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Delayed Kennedy Center Honors to be rescheduled for mid-May
(Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)WASHINGTON – Five months after they were postponed because of the coronavirus, the annual Kennedy Center Honors are coming back in May, possibly in a series of small events, organizers announced Wednesday. The centerpiece event for Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts normally happens in December, but it was postponed last year amid the pandemic. But even with COVID-19 vaccines gradually rolling out across the country, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter knew the usual concert would not be possible in May. “It's normally such a festive event, and I'm sure that will come across.”Brooks is no stranger to the Kennedy Center Honors process. Trump and first lady Melania Trump generally stayed away from Kennedy Center events, but Rutter hopes to get President-elect Joe Biden involved this year.
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Jane Fonda celebrates 25 years of Georgia-based nonprofit
ATLANTA – Jane Fonda is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Georgia-based nonprofit organization she founded to prevent teenage pregnancies. Fonda, 82, founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention in 1995, when she lived in Atlanta and when Georgia had the highest teenage birth rate in the United States. “If you put a map across the United States that showed pockets of poverty and distress, those would correspond with where our teen pregnancy rates are high,” Fonda said. Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana have the highest teenage birth rates in the United States. Birth rates also remain higher among Native American, Hispanic and Black teenagers.
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Country's night to party sobers up amid pandemic
This combination photo shows, from left, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood, nominees for entertainer of the year at the 55th ACM Awards. (AP Photo)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a pre-pandemic world, the Academy of Country Music Awards advertised itself as country music’s night to party with gambling, after-parties and a Las Vegas-style attitude. This year the red carpet, crowds and gambling are all r eplaced with COVID-19 tests, temperature checks and face masks. Swift, who makes her first return to the ACM stage in seven years, was the last female artist to win ACM entertainer of the year in 2011. “I certainly believe that she’s been an entertainer of all entertainers and brought so much grace and class and elegance to country music,” said Bryan.