LITTLE ROCK — Stevie Wonder, 58, has been selected by the Library of Congress to receive its Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes lifetime of work and honors a musician whose work transcends musical styles to bring diverse listeners together, making him the second artist to win the award.
Lt. Ronnie Shirley, a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper accused of conducting background checks, many of them unauthorized, on 182 people, has been fired for gross misconduct and violating the public's trust, said Highway Patrol Col. Mike Walker, although Shirley is entitled to a hearing to contest his dismissal.
Skylar Peak, 24, and Philip Hildebrand, 30, have been charged in Los Angeles with misdemeanor battery over allegations the two surfers confronted several paparazzi and tossed one photographer into the water after the paparazzi showed up in June on a Malibu, Calif., beach to take pictures and to film actor Matthew Mc-Conaughey surfing.
Samuel Kent, 59, a federal judge in Galveston, Texas, pleaded innocent in a Houston court to two counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse over accusations he fondled a former case manager and tried to force her into a sexual act.
Mary Youings
of Ripley, England, has sold a pair of Queen Victoria's stockings, which Youings inherited from her mother, at auction for $14,300.
J. Reece Roth, 70, a retired University of Tennessee professor who was accused of passing sensitive information from a U.S. Air Force contract to two foreign research assistants from China and Iran, was found guilty in Knoxville of 18 counts of conspiracy, fraud and violating the export control act.
Lauren Booth, the sisterin-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said Israel and Egypt are preventing her from leaving the Gaza Strip, more than a week after Booth and other international activists with the Free Gaza Movement sailed without permission into Gaza waters to draw attention to Israel's blockade.
Lowell Miller, owner of Sandy's Sales in East Machias, Maine, said he can't understand how someone managed to steal the 8-foot mechanical gorilla, complete with a concrete base and electric motors inside that moved the arms up and down and turned it sideways, from outside his store, adding, "Who the hell would ever steal a gorilla as heavy as that thing was?"
Robert Hyman, one of the leaders of a 28-member search team looking for the remains of famed aviator-adventurer Steve Fossett, said the team is "pushing harder" and still hopeful despite finding little more than items used in target practice.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/04/2008