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WASHINGTON, March 23, 2006 – Reigning Miss America Jennifer Berry had nothing but good to say about servicemembers she met in a tour of the Pentagon today. Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry poses in front of the Pentagon with her famous crown March 23. Berry toured the Pentagon to meet with service members. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "It was absolutely wonderful and such an honor for me," the 22-year-old Tulsa, Okla., native said. Berry visited with soldiers after a briefing on Army operations and later met with sailors working down the hallway....

LAS VEGAS - A 22-year-old aspiring teacher from Oklahoma was crowned Miss America on Saturday night, the first time the storied but struggling pageant was held outside Atlantic City, N.J. Jennifer Berry, a student at the University of Oklahoma, outlasted 51 other women to become Miss America 2006, earning a $30,000 college scholarship and a yearlong speaking tour in the process.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, today offered some rare advice to Republicans about how to deal with what she calls the GOP’s “culture of corruption,” just a day after Rep. Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, R-CA, resigned after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges. “The problem with Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay and Scooter Libby is not that they allegedly broke the law,” said Rep. Pelosi, “because the law is a fluid concept that is valid, or not, at any given moment depending on the latest judicial ruling. So, the Republican problem is bad timing. They did these unethical things at a time when...

LAS VEGAS — After 84 years of crowning beauties on the Boardwalk, the Miss America pageant is moving to the Las Vegas Strip, organizers announced Wednesday. It will be the first time the contest has been staged outside Atlantic City, N.J. The Aladdin hotel-casino will host the pageant, scheduled to air Jan. 21 on Nashville, Tenn.-based cable channel Country Music Television, organizers told The Associated Press. "What we wanted to do is find a new host city that has all glitz and glamour Miss America is known for," said Art McMaster, the pageant's chief executive. "Obviously Las Vegas is right...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) Oct. 21, 2005 - Miss America still has no place to call home. C-E-O Art McMaster says no final decision has been made on where the famous beauty pageant will be held next year. But he says three cities are still in the running. The pageant had been held in Atlantic City for 84 years. But because of high production costs, officials decided to seek a new home where the host city or entity would pay for the right to hold the annual extravaganza. Although, Miss America lost it's network T-V contract last year because of...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - How about Miss Arkansas in a cat fight with Miss Texas? Or Miss Alaska plotting with Miss Tennessee to get Miss Maine voted off the runway? Or a swimsuit contest featuring bikini-clad women walking the runway while covered in leeches? For Miss America, such scenarios would've been unthinkable once — when all it took to win was a fetching smile, a modicum of talent and a tight swimsuit. But Miss America's in for an extreme makeover. Dropped by two networks as a ratings loser, the pageant is desperately in need of a lifeline of its own,...

ATLANTIC CITY - The woman in the long gown and big hairdo stands in the center of the stage, wiping away tears, surrounded by her fellow contestants, watched by millions in television land. It is the quintessential Miss America moment - except that it's not. It's Nadia Turner being booted off American Idol, and therein lies the problem for the Miss America brain trust as it desperately tries to get someone in Hollywood to rescue the storied old American icon. The reality shows have stolen the tried-and-true Miss A formula, given it a few twists, and left the girl paralyzed...

ATLANTIC CITY - Miss America has lost her TV show, and now has to decide how much of her famous modesty she's willing to shed to get it back on the air. Organizers of the pageant are considering a number of plans to resuscitate the 85-year-old contest and bring it back to television this September. The mildest plans include tweaking the broadcast program slightly by eliminating the talent portion, which the ABC network had complained about before dropping the show in the aftermath of last year's disappointing ratings. A bolder plan is being shopped by national pageant officials among network...

(AgapePress) - "Hello. I'm Miss America," young Tara said to her seventh-grade classmates as she presented an oral book report. She wore a foil-embossed cardboard crown and held a silk rose. While her classmates took on the personalities of presidents, astronauts and other noble characters, this young girl chose to read and present an autobiography about Cheryl Prewitt, Miss America 1980. "Of course, I knew I wasn't Miss America, but through reading that book, it really inspired me that God can use even pageant girls. He can use somebody besides a pastor or a missionary," she added. And so began...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Radio shock jock Howard Stern, who is moving to satellite radio to avoid broadcast decency rules, traded verbal jabs on air with Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) Chairman Michael Powell on Tuesday, charging him with nepotism and undermining free speech. "It is apparent to most of us in broadcasting that your father got you your job," said Stern, who called in while Powell was being interviewed on San Francisco's KGO-AM 810. Powell shot back that his father, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), had nothing to do with his appointment. The FCC...

ABC television, which has hosted the annual beauty pageant telecast from Atlantic City, New Jersey, since 1997, has decided not to renew its option to carry the show in 2005, a network spokesman said. No further details were immediately available, including whether another television network would pick up the event.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Miss Alabama Deidre Downs (search), an aspiring doctor who put off medical school to compete for the Miss America (search) crown, won it Saturday night.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Skimpy bikinis are raising eyebrows at the Miss America Pageant.And that's just among the contestants. The new, two-piece Speedo swimsuits are more revealing than the pageant is used to. That's led some of the 52 contestants to opt for the more conservative one-piece model. One state pageant official called the bikinis "horrible." Miss Louisiana Jennifer Dupont said she was embarrassed to wear it in front of her father and coach. One contestant who balked at wearing it was Miss New Jersey Erica Scanlon. She said she wouldn't have been comfortable wearing it on stage. It didn't...

RALEIGH -- These days, sirens such as Beyonce and J-Lo might pack a little too much back to win the Miss America pageant. Marilyn Monroe might be considered too curvy to appear as a Playboy centerfold today. A pair of researchers at Meredith College have the numbers to prove that America's ideal female body is a silhouette that has morphed from curvaceous to cigar-shaped in the past half-century. They've figured that out by using the height and weight of two sets of trademark red, white and blue beauties: Miss America winners and Playboy centerfolds. The study suggests that America's obsession...

Miss Universe de-frocked: Jennifer Hawkins stumbled during a fashion show at Westfield shopping centre in the Sydney suburb of Miranda yesterday, snagging her dress on her shoe and losing the lot. Her modesty was saved by a g-string. Photos: Russell Scarf/Network Ten

CHICAGO -- In anticipation of her stint as delegate to the Republican National Convention next week, former Miss America Erika Harold will appear on Fox Cable News Hannity and Colmes tonight. The show airs at 8:00 PM CST. Harold will speak as one of the evening headliners at the NRC on August 31, sharing the spotlight with First Lady Laura Bush, California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Secretary of Education Rod Paige. Harold, who lives in the Champaign-Urbana area, may be a former Miss America, but the 2003 title-holder is busier than ever. Harold will be a law student at Harvard...

CHICAGO — Erika Harold may be a former Miss America but the 2003 title-holder has been busier than ever. Harold will be a law student at Harvard this fall. But before heading off to Cambridge from her home state of Illinois, she has a scheduled stop in New York where she'll be a delegate to the Republican National Convention. She'll be there as President Bush formally accepts the party nomination. Some Republicans hope it will be the first of many campaign events for the former beauty queen. "I would be very interested in considering the possibility of running for public...

CHICAGO — Erika Harold (search) may be a former Miss America but the 2003 title-holder has been busier than ever. Harold will be a law student at Harvard this fall. But before heading off to Cambridge from her home state of Illinois, she has a scheduled stop in New York where she'll be a delegate to the Republican National Convention (search). She'll be there as President Bush (search) formally accepts the party nomination. Some Republicans hope it will be the first of many campaign events for the former beauty queen. "I would be very interested in considering the possibility of...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The Miss America (news - web sites) pageant is pulling the plug on its talent competition, eliminating the amateurish two-minute routines that have come to feature cheesy stunts such as tractor driving and trampoline jumping. Instead, this year's crowning Sept. 18 will showcase some of the women performing in a videotaped montage culled from talent routines staged in preliminary competition. Just one contestant chosen by the pageant's producers will perform live, after the selection of the five finalists for Miss America 2005. ABC-TV is trimming the telecast to two hours this year. "It's the cornerstone of...

Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Miss America 1982, told the Toronto Sun on September 17, 1998, that Clinton had threatened her and her family and had her house staked out. She said she feared for her life. On NBC's Dateline, Gracen admitted that she had had sex with Clinton but tried to stay out of the US for fear of Clinton. Her story is evolving - she told the Toronto Sun, "I couldn't have told you this a month ago." Her hotel room has been ransacked by someone who left a Rolex watch and two thousand dollars alone. A friend told Jones...