HALL OF FAMER
The Rev. Billy Graham will be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on April 21 for his support of Christian music. Singer George Beverly Shea will represent him at the ceremony in Nashville. Graham will accept the award via video.FREE-SPEECH GROUP SLAPS MUZZLE AWARD ON GIULIANI
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has the dubious distinction of winning the first lifetime Jefferson Muzzle, a tongue-in-cheek award given by a free-speech group.
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression awards the Muzzles annually to those who, in the opinion of its board, deserve censure for censorship.
The board thought Giuliani's transgressions were so egregious last year that he deserved a permanent Muzzle.
Giuliani was cited for barring city employees from talking to reporters without approval, directing the transit authority not to display ads critical of the mayor, barring a church group from conducting AIDS education in a city park and refusing a permit for a parade to protest police brutality.
'BE FUNNY' IS CALLED KEY TO MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH
Jim Abrahams, who co-directed "Naked Gun" and "Airplane," is ready to reveal his secrets to making people laugh. Rule No. 1? "Be funny." Another rule is: "There are no rules."
"What makes one person laugh doesn't make another person laugh," Abrahams said. "Even with the rules, all you're doing is taking your best guess."
Abrahams, a Milwaukee native and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, will speak Sunday at the Great Wisconsin Film Festival.
ARCHITECT'S WORK WINS A REPRIEVE IN CALIFORNIA
The last major work designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, California's Marin County main library, will stay open for now despite pressure to close it to save money.
The Marin County Library Commission voted Wednesday night to support a sales tax increase. The final decision, however, is up to the county board of supervisors.
The library, with its domed blue roof and tall spire, is the centerpiece of the San Rafael civic center completed after Wright's death in 1962. The architect regarded it as the heart of the project, forever linking the "center of knowledge" to the "center of government."
"We're heartened by the commissioner's actions," said architect Marielle Rutherford. "But we'll need to work hard to gain support for a sales tax increase."