Comedian dead at 93

Comedian dead at 93

NEW YORK — Dody Goodman, the delightfully daffy comedian known for her television appearances on Jack Paar’s late-night talk show and as the mother on the soap-opera parody “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” has died at 93.

Goodman died Sunday at Englewood (N.J.) Hospital and Medical Center, said Joan Adams, a close family friend. The actress had been ill for some time and had lived in the Actors Fund Home in Englewood since October, Adams said.

Goodman, with her pixyish appearance and Southern-tinged, quavery voice, had an eclectic show-business career.

The actress was born Dolores Goodman on Oct. 28, 1914, in Columbus, Ohio, where her father ran a small cigar factory.

Defendant blames victim

WOBURN, Mass. — A defense attorney for a British man accused of killing his wife and 9-month-old daughter told a jury Monday that his wife shot the baby and committed suicide, and that he covered up her actions to “protect her honor.”

But a prosecutor said in his closing argument that Neil Entwistle killed his wife and daughter because he was dissatisfied with his sex life, despondent about not being able to find a job and wanted to start a new life.

Entwistle, 29, is charged with fatally shooting his wife, Rachel, 27, and daughter, Lillian Rose, in their Hopkinton home in January 2006. The jury was to begin deliberations today.

Utah election is today

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah voters will decide today if one of the most conservative members of Congress is conservative enough, choosing between Rep. Chris Cannon and a challenger who pledges to be even tougher on illegal immigration and federal spending than the incumbent.

Cannon, 57, who is seeking a seventh term, faces his most difficult opponent yet in candidate Jason Chaffetz, 41, a former Brigham Young University place kicker who served as chief of staff for popular Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman.

Also on today’s ballot, voters will pick the Republican nominee for state treasurer in a race that’s been mired in accusations of bribery.

Fighting escalates

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.-led forces rained fire for two days on militants near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, officials said Monday, killing about 55 insurgents and underscoring how fighting with Taliban insurgents is escalating.

The battle in eastern Paktika province was the second in the past week to reportedly inflict major casualties on militants, whom Afghan officials insist are swarming in from strongholds in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s government on Monday reiterated an offer to fence the craggy, 1,500-mile frontier — a project begun but abandoned last year amid criticism that it would only enrage the tribes who straddle the frontier and among whom the Taliban find many recruits.

Court frees S.C. pastor

MOSCOW — A Russian court on Monday reduced the three-year prison sentence of a U.S. pastor convicted of smuggling rifle ammunition and ordered him set free.

The Moscow City Court reduced Phillip Miles’ sentence to 10 months and ruled that he should be freed from custody without serving all of it. Miles, who has been in jail since Feb. 3, will likely be set free today after the completion of the necessary formalities, his lawyer said, and he will be allowed to leave Russia.

A pastor at the Christ Community Church in Conway, South Carolina, Miles was convicted in April after security officers at a Moscow airport found a box of .300-caliber cartridges in his luggage.

Candidate dies in sleep

NEW YORK — Frank Powers, the millionaire endorsed by Republican leaders as their candidate for the New York congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella, has died. He was 67. He died in his sleep Sunday at home of natural causes, relatives said.

Republicans have held Fossella’s seat for almost 30 years, and Democratic leaders have targeted it.

Powers helped run New York’s bus and subway systems. The retired Wall Street executive contributed often to GOP candidates but hadn’t run before for public office.

Associated Press