop is being valued by experts at about 100,000 times the $2.48 purchase price.

Michael Sparks, a music equipment technician, is selling the document in an auction March 22 at Raynors' Historical Collectible Auctions in Burlington, N.C. The opening bid is $125,000 and appraisers have estimated it could sell for nearly twice that.

"I'm told that it could go for between $200,000 and $300,000," said Sparks.

In a tale worthy of PBS-TV's "Antiques Roadshow," Sparks found his bargain last March while browsing at Music City Thift Shop in Nashville. When he asked the price on a yellowed, shellacked, rolled-up document, the clerk marked it at $2.48.

Sparks forked over the money and walked out with what turned out to be an "official copy" of the Declaration of Independence - one of 200 commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820 when he was secretary of state and printed by William Stone in 1823.

"I saw that it said 1823 and I knew that the declaration was 1776, and I was just interested. It also said 'by order of the government,"' Sparks said.

But he didn't know he had such a valuable piece until doing some online research and then having appraisers at Raynors' offer an opinion.

"When we quickly looked at it there was no question that it was authentic," said Raynors' president, Bob Raynor. The document matched other authenticated official copies based on the size of certain random letters and the placement of the names of Adams and Stone.

Sparks said he has paid about $4,000 to have the document conserved by removing layers of shellac.

Police torture allegations trigger $14.8 million tug-of-war

CHICAGO (AP) - Leroy Orange says there's no mystery about how he landed on death row and languished there for almost two decades.

The 55-year-old former inmate claims Chicago police in 1984 jolted him with electric shocks from a mysterious "black box" until he confessed to a murder that he didn't commit. He's free now, cleared of all charges by Gov. George Ryan in his final days in office four years ago.

But his story is far from over.

Lawyers for Orange and two other men claim the city reneged on a $14.8 million deal to settle their lawsuits - among many claims that Chicago police tortured suspects in the 1970s and 80s.

Orange's attorney, G. Flint Taylor, said a federal judge witnessed the deal with the city.

Chicago's top attorney, Mara Georges, acknowledges city officials were in negotiations aimed at reaching a settlement. But she said she cannot talk about details because U.S. District Judge Marvin E. Aspen, the mediator, imposed a confidentiality order.

Still, she insists, "It is our position that we absolutely do not have a settlement."

U.S. District Chief Judge James F. Holderman told attorneys Thursday that he would hold an evidentiary hearing if necessary to get to the bottom of the matter. That could require city officials to answer questions under oath.

Allegations of torture by detectives at the Area 2 violent crimes unit on Chicago's South Side, under Lt. Jon Burge, have simmered for decades. Mayor Richard Daley has been dogged by claims he knew about or helped cover up torture that occurred when he was Cook County state's attorney 20 years ago.

Burge was fired in 1993 after another murder suspect, Andrew Wilson, was mistreated while in police custody. Through lawyers, Burge has denied that he ever engaged in torturing suspects to get confessions.

Two special prosecutors spent four years investigating the allegations and reported last July that police beat, kicked, shocked or otherwise tortured scores of black suspects in the 1970s and 80s at the unit led by Burge.

They said the cases were too old to prosecute. Prosecutors also said that Daley wasn't to blame for what happened.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown has ordered Daley to testify under oath in one of the three lawsuits, brought by Madison Hobley, who claims he was tortured being sent to death row.

City officials may ask the judge to let Daley off the hook, but either way it's an embarrassment as the mayor asks voters to give him a sixth term in Tuesday's election.

In court papers filed last week, Taylor and other attorneys said provisions of the settlement with the city reached in November included an agreement that there would be no criticism of Daley.

They said they learned from the judge only weeks ago that the city had an unspecified issue that prevented it from going ahead with the settlement.

Only city officials and the judge know what that issue was and, for now, they won't say.

"Is it the election?" asked Hobley's attorney, Kurt H. Feuer. "If it is the election, then maybe we'll get a call on Wednesday morning."

Daley is expected to win easily over two challengers - Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and William "Dock" Walls, who served as an aide to one-time Mayor Harold Washington.

Slow down and watch out for whales, Spain tells ships in Strait of Gibraltar

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spain wants ships to slow down and watch out for whales while passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the world's busiest maritime routes.

The recommendation drew praise Saturday from environmentalists who sought the measure for years to prevent collisions with whales. Fast ferries, especially, can be a threat to endangered sperm whales, which come to the strait from the Mediterranean to feed between February and July.

The whales "do not know what is going on around them," said Katharina Heyer, president of the Foundation for Information and Research on Marine Mammals, an environmental group based in the Spanish town of Tarifa overlooking the strait.

The Spanish navy's recommendation earlier this month urged ships to go no faster than 15 mph and sail "in a maximum state of vigilance" to avoid colliding with the whales. Sailing speeds in the strait separating Europe from Africa vary greatly, but high-speed ferries can reach nearly 35 mph.

It is "the first time in the Mediterranean, and probably in Europe, a measure of this kind has been taken," said Renaud de Stephanis, a marine biologist with the Center for Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans in southern Spain.

During the feeding season, the strait is home to 20-30 sperm whales, which are about 60 feet long, said de Stephanis. Year round, there is a population of about 300 smaller pilot whales.

Collisions are difficult to document partly because currents in the strait are so strong that when a whale gets hit it is quickly washed into the open Mediterranean, de Stephanis said.

There were two confirmed collisions with sperm whales and three with fin whales between 2001-2005, according to a report by de Stephanis' center for the Spanish environment ministry.

De Stephanis said he witnessed one of those crashes while on a research mission in September 2002. A ferry heading from Morocco to Spain collided with a sperm whale and did not stop.

"Its ribs were broken and it had a very big internal hemorrhage," De Stephanis said in a telephone interview.

The whale bled for about an hour and died, and a maritime rescue vessel towed the carcass out of the shipping lanes and into the Mediterranean.

Grandmother says parents of 5-year-old killed in parade horse accident never told of age rule

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The parents of a 5-year-old girl killed in a rodeo parade were never told there were age limits for children allowed to ride in the event, the child's grandmother says.

Brielle Boisvert's parents, Tom and Linda Donnell Boisvert, are upset at implications that they may have knowingly violated parade rules that forbid children younger than 8 from riding a horse in the event, Cindy Boisvert said Friday.

She was the youngest of the couple's four children.

Brielle was on a horse riding with three older girls as part of the Sonoita Rodeo Royalty entry in the Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo Parade on Thursday.

A team of runaway horses pulling a wagon slammed into her horse. She was thrown when her horse reared up, and she was trampled by the out-of-control team, authorities said. She died later at a hospital.

Friends described her as an accomplished rider who had competed in junior rodeos and horse shows in the Sonoita area, southeast of Tucson.

Police said they have interviewed at least 34 witnesses and reviewing eight videos taken by local news media and parade spectators in an effort to learn what spooked the two-horse team.

Japanese whaler regains engine power, moves away from Antarctica

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A Japanese whaling ship has begun moving away from Antarctica under its own power, an official said Sunday - 10 days after a fire left it crippled and laden with fuel near the world's biggest penguin breeding ground.

The Nisshin Maru, an 8,000-ton whale-meat processing ship, was stranded in the Ross Sea after a fire broke out on its lower decks Feb. 15, and has been drifting, lashed to two other Japanese whaling vessels. One sailor died in the blaze.

Environmentalists shadowing the ship offered to tow it to safety to ease fears it might spill some of its 343,000 gallons of fuel oil in the pristine waters off Antarctica's Cape Adare, home to some 250,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins.

But Japan was determined that the Nisshin Maru move under its own steam, even as summer in the stormy Southern Ocean was drawing to a close.

"The Nisshin Maru is moving northward at the moment, away from the coast," said Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research.

"But they're not leaving the Antarctic," he added, despite mounting pressure from New Zealand and environmentalists for the vessel to leave the area.

The Japanese whalers have been closely followed over the past few days by the Esperanza, an anti-whaling ship run by Greenpeace. The Esperanza's expedition leader confirmed the Nisshin Maru was moving under its own steam.

"Nisshin Maru disengaged from the two ships … and sailed for two miles at speeds of up to 12 knots," said Karli Thomas, the expedition leader. "She then stopped."

Inwood said the crew would spend the next two or three days checking and testing all systems on the Nisshin Maru - including engines, steering and navigation.

"By Wednesday they expect to make a decision to either stay or leave the Antarctic," he said. If the vessel is in good shape, he said, it may remain in the area for the next two or three weeks to conduct research.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a global ban on commercial whaling in 1986. Japan says its annual whale hunts are scientific research, but environmental groups say they are a pretext to keep Japan's tiny whaling industry alive.

Meat from the catch is sold commercially, and canned or frozen whale can be found in most large supermarkets, though it is no longer an important part of the Japanese diet.

Greenpeace wants the six-vessel Japanese fleet to leave the whaling grounds.

"If they simply sail out of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, we will escort them and continue to offer assistance," Thomas said. "However, if they attempt to start whaling again then we will take peaceful direct action to stop the hunt."

Inwood said the Japanese ships are not interested in the Esperanza's offer of aid. "Greenpeace won't be escorting them anywhere," he said.