newsmakers

newsmakers

Award-winning poet Ruth Stone dies at 96

GOSHEN, Vt.

Ruth Stone, an award-winning poet for whom tragedy halted then inspired a career that started in middle age and thrived late in life as her sharp insights into love, death and nature received ever-growing acclaim, has died in Vermont. She was 96.

Stone, who for decades lived in a farmhouse in Goshen, died Nov. 19 of natural causes at her home in Ripton, her daughter Phoebe Stone said Thursday. She was surrounded by her daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Widowed in her 40s and little known for years after, Stone became one of the country’s most-honored poets in her 80s and 90s, winning the National Book Award in 2002 for “In the Next Galaxy” and being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for “What Love Comes To.” She received numerous other citations, including a National Book Critics Circle award, two Guggenheims and a Whiting Award.

Dance champ gets invitation to Pentagon

WASHINGTON

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has invited soldier-turned-actor J.R. Martinez, winner of this season’s “Dancing with the Stars” competition, to meet him at the Pentagon.

During a 10-minute telephone call Friday, Panetta told the dance champion he demonstrated the strength and resilience of wounded veterans, Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said.

Martinez credited his military training for his performance on the ABC show, Kirby said. Martinez and professional partner Karina Smirnoff bested fellow finalists Rob Kardashian and Ricki Lake in the finale broadcast Tuesday.

Martinez, 28, was severely burned over more than 40 percent of his body when the Humvee he was driving for the U.S. Army in Iraq struck a land mine in 2003. After dozens of operations during a nearly three-year recovery, Martinez became a motivational speaker and in 2008 won a role on the now-retired ABC soap opera “All My Children.”

Details of Panetta’s meeting with Martinez are being worked out.

Pneumonia forces singer to cancel tour

LONDON

George Michael has postponed all his remaining 2011 tour dates as he recovers from pneumonia, the singer’s publicist said Friday.

Michael was hospitalized in Vienna, Austria, earlier this week. A statement from publicist Connie Filippello said the 48-year-old former Wham! singer “is responding to treatment and slowly improving.”

The singer has postponed dates in Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London. The statement said the concerts would be rescheduled.

Michael gained mega-stardom in his early 20s as half of Wham! and went on to a successful solo career. His first solo album, 1987’s “Faith,” sold 20 million copies.

Cleveland film fest receives $150K grant

CLEVELAND

The Cleveland International Film Festival has received a three-year, $150,000 grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to support a program highlighting filmmakers in minority populations.

The festival’s “Focus on Filmmakers” program will spotlight African Americans in 2012 and Latinos in 2013. The focus will be on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender filmmakers in 2014, the same year the city hosts the Gay Games.

Executive director Marcie Goodman says the grant announced last week will allow the festival to increase its involvement with the filmmakers’ communities and bring the public into contact with films and filmmakers for dialogue and interaction.

The 2012 festival runs March 22 to April 1.

Associated Press