newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Amish Mafia’ star jailed after car chase

NEW BLOOMFIELD, Pa.

A Pennsylvania man who stars in the Discovery Channel show “Amish Mafia” has been sentenced to three to 23 months in prison for leading police on a chase that injured a state trooper last summer.

Thirty-five-year-old Alan Beiler received the sentence Thursday in Perry County Court.

Police say the Lancaster County resident led them on a chase after they tried to stop him for an expired car registration. They say he drove against traffic and caused a pursuing state trooper to crash and suffer a concussion.

Beiler pleaded guilty in May to charges of attempting to elude police, drug possession and driving with a suspended license.

Mystery writer Barbara Mertz dies

NEW YORK

Barbara Mertz, a best-selling mystery writer who wrote dozens of novels under two pen names, has died. She was 85.

Mertz died Thursday morning at her home, in Frederick, Md., her daughter, Elizabeth, told her publisher, HarperCollins.

Mertz wrote more than 35 mysteries under the name Elizabeth Peters, including her most popular series about a daring Victorian archaeologist named Amelia Peabody. She also wrote 29 suspense novels under the pen name Barbara Michaels, and under her own name, she wrote nonfiction books about ancient Egypt.

‘Five Easy Pieces’ star Karen Black dead at 74

LOS ANGELES

Karen Black, the prolific actress who appeared in more than 100 movies and was featured in such counterculture favorites as “Easy Rider,” “Five Easy Pieces” and “Nashville,” has died.

Black’s husband, Stephen Eckelberry, says the actress died Wednesday from complications from cancer. She was 74.

Known for her full lips and thick, wavy hair that seemed to change color from film to film, Black often portrayed women who were quirky, troubled or threatened. She was a prostitute who takes LSD with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969’s “Easy Rider,” a breakthrough that helped get her the role as a waitress who dates an upper-class dropout played by Jack Nicholson in 1970’s “Five Easy Pieces.” Black won an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award for that performance.

Kutcher learned admiration for Jobs

NEW YORK

After embodying Steve Jobs in his new movie, Ashton Kutcher came to admire how the Apple Computer founder was able to balance his public and personal lives.

“He was better at it than I am,” the 35-year old actor said Wednesday at the New York premiere of his new film, “JOBS.”

“This business has a propensity to force you to be more public than you probably want to be,” Kutcher said of show business.

He should know. Kutcher has seen his share of tabloid headlines after his very public breakup with actress Demi Moore. His current relationship with former “That ’70s Show” co-star Mila Kunis also has been widely publicized.

But Kutcher says he’s getting better at it. “I think I’ve learned how to restrict that public image, and over the years, I’m starting to understand the value of privacy,” he said.

Wire reports