Keith Olbermann is out at Current TV, Eliot Spitzer is in

Current TV becomes the latest television network to sever a stormy relationship with famously fractious Keith Olbermann.

Current TV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt said in a letter to viewers that they decided to cut bait because the relationship no longer represented “the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers.”
Olbermann’s prime-time show, “Countdown” has been replaced, effective immediately, by a new show anchored by former New York governor/former CNN show anchor Eliot Spitzer.

Olbermann issued his own statement Friday: “It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.”

Olbermann’s humdinger of a statement continues:

“In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.”

Olbermann had been back on Current TV, if unhappily, since a wild week of public brawling back in January. The feuding erupted Jan 3. slightly less than a year after he joined the network for what was to have been a five-year deal. That day, Current TV preempted “Countdown,” with coverage of the Iowa caucuses — the important first vote of the GOP primary season.

“Keith was asked to be the sole anchor and executive producer of our primary and caucus coverage. He declined,” Current TV President David Bohrman said in a memo to staffers that day.

Olbermann fired back with a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, a trade paper, in which he insisted he was “never given a legitimate opportunity to host under acceptable conditions. They know it and we know it.”

Speculation seemed to fall into two camps:

●The “Current TV is too low-rent for Olbermann” camp. His New York-based show has been plagued by tech problems, satellite feeds dropped out, and in early December a blown fuse caused the lights to go out while Olbermann was on the air.

●The “Hello? They hired Keith Olbermann” camp. No explanation required.

But, after a week-long spitting match, Olbermann issued a statement saying he was pleased that he would be running the election coverage on Current, following the New Hampshire primary.

Current TV is not the only network that’s learned it needs to fasten the seat belts when in business with Olbermann, because it was going to be a bumpy ride.

He feuded with ESPN, where he anchored “SportsCenter” for years, followed by a contentious relationship with MSNBC, which he dumped for Current TV.

Back in February 2011 when Current TV announced it was getting into bed with Olbermann, Hyatt hailed the hire as “the best investment that Current has ever made.”

Zimmerman police video in Trayvon case raises questions

Forensic experts say newly released video by police of the man who shot Trayvon Martin raises more questions than it answers — but that's not stopping droves of amateur sleuths on TV, Twitter and Facebook from scrutinizing it anyway.
"I think the public should not draw any conclusions from this at all," said Grant Fredericks, a former police officer who headed the forensic video unit for the Vancouver Police Department.

The video should be just a fraction of the evidence available to police as they investigate George Zimmerman's claim that he shot and killed Trayvon, 17, after the teenager allegedly punched the neighborhood watch volunteer in the nose and slammed his head against the ground, Fredericks said.
The Feb. 26 shooting in Sanford, Fla., has brought national attention because Trayvon's family claims Zimmerman killed the unarmed youth after racially stereotyping him. Trayvon was black. Police say Zimmerman is white; his family says he is Hispanic.
Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., told CNN Thursday that reports his brother was chasing the teen are "absolutely false" and that he "was not patrolling the neighborhood. He was going to a store, Target."

Robert Zimmerman said the voice heard screaming on 911 tapes is that of his brother, who acted to save his own life. He said George Zimmerman "was very disappointed that none of the neighbors had come out" to help him. He said his brother would have been dead "if he had not acted decisively and instantaneously.''
The police security camera video shows Zimmerman exiting a patrol car and entering the Sanford Police Department about 35 minutes after the shooting. Images of Zimmerman's head and face reveal no obvious cuts or gashes, but at one point, a police officer inspects the back of his head. Zimmerman's lawyer, Craig Sonner, told NBC's Today the video supports his client's story because the officer may have been looking at an injury.

The public weighed in on social media sites. Many expressed disbelief at Zimmerman's claim that he fired in self-defense, and pointed to the grainy video as proof.
Trayvon's family and supporters say Zimmerman's lack of apparent injury in the video shows he lied about the teen attacking him.
Forensic video expert David Notowitz, founder of the National Center for Audio and Video Forensics, says much work remains before investigators can draw evidence from the video. "Right now, people are jumping to frantic conclusions," he said.

Kardashian leaving white in the face after a flour bombing '

TV personality and reality star Kim Kardashian was attacked with a bag of flour in the foyer of a West Hollywood hotel yesterday.

A woman approached the controversial celebrity as she arrived an opportunity to present and emptied the contents of the bag of flour over her head.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed deputies were called to the hotel on the North San Vicente Boulevard.

Deputy Peter Gomez said the woman was detained by hotel security and later released on the scene.

He told me Kardashian did not press charges against the woman and a non-criminal battery report.

Paramedics were called but me. Kardashian refused medical treatment.

Ms. Kardashian returned to her room, remove the flour from her hair and clothes and returned to the event in the same outfit.