• A New York judge has rejected Harvey Weinstein's bid to throw out the most serious charges in his sexual-assault case, dealing a big blow to the movie mogul as he sought to limit the scope of his looming trial. The ruling, made public Wednesday, clears the way for prosecutors to bolster their case with testimony from actress Anabella Sciorra who says Weinstein raped her in 1993 or 1994. Weinstein, 67, has pleaded innocent to charges he raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He is free on $1 million bond and maintains that any sexual activity was consensual. In recent court filings, Weinstein's lawyers objected to two of the five counts against him -- both stemming from a charge called predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum life sentence and requires prosecutors to show a pattern of misconduct. Weinstein's lawyers argued those counts should be thrown out because prosecutors are choosing to use Sciorra's allegation to show he's a sexual predator who committed sex crimes against other women, even though that alleged attack predates the charge that was enacted into law in 2006. Burke, however, ruled that such a strategy is allowed under state law. While Sciorra's allegation is too old to be the basis for criminal charges, prosecutors can use it as part of showing a pattern of alleged predatory behavior, Burke wrote.
• Country star Jason Aldean learned the hard lessons about the music business when he first signed a record deal with Capitol Records that ended up never producing any music. Years later, he signed to Broken Bow, a Nashville independent label that has gone on to release all nine of Aldean's records, six of which have been certified platinum or multiplatinum. "I got kicked around in the music business pretty good early on and learned a lot," said Aldean on the eve of his new record, the appropriately titled "9," which came out Nov. 22. "Broken Bow giving me an opportunity to do what I've done over the years and giving me a chance to have a career means a lot." Two years ago, BMG in Germany bought BBR Music Group, which includes Broken Bow, and Aldean this year signed a new global distribution and marketing deal with BMG. Recently named artist of the decade by the Academy of Country Music, Aldean has sold nearly 12 million albums in the U.S. alone and had more than 20 No. 1 singles. Even as the music industry moves more and more to a singles-driven approach, Aldean still sees the value in a full 16-song album. "I feel like it's really hard for a fan to get an idea of who an artist is by listening to one song every few months," Aldean said.
A Section on 11/29/2019