Today in TMZ History

Chicago cops have arrested William Balfour for the murders of Jennifer Hudson's mom, brother, and nephew.

Balfour was transferred to CPD custody today after they served an arrest warrant. Charges from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office are pending.

UPDATE: We're told the CPD had no new evidence against Balfour -- but they were finally able to scrape all the dirt on him into one pile, which was enough to make the arrest. Also, Balfour is still waiting to be formally charged -- and this could take a day, or up to a week.

Story developing ...

McDonald's is known for its cheap meat -- but after a bad trip to the burger joint, one guy's wife allegedly became cheap meat.

McD's just got served by a guy who allegedly left his cell phone -- which contained nude photos of his wife -- at the Arkansas restaurant, only to find the nude pics posted online.

Phillip Sherman was assured by employees they'd keep the phone safe, yet the photos -- along with Sherman's phone number and address -- somehow found their way onto the Internet.

The couple claims they had to move to a new house to get away from his wife's new stalkers. Sherman wants 3 mil for their troubles.

Kanye West will not be charged with assaulting a photographer -- in an alleged incident that went down just hours ago in the UK.

West was arrested at a hotel in Gateshead, England early this morning after allegedly getting into a tussle with a photog on his way out of the Tup Tup nightclub in Newcastle.

After a short investigation, West was released from police custody without charges.

FYI -- The person alleging the assault made the same claim against a famous British soccer player around a month ago -- but the charges were ruled to be unfounded in that case as well.

UPDATE: TMZ just spoke with the photog -- who claims Kanye did, in fact, smash his face in around 2AM London time.

A couple who sold shots to a British tab of Amy Winehouse allegedly smoking crack just got smacked for dealing the drugs to her.

Johnny Blagrove and Cara Burton admitted in a London court today they offered to deal coke and E to Amy, after cops say a raid of their home turned up a list of stars they slang to -- including Winehouse.

Prosecutors had alleged the couple secretly filmed Winehouse allegedly getting high and sold them to The Sun. The images were published in January.

Detectives couldn't get enough evidence to charge Wino. Blagrove and Burton will be sentenced Nov. 28.

A message left with Amy's rep hasn't yet been returned.

UPDATE 11:26 PM ET: The suspect, William Balfour, has been taken into custody. Hudson's nephew, 7-year-old Julian King is still missing, according to WFLD-Chicago. Balfour is refusing to cooperate with cops or supply info.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Jennifer Hudson's mother was one of two victims shot and killed in Chicago earlier today.

A neighbor tells TMZ the other victim was Jennifer's brother Jason. A cousin who lived nearby discovered the bodies.

We're told the two bodies were found dead on the scene at 2:44 PM. When the fire department arrived and discovered the bodies, police were brought in and the home was declared a crime scene.

A call to Hudson's rep was not immediately returned.

UPDATE 6:40 PM ET: An all points bulletin has been issued for a boy, believed to be Hudson's 7-year-old nephew (right), who may have been taken from the scene. Police are looking for 1994 white Suburban with the license plate X584859.

UPDATE 7:35 PM ET: Police are looking for William Balfour (left), who they claim could be with the missing 7-year-old. According to records, Balfour listed Hudson's mother's address as a place of residence within the last year. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections website, Balfour is currently on parole after serving jail time for attempted murder.

UPDATE 8:35 PM ET: Lost in all this is Jennifer's sister Julia, mother of the missing 7-year-old. We're told she works as a bus driver in Chicago. Her employer told us she worked her shift today. She hasn't been seen since.

UPDATE 9:20 PM ET: A WBBM reporter is saying that neighbors have said a family member in the Hudson household apparently tried to steal a car a few weeks ago, an argument ensued, and he vowed revenge. A photo on Julia's MySpace page (bottom) posted prior to today's events alludes to some kind of dispute with William over a car.

Sources tell TMZ Julianne Hough from "Dancing with the Stars" has been rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after having severe stomach pains backstage.

We're told she complained of stomach pains all day, but after her performance they became unbearable.

The judge in the trial of the century has dismissed the criminal charge against Ms. Britney Spears.

A mistrial was declared after the jury was hopelessly deadlocked at 10-2, in favor of not guilty. Britney was on trial for driving without a valid California license.

The judge just dismissed the case outright. The prosecutor said in court he was "troubled by the outside impressions that were brought into the courtroom."

We're wondering...for a woman who was carted off to the hospital twice after shaving her head and running around town without panties, how is it exactly that the prosecutor was at a disadvantage?

UPDATE: At a press conference afterwards, someone asked the City Attorney whether or not it would be difficult for him to listen to Britney's music now. He responded, "You mean more difficult than before?" Sore loser much?

There a million reasons we can think of as to why they're calling it quits: The A-rod scandal, her "film" career, Kabbalah ...

Your guess is as good as ours.

Madonna's rep is mum.

More Today in TMZ History

Jon Bon Jovi is being sued for 400 bil -- yes, billion -- bucks by a Boston musician who says Jovi allegedly borrowed lyrics from his Boston Red Sox anthem entitled, "(Man I Really) Love This Team."

Samuel Bartley Steele, the front man for a band calling themselves "The Chelsea City Council," believes Bon Jovi heard his song while campaigning in Boston for John Kerry in '04, then used the lyrics in his own song entitled, "I Love This Town."

Regardless of the result, Steele really is livin' on a prayer if he thinks he's going to get that amount of cash.

A Bon Jovi spokesperson says they haven't seen the lawsuit yet.

A still photographer was trying to take pics of Kanye at the American Airlines terminal. According to our guy on the scene, Kanye allegedly confronted the photog and smashed his camera to the ground.

Our photog then began videotaping the scene when Kanye's bodyguard grabbed our camera -- a struggle ensued and the bodyguard threw the video camera to the ground, breaking it.

When Kanye realized our camera guy had videotaped the incident, he rushed our guy and yelled, "Gimme that f**king tape!"

Both Kanye and his bodyguard have been arrested and will be booked.

Kurt Angle -- an Olympic gold medalist and former WWE wrestler -- was found not guilty today in his DUI case.

Angle was arrested at his home in Moon Township, Penn. last October after a witness called the police, claiming Kurt was driving erratically after pulling out of a local bar.

Prosecutors couldn't get the charges to stick because officers never saw Angle in the car -- which is kinda important when you're prosecuting him for driving drunk.

TMZ has learned LeRoi Moore, the sax player in the Dave Matthews Band, has died. He was 46.

Moore was seriously injured in an ATV accident June 30 outside Charlottesville. He had a punctured lung and broken ribs. Moore went back into the hospital last month due to complications.

Moore died in Los Angeles this afternoon, after taking a turn for the worse.

We're also told the band will perform tonight as scheduled at the Staples Center in L.A.

UPDATE: A rep for the Band just gave TMZ the following statement:

"LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. Moore had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program."

According to people close to the situation, some dirt bags in Minnesota broke into a van belonging to Mark Ballas and Derek Hough -- they are in town to play a gig with their band Almost Amy at a charity event in Rosedale.

After a quick dinner, Mark and Derek noticed their van had been ransacked -- thieves taking everything from iPods to luggage and even their IDs and passports.

Now, they're already offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with info that leads to getting their stuff back. Hopefully the bad guys didn't touch the rhinestone onesies!

An actor who was featured in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" has just been arrested for allegedly viciously knifing his ex-girlfriend.

Shelley Malil allegedly went to his ex's home yesterday and stabbed her in her home near San Diego. Authorities say he chased her inside and outside the house, stabbing her as many as 20 times. The victim's two children were in the home at the time of the attack.

A neighbor jumped the attacker, but the man escaped. Malil was just arrested at an Amtrak station in San Diego.

The identity and condition of the victim is unknown.

Musician Isaac Hayes -- who wrote the theme song for "Shaft" -- died this afternoon in a Memphis hospital.

According to WMC, a Shelby County sheriff's deputy responded to call from Hayes' wife after she found him on the floor near a treadmill inside their home.

Hayes was taken to Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, and was pronounced dead at 2:08 PM. Cops are investigating, but do not believe foul play was a factor.

He's a liar! Former Presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted to lying about having an extramarital affair with a former staffer.

In an interview with ABC's "Nightline" that airs tonight, Edwards admits he had a sexual affair with 44-year-old Rielle Hunter, but claims he did not love her.

Edwards does say, however, that he knows he is not the baby daddy of Hunter's little girl based on the "timing" of the kid's birth in February of this year. He claims the tryst ended too soon for him to be the dad, although he has not taken a paternity test.

And the story gets better ...