Florida Sentinel Bulletin

A sitcom about corporate greed may seem a bit of a head-scratcher during these tough economic times, but for Showtime and the multifaceted Don Cheadle, it’s good to be bad.

In House of Lies, Cheadle stars as Marty Kaan, a manipulative management consultant (head of Galweather & Stearn), who along with his team, works with struggling Fortune 500 companies around the country to dole out dubious — but expensive — redemptive expertise, all while having good times on the client’s dime. The goal isn’t to improve the client’s rep or bottom line, but to boost their own.

Cheadle gets four stars for this new series on Showtime on Sunday’s at 10 p. m.

Third time’s the charm for Halle Berry. The 45-year-old actress and Olivier Martinez are engaged.

Over the holidays, Martinez, 46, proposed with an emerald-and-diamond ring.

Berry, who has a 3-year-old daughter, Nahla, with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, has been married twice before.

Jermaine Dupri has been rumored to have had tax troubles over the years and it looks like his late payments caught up with him.  J.D. paid nearly double for his most recent tax lien.

According to Georgia records, the super-producer owed $493,818.75 after failing to pay taxes for the year 2007.  However, the principal was only $254,782.64. Extra fines included $91,721.75 in interest, a $64,969.57 penalty fee and a collection fee of $82,294.70.

NEW YORK — Aretha Franklin says she’s ready to tie the knot with longtime friend William “Willie” Wilkerson.

Franklin said in a statement Monday that the pair was considering a summer wedding, perhaps on Miami Beach. The Queen of Soul wants to follow the ceremony with a reception on a private yacht.

The 69-year-old jokes, “No, I’m not pregnant.” The Grammy-winning singer has been married twice before.

Mariah Carey’s husband Nick Cannon was rushed to the hospital in Aspen, CO with kidney failure. We’re told that he is currently in stable condition.

What happened? Well it’s not clear. But we heard that Nick may have suffered a “kidney injury” while sparring with world class welterweight boxer Amir Khan a few weeks back. It’s not clear whether this ailment has anything to do with the injury he suffered.

Reality star Evelyn Lozada’s engagement to the NFL’s Chad Ochocinco might be on the skids.  Apparently, the couple’s nuptials have been put on hold due to Lozada’s intuition that her outgoing fiance might have cheated on her, according to TMZ.

The “Basketball Wives” star reportedly had a nagging suspicion that Ochocinco might have been unfaithful and she confronted him about it.  The New England Patriot star wide receiver, who is known for being gregarious and flirty, reportedly responded in a way that did not sit well with Lozada who then decided to call of their wedding.  The couple was set to be married this summer.

Lozada and Ochocinco had signed up to do a VH-1 reality show, which was to focus on their everyday lives as a couple.  The show was scheduled to begin shooting in three weeks, but now it seems the plans are in limbo.

On the Twitter scene, mum was not exactly the word as both Lozada and Ochocinco tweeted eyebrow-raising statements, alluding to trouble in paradise.

Rapper Rick Ross ends the year big. He’s being sued by the Nigerian government. Ross got paid in full to perform at a festival, in Nigeria, but cancelled.

“The rapper, Rick Ross, issued a statement cancelling his performance at the Calabar Festival, scheduled for December 28, 2011, for reasons not related to his recent surgery and seizures,” the statement read. “The performer’s cancellation was unexpected and the reasons are unknown to Cross River State since he has confirmed receipt of his entire performance fee many weeks ago.”

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appeals court has upheld the murder conviction and life sentence for rapper C-Murder.

C-Murder, whose real name is Corey Miller, was convicted of shooting a teenager to death in 2002.

A three-judge panel from the state’s 5th Circuit Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected Miller’s argument that he didn’t get a fair trial.

In 2009, a jury convicted Miller of second-degree murder for shooting 16-year-old Steve Thomas during a confrontation at a nightclub.

Miller claims the judge who presided over his trial allowed jurors to hear prejudicial and unsubstantiated testimony that he threatened witnesses to the shooting. He also accused prosecutors of systematically eliminating black people from the jury.

But the 5th Circuit rejected those arguments.

Hip-hop legend Heavy D died from a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his lungs after a long flight from Europe, officials said Tuesday.

The 44-year-old Rapper died of a deep pulmonary embolism last month, which may have been caused by the overseas flight, The Los Angeles County Coroner has reported.

“Yes, (the flight) is the connection. He had reportedly been in London for about six weeks and had returned to LA within the preceding week or so,” Craig Harvey, chief coroner investigator, told the Daily News.