17
DIED
To ny Award–
winning p lay wright
Te rr ence M cNally,
of c omplications
from C OV ID-19, o n
March 24, a t 8 1.ABOLISHED
Colorado’s d eath
penalty, a fter
Gov ern or J ared Polis
signed l egislation, o n
March 23.MOVED
The U.S. income tax
filing date, from
April 15 to July 15, in
a decision announced
March 20.ISSUED
A g lobal L ev el 4
trav el a dvisory,
recommending U.S.
citizens avoid a ll
intern ational t rav el,
by t he U .S. S tate
Depart ment, o n
March 19.FIRED
Two C hicago police
officers w ho s hot
at a s tolen c ar i n a
2016 c hase t hat
resulted i n t he d eath
of a n u narm ed b lack
teenager.AGREED
By C aliforn ia’s
Pa cific G as &
Electric, t o plead
guilty t o i nv oluntary
manslaughter, o n
March 23, over i ts
role i n t he 2 018
Camp Fi re, w hich
killed a t l east 8 6.PUBLISHED
Woody A llen’s con-
trov ers ial m emoir,
Apropos o f N othing,
on M arch 23, a fter i t
wa s c anceled by i ts
original p ublisher.DISCOVERED
Fo ssilized 5 55 mil-
lion-year-old ev idence
of a w orm like
creature t hat m ay b e
the earl iest a ncestor
of h umans a nd o ther
animals, a ccording
to r esearchers , o n
March 23.DIED
Kenny Rogers
Country music’s ace
By Naomi Judd
when Kenny RogeRs, who died at 81 on MaRch 20, asKed
me to play the role of his love interest in his 1993 TV movie
Rio Diablo, I was overjoyed. But before we shot the first scene,
I was an absolute mess with nerves. Yes, I’ve sung in the Super
Bowl halftime show, but acting in a dramatic western was brand-
new to me.
In the first scene, I was supposed to run toward Kenny, put my
arms around him and scream, “Don’t leave, they will kill you!”
Just as I touched him, he whispered, “For God’s sake, Naomi,
don’t laugh.” Of course, this immediately sent me into doing the
bent-over double belly laugh. The director and crew laughingly
told me to expect such pranks on the set. I decided to get back at
Kenny. In the next scene, I was giving him a bath in an old claw-
footed bathtub. Kenny was wearing only his underwear, so I hid
his robe. Never thought I’d ever be giving Kenny Rogers a bath,
much less see him almost naked.
I was a huge fan of Kenny’s long before I ever met him. I loved
him, and the times I spent with him are some of my best memo-
ries. When I got Kenny’s Christmas card this year, I saw a laugh-
ing Kenny with his lovely wife Wanda. As I stared at the card,
a life well lived was the phrase that came to mind.Judd i s a G rammy-winning c ountry m usician a nd a ctorMilestonesPOSTPONED
Tokyo Olympics
Until 2021the woRld’s athletes
raised their voices. During
the COVID-19 outbreak, they
explained, training for the
Olympics was all but impos-
sible. With the Tokyo Games
still set to begin in July, even
as most other major sport-
ing events were canceled or
delayed, many athletes faced
a cruel dilemma: sacrifice
practice for the sake of pub-
lic health, or ignore social-
distancing and quarantine
instructions while chasing
gold. “We want to compete,”
American sprinter Wallace
Spearmon told TIME. “But
not at the cost of a life.”
These voices were heard.
Following pressure from ath-
letes and national govern-
ing bodies, the International
Olympic Committee and
Tokyo 2020 Organizing Com-
mittee jointly announced
on March 24 that for the
first time ever, the Olympics
would be postponed a year,
giving athletes much- needed
clarity in uncertain times.
(They’ve been canceled three
times, because of world war.)
The world will miss the
spectacle this summer. But
Tokyo 2021 could be a joyous
celebration of global resil-
ience, with a pandemic trail-
ing in the distance, nowhere
near the podium.
—sean gRegoRyThe Oly mpic rings, seen in
Tokyo on Marc h 23Rogers, who was
inducte d into the
Country Music Hall
of Fame in 2013,
singing circ a 19 80BRNEWS.indd 17 3/25/20 2:51 PM