Financier invests in ring for Couric
Katie Couric is getting married to her financier boyfriend John Molner.
Couric’s spokesman Matthew Hiltzik confirmed the engagement Tuesday following a report by People magazine.
Molner gave 56-year-old Couric, the former host of “Today,” a diamond ring over the weekend in East Hampton, N.Y. Molner, 50, is a partner at investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman, who oversees mergers and acquisitions advisory work for the firm’s corporate clients.
The couple have dated for nearly two years.
Couric’s husband Jay Monahan died in 1998 from colon cancer. She is the mother of two daughters, now 21 and 17.
Lopez, Connick joining Urban on ‘Idol’
“American Idol” is betting that a judges’ remix with Jennifer Lopez , Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban will fare better with viewers than bickering divas Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj did last season.
The rumored addition of Lopez and Connick as judges for season 13 was announced Tuesday by Fox. They’ll join Urban to make up the talent show’s first panel consisting solely of singers – a la NBC’s successful 2011 upstart “The Voice.”
Pop star and actress Lopez will be back on “American Idol” after a two-season run as judge in 2011 and 2012 that was a boon for the show and her career. Connick, a respected jazz singer and musician, proved adept as a mentor in several “Idol” appearances.
‘Selfie’ sours Duquesne on Rivera
Duquesne University said Geraldo Rivera isn’t welcome to appear on a panel at the Pittsburgh school because of a half-naked “selfie” he posted this summer.
Duquesne said the cellphone picture the TV personality posted on Twitter in July was inappropriate and not in line with the school’s values as a Catholic university. Rivera had been scheduled to moderate a panel to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
The birthday bunch
Actress Mitzi Gaynor is 82. Actress Judith Ivey is 62. Actor-comedian Damon Wayans is 53. Guitarist Kim Thayil of Soundgarden is 53. Actress Ione Skye is 43. Singer Beyonce is 32. Actress Whitney Cummings (”Whitney”) is 31. Multi-instrumentalist Neyla Pekarek of The Lumineers is 27.