People: DeGeneres lauds student for stand

Constance McMillen (left), a student whose prom was canceled after she asked to bring a same-sex date, was presented with a check for $30,000 on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."Michael RozmanAssociated Press

A lesbian high school student embroiled in a legal flap over her school's prom policy has received a $30,000 scholarship on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Constance McMillen was speechless Friday when talk show host Ellen DeGeneres pulled out an oversized check from the Web site Tonic.Com, a digital media company.

DeGeneres says she admires McMillen for challenging Itawamba County School District rules that would prevent her from escorting her girlfriend to the prom. The school district canceled the April 2 prom after McMillen's request.

A hearing is scheduled Monday in federal court in Aberdeen on American Civil Liberties Union efforts to force the district to hold the prom.

Actresses step in on suicide tweet

Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening Friday when an 18-year-old man threatened to commit suicide.

Moore's Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself in his front yard in Casselberry, north of Orlando.

Vardalos' eponymous account included a message that she had called a suicide hotline and been connected to Florida police. "I gave his name+city. They went to home, helped him," one message read.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said authorities received two calls reporting the suicide threat on Twitter.

Deputies went to a home and took the man to a hospital, Pisano said.

'Bombshell' predicted rise in fame

When Michelle "Bombshell" McGee posed for photos for Tattoo Revue magazine, she lobbied the publication's founder Casey Exton for the cover, telling him, "I'm going to be hot real soon."

Three months later, she did just that. She made headlines with claims that she had a months-long affair with Sandra Bullock's husband, Jesse James. And she made Exton one happy editor: He had decided to put her on the cover of his month's edition, which went on sale last week.

"It's a lucky hit," Exton, 70, told People.com. "I'm going back to print more issues."

Already, some modest spoils of McGee's notoriety have come. She was reportedly paid tens of thousands of dollars for her story.

-- From Our Press Services

Today's birthdays

Producer Carl Reiner, 88; country singer Don Edwards, 71; actor William Hurt, 60; drummer Carl Palmer (Asia; Emerson, Lake and Palmer), 60; director Spike Lee, 53; actress Holly Hunter, 52; model Kathy Ireland, 47; actor David Thewlis, 47; actor Michael Rapaport, 40; singer Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, 34.

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