Judge grants Stewart's request to start serving term, urges Conn. or Fla. sites

NEW YORK -- Martha Stewart must report to prison in less than three weeks, a federal judge ruled yesterday in granting the celebrity homemaker's request to begin serving her sentence for lying about a stock sale. Her company's stock surged 12 percent.

The judge also suggested that Stewart, 63, be assigned to a prison camp in Danbury, Conn., or Coleman, Fla. -- the two Stewart had requested.

Stewart was allowed to stay out of prison while she appeals her conviction. But she said last week she would surrender anyway in order to "reclaim my good life" and put the ordeal behind her.

The October surrender date means Stewart is likely to be out of prison by March -- in time, as she said last week, for spring gardening. She will serve five months of house arrest after prison.

The US Bureau of Prisons decides where Stewart will go. Her first choice, the minimum-security facility in Connecticut, is close to Stewart's home in Westport.

Shares in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia closed up $1.64 at $14.81.They were at about $11 last week, but have steadily risen since Stewart said she would do her time. The higher stock price also reflected a report that reality TV show producer Mark Burnett was in talks with Stewart to refashion her lifestyles show.