New York City

‘Chicago’ lyricist dies of heart attack

Fred Ebb, who wrote the lyrics for such hit Broadway musicals as “Chicago” and “Cabaret” as well as the big-city anthem “New York, New York,” has died of a heart attack.

Ebb died Saturday at his home, said David McKeown, an assistant to composer John Kander, Ebb’s longtime collaborator. The lyricist was believed to be 76.

With Kander, Ebb wrote the scores for 11 Broadway musicals, many of them for such leading ladies as Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli and Lauren Bacall.

Among the other musicals Kander and Ebb wrote during their four decades of collaboration were “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993), “The Rink” (1984), “Woman of the Year” (1981) and “Zorba” (1968).

“New York, New York” was written for the 1977 Martin Scorsese film of the same name, which starred Minnelli and Robert De Niro.

Michigan

Rockford Peach, film inspiration dies at 89

Rose M. “Rosie” Gacioch, a player for the Rockford Peaches from 1945 to 1954 whose experience helped inspire the 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” died Thursday. She was 89.

Gacioch died at a nursing home in aAA Detroit suburb, The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reported.

Gacioch joined the All-American Girls Baseball League in 1944. She led the league in triples in 1946 as an outfielder. She became a pitcher in 1948, winning 20 games in 1951.

Gacioch worked as a press operator for 20 years in Rockford, Ill., until her retirement in 1978, when she moved to Michigan.

Gacioch, who was played in the movie by Rosie O’Donnell, was known for her blunt manner of speaking, relatives told the newspaper.

Washington, D.C.

Powell rejects 9-11, Saddam connection

Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he had “seen nothing that makes a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and that awful regime and what happened on 9-11.”

Asked how he believes Sen. John Kerry would respond to a terrorist attack, Powell said, “I can’t tell you how he might respond to it. As commander in chief, I think he’d respond to it in a robust way.”

NBC’s Tim Russert, using language similar to a question President Bush had posed about Kerry regarding the former Iraqi leader, asked Powell if he “knew today that Saddam did not have these weapons of mass destruction, would you still advocate an invasion?”

Powell did not answer directly, but said, “I would have to look at the total picture, and we’d have to sit down and talk about his intention to have such weapons, the capability that was inherent.”