NEWSMAKERS || Oprah’s donation

Oprah’s donation

ATLANTA — A private middle school in inner-city Atlanta has received $1.5 million from Oprah Winfrey. The Ron Clark Academy announced the donation Thursday. The innovative school has struggled to raise money this year amid the sagging economy to pay for its $2.8 million operating budget, which is bankrolled mostly by donors.

Winfrey, who has had school founder Ron Clark on her show twice, donated $365,000 to the school last December.

SAG nominations

LOS ANGELES — “Up in the Air,” “Precious” and “Inglourious Basterds” led the Screen Actors Guild Awards with three nominations each Thursday, among them honors for George Clooney, Diane Kruger and Mo’Nique.

The World War II rewrite “Inglourious Basterds” and the Harlem story “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire” are competing for the guild’s overall cast prize, along with the 1960s British drama “An Education,” the Iraq War tale “The Hurt Locker” and the musical “Nine.”

One of King Sisters dies

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Yvonne King Burch, who gained early fame as one of the singing King Sisters during the big-band era before launching her entire extended musical clan into show business as the King Family, has died. She was 89. Burch died in a Santa Barbara hospital Sunday, where she was taken for injuries she suffered in a fall last week, said her daughter, Tina Cole.

Burch was the matriarch of the King Family, a popular and enduring show-business dynasty. She spent three decades singing and recording with the King Sisters, one of the most popular vocal groups of the 1930s and 1940s.

Today’s birthdays

Guitarist Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones is 66. Director Steven Spielberg is 63. Movie critic Leonard Maltin is 59. Actor Ray Liotta is 54. Actor Brad Pitt is 46. Rapper DMX is 39. Actress Katie Holmes is 31. Singer Christina Aguilera is 29.