In brief

SHERMAN MAXWELL (Courtesy of Berenice Maxwell Cross)

Lila T. Abunza, 79, Nicaragua first lady
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - An aide to former Nicaraguan first lady Lila T. Abunza says she died Thursday night at her home in Managua. She was 79.

Ms. Abunza was the wife of former president Enrique Bolanos, who governed from 2002 to 2006.

An aide, Doris Lopez, did not give a cause of death Friday, but relatives said Ms. Abunza's health had been deteriorating for months.

Ms. Abunza was born on Jan. 29, 1929, and married Bolanos in 1949. She leaves her husband and two of their five children. (AP)

B. Don Magness, 'Mr. Miss Texas,' 75
FORT WORTH - B. Don Magness, the colorful, cigar-chomping showman dubbed Mr. Miss Texas and credited with shaping the state's beauty pageant into the nation's largest state pageant, died Thursday. He was 75.

He was the former director of the Miss Texas pageant. His ability to create beauty contest winners and run the organization that featured them was legendary. A 1990 Life magazine article showed him posing in a bubble bath while gnawing on his cigar. (AP)

Sherman Maxwell, 100, sportscaster
WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Pioneering black sportscaster Sherman "Jocko" Maxwell, who chronicled the triumphs of Negro League baseball players before the color barrier fell, died Wednesday. He was 100.

Mr. Maxwell worked at a post office by day and as a sportscaster and prolific writer by night. He submitted stories to the Ledger in Newark, the predecessor of The Star-Ledger, on games played by the Newark Eagles.

His sister, Bernice Maxwell Cross, said radio stations never paid her brother. (AP)