Latest News: April 2010

Friday, April 16, 2010

Dixie Virginia Carter

Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American film, television and stage actress, best-known for her role in the sitcom Designing Women (1986–1993). She was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Desperate Housewives in 2007.

Carter died on April 10, 2010. Her death in Houston, Texas[10] was announced by her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, who stated the cause as complications from endometrial cancer which was diagnosed earlier in 2010. In addition to Holbrook, she is survived by her daughters, Ginna Carter (of Los Angeles) and Mary Dixie Carter (of Brooklyn); a sister, Melba Helen Heath (of San Anselmo, California) and several nephews and nieces. The Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center (informally called "The Dixie") in Huntingdon, Tennessee is named in honor of Carter. In addition to family, her funeral, held April 15, 2010, was attended by Designing Women co-stars Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. Carter's body is buried in her hometown, McLemoresville, Tennessee.

Lech Aleksander Kaczyński

Lech Aleksander Kaczyński;( 18 June 1949 – 10 April 2010) was the President of Poland from 2005 to 2010, a politician of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice, PiS). Kaczyński served as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005, the day before his presidential inauguration. He was the identical twin brother of the former Prime Minister of Poland and current Chairman of the Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński.

On 10 April 2010, he and his wife Maria Kaczyńska died when a Polish Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M crashed while attempting to land at Smolensk-North airport in Russia. There were no survivors on the plane, which was carrying senior Polish government officials on a trip to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.

Grand National

The Grand National is a world famous National Hunt horse race which is held at Aintree in the United Kingdom. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of about 4 miles and 856 yards (approximately 7¼ km), and during its running there are thirty fences to be jumped. It is presently scheduled to take place each year on a Saturday afternoon in early April.

It is the most valuable National Hunt event in Great Britain, and in 2009 it offered a total prize fund of £900,000. The race is popular amongst many people who do not normally watch or bet on horse racing at other times of the year. It is also one of the most controversial, due to the injuries and fatalities suffered by participating horses. This makes it a target for animal rights groups, which have campaigned to have it banned. In one hundred and sixty-two runnings of the race there have been eighty officially recorded equine fatalities, four of which came in one year, 1954.

The race is run over two circuits of Aintree's National Course, which is triangular in shape and on which there are sixteen fences. All, except The Chair and the Water-Jump, are jumped twice. Some fences are notorious for their severity, particularly Becher's Brook and The Chair, although in recent years this severity has been much reduced due to pressure from various animal rights groups. The Grand National is the centrepiece of a three-day meeting, one of only four run at Aintree in the racing season.

It is one of ten events reserved for live broadcast on UK terrestrial television under the ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed Events. It is estimated that the Grand National is watched worldwide by over 600 million viewers.

The most recent running of the race took place on April 10 2010, and was won by Tony McCoy and Don't Push It for trainer Jonjo O'Neill and owner J P McManus.