EX-PRESIDENT FORD HAILED FOR HIS POLITICAL SERVICE
Former President Gerald Ford was honored for his political service when he received the Victory of Freedom Award at The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace."If we are suspicious of big government, and we are, then it falls to us to imagine and implement a constructive alternative," Ford told an audience of 350 people this week in Yorba Linda, Calif.
"If we believe in individual rights, and we do, then we must respect individual choice. We must insist that government stay out of the classroom, out of the boardroom and out of the bedroom," he said.
The Victory of Freedom medal was presented to Ford to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his election to Congress.
STALLONE IS TRYING TO SELL $27.5 MILLION MIAMI PAD
Moving trucks rolled up to Sylvester Stallone's Miami estate to haul away exercise equipment, paintings and other belongings as he awaits completion of a deal to sell the mansion.
The actor is living in a hotel room in Los Angeles, where his new movie "Detox" is being filmed, said his spokeswoman, Rosario Kennedy. He isn't getting out of South Florida for good, she said. "He still plans to make Miami his home."
Stallone, who put his bayfront mansion on the market in August 1997, is asking $27.5 million.
GATES, HIS WIFE EXPECTING THEIR 2ND CHILD IN JUNE
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and wife Melinda Gates are expecting their second child next summer.
Family spokeswoman Rose Berg confirmed Thursday that the baby is due in June.
Melinda and Bill are "very excited" about the prospect of a sibling for Jennifer Katharine, now 2 1/2, but plan to say little else, preferring to keep family matters private, Berg said. They don't know the baby's sex and don't plan to find out.
DIXIE CHICKS ARE SINGIN' COUNTRY -- IN THEIR STYLE
The Dixie Chicks may look more like alternative rockers than country music sirens, but that suits the trio just fine.
"We're doing what we want to do, we're playing what we want to play, we're looking like we want to look, we're saying what we want to say," platinum-blond lead singer Natalie Maines said in Sunday's USA Weekend.
"In rock that's done a lot, but in country it's not. You've got to be the all-American, just-happy-to-be-here type."
Although they don't conform to the Minnie Pearl model of country music, the three have attracted a large following. They won Vocal Group of the Year honors at the Country Music Association Awards.