PBS anchor Gwen Ifill dies; soap star arrested for child molestation: PM Buzz

Gwen Ifill

In this Nov. 5, 2015 file photo, “NewsHour” co-anchor Gwen Ifill attends The Women’s Media Center 2015 Women’s Media Awards in New York.

“PBS NewsHour” co-host Gwen Ifill is dead after a battle with cancer, the network announced Monday. She was 61. “She was surrounded by loving family and many friends whom we ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers,” PBS said. Ifill worked at The Washington Post, The New York Times and NBC before joining PBS’s “Washington Week in Review” in 1999. She notably moderated the vice presidential debates between Dick Cheney and John Edwards in 2004 and Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in 2008, as well as a Democratic primary debate between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton

Former “Young and the Restless” star Corey Sligh has been arrested on charges of child molestation. The 28-year-old soap actor is accused of abusing a girl who was under 10 years old in Sligh’s home state of Georgia. Her parents reported the alleged molestation on Sept. 24 and Sligh was arrested Oct. 14, but his arrest was not made public until Monday. Sligh was released on a $22,000 bond. “I am innocent and fighting this until the end, and the truth will prevail,” he told TMZ.

HBO has officially renewed “Westworld” for season 2, as well as “Divorce” and “Insecure.” Johnathan Nolan’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s sci-fi movie about a robot theme park has lived up to and exceeded many fans’ expectations, stirring debate with each episode. The network hasn’t yet said whether “Westworld” season 2 will air in 2017 or later, but writers have been working on the plot for “several weeks now,” Nolan said.
And a full-length trailer for “Patriots Day” shows more of Mark Wahlberg as a cop chasing the terrorists in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The actor teams up with “Deepwater Horizon” director Peter Berg for another true life drama about the attack that killed three and injured 264 others. “Patriots Day,” also starring Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Melissa Benoist and Khandi Alexander, hits theaters January 13.

PM Buzz is a weekday afternoon feature on syracuse.com where we’ll post the latest in viral videos, trending topics, celebrity gossip and entertainment news.