charity

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Do-Gooder Celebs Can Aid &mdash;and Irritate
Do-Gooder Celebs Can Aid —and Irritate
OPINION
May 5, 2009 7:39 AM CDT

Do-Gooder Celebs Can Aid —and Irritate

Emma Thompson on the conflicts of charitable stars

(Newser) - These days every celebrity is a do-gooder, but for Emma Thompson, using star power to fight disease or injustice can be not only "stunningly effective" but "also profoundly off-putting." In a column for the Times of London, the actor and screenwriter describes the tension between charity and...

Longtime Friend Testifies to Astor's Senility

Author Auchincloss told her son's lawyer she didn't recognize him

(Newser) - A longtime friend of philanthropist Brooke Astor testified yesterday that her faculties were so deteriorated the last time he saw her that she did not recognize him, the New York Daily News reports. Author Louis Auchincloss said the encounter took place 2 years before Astor allegedly changed her will, awarding...

Harry: I Don't Wash My Hair

Wilder prince into alternative hair care

(Newser) - Apparently Prince Harry's tufty ginger locks are due to something more than genetics. He boasted to buddies at a bar recently that he hasn't washed his hair in two years, reports the Telegraph. He's likely a follower of a low-maintenance quirky health theory that claims hair effectively cleans itself once...

Dazed Astor Didn't Recognize Jesse Jackson: Witness

Her son also convinced her she was going broke

(Newser) - A decade before her death, Brooke Astor was so out of it that she couldn’t recognize Jesse Jackson, a prosecution witness testified today in the fraud trial against Astor’s son, the New York Daily News reports. Anthony Marshall’s defense rides on his mother’s mental state, with...

Olbermann Dogs Hannity Over Waterboarding

Fox host silent on MSNBC rival's $1K-per-second offer

(Newser) - Keith Olbermann isn’t letting up as he pushes Sean Hannity to follow through on an offer to be waterboarded for charity, the AP reports. On his show Monday, the MSNBC host again urged his Fox rival to make good on the pledge, though how serious Hannity was isn't clear....

Son 'Manhandled Astor to Change Will': Prosecutor

Anthony Marshall exploited mom's dementia to funnel fortune to him, says prosecutor.

(Newser) - Brooke Astor's son "dragged" his frail mom from her nurse's arms to a closed-door meeting about her will, which was immediately changed in his favor, according to the prosecutor at the heir's  fraud and grand larceny trial yesterday in New York. Anthony Marshall exploited his vulnerable mother's dementia to...

'Giving-While-Living' Philanthropy Dies in Ireland

Philanthropists clench fists as wealth evaporates

(Newser) - Like the rest of the recession-plagued world, Ireland isn’t as affluent as it used to be, but the country is especially weakened now that declining wealth is denting its burgeoning culture of philanthropy, GlobalPost reports. Three years ago, the Irish were Europe’s second-wealthiest citizens, but bad assets have...

Slumdog Makers Give $740K to Educate Poor

Fun intended to hush critics who call film 'poverty porn'

(Newser) - To combat accusations that Oscar sensation Slumdog Millionaire is a form of “poverty porn,” the filmmakers have donated about $740,000 toward a health education initiative in Mumbai’s slums, the Times of London reports. The funds are in addition to trusts set up for the movie’s...

Timberlake to Scale Kilimanjaro for Charity

Star climbing African mountain to raise awareness of global water crisis

(Newser) - Justin Timberlake is taking on Mount Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise awareness about the world water crisis, Access Hollywood reports. The star—who has been training four times a week to boost his lung capacity for the week-long climb—will be joined by Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco and Ethiopian-born...

Cuomo Charges Madoff Feeder With Fraud

Says 'investment guru' Merkin was really just 'master marketer'

(Newser) - New York AG Andrew Cuomo has charged J. Ezra Merkin, a prominent New York philanthropist who funneled $2.4 billion into Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, with fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. The complaint doesn’t accuse Merkin of knowing about the scheme. But it alleges that he lied...

Where's Waldo? In the Record Book

University smashes previous record for Waldo gathering

(Newser) - Rutgers University has broken a Guinness World Record by packing a theater with 1,052 students and faculty members dressed in red-striped shirts in an homage to the Where’s Waldo books, the Daily Targum reports. The group was almost twice the size of the crowd of 577 that previously...

German Town Docks Beggars' Welfare Checks

National outcry forces officials to refund panhandlers' money

(Newser) - Beggars can’t be choosers, and in Germany, they also have trouble being charity cases. One unemployed welfare recipient in the college town of Göttingen learned that lesson last week after officials discovered he was panhandling and threatened to yank $161 out of his monthly $470 welfare payment. The...

Peanut Scare, Economy Slam Girl Scout Cookie Sales

(Newser) - Thanks to the economy, the peanut scare, and ugly winter weather, Girl Scout cookie sales are down 20% nationwide this year, the Boston Herald reports. Key programs are in danger of being cut, but the spirit of the young troopers is undimmed. “Not a lot of people on my...

William Opens Up on Loss of 'Mummy'

He becomes patron of child bereavement charity

(Newser) - Prince William makes his first public acknowledgment about the grief he felt after losing his mother in a Daily Mirror essay. "Never being able to say the word 'Mummy' again in your life sounds like a small thing," he writes. "However, for many, including me, it's now...

E! Gave Brangelina Charity Big Bucks, But for What?

(Newser) - E! donated $250,000 to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation last year, but you wouldn’t know it from the cable channel's coverage of Brangelina, Fox News reports. Not only has E! not had the sort of scoops one might expect if it were really paying for access, but the celebrity news...

Philanthropists Cry Foul Over Obama Budget
Philanthropists Cry Foul Over Obama Budget
OPINION
Mar 10, 2009 9:19 AM CDT

Philanthropists Cry Foul Over Obama Budget

Higher taxes, cap on deductions may lead to $4B less in charity

(Newser) - Charity may be a virtue, but in America there's another motivation for philanthropy: generous tax deductions of as much as 35%. Barack Obama's proposed 2010 budget may change all that; not only will it raise taxes on the most wealthy to almost 40%, it will cap charitable deductions at a...

Concert Stirs Reunion Rumors for Beatles

McCartney, Starr will perform on the same stage next month

(Newser) - Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will take the same stage during a charity concert in New York next month, though perhaps not at the same time. The show's organizers originally reported that the remaining Beatles would play together—it'd be the first time since a 2002 George Harrison tribute—but...

Wiesel: Put 'Psychopath' Madoff in Prison

(Newser) - Author and Nazi hunter Elie Wiesel, who lost $15.2 million in foundation money and a good chunk of his own fortune to Bernie Madoff, railed today against the “psychopath” financier, the New York Post reports. “He should be put in a solitary cell with a screen, and...

Helmsley Cash Doesn't Have to Go to Dogs

Judge nixes late Queen of Mean's mission statement

(Newser) - Leona Helmsley's fortune won't be going exclusively to canine charities after all, the New York Times reports. A judge decided yesterday that the famously prickly late hotelier's instruction in her will that all of her $8 billion go toward helping dogs was not binding, clearing the way for the trustees...

Army Charity Hoards Millions as Veterans Suffer

Army Emergency Relief fund's reserve dwarf its giving

(Newser) - A US Army charity is hoarding tens of millions of dollars while military families face record foreclosures and long deployments, the AP reports. Designed to dole out cash to veterans in financial crisis, Army Emergency Relief has padded reserves with $117 million and given or lent only $64 million. "...

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