newsmakers

newsmakers

Travis accuses ex of betraying info

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Randy Travis has filed a countersuit against his ex-wife claiming she’s been divulging confidential information about the country-music singer that was calculated to damage his reputation and career.

The court documents filed recently in a federal court in Nashville don’t say what information Elizabeth Travis is alleged to have revealed.

The filings are the latest salvo in the feud between the Travises. The couple divorced in 2010 after 19 years of marriage. Elizabeth Travis had been his manager for more than three decades.

She sued him last month claiming that Randy Travis made it impossible for her to do her job and terminated her management contract without proper written notice.

An attorney for Elizabeth Travis did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

MSNBC host Hayes issues apology

NEW YORK

MSNBC host Chris Hayes says he’s sorry for his comments about his discomfort with the use of the word “heroes” to describe fallen soldiers.

Hayes made the comments during his show Sunday, the day before Memorial Day. He was met with a strong backlash, including from a veterans group.

Hayes said he was “uncomfortable” with the word because it seemed like a rhetorical device that could justify engaging in more wars.

In a blog post Monday on the show’s website, Hayes apologized for not living up to his own “standards of rigor, respect and empathy.”

He says he was trying to discuss the divide between the military and civilians but ended up reinforcing a stereotype of a pundit talking about something he hasn’t experienced.

Polish orchestra plays ‘Requiem’ in protest

WARSAW, Poland

A Polish opera house has played Mozart’s “Requiem” — a funeral piece — in front of the Culture Ministry in Warsaw to protest cuts to its budget.

The Chamber Opera’s orchestra, choir and soloists performed Tuesday to the hearty applause of hundreds of people. A large banner saying, “Minister, Only You Can Save the Chamber Opera,” hung above the artists.

They handed a ministry official a letter signed by some 20,000 people asking Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski to secure funds for the opera. Otherwise, they say, it will have to close in the summer.

There was no immediate reply from the ministry, which is instituting cuts as a broader government cost-cutting effort. The 50-year-old Warsaw-based opera is known for its annual festivals of all of Mozart’s opera compositions.

Associated Press