Billionaire investor Buffett weds longtime companion

Omaha, Neb. – Warren Buffett wed his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, in a private ceremony Wednesday, his 76th birthday.

Susan A. Buffett, who hosted the wedding at her Omaha home, said her father and Menks, 60, were wed by District Judge Patricia Lamberty in a 15-minute ceremony about 5 p.m.

“It’s her only and his last (wedding),” Susan Buffett said her father noted. Menks’ sister, Lili, also attended.

Susan Buffett said the two had been thinking about marriage for some time. They don’t have plans for a honeymoon. “Warren honeymoons every day in his office,” she said, laughing.

In the past year, Warren Buffett has joked about his marital status but gave no public indication that he intended to remarry.

His first wife, Susan Thompson Buffett, died in July 2004 of a stroke. They were married in 1952 and had three children.

She’s fired: Trump gives ‘Apprentice’ co-star the ax

New York – Carolyn Kepcher, who sat by while her boss Donald Trump dismissed one would-be apprentice after another, has now felt the full force of his iconic phrase: “You’re fired.”

Kepcher, a co-star with Trump from the start of “The Apprentice” in 2004 and a longtime employee of the Trump Organization, has been let go.

She had been chief operating officer of two of Trump’s golf courses.

“Donald and I had different visions for my future role in the company,” Kepcher said in a statement. “Donald has been an extraordinary boss and a great mentor over the years, and I will always be grateful.”

Her leave-taking will have no effect on the upcoming sixth season of “The Apprentice,” originating for the first time from Los Angeles, NBC said. Though production is completed, Kepcher was not part of the cast, which includes Trump children Ivanka and Donald Jr. It begins airing in January.

The New York Post attributed Kepcher’s firing to excessive self-promotion as a star at the expense of her performance at her day job.

‘Survivor’ loses sponsorship

Detroit – General Motors swears that race has nothing to do with it.

The giant automaker announced this week that it would end its sponsorship of CBS’ hit series “Survivor” and made sure to add that the decision had nothing to do with the reality show’s controversial decision to divide its contestants in the upcoming season by race and ethnicity.

Some have criticized the show’s new format, saying it promotes divisiveness.

Show creator Mark Burnett said viewers should wait to see how it works.

“By putting people in tribes, they clearly have to get rid of people of their own ethnicity,” he said. “So it’s not racial at all.”

GM has sponsored “Survivor” since it premiered in May 2000.