Quick Takes: Mark Burnett gets Emmy gig

Reality kingpin Mark Burnett has been tapped to produce the Primetime Emmy Awards on Fox on Sept. 18, as the TV academy has clinched a new deal that will keep the awards show on broadcast networks until at least 2018.

Best-known as the producer of CBS’ “Survivor,” Burnett has a new hit in NBC’s “The Voice.” He has overseen the MTV Movie Awards and the People’s Choice Awards.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which administers the Emmys, announced a new eight-year deal with Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC. The four networks will continue to carry the ceremony in an alternating “wheel” pattern.

Because it’s a nonprofit, the academy has no problem revealing the deal’s terms: The networks will pay a license fee of at least $8.25 million annually, for a guaranteed $66 million over the life of the contract. The proceeds from the broadcast agreement provide major financial support for the academy, which is based in North Hollywood.

—Scott Collins

Tornadoes bring out country stars

An initial list of country music stars has aligned with cable channel CMT to raise money for tornado victims across the South.

Hank Williams Jr., Alabama, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Tim McGraw will join other performers in a 90-minute benefit concert for tornado relief May 12 in Nashville. Proceeds from the show will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Last week’s tornado outbreak was the second deadliest in U.S. history. It killed 329 people across seven states and left stretches of the South from Mississippi to Virginia in ruin. Alabama was hardest hit with 236 deaths.

—Associated Press

Latino museum touted for D.C.

A federal commission called Thursday for a national museum devoted to American Latino history and culture to be built next to the Capitol as part of the Smithsonian Institution, to join ethnic museums about American Indians and African American history.

“The mall, more than any other public space in our country, does indeed tell the story of America, and yet that story is not complete,” wrote commission Chairman Henry R. Munoz III.

The report, submitted to Congress and the White House, calls for the museum to be established as the Smithsonian American Latino Museum. It recommends Congress provide half the cost of a $600-million museum to be built near the reflecting pool on the Capitol grounds. Private donations would cover the remainder.

—Associated Press

Nymph inspires giant sculpture

A giant sculpture of a girl’s head by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa has landed in a New York City park.

The 44-foot-tall “Echo” was unveiled Thursday in Madison Square Park by the park’s conservancy.

The internationally renowned artist said the white fiberglass resin work was inspired by the Greek mythological nymph Echo. She could utter other people’s thoughts but not her own.

The massive scale of

the work also draws parallels to Echo’s origin as a mountain nymph.

It will remain in the park until Aug. 14.

—Associated Press

Obamas to host poetry conclave

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will celebrate American poetry and prose with a gathering of poets, musicians and artists at the White House on Wednesday night.

Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Common, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, Aimee Mann and Jill Scott will read, sing and highlight poetry’s influence on American culture.

A workshop for students will be held earlier in the

day.

—Associated Press

‘Home Alone’ house for sale

The stately home where actor Macaulay Culkin outwitted a pair of bumbling thieves in the 1990 hit film “Home Alone” is for sale for $2.4 million.

John and Cynthia Abendshien, the owners of the four-bedroom, red brick home north of Chicago, said they are ready to downsize now that their daughter — who became Culkin’s playmate during the six-month-long shoot — is grown up.

—Reuters

Finally

Judge named: British pop singer Cheryl Cole, who’s been a judge on the British version of “The X Factor,” will join Simon Cowell as a judge on the U.S. version of the show, leaving one more space to be filled on the panel.