Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
Jon Bon Jovi helps talk woman down from ledge on Nashville bridge
NASHVILLE, Tenn. | Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi and a video production assistant persuaded a woman standing on the ledge of a pedestrian bridge in Nashville to come back over the railing to safety.
Police say the encounter happened Tuesday on the Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, which spans the Cumberland River.
The Tennessean reported that Bon Jovi was filming a music video on the bridge, which remained open to the public during the shoot.
Video that was posted to YouTube but later removed showed the assistant talking to the woman. The Grammy-winning front man slowly approached, waved to the woman and joined in the conversation.
Eventually the woman turned around to face the two, and they helped her over the railing to safety. Bon Jovi talked to the woman and hugged her.
A representative for the singer said Bon Jovi would not be commenting on the incident.
Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial
NEW YORK | Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial in his landmark #MeToo case, Manhattan prosecutors said at a court hearing Thursday.
The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges, which could happen as early as Sept. 18. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg disclosed in court that the indictment charges “Mr. Weinstein with additional crimes” and that multiple accusers are prepared to testify against him.
Weinstein, 72, is recovering from emergency heart surgery Monday at a Manhattan hospital to remove fluid on his heart and lungs and was not at Thursday’s hearing.
Prosecutors retrying Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction disclosed last week that they had begun presenting to a grand jury evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein, dating as far back as the mid-2000s.
They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
Because the indictment is under seal, it was not known whether the new charges involved some or all of the additional allegations.
“We don’t know anything,” Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said outside court. “We don’t know what the exact accusations are, the exact locations are, what the timing is.”
In April, New York’s highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women and ordered a new trial. Weinstein’s retrial is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
Prosecutors said they would seek to combine any new charges with ones previously brought against Weinstein so that they could be tried together. Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, arguing that prosecutors were seeking to bolster their original case with additional charges involving other accusers.
Aidala said Weinstein’s defense team won’t be ready to go to trial in November on the new charges. By law, he said, they’ll have 45 days to file court papers challenging the prosecution’s request to try the original and new indictments at the same time, pushing the fight into the weeks before a possible trial.
Weinstein’s new charges come after prosecutors in Britain announced last week that they would no longer pursue charges of indecent assault against Weinstein, who was the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when women began going public with accounts of his behavior.
Weinstein, who co-founded the film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Also Thursday, Judge Curtis Farber granted a defense request to have the ailing Weinstein remain at Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being moved back to the infirmary ward at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. Farber also ordered Weinstein’s attending physician at Rikers Island to testify at a closed-door hearing about the ex-studio boss’ health issues.
Weinstein’s surgery Monday came after his third trip to Bellevue Hospital to have fluid drained, Farber said. He has a variety of maladies requiring medication and treatment that causes him to retain water in his arms, legs, abdomen and around his heart, and he needs constant monitoring to ensure the buildup of fluids isn’t deadly, the judge said.
“If Mr. Weinstein dies because no one has taken the authority to stop what may be the death of Mr. Weinstein because of this back-and-forth transfer from one institution to another, it would be a miscarriage of justice to say the least,” Weinstein’s lawyer Barry Kamins told Farber. “It would be a travesty of justice.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office had signaled for months that new charges were imminent against Weinstein, who was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, having produced films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “The Crying Game.”
In July, prosecutors told a judge they were actively pursuing claims of rape that occurred in Manhattan within the statute of limitations. They said some potential accusers who were not ready to come forward during Weinstein’s first New York trial had indicated they were now willing to testify.
In vacating Weinstein’s conviction, New York’s Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge, James M. Burke, unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case. Burke is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against him again. It’s unclear if the second accuser, Mimi Haley, would participate. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, declined to comment.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann did.
Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence in New York when his conviction was quashed, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape.
His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, but his lawyers appealed in June, arguing he did not get a fair trial in Los Angeles. Weinstein has remained in custody in New York’s Rikers Island jail complex while awaiting the retrial.
Literary award named for the late author Hudson goes to Mathis’ ‘The Unsettled’
NEW YORK | A $10,000 literary award named for the late author-editor-podcaster Gabe Hudson has been established by the publisher McSweeney’s, where Hudson once worked.
The inaugural winner, Ayana Mathis’ “The Unsettled,” was announced Thursday, on what would have been Hudson’s 53rd birthday. He died last year from complications due to undiagnosed diabetes. Hudson published two books, the story collection “Dear Mr. President” and the novel “Gork the Teenage Dragon,” and was widely admired for his support of other writers.
“It is the privilege of a lifetime to become part of Gabe’s legacy of generosity, literary community, and artistic excellence as the inaugural recipient of this distinguished award,” Mathis said in a statement.
The prize, which honors the best second work of fiction of the previous year, was decided upon by a four-judge panel led by novelist Akhil Sharma. Hudson’s mother, Sanchia Semere, provided funding for the award.
“Gabe, my son, wanted to be a writer from a young age. He was a voracious reader, and was friends with many in the writing community, as well as a friend to many who sought his advice on writing,” Semere said in a statement. “I recall Gabe submitting to McSweeney’s early on, and the thrill he experienced when McSweeney’s published a submission. I can think of no better way for Gabe’s name to live on than to establish the Gabe Hudson Prize at McSweeney’s to award writers whose second books exemplify the notions of humor, satire and the generosity of spirit for which Gabe was known.”
Runners-up for the Hudson prize were Justin Torres’ “Blackouts,” Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s “Chain Gang All-Stars” and Hilary Leichter’s “Terrace Story.”
CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ plans its presidential candidate showcase. But will Trump and Harris show?
NEW YORK | “60 Minutes” is scheduling its quadrennial interview special with the presidential candidates to air in less than a month, hoping for the best even after its session with former President Donald Trump went off the rails in 2020.
With no other debates between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, currently scheduled after Tuesday’s event in Philadelphia, a “60 Minutes” sitdown would represent one of the few times left for voters to evaluate the two candidates back to back.
The Sunday newsmagazine wants to do it on Monday, Oct. 7, since CBS is airing the American Music Awards the night before.
Neither candidate has yet agreed to appear but their campaigns have been talking to CBS, said Bill Owens, executive producer of “60 Minutes.” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said “stay tuned” when asked about his candidate’s plans. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press.
“I’m confident that this is going to work,” Owens said. “For either campaign, it wouldn’t be a great look if they turned down an opportunity to be on ‘60 Minutes.’”
The vice presidential candidates, Tim Walz and JD Vance, are also invited to participate, he said.
Four years ago, then-President Trump walked out early following a contentious interview with the show’s Lesley Stahl, and his campaign later sent out an unedited tape of the session that it had taken. While campaigns are allowed to tape the interviews, “I would hope that they don’t do that again,” Owens said. “I hope that we have a serious conversation.”
Correspondent Scott Pelley, not Stahl, has been assigned to interview Trump this year; Owens said that was not in response to what happened four years ago.
During that interview, Stahl interrupted Trump to say “you know that’s not true” when he claimed to have presided over the “greatest economy in the history of the country.”
Trump later criticized Stahl’s “constant interruptions and anger.” When an offscreen voice gave the two of them a five-minute warning for the expected end of the interview, Trump said “I think we’ve had enough” and walked away.
Later, Stahl said that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had insulted “60 Minutes” by essentially giving campaign speeches and not answering questions.
“60 Minutes” has assigned Bill Whitaker to interview Harris. The old-school “60 Minutes” style, where the interviews are taped in advance and crafted into a story by editors, is becoming more a rarity in campaigns, with candidates more commonly seen in live interviews or appearances.
“60 Minutes” begins another season on Sunday, with Pelley examining the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Continuing an experiment from last year, the newsmagazine will have six expanded 90-minute editions in coming months.
—From AP reports
