Winfrey gets PETA prize

Celebrity gossip, famous birthdays and other tidbits, compiled from Seattle Times news services.

Honors

Winfrey gets PETA prize

Animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has named Oprah Winfrey its "Person of the Year." PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said Winfrey has used her "powerful voice to defend those without one." PETA said the group will send Winfrey an award plaque and a letter of appreciation. Winfrey's Harpo Productions said Winfrey was not available for comment.

People

Harmon has 3rd child

Actress Angie Harmon, 36, and her husband, former National Football League player Jason Sehorn, 37, welcomed their third child Thursday. Emery Hope Sehorn joined sisters Finley, 5, and Avery, 3.

Update

No charges for Garrett

Los Angeles prosecutors said former "Everybody Loves Raymond" actor Brad Garrett, 48, was provoked into pushing a photographer and charges won't be pressed. The Emmy winner was shown pushing a man with a video camera and challenging him to a fight in a video posted last month on celebrity gossip site TMZ.com. The photographer claimed Garrett broke his camera but continued to hold it up as if still shooting.

Let's eat

Caviar for the poor

Some homeless people in Italy will be savoring beluga caviar this Christmas, thanks to officials who seized 88 pounds of a contraband stash of the delicacy from smugglers. Italy and many other countries ban beluga caviar — often the most expensive variety — in hopes of saving the dwindling population of sturgeon that produce the salty eggs. Late last month, officials seized 88 pounds of Russian beluga stashed in the refrigerator at a home in Milan destined for the black market in Milan, Venice and Monte Carlo.

Today in History

1620: Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Mass.

1937: The first feature-length animated cartoon in Technicolor, Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," had its world premiere in Los Angeles.

1945: Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.

1948: The state of Eire, or Ireland, passed an act declaring itself a republic.

1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France.

1968: Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.

1976: The Liberian-registered tanker Argo Merchant broke apart near Nantucket Island, off Massachusetts, almost a week after running aground, spilling 7 ½ million gallons of oil into the North Atlantic.

1988: 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.

Today's Birthdays

Actress Jane Fonda, 71. Musician Albert Lee, 65. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, 64. Actor Samuel L. Jackson, 60. Movie producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, 58. Singer Betty Wright, 55. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Chris Evert, 54. Actress Jane Kaczmarek, 53. Entertainer Jim Rose, 52. Actor-comedian Ray Romano, 51. Actor-comedian Andy Dick, 43. Actor Kiefer Sutherland, 42. Actress Julie Delpy, 39.