Cowboy Rose: Ivana Trump was a star...

Cowboy Rose: Ivana Trump was a star attraction Thursday at Royal Ascot, the four-day festival of British horse racing in Ascot, England. Trump wore an outfit of aqua trimmed with turquoise and royal blue and a white cowboy hat decked with roses at an affair where good taste is in the food, not the fashion. Considerably more sedate were Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip as they paraded past the crowd in a carriage procession.

* Order in the Court: The jury had just been selected when one member announced her verdict on the murder charges against Veronica Perdue, accused of drowning her two young sons. “Your Honor!” Michelle Giammarco yelled in court in Jacksonville, Fla., Wednesday. Judge Peter Dearing was stepping away from the bench and didn’t hear her say: “I’ve already made up my mind. She’s guilty.” Giammarco was worried the trial might prevent her from attending a family reunion July 3. The judge later took her off the jury and held her in contempt. During her outburst, Giammarco held a paperback book on her lap. Its title: “Presumed Innocent.”

* Now Hear This: Novelist E.L. Doctorow is helping put together a national program of reading tours featuring writers who will speak at YMCAs to encourage reading and writing. Writers who have signed up include Roy Blount Jr., Galway Kinnell, Ntozake Shange and Luisa Valenzuela.

* Now See This: Sales of sex magazines have skyrocketed in Eastern Europe since government reforms swept away some restrictive social legislation, said a sex researcher. Bela Buda, vice president of the Hungarian psychiatrists’ association, said Wednesday in Amsterdam that former controls on sexual expression in the dismantled Soviet bloc ranged from bans on pornography to laws prohibiting unmarried couples from staying together in hotel rooms.