People News Roundup: Kathleen Blanco passes away; Peter Fonda dead at 79

Following is a summary of current people news briefs.

Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's first woman governor, dies, led state through hurricanes

Trailblazing former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, whose tenure was dominated by the trauma of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, has died from complications of cancer, the state's current governor said on Sunday. She was 76. Blanco, a Democrat, was the first woman elected to lead the state, serving as governor from 2004 to 2008.

'Easy Rider' actor Peter Fonda dead at age 79

Oscar-nominated actor Peter Fonda, who played a cool and introspective motorcyclist in the 1969 film "Easy Rider" that captured the spirit of the era's counterculture movement, died on Friday at age 79, his family said in a statement. Fonda, the son of Hollywood leading man Henry Fonda and the brother of Jane Fonda, died at his home in Los Angeles on Friday morning of respiratory failure from lung cancer, the statement said.