Gabriella Hoffman’s paycheck is a little lighter today, thanks to a payroll tax increase that is forcing millions of Americans to make the kind of tough budget cuts their representatives in Washington lawmakers seem unwilling to tackle.

Hoffman, a 21-year-old Virginian who works at a nonprofit, estimates her paycheck will be roughly $30 less this biweekly pay period, or about $780 annually, thanks to the end of a two-year cut on payroll taxes, which fund Social Security. The tax has risen back up to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent, costing someone making $50,000 annually about $1,000 per year and a household with two high-paid workers up to $4,500.

“As a newly-graduated person, someone coming straight out of college, I don’t like the idea of having less money coming to me due to the selfish interests of people in Congress who don’t have any interest in reducing our financial problems,” Hoffman told FoxNews.com. “This is an impediment for future economic growth. It’s going to make it harder for young people like myself to get married, find a better job, you name it.”

Hoffman admits the hike won’t completely alter her spending, but the University of California-San Diego graduate said she will definitely have it in mind when it comes to leisure activities and entertainment.

“Although it’s a small quantity on a monthly basis, just having less money going into my paycheck will prevent me from doing things and force me to be more frugal,” she said. “I’ll be more cautious with my spending.”

    "It’s going to make it harder for young people like myself to get married, find a better job, you name it.”

The looming hit to Americans’ paychecks has been a hot topic around water coolers nationwide, as well as online, where several forums have been created for taxpayers to commiserate with their lighter wallets. On Twitter, #WhyIsMyPaycheckLessThisWeek has been a trending topic as most U.S. workers have either already seen less green or are preparing to do so.

“Well, looks like we're starting to pay back all of the money we've spent, without cutting back spending,” one posting read.

Another user cited the need for the U.S. government to “refill the Social Security ‘lockbox’” before stealing from it again as the reason paychecks are smaller.

Other postings chose to politicize the end of the tax cut that was part of the fiscal pact passed by Congress last week.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/11/lighter-paychecks-to-hamper-many-americans-amid-uncertain-economic-times/?intcmp=HPBucket#ixzz2HjLM4rEx

Elin Nordegren showed Tiger Woods exactly what he is missing when she stripped down to a skimpy bikini while on vacation in the Bahamas.

Nordegren showed off her flawless body in a sexy black lace string bikini while walking along the beach in the Bahamas on Sunday, Us Weekly reports. She topped off her look with a straw hat and sunglasses,

Some might find it hard to believe the Swedish former model is a mother of two.

Nordegren wore the skimpy string bikini just days after celebrating her 33rd birthday at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island with her two children, her brother and his family, according to E! News.

Nordegren and Woods divorced in 2010 after nearly six years of marriage. The family was thrust into the spotlight when it was revealed that Woods had cheated on his wife with more than a dozen women. They now share custody of their two children, Sam, 5, and Charlie, 3.

Since the $100 million divorce, Nordegren has been romantically linked to businessman Jamie Dingman and Swedish hockey player Douglas Murray, whom she was spotted dining with in Miami last month.

Nordegren is currently building a $12.2 million, 21,000-square-foot mansion in North Palm Beach, Fla., TMZ reports.

 Police nabbed a South Carolina teenager when they followed a trail of Cheetos leading from a convenience store to a local residence where he was staying.

Austin Lee Westfall Presler, 19, was arrested on January 6 in Kershaw County, S.C., after allegedly stealing beer, cigarettes, snacks and energy drinks from the local Cassatt Country Store, WLTX reported. Calls placed to Kershaw County sheriff's office by ABCNews.com were not immediately returned.

Store manager Howard "Buck" Buckholz told ABCNews.com that Presler only stole $160 worth of goods, but caused upwards of $2,500 worth of damage.

"The fella broke in our store 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning," he said. "We were called at 3:15 a.m. The fuel truck fella said that the front door had been knocked in, so he called it in. He knocked out our front door, he knocked out the beer cooler, and stole beer, cigarettes, Slim Jims, and in his haste, he punctured two or three bags of Cheetos."

Those Cheetos were strewn all over the store's floor and in the doorway. Buckholz said that a neighbor across the street told him and police that the car Presler was driving was parked across the street at the Hard Times Café.

"Cheetos were all over the parking lot, at the place where he parked his car, and at the residence," Buckholz said.

Presler does not live in the area, but was staying with someone that lives less than 1/5 of a mile from his store, Buckholz said.

Katrina Bowden stripped down to nothing but lingerie for the January/February 2013 issue of Maxim, giving fans a very cheeky cover shot.

The 24-year-old blonde auditioned for "30 Rock" when she was just 16, and seven seasons later the show is coming to an end.

“It’s so weird that it’s ending,” she told Maxim. “I was so young and inexperienced when the show started, and the cast has basically been like family to me.”

The actress, who became engaged to Ben Jorgensen (who, incidentally, proposed right after her last Maxim cover) last January, also opened up about how working on the show from such a young age was a great learning experience.

“At first I felt like I was in over my head, but everyone made me feel so comfortable. I’d hang out with people from the show and go to 'SNL' tapings and the after-parties, and a lot of the writers were young. Like, Donald Glover wrote for the show before he was on 'Community,' and he’s just a little bit older than me," she explained to the magazine . "But it’s not like I was going crazy and partying, which might have been different if I’d been on a show with lots of young people, like Gossip Girl.”

Steven Spielberg's "Robopocalypse" has been delayed indefinitely after DreamWorks removed the film from its release schedule. According to a press release from Disney and DreamWorks, "Robopacalypse" -- which had Chris Hemsworth, Anne Hathaway and Ben Whishaw attached to star -- was initially set for release on April 25, 2014. The Hollywood Reporter was the first publication to report the news.

Spielberg's attachment to the film dates back to October of 2010. In January of 2012, the director explained to Time Out London what fans could expect from his adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson's novel.

"It's a movie about a global war between man and machine. I had a great time creating the future on 'Minority Report,' and it's a future that is coming true faster than any of us thought it would. 'Robopocalypse' takes place in 15 or 20 years, so it'll be another future we can relate to," he said. "It's about the consequences of creating technologies which make our lives easier, and what happens when that technology becomes smarter than we are. It's not the newest theme, it's been done throughout science fiction, but it's a theme that becomes more relevant every year."

Of course, Spielberg was whistling a slightly different tune in an interview with "60 Minutes" at the tail end of last year.

"I knew I could do the action in my sleep at this point in my career," Spielberg said about directing "Lincoln." "In my life, the action doesn't hold any -- it doesn't attract me anymore."

Judd Apatow's eldest daughter Maude is a rising star with a hidden talent.

In a deleted scene from "This Is 40," the 15-year-old pulls off a spot-on impression of Khloe, Kourtney and Kim Kardashian.

In the clip, Maude's character Sadie video chats with a male friend (Ryan Lee) about the Kardashians. According to her character, Khloe is the smartest out of all of them, but her nasally baby voice tends to get on her nerves (ours too). Meanwhile, Kourtney seems the most responsible, but the whole "Scott thing is hard. Because she loves him, but he's clearly out of control," she tells her friend referring to the eldest Kardashian's boyfriend and baby daddy.

Apatow gets bonus points for nailing Kourtney's sluggish valley girl drawl, but it's her impression of Kim that is awards-worthy.

"She's got that high voice, that kind of sounds like Khloe's voice and Kourtney's voice combined," she tells her friend, before launching into the best Kardashian impression we've heard.

Seriously, the cast of "SNL" might want to give Ms. Apatow a call the next time they want to mock a Kardashian or three.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa insists that actor Charlie Sheen is not his party bro.

The mayor was responding to backlash he received after Sheen tweeted a photo
of himself with his arm around Villaraigosa at the opening of the actor's hotel bar, Hotel El Ganzo, in Cabo, Mexico.

Villaraigosa responded to the claim that he was partying with his personal buddy by saying to NBC, “I had a three minute conversation with him, I took a picture … I take a picture every single day, 50 times, and I took a picture with him. I have never said no to anyone who wanted to take a picture.”

However, he might want to consider saying no once in a while given the negative press Sheen has received for his substance abuse. Not to mention, Sheen made homophobic slurs at the hotel on the same trip.

The mayor has criticized the Los Angeles Times and the media in general for focusing on his private life, including his affair and divorce.

Just last week the mayor shot down rumors that he was dating actress Eva Longoria

Have we gone too far? It's a question we ask at the outset of every outrageous new reality series—be it "Survivor" or "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." It's also usually an early sign of a show's success.
How reality TV hurts girls

But response to a new show teased as part of Oxygen Media's spring lineup, seems to mark a momentous moment when reality has truly jumped the shark. Collective and largely unchallenged outrage over the network's upcoming show "All My Babies' Mamas" is the unusual case of a show sparking enough controversy to potentially kill it.

"All My Babies' Mamas," a one-hour reality special slated to air in the spring of 2013, features Carlos "Shawty Lo" Walker, an Atlanta-based hip-hop artist with 11 children by 10 different women. Oh, he's also got a 19-year-old girlfriend, who's a year shy of his oldest child.

By the looks of the leaked sneak peak and an early press release, the show's take on this challenging family dynamic is more "Brady Bunch" than "An American Family."

"As the household grows, sometimes so does the dysfunction, leaving the man of the house to split his affection multiple ways while trying to create order," reads the goofy-sitcom-style description, in a press release posted the Oxygen's website late December. "Will there be a conflict over a family holiday, who needs school supplies and who holds the household finance purse strings, or can these feisty babies' mamas band together and live peacefully as one family unit?"

Since the show was publicized, the conflict has been primarily off-camera. Calls for a boycott of the network and a petition to pull the special from the network's lineup have risen to a fever pitch in the past week.

"By pushing these degrading images, your company seeks to profit from the humiliation of girls and women and the blatant stereotyping of African-Americans," writes, Sabrina Lamb, the woman behind the petition.

Lamb first noticed the press release on Oxygen's website, and after watching a 13-minute sample reel of the series on YouTube—which at one point features Shawty Lo unsuccessfully naming his 11 kids as quiz show music plays—she wrote an open letter to the present of Oxygen calling for the cancellation of the show before it goes to air.

"The focus of our outrage is that they would dare exploit the pain of these children and that Oxygen would promote this toxic situation to its young, impressionable female audience," Lamb, an author and cultural commentator, tells Yahoo! Shine. "There's no way this can go forward. We're going all the way to the end with this."

Dieting and exercising are perhaps the most popular New Years Resolutions, but don't worry if you've indulged on a few too many holiday treats this year. Swimsuits are already trickling onto retail shelves and the spotlight is on one-piece swimwear, not bikinis. Yes, that extra inch to pinch around your tummy can potentially remain hidden all year.


Every stylish celebrity from the curvier gals like Beyonce, Christina Hendricks, and Kim Kardashian, to the skinny-minnies like Taylor Swift, Kate Moss, and Kirsten Dunst are rocking one-piece bathing suits, or "maillots." As a result, the rest of us are heading directly to department stores, boutiques, and affordable mass-market shops to scoop up similar styles. The New York Post found that one-piece swimsuit sales are up around 20 percent in local New York shops. We consulted industry experts to find out why.



[Victoria's Secret has many new one-pieces available, including this halter with side ruching] Victoria's Secret has many new one-pieces available, including this halter with side ruchingKatherine Power, celebrity style expert and co-founder of the fashion website Who What Wear feels strongly that celebrities are leading the trend. "Over the summer, Beyonce was spotted in a classic one-piece with a small attached skirt, which is great for those who prefer more coverage," Power tells Yahoo! Shine. "If you are looking for a more alluring way to wear the one-piece, take notes from Rihanna who wore one in December with side cut-outs and a deep v-neck."

Colleen Sherin, the senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue, agrees that celebrities are making younger, trendier girls take interest. "As you see celebrities and fashion icons embracing one-pieces certainly that has an influence on a younger demographic," Sherin tells Yahoo! Shine. That said, Sherin feels these bathing suits are appropriate for all body types and ages, "from kids to women in their '80s." Power concurs, adding that "just like any other accessory or piece of clothing, swimsuits are a way for women to express their personal style. One-pieces are versatile, flattering, and can sometimes be sexier than showing more skin in a bikini." A flattering style for one and all? That's what we like to hear.

Sherin says fresh silhouettes and designs are also responsible for the market shift. "Designers are getting more innovative in one-piece design." says Sherin. "It doesn't have to be super sporty and active and covered up. Some one-pieces offer a more plunging neckline or halter neckline that can still be sexy." Skin-revealing cutouts, which have been a trendy fashion element in recent seasons, also translate well to swimsuits. Cutout details at the waist and back are a happy medium between bikinis and full coverage swimwear.

[Taylor Swift went the retro route in playful polka dots] Taylor Swift went the retro route in playful polka dotsBoth experts feel the design's renewed popularity may be a progression from the retro, fuller-coverage swimwear that's been a hit in recent seasons. Fashion trends evolve over time, and right now the popularity of the one-piece swimsuit has "a vintage, 1950s-pinup appeal that makes woman feel sexy and modern," says Power. Sherin agrees that "the one-piece is taking that popular pin-up girl style one step further. It's a very chic modern look." The aesthetic of a one-piece is also right on trend. "We're experiencing a little bit of a return to minimalism," says Sherin. "Not across the board, but the eye is changing a bit and we're seeing more clean, streamlined, pared-down designs."

Sherin says bikinis are still selling at Saks Fifth Avenue, but as one-pieces are embraced by fashion editorial, the store has updated its Spring Preview catalog, which mailed in early December. Usually, bikinis dominate, but "There are five bikinis and four one-pieces," says Sherin. "We have this amazing strapless bandeau one-piece in red, so it's this great color, and the bandeau is one of our most popular silhouettes. From Pucci we show both a sexy string bikini and a plunging one-piece. Everyone wants to have the option." She adds that "Michael Kors does a beautiful one-piece swimsuit, Calvin Klein, and Eres. We're seeing them on the runways as well; designers are showing them within the Spring/Summer collections." Power says you don't have to shell out for designer swimsuits. "Stores like T.J.Maxx and Marshalls carry great swimsuits for amazing prices. I'm a big fan of the bandeau one-piece, and bright colors are especially flattering when you have a tan."

Lea Michele and Cory Monteith kicked off the new year the right way -- by basking in the Hawaiian sun.

The "Glee" co-stars were spotted on New Year's Day enjoying a day at the beach, while the 25-year-old actress made a splash in a tiny red-orange bikini.

"In paradise and I've never been happier:) Time now to rest, relax, and enjoy some fun in the sun! Xo," she tweeted on Dec. 28.

The couple have been dating since February 2012, but have been more open about their relationship only in recent months. And while the majority of us are back to work, the couple are still very much enjoying their beachside vacation.

"Having the most amazing vaca:) Feeling so rested and relax and happy! Also rockin' some sweet tan lines right now.. lol," Michele tweeted on Jan. 3.