People in the News

All eyes on Swift at CMA awards

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Kenny Chesney has made the very hard work of dominating country music look easy.

And Taylor Swift is paying close attention.

The 19-year-old sensation has the record sales. She beat out every living artist - no matter the genre - this year with more than 3 million copies of her "Fearless" CD sold and counting (only Michael Jackson has sold more). The album remains No. 3 after 51 weeks on the charts.

And she's moving concert tickets as fast as they can print them. That might be enough to sway the more than 5,000 members of the Country Music Association, who decide who gets the trophy for entertainer of the year, the CMA's highest honor, at the CMA Awards on Wednesday night (the broadcast will air live on ABC).

She's the youngest ever nominated for the award and the first solo female act since Faith Hill in 2000, and she's faced a lot of questions about whether either is a limiting factor.

"I think you have to do the work and put in the effort and do the touring that it takes to win entertainer of the year," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And I don't really think it has anything to do with gender. I think if you want to compete with the boys, play on a level that they're playing at."

Hopper: All's 'good right now'

ARCADIA, Calif. - Prostate cancer couldn't keep Dennis Hopper away from the Breeders' Cup on Saturday. The 73-year-old actor and artist attended the Breeders' Cup in support of The V Foundation for Cancer Research, the official charity of the year-ending thoroughbred championships Saturday at Santa Anita Park in Southern California.

It was revealed last month that Hopper had been diagnosed with cancer, although he said Saturday he's been battling it for the past nine years. He's started a new, experimental treatment at the University of Southern California that he says he hopes will help.

"It has great promise," Hopper said. "Everything's good right now."

Rachael Ray helps Ohio town

WILMINGTON, Ohio - Television cooking star Rachael Ray is boosting the local food supply for a struggling Ohio town. On Saturday, Ray brought a Wilmington soup kitchen new appliances, shelves and furniture. Ray's show also promised to supply food for the kitchen for the next year.

The soup kitchen is getting as many customers in a day as it did in a week a year ago. Wilmington is still reeling from the departure of DHL Express and other Wilmington Air Park operations, which has left a 15 percent local unemployment rate in its wake.

Today's birthdays

Actor Robert David Hall is 61. Actor Lou Ferrigno is 58. Actor Eric Dane is 37. Singer Nick Lachey is 36. Singer Sisqo is 31. Actress Nikki Blonsky is 21.