KC Confidential

From the penthouse to the you-know-what house in two short years…

When former Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock imploded his way out of KC two years back, he went out in style. Kinda. By taking a huge public dump on the local newspaper and outing his boss – Star editor Mike Fannin – for allegedly dipping his pen in the company ink.

Nevermind that few at the Star likely disagreed with him.

As the details about Fannin and the Star grew more sordid, 610 Sports host Nick Wright pulled the plug on Whitlock and listeners were left to their imaginations as to what Fannin may have enacted that January night.

Whitlock’s trashing of his former employer wasn’t a first – nor even a second.

The Fat Man had already burned bridges with former employers, WHB, ESPN and Entercom.

Just the behind-the-scenes stories I’d heard about Whitlock would have been enough to make the Star fire about any other employee – present company included – but Star editors and publishers relished Whitlock’s ability to pimp readers and stitch together WWE-like sports soaps.

The kinda stuff that sells newspapers, they said.

But now that Whitlock’s gone – and continuing to write for Fox Sports online – aside from calling in to try and match wits with Wright on 610, the Big Fella’s all but dropped from sight. As if he’s waiting for another Don Imus racial moment to buy another ticket on Oprah.

Whitlock’s ticket arrived this past week.

In the form of an "unfunny" Tweet he issued last Friday that he was forced to apologize for. About rising NBA star Jeremy Lin after Lin scored a sensational 38 points against the Lakers that night.

"Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight," Whitlock Tweeted.

Get it, the Asian dude may have scored lots of points against the brothers, but he only had two inches where romance was concerned.

Yahoo Sports‘ Kelly Dwyer‘s take on Whitlock’s gaffe:

"Tell me, have you ever read a Jason Whitlock column on the NBA? Do you even think to go to him when NBA news breaks? Jason Whitlock knows this. He’s also an unfunny boor with a massive ego, and the combination of those factors plus his NBA irrelevancy leads to Twitter comments like this."

Ouch!

"There are funny jokes, and then there are unfunny jokes that mix with needless racial stereotyping and the laziness that comes from not even bothering to look up the fact that the Knicks would be flying to Minneapolis directly after Friday’s game," Dwyer continues. "On Sunday, after much criticism and derision, Whitlock came through with an apology of sorts."

Whitlock’s apology:

"The couple-inches-of-pain tweet overshadowed my sincere celebration of Lin’s performance and the irony that the stereotype applies to pot-bellied, overweight male sports writers, too," Whitlock wrote Monday. "As the Asian American Journalist Association pointed out, I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I’m truly sorry."

The apology was in response to the Asian American Journalists Association calling Whitlock out for racism.

"Dear Mr. Whitlock," it begins. "Where do we begin?

"Let’s start by saying that your tweet in the midst of the Jeremy Lin hoopla was inappropriate on so many levels. Certainly, it doesn’t hold up to the conduct of responsible journalists, those in sports or otherwise, who adhere to standards of fairness, civility and good taste. Nor does it meet the standards of Fox Sports, with which you are associated.

"Outrage doesn’t begin to describe the reaction of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) to your unnecessary and demeaning tweet of Feb. 10 after the New York Knicks played the Los Angeles Lakers: ‘Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight.’

"Let’s not pretend we don’t know to what you were referring. The attempt at humor – and we hope that is all it was – fell flat. It also exposed how some media companies fail to adequately monitor the antics of their high-profile representatives. Standards need to be applied – by you and by Fox Sports.

"The offensive tweet debased one of sports’ feel-good moments, not just among Asian Americans but for so many others who are part of your audience.

"Where do we go from here? How about an apology, Mr. Whitlock."

Dwyer’s take on Whitlock’s apology:

"Whitlock’s not going anywhere, though some called for and even expected his dismissal from FOX over the weekend. The Asian American Journalists Association was more than correct in looking past the "not funny" aspect of Whitlock’s noise and calling out his blatant stereotyping…Whitlock, per usual, will be dutifully ignored by NBA fans until he says another stupid thing about the league."

Dwyer wasn’t alone is nailing Whitlock for racism but other journalists busted him for sexism as well.

"Whitlock, who often takes on what he sees as racism in sport, does not seem to get the contradiction of speaking out about racism when it applies to black people, but feeling totally comfortable expressing racist sentiments about Asians, writes Pat Griffin of opposingviews.com. "Whitlock, in addition to using an ugly stereotype for Asian men, seems to think that inflicting sexual pain on women is an appropriate way of celebrating a great athletic performance…Whitlock’s comment is offensive to Asian men and all women. Why haven’t more men who object to Whitlock’s racism also criticized his sexism?"

Readers of Whitlock’s columns and followers of his exploits at strip club won’t be shocked by the sexism charges.

To top it all off, Sportsgrid.com’s Dan Fogarty even put together a column headlined, "Here Are Some Jokes About Jason Whitlock Having a Small Penis"

So once again Whitlock has managed to jam his way into the national limelight. However this time in a manner that may cost him.

This one’s personal…

It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m out of town and flying low, so I don’t have the time to give this one a lot of thought right now, other than to do the basic reporting.

Which is…

My old boss Mary Lou Nolan announced today that she will retire on Friday February 24th.

I’ll "revisit" this, as Mary Lou might say in the near future.

But I will say that she’ll be missed. Maybe not universally, but by and large Mary Lou did a good job during some very difficult times. She certainly was never what one would call cutting edge, but hey, she put up with me for 10 or more years.

And largely was very supportive.

I remember her voice mail the first workday of January in 2009 asking me to come in so I could work out the details of continuing my column in the FYI section. All Mary Lou could guarantee was $300 per column freelance and the number of columns per week would have to be budgeted and determined. But she wanted me back right away as I’d only been gone a little over a month. And I generally took a couple weeks off during the holidays anyway.

Unfortunately, for tax purposes, I’d opted to take my six months severance money in 2009, and parent company McClatchy stuck to its guns that no laid off employees could work for any of its subsidaries that calendar year if they’d taken the money that year.

The rest is history.

I soon faced the difficult choice of whether to cover the historic downfall of the Star and newspapers in general that year. Had I opted to be a good little boy and not write about it, chances are my column would have returned for so-many-cents-on-the-dollar in January 2010. Since I didn’t, choosing instead to report the news here as it unfolded, that ship pretty much sailed.

Stories readers would have totally missed include the time columnist Mike Hendricks got converted to parttime, took a one third pay cut and benefits loss, then lashed out against his editors and the Star on Facebook. Hendricks even petitioned Facebook friends to help him find a higher paying job.

It was classic.

And who wouldn’t have wanted to learn of editor Mike Fannin’s twin DUIs, assault conviction and slam time?

I digress.

OK, one short Mary Lou Nolan anecdote (you know I’ve got a million of ’em).

I was doing a column a handful of years back where I asked locals of note what they given or received for Christmas, and what their New Year’s Resolutions were.

In the case of fiery, local pol Carol Coe, her daughter Ailey had asked for an iPod but money being tight, Coe’d gotten her a Chia Pet instead. It was a short item and all about the brief, punchy quote Coe had given me.

However Mary Lou being dutifully anal, wanted to make certain each and every Star reader in the universe knew exactly what Coe was talking about and wanted me to break up the quote and tediously explain what a Chia Pet was.

Everyone knows what a Chia Pet is, I argued.

"I don’t," Mary Lou shot back.

Whereupon ensued a friendly debate over the subject with me prevailing when junior editor Keith Robison and others in FYI that I solicited took my side

Which speaks to Mary Lou’s fairness and willingness to keep an open mind. Something quite helpful when it came to editing my column at times.

The next Christmas I gave Mary Lou a Chia Pet.

Which if you don’t know what that is, I’d be more than happy now to explain it to you now so you can catch up to Mary Lou. Courtesy of Wikipedia, a source that Mary Lou frowned on and was skeptical of in the early going.

"Chia Pets are American styled terracotta figurines used to sprout chia, where the chia sprouts grow within a couple of weeks to resemble the animal’s fur or hair. Moistened seeds of chia (Salvia hispanica) are applied to the grooved terra cotta figurine body."

Hey, have fun Mary Lou! And enjoy that heated, tile bathroom floor you put in a few years back.

When it comes to the future of the music festival known as Kanrocksas, mum’s the word…

That’s not a good sign. Calls to pretty much all-parties involved (that could be reached) from last summer’s event at the Kansas Speedway yielded a single answer; nobody knows for sure.

Again, not a good sign.

Established festivals like Bonnaroo and Wakarusa have had their dates picked out and up for all to see for months. For good reason. Because to succeed at the level these multi-million dollar events need to, it’s vitally important to keep the faithful informed so they can make plans to attend.

Last year’s inaugural Kanrocksas stumbled out of the gate with a late April announcement.

And it paid the price for being tardy.

Pretty much everyone agrees Kanrocksas lost money, the question being, how much?

One number tossed around by insiders is Kanrocksas may have lost up to $4 million.

"You can have a $20 million event that loses $4 million and say, ‘Well, that’s startup money," says one entertainment source. "But when you have a $6 million event and lose $4 million, that’s like losing 70 to 80 percent of revenue."

One reason the fest may have lost more money was because it reportedly had to pay a premium to get acts to play a first ever event.

"When you have something like Kanrocksas that nobody’s ever heard of, the bands are really going to hold you over a barrel," says the source. "Where you normally might have to pay two or three times their normal guarantee, Kanrocksas may have had to pay as much as eight to ten times that much. They had to pay way too much money."

More generous estimates of the number of attendees at the two-day Kanrocksas say 60,000 people were there or 30,000 per day. Others say that number probably was far lower, possibly as low as 15,000 to 25,000 the first day when Eminem headlined and 12,000 to 15,000 the second, with Muse atop the bill.

"You can have 35,000 at the turnstiles, but that doesn’t mean 35,000 (paid)," says one source. "That could mean 25,000 (paid). They could have put it at Sandstone or the soccer stadium, but they put it at the racetrack thinking they would maybe have150,000 to 200,000 people. And it was the biggest failure of all time."

That said, anecdotal reports indicate attendees had a good time and the festival went off with few hitches.

And of course, Kanrocksas organizers vowed to return in 2012.

"First Kanrocksas won’t be the last, organizers say," reads a headline in the August 11, 2011 Shawnee Dispatch.

“We can’t wait ‘til next April to figure this out,” organizer/promoter Chris Fritz told the Dispatch.

"The goal, Fritz said, is to at least break even next year and then start making money by the third year. In the meantime, he said they want to build on what they started this year, bringing in more art, music and attractions and encouraging more sustainability and community involvement."

But while other major festival’s Web sites have long since announced their 2012 dates, Kanrocksas site remains silent.

"Thank You For Helping Us Make The First Kanrocksas So Memorable!" it still reads from last summer.

Hack a little further in and you may find this line buried in the "news" section: "Hope you have a great year and look forward to seeing you again next year!"

Questions about Kanrocksas 2012 plans on Facebook remain unanswered.

"Is this happening in 2012," asked a bikini clad Kristy Burrell yesterday. No response.

"Is there going to be a 2012 show , getting a lot of different answers"  William Schlicht asked Sunday.

"Nope," answered Ryan Oswald.

"You’re not going to get an answer there. They keep deleting the post about it," chimed in Randy Robbins.

"Was this a one time festival??" Johnathan David Willams asked Saturday. "It’s festival time…and it’s all crickets over here?"

Crickets, indeed.

Calls to the Kansas Speedway yielded little more.

Haven’t heard anything about it, say Speedway ticket sellers. "It hasn’t been determined yet," added a woman in the security office.

There’s also talk the millionaire dude who bankrolled last year’s Kanrocksas is o-u-t, which could mean a new checkbook is needed.

Or the possibility of dialing Kanrocksas back to a two or three day mini fest at Sandstone and picking up bands on their way to or from Lollapalooza like last year.

(Incidentally, Lollapalooza will go down in Chicago’s Grant Park August 2-5 this summer.)

Or Kanrocksas could skip a year, some have suggested.

The official word?

"At the moment we can’t comment," says Kanrocksas rep Matt Camden. "We’re looking at a lot of options for when to do it and how to do it, but at the moment we’re not saying anything definitive."

Stay tuned…

There’s little doubt Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney‘s campaign could use a little oomph…

But is it possible that one of the most boring presidential candidates ever was caught up in a "love triangle"? Hey, maybe. At this stage of the game, the idea of Romney getting strafed by The National Enquirer in a sex scandal story on Valentine’s Day might be considered by some as positive. Anything to knock Romney out of that boring and flavorless flip-flop box he’s been trapped in the past four years or so.

And it’s Valentine’s Day at the Enquirer, so pretty much anything goes. Including headlines like, "Exclusive Interview: Mitt Romney Love Triangle Shocker!"

Check it out.

"Presidential candi­date MITT ROMNEY has been rocked by a shock­ing ‘cheating’ scandal involving his beloved wife ANN," the story begins. "In an election year marked by horrendous mud-slinging, a just-published book dropped a bombshell directly on the Repub­lican front-runner and his wife of 42 years."

Sounds pretty tawdry, right? But are they really talking about Mitt?

Turns out a newly released book, "The Real Romney" tells the story of how Romney’s wife Ann – after agreeing in college to marry him – had a fling with some dude on the Brigham Young basketball team.

That after the Mittster took off for France to fulfill part of his missionary obligations to the Mormon church.

"Ann plunged into a new romance with (Kim) Cam­eron," the Enquirer continues. "When Mitt got the news, he was devastated, according to the book’s au­thors Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, both Boston Globe report­ers."

That book’s been out nearly a month and the Globe reporters have pretty much made the rounds of most major political talk shows. But leave it to the Enquirer to ferret out the single sexy morsal and serve it up sensationally on America’s Day of Love.

Check out the spin on this baby.

"In a sensational new development, The ENQUIRER tracked down Cameron, and he revealed that Ann – the girl he hoped to marry – never told him she had previously promised to spend her life with Mitt," the Enquirer says.

There’s more.

"Ann’s two-timing puts her ‘in the middle of a ‘cheating’ scandal,’ a top political source told The ENQUIRER," it writes. “While this happened long ago, it still be­comes an issue for a candidate running for the White House.  Because Mitt has made an issue of the solidness of his marriage, any informa­tion that shows Ann ‘cheated’ could be used by his political enemies.”

I don’t know about you guys, but while I respect the Enquirer for breaking some pretty huge stories – does the name John Edwards ring a bell? – this one seems like a pretty tall reach. Complete with over-written passages like, "The political source added that Mitt ‘was destroyed emotionally when Ann fell in love with another man." "

Remember, this was 44 years ago. And they’re calling that a Love Triangle Shocker?

I have to admit, this one caught even me by surprise…

New Kansas City Star publisher Mi-Al Parrish stunned the newsroom today when she unleashed her first ever round of layoffs at the newspaper.

"It was a shock, because people weren’t expecting it," says one source.

In addition to eliminating "seven staff positions," Parrish’s memo outlined that a one week unpaid furlough would be implemented for "most employees" to be taken in the first half of the year. That on the heels of a week’s furlough late last year.

"That’s two weeks with no salary," says another surprised Star staffer.

As is the custom, Parrish did not identify which staffers would take a bullet. But according to one source, only a single newsroom employee – tthe prolific Joe Lambe, a courts and 913 reporter in Johnson County – was thought to be on the kill list.

"That’s because we still have seven or eight positions that remain unfilled," says the source. "For example, J. Brady McCollough in sports left at the end of last year."

The floral-tongued McCollough hosed down the sports beat at KU and is now carrying on about hockey and Penn State for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Here’s what was weird and unexpected about the Parrish layoffs and furloughs today…

With signs that the newspaper had a kickass fourth quarter and economic indicators like car sales pointing upward, many staffers – plus me – figured the layoffs influenza might have passed after four years. At least for the immediate future.

Remember, the Star has gone from more than 2,000 prior to the downturn of 2003 / 2004  employees to barely 700.

Oh, well…

It’s time to level the party playing field…

For four long years the Power & Light District downtown has held a huge advantage in festival licensing over other Westport and other Kansas City entertainment districts. All while costing Kansas City taxpayers millions of dollars in subsidies with deficets projected as high as $15 million a year.

Unfamiliar with festival licensing?

It’s the practice of allowing patrons to carry drinks outside of bars and restaurants onto streets and sidewalks. Kinda like Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

It’s a competitive advantage the Power & Light District has had for far too long, says Westporter Bill Nigro.

"Just in sales tax alone this past year, Westport has given the city over $3 million," Nigro says. "And by the way, the sales tax for the Power & Light District goes to pay off the loans that were used to build the whole thing. So the city doesn’t get to keep that money."

To that end, Westport is asking for the city to allow it to have festival licensing to compete with the P&L.

"Creating that kind of district for Westport, I think, would increase the sales tax money we pay the city by at least 15 percent," Nigro says. "It would be smart business for our city and it would allow Westport to compete against the city-owned Power & Light District."

To date, it’s been a long, uphill slog.

"We’ve been trying to get this to happen since the day the Power & Light District opened,"Nigro says. "And here’s what the city and state gave us instead. We get to compete with them 12 days a year – not 365 days. And listen to the hoops we have to jump through. We have to measure the center of Westport right in front of Kelly’s – we have to draw a circle and measure 350 feet in all directions. But first we have to get the X / Y coordinates from outer space, then measure 350 feet out and determine who all the property owners are.

"Then we have to get signed consents from half of the property owners and we have to do that for each of the 12 events. And until this year, we had to take a notary with us to get everyone’s signatures notarized. But this year we don’t have to take a notary with us – what a deal!"

Westport’s bottom line:

"It’s un-American that the city won’t let us compete on the same playing field," Nigro says. "It’s un-American. Why can’t Westport just get a festival license too? Because in the past, the city’s never tried to help us, and when we ask them about the festival license, they point the finger and say it’s the state’s fault."

Westport isn’t buying that excuse, Nigro says. After all, the city got it done for the P&L.

There’s another reason Westport’s been trapped on the 12 Days of Hell a Year Plan, Nigro says.

"Power & Light developer Cordish spent a lot of money on lobbyists to keep Westport from getting that same privilege," he says.

To that end, Nigro’s enlisted City Councilman Jim Glover – author of the Glove Plan – to help rescue Westport and generate more income for Kansas City.

"I just went to councilman Glover last week and told him we really want to get something done this year before the weather turns warm," Nigro says. "And if we’re not going to get it, I want to know why. And he said, he’d look into it and hopefully he’ll help us out. It just takes a couple people to introduce the ordinance to make it happen. And then they all vote on it. It’s the city that’s instrumental in making this happen.

"What the city needs to understand is, the sooner they get this done, the more tax money we’re going to hand them. I’m not mad at the Power & Light District, it was the right thing to do. But the city has to be fair and we were here first and were cordonning off our streets long before the P&L was.

"And we’re the local guys. The city is letting the out-of-towners do it and telling the local guys, sorry. And we’re the ones handing them money. I just want to hand them more money."

Stay tuned…

Another day, another handful of watered down news items….

Make no mistake, the Star dishes out more than its fair share of quality local news. When it wants to. Too often though it’s easier for all concerned – editors and reporters – to kinda let stuff slide and stay on the sunny-side-up plan.

Too often there’s little incentive to probe deeper – in part because of limited competition – and partly because keeping sources happy means you’ll likely be first in line when the next "scoop" surfaces.

I can think of dozens of examples, but let’s take a look at just one before moving on to today’s.

Remember when Joyce Smith in business gave a front page blowjob to former donut king Ray LaMar?

Smith reported LaMar was hanging up his donut holes owing to old age. However, a brief check with the health department revealed LaMar’s had been shut down by the health department after years of some of the nastiest violations imaginable. Reports littered with examples so grotesque my editor in FYI would not allow them into the column lest they cause discomfort at some imaginary "breakfast table."

Yes, ladies and gentlemen the Breakfast Club myth is still alive and well at 18th and Grand.

Now on to today.

Remember last November when the Star‘s Tony Rizzo "reported" the following about the death of disgraced civic leader Karen Pletz?

"There were no signs of foul play, said Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Travis Mandell," Rizzo wrote. "Detectives are waiting for the Broward County medical examiner to determine the cause of death and do not expect a ruling until next week."

Hold it right there.

Had Rizzo bothered to check – as I did – he would have learned from Broward County chief medical examiner Darin Trelka that the results for Pletz’s autopsy would not be available for two to three months, not the following week.

Now let’s see how the Star reported the three month old front page story today. Surprise! In a tiny, single column headlined, "Coroner rules Pletz death to be suicide."

"The death of former medical school president and civic leader Karen Pletz has been ruled a suicide, a Florida county medical examiner said Friday," the Star writes, crediting Trelka.

Two and one half months later, just like Trelka told me the day Rizzo reported incorrectly the results would be out in a week.

As for what happened to Pletz, KC Confidential readers learned on December 16th last year that Florida police had told Kansas City police it was a suicide.

That’s one reason there was no rush to get the medical results back, which KC police say generally takes about 30 days, I wrote at the time.

Oh and one more thing, "Mandell doesn’t know where the Star got the idea that the medical examiner’s results would be in so quickly because it usually takes from several weeks "up to six months," I reported.

Still no correction or admission of an error by the Star.

Just as there was no correction on a recent, major news story about a huge redevelopment project by the Woodside Health & Tennis Club. A story in which the club was incorrectly called the Woodside Racquet Club in the Star‘s business section.

That error was pointed out to me by a club marketing official.

In fact, a number of people have noticed that, despite its dramatically paired down ranks, far fewer corrections seem to be making their way into the Star via part time readers rep / gatekeeper Derek Donovan.

A total of only 235 last year at the Star compared to the dead serious New York Times which former Star publisher Art Brisbane reported had 3,500 corrections last year. What are the odds of that being an honest number?

"Oh, Derek is not a readers rep at all," quips one senior Star staffer. "He doesn’t represent the readers at all. If you’re an average reader and you didn’t agree with the article – say it’s a biased article even though it’s a news story that’s not supposed to be biased – Derek wouldn’t give the caller the time of day. That’s just the way (he) is. And he has caused more cancelled subscriptions because he hangs up on people – he has no patience."

Let’s see if D Dog corrects either of the above or merely hangs up on KC Confdential like he effectively did to retired Star reporter Jim Fitzpatrick a couple years back.

Enough already…

From CNN and MSNBC on down, media pundits have expressed shock and dismay at singer Whitney Houston‘s death at the young age of 48.

As a reluctant follower of Houston’s fall from grace in the pages of the National Enquirer though, my take is just the opposite.

I can’t believe she lasted this long!

For example the current issue of the Enquirer – which went to press just prior to Houston’s death last weekend – features a front page story and photos of her down and out in Beverly Hills, the city where she was found dead.

"Whitney Collapses!" the headline reads. "Strung Out & Broke, it’s worse than anyone thought. The shocking photos."

Now look, I know many of you take a dim view of the Enquirer, and I don’t entirely blame you.

However, as an adjunct to writing my column in the Kansas City Star years ago, I subscribed to a number of magazines – including the Enquirer – as a means of keeping my pop culture ear to the ground. Frankly, it gave me a bit more ammo and insight when reporting on national stars that visited KC and I sometimes interviewed.

And as I’ve said before here, the Enquirer is THE most legit of the tabloids, in my opinion.

People magazine is OK if you don’t mind waiting several months for them to catch up to the Enquirer.

But back to Whitney…

"Whitney Houston collapsed in a stunning public breakdown, and friends fear the troubled singer is back on drugs and facing financial ruin," the story begins. "Once worth more than $100 million, the 48-year-old star is nearly broke and battling health problems related to her longtime addictions to cocaine and marijuana, insiders say.

"Despite that, Whitney continues to party with duggie pals, sources add, and she crumpled after leaving a doctor’s office in Beverly Hills on Feb. 2."

By my anecdotal measure, I hadn’t read much news on Houston in recent years outside of her failed comeback  long after the alleged Bobby Brown beating.

So the timing on the Enquirer story this week couldn’t have been much better, outside of the fact that Houston died just before it reached the stands. Prophetic is the word that comes to mind.

That said, the story gives a lot of insight with what may have lead to her death missing from the media coverage I’ve seen elsewhere.

Take the tale of Houston walking out of L.A.’s Le Petit Four restaurant with boyfriend Ray J.

"Whitney had a big smile on her face and seemed so out of it that Ray had to buckle her seatbelt for her," a source told the Enquirer.

"A recent report decribed Whitney as ‘broke as a joke,’ claiming she called one pal to borrow $100 and would be homeless if friends weren’t supporting her," the Enquirer adds. "It’s hard to believe Whitney could burn through all that money, but nowadays she does seem desperate," another friend told the Enquirer.

The magazine reports that Houton’s most recent "rehab stint" was last May. Right before she appeared in the movie "Sparkle" with former American Idol finalist Jordin Sparks.

The telltale closing graphs of the story, combined with the photos, tell a dark, sad tale.

"Whitney needs to slow down and take better care of herself," a source told the Enquirer. "One minute she seems down and depressed and the next she’s partying like a maniac! It’s getting to the point where she’s playing Russian rouletter with her life!"

See what I mean?