newsmakers

newsmakers

Ebert’s hometown hopes to raise statue

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.

Organizers in Roger Ebert’s hometown announced plans Tuesday to try to raise $125,000 to build a life-size bronze statue of the late famed film critic.

The statue would go in front of Champaign’s Virginia Theatre, which has hosted the Ebertfest film festival for 15 years. Ebert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning movie reviewer and television personality, grew up in neighboring Urbana and attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

The sculpture will show Ebert sitting in the middle of three movie-theater chairs giving his signature “thumbs up.” Artist Rick Harney of Bloomington will create the sculpture.

Organizers hope to have the sculpture ready to unveil and dedicate at next year’s Ebertfest in April.

Ebert died in April in Chicago after a years-long battle with cancer. He was 70.

Romanians to plead guilty to art theft

BUCHAREST, Romania

Six Romanians charged with stealing paintings by Monet, Matisse and Picasso from a Dutch museum will plead guilty in hopes of getting a reduced sentence, their lawyers said Tuesday.

Lawyer Maria Vasii said they would enter the guilty pleas at the next hearing Oct. 22, hoping the sentences would be reduced by one-third. They could face a maximum 20 years for the theft.

The paintings have not been recovered. Forensic experts have examined ash from the stove of Olga Dogaru, the mother of the chief suspect, Radu Dogaru. According to authorities, she initially said she burned the paintings to protect her son, but later denied having done so.

Insurer Lloyds of London was listed outside the court Tuesday as a civil party in the trial. Vasii said the Triton Foundation, which owned the seven paintings, has been paid some $23.8 million.

Ex-‘Jersey Shore’ star talks about addiction

NEW YORK

Former “Jersey Shore” cast member Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino realized he had an addiction problem on a trip to Australia in February 2012.

He ran out of a prescription to treat an injury suffered during a 2010 stint on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

“All I had to do was get dressed for a family function, and I couldn’t do that,” Sorrentino said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. “The shirt was laid out, the belt, the pants, everything. The shower was on. I couldn’t even get out of bed,” he said. Then he thought, “If I can’t do that, how am I going to continue?”

There were rumors at the time that he was battling an addiction to drugs or alcohol, but Sorrentino maintains that wasn’t the case and says “those rumors were definitely false. I didn’t mix anything.”

Soon after, he checked into rehab where doctors prescribed him a medication to treat opioid addiction. Sorrentino still takes it daily and says that, combined with counseling, is what works best for him.

Vindicator wire services