Hawke requests clemency for mother's acquaintance

Hawke requests clemencyfor mother's acquaintance
TRENTON, N.J. -- Ethan Hawke has asked New Jersey's acting governor to grant clemency to a 65-year-old woman who has been in prison for more than 16 years for murdering her police officer-boyfriend.
The 35-year-old actor said in an e-mail Tuesday that his mother knows Melvina McClain, who is serving a 30-year sentence for shooting Detective Louis Glenn in a bar in 1986, and that she "believes in her entirely."
Hawke's e-mail described McClain as "a woman important to my family."
McClain, who worked as a city parking violations officer, has claimed that Glenn assaulted and threatened her during their relationship.
Hawke, who grew up in West Windsor, released a letter he sent Monday to acting Gov. Richard J. Codey. A spokesman for the acting governor said Codey couldn't comment until the letter had been received.
In the letter, Hawke asked that McClain's sentence be commuted "so she can live the last years of her life helping her children, her grandchildren and many others learn from her example of redemption."
The Oscar-nominated actor also cites a long history of abuse in McClain's life.
Hawke's mother, Leslie Hawke, befriended McClain when she took a year off from her job as a publishing executive to teach at a Trenton parochial school.
An entry in a student journal had "all this stuff in there about her mother murdering her boyfriend and I thought, 'This kid has an imagination,'" Leslie Hawke said in an interview Tuesday. "But it turned out to be true."
English National Operachair quits amid criticism
LONDON -- The chairman of the English National Opera, London's second biggest opera company, has resigned following criticism of his leadership, the company said.
The ENO's board of directors received an open letter last week from 10 well-known members of the art world calling for Martin Smith's resignation.
"It is clear now that my ability to continue helping ENO in the future has been damaged by a campaign against me and that, however unjust I may feel this to be, a point has been reached where it would no longer serve the best interests of ENO for me to continue in office," Smith said Wednesday in his resignation letter.
His deputy, Vernon Ellis, has been appointed acting chairman while the board searches for a replacement.
Robert Plant obtains grant to help children in Mali
MESA, Ariz. -- Robert Plant has secured a $60,000 donation for a Carefree, Ariz.-based charitable organization that aids nomadic people in drought-stricken West Africa.
Plant, former front man for Led Zeppelin, had committed proceeds from a four-song CD by his band, Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation, but it failed to generate the royalties he had expected.
The 57-year-old rocker made an appeal to PAR Charitable Trust, a small grant-making organization, which agreed to make up the financial gap needed to build and operate school dorms for 200 children in Mali for three years, TurtleWill founder Irma Turtle said recently.
TurtleWill offers medical treatment, school funding and employment training for tribal people in remote regions of Ethiopia, Mali and Niger.
Pink Floyd's Gilmour plansCD release, 10 tour dates
NEW YORK -- David Gilmour, best known as singer and guitarist of Pink Floyd, has scheduled 10 U.S. and Canadian dates in April in support of his upcoming solo studio album, "On an Island."
Gilmour said the tour will begin April 4 at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
"I've had a fantastic time making 'On an Island' and really want to perform tracks from it, along with my more familiar repertoire," he said.
"On an Island" will be released in March. The title track teams Gilmour with David Crosby and Graham Nash.
"I'm rather hoping that with this tour announcement, people will believe me when I say, 'Honestly, this is the only band I plan to tour with!'" the 59-year-old entertainer said.
Pink Floyd reunited this summer for a Live 8 benefit concert in London. It was the first time Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, keyboard player Richard Wright and bassist Roger Waters had appeared onstage together since a concert at London's Earl's Court in 1981.
Today's birthdays
Lady Bird Johnson is 93. Former House Speaker Jim Wright is 83. Actor Hector Elizondo is 69. Country singer Red Steagall is 67. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Steve Carlton is 61. ABC News correspondent Diane Sawyer is 60. Rock singer-musician Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) is 59. Baseball All-Star Steve Garvey is 57. Singer Robin Gibb is 56. Golfer Jan Stephenson is 54. Actress BernNadette Stanis is 52. Rapper Luther Campbell is 45. Country singer-musician Chuck Mead (BR549) is 45. Actor Ralph Fiennes is 43. Actress Lauralee Bell is 37. Actress Dina Meyer is 37. Actress Heather Donahue is 31. Actor Chris Carmack is 25.