Newsmakers

Newsmakers

Travis arrested naked, charged with DWI

DALLAS

Randy Travis was charged with driving while intoxicated and threatening law officers after the country singer crashed his car and was found naked and combative at the scene, officials said.

It was the second Texas arrest this year for Travis, who was cited in February for public intoxication.

A Pontiac Trans Am registered to Travis, 53, had driven off a road west of Tioga around midnight Tuesday, said Tom Vinger, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The vehicle had struck several barricades in a construction zone, according to DPS.

Vinger said Travis made threats against Texas Highway Patrol troopers and was not wearing clothes at the time of his arrest. He refused sobriety tests, Vinger said, so a blood specimen was taken.

Travis was released on $21,500 bond Wednesday morning pending an appearance before a judge in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas. Blood test results are pending.

Grayson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Rickey Wheeler said Travis faces charges of retaliation or obstruction in addition to driving under the influence.

“Travis had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath and several signs of intoxication,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office. “While Travis was being transported, Travis made threats to shoot and kill the troopers working the case.”

A Travis representative said there would be no immediate comment on the arrest.

Madonna shows support for band

MOSCOW

Madonna has expressed her support for the jailed members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot by donning a black ski mask and scrawling the group’s name on her back.

In March, two weeks before Vladimir Putin won Russia’s presidency for the third time, members of the female band high-kicked and danced in Moscow’s main cathedral, singing “Virgin Mary, drive Putin away!”

The three now face years in jail in a case that has outraged human-rights groups.

Madonna voiced support for Pussy Riot at a Tuesday night concert in Moscow, saying she’d “pray for them.”

She then turned her bare back, which had “Pussy Riot” written on it, to the audience and put on the mask. Pussy Riot band members make it a point to wear the masks, or balaclavas, which have become a symbol for the group.

She went on to sing her 1990s hit “Human Nature.”

Madonna told The Associated Press earlier during her stay in Moscow that she “hopes that the judge is lenient” with the band members.

Actress Willa Ford, Modano divorcing

DALLAS

Retired hockey star Mike Modano and actress Willa Ford have decided to end their five-year marriage.

Modano spokesman Rob Scichili said Wednesday the couple was divorcing but didn’t have further details. The 42-year-old Modano and Ford married in 2007 in Athens, Texas.

Modano is the highest-scoring American-born player in NHL history with 561 goals and 1,374 points. He spent 21 years with the Stars in Minnesota and Dallas and retired after one season with the Detroit Red Wings, closer to his hometown of Livonia, Mich. The 31-year-old Ford was on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2006 and appears in the Starz television drama “Magic City.”

Sackhoff admits she’s a fan of Frankel’s

NEW YORK

Actress Katee Sackhoff has a confession: She’s obsessed with TV personality Bethenny Frankel.

“She’s probably a kindred spirit of mine,” said Sackhoff, who stars on the A&E series “Longmire,” in a recent interview. “She’s my sister from another mother [and] I’ve never met her.”

Sackhoff, 32, starred as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on “Battlestar Galactica,” which made her a fan-boy sex symbol.

Associated Press