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Tampa woman advances on 'Idol'

By wire services
Published March 3, 2005

Jessica Sierra of Tampa is one step away from making American Idol's final round of competition.

Sierra, 19, advanced to the final 16 on Wednesday after viewers gave her enough votes based on her performance of Martina McBride's Broken Wing the night before.

The four contestants eliminated by getting the lowest vote totals among the final 10 women and 10 men were Celena Rae, 29, a newlywed studying voice from Fort Worth, Texas, who sang Faith Hill's When The Lights Go Down; Aloha Mischeaux, 18, of St. Louis, who did Alicia Keys' You Don't Know My Name; Joseph Murena, 26, a Suffolk County, N.Y., district court employee from Smithtown who performed Let's Stay Together; and David Brown, 20, from New Orleans, who sang Stevie Wonder's All in Love is Fair.

The contest resumes Monday when the remaining eight men perform. The final eight women perform Tuesday, and the field will be narrowed to the last six of each Wednesday.

The final 12 make the last round, in which contestants perform live weekly in front of a large audience and one is voted out each week until the winner is chosen.

CNN jumps into the Martha Mania movement tonight with "never-before-seen" footage of big house and gardens diva Martha Stewart in prison. Paula Zahn hosts a segment called "Martha's Makeover" on People in the News at 10 p.m. with video of Stewart, interviews with her friends and commentary by CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. Stewart is due to emerge from prison this weekend after serving five months for lying to federal prosecutors about a stock sale.

The news network says the one-hour special reveals details of Stewart's life behind bars and interviews with neighbors and friends, as well as an interview with reality television master Mark Burnett discussing Stewart's upcoming edition of The Apprentice.

Stewart's neighbor Richard Feigen tells CNN, "She's told me she learned a lot, you know, how things are on the other side of the tracks. She knows a lot about these families, cares about them. She's gotten sort of mellow."

LAS VEGAS - Peter Foy, a specialist in theatrical effects who enabled Peter Pan to fly across the stage and launched The Flying Nun skyward, has died at 79.

Mr. Foy, who died Feb. 17 of a heart attack in Las Vegas, where he lived, founded Flying by Foy, a 48-year-old theatrical flying effects company that sent Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby soaring across stages in the role of Peter Pan.

Mr. Foy developed elaborate systems of thin wires, harnesses and pulleys to make flying look easy on stage and in television, movies and even the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

He sent aloft such stars as Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball and Jerry Lewis. He enabled Sally Field to fly on television's The Flying Nun and Garth Brooks at a concert at Texas Stadium.

Mr. Foy is survived by his wife, Barbara; a sister; a son; a daughter; and two grandchildren.

[Last modified March 3, 2005, 01:00:10]