LAS VEGAS: A 25-year-old accountant from Connecticut with a secret glamorous side is the new Miss USA.
Erin Brady of South Glastonbury, Connecticut, won the beauty pageant at the Planet Hollywood hotel Sunday night after strutting in a white sparkly gown and answering a question about the US Supreme Court’s decision upholding widespread DNA tests. Asked if she agreed with the decision to swab the cheeks of arrestees, Brady said she did, since they had committed crimes after all.
Brady, who started competing in beauty pageants two year ago, gets the crown and a New York apartment for one year. She is expected to spend her title reign on a nationwide speaking tour and raising breast and ovarian cancer awareness, the organization’s official cause.
As the stage emptied, Brady spoke about her commitment to fighting drug and alcohol abuse, which have marked her family, and her excitement at the prospect of telling her bosses at Prudential Financial she wasn’t coming in tomorrow. Or ever again.
“They’re going to be very upset to learn that I’m not coming,” she said. Asked what she was looking forward to, now that the competition is over, she described a routine that sounded not very different from her training regime: getting in her beauty sleep and hitting the gym.
Her father Francis said he always knew his math-oriented daughter was a glamor girl. She and her sisters used to strut around and pretend they were beauty queens.
“My grandmother used to have a video camera and she’s tell us to walk around the pool like Miss America,” Brady’s sister Lauren said.
Unlike the rival Miss America pageant, Miss USA doesn’t ask its queens to perform a talent or choose a charity mission.
The pageant aired live on NBC, hosted by Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers pop act and Giuliana Rancic, co-anchor of “E! News.” The Jonas Brothers and DJ Pauly D were expected to perform.
The winner will represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant in the winter.
Last year’s Miss USA, Olivia Culpo, won that international crown, becoming the first Miss USA to ascend to Miss Universe in 16 years.
Brady said she is determined to pull of that feat for the US again.
Miss Connecticut wins Miss US contest in Vegas
Miss Connecticut wins Miss US contest in Vegas
Vince Zampella, video game pioneer behind ‘Call of Duty,’ dies at 55
Vince Zampella, one of the creators behind such best-selling video games as “Call of Duty,” has died. He was 55.
Video game company Electronic Arts said Zampella died Sunday. The company did not disclose a cause of death.
In 2010, Zampella founded Respawn Entertainment, a subsidiary of EA, and he also was the former chief executive of video game developer Infinity Ward, the studio behind the successful “Call of Duty” franchise.
A spokesperson for Electronic Arts said in a statement on Monday that Zampella’s influence on the video game industry was “profound and far-reaching.”
“A friend, colleague, leader and visionary creator, his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment and inspired millions of players and developers around the world. His legacy will continue to shape how games are made and how players connect for generations to come,” a company spokesperson wrote.
One of Zampella’s crowning achievements was the creation of the Call of Duty franchise, which has sold more than half a billion games worldwide,
The first person shooter game debuted in 2003 as a World War II simulation and has sold over 500 million copies globally. Subsequent versions have delved into modern warfare and there is a live-action movie based on the game in production with Paramount Pictures.
In recent years, Zampella has been at the helm of the creation of the action adventure video games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
