newsmakers

newsmakers

Poe fans plan vigil for mystery visitor

BALTIMORE

Is the “Poe Toaster” nevermore?

Edgar Allan Poe fans are planning one last vigil to watch for the mysterious person who for decades visited the gothic writer’s grave on the anniversary of his birth.

The rose-and-cognac tributes of an anonymous man in black are thought to date to at least the 1940s. Notes left with the tributes indicate that the tradition passed to a new generation in the 1990s. But the visitor, dubbed the “Poe Toaster,” hasn’t appeared since 2009.

Poe House and Museum Curator Jeff Jerome says he’ll wait one last time overnight tonight before calling an end to the tradition.

He’ll host a reading of Poe tributes Thursday, an event that may become a new tradition to mark the macabre writer’s birthday.

Judge: Lohan doing well on probation

LOS ANGELES

A judge says Lindsay Lohan is meeting the terms of her probation and has received favorable reports from probation officials.

Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner also told the actress she is on track to complete strict terms of her probation by the end of March. The 25-year-old is required to do cleanup duty at the morgue and attend therapy sessions.

Lohan appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday wearing black slacks, blue blouse and long-sleeved sweater. The hearing lasted less than five minutes.

The starlet remains on probation for separate drunken-driving and theft cases.

Judge Sautner imposed strict new probation requirements on Lohan in November, including monthly update sessions.

Vindicator wire services