Comedian gets honor: Eddie Murphy is hosting the Oscars. Academy Awards producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer say the actor and comedian will host the 84th annual Oscar ceremony. Ratner called the 50-year-old entertainer “a comedic genius: one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever.” Mischer called Murphy “a truly groundbreaking performer” whose “quick wit and charisma will serve him very well as Oscar host.” This will be Murphy’s first time hosting the Academy Awards. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for his supporting role in Dreamgirls. ABC will televise the Oscars, which are set to air Feb. 26.
New face of poverty: Working-age America is the new face of poverty. Census figures show the new working-age poor represent nearly three out of five poor people, the highest share on record. They include adults 18-64 who were laid off in the recent recession as well as single people in their 20s still looking for jobs. It’s a shift from the early 1970s, when children made up the main impoverished group. Demographers say the now-weakened economy and limited government safety net for workers are playing a factor. When new census figures for 2010 are released next week, analysts expect a continued increase in the overall poverty rate due to persistently high unemployment last year. Currently, the U.S. poverty rate stands at 14.3%, or 43.6 million people.
