Originally created 05/07/05

People in the News



NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mindy McCready was arrested and charged with drunken driving.

The country singer was stopped early Friday in the suburb of Belle Meade. Police said she was driving 58 mph in a 40 mph zone.

Police Cpl. Candace Mowry said the officer smelled alcohol in the vehicle and that McCready performed poorly on field sobriety tests. The 28-year-old singer refused to take a breath alcohol test.

McCready was charged with driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license and failure to take the breath test, Mowry said.

The singer was booked into the Nashville jail and freed on $3,500 bond Friday morning.

Afterward, she smiled and seemed in good spirits as she told TV station WSMV that she was not intoxicated and that her driver's license is not suspended.

She did, however, acknowledge that she was speeding.

"We all make mistakes. We're human," McCready said. "Hopefully, everyone - like I am - will have that attitude. I'm not upset."

She also called the Nashville jail "a very entertaining place to be at three (o'clock) in the morning."

McCready is on three years' supervised probation after pleading guilty last year to purchasing painkillers with a false prescription. She was fined $4,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Her hits include "Ten Thousand Angels" and "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)."

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SYDNEY, Australia - Lleyton Hewitt is going to be a dad.

Hewitt, the No. 2-ranked tennis player in the world, and his 21-year-old fiancee, Australian soap opera actress Rebecca Cartwright, are expecting a baby, agents for both confirmed Friday.

"Their respective families are delighted with the wonderful news," Cartwright's publicist Amanda Fry said in a statement. Hewitt's manager Rob Aivatoglou also confirmed the pregnancy.

Earlier, the Seven television network, which airs Cartwright's soap opera, said the actress was three months' pregnant.

The couple became engaged in January when Hewitt proposed to Cartwright following his loss to Marat Safin in the Australian Open final.

A wedding date has not been announced, but the pair have reportedly purchased a multimillion dollar home along one of Sydney's northern beaches.

Hewitt was engaged to Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters before that four-year relationship ended last October. Cartwright split with actor-boyfriend Beau Brady late last year.

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LONDON - The fox-hunting son of rocker Bryan Ferry was arrested after he lunged at Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Otis Ferry, 22, reached over a barrier and shouted at the prime minister as he arrived Friday for a postelection party at London's National Portrait Gallery.

"I've had enough of this government," Ferry said as he was taken away by police.

The son of the former Roxy Music singer is a keen advocate of hunting with hounds, which was banned earlier this year after a long and divisive debate.

He and four other protesters charged onto the floor of the House of Commons during a debate on hunting in September, one of a series of security lapses at the seat of Britain's government.

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SAN FRANCISCO - Mayor Gavin Newsom boosted his hipness factor after spending about 15 minutes chatting with members of Coldplay on local radio.

Newsom, 36, called in to KLLC-FM to express his admiration for the band, quiz its members about recent performances and welcome them to the San Francisco Bay area.

In return, singer and frontman Chris Martin and drummer Will Champion invited Newsom to the band's show at the Fillmore - 1,100 tickets sold out in mere seconds Sunday.

During the Wednesday call-in, Newsom, Martin, Champion and two disc jockeys chatted about the elections in the United Kingdom; Martin's daughter, Apple, with his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow; and Newsom's luxury resort in Napa, where Champion stayed earlier in the week.

After Newsom hung up, the band members said he sounded like a well-intentioned, genuine guy that San Francisco was lucky to have as mayor.

As for Wednesday night's sold-out show, Newsom didn't make it, spokesman Peter Ragone said Thursday. He attended a gala at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art instead.

On the Net:

http://www.coldplay.com/

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NEW YORK - Get ready for a second season of "Making the Band 3."

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs will continue his reality TV talent search to form and develop an all-girl group, MTV and Combs announced Thursday.

"Get ready for the next season of 'Making the Band,' 'cause believe me, we're gonna make a band," Combs said in a statement.

The hip-hop mogul will search for contestants who will compete against three returning cast members. Production will begin with open call auditions starting later this month in New York.

"Season one showed our viewers that landing a spot in P. Diddy's next group requires incredible drive, determination and star power," said Lois Curren, executive vice president, MTV Series Entertainment. "As Combs' quest for an all-girl group continues, we invite our viewers who aspire to stardom to pack their bags and audition in a city near them."

Contestants are judged on their dancing ability, vocal talent, star power and willingness to be part of a group. Those who don't meet Diddy's standards are eliminated.

Auditions also will be held in Washington, Detroit, Minneapolis, Dallas, San Francisco, Virginia Beach, Va., and Orlando, Fla.

On the Net:

http://www.MTV.com

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AUSTIN, Texas - Turns out Willie Nelson didn't want his name on a Texas road after all.

A state legislator had proposed naming a stretch of Texas Highway 130, part of the Central Texas Turnpike Project, in honor of the Texas country music singer.

But two senators objected, saying they didn't want the sections of the road that run through their districts named after Nelson.

State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos agreed to pull Nelson's name off those sections, then withdrew the entire bill last week.

In a letter to Barrientos dated April 13, Joel Katz, a lawyer for Nelson, said the singer was honored by Barrientos' initiative, "however Willie simply does not feel that the naming of a toll road in his honor comports with his world view on either a personal or an artistic level."

Barrientos had said he wanted to honor Nelson "for so much good music and so many good works."

On the Net:

http://www.willienelson.com/

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NEW YORK - Spike TV has ordered a pilot based on the successful "Blade" movies starring Wesley Snipes as the half-human, half-vampire hunter of the undead.

A two-hour movie based on the Marvel comic books will premiere early next year, the network said Thursday.

"The action-adventure genre is largely ignored in today's television landscape, and we know it is something that our male viewers really want," Spike TV President Doug Herzog said in a statement.

Herzog described "Blade" as a "great movie franchise with an established brand that men already recognize and identify with."

The first "Blade" film was released in 1998. It was followed by 2002's "Blade II" and "Blade: Trinity" in 2004.

On the Net:

http://www.spiketv.com/