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People, Places & Things in the News
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Kaye Gibbons' publisher in Raleigh, N.C., rolled out another million copies of two of her novels after Oprah Winfrey selected them for her popular book club.
Winfrey announced on her show that she's chosen Gibbons' novels "Ellen Foster" and "A Virtuous Woman" for a book club appearance. The talk show host devotes one show each month to a discussion with the author about the book.
Selected books have skyrocketed onto bestseller lists. Vintage, the publisher of those two books by Gibbons, geared up for increased demand -- printing a combined 1.1 million more copies.
Winfrey has said she started the book club "to get this country reading again. Gibbons, who lives in Raleigh, hasn't decided when she will appear on the show.
"It means I'll be able to get my hardwood floors done before finishing my next book," she joked in the The News & Observer of Raleigh.
Larry Flynt's daughter has talked with police about her allegations that the Hustler magazine publisher sexually abused her for years.
Tonya Flynt-Vega, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, and travels the country crusading against pornography, said she repressed memories of the alleged abuse until she saw "The People vs. Larry Flynt," a 1996 movie about his 1977 prosecution in Cincinnati on an obscenity charge.
She met this week with Columbus police detectives about her claims that he sexually abused her from the time she was 9 until she was 18.
"The matter is under investigation," Detective Don Junk said.
She said earlier she wants state lawmakers to extend the statute of limitations for filing felony sex abuse charges against a minor from six to 20 years.
"I'm going to do what I should have done as a kid," Ms. Flynt-Vega told reporters. Her father, as he has before, denied the allegations.
"I find it a strange phenomenon when the press calls me that they only want to talk to her; I have three other lovely, grown daughters that I have a great relationship with," Flynt said. "Any psychiatrist will tell you that if abuse is going on in a family, it's not just one child that's affected."
A screenwriter's lawsuit in Los Angeles against the estate of Dodi Fayed was dismissed after the plaintiff failed to show up at a court hearing.
Peter Slate had sued Fayed, claiming he reneged on a deal to pay him $100,000 for a movie script.
Superior Court Judge Lawrence Crispo dismissed the lawsuit because neither Slate nor his lawyer, Farhad Novian, appeared in court.
Slate sued Fayed -- a film producer whose credits included "Chariots of Fire" -- in February and then filed a motion to sue Fayed's estate after he died in a car crash with Princess Diana in August.
Novian did not return a phone call seeking comment. There was no word on what the script was about.
David Bowie is Britain's richest pop star, edging out Paul McCartney in a survey of pop wealth by BusinessAge magazine.
With a fortune of $919 million, the rock icon is now among the 25 richest people in Britain, the magazine said in a recently published survey.
McCartney, the former Beatle, is second with a fortune of $868 million, the magazine said. Tom Jones was third ($460 million) and Phil Collins was fourth ($367 million).
The Spice Girls, Britain's latest pop sensations, entered the wealth chart at No. 42, with each of the five "spices" worth $24 million.
BusinessAge compiled the list by examining company accounts, record sales and other earnings.
Bowie, whose hits include "Let's Dance," "Changes" and "Space Oddity," rocked Wall Street in February by marketing interest-bearing bonds from his old song royalties. An innovation for both the investment and entertainment industries, the bonds allowed Bowie to collect $55 million up front instead of waiting for royalty checks to trickle in over many years.
Here's something you probably didn't know about Cure singer Robert Smith: He's a clean freak.
Smith, in Long Beach, Calif., this week to promote the band's new compilation "Galore," acknowledged his neatness streak when asked about living with his bandmates.
"I wouldn't do it again. ... because they're too scruffy and messy," he said. "Wherever we go, I always have to go around and put things where I think they should go."
The album features the band's best singles from the past 10 years, including "Why Can't I Be You," and "Hot, Hot, Hot," as well as a new single, "Wrong Number."
Don King once told Deerfield Beach, Fla., officials to call on him if they needed something. Wonder if he thought they'd ever do it.
King, who bought a $2.1 million office building here last year, wrote the city a $326,000 check after officials asked for money to buy a new fire engine to replace one that was hit by a car Oct. 11.
"Just like that he, handed us a check," Fire Chief Gary Lother said. "It was amazing."
The truck will be delivered in about four months. King will be honored at the town commission's meeting Saturday.
"He told us he wanted to make his presence felt in Deerfield Beach," said Amadeo Trinchitella, the city's vice mayor.
-- compiled from wire reports Photo by The Associated Press Actress Demi Moore and her husband, actor Bruce Willis in a 1997 file photo. |  |
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