Flowers for a grave,

Both dainty and distressing,

As tears escape twin rivers of the soul.

An Arkansas television anchorwoman died
Saturday, several days after she didn't answer her wake-up call and was
found beaten in her home, hospital officials said.

Anne Pressly, 26, died at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Margaret Preston said.

In a statement released by the hospital, Pressly's parents, Guy and Patti Cannady, asked for privacy as they grieved.

Pressly was beaten around the head, face and neck. She had been unable
to communicate with her family or police while being kept sedated in
the intensive care unit.

She was discovered Monday morning a half-hour before she was to appear
on ABC affiliate KATV's "Daybreak" program. Her mother went to her home
after she didn't answer her regular wake-up call.
News reports have said detectives found
evidence that Pressly's credit card was used Monday at a gas station a
few miles from her home.

Sgt.
Cassandra Davis, a police spokeswoman, has said investigators suspect
Pressly was the victim of a random attack. Davis did not return a call
for comment Saturday night.

Convenient time I gave,

Infrequently expressing,

The sentiment between routine and role.

Words left unspoken,

Considered unnecessary,

Sunshine and shadows, petals and tears.

Now the bridge is broken,

updated 6:00 p.m. CT, Sat., Oct. 25, 2008

HUNTSVILLE,
Tenn. - A sport utility vehicle full of high school cheerleaders
collided with an oncoming car in a fiery crash on a wet, foggy highway
in rural northeastern Tennessee, killing four people, authorities said
Saturday.

The SUV
hydroplaned on a curve on the two-lane highway late Friday night,
flipped on its side and crossed the center lane, slamming into an
oncoming Ford Taurus, Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman Laura
McPherson said. The SUV erupted into flames.

Three
of the girls in the SUV died. The surviving passenger was ejected from
the vehicle and was in critical condition at the University of
Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

A passenger in the car, Jeweline Ledbetter
King, 49, was killed. A 22-year-old pregnant woman, Miranda King, was
sitting in the back seat and lost her unborn child from injuries in the
crash.

The car's
driver, Malcum King, 22, and a 10-month-old child, Aiden Wilson, also
were injured and taken to a hospital. The conditions of the car's
survivors were not immediately known.
Police identified the teenagers killed as Scarlette A. Hill, 17; Jaime
Hill, 15; and driver Shirley N. Hughett, 16. The survivor is Ashley
Mason, 15. A local funeral home said the Hills were sisters.

 

CHICAGO
- It was the cradle of her greatest triumphs. It's now the scene of her
darkest hour. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson has often credited
her rise to fame to her upbringing in the impoverished neighborhood on
Chicago's South Side where she went to grade school and sang in church.

But on Saturday,
her family struggled to come to terms with the shooting deaths of
Hudson's mother and brother in Englewood, while praying for the safe
return of Hudson's missing 7-year-old nephew.

The Hudsons, who insisted on not allowing 27-year-old Jennifer's fame to alter their lives, lived in a three-story white house bookended by vacant lots. A grill and bottle of mustard stood on the lawn on Saturday, remnants of the barbecues they were known to throw on birthdays and holidays.

Police said a family member entering Donerson's South Side home Friday found a woman's body on the living room floor. Officers later found Jason Hudson shot in the bedroom. At least one of the victims suffered defensive wounds, said authorities, who described the shooting as domestic violence.

Suspect arrested
That same day, Julia Hudson, Jennifer Hudson's sister, reported her son Julian King missing.

William Balfour, a man suspected in the deaths and named in an Amber Alert issued Friday, was arrested Friday but had not been charged, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. The child remains missing.

Balfour, who was released from prison last Spring, has a history of assault and violence. He is the estranged husband of Jennifer's sister, Julia. /strong>

The chance was temporary,

To cross back and stroll through tender years.

Eulogies and regret,

As mysterious as Jade,

A cemetery debt,

For love that went unpaid.