Garr joins battle against MS

Nashville, Tenn. – Teri Garr was welcomed as the newest celebrity soldier in the fight against multiple sclerosis at the annual convention of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Garr, 53, who starred in “Young Frankenstein” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” received the society’s Shining Star Award Thursday from David L. Lander, the actor best known for playing Squiggy on the sitcom “Laverne & Shirley.”

Lander revealed that he had MS in 1999, after hiding it for 15 years for fear of being unemployable in Hollywood. Garr went public with her MS this year in a media blitz that began on the “Larry King Live” show on CNN.

MS is an unpredictable neurological condition that can cause blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, fatigue and, in extreme cases, blindness and paralysis.

Jay-Z plays principal for a day

Detroit – Rapper Jay-Z told an audience at the city’s Cass Technical High School about the importance of staying in school.

“I’m just here to let y’all know it’s real,” Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, said Thursday.

The students had won a contest sponsored by radio station WDTJ-FM by having good school attendance. The prize was Jay-Z as principal for a day.

The rapper, whose album “The Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse,” debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, didn’t perform for the students. Instead, they performed for him. The marching band played and cheerleaders inserted Jay-Z’s lyrics and rap titles into a cheer.

Only students with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher – 1,209 of them, or half of the school’s student body – were invited to the rally.

AIDS day brings Bono to Midwest

Lincoln, Neb. – Bono will be in Nebraska next month for World AIDS Day.

The 42-year-old U2 lead singer will be in Lincoln on Dec. 1, said Nelson Okuku Miruka, president of Save Sub-Saharan Orphans, a volunteer group that raises money for African orphanages.

He’ll present an evening program at the Lied Center for the performing arts to raise awareness of the continent’s growing health crisis, Miruka said.

Letterman gets wish, sort of

Muncie, Ind. – David Letterman, who suggested his Indianapolis hometown name an Interstate after him, finally has something that bears his name: an alley.

City officials in Muncie decided Wednesday to name a downtown alley after the CBS “Late Show” host, who is a Ball State University graduate.

“It will take some time to develop,” said Brian Lough, Muncie’s downtown development director. But the alley is “the busiest and the best” in the city about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Lough came up with the idea after Letterman asked Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson in October to rename Interstate 465, the highway that encircles the city, the David Letterman Expressway.