According to law enforcement sources, Berg -- real name Christian Ward -- was at a house party at around 2:00 AM Monday morning when four suspects entered the home and brandished firearms.
We're told the suspects pistol-whipped two people inside the party -- one of whom was Berg. Law enforcement sources say the suspects robbed eight people and made off with $10,000 in cash and jewelry.
CHICAGO, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The statuette to be presented to this year's best actor Oscar winner is to go on display in Chicago, ahead of next month's Academy Awards ceremony.
The trophy will be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Meet the Oscars, Chicago" event, presented by Kodak, at The Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue.
The admission-free exhibition will open Feb. 25 and run through March 7.
"Meet the Oscars, Chicago" also will give movie fans the opportunity to have their picture taken holding an actual Oscar statuette.
"Kodak is proud to partner with the Academy and to help bring the excitement of the Oscars directly to the movie-loving audience," Kim Snyder, president and general manager of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging Group Division, said in a statement Thursday. "This partnership is a natural fit for Kodak and a great way to celebrate Kodak's and the Academy's shared history in filmmaking."
The exhibition is to include the statuette actress Bette Davis won for her role in "Jezebel" in 1939. Also on display will be Oscars in various stages of completion, as manufactured by Chicago's own R.S. Owens & Co.
On March 5 the statuette designated for this year's best actor Oscar winner will make its way back to Hollywood where it will be reunited with the rest of the Oscars to be presented March 7.
The nominees in the best actor category are Jeff Bridges for "Crazy Heart," George Clooney for "Up in the Air," Colin Firth for "A Single Man," Morgan Freeman for "Invictus" and Jeremy Renner for "The Hurt Locker."
Upon returning from the Australian Open, the sports champ enrolled in a 240-hour program to become a certified nail technician.
“No one likes getting their nails done more than I do,” Williams wrote on her blog. “As a matter of fact I go every 4 days to get a manicure and every 7 days for a pedicure. So, I had a brilliant idea to get certified to be a nail tech.”
Williams revealed she is taking classes in Palm Beach, Fla., in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with a company called HairTech.
“I thought ‘Serena, this is a no-brainer,’” she wrote.
Now, it seems the athlete-turned-beautician has taken the same care with her new endeavor as she did with the one that has made her famous.
“The night before my class I made sure I had all my tools, books and gear organized,” Williams wrote.
“I went to the Hello Kitty store and bought plenty of containers as well as a backpack to keep my belongings. If I’m not the best, I sure do want to look like it.” source
More Black History is being made at the 2010 Winter Olympics. When France sends ice skating pair Yannick Bonheur and Vanessa James to compete it will be the first time in history that a black pair has graced the ice. The crazy part is that while they’re doing their part to change things, a Russian ice dancing pair is experiencing backlash over the lack of racial sensitivity they displayed in a recent competition. Pop the hood to find out what we mean.
Vanessa James, who was born in Canada and raised in England, began skating with Yannick Bonheur in December 2007 after answering an ad he posted looking for a partner. The pair moved to Indianapolis in the United States in August 2009 to train with Russian coach Sergei Zaitsev and last December they paved their way to Vancouver by winning the French nationals. That win also helped James receive French citizenship.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A delusional fan who unleashed his crude fantasies about Ashanti in a battery of text messages to her mother was sentenced Thursday to two years in jail, though his judge rued not being able to send him to psychological treatment instead.
A downcast Devar Hurd said he didn't mean to annoy or alarm the Grammy Award-winning R&B singer and her family when he sent the messages. Some included photos of his genitals and a picture of the family's Long Island home with a comment about stopping by to visit.
"My intent was not to harm," he told the judge. "I always wish the best for (Ashanti)."
Hurd, 31, was convicted in December of stalking and aggravated harassment. Ashanti's mother and manager, Tina Douglas, said she was glad to see the case closed with his sentencing.
"We're really so glad to have this behind us, and we feel justice has been served," she said through a spokeswoman.
Douglas told jurors the messages disgusted her and spurred her to hire extra security personnel. One message envisioned Hurd someday living with the multiplatinum-selling singer; another said his mental state "is very fragile with all this."
Hurd said the messages were intended as friendly repartee, "sex texting" and jokes, and he didn't think Douglas would mind them.
The would-be rapper from Griffith, Ind., didn't raise any psychiatric issues during his trial, where he gave jurors a lengthy account of what he described as a friendship and brewing business relationship with Douglas.
She said she didn't know Hurd and told him to leave her alone, to no avail.
After Hurd was convicted, doctors diagnosed him as having a delusional disorder, Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber said. But months of efforts to arrange probation with mental-health treatment were unsuccessful, in part because Hurd has nowhere to live in New York, Farber said.
He gave Hurd the maximum possible sentence for the misdemeanor offenses, noting the fear Douglas said she felt because of the messages. Farber recommended psychiatric treatment for Hurd in jail.
"It's obvious to me that you need to get help," the judge said.
Prosecutors, who pushed for the maximum sentence, said Hurd should be held responsible for his explicit text-message blitz despite his psychological problems.
"Even if he believes that Ashanti was in love with him, his conduct was not that of a man wooing a woman. He was not sending her flowers," but rather barraging her mother with messages any parent would find objectionable, Assistant District Attorney Carolina Holderness said.
Hurd has been jailed since his July arrest, time that will count toward his sentence.
Ashanti didn't testify at the trial, and no one in her family attended Hurd's sentencing.
Raised in Glen Cove, N.Y., Ashanti signed her first record deal at 14. She has recorded hits including "Foolish" and "Only U."
She also has acted in such films as "Coach Carter" and "John Tucker Must Die" and starred as Dorothy in an off-Broadway revival of "The Wiz" this summer.
Jay-Z shows up funny as he sat in the hot seat once again on the British talk show “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross". Jay talks about his invitation to the White House, his off the chain 40th birthday party, teaching Beyoncé her dance moves, and what he and his wife did, or didn’t do, for Valentine’s Day. He also performed his latest single “On to the Next One.” Which we love!!
Catch a glimpse of Erykah Badu catching a few waves in Hawaii. The soul singer took a break from recording her upcoming album to have some fun in the sun. Badu is due to drop her fifth album "New Amerykah, Part Two: Return of the Ankh" on March 30.
