The man convicted of gunning down the mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was sentenced to life in
prison Tuesday. Hudson, who attended every day of William Balfour’s trial earlier this year, sat next to her sister at the Chicago hearing. Illinois does not have the death
penalty.

‘Modern Family’ lawsuit

Five stars of ‘‘Modern Family’’ are suing to void their contracts to work on the hit comedy. The suit filed Tuesday by Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen, and Ty Burrell argues that their contracts with 20th Century Fox Television violate a California law prohibiting personal service contracts from extending for more than seven years. A spokeswoman for 20th Century Fox said the studio had no immediate comment.

Acting her age

“I only see bored 20-year-olds. I don’t see any bored 60-year-olds.” - Meryl Streep, the Oscar-winning actress discussing fellow sexagenarians in the August/September issue of AARP The Magazine.