Young Thug pleads guilty in YSL trial, will serve probation

The trial of Atlanta rapper Young Thug has ended in a guilty plea. Late in Thursday’s proceedings, the 33-year-old artist, whose real name is Jeffrery Williams, changed his plea in the RICO case to guilty and no contest on several gang, gun and drug charges.

Following a dramatic series of events in what’s become the longest-running criminal trial in Georgia, Williams is being sent home. The government’s attorneys asked for a sentencing of 45 years — 25 in prison and 20 on probation — but Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker delivered a sentence that allowed Williams to go free immediately. “The total sentence is 40 years, to serve the first 5 years in prison but commuted to the time you’ve already served,” she stated during the proceedings.

Williams had been in custody for more than two years, since initially being indicted in 2022. He will serve 15 years of probation, backloaded by a 20 year sentence that may be served in custody depending on his probation. He is also required to stay out of the metro Atlanta area for the first 10 years of his probation, barring certain guidelines, which include returning to the city to make a live anti-gang and anti-violence public presentation to children at a school or community organization several times a year. In the days leading up to Thursday’s hearing, three of Williams’ co-defendants had pleaded guilty in deals with the prosecution.

 

Israel strikes Lebanon’s ancient city of Baalbek, as tens of thousands of people flee

As Israel intensified attacks in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, residents fled to an ancient Roman temple, hoping the site’s UNESCO status might save them.

50 years on, D.R. Congo commemorates boxing’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’

The historic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman is still revered as a cherished moment in the central African country's troubled history and has spurred an enduring love of boxing.

A hunter in Alaska is found dead after being mauled by a bear

The 50-year-old had been reported overdue from a deer hunting trip. At least 30,000 brown bears are estimated to be in Alaska and mainly live along the southern coast.

It’s not just D.C.: Satirical Trump statues are appearing in cities across the U.S.

Trump statues appeared next to sculptures of nude women in Portland and Philadelphia. The plaques bear the title In Honor of a Lifetime of Sexual Assault and quote Trump's Access Hollywood remarks.

How parrot plumage gets its dazzling reds and yellows

Parrots are unique among birds in how they produce the pigmentation that makes their vibrant feathering. It turns out a single enzyme calibrates the reds and yellows of a parrot’s brilliance.

A mother and baby from Gaza are reunited 11 months after being separated at birth

After an Israeli airstrike left mom-to-be Raneem Hizaji badly injured, doctors performed an emergency C-section. It took nearly a year for mom and baby to be reunited.

More Front Page Coverage