'Good Morning America's' Robin Roberts' mother dies

This 2006 photo released by ABC shows "Good Morning America" co-host 
Robin Roberts, right, with her mother, the late Lucimarian Roberts on the 
set in New York. (AP)

Lucimarian Roberts, the mother of "Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts, has died a day after the anchor announced she was taking a medical leave for a bone marrow transplant.

The 88-year-old Roberts died in Gulfport, Miss., on Thursday night, Jeffrey W. Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News, said Friday.

The announcement of the death also was made on "GMA" on Friday morning.

"Robin arrived home with her sister, Sally-Ann, forging through flooded and blocked roads to be with her beloved mother in time to see her," GMA Senior Executive Tom Cibrowski said in an email to the entire news division Thursday evening.

The Mississippi area was dealing with flooding from the effects of Hurricane Isaac.

Over the years, Lucimarian Roberts made numerous appearances on "GMA."

She was a Gulf Coast icon for more than four decades. She often was the first black woman to work with organizations and state and local agencies, and she became known for her ability to get things done.

She was the first black to serve as chairman of the Mississippi State Board of Education in the 1980s.

She also had a great passion for poetry and music.

Lucimarian Roberts collaborated with her daughter on a book titled, "My Story, My Song -- Mother-Daughter Reflections on Life and Faith."

"I sing because the music of the church speaks my soul language," she wrote. "I sing because these songs are tightly woven in to the texture of who I am."

"She even recorded a CD of hymns for her family as a gift last year," said Cibrowski.

The family was gathered in Pass Christian, Miss., and planned a small private service, he said.

The death came on the same day Roberts said goodbye to her co-workers and audience before starting her medical leave. Sally-Ann, a morning anchor at WWL-TV in New Orleans, is donating the marrow to her sister.

Robin Roberts' departure had been set for Friday. But in a last-minute change of plans, she told her viewers she was leaving a day early to visit her ailing mother.

In a statement on her Facebook page, Robin Roberts said she and Sally-Ann arrived in Gulfport in time to visit with their mother before she died.

"A CD of her favorite hymns is playing in her room. So thankful for my sister, Dorothy, and the nurses who have been caring for her. I will cherish these moments I have with mom. Then focus on what is ahead of me undergoing a bone marrow transplant."

Besides her three daughters, Lucimarian Roberts is survived by a son and eight grandchildren.

Her husband, Col. Lawrence E. Roberts, died in 2004 at the age of 81. He was a member of the all-black U.S. Army Air Corps, also called the Tuskegee Airmen. He served in Vietnam, where he was awarded one of his three Legion of Merit medals.

Cibrowski said there would be a special tribute to Lucimarian Roberts on GMA. Details were being worked out.

Eddie Murphy shops 'Beverly Hills Cop' television series

• BY: MARIA AND TRACEY PARECE

Eddie Murphy attends the world premiere of "Tower Heist" at the

 Ziegfeld Theatre on October 24, 2011 in New York City

Credits: 

 

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Eddie Murphy wants to bring "Beverly Hills Cop" to the small screen. The actor starred in the film of the same name, which was released in 1984 and starred Murphy as wisecracking detective Axel Foley. The movie grossed a whopping $316,360,478 worldwide at the box office and spawned two sequels.
MTV reported that Eddie Murphy and Shawn Ryan began the process of pitching a "Beverly Hills Cop" television drama to various networks on Aug. 28, 2012. Murphy and Ryan have joined forces with Sony Pictures Television on the project. Murphy plans to make cameo appearances on the show, appear in the pilot episode, and be an executive producer for the series.
Eddie Murphy has been planning the series for some time, and he even discussed some of the 
details with Rolling Stone last year:

"What I’m trying to do now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley’s son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit. I’d do the pilot, show up here and there. None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn’t be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong."

The accomplished 51-year-old actor and comedian is a frequent topic of discussion on the hit television series "Hollywood Exes" thanks to his ex-wife Nicole Murphy, who co-stars on the show alongside the ex-wives of Prince, R Kelly, Jose Conseco and Will Smith. Eddie and Nicole were married from 1993 to 2006; they share five children. He also has a child with former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who is known to fans as Mel B.
Eddie Murphy's "Beverly Hills Cop" television series should be interesting if any networks are willing to take a chance on it.

Mia Love Wikipedia page vandalized with slurs

FoxNews.com

 

     Rising Republican star Mia Love's Wikipedia page was vandalized overnight with racist and sexist epithets. 

The attack comes as Democrats and liberal media outlets criticize or downplay the GOP's effort at showcasing diversity at their convention in Tampa.

Love, a Utah city mayor and congressional candidate who is black, delivered a brief but rousing address Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention. The daughter of Haitian immigrants told her family story, throwing in some jabs at President Obama's "divided" America for good measure. 

Bloggers were quick to spot some inflammatory changes to her Wikipedia page that night. Though the changes have since been removed, screen grabs posted to various websites show one section called her a "dirty, worthless whore" who sold out to big business. Another section again called her a "sell-out" to the "right wing hate machine," before accusing her of being exploited "like the House N----- she truly is." 

Love's campaign has not responded to a request for comment from FoxNews.com. 

The Wikipedia page changes came as the party's other non-white stars in Tampa were either criticized or played down this week. 

The opening night roster was stocked with a slew of Hispanic and black speakers. They included former Democratic Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, Love, Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz, and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are set to speak Wednesday. 

But on Tuesday, MSNBC appeared to gloss over much of the minority politicians' addresses. 

Rich Noyes, research director for the conservative Media Research Center and senior editor with Newsbusters.com, said the only minority speaker who got significant air time on MSBNC from 7 p.m. until the end of the lineup was South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is Indian-American. 

He said he understands the media have to cover Tropical Storm Isaac but suggested there should be a priority on highlighting minority speakers at the RNC. 

"There's been this undercurrent in the media that the Republican P arty has a diversity problem, that they're not reaching out to minorities," he said. "It's been something you've heard about for months. Well, this is the Republican Party reaching out. If they're reaching out and nobody covers it, who's seeing them do it?" 

Still, Noyes said he expects full coverage for Rice on Wednesday night and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio Thursday night. 

It comes after Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday dismissed GOP efforts to reach out to Hispanic voters. 

"You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect that people are going to vote for your party, or your candidate," he said during a press conference.

Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ Hits Evolution Deniers

 

Araya Diaz/WireImage

In a clip posted to online knowledge forum Big Think via YouTube, former children’s show host Bill Nye spoke out against the denial of evolution, saying such views harm young people especially and hamper scientific progress.

Nye, who hosted the educational show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which aired on PBS Kids from 1993 through 1998, made the statements in a clip posted online on Thursday, and has since been viewed over one million times.  In the clip, Nye praises the United States for its contribution to technological innovation, but says that the denial of evolution is unique to the country.

“People still move to the United States. And that’s largely because of the intellectual capital we have, the general understanding of science,” Nye said in the clip. “When you have a portion of the population that doesn’t believe in that, it holds everybody back, really.

“Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology. It’s like, it’s very much analogous to trying to do geology without believing in tectonic plates. You’re just not going to get the right answer. Your whole world is just going to be a mystery instead of an exciting place,” he added.

Nye made a three-stop tour through New Hampshire earlier this summer to tout President Obama’s education policies while making a push for science and engineering programs. He has endorsed Obama’s reelection bid.

In the clip, Nye said that one’s “world just becomes fantastically complicated when you don’t believe in evolution.”

“Here are these ancient dinosaur bones or fossils, here is radioactivity, here are distant stars that are just like our star but they’re at a different point in their lifecycle. The idea of deep time, of this billions of years, explains so much of the world around us. If you try to ignore that, your world view just becomes crazy, just untenable, itself inconsistent,” he said.

Nye then goes on to urge adults not to deny the teaching of evolution to young people.

“And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can — we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.

“It’s just really a hard thing, it’s really a hard thing. You know, in another couple of centuries that world view, I’m sure, will be, it just won’t exist. There’s no evidence for it.”

Serena Williams routs Maria Sharapova for Olympic gold

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

WIMBLEDON, England – About the only achievement missing on Serena Williams' résumé— an Olympic gold medal in singles — was added Saturday in stunning fashion.

• 
  Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports
  Serena Williams celebrates a point against Maria Sharapova on her way to her first Olympic singles gold medal on Saturday at Wimbledon.

Enlarge

Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports

Serena Williams celebrates a point against Maria Sharapova on her way to her first Olympic singles gold medal on Saturday at Wimbledon.

In what can only be termed complete domination, Williams served three aces in the opening game, broke Maria Sharapova's service in the second and never looked back in rolling to her first Olympic tennis singles championship 6-0, 6-1.

Williams, the fourth seed, won the first nine games over the third-seeded Russian on a breezy afternoon on the sameCentre Court grass where she captured her fifth Wimbledon championship last month. Since losing to Sharapova in the Wimbledon final in 2004, Williams has beaten Sharapova eight consecutive times.She let out a loud scream after match point and then jumped up and down on the court in joy, a wide smile across her face. She even did a little victory dance.

"It's a big moment, it's a big moment," she said afterward.

Williams also was scheduled to play a doubles semifinal match with her sister, Venus, on Saturday. The two won Olympic doubles gold in 2000 and 2008.

But singles gold remained elusive. After demolishing world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals Friday, Williams said she was proud of a career that includes 14 Grand Slam singles championships — most of any active woman. But she added that the singles gold would be like gravy for her.

Going into the match she also talked about how much fun she was having here, something easy to see, given that she rolled through the tournament with barely a challenge. She did not lose a set in six matches.

Asked how this title compares with all her Grand Slams, Williams said, "It compares right up there. I always wanted to win a gold medal (in singles) secretly and I've always said it doesn't matter because I already have a gold medal (in doubles) and I really believe that but deep, deep, deep down I wanted it in singles as well. It's such an amazing feeling. I got it. I can't compare. I have it, I have them all so it's great feeling."

Gore Vidal Dies at 86; Prolific, Elegant, Acerbic Writer

By CHARLES McGRATH

Gore Vidal, the elegant, acerbic all-around man of letters who presided with a certain relish over what he declared to be the end of American civilization, died on Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, where he moved in 2003 after years of living in Ravello, Italy. He was 86.

Enlarge This Image

Bernard Gotfryd/Pictorial Parade—Getty Images

GORE VIDAL in a 1969 portrait. An author, screenwriter and essayist with definite opinions and no inhibitions about sharing them, he took great pleasure in being one of the larger-than-life figures of his time. More Photos »

Photographs

Gore Vidal, 1925-2012

Mr. Vidal was, at the end of his life, an Augustan figure who believed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was probably right. Few American writers have been more versatile or gotten more mileage from their talent. He published some 25 novels, two memoirs and several volumes of stylish, magisterial essays. He also wrote plays, television dramas and screenplays. For a while he was even a contract writer at MGM. And he could always be counted on for a spur-of-the-moment aphorism, put-down or sharply worded critique of American foreign policy.

Perhaps more than any other American writer except Norman Mailer or Truman Capote, Mr. Vidal took great pleasure in being a public figure. He twice ran for office — in 1960, when he was the Democratic Congressional candidate for the 29th District in upstate New York, and in 1982, when he campaigned in California for a seat in the Senate — and though he lost both times, he often conducted himself as a sort of unelected shadow president. He once said, “There is not one human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”

Mr. Vidal was an occasional actor, appearing in animated form on “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” in the movie version of his own play “The Best Man,” and in the Tim Robbins movie “Bob Roberts,” in which he played an aging, epicene version of himself. He was a more than occasional guest on talk shows, where his poise, wit, good looks and charm made him such a regular that Johnny Carson offered him a spot as a guest host of “The Tonight Show.”

Television was a natural medium for Mr. Vidal, who in person was often as cool and detached as he was in his prose. “Gore is a man without an unconscious,” his friend the Italian writer Italo Calvino once said. Mr. Vidal said of himself: “I’m exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water.
”

Hope Solo could learn a few things from Brandi Chastain

By Sally Jenkins

LONDON — Hope Solo can be huge fun, in her irradiated Attack of the 50-foot-Woman way. But Solo abhors an attention vacuum, and in the absence of it she will say anything to make cameras and microphones return, even if it means insulting Brandi Chastain and jacking around with her U.S. soccer team’s equilibrium at the Olympics. Solo wants to be careful with that. People will start suspecting that she’s more shiny than she is bright.

For her latest Dance-Until-I-Blot-Out-All-The-Other-Stars performance, Solo has picked a nasty public fight with Chastain, the former heroine of the U.S. team who is here as an NBC commentator. Solo went all hateful via Twitter just because Chastain remarked on the air that the U.S. needed a little work on defense.

“Its 2 bad we can’t have commentators who better represents the game…Lay off commentating about defending and gking until you get more educated @brandichastain the game has changed from a decade ago,” Solo tweeted, and then followed that with, “I feel bad 4 our fans that have 2 push mute.”

Now, something should be immediately obvious. There is no way Solo actually heard what Chastain said on the air, since she was playing in the game. Yet Solo’s attack was predicated on the idea that Chastain had uttered some kind of horrible slur against the United States, and specifically defender Rachel Buehler, during their victory over Colombia on Saturday. In fact, all Chastain said was this:

“Rachel Buehler with the giveaway there. As a defender, your responsibilities are defend, win the ball, and then keep possession, and that’s something Rachel Buehler needs to improve on during this tournament.”

Witch.

How dare Chastain make such a gently straightforward observation?

What’s more, Solo tweeted, Chastain wasn’t playing her proper role. Instead of stating facts and engaging in lucid and frank analysis, Chastain “should be helping to grow the sport.” Now this is fearfully sanctimonious. It’s also wrongheaded. What is this curious rule that says all female athletes are supposed to be homers for life, unquestioning backers of their team and gender, as opposed to independent-minded professionals?

“My response is, I am here at the London Olympics to be an honest and objective analyst for NBC during the Games, and that is what I will continue to do,” Chastain responded via e-mail.

Clearly, Solo was looking to pick a fight with Chastain, and leaped at the most minor excuse. The question is why? We won’t know until Monday afternoon, when Solo will address the issue following a team 

practice in Manchester. In the meantime she met with Coach Pia Sundhage and the U.S. team captains, who were concerned that Solo has — once again — caused a drama.

A couple of things appear to be going on. The one thing this isn’t about is the content of Chastain’s remarks. What it really seems to be about is the fact that Solo has a new book out, and she’s going down market. It may also be about Solo’s irritation at the enduring presence of Chastain, who embodies a constant reminder that the current U.S. squad has yet to live up to the illustrious achievements of the 1999 team, to whom they owe their stardom. Grow the game?? It may never again be as big as it was when Chastain and her teammates won the ’99 World Cup over China in front of a capacity Rose Bowl crowd, and Chastain posterized herself on the cover of Sports Illustrated by whipping off her shirt after scoring the winner.

It’s a nagging fact that although Solo is better paid and better promoted, she’s not nearly as decorated as her predecessors. She has never won a World Cup, although she possesses a gold medal won in Beijing. Chastain has won two World Cups and two Olympic golds in a remarkable 16-year run. It can’t always be pleasant that so many of the ’99 stars are still hanging around looking over the current team’s shoulders, passing judgment. In addition to Chastain, Julie Foudy is here for ESPN. During last year’s World Cup, Chastain, Foudy and Mia Hamm all sat in the broadcast booth.

“I do think it’s hard to have a former teammate talking sometimes in a way that points out that wasn’t the best way to play a ball, or the best play defending,” Foudy says. “That’s hard, and I get that. But my biggest issue is, my job as an analyst is that I have to report as I see it, as objectively as possible, or I lose all credibility.”

Instead of worrying about what Chastain says on the air, Foudy suggests, maybe Solo should appreciate the fact that the game is on network television at all. “It’s a good sign because it means people are paying attention,” she says. “They’re going to get the good, and the bad, the critiquing, but that’s great because there was a point when we were playing and people didn’t [care]. And that’s not fun.”

The most disappointing aspect of Solo’s behavior is that it suggests she hasn’t learned as much as she could have from players like Chastain. The real inheritance from that squad wasn’t fame, or the chance to make a great living. It was a sense of mutual indebtedness, and a brand of solidarity that prevented these sorts of spats. There was a striking lack of ego; they weren’t particularly conscious of their stardom or specialness. It was their most pleasant quality. And Solo could do with a little of it.

Alex Morgan

By KATE MURPHY

Alex Morgan, 23, is a forward for the United States women’s soccer team. She was the youngest player added to the team’s World Cup roster last year and is currently competing at the London Olympics, where she scored two goals in the opening game.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Related

• Rising as Fast as Her Feet Will Take Her (July 23, 2012)

READING I’ve been trying to read the classic books that while I was in school I didn’t really pay attention to, like “The Great Gatsby” and “To Kill A Mockingbird.” One book that I read recently that I absolutely loved was “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” which is kind of a sequel to “The Kite Runner.” “The Kite Runner” was from the male perspective and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is from the female perspective, and I liked it better.

LISTENING I would say my bus music is very different from my locker room music. Riding on the bus, I like more mellow music like Ben Howard and Jason Mraz. But in the locker room when I’m getting pumped up for a game I likeFun and Katy Perry, Rihanna and Florence and the Machine.

WATCHING Lately, I’ve become really entertained with“Breaking Bad.” When you’re traveling a lot with the team and you have a lot of time on your hands on airplanes, you tend to follow TV shows more often. “Breaking Bad” I enjoy because it’s something that’s so totally not realistic but you get caught up in the characters. It’s about a father, he’s a chemistry teacher, who finds out he has lung cancer. They’re not really well off, so he decides to start making crystal meth, the drug, to make money. There’s so much action and drama and a little bit of humor all combined. Also, since it’s a show that’s currently on and just started its fifth season, it motivates me to want to catch up. I’m only on Season 3.

FOLLOWING On Twitter, I love to follow athletes like Gerard Piqué — a player on the Barcelona team. He posts great pictures. He’s also dating Shakira. And my teammateTobin Heath just started a blog. I see her every day and we spend a lot of time together but reading the blog of someone you’re really close with kind of opens them up so you get a little more details than they might let you in on in person.

RIDING I had my birthday recently and my dad lives in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and he gave me a beach cruiser. It’s light blue, has three gears, high handlebars and a comfy seat. Hopefully after the Olympics I’ll be able to put some miles on it. It’s awesome. We have seven or eight beach cruisers now so everyone comes over and we ride on the boardwalk. I split my time between Seattle, where I play for the Sounders, and Manhattan Beach.

DRINKING European coffee is so addicting. I’ve been getting a lot more cappuccinos since I’ve been over here than I ever would at home. With us having practice in the morning and time off in the afternoon, we don’t want to waste it away napping for two or three hours, so coffee helps us stay awake and go out and enjoy the city. You know, do a little sightseeing.

Missy Franklin not intimidated by 100 backstroke record

By Erik Brady, USA TODAY

LONDON – Missy Franklin loves swimming so much she even enjoys watching someone else set records.

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  By Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports
  Missy Franklin, shown practicing in London, qualified second for the final in the 100 backstroke.

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By Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports

Missy Franklin, shown practicing in London, qualified second for the final in the 100 backstroke.

Franklin qualified second for tonight's semifinals of the 100-meter backstroke behind Australia's Emily Seebohm, who set an Olympic record of 58.23 in the heat before Franklin, who won her heat in 59.37.

"Emily's race was unbelievable," Franklin gushed, "and it was so exciting watching her."

• MORE: Fast fact about Missy Franklin

Seebohm's time is the best in the world this year, bettering Franklin's 58.85 set at the U.S. Olympic trials. Did Seebohm's blistering race give Franklin pause?

"No, absolutely not," Franklin said. "You can't let it. … I have no control over her and what she does. I only have control over myself and what I do, and I'm ecstatic about my time."

How much effort went into her race? Franklin, 17, answered in her typically effusive manner: "Oh, a lot, oh, my gosh! You can't take any chances here. I mean, we're at the Olympics and you have to get out there and do the best that you can. And I definitely know that I can be faster, but it's the fastest I've ever been in prelims, so I'm thrilled."

Franklin's idol, Natalie Coughlin, won the 100 back in 2004 and 2008, and Americans have won it nine times overall. The Australians never have won it, but they have two of the top three seeds going into the semis, including Belinda Hocking, who qualified third in 59.61.

Franklin sometimes has fretted about her start in the 100 back, but not today. "I thought it felt really good," she said. "I feel way more relaxed now. I was really happy with it."

The 100 back is Franklin's first individual event. She was a member of the team that won bronze in the 4x100 relay Saturday night, and she'll swim in seven events overall.

Snoop Dogg becomes Snoop Lion

Aug. 1, 2012 - Snoop Dogg now wants to be known as Snoop Lion, after a 
trip to Jamaica where he was "born again." The rapper admits he's tired of 
hip-hop, and is releasing a reggae album, "Reincarnated," to be followed
 by a documentary of the same name.

NEW YORK — Snoop Dogg wants you to know that he's tired of hip-hop, is Bob Marley reincarnated and is embracing reggae instead of the culture of guns he once rapped about.

Also, he's got a new name: Snoop Lion.

The artist said at a news conference Monday in New York that he was "born again" during a visit to Jamaica in February and is ready to make music that his "kids and grandparents can listen to."

The former gangster rapper is releasing a reggae album called "Reincarnated" in the fall. He said that in Jamaica, he connected with Bob Marley's spirit and is now "Bob Marley reincarnated."

Bob Marley's son Rohan attended the conference and gave Snoop his blessing.

"I feel like I've always been Rastafarian," Snoop said of the spiritual Jamaican movement. While there, he said, he visited a temple, was renamed Snoop Lion and was also given the Ethiopian name Berhane, meaning "light of the world."

Snoop didn't explain why he was switching from "Dogg" to "Lion," but it's likely a reference to the Lion of Judah, a religious symbol popular in Rastafarian and Ethiopian culture.

Later, he played five songs for a small crowd, including one called "No Guns Allowed." It features his daughter and includes the lyrics, "No guns allowed in here tonight, we're going to have a free for all, no fights."

"It's so tragic that people are doing stupid things with guns," he said.

Snoop, best known for hits like "Gin and Juice" and "Drop It Like It's Hot," is an avid supporter of marijuana rights and has been banned from entering Norway for two years after trying to enter the country with a small amount last month.

He said that in Jamaica, where he stayed for 35 days, he grew closer to his wife, who saw his transition. He added that he's excited to perform music that his family and children can listen to.

"As a 40-year-old man ... I've got to give them something," he said. "That's what you do when you're wise."

Snoop Dogg said he's not completely retiring from hip-hop but is "tired" of the genre because it is no longer challenging.

"Reggae was calling ... it's a breath of fresh air," he said. "Rap isn't challenging; it's not appealing."

The album was produced by Diplo and will feature Snoop singing. It will be released on Vice Records.

The album will be followed with a documentary of the same name, also produced by Vice. It features Snoop making music and will include some personal elements of his life, a producer of the film said. It will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

A coffee table book about Snoop's rebirth is also in the works.

"It feels like I'm 19 or 20 years old again," he said.

____