BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The mayor of Alabama's largest city was arrested yesterday on charges of steering millions of dollars of bond work to a friend in exchange for more than $230,000 in bribes to pay for an expensive wardrobe and flashy jewelry.

The bond deals -- which funded years of work on a substandard county sewer system -- went sour and have helped push surrounding Jefferson County to the brink of filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history.

The charges stem from Mayor Larry Langford's time on the Jefferson County Commission, where he served four years as president. He is accused of telling Wall Street giants JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers that they had to include his friend's investment banking firm on the deal if they wanted to handle the county's bond work, which was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mr. Langford, his friend Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre were charged in a 101-count indictment. The charges include conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. All three have pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Langford left the county commission after being elected mayor in a landslide last year, and he since has become known for a series of outside-the-box ideas aimed at trying to breathe new life into an old steel city-turned-medical hub. Last week, he gave a $10,000 city consulting contract to a 13-year-old girl who appeared before the council to discuss improving parks.

CHICAGO -- Police arrested the estranged brother-in-law of Jennifer Hudson yesterday in the deaths of the Oscar-winning actress's mother, brother and young nephew, taking him from a prison where he had been held on a suspected parole violation.

Until yesterday, police had identified William Balfour, 27, only as a "person of interest" in the investigation. He had not been charged by late yesterday evening.

Ex-mayoral aide pleads guilty

DETROIT -- Stoic and publicly silent through months of a sex scandal, the woman whose relationship with former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick led to his downfall fought tears yesterday as she pleaded guilty and admitted to lying under oath.

Christine Beatty, a former aide to Mr. Kilpatrick, accepted a four-month jail sentence in exchange for admitting to obstruction of justice charges for her actions in a lawsuit brought by two police officers. The officers claimed Mr. Kilpatrick retaliated against them when they suspected wrongdoing by members of his inner circle.

Ms. Beatty's jail sentence will begin Jan. 5.

PHOENIX -- A lawyer for an 8-year-old Arizona boy accused in the shooting deaths of his father and another man said Sunday he would not decide whether to accept a plea bargain until the prosecution produced forensic evidence and psychologists completed evaluations to determine if the boy is competent to stand trial.

The legal maneuvering comes in the wake of disclosures that the boy kept a ledger of spankings he received and told a Child Protective Services worker that when the tally reached 1,000 it would be his limit, according to police records.

PERRY, Ga. -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lent her rock-star status to U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss yesterday in a state fly-around that GOP strategists hope will help put Mr. Chambliss over the top in today's Senate runoff against Democrat Jim Martin.

More than 2,700 people indicated they planned to show up for the rally at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, one of several appearances for the duo yesterday across Georgia.

Meanwhile, Mr. Martin is mustering his own strength for today's runoff, appearing in Macon yesterday afternoon with veterans and in Atlanta yesterday evening with rap star Ludacris.