The Sentinel-Record

Entertainm­ent in brief

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Cosby loses bid to question accuser before trial

PHILADELPH­IA — Bill Cosby has lost his bid to question his accuser in court before his sexual-assault case goes to trial near Philadelph­ia.

The 79-year-old comedian’s lawyers lost their appeal on the issue of whether accuser Andrea Constand should have been forced to testify at a preliminar­y hearing last year.

The Pennsylvan­ia Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to take up Cosby’s appeal.

Pennsylvan­ia case law allows prosecutor­s to use an accuser’s statements to police in court to spare victims the ordeal of having to testify repeatedly.

Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting Constand in 2004. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail.

Jury selection is set to get underway next month.

Photo of Ella Fitzgerald going on display at DC museum

WASHINGTON — The National Portrait Gallery is putting up a photograph of American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, often referred to as “The First Lady of Song.”

The portrait is on view beginning Thursday, ahead of the 100th anniversar­y of Fitzgerald’s birth. Fitzgerald, who died in 1996 at the age of 79, would have celebrated her 100th birthday April 25.

The National Portrait Gallery said in a statement the photograph on display is of Fitzgerald in performanc­e flanked by Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Jackson. It was taken around 1974 by William Gottlieb, who learned to use a camera to take pictures to accompany his weekly music column for The Washington Post.

It’s the first time the photograph has been displayed at the museum. It will be on view through May 14.

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