Parts of lawsuit dropped

Parts of lawsuit dropped

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland Orchestra reviewer has dropped all claims but an age discrimination complaint against his newspaper for removing him from the beat.

The attorney for Donald Rosenberg says dropping other claims including defamation allows the lawsuit to return from federal to state court, where he expects a more balanced handling of employee-employer cases.

The 56-year-old Rosenberg was reassigned to cover other music groups after 16 years as the orchestra critic for The Plain Dealer.

The suit was amended last week. The original complaints against the orchestra remain intact.

Spending eternity in space

LOS ANGELES — The creator of “Star Trek” and his wife will spend eternity together in space.

Celestis Inc., a company that specializes in “memorial spaceflights,” said it will ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry into space next year.

The couple’s cremated remains will be sealed into capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. The Roddenberrys’ remains — and the spacecraft — will not return to earth, company spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said.

After Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, his wife commissioned Celestis to launch a part of his remains into space in 1997. She died Dec. 18, 2008.

Today’s birthdays

Actor-comedian Garrett Morris is 72. Singer Don Everly of The Everly Brothers is 72. Actor Sherman Hemsley is 71. Actor-writer-producer Billy Mumy (“Lost in Space”) is 55. Singer Lisa Marie Presley is 41. Rapper Big Boi of Outkast is 34. TV personality Lauren Conrad (“The Hills,” “Laguna Beach”) is 23.