Calvin Coolidge

Seymour Rexite, 91, a one-time matinee idol of the Yiddish theater and radio, died Monday at his home in New York's Greenwich Village. A high, sweet tenor, Mr. Rexite starred with his wife, singer and actress Miriam Kressyn, for more than 40 years on the radio, performing pop standards in Yiddish. At one time they were heard on 18 radio shows a week. Known in his native Poland as the wunderkind child singer, Mr. Rexite (born Rechtzeit) immigrated to the United States in 1920 with his father, a cantor, and brother, Jack, an actor and songwriter.

Election Day is just around the corner, and to help kids feel more involved in the event, the Forest Park Branch Library is offering a program just for them. It includes timely tales and trivia about presidents and politicians. Taking information from books, including "The Voice of the People" by Betsy Maestro and "101 President Jokes" by Melvin Berger, librarians will highlight the more quirky aspects of the presidency and the presidents. Some tidbits: George Washington's many sets of dentures were made from lead, ivory, humans, cows and other animals.

On October 15, 2008, LON B. RUBIN, age 75, died peacefully after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. Lon was born and raised in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Calvin Coolidge High School, he earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Maryland. He began his career as a CPA while working his way through law school. He received his J.D. degree with honors from the George Washington Law School and was admitted to the Maryland Bar. Early in Lon's career, he worked for the National Association of Home Builders and wrote The National Compendium for Condominiums during the Kennedy Administration.

John McKeithen, 81, a former Louisiana governor who worked to ease race relations and helped get the Superdome built in New Orleans, died yesterday in Columbia, La. Mr. McKeithen was known for his oratorical skills and was able to adapt them for the media age. He was the first to use television successfully in a Louisiana governor's campaign, becoming famous for looking directly into the camera and asking: "Won't you help me?"He was so popular that in his first administration the legislature passed a law allowing a governor to succeed himself.

Two Laurel men charged with raping a 21-year-old female acquaintance in Ellicott City Sunday, then taking her car after she escaped, were ordered held without bond in the Howard County Detention Center yesterday after an early morning bond hearing.The woman, a resident of Berlin, was treated and released from Howard County General in Columbia early Sunday. She told police she was driving the two men home from a party that had begun Saturday night in Baltimore County when the attack occurred.

Nathan Miller, a former reporter for The Sun who was the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed books of American history and biography, died Friday at a Washington nursing home where he had been since suffering a stroke two years ago. He was 77. "Every newspaper person has a yearning to be an author. Nat didn't talk about it, he went out and did it, and he managed to draw thousands of readers into naval and presidential history," said James H. Bready, a retired editorial writer and author of a monthly column on regional books for The Sun. "His last book, New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America, was a climax to his earlier works.

WHAT should be your son's first name, if the destination yo have in mind for him is the White House and if you think precedent can help the would-be president?The logical answer is James. So far, half a dozen Jameses have made it to the presidency. (One restyled himself Jimmy, but he started out a James. We are counting Bill here as a William.) The six Jameses are tops, followed by five Johns and now four Williams.But a closer look at the nation's 41 presidents (counting Stephen Grover Cleveland only once)

Mary E. Crone, a homemaker who early in her life had worked for a Baltimore hatmaker, died of cardiovascular disease Tuesday at her Westminster home. She was 98. Born Mary E. Henning in Baltimore, she spent her childhood at the George Abell estate on Joppa Road in Riderwood, where her father was caretaker. She later moved with her family to Dorsey and Elkridge, where she attended St. Augustine School. While working at Townsend-Grace Co. in the 1920s, one of Baltimore's premier "Big Three" hatmakers, Mrs. Crone was given the responsibility of making a straw boater for President Calvin Coolidge.

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton signed the bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibited state and local taxation of Internet access and Internet-only services, the purpose was to promote the commercial potential of the Internet, especially for start-ups and small businesses. Congress extended the bill three times, the latest until 2014. Now there's the Marketplace Fairness Act, which, writes The Washington Post, "would allow states and local governments to require large Internet retailers and other 'remote sellers' with sales over $1 million annually to collect sales taxes and send the revenue to the appropriate location.

THE late American humorist Will Rogers was noted for saying he never met a man he didn't like. Political commentator Molly Ivins is noted for writings that suggest she has never met a public official she hasn't disliked.Will Rogers the lovable populist and Molly Ivins the acerbic wit seem an unlikely match. Yet there Ms. Ivins was in the Oct. 17 issue of The New York Times Book Review, raving about both Rogers and a new biography of him by Ben Yagoda. A sampling from her write-up:"Those of us who write political humor will want to study Will Rogers's approach to the players in public life.