Domingo in Tune With Victims

--Opera star Placido Domingo says his commitment to Mexican earthquake victims won’t end with the distribution of about $1 million he raised through benefit concerts in Europe and the United States. Domingo presented checks for 1.5 million pesos, or about $2,800 each, to 50 families during a news conference in Mexico City and said he would distribute the rest of the money directly to other victims. The Spanish tenor immigrated to Mexico as a child. His parents survived the massive September earthquakes, but an aunt, uncle, a cousin and the cousin’s baby were among those killed. “I have not ended my commitment to the victims of the earthquake, especially those living in the Nuevo Leon building, but I decided it was necessary now to make the donation,” he said. His relatives were killed in the apartment building. Domingo performed benefit concerts in Switzerland, Spain, West Germany, Dallas and Puerto Rico.

--Women are using their natural sense of nurturing in gaining and using power and are becoming more sophisticated in advocating their ideas, says Patty Duke, an actress since the age of 8 and recently elected president of the Screen Actors Guild. She spoke to about 2,000 working women at a conference in Portland, Ore., called “Strategies for Success ‘86,” sponsored by Chevrolet. “The pendulum has swung from the rabid, ‘foaming-at-the-mouth’ women’s movement that scared the ‘bejesus’ out of everybody in Idaho,” she said. “We are more sophisticated about how we package our ideas.” Duke, 39, said in an interview that she did not intend to delve into politics during her two-year term as guild president, something her predecessor, actor Ed Asner, was sometimes criticized for doing.

--Britain’s royal family denied a newspaper report that Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, has received treatment for lung cancer. Princess Margaret, 55, flew home to London on Saturday after canceling an official engagement in West Berlin because of what was described as a throat infection. A spokesman for the princess called the report “completely unfounded.”

--Scholars who toss paper airplanes have rarely found it profitable. But this time, there was no teacher present to scold Todd Schlegel. The student at the University of Minnesota threw about 70 misses before he landed a paper airplane inside a 1986 Mercedes-Benz sports car at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The prize? The car. Schlegel purchased 100 airplanes for $50 to participate in the annual Great Airplane Toss, a fund-raiser for the National Kidney Foundation of the Upper Midwest. Foundation Chairman Tom Mensing said the event raised about $51,000.