Shamed ex-governor teaching while jailed
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is spending his time in federal prison teaching Civil War history and learning to play the guitar, while his attorneys work on an appeal, his wife said on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the beginning of his 14-year term for corruption.
“All that we have been left with is a aching hole in our lives,” Patti Blagojevich also said in a Facebook post. Glenn Selig, a longtime spokesman for Rod Blagojevich, confirmed the posting was from Patti Blagojevich.
Blagojevich reported to a Colorado federal prison on March 15, 2012. Jurors had convicted him on 18 counts, including charges that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat.
Patti Blagojevich wrote that attorneys are “working diligently” on her husband’s appeal but they wouldn’t have any answers for at least six months.
She lamented the fact that her husband is missing events in his family’s lives. The couple have two daughters, and she said he has missed birthdays, holidays and music recitals.
But she also wrote that family members have visited the former governor many times and talk with him every day. She said her husband also runs “miles and miles” around a quarter-mile track.
Lil Wayne big on recovery
Lil Wayne says he’s OK.
The multiplatinum rapper was hospitalized in Los Angeles on Friday and reps confirmed he was “recovering.” The rapper tweeted to his fans: “I’m good everybody. Thx for the prayers and love.”
A person close to the superstar’s camp who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter confirmed to the Associated Press that Lil Wayne had a seizure. He has a history of seizures in recent years that have led to previous hospital visits.
The 30-year-old New Orleans native, whose given name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., is one of the biggest stars of not only his genre but in all music. He’s due to release his 10th album, “I Am Not a Human Being,” on March 26.
The birthday bunch
Comedian-director Jerry Lewis is 87. Country singer Ray Walker (The Jordanaires) is 79. Movie director Bernardo Bertolucci is 72. Game show host Chuck Woolery is 72. Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 71. Actor Erik Estrada is 64. Actor Victor Garber is 64. Actress Kate Nelligan is 62. Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) is 62. Rock singer-musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 59. Actress Isabelle Huppert is 58. Rapper-actor Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 54. Country singer Tracy Bonham is 46. Actress Lauren Graham is 46. Actor Judah Friedlander is 44. Actor Alan Tudyk is 42. Actor Tim Kang is 40. Actress Brooke Burns is 35. Rock musician Wolfgang Van Halen is 22.