Los Angeles, July 26 (AP/UNB) — The Screen Actors Guild Awards will shift a week earlier than planned and avoid airing at the same time as the Grammy Awards.
Organizers announced the shift Thursday and that the show, which honors the best performances in film and television, will be broadcast live Jan. 19 on TNT and TBS.
The SAG Awards are voted on by acting guild members and are a reliable indicator of who will win acting honors at the Academy Awards.
The Oscars' decision to move up its 2020 ceremony from late February to Feb. 9 has created a crunch for earlier awards ceremonies. The Grammy Awards will be bestowed on Jan. 26.
The Oscars will move back to late February in 2021 and 2022.
Little Rock, July 26 (AP/UNB) — The Little Rock Zoo says Trudy, believed to be the oldest Western Lowland gorilla in captivity, has died at age 63.
Zoo spokeswoman Susan Altrui said zookeepers found Trudy dead when they checked on her Wednesday morning.
Altrui says Trudy was the oldest gorilla in the records of zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an international accrediting organization. Altrui says it's possible but highly unlikely non-accredited zoos have older gorillas.
Trudy came to the Little Rock Zoo from Buffalo in 1988 with a male gorilla, Ollie, on a breeding loan.
Syd Tanner, one of her former keepers, called her the "boss lady" of her all-male group.
Trudy was also one of the last gorillas captured in the wild. Today, North American gorillas are born in zoos.
Dhaka, Jul 25 (AP/UNB) - A Pennsylvania appeals court on Wednesday overturned rapper Meek Mill's conviction in a drug and gun case that has kept the rapper on probation for a decade and made him a celebrity crusader for criminal justice reform.
The unanimous three-judge panel said that new evidence that undermines the credibility of the officer who testified against the rapper at his trial made it likely he would be acquitted if the case were retried.
City prosecutors have backed the defense bid for a new trial and confirmed they do not trust the officer, who has since left the force and was the only prosecution witness at the 2008 nonjury trial. Still, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Wednesday his office needs time to decide whether to drop the case.
The 32-year-old performer, born Robert Rihmeek Williams, is now free of the court supervision he's been under most of his adult life. Williams has said he had trouble notifying probation officers about his travels as required because of the erratic nature of the music industry. A little more than a year ago, he spent five months in prison over technical violations of his parole.
"The past 11 years have been mentally and emotionally challenging, but I'm ecstatic that justice prevailed," Williams said in a statement. "Unfortunately, millions of people are dealing with similar issues in our country and don't have the resources to fight back like I did. We need to continue supporting them."
Reginald Graham, the officer who wrote the search warrant in Williams' case and testified at his trial, left the Philadelphia Police department a few years ago after an internal probe found he had stolen money and then lied about it.
Graham testified at trial that Williams pointed a gun at him during his 2007 arrest outside his southwest Philadelphia home. Williams, who was 19 at the time, has denied pointing a gun at police.
A police colleague who took part in the arrest later said Graham lied about Williams brandishing a gun.
"Rather, (he) observed Williams attempt to discard his weapon," President Judge Jack A. Panella wrote in Wednesday's opinion, concluding that the new evidence was so strong "that a different verdict will likely result at a retrial."
In arguments in the case last week, Assistant District Attorney Paul George said the office wouldn't call Graham at a retrial in light of the questions about his credibility and due it its "legal, ethical and constitutional obligations."
Graham was also investigated, but not charged, by the FBI in a separate corruption probe. The six city drug squad members indicted were all acquitted at a 2015 trial.
"I never lied, I never stole, and I never said I did," Graham, now living in Florida, told Philadelphia Magazine for an article last year.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court also overturned the trial judge's parole violation findings and, in a rare move, pulled her off the case because "she heard highly prejudicial testimony ... and made credibility determinations in favor of a now discredited witness."
Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley had kept Williams on probation for 10 years and sent him back to prison for several short stints for violating parole. He has been called back to court repeatedly over concerns about his travels and, in one instance, use of painkillers. Then-girlfriend Nicki Minaj testified for him at one such hearing in 2016.
The Philadelphia rapper-turned-entrepreneur is launching a new record label in a joint venture with Jay-Z's Roc Nation.
The two performers celebrated the launch of Dream Chasers Records on Tuesday in New York City. Hours later, the court ruling came down.
Williams, in his statement, said he appreciated the support he has received from his family, his legal team, Krasner's office and celebrity friends, including Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin.
Los Angeles, Jul 25 (AP/UNB) — Bill Cosby's spokesman says an insurance company has settled another defamation suit filed by an accuser, this one by model Janice Dickinson. ?
Dickinson and lawyer Lisa Bloom have scheduled a press conference Thursday near Los Angeles.
Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt says American International Group Inc. settled the case without Cosby's approval, as they've done with at least eight other women who say the comedian and his agent maligned them by denying their allegations.
Bloom promises a "major, final, legal victory" in Dickinson's case.
Dickinson says Cosby drugged and raped her in 1982. She's one of six accusers who testified at the 2018 criminal trial that led to Cosby's conviction and a three- to 10-year prison term for a 2004 sexual assault.
An AIG spokesman did not return messages seeking comment.
New York, Jul 25 (AP/UNB) — Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late conservationist, Steve Irwin, is getting married.
She posted Wednesday on her social media that longtime boyfriend Chandler Powell's proposed on her 21st birthday, Tuesday.
Powell is a 22-year-old wakeboarder from Florida whom she met in 2013 when he was visiting the Irwin family's Australia Zoo .
Steve Irwin, known as "The Crocodile Hunter," was a popular TV personality. He was killed by a stingray in 2006 while filming an underwater documentary.
His wife, Terri, and children Bindi and Robert have carried on his conservation work.
Bindi Irwin starred in her own wildlife series as a child. She won season 21 of "Dancing with the Stars."