People: Ex-Astronaut John Glenn feeling effects of aging

Former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn said Thursday that he’s come through a year of health difficulties. Glenn, who is the first American to orbit the Earth, appeared with his wife, Annie, at a Statehouse news conference in Columbus, Ohio. Now 93, he said he suffered a small stroke after heart-valve replacement surgery last year.

Glenn, 95, said he has about half his eyesight now as a result of some macular degeneration and has lost some of his hearing. He might have a corrective operation on his eyes soon, he said.

“It hasn’t been a good year, so we’re hoping things pick up,” Glenn said.

The Glenns were at the Statehouse to announce Ohio’s first-in-the-nation participation in an interactive civics education website. It will be administered by the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State University.

Shearer in dispute with ‘The Simpsons’

Ned Flanders and Mr. Burns might sound a little different soon: Harry Shearer is going to be replaced on “The Simpsons,” the show’s top producer says.

The actor – whose voice has been a fixture on Fox’s animated comedy since it premiered in 1989 – tweeted late Wednesday that he is leaving the show. “The Simpsons” was just picked up for seasons 27 and 28.

“ ‘Show will go on, Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best,’ ” Shearer wrote, passing on a message he said came from an attorney for James L. Brooks, one of the show’s creators.

“This is because I wanted what we’ve always had: The freedom to do other work,” he added.

Shearer later added that his exit “wasn’t about money.”

Al Jean, executive producer and showrunner of “The Simpsons,” tweeted that Shearer had passed on a deal the other five other regular voice actors had accepted. That deal, he said, would have allowed Shearer to pursue other work as he has always done. Shearer’s tweet was “confusing,” he wrote.

Jean said the voices of Homer’s upright neighbor Flanders and other Shearer characters will be “recast if Harry does not return” – wording that seems to offer at least a possibility that the exit is not final.

The birthday bunch

Actress-singer Anna Maria Alberghetti is 79. Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy is 79. Singer Trini Lopez is 78. Actress-singer Lainie Kazan is 73. Country singer K.T. Oslin is 73. Singer-songwriter Brian Eno is 67. Actor Chazz Palminteri is 63. Rock musician Ahmet Zappa is 41. Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler is 34.