CHICAGO – Struggling to contain his anger, a Chicago judge Tuesday sentenced Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson’s former brother-in-law to life in prison for killing her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in what prosecutors say was a fit of jealous rage.
In blistering comments, Cook County Circuit Judge Charles Burns rejected William Balfour’s claims that he was innocent of the crimes.
“You have the heart of an arctic night,” Burns told Balfour. “Your soul is as barren as dark space.”
Balfour was convicted in May of first-degree murder in the 2008 shooting deaths.
Monsignor gets 3 to 6 years in prison
The first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he “enabled monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children.”
Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, “helped many but also failed many” in his 36-year church career, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.
LA votes to ban medical pot shops
Unable to rein in the hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that have cropped up across the nation’s second largest city, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to ban pot shops outright until it has clearer guidance from the state’s highest court.
The 13-1 vote drew an angry, profanity-laced response from some medical marijuana advocates who attended the council meeting.
If approved by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the storefront ban would go into effect after 30 days.
Earhart searchers remain determined
Even though a monthlong voyage for Amelia Earhart’s plane wreckage turned up no smoking gun, the searchers devoted to the hunt say they have a trove of evidence to go through that will help shed light on what happened to the famed aviator 75 years ago.
The expedition to a remote atoll roughly 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii was well on its way back to Honolulu on Tuesday as Earhart’s family and others marked what would have been the American icon’s 115th birthday.
Pat Thrasher, president of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, said plans are already in the works for a land-based expedition to the Kiribati atoll of Nikumaroro next year.
‘Jeffersons’ star Hemsley dies at 74
Sherman Hemsley, the actor who made the irascible, bigoted George Jefferson of “The Jeffersons” one of television’s most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility, has died. He was 74.
Police in El Paso, Texas, said Tuesday that Hemsley was found dead at his home. The cause of death is pending.
The Philadelphia-born Hemsley played the blustering black Harlem businessman on CBS’s “All in the Family” before he was spun off onto “The Jeffersons,” which in 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985 became one of TV’s most successful sitcoms – particularly noteworthy with its mostly black cast.
‘Medical Center’ star Everett dies at 75
Chad Everett, the blue-eyed star of the 1970s TV series “Medical Center” who went on to appear in such films and TV shows as “Mulholland Drive” and “Melrose Place,” has died. He was 75.
Everett’s daughter, Katherine Thorp, said he died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a year-and-a-half-long battle with lung cancer.
Everett played sensitive doctor Joe Gannon for seven years on “Medical Center.” The role earned him two Golden Globes and an Emmy nomination.
