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For 40 years, comedian Jerry Lewis and his muscular dystrophy telethon have been as much a part of Labor Day weekend as the start of school and the symbolic end of summer. Now 80, and swallowing 25 pills a day for his sagging health, Lewis is approaching his curtain calls dogged by disabled activists who contend the show is designed to evoke pity rather than empower the disabled. Led by a former muscular dystrophy poster boy from Chicago, the activists scored what they call their "big triumph" last November as wheelchair-bound protesters ambushed Lewis in an appearance at the Harold...

Does anyone know where I can watch the Jerry Lewis Telethon online?

Saw this just breaking...Jerry Lewis will not host the annual MDA telethon for the first time ever due to a sudden illness...Ed McMahon will take his place as full time host this year. Lewis has battled a number of illnesses over the last 12 years but always managed to host the 21.5 hour show...even on oxygen. A taped opening filmed on August 31st on the Vegas strip with him stopping traffic with an orchestra at 2 am will still be shown but Lewis is too ill to do the show live.

Depending on your perspective, Letitia White is either the epitome of a Capitol Hill success story or a prime example of an unsettling mix of money, politics and public policy. White was a receptionist when she joined the staff of Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. More than two decades later, she's an influential lobbyist whose connections to Lewis - now chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee - and others on the Hill have translated into millions of dollars for her and her firm. They also have made her part of a federal investigation into Lewis' ties to the lobbying firm where...

WASHINGTON The investigation stemming from the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., will continue well past the November midterm elections under a federal court schedule set Monday. The development came at a status hearing for defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty in February to bribing Cunningham in exchange for government contracts. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina agreed to delay sentencing proceedings against Wade and set the next status hearing in his case for March 12. That will allow Wade's cooperation to continue in the investigation, which still has several unresolved...

Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis defended congressional earmarking Tuesday during a visit to Mt. San Jacinto Community College's nursing program in Menifee. A $1.49 million federal grant has helped expand the program at the Menifee campus and school officials thanked Lewis, R-Redlands, for his support. Colleges such as Mt. San Jacinto would suffer without the special-funding projects delivered by members of Congress, Lewis said. "One of our jobs is to help California and my district get as much of their money back as possible," Lewis said. Earmarks, which have increased more than threefold in the past decade, are special projects inserted...

For three months, news has spread about Rep. Jerry Lewis and the controversy linked to a federal inquiry into his ties to lobbyists and contractors. During that time, the prominent Redlands Republican has barely uttered a word about the investigation publicly. His staff issued a handful of news releases, and Lewis, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, gave a few brief telephone interviews. A staff member said in June that Lewis was too busy to discuss the federal investigation because of his congressional duties. But the staffer said Lewis' schedule would relax some after July 4th, and Lewis would...

The pay of a former staffer of Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis was cut less than a year before she took a job with a Washington lobbying firm, enabling her to avoid a rule prohibiting high-ranking congressional staff members from lobbying their old bosses or committees for one year, House records show. Letitia White worked as an assistant to Lewis, R-Redlands, on the House Appropriations Committee before leaving to take a job as lobbyist in 2003 with the firm then known as Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & Shockey. Congressional staff members who earn 75 percent of a House member's salary are...

When then-Rep. Bill Lowery dropped his re-election bid in 1992, he was caught up in a House banking scandal and facing a tough opponent with an effective slogan: "A congressman we can be proud of." Fourteen years later, that opponent - ex-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham - is in prison for taking bribes. And Lowery, now a lobbyist, is back in the spotlight. This time Lowery is at the center of a federal investigation that grew from the Cunningham probe to focus on a more powerful member of Congress - House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, a good friend of Lowery's...

SAN DIEGO – The prosecutors who sent former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to jail for taking bribes now are focusing their attention on his friend Brent Wilkes, a San Diego defense contractor who won nearly $100 million in contracts in the past decade. Wilkes also has links to other corruption investigations. Cunningham was sentenced in March to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes – including payments for a 7,628-square-foot mansion, a Rolls-Royce and a 65-foot yacht – in return for funneling contracts to certain companies. Wilkes' lawyers have confirmed he...

The lobbying firm whose ties to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, are under investigation announced Friday it is splitting into two groups. The three Republican named partners - including Lewis' friend and former California congressman Bill Lowery - will continue to lead the existing firm, while the two Democratic partners will form a separate partnership. A statement from Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White attributed the decision to "the current media focus on the firm." "All the partners remain focused on their client work, discussing issues on Capitol Hill, and working with regulatory agencies every single day," the statement said. "We...

Comedian Jerry Lewis postponed a July engagement to perform live after suffering a heart attack Sunday that a casino spokeswoman described as "mild." "At present, he is under hospital care and is expected to make a full recovery," said Candi Cazau, spokeswoman for the Orleans hotel-casino in Las Vegas, where Lewis was to perform July 13-16. Lewis, 80, is also suffering from "a touch of pneumonia," Cazau said in a statement. A call to Lewis' manager, Claudia Marghilano, was not returned Tuesday. Last week, a wise-cracking Lewis appeared healthy at a news conference in Las Vegas when he announced his...

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., under federal investigation over his ties to a lobbyist, has hired a high-profile legal team from a Los Angeles-based law firm. Lewis has denied wrongdoing and has said he has not been contacted by federal investigators in the probe, which became public last month and is being run by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The team includes former Solicitor General Ted Olson; Robert Bonner, who once led the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles and was once head of Customs and Border Protection; Mel Levine, a former Democratic congressman from California;...

Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis has received more than $1 million in donations from lobbyists and current and past clients of a top Washington lobbying firm under investigation by federal authorities, an analysis of campaign-finance data shows. A federal grand jury issued subpoenas last month to Inland cities and counties asking them to turn over documents about their decision to hire the firm, billing statements and communications between local officials, Lewis and the lobbying firm Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White. Clients of Copeland Lowery have received millions of dollars in congressional earmarks -- the special projects lawmakers insert into federal...

Jerry Lewis is a man embattled. In nearly 40 years of public service, he has risen from humble roots on the school board of San Bernardino to become one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives - chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which oversees nearly $900 billion in federal funding. He touts his successes in developing federal clean-air standards, crafting crime and drug legislation and securing emergency funding for disaster relief for California. Closer to home, he counts the establishment of a high-tech cancer center at Loma Linda University Medical Center, the expansion of Ontario...

SOME of the sharpest barbs at yesterday's Friars Club roast of Jerry Lewis were aimed at the proud nation of France, cheese-eating surrender monkeys have honored the 80-year-old Hollywood comic with their Legion of Honor. "We owe the French a lot," Stevie Stone told the crowd of 1,500 at the New York Hilton. "They gave us the Statue of Liberty. We gave them Jerry Lewis. At least people still pay to see the Statue of Liberty." Jeffrey Ross cracked, "The French don't even know they stink . . . It's a good thing you live in America, Jerry. If you...

Former defense contractor Tom Casey, who accused Rep. Jerry Lewis this week of trying to trade his influence for favors and stock options, is either a subject of the same federal investigation or should be, a former employee said Thursday. Meanwhile, the FBI has widened its probe of Lewis' ties to lobbyists Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White to include Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona. At the same time federal prosecutors were issuing subpoenas in late May in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the FBI sent a special agent from its Riverside office to retrieve records of Lewis and Calvert from...

LOS ANGELES (AP) The stepdaughter of Rep. Jerry Lewis received more than $42,000 from a political fundraising group headed by a defense contractor whose company received millions of dollars in contracts from a House committee chaired by Lewis, records show. Lewis' stepdaughter, Julia Willis-Leon, was given the money by the Small Biz Tech Political Action Committee led by Nicholas Karangelen, founder and president of Trident Systems Inc., according to campaign finance records. The company received at least $11.7 million in funding in defense spending bills considered by the House Appropriations Committee, headed by Lewis, records show. Payments were made to...

Congressman Jerry Lewis is at the center of a federal investigation into a lobbying giant in the nation's capital, but he's not keeping a low profile. "This is not a difficult time at all,'' Lewis said Saturday from his home in Redlands. "Since I haven't seen any of these subpoenas or had anybody contact me about them, I don't think I should comment. I have served this community for 40 years, and I expect to continue to do so.'' San Bernardino County, the city of Redlands, and Cal State San Bernardino are among local agencies and businesses that have confirmed...

The federal grand jury investigating the relationship between Rep. Jerry Lewis and a Washington lobbying firm has subpoenaed records from Riverside County and the Cal State San Bernardino Foundation, in addition to San Bernardino County and the city of Redlands, The Press-Enterprise confirmed Friday. Officials with the University of Redlands, Loma Linda University Medical Center and Redlands-based ESRI declined to say whether their organizations had been served. All are or have been clients of the lobbying firm Copeland, Lowery & Jacquez, which has been linked to former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The Rancho Santa Fe Republican pleaded guilty last year...