HOLLYWOOD - Top Story
SAG presidential candidate Valerie Harper, who lost in a bitterly contested race to Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert by 1,588 votes on Nov. 2, is challenging the election results because of what she claims were improper balloting procedures, Reuters reports. Fellow SAG members Elliot Gould and Kent McCord will join Harper in her fight, even though they won their races for recording secretary and treasurer respectively. "This step is based on our disturbance over the legitimacy of the election itself and not in terms of individual races," Harper told Daily Variety. "So many voters are questioning how this election was conducted." Harper said that she would challenge the election on three points: 24,800 of the 73,800 New York ballots lacked a signature line despite SAG requirements, there was an unannounced two-day extension for New York ballots, and SAG staff members were allegedly involved in the presidential campaign, despite a warning by SAG CEO Bob Pisano to remain neutral.
Ailing
George Harrison was released from Staten Island University Hospital in New York over the weekend and is reportedly receiving personalized care at the home of his doctor, Gil Lederman. According to ABCNews.com, Dr. Lederman spoke to the media in general terms about his stereotatic radiosurgery procedure, and how it's helped patients who suffer from various forms of cancer, but the physician did not confirm that Harrison was his patient.
Deaths
British television and theater actress Peggy Mount died after a long illness at Denville Hall Nursing Home in Northwood, West London, BBCNews.com reports. She had suffered a series of strokes over the year, and she had recently lost her sight. Mount's film credits include Oliver!, Hotel Paradiso with Alec Guiness and The Naked Truth with Peter Sellers.
Weddings
Andie MacDowell married high-school classmate Rhett DeCamp Hartzog in a private ceremony at the Central United Methodist Church in Asheville, N.C., on Saturday, The Associated Press reports. "It was just real sweet and simple," MacDowell's sister, Babs Rogers Richard, told AP. About 200 guests joined the family for a reception at the Biltmore Forest Country Club.
In Courts
The former husband of Spice Girl Melanie Brown, also known as Scary Spice, is facing charges for assaulting a 3-year-old boy on a children's ride at London Zoo, AP reports. Jimmy Gulzar was reportedly visiting his 2-year-old daughter, Phoenix Chi, when the incident took place. Gulzar married Brown in 1998; the couple divorced after 15 months of marriage. After what they're calling a thorough investigation, Brazilian authorities claim that Mexican singer Gloria Trevi, who has been held since January 2000 in a Brazilian jail, became pregnant by artificial insemination to avoid being deported and facing child abuse charges in her native country. In the past, foreigners who are arrested in Brazil have avoided extradition by having a child of Brazilian nationality, the Brazilian newspaper paper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported. According to BBCNews.com, Trevi spent several months on the run in various Latin American countries before finally arriving in Rio de Janeiro, where she was arrested following an extradition request from the Mexican Government. The Brazilian press has mentioned that the singer might have impregnated herself after receiving a used condom and a syringe, but nothing has been confirmed. At first, Trevi claimed that she was raped during a riot at the Policia Federal prison in March, but BBCNews.com is reporting that police have concluded that she impregnated herself with a male prisoner's sperm. Now six months pregnant, the singer has refused to have a DNA test to prove the identity of the father.