Pop Stand

A March 19th date has been set for the auctioning off of Michael Jackson's "Neverland" Ranch, according to the AP. Jackson owes more than $24 million on the property still, according to San Francisco-based Financial Title Co., and unless he pays by that date, the 2,500-acre property will go up for auction at a likely starting price of $24.5 million.

All of the household furnishings and other material items that remain in the Los Olivos, Calif., home will be auctioned off as well, including some of his amusement park rides.

The pop singer's home has been vacant since he was acquitted in 2005 of molestation charges. Jackson has mostly been living abroad in Europe and briefly in Las Vegas while trying to resurrect his career.

Mischa Barton was officially charged with misdemeanor DUI and marijuana possession in Beverly Hills Superior Court, in relation to a Dec. 27 incident where she was pulled over for straddling two lanes of traffic and failing to signal. She also was charged with driving without a valid license.

The federal court judge who was being petitioned by Britney Spears' attorneys to take over her conservatorship case has denied to move to federal court and sent it back to probate court in L.A. Superior Court.

Pamela Anderson has filed for an annulment from husband Rick Salomon in Los Angeles County Superior Court on the basis of fraud.

Controversy at the Oscars Sunday night was the absence of actor Brad Renfro from the montage of faces shown that passed away in the previous year. Renfro died Jan. 15 of a heroin overdose. Producers say that Renfro's absence was an "editing decision" and that they can't include everyone. But undoubtedly, Renfro would have been more recognizable than some of the obscure makeup artists, agents and others featured in the montage.

A paparazzo photographer in Australia has been stuck with a huge legal bill after failing to win his defamation lawsuit against an Australian newspaper that called him the most disliked photographer in the country because of his constant harassment of movie star Nicole Kidman. The exact amount of the legal bill was unknown at the time, but it is expected to be tens of thousands of dollars.

-- Dave Valenzuela