People: Williams off air after herniated disc repair
MSNBC anchor Brian Williams will be out of action for a few days after a procedure to repair a herniated disc.
An NBC News spokeswoman confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Williams underwent the successful procedure earlier this week and is expected to be off the air for a few days.
Williams is said to be recovering at home. The procedure was not an emergency and was performed after other treatments failed.
The former anchor of “NBC Nightly News” was assigned to MSNBC in September after serving a six-month suspension for making false statements about his reporting during the 2003 U.S. invasion in Iraq.
Museum nets Red Ryder gun of film
A museum dedicated to “A Christmas Story” has acquired the holy grail of movie memorabilia: a Red Ryder BB gun wielded by Ralphie in the beloved holiday film.
The Cleveland house where exteriors for the 1983 movie were shot already draws thousands of tourists year round. Now visitors to the adjacent museum will get to lay eyes on the Christmas gift Ralphie longed for most of all: the “Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.”
Brian Jones, the owner of the house and museum, paid $10,000 for it on an Internet auction site. It was one of six special models produced for the movie by Daisy, the company that makes Red Ryder guns.
Pink named UNICEF ambassador
Trailblazing pop star Pink saw firsthand severely malnourished children during a recent visit to Haiti as a part of a UNICEF program to provide therapeutic food packets to children in need.
The singer, whose given name is Alecia Moore, was named a UNICEF ambassador Monday to help promote a new effort to encourage physical activity in young children in the United States and at the same time raise money for nutritional, vitamin-rich peanut paste to be delivered to hungry children all over the world.
“I got to watch mommas learning how to feed it to their kids,” Moore said during a phone interview from California. “And within a week, you can see the difference in these children. It brings them back to life. It’s amazing.”
Moore is the national spokeswoman for the UNICEF Kid Power Band, which is a child-friendly fitness band that encourages exercise through an interactive app. As the children earn points, UNICEF’s partners will provide the funds needed to send the food packets to places like Haiti.
The birthday bunch
Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 67. Actress Julianne Moore is 55. Actress Amanda Seyfried is 30.