A plane carrying Whitney Houston's body has landed at Teterboro Airport and entered a hanger late Monday night.

Hearse carries Whitney Houston's body from hanger at Teterboro Airport.
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The Prudential Center in Newark
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WABC TV aired live video on its website of the plane as it made its approach around 10:35PM Monday night. It taxied slowly to a hanger as several cars followed along the runway and met the plane at the hanger.

Houston was born in Newark, and her family raised the possibility of holding a funeral there Friday at The Prudential Center that seats about 18,000 people.

Police said her body was taken to Van Nuys Airport on Monday. The flight was expected to arrive in New Jersey in the evening.

 

A coroner's official says some prescription medicines were found in the hotel room where Whitney Houston died but not in large quantities.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Monday that medications were found but declined to offer any specifics because police have requested that no details about the investigation be released.

Winter says there weren't a lot of prescription bottles. Police declined to say earlier Monday whether any medications were recovered after Houston's death on Saturday. Beverly Hills police say the singer was found under water in a bath tub by a member of her staff around 3:30 p.m., just hours before she was scheduled to attend a pre-Grammy Awards gala.

Investigators routinely look at prescription medications when investigating unattended deaths.

Police have said there were no indications of foul play.

TMZ reports that family members were told by the Coroner's office  that Houston likely died from a combination of the drug Xanax and other prescription medication mixed with alcohol and did not drown. The website reports that there was not enough water in her lungs for her to have drowned, and that she may have died before sinking into the bathtub in the Beverly Hilton hotel room where her body was found Saturday.

 

 

GRAMMYS REMEMBER A "FALLEN SISTER"

ruce Springsteen performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards
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The Grammy Awards was transformed into a Whitney Houston memorial, where attendees celebrated the pop star and the show hurriedly assembled a last-minute tribute.

Host LL Cool J pays tribute to singer Whitney Houston
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"WE'VE HAD A DEATH IN THE FAMILY"

Sunday night's ceremony, just a day after Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room, began with the tone of a wake, where the music industry family honored one of its biggest stars and a six-time Grammy winner.

"We've had a death in our family," said host LL Cool J shortly after Bruce Springsteen opened the show by singing, with obvious poignancy, his new single, "We Take of Our Own." Cool J led the crowd in a prayer for music's "fallen sister," as the Staples Center crowd bowed their heads. He declared the night one to "celebrate and remember," and played a clip of Houston performing "I Will Always Love You" from the 1994 Grammys.

Much later in the show, following the "in memoriam" segment, Jennifer Hudson, the actress and former "American Idol" finalist, performed a tribute to the 48-year-old Houston by singing her hit ballad "I Will Always Love You." It was a tender, simple performance that encapsulated the glamour and vocal power Houston embodied. She sang the last words of the song as: "Whitney, we love you."

"WHITNEY, WE LOVE YOU"

Jennifer Hudson performs during a memoriam for Whitney Houston onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards
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Bathed in a solemn spotlight, Hudson performed in a sleek black gown, accompanied only by piano. She received a standing ovation while portraits of music luminaries who died in the past year were lit above her.

That Houston's death came so soon before the CBS broadcast meant "a full-blown tribute" wasn't possible, said Grammy show producer Ken Ehrlich. He turned to Hudson on Saturday evening to hurriedly assemble a performance that Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, said was pulled together in hours of frantic phone calls.

"Musicians, by nature, improvise," said Portnow on the red carpet before the show.

There were numerous nods to Houston throughout the night, including comments from Stevie Wonder ("I just want to say to Whitney up in heaven, we all love you, Whitney Houston") and Rihanna ("Make some noise for Whitney!").

But the Grammys didn't just honor Houston. It also took time to pay tribute to soul and blues icon Etta James, rap godfather Gil Scott-Heron and "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius.

WHITNEY ON EVERYONE'S MIND

Steve Wonder on stage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards
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But as attendees arrived at the Grammys, Houston was on everyone's mind. She had been expected to perform at the pre-awards gala Saturday night thrown by music impresario Clive Davis. "Whenever there's tragedy, family pulls together -- and this is my family," said producer Jimmy Jam. "There's going to a little bit of everything tonight, and that's how the emotions should be." "I'm glad we're all together to grieve together," said singer Bonnie Raitt.

For those who were particularly close to Houston, the evening was a difficult one. Just days before, on Thursday, R&B singer Kelly Price performed a duet of "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" with Houston at a pre-Grammy celebration -- Houston's last performance. "I'm here," said an emotional Price, a friend and a frequent collaborator with Houston. "She gave the genre of R&B music a gift that can never be denied."

Heartfelt reaction swept across genres. "Few people will ever touch the world as much as Whitney Houston," said country star Billy Ray Cyrus. Musicians who grew up in the 1980s recognized the loss a soundtrack to their youth. R&B singer Ledisi burst into a warm, impromptu rendition of Houston's "How Will I Know" on the red carpet.

The Grammys were far from alone in honoring Houston. Reaction continued to pour in on social media. BET, MTV and VH1 ran tributes to the singer Sunday. Oprah Winfrey said she would remember Houston in a two-hour tribute Thursday on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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