Linda McMahon

Linda McMahon

Linda McMahon, the chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., announced today she is resigning to run for Senate in her home state of Connecticut. McMahon, a Republican, will look to unseat Democrat Christopher Dodd in the 2010 election. Although not nearly as flamboyant as her husband -- WWE Chairman and ringmaster Vince McMahon -- Linda McMahon is considered the brains behind the brawn. She has been CEO of WWE since 1997 and is respected on Wall Street. She and her husband have been focusing on making over WWE from a raunch-fest to more family-friendly entertainment, albeit a family that likes to throw each other around a ring and talk in double entendres (for more on how the WWE has been repositioning itself, read our Aug. 24 story).

With deep pockets and a fairly established presence in the state, McMahon could be a force in the race. According to the The Hill, a Washington political publication, McMahon's likely opponents for the Republican nomination are former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons and former Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley. Interestingly, former Connecticut governor and Sen. Lowell Weicker is on the WWE's board of directors.

Inside the WWE, McMahon's exit comes as the company is in the midst of an expansion. Vince McMahon, who will assume his wife's CEO position, indicated last month that he wants to launch a cable network and is also pushing harder to make more movies with his stable of wrestling talent.

America’s Got Talent 2009 finals

America’s Got Talent 2009 finals

America’s Got Talent 2009 finals Neal E. Boyd is the winner. Neal E. Boyd piped many a talented people to post to win America's Got Talent reality show. Despite being tired he is ecstatic beyond imagination and says it was a dream come true for him. America's Got Talent is a British owned American reality television series on the NBC television network. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of US$1 million.

The show debuted in June 2006 for the summer television season. Starting in the third season, the Talent top prize included US$1 million, payable in a financial annuity over forty years (or the present cash value of such annuity), and a show as the headliner on the Las Vegas Strip. The show concept can be traced back to the American talent contest Major Bowes Amateur Hour, broadcast in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s.

Among its significant features were that it gave an opportunity to talented amateurs or unknown performers, with the results decided by an audience vote. The format is a popular one and has often been reworked for television in the United States and the United Kingdom. The current incarnation was created by Simon Cowell, and was originally due to be a 2005 British series called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent but was postponed due to O'Grady's acrimonious split with broadcaster ITV.

Kanye West Apologizes On Jay Leno

Kanye West Apologizes On Jay Leno

Jay Leno premiered his new television show, "The Jay Leno Show," on NBC on Monday night, and Kanye West appeared, apologizing for the third time for upstaging Taylor Swift last night at the VMAs. "It's been extremely difficult, I'm just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone," West told Leno. "I only wanted to help people, my entire life, I always wanted to give and do something… I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong… It was actually someone's emotions that I stepped on. I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person," he went on to say.

When Jay asked what Kanye's mother Donda, who passed away in November of 2007, would have thought of his behavior, Kanye paused for a very long time, and then answered, "Yeah, obviously I deal with hurt and so many celebrities you know, they never take the time off, I've never really taken time off. … I'm just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else's hurt."

He added that what he did was wrong and he wasn't going to try to justify it, and also said, "I need to, after this, take some time off and analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve. If there's anything I can do to help Taylor in the future, to help anyone, I'd like to." After speaking with Jay, Kanye took the stage with Jay-Z and Rihanna for a performance of "Run This Town." Others appearing on Jay's first episode included Jerry Seinfeld and Oprah, who chimed in via satellite.