Top Story: Paul McCartney a Dad Again
Paul McCartney, 61, is a father again. His second wife, Heather Mills, gave birth to their first child Wednesday at a London hospital near the Beatles’ Abbey Road recording studios. The baby girl, Beatrice Milly, weighed in at 7 pounds, Reuters reports. Mills, 35, was not due to deliver the baby for another three weeks, and a Caesarean had originally been planned in mid-November. A statement from the new parents said: “She is named after Heather’s mother Beatrice and Paul’s Aunt Milly. Our immediate family were told the news right away and are all as overjoyed as we are at the early arrival of our little bundle of joy.” Mills had feared she could not have children because she had suffered uterine cancer and two ectopic pregnancies in the past. McCartney already has four children, three by his first wife Linda–fashion designer Stella, 31, Mary, 33, and James, 25–and one adopted daughter, Heather, 39, from Linda’s first marriage. Linda McCartney died of breast cancer in 1998; McCartney married Mills in June 2002.
Britney Spears To Tour in March
Britney Spears‘ North American tour in support of her upcoming album Get in the Zone will kick off March 3 in a city yet to be announced, Billboard.com reports. Spears will play 56 dates in all and travel mostly the West Coast through April before taking in outdoor amphitheatres in mid-July. Spears‘ Get in the Zone is due out Nov. 18, but the album’s first single, “Me Against the Music,” featuring Madonna, has already debuted at No. 43 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart and is currently No. 38. Spears grossed $43.7 million on her 2002 tour for the Britney album.
Rocker Weiland Arrested After Hit-and-Run
Los Angeles police said Wednesday that rocker Scott Weiland, former lead singer of the Stone Temple Pilots, was arrested Monday on suspicion of driving under the influence after he crashed his BMW into a parked car in Hollywood and fled the scene–just days after a judge warned him to stay off drugs, Reuters reports. The charge carries an additional request for hit-and-run since the rocker allegedly failed to stop after hitting the car. Weiland was released after posting $15,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles Municipal Court Nov. 17. A charge of driving under the influence could be filed later today.
Still No Arrest in Jam Master Jay’s Murder
Exactly one year after Jam Master Jay was gunned down in a Queens, N.Y., recording studio on Oct. 30, 2002, police have not made any arrests in the murder. The rapper, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was killed in a violent point-blank gunshot murder that stunned fans and the hip-hop community. Homicide detectives in Queens told The Associated Press they have pursued “several significant leads,” including some that suggest the DJ and founding member of Run-DMC died in a dispute over money. They deny allegations that their hunt for the gunman has stalled.
Domestic Violence Charges Against Kitaen Dropped
On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Pamela Iles dismissed domestic violence charges against actress Tawny Kitaen after she apologized in writing for talking about the case on Howard Stern‘s radio show. Kitaen, who played Tom Hanks‘ fiancée in the 1984 pic Bachelor Party, was accused of attacking her then husband, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chuck Finley, in April of last year. The charges against Kitaen, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of spousal abuse, would have been dropped after a year of mandatory counseling, but Iles asked for the written apology after Kitaen told Stern on the radio that she had been forced to enter her plea.
NBC Orders More Whoopi, Happy Family
NBC ordered a full season Wednesday of its two new comedies Whoopi, starring Whoopi Goldberg, and Happy Family, with John Larroquette and Christine Baranski. The network said in a statement it ordered nine additional episodes of each show, giving them a full-season order of 22. Meanwhile, NBC has placed its Sunday night legal drama The Lyon’s Den, starring Rob Lowe, on hiatus during the November sweeps period. Sweeps periods are the months when ratings are monitored closely to set local ad rates. An NBC spokesman told the AP the show would return in December.
Doc Warns of Hogwarts Headaches
Dr. Howard Bennett of George Washington University Medical Center wrote in a letter to this week’s New England Journal of Medicine that he has seen three children complaining of headaches caused by the physical stress of reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. According to Bennett, the three children, ages 8 to 10, experienced a dull headache for two or three days, which in each case went away only after the patient turned the final page of the 870-page tome. Bennett told his patients to give their eyes a rest; a cure he says was rejected by two of the patients who opted for acetaminophen instead.
Rolling Stones in Four Flicks DVD Brouhaha
Major Canadians music chains vowed Wednesday to indefinitely boycott Rolling Stones music after the veteran rock group made an exclusive deal with U.S. retailer Best Buy to carry their new four-disc DVD, Four Flicks, due next month. Stones promoter Michael Cohl told the AP that Best Buy agreed to sell the set for the lowest price in Canada–a prime motivator for the deal. But the explanation failed to satisfy rival retailers who are alarmed by the precedent this might set at a time of slumping music sales. Stones frontman Mick Jagger defended the decision: “I feel bad for the stores that aren’t going to have the product, but they have lots of other products, to be honest, and music videos don’t sell anything like movie DVDs.”
Role Call: Traylor Howard Joins Mask Sequel
Traylor Howard, who played Layla in the 2000 comedy Me, Myself & Irene, has landed the female lead role opposite Jamie Kennedy in New Line Cinema’s comedy sequel Son of the Mask for director Larry Guterman. According to The Hollywood Reporter
