The father of troubled pop star Britney Spears will retain control over her affairs until a scheduled March 10 hearing, a Los Angeles court ruled yesterday, even as a new attorney sought to move the case to federal jurisdiction. The attorney, Jon Eardley, is linked to an associate of Spears's friend Sam Lutfi. Spears's father, Jamie, was granted "temporary conservatorship" over her affairs two weeks ago when the 26-year-old was in a Los Angeles hospital for psychiatric evaluation. In a related filing, Eardley claims the singer is being deprived of her civil liberties and that restrictions placed on Spears by her father "interfere with the effectiveness of the scheduled medications" she is supposed to take.
NBC News is apologizing again - this time for Jane Fonda. The actress, 70, used a vulgar slang term on the "Today" show yesterday while talking about the play "The Vagina Monologues." Fonda is appearing in a 10th-anniversary performance. Fonda told cohost Meredith Vieira she had declined to perform a monologue with a slang term for vagina as the title - and Fonda used the term itself on the air. Vieira later told viewers that "It was a slip and obviously [Fonda] apologizes and so do we." It's been a month of apologies for NBC News. MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews said he was sorry for suggesting that Hillary Clinton was a presidential candidate because of her husband's infidelities, and MSNBC correspondent David Shuster was suspended for two weeks for saying the Clintons had "pimped out" daughter Chelsea for presidential campaigning. (AP)
Fans of the Fox drama "24" will have to wait until next January to see Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, this television season's most prominent casualty of the Hollywood writers strike. The network has committed to air a full season on consecutive weeks. The strike ended this week, but if it had started airing new episodes soon, the season finale would not have taken place until the summer, when networks rarely show high-profile programs.(AP)
A construction worker who admitted strangling actress Adrienne Shelly while robbing her apartment and then hanging her body to make it look like a suicide pleaded guilty to manslaughter yesterday. Diego Pillco, 20, admitted he killed Shelly, 40, in her Manhattan flat after going through her purse. He was promised a sentence on March 6 of 25 years in prison. (AP)
