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Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) on Sunday announced her resignation from Congress amid an ethics inquiry into allegations that she had an intimate relationship with a congressional staff member in her office. “It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress,” Hill wrote in a statement. “This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe it is the best thing for my constituents, my community, and our country.” Hill’s spokeswoman said that the resignation is not immediate and that Hill is still deciding on when she will leave office. Her announcement...

...secretive group in upstate New York...videotaped ceremonies where they were branded in their pelvic area with a symbol featuring Raniere’s initials. “During the branding ceremonies, slaves were required to be fully naked, and the master would order one slave to film while the other held down the slave being branded,” the complaint says...“slaves” had to stick to very low-calorie diets...“forced to wear fake cow udders over their breasts while people called them derogatory names,” or threatened with being put in cages,...Raniere has been bankrolled by Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram’s liquor fortune. Bronfman gave millions of dollars covering...

Is anyone else tired of seeing women who are a mess with tattoos?

Blame it on a drunken stupor. That's what Toronto Mayor Rob Ford did. If you pick up the new issue of Rolling Stone, you'll get to see in Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the buff. The 53-year-old "Veep" actress unveiled the magazine's cover photo on Twitter: She tweeted that she's about to get more Twitter followers -- and she's right. We just started following her. Her butt-naked appearance coincides with the third season of "Veep," which premiered on Sunday. In the issue, which hits newsstands on Friday, Louis-Dreyfus dishes on the upcoming season (she's thrilled her character gets to curse a lot),...

A drunken night out in Sydney's Kings Cross left Rachel Vance with a tattoo on her arm - two tiny stars and a spade. The experience cost her $100 and she regretted it instantly. Louise Smith got five tattoos at different stages throughout her twenties. One was a butterfly, another commemorated a friend's death and the rest just seemed like a good idea at the time. Until now. Both women are part of an emerging trend where people are paying upwards of $100 a pop per session of laser treatment to remove tattoos. Oh, and apparently it hurts like hell....

It took Kimberly Vlaminck three long years and nine painful laser treatments to finally look like herself again - her face no longer etched with 56 tattooed stars. Vlaminck, a 22-year-old from Belgium, made headlines around the world in 2009 after she emerged from a tattoo parlor with an entire constellation inked on the left side of her face. Initially, then-19-year-old Vlaminck lied to her parents and the media, claiming that she asked a local tattooist for only three stars near her eyes, but he kept adding more and more after she dozed off under the needle.

There are a lot of reasons to think twice before getting something permanently drawn on your body. One is that people still treat those with tattoos differently than those without. One recent study, for instance, looked at how men treat women with tattoos. What they found was that men are more likely to approach a woman with a tattoo and more likely to expect a date or sex with that woman. Here’s how the study worked. Researchers had women place temporary tattoos on their lower backs and sent them to a well-known beach. The women were instructed to lay on...

"Show us your tattoo" contest draws critics BY STEVE PARKER Posted: Friday, October 1, 2010 11:36 am The Modesto Bee is reporting that it's online "show us your tattoo" contest met with some criticism. The contest -- which ended Thursday -- was aimed at attracting younger readers. Interactive media director Dan Day wrote: It's that under-30 generation we're trying to reach with the contest, hoping they'll stop by our website to view a few tattoos and maybe even pick up a copy of the newspaper. In a column explaining the contest, Day said he heard from critics: "What kind of...

SPRING HILL — Mimi Rosenthal, 101, pushed her Winnie Walker off to the side and sat back in the black leather chair. At 4 feet, 10 inches, her feet didn't quite rest on the floor. And for her third tattoo, she wanted to be comfortable. "Let's find something for your feet," said tattoo artist Michelle Gallo-Kohlas, a longtime family friend entrusted with the honor of inking Rosenthal's arm. Several teenage girls' voices traveled down the hall Saturday afternoon from the waiting room of Requiem Body Art, an upscale piercing and tattoo shop. "Is she getting a tattoo?" "Are you serious?"...

It doesn't bother Hayden Panettiere that a tattoo artist misspelled her tattoo. The 19-year-old 'Heroes' star wanted live without regret written in Italian on her side but what she got was "Vivere Senza Rimipianti" and rimipianti has one "I" too many. Hayden Panettiere has been showing off a misspelled tattoo, inked on to her side in Italian, as she soaks up the sun in Cannes, France on May 19, 2009. But the actress isn't phased, according to WENN. "It is misspelled, whatever, I just put my own spin to it. Chances are I'll probably get it fixed, but that's why...

Megan has blown apart Hollywood's casting couch culture - insisting several leading film directors have tried to bed her since she found fame. The Transformers beauty has attended a number meetings with top moviemakers to discuss potential roles. But she was shocked when they made moves on her during the interviews - and immediately turned them down.

Stars getting tattoo’s in foreign languages isn’t new, but unlike the general public stars usually get the spelling on their tattoos right. Hayden Panettiere is the exception. Panettiere has a tattoo down her side reading “Vivere senza rimipianti,” which is suppose to be Italian for ”Live without regrets.” Except for one small thing: Rimipianti is not the correct spelling. Somewhere along the line, an additional letter i was added to the tattoo, where as it should have read “rimpianti.” Thankfully for Panettiere, the additional i doesn’t turn the word into a different, and perhaps seriously wrong word, it’s just simply...

Following her edgy (and obscenity filled) tribute to Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts continues to reveal her wild side. Spotted Monday on vacation in Hawaii with husband Danny Moder and their three kids, cameras caught a new tattoo peeking out of the Oscar winner's green bikini. Situated on the small of her back, the tat consists of the names of her little ones surrounding an illustration. Four-year-old twins Phinnaeus and Hazel's names are side by side rounding her backside, while just above them is Henry, nearly 2. Roberts is next slated to appear in the movie adaptation of the best-selling Eat,...

Barbie has changed quite a bit over her 50 years. She's been a princess, a mermaid, and most alarmingly, a NASCAR fan. But she's never gotten inked up...until now. That's right, kids. America's sweetheart now comes with tattoos, and some parents are outraged. The Buzz is alive with articles on "Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie." Some parents remarked that they wouldn't buy a Barbie with tattoos, as it encourages girls to show off their bodies. To be fair, the blond bombshell doesn't come with tattoos already applied. It's up to the kids to attach the stickers where they see fit. The...

Race car driver Danica Patrick has a tramp stamp. A tramp stamp, incidentally, is a slang term for a tattoo located on the lower back. A lot of young women are sporting tramp stamps these days (to the delight of some and chagrin of others). But you wouldn't know that Danica Tramp Stamp Airbrushed Out of Danica Patrick's SI Swimsuit Photos Patrick had a tramp stamp by looking at her pictures in Sports Illustrated's latest swimsuit edition. According to the Post Chronicle, SI airbrushed the tattoo - which is of an American flag - out of Danica Patrick's photos. You...

Got a trampy little kid that isn't quite ready to get inked? No problem. Toys "R" Us has lower-back tattoo stickers for little miss thing. We like how they're right next to the Hannah Montana and Minnie Mouse stickers.

Cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Edmond Cabbabe, uses a laser during Fadi Mouhanna's first treatment to remove a tattoo from his arm at Cabbabe's office near St. Anthony's Hospital. Nothing says "I love you" quite like permanent ink injected into the skin. But as tattoo artists and divorce rates show, love doesn't always last. A tattoo, on the other hand, is everlasting. ... Once the name goes into the skin, the relationship often goes south. And when that happens, tattoo regret can set in. Laser tattoo removal, in fact, is a growing business, and doctors say it will continue to expand...

Laura Hathaway initially had no regrets after getting a tattoo on her lower back when she was 21. But now, 10 years later, she wants it gone. The pharmaceutical sales representative from Atlanta, Georgia, says it doesn't fit in with her current lifestyle as the mother of a 2-year-old boy who just started to talk. "The other day I bent over and he said, 'What's that?' and it just confirms why I'm having it removed." Dr. Scott Karempelis of Atlanta Dermatology Associates is performing a multitreatment laser procedure that will gradually erase Hathaway's tattoo with little or no scarring. The...

Over the years, I have thought about getting a tattoo. Surprising considering my fear of needles! lol I see them everywhere on every classs of person, I see the artwork vary from onr body to another.What causes someone to decide to have a tattoo. Is it cultural? Is it a fad? I am seriously thinking about it now. Any stories, suggestions? Thank you!

MELVILLE, N.Y. Got a tattoo? It could interfere with getting a job. A new survey shows that employees are getting the message that plenty of bosses find visible tattoos or body piercings objectionable in the workplace. "Some would argue that they are a legitimate form of self expression and shouldn't be regulated by an employer," said Mark Oldman, co-founder of career site Vault.com, which conducted the survey. "But, like it or not, many employers feel that flagrant tattoos detract from one's professional appearance. While they may be less unsavory now, they still can carry a counterculture, Hells Angels flavor, especially...