Miley Cyrus: Why Chris Hemsworth Still Hasn't Watched Her MTV VMA Performance

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Chris Brown sentenced to 1,000 hours labor

LOS ANGELES A judge reinstated Chris Brown's revoked probation Friday and gave the singer a new sentence to perform 1,000 hours of community labor such as cleaning beaches or highways, removing graffiti or performing other chores assigned by the probation department.

Brown's current legal troubles are the latest repercussions of his arrest four years ago for assaulting his former girlfriend, Rihanna.

The popular R&B singer sat in a courtroom for nearly an hour as his lawyer, Mark Geragos, and a prosecutor shuttled in and out of the judge's chambers, with Geragos apparently seeking his client's approval for a plan to keep him from facing more serious consequences.

Superior Court Judge James Brandlin finally emerged and announced that an agreement had been reached.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray withdrew a request to rescind Brown's probation because of a hit-and-run charge that was dismissed in another court Thursday.

Brandlin then told Brown he must perform 1,000 hours of community labor with one of four public programs: California Department of Transportation highway cleanup, graffiti removal, beach cleanup or Probation Alternative Work Services.

Brown, 24, didn't speak during Friday's hearing, other than to agree to the deal worked out while he waited in the courtroom with his mother and two other people.

The singer has been in and out of court since pleading guilty to the 2009 assault on Rihanna. Besides making reports on fulfilling the requirements of an earlier order for community labor, he has had subsequent run-ins with the law for assault and traffic accidents.

The work that Brown did previously does not apply to the new sentence, said district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison. Brown has a year to perform the work and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 20 for a progress report.

Brown, who won a Grammy in 2011 for Best R&B Album with "F.A.M.E.," could ask the court to end his probation when he completes the community labor, but the final decision on the length of probation will be up to a judge.

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Chris Brown sentenced to 1,000 hours labor

LOS ANGELES A judge reinstated Chris Brown's revoked probation Friday and gave the singer a new sentence to perform 1,000 hours of community labor such as cleaning beaches or highways, removing graffiti or performing other chores assigned by the probation department.

Brown's current legal troubles are the latest repercussions of his arrest four years ago for assaulting his former girlfriend, Rihanna.

The popular R&B singer sat in a courtroom for nearly an hour as his lawyer, Mark Geragos, and a prosecutor shuttled in and out of the judge's chambers, with Geragos apparently seeking his client's approval for a plan to keep him from facing more serious consequences.

Superior Court Judge James Brandlin finally emerged and announced that an agreement had been reached.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray withdrew a request to rescind Brown's probation because of a hit-and-run charge that was dismissed in another court Thursday.

Brandlin then told Brown he must perform 1,000 hours of community labor with one of four public programs: California Department of Transportation highway cleanup, graffiti removal, beach cleanup or Probation Alternative Work Services.

Brown, 24, didn't speak during Friday's hearing, other than to agree to the deal worked out while he waited in the courtroom with his mother and two other people.

The singer has been in and out of court since pleading guilty to the 2009 assault on Rihanna. Besides making reports on fulfilling the requirements of an earlier order for community labor, he has had subsequent run-ins with the law for assault and traffic accidents.

The work that Brown did previously does not apply to the new sentence, said district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison. Brown has a year to perform the work and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 20 for a progress report.

Brown, who won a Grammy in 2011 for Best R&B Album with "F.A.M.E.," could ask the court to end his probation when he completes the community labor, but the final decision on the length of probation will be up to a judge.

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Rand Paul vs. Chris Christie sparring escalates

The Rand Paul vs. Chris Christie spat appears to be getting nastier.

Paul, a Kentucky senator, escalated his attacks on the New Jersey governor, saying on Fox News that it is "kind of sad and cheap" that his fellow Republican is using "the cloak of 9/11 victims" to criticize him on national security.

Christie followed up Tuesday with a shot about Kentucky's federal spending, along with his trademark straight talk. "Get in line" if you've got a personal problem with his bluntness, the governor said.

While Christie and Paul are both mentioned as potential Republican presidential candidates in 2016, their verbal fusillades aren't a sideshow. Their dispute about national security and federal spending exposes the fissures within the GOP -- similar to another battle being waged now over immigration -- that will likely be played out in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina during the presidential primaries.

This all began last week when Christie said at an Aspen Institute forum that there is a "strain of libertarianism" within the Republican Party by those who oppose the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program and other counterterrorism techniques. The governor said Paul and others in the GOP could come to New Jersey and explain their opposition to the "widows and orphans" who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Paul's first response Sunday was to go after Christie on federal spending, and what he called a "gimme, gimme, gimme" attitude when it came to Superstorm Sandy aid.

During a Fox News appearance Monday, the Kentucky senator teed off again. First, Paul said the Republican Party in the Northeast is "on life support" and that "it's not real smart for Republicans to be attacking Republicans." Then Paul threw 9/11 back at Christie before repeating the federal spending charge.

Christie said Tuesday that he's got "nothing personal" against the senator, but said Paul's words seem as though "he has something personal against me, but that's OK. He can just get in line on that front."

As for the charges on federal spending, Christie noted that New Jersey gets back 61 cents for every dollar sent to Washington while Kentucky receives $1.51. "Maybe he should start cutting the pork-barrel spending that he brings home to Kentucky," the governor said.

Sounds like the ball is back in Paul's court. Over to you, senator.

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