Fogbow

Walter F. Mondale, a preacher's son from southern Minnesota who climbed to the pinnacle of U.S. politics as an influential senator, vice president and Democratic nominee for president, died on Monday. He was 93.

Known as Fritz to family, friends and voters alike, Mondale died in Minneapolis, according to a statement from his family.

After serving four years as vice president under President Jimmy Carter, Mondale was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984. He lost to the incumbent, President Ronald Reagan, in a historic landslide.

"A night like that is hard on you," Mondale wrote in his 2010 memoir, "The Good Fight."

Even in defeat, Mondale made history by choosing as his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket. It followed a series of political landmarks in a public career that spanned seven decades.

A protégé of Hubert H. Humphrey, another Minnesota politician who rose to the vice presidency and lost a presidential election, Mondale served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota for a dozen years. He played a lead role in the passage of social programs, civil rights laws and environmental protections that defined President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society."

As vice president from 1977 to 1981, Mondale transformed the office from what had historically been a punchline into what both he and Carter called a true governing partnership. Mondale's role as chief adviser and troubleshooter, working from a West Wing office near the Oval Office, became a model for successors including George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden.

Mondale spoke by phone on Sunday with President Biden and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said his friend and former campaign staffer Tom Cosgrove. While he and his family believed his death was imminent, after those calls he “perked up.”

In a final goodbye email to 320 staffers spanning four decades, Mondale told his staffers how much they meant to him, adding he knew that they’d keep up “the good fight” and “Joe in the White House certainly helps.”

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Cosgrove said Mondale had been deeply worried about the impact of a potential second Donald Trump term on American democracy. "There was a difference after the inauguration - a letting go,” Cosgrove said. “There was a big exhale of relief.”

Mrich wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:04 pm This thread....

Italian star singer Milva dies aged 81

The genre-crossing Italian chanteuse, known for her vocal range and red hair, took Europe by storm in the 1960s and '70s. Her career spanned decades.

Singer Milva passed away aged 81 on April 23, 2021

Milva, an Italian chanson and pop music singer popular in the 1960s and 1970s, passed away Friday at her home in Milan, Italy, aged 81. Born Maria Ilva Biolcati, the singer was often referred to as "La Rossa," meaning "redhead" in Italian, for the color of her fiery red locks.

With an active career spanning decades, Milva was a musical great in her home country. Italy's Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, called her "one of the strongest interpreters of Italian songs." Her voice awakened "intense emotions" in entire generations and upheld the reputation of Italy, he said Saturday after news of her death broke.

Yet her fame was not limited to Italy. Her penchant for singing in foreign languages led to her success around the world — she released songs in English, German, French, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Japanese.

People around the world are mourning the death of Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the command module for the first-ever moon landing in 1969.

Collins, 90, had been battling cancer for some time, and the news of his death became public today (April 28). "He spent his final days peacefully, with his family by his side. Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way," his family shared in a statement. "We will miss him terribly. Yet we also know how lucky Mike felt to have lived the life he did."

Collins was dubbed "the forgotten astronaut," because he didn't walk on the moon like his two Apollo 11 crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, did. But Collins' impact on spaceflight and the world is undoubted. That impact can be seen clearly in how people from all over, including other astronauts, are reacting to the news of his passing.

Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, the theater veteran who rose to prominence late in her career with memorable turns in 1980s films such as “Moonstruck” and “Steel Magnolias,” has died at the age of 89.

Dukakis, who also starred in “Look Who’s Talking” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” died at her home in New York City.

“My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City,” wrote her brother Apollo, who confirmed her death on his Facebook page. “After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her [husband] Louis [Zorich].” The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-Winning ‘Moonstruck’ Star, Dies at 89
She died Saturday morning in her home in New York City, according to her agent.

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Olympia Dukakis, the veteran stage and screen actor whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher’s mother in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” has died. She was 89. Dukakis died Saturday morning in her home in New York City, according to Allison Levy, her agent at Innovative Artists. A cause of death was not immediately released, but her family said in a statement that she had been in failing health for months.

Dukakis won her Oscar through a surprising chain of circumstances, beginning with author Nora Ephron’s recommendation that she play Meryl Streep’s mother in the film version of Ephron’s book “Heartburn.” Dukakis got the role, but her scenes were cut from the film. To make it up to her, director Mike Nichols cast her in his hit play “Social Security.” Director Norman Jewison saw her in that role and cast her in “Moonstruck.”

Dukakis won the Oscar for best supporting actress and Cher took home the trophy for best actress.

She referred to her 1988 win as “the year of the Dukakii” because it was also the year Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, her cousin, was the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. At the ceremony, she held her Oscar high over her head and called out: “OK, Michael, let’s go!”