Jackson's cause of death 'deferred'
LOS ANGELES, July 8 (UPI) -- The cause of Michael Jackson's death has been listed as "deferred" on his death certificate while officials await the results of toxicology tests.
People.com said the pop star's official death certificate was issued Tuesday, the same day his family held a private funeral and attended a televised public memorial for him.
The document also noted Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles temporarily has "disposition" of the singer's body. But where Jackson is to be buried has not been disclosed, People.com said.
The iconic singer died of cardiac arrest June 25 after a suspected prescription drug overdose. He was 50.
Donations to fund Jacko service welcomed
LOS ANGELES, July 8 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is asking for donations to offset the cost of Michael Jackson's spectacular public memorial.
The Los Angeles Times quoted a spokesman for the mayor as saying the cost to deploy more than 3,000 police officers to Tuesday's star-studded event and the surrounding area was about $4 million.
Los Angeles currently has an estimated $530 million budget deficit, the Times noted.
To help pay for the tribute to Jackson, Villaraigosa created a Web site asking fans to make donations via PayPal.
"Help the City of Angels provide the extraordinary public safety resources required to give Michael the safe, orderly and respectful memorial he deserves," the Times reported a message on the Web site said.
"Getting several e-mails asking why we are 'wasting time' encouraging MJ donations when we have a budget crisis. Folks, that's precisely why," the mayor's spokesman, Matt Szabo, said on his own Twitter page.
Kal Penn starts White House job
WASHINGTON, July 8 (UPI) -- Actor Kal Penn has begun his new career as an associate director in the White House's Office of Public Engagement in Washington.
A White House spokesman confirmed to The Washington Post that Penn started the job Monday.
The 32-year-old actor campaigned for newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama last year and recently quit his job on the TV medical drama "House" to go work for the Obama administration.
Penn, a UCLA graduate who also co-starred in the "Harold and Kumar" film comedies, previously told the Post he doesn't plan to accept any acting jobs for the next year or two because he wants to focus on his government position dealing with the youth, arts and Asian-American communities.
The Chicago Sun-Times said Penn moved from Los Angeles to an apartment in Washington and spent the July 4 weekend unpacking.
"I think they are completely different careers," the Sun-Times quoted Penn as saying during a conference call with reporters Monday. "In my past life, I was playing a fictitious character and while I think that is enjoyable, I think that the lifestyle here is going to be a lot different. We are doing some very serious work and I am certainly very eager to get started on all that."
Peter Krause lands 'Beastly' role
LOS ANGELES, July 8 (UPI) -- U.S. television actor Peter Krause is set to co-star in the big-screen adaptation of Alex Flinn's fantasy novel "Beastly."
The book is a re-telling of the classic "Beauty and the Beast" tale.
Variety.com said Krause, who is best known for his work on TV's "Six Feet Under" and "Dirty Sexy Money," will appear alongside Mary-Kate Olsen, Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens in the film, which writer Daniel Barnz is directing in Montreal.
Krause will play the materialistic father of a wealthy, good-looking youth, played by Pettyfer, who plays a mean trick on a classmate who turns out to be a witch, played by Olsen, the entertainment industry trade newspaper said.
Krause also will soon be seen in the new TV series "Parenthood."
