Agreement reached on Brown DNA

A lawyer for James Brown's partner says an agreement has been reached over obtaining DNA samples from the late soul singer's body. Lawyers for Brown's trustees wanted DNA samples to help sort out several paternity claims made against the singer since he died two months ago. Brown's partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, originally didn't like the way the trustees wanted the DNA collected, said her lawyer, Robert Rosen. Both sides have agreed on how to collect the samples, Rosen said yesterday. "No one objected to that because if and when a court orders a DNA test, it just makes sense to have a sample and not have to take him out of his grave," Rosen said. Brown, who died Dec. 25 at the age of 73, has yet to be buried. His trustees wanted to collect the DNA samples before he is entombed . When the DNA collection would be performed has not been decided, Rosen said. Representatives of Hynie and Brown's six adult children have said they agree on where to bury the singer but have not made the arrangements public.

The chasm grows even wider between the filmmaking duo who gained worldwide success with movies about the connections among disparate locations and characters -- and people are taking sides. Director Alejandro Gonzáez Iñá rritu and screenwriter Guillermo ArriagaGael García Bernal and Adriana Barraza and composer Gustavo Santaolalla, have signed a letter criticizing Arriaga for "claiming media attention." "It's a shame that in your unjustified obsession to claim sole responsibility for the film, you seem not to recognize that movies are an art of deep collaboration," said the letter, published in Mexico's Chilanga magazine. In a radio interview, Arriaga said that Iñárritu was stealing credit for "Babel" by listing himself in the credits as the movie's creator.

Former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio pleaded not guilty yesterday in an upstate New York courtroom to charges stemming from a Dec. 15 traffic stop in Whitehall, N.Y., and was released on bail. Anastasio, 42, is charged with felony counts of illegally possessing prescription painkillers and driving while impaired. He is also charged with possessing heroin and an anti-anxiety medication prescribed for someone else. He is scheduled to return to court March 27.

'The only crime I'm guilty of is being a young black woman.' Foxy Brown, who turned up at a Brooklyn church to tell her side of the story of how a visit to a Florida beauty supply store this month went awry and ended in her arrest. The 27-year-old rapper said she was dragged half-naked out of the store's restroom and then picked on by police officers because she is black.

FROM WIRE REPORTS