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Justin Timberlake pleads guilty to impaired driving, gets $500 fine and will make PSA

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Justin Timberlake pleads guilty to impaired driving, gets 0 fine and will make PSA

Justin Timberlake (center) walks into court for a hearing Friday in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

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SAG HARBOR, N.Y. — Justin Timberlake pleaded guilty to impaired driving Friday, resolving the criminal case stemming from his June arrest in New York’s Hamptons.

The boy band singer-turned-solo star and actor appeared in Sag Harbor Village Court to enter a new plea.

The judge sentenced Timberlake to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge, 25 hours of community service at the nonprofit of his choosing and required him to make a public safety announcement.

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During the proceedings Timberlake remained standing throughout and gave a statement in which he expressed remorse for his actions. He said he grew up in a small town and appreciated the kind of strain his arrest has made on Sag Harbor. He said he has had a lot of time to reflect on his actions.

“I did not live up to the standards that I try to hold for myself,” he said.

Timberlake said he is “grateful for the opportunity to move forward” and use his platform to hopefully help others make “better decisions.“

“I should’ve had better judgment,” he said to the judge. “ I understand the seriousness of this.”

Judge questions the plea deal

Judge Carl Irace expressed disappointment with the proposed plea deal put forward by prosecutors. He questioned the appropriateness of the public announcement Timberlake intended to make shortly after the court proceedings. He was concerned it did not give proper time for him to reflect on his actions for that reason, he said he was adding on community service requirements to the sentence.

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The pop star originally pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated and had his driver’s license suspended during a hearing last month.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment ahead of the hearing, as did Timberlake’s attorney, Edward Burke.

Timberlake was arrested in Sag Harbor, New York, a little after midnight on June 18 after police said he ran a stop sign in the village center, veered out of his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol.

Police in court filings also said the 43-year-old Tennessee native’s eyes were “bloodshot and glassy” and that he had “slowed speech,” was unsteady on his feet and performed poorly on all sobriety tests.

Timberlake told the officer he had had one martini and was following some friends home, police said.

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Sag Harbor is a one-time whaling village mentioned in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby-Dick” that is nestled amid the Hamptons, an area of seaside communities around 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of New York City.

Legal consequences for Timberlake beyond New York

Timberlake’s license suspension in New York likely affects his ability to drive in other states, a legal expert said this week.

Refusing a Breathalyzer test, as Timberlake did during his arrest, triggers an automatic suspension of one’s license under New York state law, which should then be enforced in other states, according to Kenneth Gober, a managing partner at the law firm Lee, Gober & Reyna in Austin, Texas.

“Most states participate in the interstate Driver’s License Compact, an agreement to share information about license suspensions and traffic violations,” he explained in an email. “If a license is suspended in one state it should be suspended in all states.”

In practice, though, it can take a long time for such changes to be reflected across state lines, Gober acknowledged. The pop star also has the resources to easily arrange for a driver and doesn’t need a car to drive to do his job, he added.

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Timberlake’s agent and other representatives didn’t respond to emails seeking comment this week.

The 10-time Grammy winner hasn’t publicly addressed the arrest but seemed to acknowledge it during a performance in Chicago just days later.

“It’s been a tough week,” he told the audience during the June 21 show at the United Center. “But you’re here, and I’m here. Nothing can change this moment right now.”

Timberlake has been on tour for months in support of his latest album. He returns to the New York City area in the coming weeks with concerts in Newark, New Jersey; and Brooklyn.

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Lifestyle

How to enter your Sporty Spice era : It’s Been a Minute

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How to enter your Sporty Spice era : It’s Been a Minute

How to enter your Sporty Spice era.

Getty Images/quantic69/Olga Kurbatova/Anastasiia Zvonary/Photo Illustration by NPR


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Getty Images/quantic69/Olga Kurbatova/Anastasiia Zvonary/Photo Illustration by NPR

Reality dating and professional sports are not as different as you’d think.

Brittany is in her Sporty Spice era – she watched the NBA playoffs, she’s following World Cup games, and she’s watching the New York Liberty play their WNBA season. These games are daily – and so is the reality dating show Love Island. And she noticed that the two formats are not very different at all. Defector.com staff writer and co-owner Kelsey McKinney came to the same conclusion – so the two of them discuss why these games of athleticism and love can bring us together… and why they get valued differently in our culture.

For more episodes on sports and reality TV, check out:
Get rich or die trying: how sports betting is changing our love of the game
Is this the end of reality TV?
The ugly truth of America’s expensive homes

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Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus.
Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluse

This episode was produced by Liam McBain. It was edited by Neena Pathak. Our Supervising Producer is Cher Vincent. Our Executive Producer is Barton Girdwood. Our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni.

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Lifestyle

Luxury Clients Want Meaning More Than Status

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Luxury Clients Want Meaning More Than Status
The era of buying luxury purely for status and visibility is giving way to something more personal, centred on identity, connection and self-expression. While emotion sits at the heart of brand desire across both the US and China, its expression diverges sharply between markets, according to BoF Insights and McKinsey’s report ‘Face to Face With Luxury Clients.’
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How young people feel about American identity, on the nation’s 250th birthday

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How young people feel about American identity, on the nation’s 250th birthday

As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, NPR asked students all around the country to reflect on the moment and to make podcasts about the American experience and what “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” means to them.

We received more than 700 entries, including many conversations with immigrant parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles about why their family decided to move to the United States. Others scored high-profile interviews with veterans, government officials and even Gloria Steinem.

We listened to reenactments and retellings of histories like the Battle of Monmouth, the Stonewall riots, the Underground Railroad and a special presentation on President Theodore Roosevelt’s pets. Other podcasts take place in the present, including one in which students report on civics education in their school.

Our team chose a handful of winning entries and honorable mentions from fourth graders, middle and high schoolers. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

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Winners

Abridged
Students: Grace Kepka and Angelika Garrett, Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.
Teacher/Sponsor: Kyle Wannen

High schooler Grace lives in Takoma Park, Md., one of the handful of cities in the United States that allow 16 year olds to vote in all local elections. In her podcast with her friend Angelika, they discuss the power of the youth vote, and how voting rights encourage residents to learn about their government and be more politically active in their communities.

Civics in Our Schools
Students: Izabella Anthony, Benjamin Baigel, Bridget Castellon, Rile DeLeon, Maxwell Gibbs, Daniel Hernandez, Malcolm Johnson, Sylpa Kafle, Mason King, Kyle Li, Maximus Lin, Emmerson Quinn, Ariella Schoenfeld, Owenize Udevbulu and Dara Widzowski, Hewlett Elementary School in Hewlett, N.Y.
Teacher/Sponsor: Jaime Harrington

“Here’s the surprising truth. Many Americans, even grownups, don’t know the basics of how our country was founded or how our government works.” In Civics in Our Schools, a group of fifth graders voice their concerns about the lack of good civics education and discuss what they can do to be better citizens.

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