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MTV, VH1 and CMT are going back to their roots on the Fourth of July. The networks said Wednesday they will throw a "Music Independence Day" party that day, showing videos and giving exposure to artists at a time it can be hard for them to break through to a larger audience. Each of the networks began their lives as music video channels but shifted to other, more lucrative programming through the years. Music programming is limited now _ a wee hours dance party on MTV, the "Jump Start" morning...

Longtime soap opera actress Maxine Stuart has died at age 94. She had regular roles on "The Young and the Restless" and "The Edge of Night." Her daughter, Chris Ann Maxwell, tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/19od2gZ ) that her mother died of natural causes on June 6 at her Beverly Hills home. Maxine Stuart began her career in the New York theater. She had small movie roles but was best known for her TV work, which included guest appearances on shows such as "Peyton Place," "NYPD Blue"...

An aspiring actress has helped police track down a suspect in her father's 1986 slaying. Periodically, over the last few years, Joselyn Martinez would try to find information about the man accused of shooting and killing her father outside his restaurant on Nov. 22, 1986, when she was 9 years old. Beginning in 2006, she trolled Myspace and Facebook for information. In 2011, she wrote a letter to "America's Most Wanted." Through it all, she spent her own money, dishing out payments of $69.99 to...

A lawsuit against comic book publisher Marvel Entertainment by a man who claims he owns the rights to the Ghost Rider character was reinstated on Tuesday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2011 lower-court decision that dismissed the lawsuit brought by Gary Friedrich, who had sued in 2007, claiming he was owed a cut of the box office proceeds from a film version starring Nicolas Cage. The comic features a motorcycle-riding character with a flaming skull named Johnny Blaze, who...

The sanity evaluation of Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes probably will be conducted by a psychiatrist and two psychologists, the state hospital chief said in a letter released Tuesday. The psychiatrist has been chosen and likely will be assisted by a psychologist and a neuropsychologist, wrote William May, superintendent of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. The letter, addressed to Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr., did not identify the psychiatrist or the psychologists....

It has been a black eye to Hollywood that throughout this, the unending and increasingly repetitive age of the superhero blockbuster, the comics' most iconic son has eluded its grasp like a bird or, if you will, a plane. New hopes of box-office riches and franchise serials rests on Zac Snyder's 3-D "Man of Steel," the latest attempt to put Superman back into flight. But Snyder's joyless film, laden as if composed of the stuff of its hero's metallic nickname, has nothing soaring about it. Flying...

The Southern Baptist Convention re-elected its first black president, the Rev. Fred Luter Jr., at its annual meeting Tuesday. Luter was first elected in 2012. His presidency comes at a time when the nation's largest Protestant denomination is trying to move beyond its traditional white Southern base. The Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention claims 16 million members, but recently announced that membership declined in 2012 for the sixth straight year. Luter was unopposed for re-election...

Environmental activist and movie namesake Erin Brockovich will face a misdemeanor charge of operating a boat while intoxicated at Lake Mead, the district attorney in Las Vegas decided Tuesday. Brockovich, 52, has an Oct. 7 court date in Henderson Justice Court stemming from her arrest Friday evening at a marina on the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam, said Tess Driver, an aide to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson. A Nevada state game warden reported that Brockovich appeared...

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for June 3-9. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership. 1. NBA Finals: San Antonio vs. Miami (Sunday), ABC, 14.57 million. 2. NBA Finals: San Antonio vs. Miami (Thursday), ABC, 14.24 million. 3. NBA Playoffs: Indiana vs. Miami (Monday), TNT, 11.57 million. 4. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 11.29 million. 5. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 11.22 million. 6. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 10.87 million. 7. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS,...

Despite being set up to shine, "The Voice" is limping to its finish. NBC's most popular show, approaching its season finale next week, had 11.3 million viewers for its Monday edition last week and 10.9 million on Tuesday. Both were enough to rank them within the Nielsen company's top six shows for the week. Still, the two editions were below their averages for the season, even more among younger viewers. The show peaked at more than 14 million viewers in mid-April. It's not as if NBC's rivals...

Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant will be judged by experts in cooking, fashion and looking hot. Pageant officials announced this week that Betsey Johnson, the over-the-top fashion designer, and Bob Harper, star of the weight-loss reality show "The Biggest Loser," will be among the celebrity judges at the 62st annual pageant on June 16 in Las Vegas. Cooking channel host and panelist on NPR's `Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" Mo Rocca also will help name the next Miss USA. The winner goes on to compete...

Michael Douglas' son is speaking out from behind bars, calling for treatment rather than jail time for non-violent drug offenders. Cameron Douglas says in an essay published Tuesday by the Huffington Post that United States laws impose tougher penalties on addicts than on violent criminals. The 34-year-old is serving a 9 1/2-year prison sentence after various drug violations. Douglas was first convicted in 2010 of selling methamphetamine, and a judge nearly doubled that sentence after he was...

A cloud is hanging over the upcoming free-trade talks between the European Union and the United States after France said it won't back any deal that threatens the country's prestigious film, radio or TV industries. The stakes are high because any deal could have major implications for global trade and could serve as a model for future deals. Together, the U.S. and the EU make up nearly half the world economy and 30 percent of global trade. The audiovisual sectors have traditionally been excluded...

App Store Official Charts for the week ending June 10, 2013: Top Paid iPhone Apps: 1. WhatsApp Messenger (WhatsApp Inc.) 2. Heads Up! (Warner Bros.) 3. Minecraft - Pocket Edition (Mojang) 4. Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Ironhide Game Studio) 5. SpongeBob Moves In (Nickelodeon) 6. AfterLight (Simon Filip) 7. Survivalcraft (Igor Kalicinski) 8. Mextures (Merek Davis Com LLC) 9. Plague Inc. (Ndemic Creations) 10. Kick the Buddy: No Mercy (Realmac Software) Top Free iPhone Apps: 1. Candy Crush...

Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to a museum being built on Washington's National Mall that will document African-American history, officials said Tuesday. The media mogul and former talk-show host previously gave $1 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the museum says her $13 million total contribution is its largest to date. As a result, the museum's 350-seat theater will be named after Winfrey, who is also a member of its advisory council. Construction...

Mumford & Sons bassist Ted Dwane has a blood clot on his brain that will require surgery. The Grammy-winning folk-rock group postponed concerts Tuesday in Dallas, Wednesday in The Woodlands in Texas and Thursday in New Orleans. A statement on its website said there are no plans to postpone or cancel any other appearances on the current tour. Mumford & Sons has a headlining gig Saturday at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The statement says Dwane hasn't felt...

They aren't looking for sex and they're not in need of baby daddies. It's those two things that landed the single ladies of "Pregnant & Dating" on reality TV to begin with. Five in all, the growing and glowing women in WE tv's latest lineup play mini-golf, lace up bowling shoes and enjoy romantic non-alcoholic outings, but the mere idea of dating while pregnant has earned them a bit of snark. "I see (at)WEtv has a show called (hash)pregnantanddating. You straight people really are something...

More than a decade after many of its animals drowned, the Prague Zoo is counting the cost of yet another devastating flood. In 2002, more than 100 animals died _ among them, Kadir, a male elephant that became stranded up to his ears in floodwaters and had to be euthanized _ when the zoo was inundated by the worst flooding in centuries. In June, nature has again taken its toll, with major flooding that has ravaged parts of Central Europe, again submerging the entire lower parts of the park again....

The man who claimed to leak state secrets on U.S. government eavesdropping sought to break the story through a columnist for a U.K.-based publication who has made no secret of his distaste for intrusions on privacy. Edward Snowden brought his information first to Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian, illustrating the passion an opinion-driven journalist can bring to a breaking news story at the same time it raises questions about fairness. Greenwald, author of three books in which he argues the government...

Kanye West says his new album is all about giving. The multiplatinum rapper held a listening for "Yeezus" late Monday in New York City, where Jay-Z and wife Beyonce were among the few hundred attendees. West said his sixth effort will showcase his growth over the last two years and that he "had to learn about giving ... this whole process is all about giving." "I feel like I know who I am," said West, who turned 36 on Saturday. "Yeezus" is out June 18. It has a dark, moody vibe that expands...

Sting, Green Day, Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Sons are among musicians raising their voices against poverty by re-recording classic protest songs. The agit8 project, which hopes to influence leaders at next week's G-8 summit in Northern Ireland, is backed by the One Campaign set up by U2 front man Bono. It wants G-8 leaders to help boost African food production and improve transparency in international aid. The songs, available online from Tuesday, include Sting performing The Police track...

NBC's quirky sitcom "Community" is getting creator Dan Harmon back in charge for season five. NBC said Monday that Harmon will be joined by another former "Community" producer, Chris McKenna. Harmon was replaced as showrunner for season four after a clash with then-cast member Chevy Chase. In voicemails that Harmon released last year, Chase called "Community" a "mediocre sitcom." Chase has left the series set at a community college. The ensemble cast includes Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown...

Jurors in the Michael Jackson case were shown an email on Monday in which the top executive at AEG Live LLC expressed grave concerns about treatments Jackson was receiving from his longtime dermatologist. The email sent by AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said the company was "scared to death" of drug injections given to Jackson. Phillips told jurors the email was a response to a $48,000 bill that Jackson's manager received for the treatments by Dr. Arnold Klein. "He scares us to death because he...

Yes, Cynthia McFadden, Bill Weir and Terry Moran of ABC's "Nightline" are still at work at ABC News, and this summer, even non-insomniacs can see them. The "Nightline" team is behind "The Lookout," a prime-time newsmagazine that has gotten off to a slow start on Wednesday nights. "The Lookout" is both a chance for the journalists to try something new and an olive branch by network bosses for evicting "Nightline" from a time slot it held for three decades. At the same time, "Nightline" is changing...

Even if you don't actually embrace change, it's wise to at least attempt to adapt. The perils of ignoring the post-World War II social revolution in England are gently lampooned in "A Picture of Autumn," N.C. Hunter's bittersweet 1951 portrait of an out-of-date family of aristocrats. The Mint Theater's engaging revival of the drawing-room comedy gets livelier as it progresses. Under the sure hand of Gus Kaikkonen, the accomplished cast keeps the period feel while injecting spirit and humor whenever...

Newly crowned Tony Award winner "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" has gotten a new lease on life but one of its original actresses will be leaving. Producers of Christopher Durang's comical work that won the best play award Sunday said Monday it will extend for a final time until Aug. 25. Sigourney Weaver, who plays Masha, will play her final performance on July 28 and be replaced by Tony-winner Julie White. In an interview in late March, Weaver revealed she would at some point have to leave...

"I'm having a great time," Joan Rivers crows before offering a brisk self-appraisal: "Everything is working, my mind is fine. "The only time I play the age card is on planes when I'm trying to put a bag above the seat: `I am 80 years old! Would someone PLEASE help me?!'" Actually, she only turned 80 on Saturday, a milestone that has prompted the E! network to stage a Joan Rivers "takeover": Its regular one-hour edition of "Fashion Police" (airing Friday at 10 p.m. EDT) will be a black-tie birthday...

Queen Elizabeth II visited her husband, Prince Philip, at a London hospital on Monday, where he was spending his 92nd birthday recovering from abdominal surgery. Philip was "comfortable and in good spirits," Buckingham Palace officials said, but he will need about two months of convalescence following the surgery. Details of his condition were not released. The queen spent about half an hour at the London Clinic in central London. Earlier Monday, Philip's son, Prince Edward, made a similar visit....

Police say platinum-selling rapper 2 Chainz was robbed in San Francisco just hours before he was scheduled to perform at a concert. Sgt. Dennis Toomer says the hip-hop star, whose real name is Tauheed Epps, was walking with five members of his entourage near downtown on Sunday afternoon. They were approached by three men, one of them holding a handgun. Toomer says one shot was fired as the rapper had his cellphone and wallet with credit cards and cash inside stolen. Police say the suspected...

The reviews are in: It was a great Tony Awards. The dancing was inspired, the singing top-notch and the humor sly _ and that's just for the host. Neil Patrick Harris once again proved how invaluable he is to the success of one of entertainment's lesser-watched televised award shows on Sunday, and others may be paying attention. "He's completely the real deal, totally multi-talented. When you're doing a show about Broadway with someone who understands television and also Broadway, it's a real...

It may not have won any Tony Awards, but the charming musical based on the cult holiday film "A Christmas Story" will be hitting the Northeast this winter. Producers said Monday that the show will play The Bushnell in Hartford, Conn., from Nov. 12-17, The Wang Theatre in Boston from Nov. 20-Dec. 8, and then landing at The Theater at Madison Square Garden from Dec. 11-29. Nominated for three Tonys, the musical features a score by composer-lyricist team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by...

One day after dismissing its longtime production pair, "American Idol" has a new executive producer. Freemantle Media has named Per Blankens to head the troubled Fox singing competition. The company said Monday that he has been the showrunner for the Swedish edition of "Idol" for more than five years. On Sunday, Fox had confirmed that Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick are leaving the show. Their exit followed the departures of judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and original panelist Randy Jackson....

Vertigo Comics has long cultivated its reputation as home to the odd, unusual and unsettling. Its characters _ the Sandman, Skinner Sweet and the Preacher, among others _ and titles have provided a refuge for readers hungry for concepts that avoid the trope of heroes versus villains, spandex and other elements of more traditional comic book fare. Shelly Bond, who has been with the edgy and popular imprint that has published "Sandman," "DMZ" and "The Unwritten," among other titles, since 1993,...

CBS' Tony Awards telecast saw viewership jump to 7.24 million people, the show's largest audience in four years. According to preliminary Nielsen figures released Monday, Sunday's show crowning "Kinky Boots" as best musical saw an increase of more than 1.2 million people over last year's show. Neil Patrick Harris returned to host for the fourth time. The broadcast was up against an episode of "Mad Men" on AMC and Game 2 of the NBA finals between San Antonio and Miami on ABC. Last year's telecast...

When it comes to fashion, Broadway actors seem to save the drama for the stage. The black-tie tuxedos and gowns on the red carpet at the Tony Awards were mostly classic styles. Scarlett Johansson, who has hit other awards shows with a bombshell look, wore a menswear-style tuxedo jacket and a Saint Laurent black cocktail dress that had just a hint of leopard-print mesh at the neckline. Sienna Miller, usually a risk-taker, went with a Burberry-designer, pink-peony simple strapless dress _ with a...

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell says he is being treated for cancer. In a statement Monday, the 50-year-old says he has Hodgkin lymphoma and has been in chemotherapy for two months, with four months of treatment remaining. Says Campbell: "I feel fortunate that my cancer sent me an alarm call in the form of `the cough that wouldn't quit.'" Campbell says he still plans to hit the road this summer with Def Leppard. The first show is at the Hellfest music festival in France on June 21. The...

Helen Mirren is a star of stage and screen _ and now stage on-screen. Mirren's award-winning performance as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience" will be beamed this week from London's Gielgud Theatre to hundreds of movie theaters around the world in a live broadcast. It's the latest step in Mirren's glittering regal procession as the monarch. She won an Academy Award for playing Elizabeth in the 2006 movie "The Queen," and gained an Olivier stage trophy in April for her reprise in box-office...

"The King's Deception" (Ballantine Books), by Steve Berry Cotton Malone returns in a thriller that combines history and gunfire in Steve Berry's "The King's Deception." Malone arrives in England with his 15-year-old son, Gary, and a teenager named Ian. The CIA has a personal interest in Ian, and they ask Malone to escort him back to England from the United States. When they arrive, they find guns pointed in their faces, and the chase begins. Ian has a thumbdrive with materials involving a top-secret...

The growing number of nonprofit news websites say they need more help from business experts than journalists. Many of the reporting sites relied on large startup grants and haven't effectively broadened their fundraising sources or extracted promises from their original funders to continue support, said a study released Monday by the Pew Research Center. Pew looked at the 172 nonprofit news sites that have emerged since 1987. Among them is the Pulitzer Prize-winning ProPublica, based in New York;...

Kanye West closed the three-day Governors Ball on Randall Island with a set that featured his familiar hits as well as a batch of new, darker tracks from his upcoming album. West kicked off his set Sunday night with the song "Black Skinhead," with flashing visuals in the background, including the words "not for sale." He later performed "New Slaves" and the dark vibe of his songs was matched by his stage lighting and style. Both tracks will appear on "Yeezus," his sixth album, which comes out...

"Work With Me: The 8 Blind Spots Between Men and Women in Business" (Palgrave Macmillan), by Barbara Annis and John Gray Unless you live and work at a monastery, chances are you work with both men and women. According to Barbara Annis and John Gray, however, we're kind of bumbling when it comes to sharing office space with the opposite sex. In "Work With Me," the authors explore eight "blind spots" they say create tension between men and women in the workplace. Among them: women's tendency to...

Playing the piano at age 5 certainly wasn't Vadym Kholodenko's idea, but after his mother took him to a music school, he quickly grew to love it while growing up in Kiev, Ukraine. "She thought I had potential in music, but she never pushed me, which is very important in childhood," said Kholodenko, 26, who now attends the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he also is an assistant teacher. On Sunday, Kholodenko won the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which is...

Scottish writer Iain Banks, who alternately wowed and disturbed readers with his dark jokes and narrative tricks, has died, his publisher said. He was 59. Banks, whose writing took readers from rural Scotland to the edge of space, announced in April that he was terminally ill with cancer and that his soon-to-be released novel, "The Quarry," would be his last. A message on a website set up to provide updates to family, friends and fans quoted his wife Adele as saying Banks died in the early hours...

The Southern Baptist Convention is gathering in Houston for its annual meeting at a time when the denomination is contemplating a different cultural and political climate than a decade ago. The meeting of the nation's largest Protestant denomination happens Tuesday and Wednesday at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The executive committee plans to meet Monday afternoon. While the agenda of resolutions isn't set yet, one top leader expects there to be a resolution declaring the threat to...

Memorable quotes from winners, presenters and guests at the 2013 Tony Awards: "I want to thank Harvey Fierstein for calling me up. I'm so glad I was done with the dishes and answered the phone." _ Cyndi Lauper, who teamed up with Tony-winning Fierstein, to create the best musical "Kinky Boots." ___ "Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's the portion of the evening where two actors who are not nominated for their performances on Broadway this season very graciously give a Tony to someone who was." _...

While Phish frontman Trey Anastasio has a highly devout fan base, it takes a little more to impress his teenage daughters. But that changed when he was nominated this season for a Tony Award. "They were completely unimpressed with the rock thing. Not impressed at all. This was huge for them," the 48-year-old Phish frontman said Sunday on the red carpet at Radio City Music Hall before going into the Tonys. Anastasio, and wife, Susan, say their daughters Eliza and Isabella are huge musical theater...

The feel-good musical "Kinky Boots," with songs by pop star and Broadway newcomer Cyndi Lauper, strutted away with a leading six 2013 Tony Awards on Sunday, including best musical, best original score and best leading man. Christopher Durang's comical "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" won the best play Tony. "Matilda the Musical" and "Pippin" won four awards each and two other shows _ "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "The Nance" _ shared three awards each. Tom Hanks left empty-handed,...

The top five moments on Sunday night's Tony Awards telecast you'll be talking about Monday morning: 1. Neil Patrick Harris opening the show with an insane amount of dancers, glitter and silliness. He joked about kiddie stars, ended up hanging high from a prop and made even Mike Tyson dance. 2. When Harris joined "Smash" star Megan Hilty, "Go On" star Laura Benanti (swigging a bottle) and former "The Book of Mormon" star Andrew Rannells to skewer theater stars who seek fame _ and fortune _ on...

The feel-good musical "Kinky Boots," with songs by pop star Cyndi Lauper, won the 2013 Tony Award for best musical. The musical is based on an obscure 2005 British film about a British shoe factory on the brink of ruin that retrofits itself into a maker of footwear for drag queens. Lauper, whose hits include "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "True Colors," teamed up with playwright Harvey Fierstein to craft a story about sons and fathers, bonding at work and red patent leather. Lauper's catchy,...

Patina Miller has danced away with a Tony Award for her role in the revival of "Pippin." Miller, last on Broadway in "Sister Act," won the best lead actress in a musical trophy playing the same emcee part that won Ben Vereen a best-actor Tony in 1973. The win caps a whirlwind few years for the Carnegie Mellon University graduate, who was nominated for back-to-back Tonys for her first roles on Broadway. In Diane Paulus' retelling of "Pippin," Miller is a muscular creature with a hat and cane...

Cicely Tyson, who returned to Broadway this season for the first time in 30 years, has taken home the Tony Award for best leading actress in a play. In Horton Foote's "The Trip to Bountiful," Tyson plays a widow in 1953 whose only desire is to revisit her old home in Bountiful and recapture purpose she lost when she left for Houston. Tyson, 88, beat out Laurie Metcalf, Amy Morton, Kristine Nielsen and Holland Taylor. Tyson was nominated for an Oscar for her role in "Sounder" in 1972. Other film...

Tracy Letts, who won a Tony Award as a playwright, now has one as an actor. Letts takes home the trophy for best performance by an actor in a play for playing George, one-half of the bickering couple at the heart of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" He beat out Nathan Lane, Tom Hanks, David Hyde Pierce and Tom Sturridge. Letts, a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Co. ensemble since 2002, burst to worldwide fame when his "August: Osage County" won the Pulitzer and five Tonys, including...

Billy Porter, who plays a fierce drag queen in "Kinky Boots," has strutted off with the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. Porter, the 1992 winner of "Star Search," has amassed several Broadway credits, including "Miss Saigon," "Grease" and "Smokey Joe's Cafe." This was his first nomination. "Kinky Boots" is based on a real-life shoe factory that struggles until it finds new life in drag footwear. It has songs by Cyndi Lauper and a story by Harvey Fierstein, but Porter's role as a man tormented...

Christopher Durang's comical "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" has won the best play Tony Award. The play, which takes characters and themes from Anton Chekhov and sets them in present-day Pennsylvania, stars Sigourney Weaver, Kristine Nielsen and David Hyde Pierce. It centers on three middle-aged siblings uneasily negotiating with age and hysterically mixes in references to Lindsay Lohan, Maggie Smith and ancient Greek drama. Durang, whose other works include the play "Beyond Therapy," was...

Courtney B. Vance has won the first Tony Award of the night, taking the trophy for best featured actor in a play after host Neil Patrick Harris opened the show with a high-octane song boasting this night would be bigger than ever. Vance, who was previously nominated for Tonys for "Fences" and "Six Degrees of Separation," won for playing a newspaper editor opposite Tom Hanks in "Lucky Guy." The Tonys are being broadcast live by CBS from Radio City Music Hall. Harris is back for his fourth turn...

Add two more departures to the "American Idol" post-season tally. Fox said Sunday that longtime executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick are exiting the singing contest. Its 12th season ended in May with a record low-rated finale. The producers follow judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson out the door. Jackson was an original panelist. Minaj and Carey joined this season, and their on-air bickering proved uncomfortable for viewers and contestants. The fate of Keith Urban,...

Scottish writer Iain Banks, who alternately wowed and disturbed readers with his dark jokes and narrative tricks, has died, his publisher said Sunday. He was 59. Banks, whose writing took readers from rural Scotland to the edge of space, announced in April that he was terminally ill with cancer and that his soon-to-be released novel, "The Quarry," would be his last. A message on a website set up to provide updates to family, friends and fans quoted his wife Adele as saying Banks died in the early...

A decade ago, the Southern Baptist Convention was riding high. The president of the United States was a conservative evangelical Christian who personally addressed the group's annual meetings, either by satellite or video, at least four times in two terms, and SBC leaders were feeling their influence at the highest levels of government. Ten years later, as members prepare for their 2013 annual meeting in Houston on Tuesday, the nation's largest Protestant denomination finds itself in flux: It...

Bruno Bartoletti, an orchestra conductor who was associated with the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a half-century, and who championed modern opera as well as classic works, died on Sunday in his native Tuscany, a day before his 87th birthday. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where the maestro had served as artistic director from 1985 until 1991, said Bartoletti died in a Florence hospital after a long illness. In a career that saw Bartoletti conduct well into his 80s _ he directed Giacomo Puccini's...

The Bolshoi Theater won't renew the contract of Nikolai Tsiskaridze, a veteran principal dancer and teacher who for years has been in open conflict with managers at the celebrated Russian theater. The dispute intensified after the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director was attacked in January by a man who threw acid in his face. Bolshoi managers accused Tsiskaridze of inciting tensions within the theater that led to the attack, while Tsiskaridze portrayed the attack as the result of corruption and...

Swedish Princess Madeleine fell in love in the Big Apple. Now she has said "yes" to New York banker Christopher O'Neill in a lavish and emotional wedding ceremony in Stockholm. Madeleine, 30, was wearing a stunning silk organza dress with a lace top and four-meter (13-foot) trail, designed by Valentino Garavani, when she tied the knot with British-American O'Neill on Saturday. Around 470 European royals, top New York socialites and celebrities were in attendance. The 38-year-old O'Neill fought...

Sweden's Princess Madeleine married New York banker Christopher O'Neill in a grand ceremony in Stockholm on Saturday. Here's a look at key facts about the couple and the wedding. THE COUPLE Princess Madeleine, 30, is the youngest of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia's three children and fourth in line to the throne. She has studied child psychology, art history, ethnology and history at university and is known for her stylish clothes and glamorous lifestyle. She now lives in New York where...

Willi Sitte, one of East Germany's most eminent artists and a key representative of Communism's preferred socialist realism painting style, has died at 92. The head of the Willi Sitte Foundation, Hans-Hubert Werner, told German news agency dpa that Sitte died on Saturday morning after a long illness. Sitte's paintings depicted factory workers or farmers as glamorized ideals of Communist heroes. Among his famous works are voluptuous, often nude women. He was the president of East Germany's association...

Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows: ABC's "This Week" _ Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn. ___ NBC's "Meet the Press" _ Pre-empted by coverage of the French Open. ___ CBS' "Face the Nation" _ Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and John Dingell, D-Mich. ___ CNN's "State of the Union" _ Udall, Cummings;...

Is God's saving grace free to anyone who accepts Jesus, or did God predestine certain people for heaven and hell before the beginning of the world? That's a 500-year-old question, but it is creating real divisions in 2013 in the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Calvinism is named for the 16th Century theologian John Calvin. Among other things, it teaches that Jesus died only for those who have been elected by God for salvation. That idea does not sit well with many non-Calvinist Baptists,...

It's a safe bet that George Stroumboulopoulos will be the first male CNN personality to wear two earrings and a skull ring from a designer who made one for Keith Richards. Stroumboulopoulos, whose new nighttime talk show premieres Sunday, is more curious than dangerous, though. The show gets a solid time slot for its debut, airing after the season finale of Anthony Bourdain's successful "Parts Unknown." Then it will settle into a regular spot on Fridays at 11 p.m. Eastern for the summer and,...

Being a Supreme Court justice has not only been good for Sonia Sotomayor's legal career, it's also helped her bank account. The justice reported Friday that she's received more than $3 million in advance payments for her best-selling memoir, "My Beloved World." Her annual financial disclosure forms show that Knopf Doubleday Group paid Sotomayor $1.925 million in 2012 in anticipation of her book. This comes in addition to the $1.2 million in advance payments she received from the publisher in...

Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows: ABC's "This Week" _ Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn. ___ NBC's "Meet the Press" _ Pre-empted by coverage of the French Open. ___ CBS' "Face the Nation" _ Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and John Dingell, D-Mich. ___ CNN's "State of the Union" _ Udall, Cummings;...

Organizers of a gala concert and series of events celebrating Latino culture during President Barack Obama's second inauguration are donating the proceeds to help raise the national profile of Latino arts and culture. On Friday, actress Eva Longoria and others announced they are giving $170,000 to the Friends of the American Latino Museum, which aims to build a museum on the National Mall. That group will make grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 to the Smithsonian Latino Center, the American...

Three years ago she crossed the Atlantic with a broken heart. Now Sweden's "party princess" returns from New York to Stockholm to tie the knot with her new, British-American love. On Saturday, Princess Madeleine _ the Duchess of Halsingland and Gastrikland _ will wed New York banker Christopher O'Neill in the Swedish capital, bringing together European royals and top New York socialites for a grand celebration. Madeleine, 30, is the youngest of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia's three children...

Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman never worked with Mel Brooks, and the Oscar winners came to a ceremony in his honor to let him know they resent it. Brooks received the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award Thursday, and Freeman and De Niro were among a galaxy of stars who paid tribute to the man behind "Blazing Saddles," `'Young Frankenstein" and "The Producers." DeNiro asked whether there was a casting-couch process he could participate in, and Freeman quipped, "I've never...

Stephen King and John Mellencamp had a simple problem when they started the long odyssey to create a musical. "Quite frankly, we didn't know what the hell we were doing," Mellencamp said. Thirteen years later they've created "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County," a musical that's not quite like anything out there _ as you might expect from two of America's most independent artists. Along the way, the author and the singer picked up T Bone Burnett to serve as a general contractor, enlisted stars...

There's a lot of noise surrounding Khloe Kardashian Odom. She's frequently with members of her family, and they're not a quiet bunch. The family stars on the popular E! reality show "Keeping up With the Kardashians," now in its eighth season. (Her sister Kim recently revealed on the show that she and rapper Kanye West are expecting a daughter sometime this summer.) Khloe, Kim, sister Kourtney and their mom, Kris Jenner, are subject to 24/7 tabloid, Internet and paparazzi attention. But Kardashian...

"The Fosters" is a study in unlikely bedfellows. The new ABC Family drama pairs mainstream star Jennifer Lopez and Peter Paige, who played bubbly Emmett in the cult favorite series "Queer as Folk," as executive producers. It brings to television a rare depiction of a lesbian couple as heads of a household. And "The Fosters," airing its second episode 9 p.m. EDT Monday, combines a focus on the generally ignored lives of foster children with the challenges of an ethnically diverse home _ a big...

Jonah Lehrer, the best-selling author who has acknowledged using fake quotes and had two books pulled, has reached agreement on a new book. Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that it will publish a book by Lehrer with the working title "The Book of Love." No publication date has been set. Lehrer, 31, had written three previous books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but one of them, "Imagine," was withdrawn last year after he acknowledged inventing and distorting Bob Dylan quotes. Houghton...

The head of the company promoting Michael Jackson's ill-fated comeback concerts told jurors Thursday that he never consulted a mental health professional to help the singer despite two high-level show workers suggesting it was necessary. AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips testified about emails he sent and received in the week before Jackson's death, including a production manager's characterization that the entertainer's condition was "deteriorating." Phillips is testifying in a negligent hiring case...

The novel "The Bridges of Madison County," which was made into a film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, is heading to Broadway as a musical. Producers said Thursday that the show, with songs by Jason Robert Brown and a book by Marsha Norman, will debut at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts this August and then land at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in January. Based on Robert Waller's best-selling novel, the story features Iowa's covered bridges as the focal point for a...

A reflective Glenn Beck said Thursday he regrets that some of his fiery opinions caused division in the country over the last several years. He wasn't fully aware of the perilous times and people "at each other's throats," said the conservative radio host, who accepted a First Amendment award from Talkers magazine, the trade publication for his industry. The magazine's publisher, Michael Harrison, hailed Beck as "a once-in-a-generation performer in the broadcast arts." Beck said he was puzzled...

A U.S. Postal Service employee from eastern North Carolina who was seen spinning the Big Wheel on TV's "The Price is Right" even though she had said she could not deliver the mail has pleaded guilty to workers compensation fraud. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office told The Fayetteville Observer ( http://bit.ly/15MWfjy ) that Cathy Wrench Cashwell pleaded guilty earlier this week before a U.S. magistrate in Greenville. She'll be sentenced later. The Fayetteville woman had filed for continued...

Queen Elizabeth II's husband has been admitted to a London hospital for an exploratory operation, Buckingham Palace said Thursday. The palace said the operation on 91-year-old Prince Philip _ which will take place on Friday _ was pre-planned and comes after "abdominal investigations" that were carried out over the past week. "He is in good spirits," a palace spokeswoman said. She declined to elaborate on Philip's condition or when the decision was made to operate, saying only that the queen's...

Broadway will get a double dose of Mark Rylance this winter _ the two-time Tony Award-winning English actor will alternate between starring in "Twelfth Night" and "Richard III." Producers said Thursday that the Shakespeare's Globe productions of both Shakespeare plays will transfer from the West End to the Belasco Theatre starting Oct. 15. The shows are performed by an all-male cast and seek to replicate how the plays would have been produced in Shakespeare's day. Live musicians and candlelight...

Billionaire Warren Buffett's giving is being recognized by a group of his fellow philanthropists. Buffett received a lifetime achievement award in philanthropy Wednesday at a private discussion of philanthropy that Forbes magazine sponsored. Not only has Buffett pledged to give away nearly all of his fortune, but Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and CEO has also encouraged others with more than $1 billion to give away at least half their fortunes. Video from the Forbes event ( http://onforb.es/186UwKh...

Caps and gowns are in fashion right now, and so, apparently, are copies of "Lean In" as a graduation gift. Sheryl Sandberg's manifesto for women in the workplace will again top The New York Times' nonfiction best-seller list in the paper's June 16 edition. "Lean In" had last been No. 1 on the combined print and e-book list May 5. Paul Bogaards, executive director of publicity for Alfred A. Knopf, said Thursday that sales have been especially strong lately because the book is a popular graduation...

Miss World has axed the famed bikinis from this year's pageant in Indonesia, replacing the skimpy swimsuits with conservative beach sarongs amid mounting protests from hard-line Muslim groups, organizers said Thursday. All of the more than 130 contestants will be required to wear Bali's traditional long sarongs instead of the sexy bikinis that are historically part of the competition, said Adjie S. Soeratmadjie of the RCTI, the official broadcaster and local organizer. Parts of the pageant will...

A longtime star of British soap opera "Coronation Street" already facing trial for rape was charged Thursday with five counts of indecent assault on young girls dating back to the 1960s. The charges against 81-year-old William Roache come on top of two counts of rape the soap actor already is facing involving a 15-year-old girl about three decades ago. Prosecutor Nazir Afzal said the allegations of indecent assault were made to police after Roache was charged with rape in May. He said the five...

Art is often seen as lofty _ but perhaps none more than a new roof installation in Paris that's only visible from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The work, a huge 700-square-meter (7,500-square-foot) painting of black and white horseshoe shapes, was unveiled Thursday to bird's-eye spectators some 116 meters (380 fe-et) up the iconic iron monument. The painting was made by Aboriginal artist Lena Nyadbi on the roof of the adjacent Quai Branly museum and commissioned by architect Jean Nouvel. For...

Tom Sharpe was aptly named, a writer who turned a razor-edged eye for absurdity on everything from the racism of apartheid to the squabbles of academia. The British writer behind a string of comic novels including the campus classic "Porterhouse Blue" has died at 85. Sharpe's Spanish publisher, Anagrama, said he died Thursday in Llafranc, the Catalan town where he lived. His physician, Dr. Montserrat Verdaguer, said the cause was complications from diabetes. Sharpe's first novel, the South Africa-set...

There is life after the hit NBC series "The Office," but actor John Krasinski says it's been "really weird" and he misses his friends and the routine of the show that gave him his start a decade ago. "It's hard ... to not only let go of a show like that and a character like that, but to me _ you know, I got the job when I was 23 years old," Krasinski, who played Jim, told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's an era of my life that I'm missing now." Krasinski, accompanied by his wife, actress...

Since 2006, John Oliver has proved his mettle as a phony journalist on "The Daily Show." Serving in numerous "reporting" roles on the spoof newscast, but chiefly as senior British correspondent, the Birmingham, England-born Oliver is schoolboyish, poker-faced and emphatic in explaining America to itself (whether the topic is Occupy Wall Street, gun control or the N-word), satisfied that his accent from across the pond makes anything he says, however off-kilter, sound authoritative here in the...

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan says he'll make his television acting debut in a new series this year. Bachchan announced the new and not-yet titled show to reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday. The series, to be aired on the Sony Television channel, will focus on social issues. The show will be the first fictional TV outing for the Indian superstar, who has already hosted the hugely successful "Kaun Banega Crorepati," India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." "I just felt that this could...

The day after the Tony Award nominations were announced, Annaleigh Ashford stood smiling in a Times Square hotel's event space, cheered by the sight of all her fellow honorees gathered together. Wandering nearby were Stephanie J. Block and Patina Miller, Laura Osnes and Danny Burstein, Condola Rashad and Will Chase. Off in the distance were Victoria Clark, Amy Morton, Kristine Nielsen, Tracy Letts and Valisia LeKae. Ashford, dressed in a velvet romper and enjoying her first Tony nod for "Kinky...

Until he died in 2009, Michael Jackson was fiercely protective of his children (save for that one balcony-dangling incident). He covered their faces when they went out with him so they might enjoy the kind of normal childhood he missed out on as a member of the Jackson 5. But Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson stepped onto a world stage without masks when they appeared at the King of Pop's public memorial. Paris, then just 11, delivered the most poignant words of the star-studded service when she...

The guys in Florida Georgia Line thought they were riding a whirlwind when their first single improbably made it to the top of the country charts late last year. Now that Nelly has entered the picture and "Cruise" is rocketing up the pop charts, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley have discovered _ like Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum and a few other country acts over the years _ that there's nothing like the ride of a crossover hit. "I think it's kind of like pouring gas on a fire," Hubbard said. "It's...

The Berry Gordy memoir which inspired the Broadway hit "Motown: The Musical" is being reissued as an e-book. Gordy's "To Be Loved," first published in 1994, had been out of print. The e-edition is scheduled for release Thursday by RosettaBooks, a digital publisher. The book covers Gordy's rise from high school dropout to head of a record label that featured Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross and turned out scores of hits in the 1960s and `70s. The book was adapted for "Motown: The...

Carrie Underwood's awesome week got off to a roaring start at the CMT Music Awards. Underwood won top honor video of the year Wednesday night for "Blown Away," capping the evening with an emotional tribute to Oklahoma tornado victims before taking the fan-voted award for the second year in a row. Miranda Lambert and Florida Georgia Line were the night's top winners with two awards apiece. "The good Lord has been very good to me _ well, to all of us in this room _ for a very long time," Underwood...

The University of Iowa received permission Wednesday to develop plans for a new museum to store its premier collection of fine art, which has largely been stored off-campus since a 2008 flood. The university said it will study a range of potential sites for the museum near its campus in Iowa City and options for funding the building through donations and partnerships with the private sector. While the project is still years from completion, the approval for planning by the Iowa Board of Regents...

Drummer Art Blakey, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and trumpeter Clark Terry are the newest inductees into Jazz at Lincoln Center's Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame. Actor Courtney B. Vance read remarks honoring each inductee at Tuesday's ceremony at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City. The ceremony featured performances by trumpeters Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove, vibraphonists Joe Locke and Warren Wolf and other guests of such tunes as Hampton's theme "Flyin' Home." Blakey led the hard bop Jazz...

The TV Land channel says William Shatner will guest star on this month's live premiere of "Hot in Cleveland." Brian Baumgartner of "The Office" also will be part of the episode, which is set to air live on the East Coast at 10 p.m. Wednesday, June 19. West Coast viewers will see a taped version of the episode at 10 p.m. PDT. "Hot in Cleveland" stars Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White as single friends from LA who settle in the Ohio city. The 91-year-old Betty White...

Membership among Southern Baptists has fallen slightly for the sixth straight year. The nation's largest Protestant denomination released in-house statistics Wednesday showing that total membership dropped 0.66 percent in 2012. The annual report prepared by the Southern Baptist Convention's Lifeway Christian Resources and reported by the Baptist Press news service says there were 105,000 fewer Baptists in 2012 than the year before. Baptisms fell by 5.5 percent after a slight increase in 2011....

A homeless man with a history of playing an evil version of the "Sesame Street" character Elmo from coast to coast was charged Wednesday with trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts. Dan Sandler, arraigned on attempted grand larceny and other charges, pleaded not guilty, and a judge ordered him held on $200,000 bail. Prosecutors in Manhattan alleged that the defendant, who also goes by the name Adam Sandler, last year began sending and leaving harassing emails and voice mails for a Girl...