CNN 2009-06-30

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Hello from the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Mellissa Long and it's Monday, June 29th. Here is a look at some of the stories that are happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

The man behind a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme is in court today. Bernard Madoff and eleven of his victims are speaking in court about what may be the biggest investment fraud in history. Madoff pleaded guilty due to fraud investors¹ out of more than 13 billion dollars, he faces a sentence as long as 150 years. At the beginning of today’s sentencing, the judge recommended that Madoff receive a 50-year sentence. Actually that’s the federal probation² department making the recommendation of 50 years in prison.

In the last day of this US Supreme³ Court session, a big decision today regarding reverse discrimination. The US Supreme Court decided⁴ in favor of the 20 white fire fighters in New Haven⁵, Connecticut who said they were just discriminated⁶ against because of their race. It's an intriguing⁷ case, a reverse discrimination and interestingly, Supreme Court nominee⁸ Sonia Sotomayor was one of the 3 judges who rejected an initial appeal in the case. Today the Supreme Court were five to four, saying the city of New Haven improperly⁹ threw out the results of exams when two female minorities qualified¹⁰.

The Jackson family's attorney says a will has not surfaced since the singer died last week. So there is nothing definitive¹¹ yet in terms of who will get custody¹² of the three children. For now, Jackson's mother is taking care of his two sons and a daughter. And the family's attorney will be going in court today, to help protect her right to keep them. Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson's first two children gave up parental¹³ rights to them. And the third child was reportedly born through a surrogate. Jackson's funeral arrangements haven't been made yet. His father says the family is still working on that.

The man who pitched products like Oxyclean and television commercials has died. Billy Mays was 50 years old. An autopsy¹⁴ is supposed to be completed later today that could explain if there is any link to an incident that happened Saturday on a flight, when Billy Mays' plane had a rough landing because of a blown tire. Mays told the television crew luggage came out of the overhead compartment¹⁵ and hit him on the head.

You are up to date. Those are the headlines making news at this hour. Do stay with CNN and CNN. com for more on these stories or other news that develops today.