FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 10, 2005

REMEMBERED: Barbara Bel Geddes, the Oscar-nominated actress who appeared in several notable Hollywood films during the 1940s '50s and '60s including I Remember Mama and Vertigo but is best known for playing family matriarch Miss Ellie on CBS' long-running primetime soap, Dallas, died Monday of lung cancer at her home in Maine. She was 82.

START THEM UP: Per Newsweek, the Rolling Stones getting political on their upcoming album, penning a track called "Sweet Neo Con," which takes a good shot at America's radical right in the line, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite / You call yourself a patriot, well I think you're full of s--t."

TROUBLE FOR MINDY: Tennessee cops issuing an arrest warrant for country star Mindy McCready. Authorities say the troubled singer has violated her probation on a drug charge.

LET MONEY RULE: The New York Times reporting rocker Lenny Kravitz is close to buying a $50 million dollar private mansion in Manhattan.

STONED: Oliver Stone pleading no contest Wednesday to a marijuana charge stemming from his May arrest at a police checkpoint in Los Angeles. The director was ordered to pay a fine of $100 plus court assessments.

CLONE THIS: According to Variety, the producers of the 1979 indie flick, Parts: The Clonus Horror suing Warner Bros. and DreamWorks over their box-office flop, The Island, claiming it ripped off their movie. They seek unspecified damages and are asking a court to order the film be pulled from theaters and bar its further release.

GOOD OMEN: Also in Variety, Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles in talks to assume the roles originally played by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in Fox's remake of 1976's horror flick, The Omen. The film starts shooting in October.

YOU GOTTA HAVE FAITH: Faith Hill's Firefly topping Billboard's album charts after moving 329,000 units this past week. The Grammy-winning singer is now the only female artist to ever simultaneously debut atop Billboard's Top 200 and Country Album Chart with three consecutive album releases.

MOURNED: Actor Matthew McGrory, best known for his role as Karl the Giant in Big Fish, passing away Tuesday of natural causes near Los Angeles. He was 32.

SMART MOVE: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Board of Governors voting Monday night to cancel plans to have all of the nominees in the top writing and directing categories pretape acceptance speeches in advance of the Sept. 18 Primetime Emmy Awards telecast on CBS to reduce the length of the ceremonies. The about-face came after taking heat from members for its original decision.

THE WAY IT MADE HER FEEL: A third juror in the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial appearing on MSNBC Tuesday to say that while she initially agreed with two other jurors who believed he was guilty, she voted to acquit the popster because there was enough reasonable doubt and she felt his accuser could have been lying.

NOT PHAT: Baby Phat designer Kimora Lee Simmons pleading guilty to reckless driving charges Tuesday in New Jersey. Simmons agreed to six months probation for ignoring police last year during an attempted traffic stop.

ALONG EIGHT MILE ROAD: A Nebraska native paying $685 for the last of 30 commemorative bricks autographed by Eminem that came from the recently demolished Detroit Artillery Armory on Eight Mile in Oak Park, Michigan, where the rapper grew up. The money raised went to charity.

REMEMBERING PETER JENNINGS: ABC planning to air a two-hour special paying tribute to the work of the late Peter Jennings tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Peter Jennings: Reporter will preempt Brat Camp.

OFF THE HOOK: Paparazzi who chased Reese Witherspoon from her gym and then cornered her at the entrance to her home won't face criminal charges because there wasn't enough evidence of false imprisonment, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said today.

CROSSING THE LINE: Jeffrey Weiss, a 23-year-old Beverly Hills resident working for People magazine, arrested Saturday night on suspicion of tresspassing on property reportedly owned by Brad Pitt near Santa Barbara's El Capitan State Park.

ARRESTED: Lloyd Banks and Young Buck, members of rapper 50 Cent's G-Unit, were arrested on felony gun possession charges after performing at Madison Square Garden on the Anger Management 3 tour. They are being held without bail.

DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT: A woman claiming she was drugged and raped by Snoop Dogg and some of his friends after a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live has dropped her lawsuit.

RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS? Creators of reality television show Million Dollar Idea suing Simon Cowell and ABC for allegedly stealing their idea for the upcoming show.

MONA LISA FROWN: Mona Lisa Smile producers paying $3,500 each to 19 female musicians who were paid less than their male counterparts for their work on the Julia Roberts film. Producers Revolution Studios and Smile Productions LLC settled the lawsuit out of court but did not admit wrongdoing.

KUDOS! Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman among this year's class of 12 inductees to the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, which opened last fall at Jazz at Lincoln Center in the brand-new Time Warner Center in New York City.

CODA: Blues piano legend Emery "Detroit Junior" Williams Jr., whose career spanned more than five decades and often featured hilarious, wild performances with him playing the piano while lying on the floor, died Tuesday in Chicago of heart failure. He was 73.