In the Nation
Lehman Bros. art auction pays off
NEW YORK - An auction of contemporary artworks held by Lehman Bros. and its former subsidiary, Neuberger Berman, brought in nearly $12.3 million Saturday, according to Sotheby's.
The auction house said many of the works sold for far more than what Lehman and Neuberger paid. Profits will help pay the failed investment firm's many creditors.
Top sellers included an ink and acrylic work by the Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu called Untitled 1, which fetched a little over $1 million, and Liu Ye's oil painting The Long Way Home, which sold for $962,500.
Art in the collection once hung in Lehman's Manhattan headquarters, but the works weren't acquired simply to beautify offices. Lehman and Neuberger Berman both purchased art as an investment. Neuberger's curators especially had a reputation for buying carefully from up-and-coming artists who later became far more acclaimed. - AP
Ky. jury rejects caffeine defense
NEWPORT, Ky. - A Kentucky man was convicted Friday of murder in his wife's death after a jury rejected defense claims that his statements to police were made under high stress fueled by large amounts of caffeine and a lack of sleep.
The jury deliberated about 11/2 hours before convicting Woody Will Smith in the May 2009 strangulation of Amanda Hornsby-Smith. The Kentucky Enquirer reported that the jury also recommended a life sentence. A sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 20.
Attorney Shannon Sexton had told jurors Smith did not kill his wife, but that excessive caffeine from sodas, energy drinks, and diet pills left him so sleep deprived and mentally unstable that he had falsely confessed to police. Prosecutors said Smith attacked his wife during a fight. - AP
Chief accused of 5-year sex abuse
BISMARCK, N.D. - A North Dakota police chief and former state district judge has been charged with 52 felonies accusing him of molesting and attempting to rape a girl over the course of about five years, authorities said Friday.
Elgin Police Chief Randall Hoffman, 55, is accused of having sexual contact with the girl beginning in 2005, a criminal complaint said. It alleges Hoffman "engaged in at least 50 sexual acts" with the girl, who is now 17, from August 2008 until this month, then attempted to rape her Wednesday.
Hoffman is charged with a single count each of gross sexual imposition and continuous sexual abuse of a child. The sex abuse charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Elgin is a community of about 700, and Hoffman was its only police officer, prosecutors said. - AP
Elsewhere:
Residents and businesses hurt by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill should start getting bigger payments faster, the administrator of the fund set up to help them said Saturday. "I have heard from the people of the gulf, elected officials, and others that payments remain too slow and not generous enough," Kenneth Feinberg said in a statement.
