Names and faces
Country music icon Loretta Lynn is recovering from a fractured hip suffered in a fall at her home in Tennessee. A statement posted Monday on her website said “she is doing well and thanks all her fans for their thoughts and prayers.”
A publicist for Lynn didn’t answer additional questions. The 85-year-old singer-songwriter suffered a stroke last year that forced her to cancel her tour dates and delay a new album, but she made a surprise appearance at the Country Music Hall of Fame in October for Alan Jackson’s induction. The Hall of Fame singer is known for her biographical hit “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which became a book and a movie; “You Ain’t Woman Enough”; “The Pill”; and “One’s on the Way.”
A fiddle believed to be once owned by the late country music star Roy Acuff is back with its owners after it was accidentally donated to a Goodwill store in Missouri. After the instrument was anonymously donated, officials with Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas put it up for auction on Dec. 27. However, after bidding began, a member of the family that mistakenly donated the fiddle asked to have it returned, according to a report in the Kansas City Star. Kevin Bentley, interim president and CEO of the Kansas City Goodwill organization, said the fiddle was given back because it was a family heirloom. Acuff died in 1992 at age 89. Acuff’s fiddles were made by his uncle, Evart Acuff, who numbered each one. A sticker inside said the fiddle, No. 19, was handmade in August 1945 in Maryville, Tenn.
Sarah Palin’s oldest son has pleaded innocent to a felony charge in the case accusing him of assaulting his father at the family’s Alaska home last month.
Track Palin’s lawyer entered the plea to a burglary charge on his behalf at his arraignment. The 28-year-old did not attend the hearing but participated by phone. His parents also did not attend.
During the brief proceeding, Palin said only, “Yes, ma’am,” when the judge asked if he was on the telephone line. Palin was arrested in December after Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a former Alaska governor, told authorities that her son was on some kind of medication and “freaking out.” A police affidavit said father Todd Palin was bleeding from cuts on his head. According to the affidavit, Todd Palin said he told Track Palin not to go to the house in Wasilla but that his son said he would go anyway to beat up his father. Todd Palin told police he got his pistol “to protect his family.” Track Palin told police he broke a window, disarmed his father and put him on the ground. Last month, Track Palin also pleaded innocent to misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief.