Lindsay Lohan Tested Positive for Alcohol After Rehab
FacebookTweetLindsay Lohan drank alcohol the night she scuffled with a Betty Ford employee and failed a random alcohol test after she left rehab, according to a probation report. The report, released Wednesday after her no-contest plea to misdemeanor theft of a $2,500 necklace, also states that Lohan "has been suspected of similar conduct in other jewelry stores," but no charges were ever filed. The probation report says Lohan indeed drank alcohol after sneaking out from the Betty Ford Center in December, citing local police interviews with restaurant and nightclub employees. Charges that she battered a rehab employee that night were dropped for lack of evidence. And Lohan, 24, Christian Louboutin tested positive for alcohol in February, one week after her assistant surrendered the allegedly stolen necklace to the LAPD. "The probation officer believes that substance abuse is the root of the defendant's problems," the report says, although L.A. Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner disagreed with that assessment on Wednesday. Instead, Lohan was ordered to psychological counseling instead of more rehab, in addition to a four-month jail term and community service. For now, Lohan will not be randomly tested for drug and alcohol use. She is expected to be allowed to serve her jail term in home detention because she's a nonviolent offender and is eligible for early release for good behavior as well as budget constraints.But Gingrich has a known advantage over his competitors, thanks to a network of profit and nonprofit organizations he assembled since leaving Congress. The various organizations, including American Solutions and ReAL, have together collected more than 1.7 million voter and donor contacts and raised more than $30 million in 2009 and 2010, outpacing fundraising during that period by any other potential presidential candidate. Gingrich also has long-standing credibility within the party on fiscal matters, in part because of his work on a balanced budget as House speaker. But casting his economic message in moral terms now is crucial, said Dennis Goldford, a professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines. "Because the economy has become such a predominant issue, you've got a lot of social conservatives concerned their issues are going to be pushed into the background," he said. Whether the former speaker can appeal to them is an open question, Goldford said, adding that Gingrich "carries a lot of baggage." Gingrich has done his best to dispel those concerns in private meetings with pastors, expressing contrition for his past personal failings. Publicly, he has stressed a need for the party to emphasize morality.