NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Shirley Jones hopes for a high-flying 80th

LOS ANGELES

Inspired by a former president, Shirley Jones can’t wait to jump into her birthday plans.

The Oscar-winning actress and singer says she’ll take her very first skydive Monday — her 80th birthday.

She’s wanted to do it all her life, Jones said Friday. She was inspired to try by former President George H.W. Bush’s jumps on several birthdays, including when he turned 85 in 2009.

If Bush can do it, so can she, Jones said — although she said her sons oppose the plan.

Jones, who starred in TV’s “The Partridge Family” in the 1970s, gained fame with the 1950s film versions of the Broadway musicals “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel.” She won an Oscar for the 1960 drama “Elmer Gantry.”

Her family is throwing Jones an 80th birthday party today.

Piers Morgan ends CNN show with a plea for gun control

LOS ANGELES

CNN host Piers Morgan issued one last plea for U.S. gun control as he wrapped up his show’s three-year run.

Morgan devoted the prime-time show’s final minutes Friday night to the issue that he said has been a “consistent and often very controversial” part of “Piers Morgan Live.”

The British-born host cited gun-violence statistics and expressed dismay that mass shootings including those in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., haven’t led to stricter laws.

Morgan blamed politicians who he said had been bullied into “cowardly” silence by a gun lobby led by the National Rifle Association.

A message seeking comment from the NRA was left Friday night with an answering service at its headquarters.

Associated Press