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Partly cloudy skies. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy skies. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable.
CHICAGO — When Chicago-born R&B star R. Kelly walked out of the Cook County criminal courthouse a free man in 2008, it wasn’t just a stroke of luck.
Kelly’s stunning acquittal on child pornography charges nearly a decade and a half ago was the result of a carefully crafted strategy by a team of veteran Chicago criminal defense attorneys, who employed nearly every street-fight tactic in the 26th and California legal playbook.
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Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters says he hopes Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will back his close campaign in Arizona. Masters on Friday struck a magnanimous tone toward the GOP leader he fiercely criticized during the primary. Masters has softened the harder edges of his confrontational style and moved toward the center on key issues since emerging atop a crowded GOP field in this month’s primary. He’s relying on deep-pocketed donors and national Republicans to make up for a severe financial deficit against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. Masters spoke to The Associated Press a day after McConnell suggested that Republican efforts to win control of the Senate could be imperiled by lackluster candidates
A Mexican immigrant was sentenced to 38 years in prison in the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk during a 2015 robbery in Arizona. Prosecutors had initially sought the death penalty against Apolinar Altamirano in the attack on Grant Ronnebeck. But a court later ruled prosecutors couldn’t pursue his execution because Altamirano is intellectually disabled. The 21-year-old clerk was fatally shot over a pack of cigarettes at the store in Mesa. His death was cited by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans in complaints about crimes being committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Studies suggest immigrants are less likely to commit crime than people born in the U.S.
The Chicago White Sox have signed Elvis Andrus for the remainder of the season, adding a veteran shortstop with All-Star Tim Anderson sidelined by a finger injury. Andrus, who turns 34 next week, recently cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Oakland Athletics. Andrus gives the White Sox experience with Anderson expected to be out until late September after having surgery for a torn ligament in his left middle finger on Aug. 11. Chicago also optioned infielder Lenyn Sosa to Triple-A Charlotte before its game at Cleveland.
Javier Bardem is confident that audiences in America will enjoy “The Good Boss” as much as those in Spain when the film arrives in the U.S. later this month. The satire on corporate corruption opens August 26 in New York and Los Angeles before a nationwide rollout, after winning six Goya Awards — Spain's equivalent to the Oscars — and shortlisted to the Academy Award for best international feature film. Bardem plays the owner of an industrial scales manufacturing business that goes to great lengths to solve any problems from his workers. He says the story's global appeal has been apparent by audience reactions during its Oscar campaign and its theatrical run in Spain.
Experience is No. 25 BYU’s biggest strength entering its final season as an independent before joining the Big 12 in 2023. The Cougars return 18 starters from a team that posted 10 wins and finished in the AP Top 25 for a second consecutive season. Several key veteran playmakers will lead the offense, including quarterback Jaren Hall, tight end Isaac Rex, and receivers Gunner Romney and Puka Nacua. BYU used the transfer portal to find a capable successor for Tyler Allgeier in the backfield, bringing in Cal's Christopher Brooks. BYU opens the season at South Florida on Sept. 3.
ATLANTA — Fulton County prosecutors pushed back Friday against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is seeking to delay his testimony before the special purpose grand jury studying interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections as he appeals a recent ruling from a federal judge.
In the engaging Apple TV+ miniseries "Bad Sisters," closely adapted by Sharon Horgan ("Catastrophe") from the Belgian series "Clan" and set in and around Dublin, four sisters set out to liberate a fifth from the husband who is destroying her. That the husband begins the series in a coffin, b…
The coach for a Little League World Series player from Utah who seriously injured his head when he fell out of his top bunk in dorms at the world series complex says he has FaceTimed with the boy. Mark Ence says he told his 12-year-old player, Easton Oliverson, that he loved him. He says Easton told him he loves him back. Easton has been recovering in the hospital since the accident. Ence says the boy has begun walking and walked to the bathroom on his own Friday morning.
Several boats, buildings and vessels were destroyed by a large fire at a Massachusetts boatyard. Aerial video taken by WCVB-TV on Friday showed several boats and vehicles at the boatyard in Mattapoisett either burned out shells or being consumed by flames. People who picked up the phones at the Mattapoisett fire and police departments said no one was available to comment. It was unclear if anyone was hurt. The area of the fire was part of a National Weather Service warning Friday of elevated fire risk due to drought and high winds. It sent a plume of dense black smoke over southeastern Massachusetts.
New Orleans has quietly moved a cannon owned by a unit that fought for the Confederacy out of a French Quarter park to a Louisiana National Guard museum. The pocket park overlooks Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral. It was renamed last year from Washington Artillery Park to Oscar Dunn Park — honoring a lieutenant governor who took office in 1868 as the nation’s first Black elected executive. The renaming proposal did not get any opposition in two online forums.
Friends and fellow authors have spoken out on Salman Rushdie's behalf during a rally on the steps of the main branch of the New York Public Library. Friday's rally came a week after Rushdie was attacked onstage in western New York and hospitalized with stab wounds. His literary agent says he has been removed from a ventilator. Jeffrey Eugenides, Tina Brown and Kiran Desai were among those who shared wishes for a full recovery and read passages from his books, essays and speeches. Other readers included Gay Talese, Andrew Solomon and Reginald Dwayne Betts.
Primoz Roglic is off to a good start in his quest to win an unprecedented fourth straight Spanish Vuelta title as his Jumbo-Visma team won the team time trial in the opening stage in the Netherlands. Jumbo-Visma finished 13 seconds ahead of team Ineos Grenadiers and 14 seconds in front of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. Roglic’s teammate Robert Gesink ended with the leader’s red jersey in his ninth participation in the Grand Tour race.
There was some pushing, shoving and a couple of swings between the New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons. And also some practice. The teams got together Friday for the first of two joint sessions at the Jets’ practice facility and the tempers matched the sultry heat early on. New York’s defensive line and Atlanta’s offensive line got into two shoving matches during positional drills that were quickly diffused. During 11-on-11 team drills Jets defensive lineman Bradlee Anae got into it with a Falcons player and appeared to throw some punches. The team drills on that field were paused for a few minutes before practice ran clean the rest of the way.
Pakistani officials say an aide of former Prime Minister Imran Khan who was recently arrested on treason charges for alleged anti-military remarks was hospitalized this week after complaining of breathing difficulties. Shahbaz Gill, who is also the chief of staff at Khan’s opposition party, was arrested after appearing earlier this month on the private ARY TV station where he allegedly incited troops and officers to mutiny. Officials say Gill was taken from his jail cell to hospital on Wednesday. He appeared briefly before a court in Islamabad on Friday, in a wheelchair and using an oxygen tank, after police demanded they be allowed to question him further. However, the court ordered that Gill remain in hospital till Monday.
A divided Louisiana Supreme Court says a north Louisiana mayor can run for reelection, despite providing incorrect information about his voting address in his qualifying papers. Friday's 4-3 ruling reverses two lower courts that had ruled against Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins, who owns two residences in the city. A Shreveport resident had sued to knock Perkins off the Nov. 8 ballot because his qualifying papers falsely indicated that he is registered to vote at the address where he claims a homestead tax exemption. The majority held that state law does not provide for disqualification of a candidate under that circumstance.
Charlene Curtis, the first Black women’s head basketball coach in the ACC, has died. She was 67, and died after a battle with cancer, the conference announced. Curtis was the head coach at Wake Forest from 1997-2004, after head coaching stops at Radford and Temple, where she also was the first African-American head women’s basketball coach. She worked in the ACC league offices for 11 years, retiring in 2019 as the supervisor of officials for women’s basketball. Curtis played basketball at Radford shortly after the passage of Title IX in 1972 and become that school’s first 1,000-point scorer and a member of its Hall of Fame.
Helio Castroneves will return next year for a 26th full season in IndyCar. He has signed a one-year contract extension with Meyer Shank Racing. The additional season was announced ahead of Saturday night's race outside of St. Louis on the final oval on this year's IndyCar schedule. Castroneves has been outstanding at World Wide Technology Raceway and is hoping for a big finish to mark what has been an inconsistent season with MSR. But the results haven't mattered so much as Castroneves has proven to be a sponsor's dream and gives the team an automatic shot to win the Indianapolis 500.
Singer Loudon Wainwright III has been writing about aging before he had any real concept of what that meant. Now he's turned 75, and the songwriter's first collection of new compositions in eight years is loosely themed on hitting that milestone and the wisdom the years offer. Of course, the man Rolling Stone magazine once called the “poet laureate of family dysfunction” can't resist writing about family, too. He does so most prominently in a laugh-out-loud funny song about a man who craves a vacation from, not with, his family. The folk patriarch, looking back on a half-century of making music, says "it’s been great.''
A Florida grand jury empaneled after a deadly mass shooting at a Parkland high school has recommended that four members of that school board be fired. The grand jury in a report released Friday called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend Broward County school board members Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray and Laurie Rich Levinson. It also criticized former Superintendent Robert Runcie and former board member Rosalind Osgood, who is now a state senator. The grand jury has been investigating circumstances surrounding the 2018 shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead. The board members did not immediately respond to requests for comment nor did DeSantis.
LOS ANGELES — Drummer Travis Barker has COVID-19, contracting the virus nearly two months after he was hospitalized for pancreatitis.
Alaskans went to the polls this week for the first time using a new ranked choice system that’s already under attack by a number of the politicians competing within it, and voters, in interviews, offered wide-ranging reviews.
Abortion opponents and abortion rights advocates together spent more than $22 million on a ballot question this month in Kansas, and famed film director and producer Steven Spielberg contributed to the successful effort to affirm abortion rights. The campaign was over a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to further restrict or ban abortion. Finance reports filed by 40 groups and individuals with the state showed that abortion rights supporters spent $11.3 million on their campaign to defeat the measure. Abortion opponents who pushed the measure spent nearly $11.1 million. Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw each contributed $25,000 to the no campaign.
Tevin Campbell is opening up about his sexuality, coming out to the world this week as a gay man in an interview with the People magazine podcast "People Every Day."
The operators of a Tucson nightclub have won a $1.6 million settlement against the landlord who locked them out of their business during the pandemic. The Arizona Daily Star reported Thursday that a jury in Pima County Superior Court sided earlier this month with Congress Street Clubs, the owners of Zen Rock nightclub. They awarded money to cover value of the terms left on the lease and for renovations and equipment costs. An attorney for the landlord declined to comment. In the lawsuit, the owners say they closed in March 2020 per Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order. They could not pay rent for several months because of pandemic restrictions.
A candidate who narrowly lost a Republican congressional primary by 74 votes has filed for a recount. Charity Barry said Thursday she was pursuing a recount after running second to attorney Erik Olson in the 2nd District primary Aug. 9. The liberal-leaning 2nd District covers a swath of southern Wisconsin. The GOP winner will face Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan in November. Meanwhile, Republican Adam Steen said he would mount a write-in challenge to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Steen, a political newcomer, narrowly lost to Vos after Steen was endorsed by Donald Trump over Vos’ refusal to pursue decertification of the 2020 election.
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Laviska Shenault is scheduled to make his preseason debut against Pittsburgh Saturday night. It might also serve as an audition for the rest of league. That’s because Shenault is fighting for a roster spot. A second-round draft pick in 2020, Shenault has 121 receptions for 1,219 yards and five touchdowns in two seasons. But the Colorado standout nicknamed “Hulk Viska” is in a position battle that’s down to four guys vying for two spots. Shenault, Jeff Cotton, Tim Jones and Laquon Treadwell are trying to make the team behind Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Marvin Jones.
A Florida utility has been fined $500,000 and placed on three years’ probation for a 2017 deadly explosion at a coal-fired power plant that killed five workers. The U.S. Justice Department said in a news release Friday that Tampa Electric Co. also must adhere to a new safety compliance plan. The fine is the maximum allowed for such violations. The explosion at TECO’s Big Bend plant near Tampa happened when an effort was made using high-pressure water to clear a slag byproduct that accumulates in tanks under the coal-fired furnaces. The workers died and several more were injured when they were sprayed with molten slag.
The home of the Air Force Falcons turns 60 this season. Falcon Stadium has provided quite an advantage given its higher elevation. That’s especially true in the 15 seasons under coach Troy Calhoun as his teams have gone 66-23 inside the picturesque stadium. The Falcons and their option offense boast a strong returning nucleus. The list includes fullback Brad Roberts, linebacker Vince Sanford and offensive lineman Isaac Cochran. They each earned a spot on the preseason All-Mountain West team. Air Force is predicted to finish second behind Boise State in the Mountain Division of the conference. The Falcons open by hosting Northern Iowa on Sept. 3.
This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh music from DJ Khaled and his celebrity pals, an HBO documentary about the unending toll Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans' children and a film starring Sylvester Stallone as an aged superhero. The quirkily titled BritBox miniseries “The Thief, His Wife & The Canoe” is based on the real-life story of a former prison officer whose get-rich scheme went far afield of what he promised his spouse. And in “Samaritan,” the 76-year-old Stallone pays a man with superhuman strength living anonymously as a garbage collector.
Sex toys and shoes? Try, sex toys IN shoes. A little streetwear label has partnered with a giant in the adult toy industry to create a shoe derived in part from unused and defective amusements that might otherwise go to the landfill. Plastic Soul is about 15% sex toy. The rest is non-bleach EVA. The shoe is the brainchild of David Teitelbaum, founder of Rose in Good Faith, and Chad Braverman, chief operating officer for Doc Johnson, a granddaddy in adult toys. The shoes were introduced last month but have not been one of those sold-out-in-seconds phenoms like the titans of sneaker culture.
NEW YORK — All I want for Christmas is you — to call me the “Queen of Christmas.”
A high-ranking representative from the Biden administration is set next week to make his first official trip to India since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Amid tensions over India’s neutral stance on the invasion that began in late February, the U.S. wants the meetings to focus on how to deepen ties with the South Asian nation. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo will travel to Mumbai and New Delhi for meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, the finance ministry, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, among others.
CHICAGO — R. Kelly’s attorney on Friday began to cross-examine the key witness in his Chicago federal trial, a woman who now says she was the young teenager seen on an infamous sex tape that led to Kelly’s indictment on child pornography charges two decades ago.
Former Olympic diver Jan Hempel has accused the German swimming federation of failing to heed his complaints of being sexually abused for years by former coach Werner Langer. Hempel represented Germany at four Olympic Games. He says Langer repeatedly abused him for 14 years starting in 1982, when he was 11 years old. Hempel tells news agency DPA that “the federation suggested to me that if I spread that around, it would put our sport in danger and then you can’t take part in your sport anymore." Hempel first made his allegations against Langer on Thursday in a documentary by public broadcaster ARD, which also documented other former swimmers’ allegations of abuse by unnamed coaches across the sport.
A candidate who narrowly lost a Republican congressional primary by 74 votes has filed for a recount. Charity Barry said Thursday she was pursuing a recount after running second to attorney Erik Olson in the 2nd District primary Aug. 9. The liberal-leaning 2nd District covers a swath of southern Wisconsin. The GOP winner will face Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan in November. Meanwhile, Republican Adam Steen said he would mount a write-in challenge to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Steen, a political newcomer, narrowly lost to Vos after Steen was endorsed by Donald Trump over Vos’ refusal to pursue decertification of the 2020 election.
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Laviska Shenault is scheduled to make his preseason debut against Pittsburgh Saturday night. It might also serve as an audition for the rest of league. That’s because Shenault is fighting for a roster spot. A second-round draft pick in 2020, Shenault has 121 receptions for 1,219 yards and five touchdowns in two seasons. But the Colorado standout nicknamed “Hulk Viska” is in a position battle that’s down to four guys vying for two spots. Shenault, Jeff Cotton, Tim Jones and Laquon Treadwell are trying to make the team behind Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Marvin Jones.
A Florida utility has been fined $500,000 and placed on three years’ probation for a 2017 deadly explosion at a coal-fired power plant that killed five workers. The U.S. Justice Department said in a news release Friday that Tampa Electric Co. also must adhere to a new safety compliance plan. The fine is the maximum allowed for such violations. The explosion at TECO’s Big Bend plant near Tampa happened when an effort was made using high-pressure water to clear a slag byproduct that accumulates in tanks under the coal-fired furnaces. The workers died and several more were injured when they were sprayed with molten slag.
The home of the Air Force Falcons turns 60 this season. Falcon Stadium has provided quite an advantage given its higher elevation. That’s especially true in the 15 seasons under coach Troy Calhoun as his teams have gone 66-23 inside the picturesque stadium. The Falcons and their option offense boast a strong returning nucleus. The list includes fullback Brad Roberts, linebacker Vince Sanford and offensive lineman Isaac Cochran. They each earned a spot on the preseason All-Mountain West team. Air Force is predicted to finish second behind Boise State in the Mountain Division of the conference. The Falcons open by hosting Northern Iowa on Sept. 3.
This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh music from DJ Khaled and his celebrity pals, an HBO documentary about the unending toll Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans' children and a film starring Sylvester Stallone as an aged superhero. The quirkily titled BritBox miniseries “The Thief, His Wife & The Canoe” is based on the real-life story of a former prison officer whose get-rich scheme went far afield of what he promised his spouse. And in “Samaritan,” the 76-year-old Stallone pays a man with superhuman strength living anonymously as a garbage collector.
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