Billy Mays had heart disease, examiner says

Tampa, Fla. — Television pitchman Billy Mays likely died of a heart attack in his sleep, but further tests are needed to be sure of the cause of death, a medical examiner said Monday.

Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease, and the wall of the left ventricle of Mays’ heart and the wall of one of his arteries were enlarged. The boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking OxiClean and other products on national commercials was found dead Sunday by his wife in their Tampa condominium.

An official cause of death will be issued after toxicology and other tests are completed in eight to 10 weeks.

Mays told his wife he didn’t feel well when he went to bed sometime after 10 p.m. Saturday. Earlier in the day, he said he was hit on the head when his flight from Philadelphia had a rough landing at Tampa International Airport. The airline said no passengers reported serious injuries.

Adams said the autopsy showed no evidence of head trauma.

Bond hearing set for O.J. Simpson

Las Vegas — A state Supreme Court panel will hear oral arguments on O.J. Simpson’s bid to get out of a Nevada prison pending his appeal to overturn a conviction in an armed hotel room heist, officials said Monday.

A three-member panel of the state’s only appellate court will hear 30 minutes of arguments in Las Vegas from Simpson’s lawyers seeking his release on bond and prosecutors opposing the request, court spokesman Bill Gang said. The hearing was scheduled for Aug. 3, he said.

“We’re thrilled they’re entertaining oral arguments on our motion,” Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter said by telephone from Miami. “We’re hopeful the court will grant our request for bond.”

Clark County District Attorney David Roger declined comment.

Simpson, 61, was convicted of kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in September 2007. He is serving nine to 33 years at Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada.

His 55-year-old co-defendant, Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, is serving 7 1/2 to 27 years at Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City for his role in the case.

The judge panel also scheduled a separate oral bond hearing for Stewart, who was seeking to overturn his conviction. His lawyer, Brent Bryson, could not immediately be reached Monday for comment.

Neither Simpson nor Stewart will be allowed to attend the hearing, Gang said.

Costs are rising for Queen Elizabeth II

London — Public funding for Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family cost British taxpayers the equivalent of $1.14 each last year, according to accounts published Monday.

The Queen’s office said that the costs incurred by the royal family were $68.6 million in the year to March 31, an increase of $2.48 million on the previous year.

It means supporting the royal family cost British taxpayers an extra 5 cents each last year.

Public money is used to pay the costs of travel and operating and staffing homes used by the royal family, including the queen’s Buckingham Palace residence.

Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse — or treasurer to the royal household — said travel costs rose because fewer aircraft were available from the Royal Air Force, meaning that members of the royal family needed to charter commercial aircraft for overseas visits, often at short notice.

Figures showed that royal travel costs rose to $10.76 million from $10.26 million. The queen visited Slovenia and Slovakia last year, while Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, toured countries including Japan and Indonesia.

Officials said a $661,302 relaunch of the royal family’s Web site in February, and hiring staff to run it also contributed to the increase in costs.

The accounts showed that cleaning royal homes cost $496,000, food bills ran to $827,209 and garden parties cost a total of $661,302.

Costs of security for the royal family provided by the police and army are not included in the accounts.

Baron Cohen’s Bruno falls for Australian P.M.

Sydney — British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s new character has a thing for Australia’s wonkish prime minister.

Baron Cohen, once better known as the clueless Kazakh journalist Borat, has a new guise as a gay Austrian fashionista, Bruno.

In Sydney for the Australian premiere of his new movie, Baron Cohen appeared at a news conference Monday in a tight-fitting schoolboy uniform and told reporters of his meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd the night before on a talk show.

“The reason I’m late is I just had breakfast in bed with Kevin Rudd,” he said. “That guy is like, uber cute. I thought Obama was, like, the hottest guy in the world until I met Kevin.”

Baron Cohen met Rudd the night before on the set of popular talk show “Rove Live.”

Rudd joked on the program that he was worried when he found out he would be on the same show as Bruno.

“Basically I was in a state of induced panic,” Rudd said.

Baron Cohen, as Bruno, said he was underwhelmed by the fashion sense of Australian men.

“To be honest I’m a little bit disappointed because I know 150 years ago Britain sent all their gay guys over here, so ich expected a little bit more flair,” he said.

“Bruno” is the follow-up to the surprise 2006 box-office hit “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”