FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 17, 2006

FACING THE MUSIC: Mel Gibson pleading no contest to drunken driving charges stemming from a July 28 arrest you may remember hearing about and receiving three years' probation. The arraignment was moved up from Sept. 28 to Thursday at the request of his attorney, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles district attorney's office said. The disgraced actor-producer did not attend the hearing and entered his plea through his attorney.

HE SEES...LEGAL PROBLEMS: Haley Joel Osment charged with drunk driving and marijuana possession Thursday in connection with his July 20 car crash, in which he suffered a broken rib and shoulder injury, but did not go off on any anti-Semitic rants. The 18-year-old actor is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 18 and could face up to six months behind bars.

THEY DO...AGAIN: In a move that got old a couple of weddings ago, Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock swapping vows in Nashville, Tennessee Thursday at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. Okay, we get it. You're really, really, really married. Enough already.

FOR THE RECORD: Jennifer Aniston denying that she is engaged to Vince Vaughn, despite an Us Weekly cover story to the contrary. "I'm not engaged, and I don't have a ring, and I haven't been proposed to," the actress told People, backing up her publicist's earlier denial. Pressure's on now, Vince.

SAY WHAT?! "It just kind of happened."
--Britney Spears to People, on the careful thought she and Kevin Federline put into having their second child

TAKING THE FUN OUT OF SWAG: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reaching an agreement with the IRS to resolve any outstanding tax issues from gift baskets handed out to Oscar presenters prior to 2005, though stars who took home swag from the 2006 Academy Awards are on their own. The Academy's board of governors voted in April to discontinue the practice of handing out elaborate thank-you baskets to presenters, so future envelope-openers won't have to deal with the headache.

SO YOU KNOW HE CAN DANCE: Swing dancer Benji Schwimmer winning the second season of So You Think You Can Dance in a surprise victory over judges' apparent favorite Travis Wall. Next up: Dancing with the Stars?

FINDING ANSWERS: Lost executive producer Bryan Burk confirming that the hatch is a goner, at the series' second season DVD release party. "Let's just say it was a big explosion," Burk said. The minds behind the show also answered an even more pressing question: What's with all the damn repeats? Good news--they, too, have gone the way of the hatch. "Now, when Lost is on, it's on. And when it's off, it's off. And when it's on, you know it's an original Lost," exec producer Carton Cuse said.

SELL OUT: Justin Timberlake's intimate club tour in support of his upcoming album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, selling out all 13 dates in a matter of minutes, according to his record label. The album is due for release Sept. 12--about the same time as the release of his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears' second child.

OH, BABY: Marc Cohn and Elizabeth Vargas welcoming their second child together, a boy named Samuel Wyatt. And no one's happier for them than Charles Gibson.

THEM, TOO: Former Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge and his wife, Jennifer, welcoming their second child together, a boy named Jonas Rocket DeLonge.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: They may not have parted on the best terms, but CBS is still planning to honor Dan Rather Sept. 1, with a retrospective titled Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers. Then on Sept. 5, Katie Couric will do her best to make everyone forget he ever existed.

A LIKELY STORY: Philadelphia police stating that they do not believe Beanie Sigel's story that he was shot and robbed near his boyhood home three months ago. The rapper himself admitting he might have stretched the truth, telling Sirius Satellite radio listeners, "I am on federal parole, so I can't get into details, but give me another nine months, and I will tell y'all exactly what the deal was." We're not holding our breath.

LOVIN' LA VIDA: Ricky Martin to be honored as the 2006 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.