CEO of Miss America Pageant Is Fired

The Miss America Organization fired its president barely two weeks after the pageant faced an uproar over a proposal to lift its 50-year ban on women who have been married or pregnant, the group said in Atlantic City. The organization’s board of directors voted to “release” President and CEO Robert Beck, 60, former executive director of the U.S. Soccer Federation Foundation, from his contract Sunday, a year after his hiring had raised hopes of making the 79-year-old pageant more relevant by expanding its role as a source of scholarships for young women.