Entertainment News

NEW YORK (AP) — Writer and actor Kate Taney Billingsley has been thinking a lot about America's racial history and her family's part in it. One of her ancestors had an outsized role.

A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” were returned to their owner, nearly 20 years after the iconic shoes were stolen from a museum in the late actor’s hometown. But “No place like home?” Not exactly.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of March 24-30: March 24: Harmonica player Lee Oskar of War is 76. Singer Nick Lowe is 75. Bassist Dougie Thomson of Supertramp is 73. Actor Robert Carradine (“Revenge of the Nerds”) is 70. Actor Donna Pescow is 70.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Usher was named entertainer of the year at the 55th annual NAACP Awards on Saturday night, which highlighted works by entertainers and writers of color.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz," according to an indictment made public Sunday.

“ Kung Fu Panda 4 ” stayed at the top of the North American box office in its second weekend in theaters. The Universal and DreamWorks Animation movie earned $30 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

LONDON (AP) — Steve Harley, a British musician whose glam-rock band Cockney Rebel had an enduring hit with the song “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me),” has died. He was 73.

TORONTO — Some moments in a career of "firsts" achieved by rapper Maestro Fresh Wes seem bigger than him, and next Sunday is certainly one of them.

Canada's most high-profile talent show is returning for another season, and this time the stakes are even higher.

MONTREAL — For decades, Cecile Thornton had little motivation to speak French. Born into the minority francophone community in Lewiston, Maine, she says she and her family were often the target of ridicule.