New England Sun-Times

A KFC worker photographed licking a plate of mashed potatoes inside one of the chain’s kitchens has been fired. The unnamed high school student,  perhaps keen to upgrade the chain’s original “Finger Lickin’ Good” slogan, was dismissed after the image was posted on Facebook and went viral. Since the photos emerged, staff at the outlet in Johnson City, Tenn. have been retrained and the workers involved in the stunt have been fired. KFC spokesman Rick Maynard told the Johnson City Press that “immediate action was taken” by the franchisee as soon as th e picture came to light. “The franchisee’s investigation confirmed the photos were taken after the restaurant was closed and none of the food was served,” added Maynard. SCOOP: NYD

A wild shootout on the Las Vegas Strip between a dueling Maserati and Range Rover culminated in an explosive car crash that left three people dead Thursday, including a Sin City rapper who bragged about keeping a gun stashed in his Maserati. The action movie-style violence erupted about 4:20 a.m. when the black SUV with tinted windows and black wheel rims opened fire on the gray Maserati — driven by rapper Kenny Clutch — as they roared down Las Vegas Blvd., cops said. Shown is a screengrab of rapper Kenny Clutch in a Maserati for his music video, “Stay Schemin” (seen below) filmed on the Las Vegas strip. Clutch was killed in a firey crash on the Vegas strip Thursday morning. Clutch, 27, was hit by the barrage of bullets, ran a red light and collided with a taxi, causing a tremendous explosion steps from the Bellagio and Caesars Palace. The Oakland, Calif., native, whose real name was Ken Cherry, was believed to be a “well-known pimp,” according to the local CBS af...

A woman cooking herself a snack has been wounded after the bullets her roommate left inside the oven exploded and sprayed her with shrapnel. Aalaya Walker, 18, preheated the oven in her apartment in Tampa, Florida, on Monday to make waffles – not knowing that Javarski ‘JJ’ Sandy, 25, had stashed his pistol magazine with four live rounds in the appliance. Walker was hit in the chest and the leg by shrapnel from at least one round. Mr. Sandy, who legally owns a .45-caliber Glock 21 semiautomatic pistol, told police he took the magazine out of his gun and put it in the oven. He put the gun itself in a drawer. He never explained to officers why he put the clip with four live rounds in the oven. Police determined that Mr. Sandy, who works at WalMart, had committed no crime. He was not charged. Walker said she picked brass shell casing fragments out of her skin as she rode the bus to the hospital. Officers described her injuries as ‘superficial’ and not life threateni...

It seems prison is the place to be if you wanna have a baby! A prison guard in New York has been charged with having sex with an inmate, making it the second time in the past month that a female guard was arrested for having inappropriate relations with a prisoner. Tyshinia Love Brewster was arrested on Wednesday for having sex with an unnamed inmate, and she is now allegedly six months pregnant with the inmate’s child. The 39-year-old guard was reportedly in a sexual relationship with an inmate at Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, New York, where she worked for the past seven and a half years. Officials did not release any information about the inmate in question, but it does appear that their relationship was more than a one-time occurrence. The couple would allegedly meet in his cell block during her shifts. Brewster is now being charged with rape and official misconduct, while the prisoner has been transferred to another prison. The latest cas...

Will Smith and his family with Jada Pinkett Smith may have avoided the dark drug culture of Hollywood, but it looks like his family back home in the rough streets of West Philadelphia haven’t been so lucky. Smith’s brother-in-law, Dee Lawrence Downs, who is married to the actor’s younger sister, Ellen, was recently indicted in a major federal cocaine-dealing rap. The site claims that Downs, who now works as a businessman and security guard, has a history of run-ins with the law, including two arrests in 1987 and 1992, resulting in felony charges that landed him behind bars. After being released from prison, Downs reportedly remained clean until he allegedly became involved in a cocaine deal with undercover agents posing as drug traffickers in January. According to court documents, Downs was arrested on Jan. 17 after negotiating a deal to buy 2 kilos of cocaine from an undercover officer. He was charged with attempted possession with intent to distribute 5 kilogram...

Clive Davis — the 80-year-olld record producer and music exec responsible for the careers of Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson, among others — has come out of the closet as a bisexual in his new memoir “The Soundtrack of My Life.” Despite being married twice and having four children, the current chief creative officer at Sony Music reveals he has had two serious relationships with men over the past 20 years. Davis writes that his first same-sex sexual encounter came at Studio 24. “Was I nervous?” writes Davis in “Soundtrack.” “Absolutely. Did the heavens open up? No. But it was satisfying.” Davis also reveals that he has been in “a strong monogamous relationship” with a man for the last seven years but makes it clear he considers himself as strictly bisexual, not gay. “Do I feel I could have been similarly attracted to a woman?” Davis writes. “The answer is yes.” “I’m not lying,” recently Davis told ABC’s...

By JENNIFER EPSTEIN | Four separate shootings took place in the span of 90 minutes Friday evening in Chicago, the first coming less than an hour after Air Force One departed O'Hare Airport after President Obama spoke on the culture of gun violence and economic decay that plagues many cities, including his hometown. Four people were wounded on the streets of Chicago's South and West sides between 5:55 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported . The president was airborne shortly after 5 p.m. An hour earlier, Obama wrapped up a personal speech at Hyde Park Academy on the South Side, where he mourned the killing of Hadiya Pendleton, the teen who visited Washington for his inauguration just a week before she was gunned down not far from the school.  “This is not just a gun issue. It’s also an issue of the kinds of communities that we’re building, and for that we all share a responsibility as citizens to fix it,”...