■ Country singer Merle Haggard is recovering in a California hospital after having a malignant tumor removed from a lung. Friends said that the surgery Monday at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital was a success and that Haggard, 71, was in stable condition. Doctors told Haggard, who is from a Bakersfield suburb, about a spot on his lung in May. Haggard became a household name after the anthem "Okie From Muskogee" hit No. 1 in 1969. He has had 38 No. 1 hits stretching back to 1966.
■ The bass player for the Deftones is in a San Jose, Calif., hospital after a serious car wreck. The rock band's singer, Chino Moreno, said that Chi Cheng, 38, was injured in the wreck Monday in Santa Clara. Moreno told the Sacramento Bee that he did not have many details but that it's "very serious." The Deftones came together in Sacramento in 1988 and released their first album in 1995 on Madonna's Maverick Records label. A song on their 2000 album, "White Pony," won a Grammy Award for best metal performance. The Deftones have been working on their sixth album for release next spring.
■ 50 Cent has a new show on MTV, where business-savvy contestants compete for a shot at fame and a big cash prize. But he says he is not following the path of Donald Trump. "Immediately when you say a reality show that has a business spin to it, they think The Apprentice, and the difference is these people don't actually want to work for me," 50 Cent said. "They have their own business ideas that they created, and they're competing for $100,000 in seed money." 50 Cent: The Money and the Power will start Thursday. It will feature 14 contestants competing to show that they are the best entrepreneurs.
■ Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver says he is worried about what the credit crunch will do to people's waistlines. He says that the United Kingdom faces a health crisis because millions of Britons cannot cook basic meals. He wants the British government to offer classes to low-income families to show them how to prepare cheap and healthy dishes. He told a British parliamentary committee yesterday that those with tight budgets are likely to chose reliable but unhealthy foods. He said that for the first time, many families live on takeaways because they cannot cook. Oliver is also campaigning to raise the standard of school meals.
Deaths
■ Jimmy Carl Black, 70, of cancer, in Siegsdorf, Germany. He went from drummer in Frank Zappa's avant-garde Mothers of Invention band to doughnut-shop worker and house painter….
■ Jheryl Busby, 59, in a hot tub in his home in Malibu. He was the former president and chief executive of Motown Records who helped foster the careers of Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill.
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