People.com Archive Passages By Debra Lewis Boothman Published on June 18, 2012 12:00 PM Share Tweet Pin Email CROWNED Miss Rhode Island Olivia Culpo, 20, became the 61st Miss USA when she bested 50 other beauties to take home the crown in Las Vegas on June 3. The cellist will represent the USA at the Miss Universe pageant in December. ENGAGED New York Knicks captain and six-time NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire, 29, hit a slam dunk when he asked Alexis Welch, 29, the mother of his three children, to marry him on June 2 while overlooking the Eiffel Tower lights. “I have been planning my proposal for a while,” says the basketball star, who sealed the deal with an 8.5-carat ring worth more than $1 million. “The moment was surreal. I’m still floating,” he posted to Facebook the next day. “It’s great to allow someone you truly trust and know, to take care of your heart.” LEGAL MATTERS The polygamy investigation against TLC Sister Wives star Kody Brown, 44, and his four wives, Meri, 41, Janelle, 43, Christine, 40, and Robyn, 33, has been dropped by Utah authorities. The Browns are “pleased charges wouldn’t be filed,” but won’t withdraw their lawsuit against the county, which they say violated their constitutional rights. Brown moved his wives and their 17 children to Las Vegas in 2011, a year after Utah authorities launched their investigation. RETIRING Olympic gold medalist gymnast Shawn Johnson, 20 (inset), announced on June 3 that she is retiring. “It’s hard to accept that the one thing you had your entire life is no longer,” said the gymnast, whose knee problems stemming from a 2010 skiing accident put an end to her Olympic career. The 2009 winner of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars says she plans to attend college. “I think [gymnastics] set me up for a pretty exciting future.” JAILED George Zimmerman, 28, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, returned to a Florida jail June 3 after his $150,000 bond was revoked. Prosecutors say Zimmerman, released from prison on April 23 after posting bond, misled the court by withholding information about more than $135,000 raised for his defense through a website. His lawyers insist their client, whose bail was originally set at $1 million but drastically reduced when he and his wife, Shellie, testified they had little money, “made a mistake caused by fear, mistrust and confusion.” EMMY WINNER DIES Kathryn Joosten, 72, best known for her roles on Desperate Housewives (as feisty neighbor Karen McCluskey) and on The West Wing (as Martin Sheen’s secretary Mrs. Landingham), died June 2 of lung cancer in Los Angeles. Joosten, who started acting at age 42, had small but memorable roles on My Name is Earl, Scrubs and Ally McBeal, but it was her work on Housewives that earned her Outstanding Guest Actress Emmys in 2005 and 2008. “She was an amazing woman and a wonderful actress,” says her costar Felicity Huffman (inset).