Alan Colmes, liberal voice on Fox, dead at 66, and more in entertainment news – Press of Atlantic City

Alan Colmes, the radio and television host and commentator best known as the amiable liberal foil to the hard-right Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, has died.

Fox spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer confirmed his death Thursday. Fox also aired a tribute to Colmes, narrated by Hannity, and a statement from his family saying that he died Thursday morning after "a brief illness." Colmes was 66 and is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley, the sister of longtime Fox contributor Monica Crowley. In a statement issued through Fox, Hannity called Colmes "one of life's most decent, kind and wonderful people."

Colmes was a New York City native and Hofstra University graduate who worked for years in radio, notably on WABC and WNBC, and standup comedy before joining Fox in 1996. That same year he and the conservative Hannity began a 12-year run as co-hosts of the popular "Hannity & Colmes" program, which brought Colmes both fame and ridicule. Admittedly a minority voice on the conservative channel, Colmes was often mocked as too nice and easily overshadowed by the ever-aggressive Hannity. The liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Media likened him to the hapless Washington Generals, the dependable losers to basketball's Harlem Globetrotters. Al Franken, in his best-selling "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," imagined Colmes earning his salary by "adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages."

Colmes was aware of the criticism, but said that getting mean was not his style.

"People say to me, 'Why don't you fight fire with fire?'" he told The Associated Press in 2003. "You fight fire with water, not fire."

Colmes continued to appear as a commentator on Fox after his show with Hannity ended. He also was an author, his books including "Thank the Liberals" and "Red, White & Liberal."

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2016 file photo, singer Rihanna poses for photographers as she arrives to Christian Dior's Spring-Summer 2017 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented in Paris. Harvard University will present the singer with the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, during a ceremony on campus in Cambridge, Mass., (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

Singer Rihanna to receive Harvard humanitarian award

Grammy Award-winning singer Rihanna has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year.

She will receive the Harvard Foundation's Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at a ceremony scheduled for Tuesday.

Rihanna is being honored for several philanthropic efforts. She built a state-of-the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer in her home nation of Barbados, and also created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program named for her grandparents for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries.

She also supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project to provide children with access to education in more than 60 developing countries.

Previous winners include actor James Earl Jones, gender rights advocate Malala Yousafzai, and four U.N. Secretaries General.

Nick Cannon welcomes baby boy

Nick Cannon has welcomed a new baby boy.

The "America's Got Talent" host posted a picture of himself Wednesday on Instagram holding son Golden "Sagon" Cannon. He writes in the caption, "No matter how hard the world may hit you, God always reminds us of our purpose!" He adds: "Welcome to Earth Son!"

The 36-year-old Cannon announced in November that he was expecting a baby with his ex-girlfriend, Brittany Bell, a former beauty queen.

The baby is Cannon's third child. He also has 5-year-old twins with ex-wife Mariah Carey.

Oprah Winfrey to speak at upstate NY college's commencement

Oprah Winfrey will be a speaker at the graduation ceremony for an upstate New York college attended by some of the graduates of her South African school.

The Skidmore College website says the author, actress and former talk show host will be a speaker at the May 20 commencement at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Winfrey will receive an honorary Doctorate of Letters in the Arts from the private liberal arts college located in Saratoga Springs, 165 miles north of New York City.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, a boarding school for underprivileged South African girls, opened outside Johannesburg in 2007. Several graduates of the school have attended Skidmore.

Winfrey was at Skidmore in October 2013 to visit two of her South African school's graduates.

This panel of black and white self-made photographs provided by Karl Baden shows Baden over the last three decades beginning Feb. 23, 1987, top left, through Feb. 21, 2017, lower right. The Boston College professor's "Every Day" project has chronicled his visage in nearly 11,000 photos in various locations with the same lighting and background each day for thirty years. He intends to do it the rest of his life. (Karl Baden via AP)

Professor takes 'selfie' every day for last 30 years

Long before they were called selfies, Karl Baden snapped a simple black and white photo of himself. Then he repeated it, every day, for the next three decades.

Baden's "Every Day" project officially turns 30 on Thursday and he says he has no intention of stopping. The stark contemplation on mortality and aging has prompted some to dub the Boston College professor the unwitting "father of the selfie."

The 64-year-old Cambridge resident grumbles at comparisons to the pouty face, self-congratulatory portraits that fill Instagram and Facebook. But he recognizes the ubiquity of the "selfie" a word that didn't become widespread until this decade has helped raise the profile of the project, which has been exhibited in art galleries in Boston, New York City and elsewhere over the years.

Robert Mann, a New York City gallery owner that exhibited Baden's work on its 10th anniversary, says he's impressed with how Baden has stuck to his process. "Watching Karl age (gracefully) in front of the camera has been an honor," he said.

And there's been just one day over the past 30 years where Baden admits he neglected to take a photo: Oct. 15, 1991. "It was a dumb moment of forgetfulness," he said.

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2017, file photo, Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump listen to the singing of the national anthem by Jackie Evancho during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Evancho asked Trump in a tweet on Feb. 22, 2017, to meet with her and her transgender sister on transgender rights. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Jackie Evancho wants to meet Trump on transgender rights

More than a month after performing at President Donald Trump's inauguration, singer Jackie Evancho says she and her transgender sister want to meet with him about transgender rights.

The 16-year-old made the request in a tweet Wednesday night . Evancho appeared alongside her sister, Juliet, on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday . Juliet Evancho says they hope to "enlighten" the president.

The tweet followed the Trump administration's move Wednesday to end federal protection for transgender students that allowed them to use public school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identities.

The former "America's Got Talent" contestant sang the national anthem at Trump's Jan. 20 inaugural and tells 'GMA' that she would do so again. She says she sang not because of politics, but for "the honor and privilege" of performing for her country.

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Alan Colmes, liberal voice on Fox, dead at 66, and more in entertainment news - Press of Atlantic City