Pop Stand

Extortion charges against a Bahamian senator and a paramedic who treated John Travolta's son while he was dying were dropped Monday at the request of the Travolta family. Former Bahamian Senator Pleasant Bridgewater and her client, Tarino Lightbourn, were charged with trying to extort $25 million from Travolta in return for not releasing a copy of the "Refusal to Transport" document that Travolta signed on Jan. 2, 2009, the day his son Jett died after having a seizure at their vacation home in Freeport. Travolta testified in the case last year, but the trial ended in a mistrial. In a statement to the court, Travolta said he had "concluded that it was in my family's best interest for me not to voluntarily return to the Bahamas to testify a second time at trial. ... Almost a year later, the long pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family, causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us." Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, left, are expecting a baby, a younger brother for their daughter Ella Bleu,10. The retrial was scheduled to begin Monday. Lightbourne would not comment on the case, but said he likes the actor. "I'm a Travolta fan," he says. "I will always be a Travolta fan. My favorite movie is 'Grease.'"

Playboy Playmate Karissa Shannon is threatening to sue Spencer Pratt over a sex tape of Shannon with her ex-boyfriend, which Shannon alleges Pratt stole from her home. In a letter to Pratt, Shannon's attorney charges that he has footage that "contains private materials" featuring, among others, Shannon and boyfriend Sam Jones. The attorney demands that Pratt return the footage immediately, and provide Shannon's attorney with a list of all the people to whom Pratt has shown the films. Some of the footage might include the previously reported sex tape that featured Shannon and Pratt's ex-wife, Heidi Montag.

Hulk Hogan, who has had several spinal surgeries in the past, was taken to the hospital Monday after suffering what a source told TMZ was "excruciating back pain." Hogan was reportedly in pain for several days and woke at 3 a.m. Monday with his back in spasm, unable to get out of bed. His girlfriend called an ambulance and Hogan was taken to a hospital near his home in Clearwater, Fla., where tests were reportedly being done Monday. Hogan took the time to post a video to update his fans from his hospital bed, in which he said that the spasm was unrelated to his most recent back surgery in May.

Joe Jackson says spankings and other corporal punishments kept his kids -- including Michael -- out of gangs. In the interview done for a movie that will be co-produced by Jackson's wife, Katherine, the family patriarch responds to criticism Michael made of his heavy-handed parenting style. Joe says, "I had to be like that because when raising him, in those days, so many gangs out there getting into trouble, going to jail. Most of them are dead now. He didn't have to worry about that." Joe adds that he had no regrets for the way he raised his children. "They tried to make a big issue when I spanked Michael or some of the kids, ya know? Just like they didn't spank their kids when they did wrong. The media twists everything."

-- Anne Neville