5 day forecast
People: Karen Klein, Jackie Evancho, Dylan McDermott, Jeffrey Donovan
Share with others:
It was just a week ago that Karen Klein was sitting on a bus enduring the teasing and taunts of a group of kids with a grace that wouldn't be recognized until days later, when a video of the incident went viral, People reports.
Now, thanks to an online fundraising effort, the upstate New York bus monitor, 68, has more than $645,275 (and counting) to her name from people -- total strangers, mostly -- who saw the video, heard the hurtful words and wanted to help.
"I keep thinking, 'What have I done?' " the Greece Central School District employee said during an in-studio interview on Monday's "Today" show. "It's like I almost don't feel like I deserve it."
The campaign, originally intended to send her off on "a vacation of a lifetime," has long surpassed its goal of $5,000.
So how will she use her money? "What would anybody do with that much money?" she said.
She'll invest some, she said, and donate to charity. The grandmother of eight has plenty of family, and "they need, they need, they need," added Klein, who isn't sure if she'll return to her job come fall.
But for Klein, who has since received apologies from some of the students on the bus, the outpouring of support has spanned beyond dollar signs.
"What I am glad about is the fact that it has come out, and everyone knows what goes on," she said. "I've gotten so many notes from people who have been bullied, who've been very hurt, and my heart goes out to these people."
She added: "I'd like to contact every one of them and tell them how sorry I am."
•
Jackie Evancho performed a concert to an audience of government officials and more than 100,000 people at the opening of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in Russia's Palace Square June 20, says Sony Music. "A Bouquet of Opera" was a symbol of unity and equality, as artists from Russia, the United States and Asia shared the stage. Jackie performed with two of the world's biggest opera stars, Russia's Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Korea's Sumi Jo. The event took place during "White Nights," where from May until the end of July, St. Petersburg emerges from long months of cold and darkness to celebrate the brief return of round-the-clock daylight. Jackie performed classical and crossover songs, including "O Mio Babbino Caro," "The Prayer," and "Con te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye)" as a duet with Sumi Jo.
•
It may have been 45 years coming, but actor Dylan McDermott can now look forward to some profound closure.
Police have determined that his mother's 1967 death, which had long been ruled an accident, was actually a murder at the hands of her then boyfriend, who reportedly had mob connections, E! News reports.
According to the Republican-American, which reported the findings, police in Waterbury, Conn., reopened the investigation last year at the behest of the actor, who presented a slew of unanswered questions.
His mother, Diane McDermott, died in 1967 from what was initially believed to have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At the time, an investigation concluded that she had accidentally shot herself with a gun that her boyfriend, John Sponza, had been polishing.
Waterbury police now say that the reopened investigation has rounded up enough evidence that points to Sponza as Diane's murderer. The most damning finding was that the ballistics of the gun she had reportedly been wielding did not match that of the weapon that killed her.
Police also were tipped off by testimony from McDermott, which contradicted that from Sponza, who was shot to death in 1972 and found dumped in the trunk of a car parked by a Massachusetts grocery.
Police Superintendent Michael Gugliotti told the Republican-American that Sponza had always insisted that he "very rarely, if ever, had arguments, yet everyone we spoke to, including Dylan, who was only 5 at the time, remembered very violent, vicious arguments." Gugliotti also noted that McDermott recalled seeing Sponza wield a gun and point it at him.
•
Jeffrey Donovan soon will go from being burned to happily married.
E! News has exclusively learned that the "Burn Notice" star has popped the question to his longtime girlfriend, model Michelle Woods.
Donovan, who stars as "burned" spy Michael Westen on the hit USA Network show, has been seeing Woods for some time.
They are planning a summer wedding.
First Published June 26, 2012 12:00 am
