Homemaker Cleans Poker Pots

--She certainly does not fit the image of the cigar-smoking, gold-bedecked card shark. But 27-year-old Cyndy Violette soundly decked the competition in winning $74,000 at the Golden Nugget Grand Prix of Poker seven-card-high limit $1,000 buy-in tournament in Las Vegas, becoming the first woman to win a major poker tournament. Violette, who describes herself as a homemaker, is divorced and lives in New York City with her daughter. “You can’t imagine how great this feels. I think I’m still a little numb,” Violette said. “I’m going to have a great Christmas, that’s for sure.” In addition to buying gifts for her daughter, Violette said she will give part of her winnings to the Children of Hope, a foster parent adoption program. Violette defeated second-place finisher Danny Gerstner, 35, of New Orleans, with a seven-high straight to Gerstner’s pair of fives.

--Nothing was going to stop the daily newspaper De Morgen in Brussels from publishing after its computer system failed and refused to be revived. So when staff members turned to their typewriters and found there weren’t nearly enough of them to go around, editor Jo Blommaert said the determined journalists simply took pen in hand and printed 32 pages themselves. “If Only Gutenberg Could See This,” lamented a headline written with a thick felt pen in the Dutch-language newspaper, known for its witty headlines and cartoons. Rulers were clearly not used and while the paper featured the customary photographs, captions were handmade. The main story told of the valiant efforts of editors to put out a newspaper, while a sidebar about graphology explained how people reveal themselves through their handwriting.

--After 12 years spent collecting, studying and promoting the writings of others, Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin said he will retire on June 15 to return to lecturing and writing as “a full-time citizen of the Republic of Letters.” Boorstin, 72, a historian, educator and author, said he has begun writing “The Creators,” a companion to his 1983 history of man’s search to know the world and himself, titled “The Discoverers.” “Institutions thrive with strong leadership, and they grow with new leadership,” Boorstin said in announcing a farewell gift of $100,000 to establish a publication fund at the Library of Congress.

--”I told her so,” Joe Collins said of the announcement that his daughter Joan is seeking an annulment of her 13-month marriage to Peter Holm. The 83-year-old Collins patriarch said his daughter, the “Dynasty” star, “knew I did not approve of the marriage. But she just said, quite rightly, that it was none of my business. She is not a child. She is 53 years old.”