Jay Leno Hospitalized
Jay Leno checked into a hospital with an undisclosed illness Thursday and canceled the taping of the ``Tonight'' show, but was doing well and planned to return next week, his publicist and NBC said. Leno left his office at NBC's studios about midday and checked himself into a hospital for observation, said his publicist, Dick Guttman.
He would not identify what ailed Leno, but characterized it as ``mild'' and said the comedian continued to work Thursday, making phone calls and writing jokes. ``Jay Leno is doing just fine,'' read a statement from NBC spokeswoman Tracy St. Pierre. ``He was kidding around with the hospital staff and running his monologue jokes by the doctors and the nurses. He's expected back to work on Monday.'' A woman who answered the news and communications line at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, which is near the Burbank studio where Leno tapes ``Tonight,'' said they had no patient by the name of Jay Leno, and referred inquiries to NBC.
Scheduled guests on Thursday's show were Ryan Reynolds, Jules Sylvester and the swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Instead, NBC planned to air a rerun. It was an unusual lapse for the famously intrepid performer, who routinely fills off-days from his TV show with live appearances on the comedy circuit. Leno, who turns 59 on Tuesday, will leave the ``Tonight'' show May 29 after 17 years.
But he will continue on NBC, with a Monday-through-Friday program at 10 p.m., starting in the fall. The top-rated late-night host's move to prime time created a stir in the industry, taking the time slot usually reserved by broadcast networks for dramas such as ``ER.''
And Leno has continued to make news, scoring a coup by booking President Barack Obama as a guest and performing free comedy concerts in the recession-wracked Detroit area.
Jay Leno is best known as the man who replaced Johnny Carson at the helm of The Tonight Show in 1992. Leno was born James Douglas Muir Leno to parents of Italian and Scottish heritage (Leno is particularly fond of discussing the Italian part) in New Rochelle, NY, but was raised in Andover, MA. During the year in which he was establishing his standup career, Leno was performing 300 nights throughout North America.
He made his television debut on the Merv Griffin Show and his acting debut in Silver Bears (1977). That year he appeared in the cast of the short-lived Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show, a musical variety summer replacement series. By the early '80s, Leno had left behind any notion of becoming an actor because his comedy career was in high gear. His subsequent film appearances have been as himself or as a parody of himself (The Flintstones, 1994). Leno made his first appearance on The Tonight Show on March 2, 1977. Though he can be sharp and is an astute political commentator, there is something nice and comforting about the soft-eyed, lantern-jawed funnyman that appeals to vast middle-American audiences, the same sort who regularly tuned in to Carson. It is small wonder that Leno became Carson's sole guest host by 1987.
Leno hosted his first show as Carson's successor on May 25, 1992, with comedian Billy Crystal as his first guest. There was much furor surrounding the selection of Leno as many believed fellow late night gab-meister David Letterman would inherit the throne. Since taking the Tonight Show's reigns, Leno has attempted to inject the show with a slightly hipper edge by featuring more radical musical acts and affecting a more casual look. It's a tough balancing act, for he must do so without alienating his older, more conservative fan base. Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
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VOTING SYSTEM FEELS STRAIN OF MASSIVE TURNOUT
Voting problems surfaced in several areas today as electors turned out in droves to be confronted with long queues and malfunctioning machines.
A record number of voters was expected to descend on more than 7,000 election jurisdictions across the country.
"We have a system that is traditionally set up for low turnout," said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. "We're going to have all these new voters, but not a lot of new resources."
Americans have kept a close eye on election problems recently. In 2000, the results of the election were held up until the US Supreme Court ultimately decided to halt a recount over contested votes in Florida, leaving George Bush the winner. In Ohio, there was turmoil in 2004 over delays and failures.
Today voters had to use paper ballots because of problems with electronic voting machines in some New Jersey precincts. And in New York, many people began queuing as early as 4 am at some polling places.
Poll worker John Ritch in Chappaqua, New York, said: "By 7.30 this morning, we had as many as we had at noon in 2004."
Governor Ed Rendell urged voters in Pennsylvania to "hang in there" as state and country officials braced for a huge turnout. More than 160 people were lined up to vote by the time polls opened at First Presbyterian Church in Allentown.
Hundreds converged on polling precincts in Missouri, a crucial battleground state. Norma Storms, a 78-year-old resident of Raytown, said her driveway was filled with cars left by voters who couldn't get into nearby parking lots.
"I have never seen anything like this in all my born days," she said. "I am just astounded."
In Virginia, where a Democrat has not won the presidential race since 1964, several counties experienced paper jams and faulty touch-screen devices. In Richmond, a precinct opening was delayed because the person who had the keys overslept. Hundreds of people thronging the branch library cheered when its doors finally opened.
Ohio, which experienced extreme voting problems in the last presidential race, had some jammed paper problems in Franklin County.
Perhaps the most bizarre barrier to voting was a car which hit a wooden power pole in St. Paul, Minnesota, blacking out two polling locations for an hour.
Lawsuits alleging voter suppression had already surfaced in Virginia, a hotly contested state. A judge refused yesterday to extend poll hours or add voting machines to black precincts in some areas. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, in a federal lawsuit, demanded those changes, saying minority neighbourhoods would experience overwhelming turnout and there weren't enough electronic machines.
US District Judge Richard Williams denied the motion but ordered election officials to publicise that people still queuing when the polls closed would be allowed to cast ballots.
John McCain's campaign sued the Virginia electoral board hours before polls opened, trying to force the state to count late-arriving military ballots from overseas.
Mr McCain asked a federal judge to order state election officials to count absentee ballots mailed from abroad that arrive as late as November 14.
Last week, the news broke that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie both have a familial connection to this year’s Democratic Presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. This news begs the question for many, “who could I be related to? And how do I find out?” Enter American Mensa’s upcoming Colloquium, Tracking Granny’s Granny: The Genealogy Quest, this September in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Hosted by the Mensa Education & Research Foundation, members of Mensa and non-members alike will gather at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center to learn various ways to define their family research goals, organize their research and share tricks and tactics to finding information about long-lost relatives and distant cousins.
The Colloquium will take place on September 12-14 and will feature educational sessions guided by experts in the field of genealogy. Some of the topics include old photo research, ways to reconstruct the lives of distant relatives through research, helpful ways to use the Internet, and information about DNA research. Attendees will also be able to spend time at Salt Lake City’s historic Family History Library. Registration is open to the public.
“Research shows that 60% of Americans are interested in exploring their family history,” said Greg Timmers, President of the Mensa Education & Research Foundation. “The upcoming Mensa Colloquium will provide an educational forum for those interested in researching and solving the mysteries of their family trees. We are excited to bring Mensa members, experts and other interested guests to our event to offer this unique forum for learning and sharing.”
Colloquium 2008 is American Mensa’s twelfth Colloquium since the inaugural event in 1982. Previous Colloquiums have addressed topics such as humor, cosmology, politics, medicine, gifted children, and consciousness.
For more than thirty years, the Mensa Education & Research Foundation has been a strong voice in supporting intelligence. The Foundation fosters the best and brightest through scholarships and awards, and encourages research and intellectual inquiry through the Mensa Research Journal and various Colloquiums. Governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees, the Mensa Foundation is a 501c(3) organization and is funded by support from American Mensa, Mensa members and other charitable donations.
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