Bil Keane, Family Circus Creator, Dies at 89
Bil Keane, the creator of Family Circus, died of congestive heart failure at his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz. He was 89. In recent years, Keane's son Jeff had taken over drawing Family Circus, though Keane himself continued to sketch out the ideas and captions.


Nationals' Ramos Kidnapped
Wilson Ramos, the Washington Nationals’ starting catcher, was kidnapped Wednesday at his home in Valencia, Venezuela. Ramos, a 24-year-old who just finished his rookie season, was taken away in an SUV by four armed men in Santa Ines in central Carabobo state, the spokeswoman for his Venezuelan League team, the Aragua Tigers, said on her official Twitter account. "It's true, Wilson Ramos was kidnapped," Tigers spokeswoman Katherine Vilera said in a statement, adding that Venezuela's judicial police, the CICPC, was investigating, The Washington Post reported. Vilera said Ramos was taken at 6:45 p.m. at his home in the region 95 miles west of Caracas. She said police were notified. A person close to Ramos' family, who asked not to be quoted by name out of safety concerns, said the catcher was at home with his father and brothers when several men ''entered the house and took him away.'' ''As of this hour, there has been no contact'' between the kidnappers and Ramos' family, the person said. Ramos, one of the top young catchers in baseball, batted .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI in 113 games for the Nationals this year. He returned to his homeland for the offseason but had yet to play a game for the Tigres de Aragua, who still own his rights in the Venezuelan Winter League.
Valencia, a large industrial city and capital of the Carabobo state, is also the hometown of major leaguers Felix Hernandez and Francisco Cervelli. Two years ago, the son of then-Colorado catcher Yorvit Torrealba was kidnapped along with two family members in Venezuela before their safe return.


CMA Awards Fashion



JoPa Fired From Penn State
In a massive shakeup, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and school president Graham Spanier were fired Wednesday night by the board of trustees amid the growing furor over how the school handled child sex abuse allegations against an assistant coach. The longtime coach, the winningest in major college football, was ousted at the end of day that began with his announcement to retire at end of the season, his 46th. It was not to be. ''The university is much larger than its athletic teams,'' board vice chair John Surma said during a packed press conference. Paterno and Spanier were informed by telephone of the unanimous decisions to remove them. ''We were unable to find a way to do that in person without causing further distraction,'' Surma said. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will serve as interim coach while Rodney Erickson will be the interim school president. ''The Penn State board of trustees tonight decided it is in the best interest of the university to have a change in leadership to deal with the difficult issues that we are facing,'' Surma said. ''The past several days have been absolutely terrible for the entire Penn State community. But the outrage that we feel is nothing compared to the physical and psychological suffering that allegedly took place.'' Paterno said: "I’m trying to figure out my reaction,’’ Paterno said. "We’ll see what’s going to happen, OK?’’ "Right now, I’m not the coach. And after 61 years, I have to get used to that.’’ Paterno has come under harsh criticism, including from within the community known as Happy Valley, for not taking more action in 2002 after then-graduate assistant and current assistant coach Mike McQueary came to him and reported seeing Jerry Sandusky in the Penn State showers with a 10-year-old boy. Paterno notified the athletic director, Tim Curley, and a vice president, Gary Schultz.

Piers Morgan Leaving America's Got Talent

America still has talent, but now it's missing a judge. Piers Morgan is leaving NBC's America's Got Talent after six seasons, he announced Wednesday night, saying his schedule had become too hectic since he began hosting a nightly talk show, Piers Morgan Tonight, on CNN this past January. "Turned out that juggling's harder than it looks, so I'm going to focus on CNN," he wrote on Twitter. The British TV personality, 46, thanked NBC, production company FremantleMedia, "and of course, my friend Simon Cowell, for giving me such a great opportunity. It's been a blast." He added: "And congrats to @MrsSOsbourne @howiemmandel & @NickCannon – you don't have to put up with me any more!" Morgan was also one of the original judges on Britain's Got Talent, but quit that show in 2010 after four seasons to take on the CNN gig.
 Dakota Fanning‘s latest role has received a big thumbs-down in the U.K. The actress’s recent magazine ad for Marc Jacobs’s Oh, Lola! perfume is too suggestive, Britain’s advertising watchdog has ruled, and must be pulled immediately, the BBC reports. The ASA ruled that the ad was irresponsible, likely to cause “serious offense,” and must not appear again. Coty UK, the maker of the perfume, had argued that the image was “provoking but not indecent.” On Tuesday, Marc Jacobs released a statement, calling the banning “unfortunate.” He wrote: “It was our pleasure to work with Dakota Fanning for the Oh, Lola! campaign. She is a smart, pretty, interesting, talented young woman and we would never have suggested an advertising concept that we thought was inappropriate. I believe she is also very thoughtful about the projects she takes on and would not have done something that she felt was in questionable taste. It’s really unfortunate that people have taken anything negative from what we believe is a really good campaign and one that so perfectly embodies the fragrance.”




TV NEWS
 With Regis Philbin’s final days on Live! drawing near, the long-running ABC daytime talk show is making sure its other co-host is staying put. Kelly Ripa — who has occupied one of the show’s signature high chairs for 10 years — has signed a deal that keeps her with the syndicated gabfest through 2017.


David Anders is positively hospital obsessed! The Alias and Vampire Diaries vet — who’s currently playing doctor to Prince Charming on ABC’s Once Upon a Time — will find himself on the other end of the scalpel on House. Anders has signed on to play the Patient of the Week in an early ’12 episode of the Fox drama that also features (as we reported earlier this week) a guest turn by Jeffrey Wright.


Disney Channel has renewed its animated hit Phineas and Ferb for a fourth season.



Vampire Diaries‘ Paul Wesley is bringing his personal life to work. The actor’s real-life wife, Torrey DeVitto, has landed a recurring gig on the CW saga.  The Pretty Little Liars/One Tree Hill alumna will play an intelligent (and beautiful!) doctor who finds herself fascinated with Matt Davis’ reluctant do-gooder, Alaric. DeVitto makes her Mystic Falls debut in Episode 10.




Southland is staging a 227 reunion with former co-stars Marla Gibbs and Regina King. Gibbs is set to appear in the Jan. 24 episode of the TNT drama playing Granny, a family member of a suspect in a murder investigation being conducted by King’s Lydia.