Quick Takes: Iran to boycott Oscars

Iran’s culture minister said Monday that his country will boycott the 2013 Oscars in the wake of the anti-Islam video made in the United States that denigrates the prophet Muhammad.

An Iranian film won an Oscar in the foreign film category in February. But Mohammed Hosseini said the Islamic Republic would not field an entry for next year’s awards because of the low-budget video he dubbed “an intolerable insult to the prophet of Islam,” the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

Hosseini urged other Islamic countries to also boycott.

—Associated Press

‘One Day’ star has cancer

The family of actress Bonnie Franklin says the “One Day at a Time” star has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In a statement released Monday by CBS, the family said Franklin, 68, is undergoing treatment and continuing her normal schedule.

Franklin starred as single mom Ann Romano in the hit CBS comedy “One Day at a Time,” which aired from 1975 to 1984. Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli played her daughters.

Franklin’s recent credits include appearances on “The Young and the Restless” and “Hot in Cleveland.”

—Associated Press

‘In the Life’ to go off the air

A monthly public television newsmagazine focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues is shutting down after its December episode.

The company that makes “In the Life” will be dissolved and its archive of materials will eventually be made available online. The interim executive director of In the Life Media said difficulty in funding the newsmagazine was partly responsible for the shutdown.

“In the Life” began as a variety show in 1992 and evolved into a newsmagazine. It is available at the beginning of each month and is shown on about 200 public television stations.

—Associated Press

Birthday treat for Clifford

School kids sang “Happy Birthday” and Scholastic unfurled a huge banner worthy of a big red dog from the roof of its New York City headquarters Monday to fete Clifford, the beloved book and TV character, for his 50 years of nudging kids to read.

His creator, 84-year-old Norman Bridwell, took questions from a few dozen first- and second-graders during a webcast beamed live into more than 5,000 classrooms around the country from the party held outside the downtown building as tourists snapped photos from atop open-air double-decker buses stuck in traffic.

And Bridwell’s real-life daughter, the all-grown-up Emily Elizabeth, spoke to reporters of her special place in publishing history as the inspiration for the perky, blond girl who shares her life — and 90 books worth of adventures — with the gawky, big-hearted Clifford.

She was just a year old when her father, a struggling artist from Indiana, and his wife, Norma, were trying to eke out a living in New York. It wasn’t going well when Norma suggested he try his hand at illustrating children’s books.

—Associated Press

Deal reached in orchestra dispute

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has reached a tentative labor agreement with its musicians, who went on strike over the weekend.

The orchestra and the Chicago Federation of Musicians announced the new three-year collective bargaining agreement on Monday evening. Both the musicians and the symphony association’s board of trustees must ratify the agreement.

Details of the new pact were not immediately announced.

Symphony officials said all previously scheduled activities would proceed as planned.

Musicians went on strike Saturday over wages and healthcare costs, forcing the cancellation of the season’s first Saturday night show less than two hours before it started.

—Associated Press

Snowe to write a ‘call to action’

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe plans a few words about politics even after leaving office.

The Maine Republican, who has cited Washington’s partisan atmosphere as the reason she is stepping down this year, has a deal with Weinstein Books for a publication due out in the spring.

The company is billing the book, currently untitled, as a “memoir and call to action.”

Snowe’s choice of publishers is an example of working with the other party. Weinstein Books’ Harvey Weinstein is not just an Oscar-winning film producer, but also a prominent Democrat.

—Associated Press

Finally

Oscar seats: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is accepting online entries for 700 bleacher seats along the red carpet on Oscar night at the Hollywood & Highland Center on Feb. 24. They’ll be awarded in a random drawing.