Indy 500 a big-name draw

Indianapolis — Actor Morgan Freeman drove the pace car. Pop star Jessica Simpson sang the national anthem. Television host David Letterman co-owns the team that had the winning driver, Buddy Rice.

Some of the celebrities at the Indianapolis 500 had local roots. Letterman, former NBC “Today” host Jane Pauley and Rupert Boneham of “Survivor” fame are Indiana natives.

Also attending the race were chef Wolfgang Puck; actors James Garner, Judge Reinhold and Patrick Dempsey; and New York Giants quarterback Jesse Palmer, who recently finished his stint as “The Bachelor.”

‘Baby Jessica’ now a graduate

Midland, Texas — “Baby Jessica,” who held the attention of the nation as a toddler when she fell into an abandoned well 17 years ago, is now a high school graduate.

Crews struggled for 58 hours to rescue Jessica McClure from an 8-inch-wide pipe in October 1987.

Now 18, McClure joined more than 100 other seniors at Greenwood High School near Midland in receiving their diplomas Friday night.

The case of 18-month-old Jessica created a nationwide sensation. Emergency crews rescued her — a dramatic moment covered on live television — after digging a parallel shaft and then breaking through the wall of the well.