John Travolta extortion case dropped in the Bahamas

With John Travolta declining to take the stand again in the Bahamas, the prosecution has dropped charges against two people accused of attempted extortion in the wake of the death of the actor's teenage son, Jett.

The move, apparently at the request of the Travolta family, came after jury selection had been completed and the retrial was about to begin. Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his attorney, politician Pleasant Bridgewater, had been accused of threatening to release private information abut the circumstances surrounding the teen's death -- specifically that John Travolta had signed a document nixing treatment at a local hospital -- unless the actor coughed up $25 million.

"The long-pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family, causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us," Travolta said in a statement.

The first trip to court ended in a mistrial last October.

Jett died in January 2009 after suffering a seizure while the family was on vacation at ... 

John Travolta and Kelly Preston get two for one? Couple's rep says no [Updated]

Is your head still spinning from the news that John Travolta and Kelly Preston are expecting a baby? Well, grab hold of your “Saturday Night Fever” album, because you’ll need to fan yourself after the latest news.

According to Star magazine, the couple is expecting twins. (Blink and re-read that.)  

Apparently, Kelly, 47, began in vitro fertilization treatments, which increases the chances of conceiving multiples.

[Updated at 2:16 p.m.: Advice from Kate Gosselin is no longer needed, it seems. Sam Mast, the couple’s rep, told E! News the Star report is -- shockingly -- false: “They are not expecting twins.”]

The couple already has 10-year-old Ella and apparently were determined to expand their family after their 16-year-old son, Jett, died after striking his head during a seizure in January 2009.

 

— Yvonne Villarreal

Photo: John Travolta and Kelly Preston. Photo credit: Gabriel Bouys / AFP/ Getty Images

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John Travolta and Kelly Preston expecting another baby

Kelly Preston, wife of John Travolta, is pregnant, the family announced online Tuesday shortly after a tabloid broke the news. 

"It’s impossible to keep a secret….especially one as wonderful as this," reads the note on KellyPreston.com. "We want to be the first to share this great news with everyone that we are expecting a new addition to our family. Love, John, Kelly and Ella."

Ella Blue is the couple's 10-year-old daughter. Son Jett died in January 2009 after a seizure while the family was in the Bahamas; he was 16 at the time.

Preston, 47, can be seen currently in "The Last Song."

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: John Travolta and Kelly Preston at the premiere of "The Last Song" in Los Angeles on March 25, 2010. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press.

Related dispatches from the Ministry of Gossip:

John Travolta's dogs killed in an accident at Maine airport

Travolta trial: The guy who talked is sorry, and he's shutting up now

Who's having babies? Celebrities are having babies! Want the headlines? Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter (we're @LATcelebs) or 'like' us into your news feed on Facebook.

John Travolta's dogs killed in accident at Maine airport

File this under the saddest story of the day: Two small dogs belonging to John Travolta were killed in an accident in the wee hours Thursday morning at Bangor International Airport in Maine.

It seems that a plane carrying Travolta family members touched down on the runway around 1 a.m. and while the pups were being walked, the driver of an airport service vehicle didn't see the pets and accidentally hit them. That according to Gossip Cop, which has a few more details. According to a release from the city, the airport is investigating what happened.

Bummer.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: John Travolta signs autographs after arriving at the track before the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 27, 2010. Credit: Mark Baker / Associated Press

Want the headlines? Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter (we're @LATcelebs) or 'like' us into your news feed on Facebook.

Who needs Hannah Montana? Cody Linley headed to Broadway

Sorry, Disney! Blond heartthrob Cody Linley is decamping the Mouse for the Great White Way.

The 20-year-old will star in a Broadway revival of "Over Here!," a military musical documenting life in America post WWII, according to RadarOnline.

Check out Linley's ability to emote in the video above, which has him chatting with "Dancing With the Stars" partner Julianne Hough and Dr. Drew Pinsky about Julianne's surgery.

Linley, who played the hunky Jake Ryan on "Hannah Montana" and was rumored to have dated Miley Cyrus in real life, will join a list of prestigious actors for the show.

Travolta trial: The guy who talked is sorry, and he's shutting up now

"Injury, meet Insult. Insult, this is Injury. And I think you've both met John Travolta and Kelly Preston? Oh, you have? More than once? Hmm, so sorry."

After the unexpected death of their son, Jett, in the Bahamas and the criminal allegations that followed, it seemed only fair that almost regardless of the verdict, grieving parents Travolta and Preston deserved closure in the trial of those accused of trying to extort $25 million.

Didn't happen.

Now the Bahamian official who caused a mistrial by speaking too soon wants to say he's sorry, E! Online reports.

"My statements were reckless and interfered with the course of justice in that case and were further capable of bringing disrepute to the whole administration of justice," Picewell Forbes said at a news conference Tuesday morning. 

Thing is, Forbes is now facing some related legal issues of his own, as E! has rounded up, so he took no questions.

Technically, yeah, that's saying you're sorry. And it's always nice when a person apologizes, right?

But for some, it's probably going to be more satisfying to find out what the real verdict will be -- in the retrial, which Travolta is seeking to have brought to the U.S.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: John Travolta and Kelly Preston leave the court building in Nassau, Bahamas, after Travolta's testimony Sept. 23, 2009. Credit: Kris Ingraham / Associated Press