Lohan gets 1 day, Richie 1 hour-plus

Lindsay Lohan reached a plea deal yesterday on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges that calls for her to spend one day in jail, serve 10 days of community service, and complete a drug treatment program.

Nicole Richie, meanwhile, was released from jail after serving 82 minutes of a four-day sentence for driving under the influence of drugs.

Richie, was released from jail in Lynwood, Calif., "based on her sentence and federal guidelines," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Maribel Rizo said without elaborating.

When asked whether Richie, who is four months pregnant, spent her sentence in a jail cell, Rizo replied: "I have no further comment."

Sheriff's spokeswoman Kerri Webb said Richie, who arrived at jail with her attorney and her boyfriend, Joel Madden, "was processed into the jail system, she was highly cooperative, and she was released."

As for Lohan, she was placed on 36 months probation and required to complete an 18-month alcohol education program, pay hundreds of dollars in fines, and complete a program in which she'll talk to victims of drunken drivers and visit a morgue.

"It is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to alcohol and drugs," Lohan said in a statement released by publicist Leslie Sloane Zelnik. "I broke the law and today I took responsibility by pleading guilty."

If Lohan were to be convicted of another DUI, she would receive a mandatory 120-day jail sentence, Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers said.

Lohan ws charged with seven misdemeanors stemming from two drunken-driving arrests in the last four months. More serious felony drug charges were not filed, prosecutors said, because tests showed there wasn't enough cocaine on her to warrant them.

Attorney Blair Berk entered pleas on Lohan's behalf: She pleaded guilty to two counts of being under the influence of cocaine, no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above .08 percent, and one count of reckless driving. Two counts of driving under the influence were dropped.

Attorneys confirmed in court yesterday that Lohan was enrolled in a drug rehab center in Sundance, Utah.

As for Richie, her brief jail stint took place at the county jail for women, the same place her "The Simple Life" costar Paris Hilton was housed for nearly three weeks after she was convicted of driving on a suspended license while on probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Richie pleaded guilty in late July to a misdemeanor DUI charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail on a second alcohol-related conviction.

Her first conviction was in 2003, for driving under the influence of alcohol.

She was arrested again on Dec. 11, 2006, after witnesses reported seeing her black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle headed the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank. The California Highway Patrol said they found her parked in the car-pool lane.

Richie, the daughter of Lionel Richie, told authorities she had smoked marijuana and taken the prescription painkiller Vicodin, a CHP officer said at the time. No drugs were found on her or in the car.

Richie had the option of serving 90 hours either in county jail or at any city jail. She would have had to serve the full sentence in a city lockup.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A CBS reality series in which youngsters run their own town has prompted complaints from one of the children's parents and may have skirted New Mexico's child-protection laws. "Kid Nation," slated to premiere Sept. 19, was filmed over 40 days during April and May in a movie-set town in the desert just south of Santa Fe. While parents and children made available by CBS praised the production as safe, well-supervised, and a learning experience, one mother has told authorities the conditions warrant an abuse investigation. Janis Miles of Fayetteville, Ga., said in a letter that her 12-year-old daughter, Divad Miles, was spattered on her face with grease while cooking potatoes on a wood stove, and that four other children required medical attention after they accidentally drank bleach. Tom Forman, the show's executive producer, confirmed the grease-spattering and bleach-sipping incidents, but called them the kinds of accidents that can happen "in any kitchen, in any school, in any home, in any camp" and that the children immediately got medical attention. According to documents obtained from the New Mexico attorney general's office, parents signed an agreement in which they waived their rights to sue the network or production company if their children died or were injured. The agreement also acknowledged that the participants "will have no privacy," except while using bathrooms or changing rooms. (AP)

"Cinema Paradiso" director Giuseppe Tornatore got mugged while he was walking in an upscale neighborhood in central Rome. Tornatore, 51, was taken to a hospital in the Italian capital after two young men attacked him Tuesday evening, the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted the director as saying. He suffered head trauma as well as several minor injuries, the news agency ANSA reported. Tornatore was taking a stroll after leaving his office when the two men asked him for directions. While one thanked the filmmaker for the help, the other hit him on the head from behind, Corriere della Sera said. The two men made off with Tornatore's wallet, mobile phone, and watch, the paper reported. (AP)

One day after its premiere, Fox yanked "Anchorwoman" off the schedule. The show captured only 4 percent of the audience at 8 p.m. Wednesday night, finishing fourth in its time slot. "Anchorwoman" was a reality series about a TV station in Tyler, Texas, that brought in Los Angeles model Lauren Jones to anchor the news, even though she had no journalism experience. (Los Angeles Times)