Farm Aid to help farmers hurt by hurricanes

Somerville, Mass. – Farm Aid founder Willie Nelson says the organization will give $30,000 to groups that help family farmers in areas of Texas and Louisiana hit hardest by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav.

Nelson, a native Texan, announced the grants Thursday. They include $7,500 each to the Lutheran Social Services of the South, the Southern Mutual Help Association, the Louisiana Interchurch Conference and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.

Somerville-based Farm Aid says more money will be distributed as the extent of the hurricane damage becomes clearer.

Farm Aid, the nation’s longest-running benefit concert, has raised more than $30 million since its first show in 1985.

The concert will be held in New England for the first time on Sept. 20.

Swank recovering after hospital procedure

New York – Hilary Swank is recovering after a hospital procedure to remove a small, benign growth, a representative for the Oscar-winning actress said Thursday.

“She was experiencing some discomfort and went to see her doctor, who prescribed an immediate course of action that included a brief hospitalization” to eliminate the growth, Swank’s manager, Jason Weinberg, said in a statement.

“Her condition has been resolved and there are no continuing health issues, with the exception of some short-term rest and recuperation,” Weinberg said.

He would not provide further details.

Swank, 34, won Oscars for her roles in “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby.”

Judge dismisses libel suit against author

Oklahoma City – A federal judge has dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against best-selling author John Grisham and two other writers over books they wrote about the wrongful conviction of two men in a 1982 murder.

The lawsuit was filed last year by former Pontotoc County District Attorney Bill Peterson, former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation investigator Gary Rogers and Melvin Hett, a state criminalist. All three helped win the original convictions in the slaying of cocktail waitress Debbie Sue Carter.

The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants conspired to commit libel, generate publicity for themselves by placing the plaintiffs in a false light and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.

But U.S. District Judge Ronald White rejected those claims in his ruling Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The two men initially convicted in the slaying – Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz – were later cleared by DNA evidence and freed after 12 years in prison.

The lawsuit named Grisham – whose account was titled “The Innocent Man” – his publishing company, and the authors and publishing companies of two other books critical of Peterson and his prosecution of murder cases. Also named as a defendant was Barry Scheck, founder of the New York-based Innocence Project and an attorney for one of the men falsely accused in the murder.

Coleman sued over bowling alley ruckus

Provo, Utah – Gary Coleman has been sued by a man who claims the actor punched him and ran into him with his truck in a Payson bowling alley parking lot, causing knee, back and neck injuries.

Colt Rushton, 24, of Spanish Fork, says he and Coleman got into an argument Sept. 6 after he began taking pictures of the “Diff’rent Strokes” actor with a cell phone.

Coleman, 40, was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and disorderly conduct in Payson City Justice Court.

In the civil lawsuit, filed Wednesday in 4th District Court, Rushton’s account of the confrontation said Coleman’s bodyguard, Paul Rohbock, told Rushton he would have to pay $20 per picture if he continued taking photos.

Rushton’s attorney, Dustin Lance, said Rushton stopped taking pictures, but when he later saw Coleman sitting in his truck close to the steering wheel, he thought it was funny and took another picture.

The lawsuit contends Rushton was attacked from behind by Rohbock or Coleman’s wife, Shannon Price, and that his cell phone was taken away.

The lawsuit also contends Coleman punched Rushton in the chest several times.

Shaver indicted in 2007 shooting

Waco, Texas – A McLennan County grand jury has indicted country singer Billy Joe Shaver on felony charges for his alleged role in an April 2007 shooting at a Lorena bar.

Shaver, 69, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, and a charge of unlawful carrying of a handgun by a licensed holder on a licensed premises, a third-degree felony, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported in its online edition Wednesday.

An official at the McLennan County Jail in Waco told The Associated Press that Shaver had not turned himself in Wednesday night.

One witness said Shaver followed the victim, Billy B. Coker, out of Papa Joe’s Texas Saloon in Lorena on April 1, 2007, and asked, “Where do you want it?” before shooting him in the face, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed last year.

Coker, who was treated and released, told police last year that the shooting was unprovoked.