HOLLYWOOD - Top Story
Comedian Paula Poundstone, who entered an alcohol treatment program in June, was freed by a superior court judge's order on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Poundstone pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges in October and was sentenced to a mandatory 180-day stay at the Malibu-based rehab facility Promises. She was also ordered to perform 200 hours of community service, attend a counseling program on child abuse and undergo psychiatric counseling. As part of her plea agreement with prosecutors, Poundstone, who has two adopted children and cared for three foster children, was barred from acting as a foster parent in the future. Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins told the 41-year-old comedian she had served her time. "Today is really a day for commendation rather than to bite you," he said.
In Courts
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Kim Porter, the mother of the rapper's youngest child, reached an agreement Wednesday on child support for their 3-year-old son, The Associated Press reports. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed in court documents. Combs, who earns several million dollars a year, had been giving Porter a court-ordered $11,000 each month. The settlement will provide for the child until he reaches age 21.A security guard is suing Marilyn Manson for battery and emotional distress following an incident at a concert at the Historic Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, the AP reports. David M. Diaz claims that Manson grabbed his head, held it against his hips and proceeded to gyrate said hips at an Oct. 27, 2000 concert. Diaz alleges he was humiliated, degraded, ridiculed and shamed, and is seeking $75,000 for emotional distress and other injuries.The battle over Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia's four guitars went back to court Wednesday after guitar maker Doug Irwin rejected a proposed legal settlement with the former band members. As part of the settlement, Irwin would have to participate in a news conference to express "complete satisfaction" with the deal, Reuters reports. Irwin said in a statement, "I think they wanted to bribe me into publicly going along with their amoral attempt to rob Jerry's grave."Former Sotheby's chairman A. Alfred Taubman was found guilty on Wednesday of hatching an international price fixing conspiracy in the 1990s with the former head of rival auction house Christie's, Reuters reports. Taubman, 72, will be sentenced on April 2, 2002, and could three years in prison as well as heavy fines. Between 1993 and 1999, the two house charged sellers in the United States at least $400 million in commissions.A loading dockworker was sentenced to three years of probation on Wednesday in connection with the theft of 55 Oscar statuettes before the 2000 Academy Awards, the AP reports. Anthony Hart, who worked at Roadway Express in Bell, was one of three men who pleaded no contest to criminal charges in the case. He was also ordered to pay $200 in restitution.Honored
Kate Burton and Larry Pine received this year's Joe A. Callaway awards, Variety reports. The awards are presented by Actors' Equity Foundation for the best performance by a male and female actor in a classic play in the Gotham area. Burton appears in the current Broadway production of Hedda Gabler; Pine appeared in The Seagull in Central Park last summer.ABC and NBC lead the NAACP's Image Awards on Wednesday with 13 nominations each, the AP reports. Only four months ago, the two networks were criticized for lacking diversity in coverage. Three hundred show-business professionals and NAACP officials, who select five nominees for each of the 41 categories, determine the nominations.Ailing
Wilford Brimley cancelled upcoming performances with the community symphony and choir in Great Falls, Mont., because he suffering from pneumonia, AP reports. Brimley, 67, was to have been a singer and a narrator at the holiday concerts scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
In General
Destiny's Child are parting ways to pursue solo projects for the near the future, the R&B trio announced Wednesday. Bandmember Kelly Rowland said she did not know when they would regroup. Destiny's Child had become a dominant force since the spring of 2000 and had a string of multi-platinum albums and hit singles, Reuters reports.Neil Young has written and recorded a song about the passengers who fought back against the Sept. 11 hijackers, Reuters reports. Young wrote the song after reading a newspaper article about passenger Todd Beamer and recorded it two weeks ago. Beamer was on flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field and was heard on an onboard telephone telling fellow passengers "Let's Roll."The Discovery Channel will air a five-part series about J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the upcoming film based on the classic trilogy from Dec. 31 to 19, the day the film opens in theaters. According to the Toronto Star, the shows will document different aspects of Tolkien's creation and examine many hand-drawn maps of the mythical Middle Earth.The History Channel is producing its first live programming on Friday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. The network will cover the memorial service on the USS Arizona in Hawaii starting at 12:30 p.m. ET, AP reports.