Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Lawyers for Kevin Spacey entered an innocent plea on his behalf in Massachusetts court Monday on charges he groped an 18-yearold busboy in 2016.
Spacey was arraigned on a charge of felony indecent assault and battery during a hearing at Nantucket District Court. The judge set another hearing for March 4 and ordered Spacey to stay away from his accuser and his accuser’s family. The judge granted a request by Spacey’s lawyers to preserve text messages and other data on the cellphones of the victim and his then-girlfriend. Spacey and his lawyers declined to comment as they left the courthouse amid a crush of reporters. Former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh told reporters in November 2017 that Spacey got her son drunk and then grabbed his genitals during the incident. The Associated Press does not typically identify people alleging sexual assault. In court documents, Spacey’s lawyers write that the young man lied about his age, “welcomed drinks” bought by Spacey, left the bar with him to smoke a cigarette and gave Spacey his phone number.
■ CBS has announced that its news division president, David Rhodes, is stepping down after a troubled year that saw morning anchor Charlie Rose and the top executive at 60 Minutes lose their jobs as a result of misconduct reports. Rhodes is being replaced by veteran producer Susan Zirinsky. Zirinsky, 66, who started work at CBS in the Washington bureau as a 20-year-old in the early 1970s and is currently the executive producer at 48 Hours, will take over in March. Rhodes will work as an adviser to CBS News after leaving, said interim CBS Corp. leader Joseph Ianniello. In a memo to his staff, Rhodes said Sunday that “the new year is a time for renewal, for new goals.” Besides finding a new leader at CBS This Morning, Zirinsky will be charged with appointing a new executive producer at 60 Minutes. As a news producer, Zirinsky has had a hand in dozens of major stories over the past four decades. She was the model for the hard-charging news producer portrayed by Holly Hunter in the 1987 movie Broadcast News.