Entertainment briefs

‘General Hospital’ leads Emmy nods
ABC’s “General Hospital” led with 23 nominations Wednesday in a Daytime Emmy Awards field.

The television academy said “General Hospital” will compete with NBC’s “Days of Our Lives,” CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” and the canceled “All My Children” of ABC for best soap opera. Ben Bailey of “Cash Cab,” Wayne Brady of “Let’s Make a Deal,” Meredith Vieira of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and Todd Newton of “Family Game Night” on The Hub were nominated for best game show host.

The ceremony will be in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 23.

Ex-Village People singer wins in court
A judge in Los Angeles said the original lead singer of the Village People can reclaim at least partial ownership of the copyrights to more than two dozen of the group’s songs, including “Y.M.C.A.,” “Macho Man,” and “In the Navy.”

U.S. District Judge Barry T. Moskowitz on Monday rejected a lawsuit by two music publishers who argued Victor Willis had no right to regain ownership of 33 songs he co-wrote for the group under contract.

Bacharach, David win Gershwin Prize
President Barack Obama honored the brainpower behind the unforgettable tunes “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “Close to You,” and others recorded by artists spanning Dionne Warwick, the Carpenters, Alicia Keys and the cast of “Glee.”

On Wednesday night, Obama presented the songwriting duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Hudson slayings case in hands of jury
Chicago jurors in the case of the man accused of killing actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in October 2008began deliberations late Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors trying to counter defense claims of a weak case insisted that “a tsunami of evidence” links him to the crime.

The defense told jurors during closing arguments that prosecutors had failed to prove that Hudson’s former brother-in-law, William Balfour, was the killer. Hudson has attended every day of testimony in the murder trial and was there for closing arguments as well.Closing arguments lasted about four hours.

Prosecutors contend Balfour killed Hudson’s relatives in an act of vengeance against Hudson’s sister, Julia Hudson, his estranged wife at the time.

Wire reports
Juila Hudson fiddled nervously with a piece of string as Bagby described how her ex-husband allegedly shot her son, Julian King, whom she called Juice Box, through the head. ---- Balfour “left that innocent child to die in his own pool of blood,” covered by an old shower curtain, Bagby told jurors, who looked on intently, many of them taking notes. ---- Public defender Amy Thompson started her closing by pacing the room, walking up to Balfour and then toward the prosecution table, angrily pointing at the three state’s attorneys. ---- “They know as they sit there that they have failed to prove the case,” Thompson said almost at a shout. ---- “I am offended,” she went on, “that th

Wire reports