Gwinnett Daily Post

Les Paul to be buried in Wis.

MILWAUKEE - Guitar virtuoso and inventor Les Paul will be buried Friday in his Wisconsin hometown - but not before the public gets to pay their respects in Milwaukee at a science and technology museum along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Discovery World museum President Joel Brennan said Tuesday some of Paul's family would attend Friday's tribute and he expected many other will come to honor his life.

'We are honored to have been asked by the family to be a part of a celebration of his life,' Brennan said Tuesday.

Paul died in White Plains, N.Y. on Aug. 13 of complications from pneumonia. He was 94.

Columnist Novak dies

WASHINGTON - Political columnist Robert Novak, a diehard conservative, pugilistic debater and proud owner of the 'Prince of Darkness' moniker, died Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer that was diagnosed in July 2008. He was 78.

His wife of 47 years, Geraldine Novak, told The Associated Press that he died at his home in Washington early in the morning.

A household face as co-host of CNN's 'Crossfire,' Novak had been a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times for decades. The brain tumor diagnosis came less than a week after he struck a homeless pedestrian in downtown Washington with his Corvette and drove away.

'He was a Washington institution who could turn an idea into the most discussed story around kitchen tables, congressional offices, the White House, and everywhere in between,' Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement.

Said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio: 'Bob made remarkable contributions in the field of journalism and to the American political landscape.'

In recent years, Novak ended up actually being a part of a big Washington story, becoming a central figure in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case.