In an effort to keep Britney Spears away from bad influences and focused on her comeback tour in support of her new CD “Circus,” her backup dancers will be required to submit to drug testing. We all know that Brit has a weakness for two things: backup dancers and drugs. I’m guessing that her dad, Jamie, is behind this rule - since he’s pretty much behind anything that keeps Britney in check.

Who knew that the first thing you would hear after being hired to dance for Britney Spears would be, “Fill this, please.”

A source tells E! News that, in an effort to keep the on-track pop star free from negative influences, her camp is requiring that all of her backup dancers submit to drug tests.

“They all had to be drug tested and, if they didn’t pass, they were fired,” the insider says.

“I think they only do it for her because she is under strict watch. I think they just want good influences around her,” the source adds, noting that drug testing is not common practice.

Considering Britney spends a hefty chunk of time with her fellow performers—and is going to be heading out on tour next year with a number of them—it’s understandable that those who look after the Circus star want to screen her stagemates ahead of time.

“It’s going to be a pretty big tour,” says Robert Baker, the studio director at Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood, where Spears frequently rehearses. “They’re going to have a three-ring circus with live animals, so it’s probably stricter liability.”

“I don’t think it’s a common practice, but each artist is different,” Baker tells E! News, referring to the drug-testing issue. “Everyone is just trying to safeguard against any foreseeable problems.”

A rep for Spears didn’t respond to requests for comment.

[From E!Online]

You know, it’s not a bad idea, but something tells me that if Brit wants drugs bad enough, she can find them someplace other than her backup dancers. I wonder if Jamie Spears will be accompanying his daughter on this tour? I can’t think of anything I’d rather not do than spend night after night watching my daughter half-naked, lip syncing to crappy music. But the only way this tour will be a success is if Brit has constant supervision. If you remember, her last tour, the Onyx Hotel, was when everything started to go wrong for Brit- she had a certain backup dancer delivered to her in Europe after meeting him in a club, and the rest…well, you know.

Britney is shown in the header above at the Nokia Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. Below are stills from her appearance on Britain’s hit show, “The X Factor.” Photo credits: Bauergriffin.

Britney Spears spent Saturday night with her boys at her Los Angeles home.

It was the singer’s first overnight visit with Sean Preston, 2 1/2, and Jayden James, 1 1/2, since she was hospitalized at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in January.

The boys were dropped off Saturday and picked up around 10 a.m. Sunday, according to a source.

“Britney was very upset after the kids left,” the source tells Usmagazine.com. “She now does not know when she will get them next for an overnight. She complains it could be next week, or it could be three months.”

(See photos of Britney with her boys.)

At a hearing last Tuesday, Spears, 26, was granted overnight privileges.

Asked if she were pleased with the judge’s ruling, she smiled and told Us, “yes.”

Meanwhile, Spears and ex Kevin Federline — who was spotted partying in Miami over the weekend — are gearing up for a custody trial, set to begin August 25.

Federline’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan told E! that a mediation session last Thursday didn’t result in a custody agreement.

Federline is seeking sole physical and legal custody of sons Preston, 2 1/2, and Jayden, 1 1/2 and wants Spears to continue her current visitation terms.

Said Kaplan, “If the existing arrangement was acceptable to both parties … we wouldn’t have to go to trial. But that didn’t happen.”

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Britney Spears is currently at work on an upcoming album, her vocal producer and co-writer Jim Beanz confirms exclusively to Usmagazine.com.

“Britney is amazing,” Beanz (recipient of the famed Eurovision Award for his song “Believe”) tells Us.

The singer, 26, has had her share of drama, but “we never see anything but positives out of her.

“Everyone has personal stuff, but a true professional doesn’t bring it into the studio,” adds Beanz, who just opened his own studio, Sunset Entertainment Group, in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

In April, her former manager Larry Rudolph told Us that Spears — who is currently in Kentwood, celebrating sister Jamie Lynn’s new baby girl Maddie — had gone into the studio “just for fun.”

Added Rudolph, “she is on the right path.”

Spears’ last album, Blackout, debuted at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The first single “Gimme More” was her most successful single in the U.S. since “…Baby One More Time.”

(See photos of Britney’s bikini body.)

Tell Us: What’s your favorite Britney song?

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Britney Spears relaxed after her minor car accident with an intimate dinner with mom Lynne on Saturday night.

The two hit Dominick’s Restaurant and sat in the second booth near the entrance.

“She was in a great mood, talking and laughing a lot!” an on-looker tells Usmagazine.com.

Spears — who “comes in all the time,” says the source — wore a flower dress and “was listening to her mother” talk.

“She was very passive,” notes the on-looker. “You could tell that her mom really had control over the situation.

“It was a mom and daughter affair.”

(See photos of Britney and her parents through the years here.)

As Usmagazine.com first reported, the singer was involved in a minor accident at around 8:20 p.m. Saturday when her 2008 Mercedes struck a 2006 Nissan in front of her that had stopped on the eastbound Ventura Freeway. No one was injured.

A California Highway Patrol Officer took a report, but no one was cited.

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As Britney Spears continues to strive to get her personal and professional lives back in order, OK! has learned she’s turned to a familiar face for help — former manager Larry Rudolph. Though the pair had parted company a year ago, sources confirm exclusively to OK! that the “Toxic” songstress has once again been taken under Larry’s wing.

Larry and Brit share a long and bumpy history. He was the visionary who discovered the young star Britney and shepherded her career from teen pop tart to international superstar. And when her life began to spiral dangerously out of control in the weeks and months following her Oct. 2006 divorce from Kevin Federline, it was Larry who Britney’s parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, turned to for help getting her into rehab.

After her brief stint at the Promises clinic in Malibu, Brit went public with her ill-feelings toward Larry, chastising him on camera in a bizarre, disjointed rant, for what she viewed as siding with her folks against her.

However, Brit’s dad has always been open about his positive feelings toward Larry, even publicly thanking Larry for his efforts. And now Jamie, who has continued to think the world of Larry both as a manager and as a friend who has Britney’s best interests at heart, has finally convinced Britney to let him take over the reins of her recently resurgent career.

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Comeback? What comeback?

Although Britney Spears’ appearance on How I Met Your Mother was a ratings hit and media outlets keep using the word “comeback,” sources tell Star that Brit’s three-day stint on the set was nothing short of a nightmare!

Her demeanor was so erratic that from one moment to the next she’d go from hot to cold, says one insider. “Her mood changes are so sudden, you don’t understand where they’re coming from.”

At one point, Brit got into a screaming match on the phone with her pregnant younger sister Jamie Lynn because the pregnant teen had called Brit’s ex, Kevin Federline. Standing in a hallway, says a source, Britney was heard shouting into the phone, “You’re turning on me like everyone else. First Mama wanted to sleep with Kevin and now you’re calling him. And you live in a house I paid for!”

Minutes later, she was asking people on the set if they liked puppies.

Yes, we said puppies.

“It was a pain having her on the set,” the insider tells Star. “She made everything take so much longer because of all the drama she caused. Almost no one wants her back!”

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For the last six weeks, Britney Spears has essentially been grounded by her daddy, Jamie Spears, in a desperate measure to save her life. Of course, there are worse places to be holed up than her $7.2 million, 7,400-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa in Studio City.

As part of her dad’s restrictions, the 26-year-old is no longer allowed to hit the night clubs in L.A., hang out with her paparazzi pals or make frequent, erratic stops at gas stations, fast-food joints and public bathrooms. A friend of the the singer tells OK! that Brit recently snuck a text message to them saying, “I’m so bored. I hate my life.”

Now, a typical day with Britney includes spending hours alone in her bedroom, which a frequent visitor to the home tells OK! is “like a princess’ room with several walk-in closets and a spa tub, plus a long counter where she used to keep all her wigs.”

Jamie, who stays in a room downstairs, leaves his daughter alone when she’s in her private suite. And since she’s no longer allowed to go out, the pop star now spends hours in front of the mirror trying on different outfits.

“Changing clothes all day long must seem harmless enough, so her dad doesn’t interfere with that,” a friend of Britney explains to OK!. “She’ll change three or four times on days when she’s not leaving the house.”

Some of those clothes include “fat clothes” that Britney likes to wear when she’s feeling bloated or out of shape. Friends say the singer keeps a secret closet stocked with these loose-fitting garments for just these occasions.

One thing visitors to Britney’s home are surprised to discover is that the seemingly scatterbrained star keeps a clean house. “Her life may seem out of control, but the inside of her house is very ordered,” a friend of the singer tells OK!. “She’s very clean and has no clutter.”

An even bigger surprise inside the house — a shrine to ex boyfriend, Justin Timberlake!

Sources tell OK! that few people have seen Brit’s collection of private mementos from her years with the pop superstar. “She’s obsessed with him,” the source reveals. “She has pictures of them together and has devoted a private area just to celebrate him.”

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It was back to court on Monday for all parties involved in the custody/ Conservatorship case of Britney Spears. The recovering pop singer herself was a no show however, despite the urging of her court appointed attorney, Sam Ingham.

“I have spoken to my client and she’s been inconsistent with her position to attend these hearings,” Ingham said on Monday. “The last word I got today was that she was not coming. I would categorize her as unwilling to appear”.

Despite her failure to show up to court, the commissioner did agree to grant Brit’s father and co-conservator, Jamie Spears, the authority to issue his daughter a debit/credit card, permitting Britney to spend up to $1,500 of her own money per week–the idea being to enable the former pop star to “enjoy herself and have some freedom of choice,” said attorney for the conservators, Geraldine Wyle of Luce-Forward.

Commissioner Goetz also heard two reports today regarding Britney’s mental condition. OK! has confirmed that Sam Ingham gave an oral report on her medical and mental health along with a court appointed physician who submitted a written report.
Sam Ingham was also granted “extended powers” over Brit’s trust.

Commissioner Goetz granted the conservatorship attorneys the amount of $25,000 a month to pay a new lawyer in Miami to handle Britney’s reported legal issues there (she is reportedly having Jive Records audited because she thinks they owe her back pay).

All in all, it was a relatively positive day in court, and despite Britney’s refusal to show (partly due to her disapproval of Ingham as her attorney) commissioner Goetz said, “even though it is clear that Ms. Spears is aware of these hearings and chose not to appear, I am holding this hearing as it is neccessary in her absence to prevent harm to her.”

Britney must remain in California until the next conservatorship hearing on July 31, on which date the judge will decide whether or not to extend or dissolve the temporary conservatorship.

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As reported by OK! last night, Britney Spears has recently found herself on the receiving end of a mysterious, obsessed fan, who has been sending the pop star threatening packages. And now OK! can reveal the ghastly details of what has Brit’s security team running to the FBI.

“It started about six weeks ago with just letters being sent once a week,” a source who has seen the packages reveals to OK!. “And then it quickly escalated to larger packages that now arrive two to three times a week — always to the same L.A. address, but never to one of Britney’s homes.”

And according to the source, it’s a good thing these boxes never made it to the still-recovering singer’s doorstep, because what’s inside could not be good for her mental state.

“The first thing you see when you open the box is a huge, lavender-colored, battery-operated sex toy,” the source tells OK!. “Still with the price tag on it.” And alongside the mechanical apparatus are two letters — one handwritten and one written on a computer — both threatening and pornographic in nature.

“The handwritten one is on note paper and it’s written in a crazy, all-caps chicken scratch,” says the source, who adds that the five-page typed letter contains vivid, pornographic details of the writer’s fantasy exploits with Britney, none of which can be printed here.

Perhaps the scariest item inside the package is what some believe to be a picture of the sender — a middle-aged Caucasian male with stringy, greasy hair — with the eyes cut out of the photo, in which he appears to be squirting some sort of yellowish liquid into his open mouth.

“It’s like something from a bad movie,” says the source. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it.”

Insiders tell OK! that the packages, which come with a return address in the Minneapolis, Minn., area, are immediately handed over to Britney’s security team, who in turn hand them over to the FBI for further review.

They might also want to hand over this information to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s security people, as the superstar couple’s names are scrawled in ink on the outside of each package.

Meanwhile, as another package arrived Saturday morning, Brit was safely shopping with her bodyguard — and a few dozen photographers — for some new footwear at Off Broadway Shoes on Sunset Blvd.

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Jamie Spears will remain in control of his daughter Britney Spears’s finances and other aspects of the pop star’s life until July 31, a judge ruled Wednesday in an unscheduled hearing.

No reporters were present for the proceeedings, although two sources confirm to PEOPLE that Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz extended the temporary conservatorship that had been ordered on Feb. 4, during Spears’s second stint in a psychiatric facility.

“I can confirm that the order was issued this afternoon, but I don’t know the attorneys’ motives,” Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini tells PEOPLE.

The temporary conservatorship had been scheduled to expire March 10. Hearings are still scheduled before Goetz on that date and on March 17, sources say.

Jamie Spears has been overseeing his 26-year-old daughter’s well-being and her estimated $100 million fortune since Feb. 1, when Goetz named him and Andrew Wallet temporary co-conservators, giving them the right to employ bodyguards and restrict her visitors.

A source close to Britney says she’s okay with her dad being in control. On Feb. 23, she was allowed to spend time with her sons Preston, 2, and Jayden, 17 months, for the first time since her Jan. 3 standoff with the police, and she has had regular visits since. “She is getting along well with her father and enjoying the closeness and support of her family,” says a source.

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