People: Ex-Cuban prisoner among Obama guests
A Maryland man who returned home last month after spending five years imprisoned in Cuba will have a prime viewing spot for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address: a seat near first lady Michelle Obama.
Alan Gross and his wife, Judy, are among 22 guests the White House invited to tonight’s speech.
It’s become tradition for presidents to invite people whose stories of tragedy or triumph highlight an issue or public policy. President Ronald Reagan was the first to do so in 1982 and acknowledge the guests, who sit with the first lady, during the speech.
This year’s group includes astronaut Scott Kelly, the president and CEO of CVS Health, and eight people who wrote letters to Obama, including four he spent time with last year.
Gross is a former federal subcontractor who was arrested in Cuba in 2009. His wife and others said he was there to set up Internet access for the small Jewish community on the communist island. He was released last month as part of a historic announcement by Obama that the U.S. would restore diplomatic relations with Cuba after five decades.
Kelly, of Houston, is preparing to blast off in March on a yearlong space mission, longer than any other U.S. astronaut. His identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, is married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Scientists will compare medical data from the brothers to understand how the human body responds to longer durations in space.
CVS Health pulled cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products from its store shelves last year, a move that was applauded by Obama, a former smoker. The decision by CVS Health earned Larry Merlo, the drugstore chain’s top executive, a seat in the first lady’s box.
Cancer project felt ‘appropriate’
The late actor Edward Herrmann’s final project before he died of brain cancer last month was narrating an upcoming PBS documentary on the disease.
The six-hour project, based on the book “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, will air over three nights in March.
Herrmann collapsed because of a seizure on the first day he came to work and had to explain to filmmaker Barak Goodman that it was because of his cancer, Goodman said. Still, Herrmann was determined to do the work.
“He felt it appropriate that this would be his final project,” Goodman said.
Herrmann, best known for playing the grandfather in “Gilmore Girls,” died in New York on Dec. 31.
The birthday bunch
Comedian Arte Johnson is 86. Director David Lynch is 69. TV host Bill Maher is 59. Actor Rainn Wilson is 49. Actress Stacey Dash (“Clueless”) is 48. Actor Skeet Ulrich is 45. Actor Evan Peters is 28.