T.I. gets jail time

Rapper T.I. (inset) pleaded guilty yesterday to federal weapons possession charges and will receive a sentence that includes prison time after he completes a period of community service. In the year that he is awaiting sentencing, T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, must complete at least 1,000 hours of a total 1,500 hours of community service, talking to youth groups about the pitfalls of guns, gangs, and drugs. He will be sentenced to serve about 12 months in prison after completing the community service, officials said. (AP)

Rapper Remy Ma was led out of a Manhattan courtroom yesterday, weeping and in handcuffs, after her conviction for shooting a woman outside a nightclub last summer. The defense had conceded that the entertainer fired a shot toward a friend she suspected of stealing $3,000, but said it was an accident. The 26-year-old rapper, whose real name is Remy Smith, faces up to 25 years in prison following her conviction in state Supreme Court for assault, weapon possession, and attempted coercion. (AP)

The Los Angeles Times apologized for using apparently fabricated documents in a story implying that a 1994 assault on Tupac Shakur was carried out by associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs and that he knew about it ahead of time. "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used," editor Russ Stanton said in a story on the newspaper's website. "We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents . . . and in the story." The apologies followed an investigation launched by Stanton after the Smoking Gun website reported earlier in the day that the paper was conned by a prisoner who doctored the documents. (AP)

Many have tried, but so far nobody has been able to pry the decade-in-the-works Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" from the hands of lone remaining original member Axl Rose. Now, Dr Pepper thinks it's up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to "everyone in America" (excluding ex-Guns members Slash and Buckethead) if "Chinese Democracy" arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008. (Billboard)

Lindsay Lohan has landed a role as a rich, pill-poppin' bad girl wannabe in "Manson Girls." She will play Nancy Pitman, a wealthy teen from Malibu when she joined Charles Manson's notorious Family at 16. While she didn't participate in the infamous murder of actress Susan Tate, she later went with Manson to leave false clues. Lohan's publicist told the Daily News that the thrice-rehabbed actress had been in negotiations for the role for some time. (NY Daily News)