FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, July 18, 1999

John F. Kennedy Jr...Gary Coleman...Babyface...

By Joal Ryan Jul 19, 1999 3:30 AMTags
UPDATE: John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister likely dead from that small plane crash near Martha's Vineyard, Coast Guard officials confirmed tonight. The celebrity scion was 38.

JFK ADD: Kennedy's aircraft had been missing since Friday night. Some debris has washed ashore, but the plane has still not been located.

EYES OPEN: Stanley Kubrick's final opus, Eyes Wide Shut, wins the box-office race, raking in nearly $23 million in its first weekend.

AILING: Celebrity cook Jennifer Paterson, 71, one of TV's Two Fat Ladies, undergoing tests for cancer in a London hospital, the BBC reports.

BUSTED: Gary Coleman due in court August 3 on charges he failed to the $400 fine in his fan assault case. The former child star was picked up last weekend during a traffic stop in Monrovia, California.

ROAD WORK: A 17-mile stretch of Interstate 65 in Indianapolis now named after favorite hometown boy/music mogul Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.

PRIORITY BUYERS: James Cagney fan John Travolta being given a first shot at the up-for-sale Oscar that the actor won for 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy. Starting price: $600,000.

CAGNEY ADD: Saturday would have been the screen legend's 100th birthday.

NURSERY NEWS: Def Jam rap mogul Russell Simmons expecting his first child with model wife Kimora Lee, the New York Daily News says. Baby's due in January.

MESSING WITH THE WEST: Cable's TBS to undertake a remake of film classic High Noon, to air in 2000. No word yet on the Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly wannabes.

THE BIG (WHITE) APPLE: According to network TV, New York City is 80 percent white, 15 percent black and 3 percent Latino--so says a survey of prime-time shows by Electronic Media.

DYNAMIC DUO: Britney Spears and ex-New Kids on the Block star Joey McIntyre to join forces for a pop-rific Disney Channel special, debuting October 16.

MAKE GOOD? Robin Leach's attorneys say a settlement is near with 14 U.S. states accusing the TV host of repping a misleading travel program.