PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Springsteen to receive highest honor at Ivors songwriting awards
Rocker Bruce Springsteen will become the first international songwriter to receive an Ivors Academy Fellowship this year, the highest honor bestowed by the UK-based association.
The 74-year-old singer-songwriter and guitarist will be recognized “for his outstanding contribution to the craft of songwriting and ... his impact on the UK’s cultural landscape” at the Ivors in London in May, the annual awards for songwriters and screen composers, the Ivors Academy said Tuesday.
The “Born in the U.S.A.” and “The River” singer will become the 27th Fellow of the Academy, joining Elton John, Sting, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney, among others.
After backlash, former RNC chair McDaniel will no longer join NBC
Ronna McDaniel will no longer join NBC News as a contributor, after a mutiny by some network employees raised concerns about the former Republican National Committee chair – including on air.
NBC announced last week that McDaniel would serve as a political analyst, contributing to both NBC News and MSNBC. But Cesar Conde, NBC Universal news group chairman, confirmed in a message to the network’s employees Tuesday that the deal was off.
Combs’ lawyer says rapper is innocent after raids of homes
A lawyer for Sean “Diddy” Combs calls Monday’s raids of the rapper’s homes by U.S. Homeland Security a “witch hunt based on meritless accusations.”
Aaron Dyer, a corporate investigations and white-collar defense lawyer for Combs, said the music mogul is innocent and criticized the raids in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday. “Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” Dyer said. “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”
The raids of Combs’ residences in Miami and Los Angeles come as Combs faces lawsuits from people who allege the rapper raped or sexually assaulted them. Media outlets including NBC News, the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press reported that the searches are part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation in New York.
Goodall’s 90th birthday wish? Get out conservation message
British primatologist-turned-conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall will mark her 90th birthday next month with a series of talks and her view on why immediate action is crucial for the creation of a better future.
Her greatest wish is for people to start thinking more about the environment, she told Reuters in an interview. But in the meantime, she says, she would like the gift of more years “to continue getting the message out.”
“We’ve got a window of time, I believe, to start slowing down climate change, loss of biodiversity, to alleviate poverty, to bring to an end the terrible industrial farming, especially of animals,” she said.
Goodall, a United Nations Messenger of Peace and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, rose to prominence as a pioneering scientist in the 1960s carrying out groundbreaking research on wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania.