• "The top aide to Detroit’s disgraced former mayor, Kwame M. Kilpatrick, pleaded guilty Monday to obstruction of justice and agreed to serve four months in jail for her part in the text-message sex scandal that led to Mr. Kilpatrick’s downfall. The settlement that the aide, Christine Beatty, reached with prosecutors is nearly identical to the terms of the deal struck by Mr. Kilpatrick in September. Both must serve five years of probation and pay restitution to the city, though Ms. Beatty, who has been unemployed since quitting as the mayor’s chief of staff in January, will owe just one-tenth of the $1 million that Mr. Kilpatrick agreed to pay. Ms. Beatty will be barred from continuing her pursuit of a law degree while on probation; Mr. Kilpatrick had to relinquish his law license."