Sonni Abatta Leaves KDKA

And, this just in....

KDKA morning anchor Sonni Abatta will leave the station for a new TV job outside the Pittsburgh market. Her last day on the air will be Friday.

Abatta, a May 2003 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, joined the station as an off-air reporter trainee in June 2003, after having interned at KDKA. Six months later, she was on air doing morning weather reports. In December 2003, then-KDKA news director Al Blinke said that in her first six months Abatta had "probably worked harder, covered more important stories -- even though you may not have seen her on air -- than anybody starting out in a small market."

Abatta started anchoring KDKA's morning and noon newscasts in January 2005.

The ticket hand-off for Michael Jackson's public memorial service in Los Angeles went smoothly at Dodger Stadium yesterday.

Winners of an Internet ticket lottery began exchanging vouchers for tickets in a drive-through process yesterday in the stadium parking lot, the Associated Press reported.

Each winner received two tickets, and was free to give anyone their second one.

Assistant police chief Earl Paysinger said about 1,500 cars had passed through by midmorning. Jackson's memorial is planned for today at the Staples Center sports arena. Organizers made tickets available free of charge for 11,000 seats in Staples and 6,500 in the adjacent Nokia Theatre. Police say anyone caught scalping the tickets faces arrest.

Jackson died June 25. He was 50.


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One person who won't be in attendance at the pop superstar's memorial service is his ex-wife Debbie Rowe.

Rowe, the mother of Michael Jackson's two oldest children, had originally planned to attend today's memorial service, but her attorney, Marta Almli, said yesterday Rowe's attendance would be "an unnecessary distraction" and that she will "celebrate Michael's memory privately."


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Jon and Kate Gosselin may have announced their independence from each other and the media recently, but that didn't stop the reality-TV duo from having Fourth of July fireworks fun with their eight tykes.

The Gosselin brood brought out their sparklers Saturday evening -- with one of the sextuplets donning a holiday-appropriate American flag shirt and shorts to celebrate. As the kids played, Jon spent an hour lighting fireworks in front of the ex-couple's home, Eonline.com reports.

Jon was even spotted laughing with Kate at one point. An eyewitness tells E! News, "It's the first time I've seen Jon genuinely smile in a long time."

However, fans shouldn't get too excited for a reconciliation.

Says the source, the holiday's events were "obviously for the kids."





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