Miss Montana pleads innocent to DUI charge

Miss Montana pleads innocent to DUI charge

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Miss Montana Jennifer Hepner has been charged with driving under the influence and has been suspended from her duties with the pageant.

The 23-year-old University of Montana graduate student had been pulled over Jan. 3 and refused to submit to alcohol screening, breath or blood tests. Her license was seized and suspended.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported Wednesday that Hepner has pleaded innocent. She is also fighting the license suspension.

Her lawyer says her requests to speak with an attorney during the traffic stop were denied.

The lawyer says Hepner was allowed to participate in the Miss America pageant Jan. 24, but her Miss Montana duties were suspended Feb. 16.

Singer Dan Seals dies

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dan Seals, who was England Dan in the pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley and later had a successful country career, has died of complications from cancer. He was 61.

Longtime manager Tony Gottlieb says Seals died Wednesday evening at his daughter’s home in Nashville.

Seals was diagnosed with lymphoma in April 2007.

England Dan and John Ford Coley had hits including “I’d Really Like to See You Tonight” and “Nights Are Forever,” both in 1976.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Seals had country hits like “Bop,” “You Still Move Me,” “Love on Arrival” and a duet with Marie Osmond, “Meet Me in Montana.”

His older brother, Jimmy, was in Seals & Crofts, who recorded the hits “Summer Breeze” and “Diamond Girl” in the 1970s.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Julian Glover is 74. Actor Austin Pendleton (“Oz,” “Homicide: Life on the Street”) is 69. Actor Michael York is 67. Keyboardist Tony Banks of Genesis is 59. Director Quentin Tarantino is 46. Singer Mariah Carey is 39. Actress Elizabeth Mitchell (“Lost”) is 39. Singer Fergie of Black Eyed Peas is 34. Actress Brenda Song (“The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”) is 21.