NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

‘That ’70s Show’ actress Kelly dies

LOS ANGELES

“That ‘70s Show” actress Lisa Robin Kelly has died at age 43.

Manager Craig Wyckoff says Kelly died Wednesday at a Los Angeles addiction- treatment facility she had entered early this week. No official cause of death was disclosed.

Kelly portrayed Laurie Forman, sister of Topher Grace’s lead character, Eric, on the Fox series. It concluded in 2006.

Unlike some of her co-stars — Grace, Ashton Kutcher and Laura Prepon — Kelly fell out of the spotlight after appearing on the sitcom until she started making headlines for personal troubles.

She was arrested in November along with her husband, Robert Joseph Gilliam, in connection with a disturbance at their home in Mooresville, N.C.

In June, she was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after her car stalled in Burbank, Calif.

Artist’s ex-assistant charged with fraud

NEW YORK

A former assistant to Jasper Johns has been charged with selling 22 works he purportedly stole from the pop artist’s Connecticut studio.

The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office announced the indictment against James Meyer on Thursday. He’s charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and wire fraud.

Meyer, of Salisbury, Conn., was Johns’ studio assistant for more than 25 years. A phone number for his attorney couldn’t immediately be located.

Prosecutors say Meyer removed the artworks from Johns’ studio in Sharon, Conn., without his knowledge between 2006 and 2012. Meyer then purportedly took them to a Manhattan art gallery where he provided the owner with fictitious authentication papers.

Prosecutors say the gallery sold 22 of the works for $6.5 million; half the proceeds went to Meyer.

Johns’ artworks appear in museums around the world.

Mellencamp’s sons face battery charges

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.

Rocker John Mellencamp’s two teenage sons are facing battery charges for purportedly punching and kicking a man during a fight that left the victim with serious facial injuries.

Monroe County prosecutors on Thursday charged 19-year-old Hud Mellencamp of Nashville, Ind., and 18-year-old Speck Mellencamp of Bloomington with one count each of battery resulting in serious bodily injury. Nineteen-year-old Ty A. Smith of Bloomington faces the same charge in the July 29 attack.

Court documents say Speck Mellencamp punched 19-year-old Alexander Bucy in the face on the porch of Bucy’s Bloomington home because he thought Bucy had hit him earlier that evening.

Hud Mellencamp and Smith joined in, and the trio purportedly “punched, kicked and stomped” on Bucy, who suffered facial fractures and required stitches.

Viewers flock to ‘Duck Dynasty’

NEW YORK

A&E says nearly 12 million birds of a feather caught Wednesday’s season premiere of its hit unscripted series “Duck Dynasty.”

The network said the episode took its place as the No. 1 nonfiction series telecast in cable history in total viewers as well as all key demographic groups.

The fourth-season premiere grew by more than one-third in total viewers over last season’s debut.

Set in Louisiana bayou country, “Duck Dynasty” follows a brood of brothers who manufacture duck calls and love to go bird hunting.

New episodes air every Wednesday at 10 p.m.

Timberlake to sing at MTV video awards

NEW YORK

Justin Timberlake is set to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards later this month.

The pop icon also will receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award at the Aug. 25 awards show, the network said Thursday. Timberlake is tied with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for the most nominations, with six each.

Timberlake’s nominations include video of the year, best male video and pop video for “Mirrors.” His comeback album, “The 20/20 Experience,” is the year’s best-selling album. He’ll release “The 20/20 Experience: 2 of 2” on Sept. 30.

Vindicator wire services