New England Sun-Times

Earlier this year, 42-year-old Jimmy Bernard Billingsley pleaded guilty to aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury when he admitted that he’s known since 2008 that he was HIV-positive, yet still had unprotected sex with a woman he was dating in 2009. Billingsley, who faced anywhere from probation to 20 years in prison, left it up to a judge to determine his fate. State District Judge Robb Catalano settled on 15 years, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office. The victim, speaking on condition of anonymity said ‘He would say, ‘You’ll be okay. I won’t get you pregnant. I don’t have anything. You don’t have anything to worry, I just cried. I’m not going to live for a long time is what I thought.’ The woman is now on a cocktail of drugs (seen below) to try and avoid contracting AIDS. She also wants her case to teach others to never have unprotected sex. ‘Just be careful out there,’ she says. ‘Don’t trust anybody. It’s not a game to play wi

By Jonathan Hailey, Assistant Editor     The world of R&B/Soul has just gotten a little more interesting. Singer/songwriter/producer Babyface and songwriter/producer Nate “Danja” Hills are reportedly teaming up to create songs for Aretha Franklin ‘s next project. Besides of the aforementioned, details surrounding the album are shrouded in secrecy. However, we can tell you Hills and Babyface have already been in the studio together vibing and getting a sound fit for a queen. Besides concocting hits for Aretha Franklin, Babyface is currently working on his tenth solo disc. Things have been going well for Danja as well. His record company N.A.R.S. was profitable thanks to singer-songwriter Luke James , who got loads of national attention with his Grammy nominated R&B hit “I Want You.” What do you think an Aretha Franklin album produced by the guy who did the beats for FutureSex/LoveSounds and the man w

A routine trip to a gas station ended in tragedy for a Miami man when police said he was doused in gasoline and set on fire by 3 men in a bizarre attack that has left the victim clinging to life. 44 year old Darrell Brackett, sustained burns to 75% of his body in the incident that took place outside a Miami fueling station on Christmas Eve. Brackett and his girlfriend dropped their guests off after hosting a Christmas night cookout. At around 11.30pm, the couple were heading home when their van ran out of gas. Brackett told his girlfriend to wait in the car while he walked to fill up a canister. A few minutes later, Brackett was spotted running in the middle of the street engulfed in flames. According to witnesses, the 44-year-old got into some kind of an altercation with 3 men who poured gasoline on him and set him on fire. A Good Samaritan rushed to his side and pushed him to the ground, helping him roll in the dirt in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat was suspended one game without pay by the National Basketball Association for kicking Ramon Sessions of the Charlotte Bobcats in the groin. Wade, who is averaging 20.2 points, 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game for the Eastern Conference-leading Heat (20-6), will miss tonight’s game in Detroit against the Pistons (9-22), the NBA said in a release. Wade, 30, made contact with Sessions with 8 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the Heat’s 105-92 win over the Bobcats on Dec. 26. SOURCE: YAHOO

 Former player Lomas Brown admitted that he purposely missed a block in an attempt to get his struggling quarterback injured—and it worked. Brown, then with the Lions, boasted in a radio interview that QB Scott Mitchell suffered an injured finger on the play in 1994 and had to be replaced. Mitchell got wind of the interview afterward and told USA Today he was “floored” by it. “I had Lomas in my home,” he said. “I fed him dinner. … To allow someone to take a shot at a teammate, that’s crazy.” Brown went on ESPN radio and said he now regrets the play but didn’t at the time. His tone was a noticeably different from the interview on Friday that started all the trouble. The exact quote from it: “ We were playing Green Bay in Milwaukee. We were getting beat 24-3 at the time, and (Mitchell) just stunk up the place, throwing interceptions, just everything. I looked at Kevin Glover, our All-Pro center, and I said, ‘Glove, that is

Friends and loved ones gathered at a home on Daisy Lane in Conway on Thursday afternoon to lend support to the family of a 2-year-old boy who died on Christmas Day. The boy’s father, Rondell Smith, paced in circles in front of his mother-in-law’s home, tears streaming down his face, saying over and over, “My son is gone. My son is gone.” He was inconsolable by family. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. … I miss his voice. I hear him calling me. I held him close,” Smith said. “Why couldn’t it be me?” Nearly 48 hours prior, 2-year-old Sincere Smith got hold of his father’s gun that was sitting on a table and shot himself. He died en route to Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. A senseless accident, the boy’s family said. “That’s my daughter’s husband. They said ’til death do us part. I have to support her,” Smith’s mother-in-law Sheila Gaskin said. “If I was someone else, I would probably hate him. But I understand. It was a senseless accident. I can’t hate hi

There will be something new in many Philadelphia high schools when students return to class next week – free condoms. Under a city plan, free condom dispensers will be placed in 22 of Philadelphia’s 51 high schools after winter break, part of an initiative aimed at battling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases between students. Parents who do not want their children involved in the program can opt out, school district spokesman Fernando Gallard said on Thursday. “It’s a self-service set-up so you can actually walk into the nurse’s office, and there is a dispenser on the wall and you just help yourself to them,” he said. Gallard said the schools were selected for the program based on a report by the city’s Health Department that showed rising rates of some sexually transmitted diseases among students. “STD rates amongst youth in Philadelphia have been alarming, especially the increases in gonorrhea and chlamydia since early 2010,” said a statement Thursday from

There’s nothing worse than seeing an ex literally sleeping in bed with their new boo. OK, there’s one thing worse: Reacting by literally setting that bed on fire while your ex and their new boo are still sleeping. That’s exactly what police in Islamorada say 29-year-old Nicole Dobol did. Dobol, who was arrested on Wednesday, allegedly told her boyfriend’s roommate she set the fire because seeing him in bed with another woman “made her crazy.” The trouble started last month, on Nov. 11, when Dobol went to the Hog Heaven Bar and Grill in Islamorada, where her ex-boyfriend worked. He wasn’t at the restaurant that night, but his roommate was. The roommate told Dobol that her ex had headed home, but begged her not to go there herself, says Becky Herrin, a spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Dobol ignored that warning, and forced her way into the ex’s nearby apartment. Inside, she found her former lover asleep in bed with another woman. That’s when Dob

Cops say a casino worker killed a 10-year-old girl before going to a Las Vegas resort and allegedly slashing the face of a co-worker with razor blades. The search for young Jade Morris ended yesterday afternoon when officials confirmed that it was her body that was found a day earlier in an undeveloped housing tract. She died of multiple stab wounds. Jade was last seen Dec. 21 with family friend Brenda Stokes Wilson, who picked her up to go Christmas shopping. 50 year old Wilson, returned the car she had borrowed for the outing to a friend 2 hours later, but Jade never came back. Later that night, Wilson was wrestled to the ground with razors in each hand after slashing the face of a female co-worker at the Bellagio casino. A judge raised her bail to $600,000 from $60,000 yesterday morning after she was identified as the prime suspect in the child’s killing. Police didn’t release a motive, but Jade’s grandfather believes Wilson was a scorned lover. She had dated

  Two African-American scientists have been named as part of a group that will receive the  National Medal of Technology and Innovation Award  by the  Obama Administration ,  the White House announced .   Among the 12 recipients are  James Gates , a physicist at the University of Maryland, and  George Carruthers,  an inventor, physicist, space scientist and professor at Howard University. “I am proud to honor these inspiring American innovators,” President Obama said, in a statement.  “They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this Nation great — and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment.”   Gates has become well known for his work on supergravity and supersymmetry and is a member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He has been featured on the PBS program  NOVA  and other shows on physics. Carruthers is a

By David Ariosto , CNN Police investigating the case released this sketch of the person they were seeking.   STORY HIGHLIGHTS Passer-by links woman, video, police say Erika Menendez is charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime The woman made "statements implicating herself in the death of Sunando Sen," police said Witnesses say a woman pushed the man onto the tracks as a train entered a station New York (CNN) -- A 31-year-old Bronx woman has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of a man shoved in front of a subway train, Queens prosecutors said Saturday. District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the woman as Erika Menendez. She was awaiting arraignment. "(She) said in sum and substance 'I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up,'" the prosecutor said in a stateme