Alexandra

At a Starbucks in South Los Angeles, 14-year-old Bill Kirkpatrick III sat down with his mentor, Joe Egender, to set goals for the coming year. On the teen's to-do list for 2011: maintain a 3.0 or higher grade-point average, become a better role model for his 8-year-old brother, make it as a starter for the school basketball team and be "the flower that grew from concrete" ? a reference to a poem by the late rapper Tupac Shakur. FOR THE RECORD: Big Brothers: An article in the Feb. 21 LATExtra about the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization said Joe Egender took his "little brother" Bill Kirkpatrick III to see Dr. Dre in concert.

Queen Alexandra, widow of the exiled king of Yugoslavia and daughter of a Greek monarch, has died in England. She was 71. Alexandra died Jan. 30 of cancer, according to the London office of her son, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia. She died at her home in Sussex, south of London, the national news agency Press Assn. reported. Alexandra was born in Tatoi, near Athens, on March 25, 1921, five months after the death of her father, King Alexander I of the Hellenes.

There was shock and disbelief in the offices at Santa Anita on Wednesday when officials learned that the owner of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra said in a conference call that the filly would not run in this year's Breeders' Cup at the Arcadia track. "We're all just stunned," track spokesman Mike Willman said.

Mother Alexandra, who at her death had become well-known as founder of a Pennsylvania monastery but at her birth was Princess Ileana of Romania, has died in a Youngstown, Ohio, hospital two weeks after suffering a heart attack. The eldest daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England and of Czar Alexander II of Russia, she was the founder of the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration.

Alexandra Danilova, a famed ballerina in Europe and America and one of the last survivors of the Imperial Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg before the revolution, has died in New York. She was 93. Danilova, who became a noted ballet teacher after her retirement as a dancer, died Sunday, a funeral chapel spokesman said. In 1924, she left the Soviet Union with choreographer George Balanchine, her lover and lifelong friend, and joined Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris and Monte Carlo.

NBCUniversal has promoted two veteran news executives -- Alexandra Wallace and Don Nash -- to manage its profitable but troubled morning program "Today," which has taken a dramatic tumble in the ratings. On Wednesday, NBC announced that it had elevated Nash, a 23-year veteran of the show, to the job of executive producer, overseeing the broadcast's operations. He replaces Jim Bell, who is moving to NBC Sports to manage editorial content for the company's Olympics broadcasts. In his new role, Nash, 47, will be responsible for all four hours of "Today," and will be the executive in charge of the show's staff.  He takes over Dec. 1, and will report to Wallace, who was promoted to the newly created role of "executive in charge" of the "Today" show.  "In that capacity, Wallace will have executive oversight of 'Today,' " NBC said in a prepared statement.

LONDON -- As a team, the United States women's gymnasts are well ahead of the field so far after three of five qualifying subdivisions Saturday. That isn't a surprise. The mighty Chinese, the well-respected Russians and the onrushing Romanians are still to compete in the women's qualification event. But a major upset has already happened. Defending world champion Jordyn Wieber, expected to battle her American teammate Gabrielle Douglas for the Olympic all-around gold medal, won't have that chance.

Despite the current glut of movie sequels, they're hardly new. In 1939, the same year MGM distributed "Gone With the Wind," the studio also released its third "Thin Man," its second and third "Dr. Kildares," and its seventh, eighth and ninth "Andy Hardys." Yet, for half a century, "GWTW"--the most successful movie of all time, based on the most popular American novel (more than 25 million copies sold since 1936)--has eluded sequelization. But that may change.

I am warming up at Rancho Park's driving range in July 2002 when the old instructor approaches. He is wearing a beige Gilligan's hat pulled down to his eyebrows and quietly observes me hitting balls off a faded green mat. "When did you start playing?" he asks. As a teenager, I reply. "How often do you practice?" Not enough. "What is your occupation?" Investigative reporter. He pauses a moment, then gently inquires, "Do you know Frank Deford?" Of course. "Are you familiar with his work?"