Helen Levitt

Helen Levitt, who died Sunday, was my muse. She was the slightly underappreciated member of the great '40s generation of photographers; profiles always mention that she was "friends" with James Agee and Walker Evans, as if she couldn't stand alone. She always said, girlishly, that she was too shy and tech-phobic to be a photojournalist, although that's essentially what she was.

She roamed the poorer neighborhoods of New York and captured what I always think of as the theater of hanging out. She loved to photograph people on the stoop wearing exaggerated expressions—crying or laughing so hard they look like they're faking it. Often "props" appear in her photos—a cardboard cutout of the president or a strange figure drawn on the street in chalk. Her many photos of children had none of the poster cuteness of Henri Cartier-Bresson's—something I imagine she tried hard to avoid because she was a woman.

One thing she did better than any of the male masters is transition to color photography. Her contemporaries seemed scared off by bursts of street color they couldn't control but she just got better and better. In every photo in her book, Slide Show, it's hard to believe she didn't place that red balloon or those aqua shorts just so, but of course she never did. Unlike the men, she was happy to submit to the randomness.

Tim Allen

Comic actor Tim Allen is a father for the second time. Publicist Marleah Leslie says Allen's wife, Jane, gave birth to a 5-pound, 13-ounce girl, Elizabeth, on Saturday in Los Angeles. Leslie says the couple is thrilled with the new arrival, and both mother and child are healthy. The 55-year-old Allen has starred in many movies, including "The Santa Clause" and "Toy Story," and the TV series "Home Improvement."

Tim Allen had better be ready for some new home improvement. The actor and wife Jane Hajduk welcomed daughter Elizabeth on Saturday in Los Angeles. The little bundle of joy checked in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. Publicist Marleah Leslie says the couple, who married in 2006, is "thrilled" with the new arrival of Elizabeth, and both mother and child are healthy.

This is the couple's first child. The 55-year-old Tim Allen also has a 19-year-old daughter, Katherine, from his first marriage to Laura Deibel. The Allens have joined Jenna Jameson and Tito Ortiz, Carson Daly and Siri Pinter, Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller, Andrew Firestone and Ivana Bozilovic, Anne Heche and James Tupper, M.I.A. and some guy as new celeb parents this month.

Ashley Biden

Ashley Biden, the 27-year-old daughter of Joe Biden, allegedly snorting lines of cocaine at a Delaware party last month. The New York Post claims that Dunlap showed it 90 seconds of the 43-minute tape, which purportedly shows Ashley doing lines of coke with a red straw in front of witnesses and later shouting "Shut the F-- Up!" The newspaper reported that the seller wanted $2 million before dropping his price to $400,000.

Ashley Biden is the only daughter and youngest child of Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden. Born June 8, 1981, her full name is Ashley Blazer Biden. She has campaigned with her father since her preschool days. She has two older brothers, Hunter and Beau, and lives in Delaware.

In 2008 Ashley Biden was named a Person to Watch by Delaware Today. She works as a social worker. In 2002 Ashley Biden was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a police officer outside a Chicago bar. In 2009 she was caught up in a media firestorm about a tape allegedly showing her doing cocaine.