Emmylou Harris, Statlers in Country Hall of Fame

Emmylou Harris, Statlers
in Country Hall of Fame

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The newest members of the Country Hall of Fame are Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, the Statler Brothers and the late Ernest “Pop” Stoneman. Their upcoming induction was announced Tuesday in Nashville. Tammy Genovese of the Country Music Association says Harris is a revered song interpreter, while Hall is a renowned storyteller with his music. She says the Statler Brothers are America’s poets and Pop Stoneman was a patriarch of country music. They will be formally inducted later this year.

Court upholds sentence
for Ronald Isley

LOS ANGELES — An appellate court has upheld Ronald Isley’s 37-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion. The three-judge panel rejected the 66-year-old R&B singer’s argument that his sentence was unreasonable due to his age, poor health and lack of proof that the federal prison system can provide him adequate health care. In its ruling, the appellate court said the trial judge was correct in sentencing and “best balanced the need to sanction Mr. Isley’s ‘pathological’ tax evasion against the need to accommodate Mr. Isley’s poor health.” Isley was sentenced in 2006 after being convicted of five counts of tax evasion and one count of willful failure to file a tax return. Prosecutors said Isley avoided paying taxes numerous times over a three-year period and declared bankruptcy after the IRS seized his yacht, cars and other property in 1997. He was discharged from bankruptcy four years later, but then did not file tax returns for the years 1997 to 2001 and in 2002 did not sign his return and failed to pay all taxes due.

Hannah Montana
goes unrestrained

YONKERS, N.Y. — Buckle up, Hannah Montana! In a blog item posted Monday, Consumer Reports magazine says 15-year-old superstar Miley Cyrus, who plays Hannah Montana on television, is seen in her new movie riding without a seat belt in the back seat of a Range Rover. So is her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, the Yonkers-based magazine says. The movie is the 3-D Disney concert film “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” which is based on Miley Cyrus’ TV show and has made more than $50 million in less than two weeks.

Today’s birthdays

Former test pilot Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager is 85. Actor George Segal is 74. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The Monkees) is 66. Actress Stockard Channing is 64. Talk-show host Jerry Springer is 64. Singer Peter Gabriel is 58. Rock musician Todd Harrell (3 Doors Down) is 36.