Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, are returning to Washington to be recognized for their work on combating HIV/AIDS worldwide. The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition announced Thursday that it will honor Bush and the former first lady on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, during its annual Tribute Celebration. The Bushes will receive the Global Leadership Award for establishing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in 2003. Bush announced the program in his State of the Union address in January 2003 and signed legislation to establish it that May. Liz Schrayer, the coalition’s president and chief executive officer, called the AIDS relief program “one of the most significant achievements in global health in our lifetime.” She also praised the Bushes for “transformational leadership” in launching it nearly 20 years ago. PEPFAR is the largest commitment by any nation in history to address a single disease. Since the program’s inception, the U.S. government has spent nearly $100 billion responding to HIV/AIDS globally, saving 21 million lives, preventing millions of infections and making strides to control the pandemic in more than 50 countries, mostly in Africa and the Caribbean, according to the State Department. The Bushes were most recently in the capital in September. Laura Bush was a guest of President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden at a White House music event on the South Lawn featuring Elton John, a longtime advocate for people with HIV/AIDS.
■ Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. resolved his New York forcible touching case Thursday with a guilty plea to a lesser charge and no jail time after complying with the terms of a conditional plea agreement reached in April. Prosecutor Coleen Balbert said Gooding has stayed out of trouble and completed six months of alcohol and behavior modification counseling, allowing him to withdraw his misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to a harassment violation. Balbert said she has received “positive reports for the last six months” from Gooding’s therapist. The actor is continuing with treatment beyond the time required by his plea agreement, she said. Gooding, 54, faces no additional penalties, and he will not have a criminal record. He could have faced up to a year in jail. Gooding pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge that he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018. That was just one of dozens of allegations of inappropriate behavior by the Oscar winner that came to light in recent years. Some of Gooding’s accusers criticized what they regarded as light punishment for the “Jerry Maguire” star, and some are pressing ahead with civil litigation.