Columnist, wordsmith James Kilpatrick dies at 89

WASHINGTON (AP) - James J. Kilpatrick, who rose from cub reporter to become one of the South's most prominent newspaper editors and the nation's most widely syndicated political columnist, has died. He was 89.

Kilpatrick's wife, Marianne Means, says he died Sunday night at George Washington University Hospital. Means says he was being treated for congestive heart failure. TV watchers in the 1970s knew Kilpatrick as the conservative half of the "Point-Counterpoint" segment of the CBS program "60 Minutes." His sparring with liberal commentator Shana Alexander was famously parodied on "Saturday Night Live."

Kilpatrick learned to read by age 4 and decided early on he wanted to be a newsman. When he wasn't attending class at the University of Missouri, Kilpatrick worked summers as a copyboy for the Oklahoma City Times.