Jennifer Hudson is back to work. With the Grammys rapidly approaching, Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson has announced that she is ready to go back to work. The “Dreamgirls” star has been away from singing and acting as she mourns the murder of her mother, brother and nephew. The three family members were slain in October. Hudson is slated to perform at the 2009 MusiCares Person of the Year gala in Los Angeles on Feb. 6. The event is just two days before the Grammys and will be Hudson’s first public appearance since the tragedy. Hudson is competing for four awards, Best R&B Album. “It’s been a childhood dream of mine to release an album, so to receive four Grammy nominations is truly a blessing,” she said in a statement following the nominations.

Braves are angry over Furcal’s shenanigans. Atlanta Braves‘ shortstop Rafael Furcal reached a contract agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but just two days earlier the Braves had announced an agreement with star player, The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reports. Needless to say, the Braves were less than laudatory of Furcal’s agent, Paul Kinzer. “I think you have to be upset with the turn of events,” Braves General Manager Frank Wren said. “We usually don’t do business this way. You don’t expect people you have to deal with to do business that way.” Wren said he and Kinzer negotiated all contract details Monday night, and the Braves sent a term sheet to the agent’s office for Furcal to sign Tuesday morning. Term sheets are the final step, after an agreement is reached. However, the term sheet was never returned. “We were very surprised,” he said. “After reaching an agreement on Monday night, and being asked to produce a term sheet for signature on Tuesday morning, which we did, we were surprised that they didn’t return the term sheet. … All of a sudden, they said they needed to go back to the Dodgers.” The Braves’ offer was believed to be for three years and $30 million, with a fourth-year vesting option. Furcal got a three-year, $33 million contract with the Dodgers that includes a $13 million option for 2012 with a $3 million buyout, the Associated Press reported.

Woods says he’ll be back soon. Tiger Woods says expect to see him in the Masters Tournament in April. The 32-year-old golf superstar says that he’s ahead of schedule from knee surgery. “Right now, it feels great,” Woods said of the left knee he had repaired last June. “The leg has responded well. I’m actually stronger in my legs than I think I have ever been.” Speaking at a news conference to kick off the Chevron World Challenge in California, Woods said he began swing his clubs about two weeks ago. He wasn’t slated to return to full swing for at least another month. “It’s actually fun to get outside and start swinging again and working on my short game,” Woods said. “I’ve chipped and putted for a while, but as far as making bigger swings, I’ve actually just started.”

Bring That Week Back! Are Queen Latifah and her “boo” trying to adopt? Plus pregnancy scandal hits the race for the White House and Oprah gets dissed. Get caught up on the week’s hottest stories with pics here!

Ruben Studdard owes government $200,000

“American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard must pay back nearly $200,000 in federal and local taxes. The singer’s properties have been hit with liens, according to court records after Studdard reportedly failed to make payments dating to 2003. It was in ‘03 when Studdard won $1 million on the hit reality talent competition. He later sued a former manager for allegedly mishandling funds. Studdard was awarded a settlement.

Filmmaker finds funds in Dubai

Filmmaker Spike Lee says the Middle Eastern territory of Dubai is good for more than providing Michael Jackson refuge outside the region in November to scout financial resources. “There is a ton of money in Dubai, so I’ve gotta get on a plane. I gotta start making connections,” Lee tells Emirates Business. “I don’t want to be in a position where if I want to do a film and the Hollywood studios don’t want to make it, then it doesn’t get made. I gotta know that ‘no’ can’t be a final ‘no.’ I gotta go to other sources of finance.” Lee says credit for bankrolling movies in America is drying up. The director has been a pioneer among contemporary independent Black filmmakers since the late 1980s.

Gustav is making waves for Republicans.

Sen. John McCain has called for the Republican Party to scale back its convention in Minneapolis , citing Hurricane Gustav’s potential to inflict “a great national disaster” on the people in the Gulf Coast region.

MoveOn.org targets McCain VP pick. The activist political group, which has an uncanny knack for getting on a Republican politician’s last nerve, has turned its sights on Sen. John McCain and his recently announced running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Saying that the American people “need to see” the facts about the new GOP veep, MoveOn.org has taken the Republican Party’s biggest charge lodged against Sen. Barack Obama and turned it against Palin: an apparent lack of experience. The woman McCain has chosen to be “one heartbeat away from the presidency” is “a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of [ Wasilla , Alaska ] a town of 9,000 people.” The liberal-leaning political group, established in the aftermath of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, notes that Palin, who hopes to rein in some of the former Clinton-supporting women who aren’t too hip on Obama, is a staunch opponent of abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. It also points out that Palin was a strong supporter of Pat Buchanan, who has been publicly flogged on more than one occasion for racially insensitive comments. In other examples of extremism, MoveOn.org notes, Palin does not believe humans are responsible for climate change. “How closely did John McCain vet this choice?” the group asks on its Web site. “He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.” But what MoveOn.org doesn’t acknowledge is that the 44-year-old governor, the first woman ever to get a major-party nomination as vice president, helped create a new sub-cabinet group of advisers to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska . In late-July a state poll showed her with an 80-percent approval rating.

Bring That Week Back!

Da Brat (above) may face jail time, Wesley Snipes is order to pay the court, and protesters heckle presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Catch those and all the other top stories affecting Black America this week here.

Black Republicans will have some tough choices come November
Black Republicans are being asked if party loyalty or the chance to vote for an African American for president will be a tough choice to make. Get the latest at Pamela On Politics.