Randy Travis.

Country singer Randy Travis was arrested in Sanger Monday morning on a charge of suspicion of public intoxication.
According to Sanger police – an officer noticed a 1998 black Pontiac parked in front of the First Baptist Church of Sanger early Monday morning and, thinking that was unusual, stopped to talk to the driver.
The officer soon realized the man in the car was country superstar Randy Travis. The officer also realized there was a strong odor of alcohol was coming from the vehicle and an open wine bottle on the passenger seat. The officer went on to report that the longer they talked, the more slurred Travis’ speech became.
Travis told the officer he’d had an argument with his girlfriend and was trying to get back to his ranch in Tioga, which was about 20 miles away.
“Mr. Travis was unaware of his location and kept asking me to take him home” – the officer stated.
Tom Reedy with the Denton County Sheriff’s Department said Sanger officers took him to Denton where he was booked into the county jail at 1:30 a.m. Monday.
“They take you to jail for at least four hours, time to sober up” – Reedy explained about the Class C misdemeanor, for which Travis was cited.
Travis was released a few hours after he was booked.
“I apologize for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl. I’m committed to being responsible and accountable, and apologize for my actions” – Travis said through his publicist Monday afternoon.

The 52-year-old, who has since been released, apologized in a statement to The Associated Press “for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl” and also said he is “committed to being responsible and accountable.”
On Monday, Feb. 6, Just after midnight, an officer noticed a black, 1998 two-door Pontiac car parked in a lot near the First Baptist Church in the town of Sanger. The driver, Travis, told him that he and his girlfriend had had an argument and he was trying to get home, according to a police report obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com. The singer owns the Chrysalis Ranch outside Tioga, about 20 miles away.
The officer said he “detected an odor of alcohol” and “noticed an open bottle of wine in the passenger side of the vehicle.”
“I asked the subject his name and he stated ‘Randy Travis’ ” – the officer said in the report. ” ‘Mr. Travis’ speech was slurred and I was beginning to have a hard time understanding what he was saying.”
The officer said he called for backup and asked the singer for a form of identification. Travis tried to produce some but was unable to find any, he said, adding that the singer kept asking for a ride home. The second officer than arrived.
“We had Mr. Travis step out of the vehicle and as he did, he stumbled as he tried to walk” – the report stated. “I advised Mr. Travis he was being taken into custody for public intoxication. I placed handcuffed on him … and placed him into the back seat of my patrol unit.”
The singer was then arrested and taken to a local jail. He was released within hours.
Travis, known for hits such as “Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart” and “Forever and Ever, Amen,” and his first wife, Elizabeth Hatcher, also known as Libby, divorced in 2010 after about 19 years of marriage.
Travis, a North Carolina native who dropped out of high school at age 15, had struggled with drugs and alcohol as a teenager and had during that time been to jail for offenses such as drunk driving, stealing a van, breaking and entering, larceny and drunk and disorderly conduct.
Hatcher met him in 1977 at a nightclub she managed in North Carolina. He was 17 then and was facing another prison sentence for breaking into a convenience store. Hatcher convinced a judge to release him into the custody of her and her then-husband instead.
Travis then became more religious and started to turn his life around.
“I went to bed one night and just started reading the Bible” – he said in an interview with The Pentecostal Evangel in 2007. “I’m sure I had a buzz going at that time because I was still drinking and doing drugs. But I literally felt a peace of mind the next morning. From then on, I read the Bible regularly. After Elizabeth and I married, we moved to Nashville, Tenn., and started going to church.”

Super Bowl.

Super Bowl halftime shows are usually the same. Madonna’s performance during halftime of Super Bowl 46 between the New England Patriots and New York Giants surely fit the script. The 53-year-old pop icon performed a truncated version of five different songs, ripe with guest appearances, an insane number of background dancers, in a totally overproduced and over the top fashion.
There were so many different motifs going on that it was quite hard to keep track of. She began the performance dressed as an ancient gladiator, and proceeded to perform her classic hit “Vogue”. There’s nothing vogue about gladiators, but whatever, it’s the halftime show at the Super Bowl so these things aren’t supposed to make sense. Next up in the medley was “Music”, a contemporary hit by Madonna’s standards – released in June of 2000, eleven years ago, but still – while her and a few dancers did a routine on what looked like a futuristic set of bleachers. It appeared as those Madonna slipped at one point during the routine. I won’t get on her too much for this because one thing I’ve always feared is falling through a set of bleachers and tumbling all the way to the ground, and I’m 25-years-old. Bleachers are very awkward, so I give the pop queen props for trying something daring.
Then came our first guest appearance, by LMFAO. They randomly broke into a hilariously slowed down version of their hit “Party Rock Anthem”. The three of them performed the now-famous dance, the Party Rock Shuffle, but again it wasn’t at the usual frantic pace. Hey, Madonna is 53, so I guess she’s earned the right to request a slower version of the song so that she could keep up.
Next up was Madonna’s new song – “Give Me All Your Luvin” – featuring guest appearances by Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. The song sounds pretty much like every other Madonna song from the past 30 years, except it features Minaj doing what she does best; interjecting in the middle of a pop song by rapping quickly and unintelligibly. The performance wrapped up with Madonna performing “Like A Prayer”. There was another guest appearance but unfortunately it wasn’t by Tim Tebow, except it was a wizard-dressed Cee Lo Green. Remember to catch The Voice, only on NBC.

Years of planning will pay off today as Indianapolis hosts Super Bowl 2012, an event that has brought the city together like no other. And we have much to be proud of – the community leadership and our volunteer spirit and hospitality.
After the shiny Lombardi Trophy has been awarded, the zip line has been taken down and the celebrities have left town, Indianapolis will return to what we know and love it as – home. A little spiffier, no doubt, and maybe a little more confident.
While the big game has given us a chance to see our city in the spotlight, what we love most about it might not have shown up on camera. So here is what makes Indianapolis special to us.
Behind the service counter. Behind the badge. On the street or stage. Especially behind the smile. It’s the people. This is really what I love about Indianapolis.
In the past few years, Indy has become this eclectic vibrant burg. Sure, we’re made fun of and kicked to the curb by much bigger cities with ocean views. And yes, some think we’re a test market for bad fashion. Who cares? We make it up in the friendly department.
Feel the positive vibe when you enter India Garden on Delaware Street, and you are greeted with a smile by owner Tony Mehra, who started his popular restaurant 19 years ago. He lets you know he feels truly grateful for your business.
Or hear a big “Welcome” from David Goff, doorman at the Conrad, as he helps you from your car at the main entrance on Washington Street. These real everyday, hard-working people make up the face of Indianapolis.
Jerry Sedam, a 32-year veteran of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, sums it up best when asked what he loves about the Circle City – “I love the way the community comes together solving problems. There is a great network of people in this city working as one big team for us in law enforcement, helping to make Indianapolis a better place. From mail carriers to policemen. And especially, Crime Watch captains who are the eyes of the community helping keep Indianapolis safe.”
If you believe a city is reflected by its people, then you have to believe our city is great. Friendly, funny and, above all, helpful. Some call it Hoosier hospitality. I just call it Indy.
- Frank Espich

Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney handily won the Nevada caucuses Saturday, capping a pivotal week that saw him regain his front-runner status on the strength of a hard-fought win in Florida.
With 41 % of the precincts counted, the former Massachusetts governor was the top pick of 42 % of Republican caucus-goers, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich a distant second with 26,5 % of the vote and Texas Rep. Ron Paul in third at 18 %.
Mr. Romney’s back-to-back, double-digit victories in Florida and Nevada cement his status as the candidate to beat heading into the first extended lull of the Republican nominating contest.
“This is not the first time you have given me your vote of confidence, and this time, I’m going to take it to the White House” – a buoyant Mr. Romney told supporters in Las Vegas, referring to his 2008 win in the state.
The three-week lull will follow a series of contests Tuesday, and it could prove a tenuous stretch for Mr. Romney’s rivals as they try to raise money and convince Republican voters they have a real shot at the nomination.
Mr. Gingrich failed to reboot his insurgent campaign in Nevada after he surrendered a big lead in Florida. He drew enthusiastic, if occasionally thin, crowds in the Silver State. But his Nevada bid was plagued by disorganization.
The former House speaker spent much of Saturday at a hotel in Las Vegas plotting the path forward to Super Tuesday on March 6, when additional Southern states will have their say.
Mr. Gingrich and his aides discussed whether he should return to a positive campaign based on the kind of big ideas that had been his hallmark before a dogfight broke out in Iowa with the former Massachusetts governor. The Gingrich campaign also met with donors to reassure his financial backers that a path still exists to the nomination.
He kicked off a Saturday-night press conference by assuring the assembled reporters that he has no plans to exit the race.
“I am a candidate for President of the United States, I will be a candidate for president of the United States, we will go to Tampa” – Mr. Gingrich said, restating his pledge to stay in the race until the Republican convention this summer.

As he did in 2008, Mitt Romney won the 2012 Nevada Republican caucuses with a sizeable victory. Romney has now won three out of the five Republican primaries or caucuses held so far this year – New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada.
CBS News entrance polls show Romney won among most demographic groups. He received strong support from Mormon voters in Nevada – a group he also won overwhelmingly in the 2008 Nevada caucuses. Mormons made up 26 percent of caucus attendees this year, and Romney won a whopping 90 percent of them.
Romney did particularly well with some important groups of voters:
- Romney won among the 4 in 5 voters who identified themselves as Republicans, receiving 59 percent of their votes. This is the largest share of the Republican vote that Romney has received in the five states that have voted so far.
- Romney also won among Nevada’s conservative voters, 54 percent of whom supported him. That too is the largest share of the vote Romney has received from this group in primaries and caucuses this year.
- While he has struggled with the most conservative voters in some of the contests already held – Rick Santorum won among very conservative voters in Iowa, and Newt Gingrich did so in South Carolina and Florida – Romney also won this group in Nevada. Forty-eight percent of Nevada caucus attendees call themselves very conservative: 49 percent supported Romney, and 24 percent supported Gingrich.
- While Romney lost among Tea Party supporters in Iowa and South Carolina, he won them handily in Nevada, 50 percent to Gingrich’s 23 percent. This was also Romney’s best showing among Tea Party supporters in the contests so far this year – 74 percent of Nevada voters said they support the Tea Party.
Romney received 57 percent of the vote among moderates, a group he has carried in all five contests to date.

Ben Gazzara.

Manhattan-born theater and movie character actor Ben Gazzara died Friday night in New York. He was 81.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, according to his lawyer (Jay Julien).
Gazzara, a respected theater actor who studied under Lee Strasburg at the Actors Studio, is best known for minor movie roles he played as tough guys, pornographers and degenerates in the 1980′s and 90′s.
Notably he played the part of Brick in the original 1955 Broadway production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
The role of the alcoholic son of a Southern cotton-planter was later made famous by Gazzara’s fellow Actors Studio disciple, Paul Newman.
Born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in 1930 to Sicilian parents on the lower East Side, he got his first paying acting gig in 1952, on the live show called “Danger” – directed by Sidney Lumet.
In 1956, he played drug addict Johnny Pope in the Broadway play “A Hatful of Rain” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
He was courted by Hollywood after his early stage success, but turned down most of the roles.
“I was very stupid” – he told Denis Hamill in a 1999 interview. “I won’t mention the things I turned down. It was the idealism of youth. I started in the theater and did plays that were enormously successful. I thought: ‘Look how easy this is. It’ll never end.’ So when they offered me pictures, I said: ‘No, no, no. It might taint my artistic soul.’ But the truth is that I was afraid. I didn’t think I was ready to handle Hollywood. So I turned down things I shouldn’t have turned down and they got mad. And stopped calling. And then the plays stopped becoming so easily successful.”

Ben Gazzara, an intense actor whose long career included playing Brick in the original “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, roles in influential films by John Cassavetes and work with several generations of top Hollywood directors, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 81.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, his lawyer (Jay Julien) said. Mr. Gazzara lived in Manhattan.
Mr. Gazzara studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in Manhattan, where the careers of stars like Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger were shaped, and like them he had a visceral presence. It earned him regular work across half a century, not only onstage — his last Broadway appearance was in the revival of “Awake and Sing!” in 2006 — but in dozens of movies and all sorts of television shows, including the starring role in the 1960s series “Run for Your Life.”
If Mr. Gazzara never achieved Brando’s stature, that was partly because of a certain laissez-faire approach to his career – an early suspicion of film, a reluctance to go after desirable roles.
“When I became hot, so to speak, in the theater, I got a lot of offers” – he said in a 1998 interview on “Charlie Rose.” “I won’t tell you the pictures I turned down because you would say: ‘You are a fool.’ And I was a fool.”
And yet Mr. Gazzara’s enduring reputation may well rest on his film work, specifically the movies he made with Mr. Cassavetes, the actor and director revered by cinephiles for his risk-taking independent projects and a directorial style that encouraged spontaneity.
The two had had bit parts in the 1969 comedy “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium,” but it was in “Husbands” (1970), directed by Mr. Cassavetes, that they, along with Peter Falk, really made an impression as unhappily married men out for a drunken night on the town together. As Mr. Gazzara wrote in his autobiography, “In the Moment” (2004), the on-camera camaraderie was so convincing that people assumed the three men had been lifelong friends; in fact they had barely known one another when the filming began, though they became friends during it.
Mr. Gazzara’s most important role for Mr. Cassavetes was in “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” (1976), in which he played a strip club owner in debt to the mob. “It’s a thoughtful, intelligent interpretation of a role that just may not have as much depth to it as he’s ready to give it” – Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote of Mr. Gazzara’s performance.

Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil.

It’s the time of year to find out how much longer winter will last this year, using the time honored tradition of answering the question: Did the groundhog see his shadow? In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the country waits each year to see whether or not a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil – not punksatony, or puxatony – will see his shadow.
As legend goes is Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter instead of an early spring. So here it is… for 2012 the groundhog did see his shadow.
So despite the recent unseasonably warm temperatures throughout much of the country this week, the cold temperatures will return if Phil’s predictions hold true.
For those still looking to get in a little more skiing and other winter fun, including the industries which rely on the cold temperatures – you should be in luck. However, while awaiting the results of Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow is a tradition, the famous groundhog’s predictions have only proved accurate a little more than one-third of the time.
In keeping with the times, Punxsutawney Phil and the predictions from the world’s most well known groundhog can be followed on Twitter, via text alerts, and of course Phil has a page on Facebook.

Punxsutawney Phil surprised witnesses Thursday morning when he saw his shadow – heralding another six weeks of winter.
But the premiere Groundhog Day prognosticator has competition, and this year he’s outnumbered.
Staten Island Chuck, biter of Mayor Bloomberg’s finger and arguably the second most famous holiday groundhog, did not see his shadow – which is not surprising. How can winter last six more weeks if it hasn’t even started yet? (Knock on wood).
Woodstock Willie, the mascot in the Illinois town where much of “Groundhog Day” the movie was filmed, did not see a shadow either.
Neither did Dunkirk Dave of Dunkirk, NY. Shubenacadie Sam of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. General Beauergard Lee of Atlanta, Ga. Wiarton Willie of Wiarton, Ontario.
So what makes Punxsutawney Phil the lone wolf of groundhogs? And who should we trust?
According to both ABC News and the Charlotte Observor, it’s not Phil at all who makes the prediction, but a group of tuxedo-wearing handlers who call themselves the Inner Circle. A Google search yielded an entry on Groundhog.org (which is no longer active) that appeared to deny this claim.
Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle, told ABC News that Punxsutawney Phil was “incapable of error.
“I guarantee you someone’s going to have six more weeks of winter” – he said.
We suppose the inverse can be said of the other six groundhogs. Everbody wins!
Speaking of Groundhog Day, here’s the trailer for the movie of the same name. Sure, we posted the same trailer in another story earlier today, but if there is every a day when we can get away with being redundant, it’s Groundhog Day.

Don Cornelius.

The news Wednesday morning that Don Cornelius, the iconic host and founder of “Soul Train” (a.k.a. “the hippest trip in America”) had died, apparently by his own hand, at first brought shock and disbelief. Then a sustained round of going back in the day.
Before BET or MTV, before cable television or the Internet, TV’s “Soul Train” taught a generation how to dance and let black America see itself having fun. At the center stood Cornelius in all his preternatural cool.
For one hour once a week, black people were the cultural insiders. It was fine if others tuned in, but all the fashion, all the jokes, all the references were black, even if that meant the rest of America didn’t get it. Even if the rest of America didn’t know Evelyn “Champagne” King, or wear their hair fried, dyed and laid to the side, or realize that there was a dance called the “Errol Flynn.”
“Don Cornelius made a major impact on television and on so many people around the country” – said D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray. “?’Soul Train’ really attracted a lot of African Americans when there wasn’t much for African Americans in that regard. .?.?. It was an opportunity to see people that you otherwise were not be able to see.”
Local music great Chuck Brown remembers Cornelius as “smooth, cool, extremely intelligent.” He met him on a “Soul Train”-sponsored tour in the early ’70s but didn’t get to perform on the program until 1979, when his definitive hit “Bustin’ Loose” topped the charts.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the performance, but he was” – Brown said. “He would make sure everyone was comfortable. .?.?. [He was] a great TV presence. He was the man.”
“Soul Train” trumpeted itself as the “longest-running, first-run, nationally syndicated program in television history.” In a span that stretched from 1971 to 2006, it produced more than 1.000 syndicated episodes. (Cornelius hosted the show until 1993.)
It was appointment television with superstars such as Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin, and groups not likely to be booked on “American Bandstand”: The Bar-Kays. Zapp. Atlantic Starr. Barry White and his wife, Glodine. Cool white performers such as David Bowie, Hall and Oates, and Elton John also made their way to the “Soul Train” stage.

Aretha Franklin, an early “Soul Train” performer, called him “an American treasure.”
“God bless him for the solid, good and wholesome foundation he provided for young adults worldwide” – she said, “and the unity and brotherhood he singlehandedly brought about with his most memorable creation of ‘Soul Train.’”
Donald Cortez Cornelius was born Sept. 27, 1936, in Chicago. After high school, he served as a Marine in Korea. Cornelius was working as an insurance salesman when he spent $400 on a broadcasting course and landed a part-time job in 1966 as announcer, newsman and DJ on WVON radio. That’s where listeners first heard the distinctively measured and rich Cornelius rumble.
Cornelius began moonlighting at WCIU-TV when Roy Wood, his mentor at WVON, moved there, and won a job producing and hosting “A Black’s View of the News.” When the station wanted to expand its “ethnic” programming, he pitched a black music show, and “Soul Train” was born.
“You want to do what you’re capable of doing. If I saw (Dick Clark’s) ‘American Bandstand’ and I saw dancing and I knew black kids can dance better; and I saw white artists and I knew black artists make better music; and if I saw a white host and I knew a black host could project a hipper line of speech, and I did know all these things” – then it was reasonable to try, he said.
“Soul Train,” which began in 1970, followed some of the “Bandstand” format with its audience and young dancers. But that’s where the comparisons stopped. Cornelius, the suave, ultra-cool emcee, made “Soul Train” appointment viewing.
“There was not programming that targeted any particular ethnicity” – he said in 2006, then added: “I’m trying to use euphemisms here, trying to avoid saying there was no television for black folks, which they knew was for them.”
Debra Lee, who is chairman and chief executive of Black Entertainment Television, was one of those youngsters who tuned in to the show. She said she would finish her chores early so she could check out the latest music, fashions and dance moves.
“His reach is just amazing, and personally he was such a charming man” – she said, calling Cornelius a role model and “a great interviewer who knew how to connect to artists” and had “the best voice in the world.”
With that voice, he helped bring the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV. It was one of the first TV shows to showcase African-American artists including Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Barry White.
“You have to dream” – Cornelius said in a 1995 interview. “I dreamed everything. I used to introduce Marvin Gaye in my living room. So when the time came that I was going to really introduce guys like Marvin Gaye and Steve Wonder, I had done it before.”

Susan G. Komen.

One of the most prominent charities working to prevent and cure breast cancer, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, has cut its ties with the women’s health organization Planned Parenthood, that organization confirmed on Tuesday. Reacting to the news, Planned Parenthood decried Komen for having “succumbed to political pressure” related to abortion politics.
Planned Parenthood said representatives for Komen have been notifying Planned Parenthood divisions throughout the country that it will stop providing funding for breast cancer screenings and prevention.
“We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure” – Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement. “Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count.”
Planned Parenthood said Komen did not respond to requests to meet about the termination of the partnership, the support of which has directly enabled 170.000 women to receive breast cancer exams in the past five years.
Planned Parenthood is the subject of investigations by Republican members of Congress for allegedly using federal dollars toward providing abortions. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chair of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, opened an investigation into the matter in 2011 but nothing has yet come of it.
A statement by Komen to CBS News denied that the charity was politically pressured. “Grant making decisions are not about politics” – Komen wrote. The statement also said the organization did make changes to its grant-making process and “implemented more stringent eligibility and performance criteria.”
Leslie Aun, a spokesperson for Komen, told the Associated Press that Komen crafted new guidelines that prohibits organizations under investigation from the government from receiving financial support.
Anti-abortion groups have in recent months been targeting Komen, an organization that raised more than $400 million to fight breast cancer in 2010, for its relationship with Planned Parenthood. The anti-abortion organization Life Issues Institute launched a campaign to persuade Komen to halt its partnership with Planned Parenthood, which, according to the Associated Press, granted $650.000 to Planned Parenthood last year.

Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of the Komen Foundation, was a political appointee of the George W. Bush Administration, in which she served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and as Chief of Protocol. Susan G. Komen was Brinker’s sister.
Planned Parenthood, meanwhile, was clearly disappointed with the foundation’s decision.
“We are alarmed and saddened that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure. Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count” – Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood said funding from the Komen Foundation has largely paid for breast exams at local centers. In the last five years, grants from the group have directly supported 170.000 screenings, comprising about 4% of the total exams performed at Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide, according to the group.
The family planning organization announced a recent “emergency fund” from a different group, the Amy and Lee Fikes’ Foundation, that will go towards making up for lost funds from Komen. The gift totaled $250,000.
Planned Parenthood said Komen began notifying local affiliates recently that their breast cancer initiatives would not be eligible for new grants. In a statement, the group said the foundation’s leadership did not respond to requests to meet with Planned Parenthood officials about the decision.
In September, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce began an investigation of Planned Parenthood over the organization’s “compliance with federal restrictions on funding abortions.”
In a letter sent to Planed Parenthood, the committee asked the group to provide information on how it segregates family planning from abortion services, as well as its policies on reporting cases of sexual abuse, rape and sex trafficking.
The committee (chaired by Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns) also asked for all internal audit reports from 1998 to 2010.

Viola Davis.

The Deep South drama “The Help” won three prizes Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, including best actress for Viola Davis and supporting actress for Octavia Spencer.
“The Help” also claimed the guild’s ensemble award, the equivalent of a best-picture prize.
Davis and Spencer won for playing maids going public with uneasy truths about their employers in 1960′s Mississippi.
Jean Dujardin won the lead-actor honor for “The Artist” as a silent-film superstar whose career crumbles when the sound era arrives. Christopher Plummer won for supporting actor as an elderly dad who comes out as gay in “Beginners.”
The wins boost the actors’ prospects for the same honors at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars – Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech,” Natalie Portman for “Black Swan” and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for “The Fighter.”
Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for “Driving Miss Daisy.”
Spencer had a breakout role in “The Help.”
“I’m going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the under-served, the underprivileged, overtaxed — whether emotionally, physically or financially” – Spencer said.
On the TV side, comedy awards went to “Modern Family” for best ensemble; Alec Baldwin as best actor for “30 Rock”; and Betty White as best actress for “Hot in Cleveland.”
The TV drama show winners were Jessica Lange as best actress for “American Horror Story” and Steve Buscemi as best actor for “Boardwalk Empire,” which also won the ensemble prize.

The Screen Actors Guild handed out three of its five film awards Sunday night to performers in the 1960′s civil rights drama “The Help,” injecting a little excitement into the Oscar race.
The cast of the film received the group’s top honor, the SAG ensemble award. Viola Davis was named best lead actress and Octavia Spencer best supporting actress for their roles as black maids in the adaptation of the bestselling novel by Kathryn Stockett.
The triumph of “The Help” was seen as a bit of a setback for “The Artist,” an homage to the black-and-white films of the 1920′s that was also nominated for the ensemble award and has been regarded as the leading best picture contender in the Academy Awards. “The Artist” took home top prizes at the Directors Guild of America awards Saturday night and the Producers Guild awards last weekend.
SAG voters did name “The Artist’s” Jean Dujardin best actor for his turn as silent film star George Valentine, which came as somewhat of a surprise. But with actors making up the largest branch of the Motion Picture Academy, which votes on the Oscars, “The Help” may steal support from the nearly silent French film and other best picture nominees like “The Descendants.”
Backstage at the Shrine Exposition Hall after “The Help’s” big win, cast member Emma Stone may have put it best – “Guys, that’s crazy,” she said in disbelief as she and her fellow actresses were being corralled out of the backstage area. “What does this mean?”
Davis and Spencer added gravitas to the evening with emotional acceptance speeches to accompany their wins, both individually and for the ensemble.
“I want to thank all the people out there who went to support this movie and, after watching it, felt something. You felt compelled to make a change in your lives” – Spencer said after accepting her statuette. “So I’m going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the underserved, the underprivileged, the overtaxed, whether emotionally, physically or financially.”

Nick Santino.

A struggling soap opera actor named Nick Santino killed himself this week after euthanizing his beloved dog.
On Wednesday, police discovered Santino, dead of a deliberate drug overdose, only hours after the devastated actor put his pit bull Rocco to sleep.
“Today I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend” – Santino wrote in his suicide note. “Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn’t deserve this.”
It appears that Santino felt he had no option but to euthanize the pit bull amid complaints from his Manhattan apartment building, which banned the breed but had allowed Rocco to stay under a set of strict rules.
The upsetting story was first reported by the New York Post.
According to the newspaper, Santino (who made appearances on shows including “All My Children” and “Guiding Light”) adopted Rocco from a shelter several years ago.
In recent months, the depressed actor reportedly felt more and more pressure from his building’s management and neighbors to get rid of the pit bull.
It’s not entirely clear why Santino felt euthanizing Rocco was his only choice, but he did so on Tuesday, which happened to be the actor’s 47th birthday.
Santino then ended his own life.
The remains of both pet and owner are to be cremated.

A member of the condo board that soap actor Nick Santino said pressured him to euthanize his pit bull — a “betrayal” that drove him to suicide — refused to accept any responsibility for the double tragedy yesterday.
“I’m sorry the man is dead” – board member Marilyn Fireman barked to The Post, “But it has nothing to do with the pet policy.”
“You just assumed that [his suicide] was a result of a board’s decision” – Fireman said, even though Santino routinely griped about the building’s anti-dog policies.
Heartbroken relatives of the actor have retrieved the ashes of Rocco and plan to place them beside Santino’s body when he is laid to rest.
The healthy, 5-year-old dog was put to sleep Tuesday on Santino’s 47th birthday. A few hours later, he killed himself in an apparent pill overdose.
“They’ll be buried together” – his grieving sister Catherine Schmidt sobbed.
She said the family has held off making funeral arrangements until the cremated dog comes home.
“I knew his dog was important to him” – she cried. “The dog was abused and he saved him.”
Schmidt said Rocco was anything but dangerous, describing him as “mushy, sappy and lovable.”
The two went everywhere together.
“The dog came with him one Thanksgiving” – she recalled.
Santino blamed the condo board at One Lincoln Plaza for his decision to put Rocco to sleep — saying the members waged a campaign of harassment against him and dog owners in the building.
The actor left behind a grief-stricken note, a friend said, saying that he “betrayed his best friend.”
“Rocco trusted me and I failed him” – he wrote. “He didn’t deserve this.”
The board began its war against canines in 2010, enacting a series of oppressive rules.
Dogs were forbidden from riding in the main elevator or from being left alone in apartments for more than nine hours.
Breeds like Rocco (whom Santino adopted from a shelter) were outlawed, though he was grandfathered in.
But the troubled television star made no mention of the troubles with his building when he last spoke to family on Tuesday.
“He didn’t tell me anything about it” – she said. “He never discussed it with me.

Demi Moore.

When the dramatic recording of the 911 call leading to Demi Moore’s Monday night hospitalization was released to the public today, it begged the question – Does Moore have the legal right to have that call kept private?
Not according to officials. “911 calls are public information” – says Tina Haro, the public information officer for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Community Liaison Office, which reviewed the tape for release alongside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Though the LAFD was legally required to redact personal and medical information about Moore (her history, treatment Monday, phone number, gate code), when the media made a request for that public information, LAFD was legally required to release it. “Everything we [released] is public record, so we have to give it to [journalists] according to the California Public Records Act” – Haro says.
The only exception, Haro says, would be if there were a pending criminal trial or legal issue. Then the courts (as opposed to Moore’s lawyers) could embargo the release. (As of press time, Haro was unaware of any attempt by Moore’s legal team to halt or follow up on the tape’s release, and Moore’s reps would not specifically comment on the 911 call or its release today.)
Still, legality aside, the other question being asked in the wake of Moore’s call going public is whether it’s morally sound to share a recording of a 911 emergency phone call on the Web for millions to see and hear.
Los Angeles area privacy attorney Jeffrey S. Kravitz says that Moore’s celebrity status means she “is a public figure, so she has very limited protection.”
But Tony Stuart, the LA attorney who argued for privacy rights in the landmark Shulman v. Group W Productions, believes Moore should have a right to privacy because of the nature that 911 call. “It seems to me that a call for medical assistance ought to just be private, period” – he says.
Stuart also acknowledges the possible snowball effect of releasing a 911 call – “How can a person feel free to give important info over the telephone to a 911 dispatch if they’re worried that something they say might be broadcast to the public?” Agreed Kravitz: “You could make a good argument that it is in the public’s interest not to reveal these [tapes], because, otherwise, people would not call [911], to their detriment.”

Moore announced in November she had decided to end her marriage to Ashton Kutcher following news of alleged infidelity.
Moore (49) and Kutcher (33) were wed in September 2005.
Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore’s three daughters – Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle – from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly. Moore and Kutcher were photographed socializing with Willis, and the couple attended Willis’ wedding to model-actress Emma Heming in 2009.
Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations’ efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2,5 million people worldwide.
Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films “Margin Call” and “Another Happy Day.” Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV’s “Two and a Half Men” as is part of the ensemble film “New Year’s Eve.”