NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Miranda Lambert scholarship to help female musicians

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Miranda Lambert wants more women to have the kind of success she’s had, so she founded a new scholarship at Belmont University.

The six-time Academy of Country Music female vocalist of the year performed an acoustic show in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday to raise funds for the Miranda Lambert Women Creators Fund. Lambert, who announced her divorce from country-music star Blake Shelton last week, will have an all-female lineup, including songwriters Natalie Hemby and Jessi Alexander, and artists Raelynn, Clare Dunn and Courtney Cole.

Lambert said in a statement that she wanted to break down the doors to women in music and “encourage and empower women to achieve their goals.”

Gay accuser questions Bill Cosby’s ability to ‘read’ sexual cues

PHILADELPHIA

A lawyer for Bill Cosby’s first accuser on Tuesday questioned his self- described ability to “read” people’s sexual cues given that her client is gay.

Andrea Constand, employed by the Temple University women’s basketball team when she met Cosby in the early 2000s, was dating a woman around that time, according to court filings unsealed this month. She considered Cosby to be a friend and mentor.

“Despite his talent for interpreting female reactions to him, he did not realize plaintiff was gay until the police told him,” lawyer Dolores Troiani wrote in a motion Tuesday involving the secrecy clause underpinning their 2006 settlement.

Constand’s lawsuit inspired a cascade of similar accusations that Cosby drugged and molested women throughout his 50-plus years as an entertainer and champion of family values.

Associated Press