FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 3, 2005

STILL GROUNDED: Martha Stewart's home confinement sentence being extended for three weeks until Aug. 31, after the New York Post reported that Stewart was seen at a yoga class near her farm.

PAYBACK: David Beckham accepting libel damages and a public apology from U.K. tabloid The People after he was falsely accused of making hate calls to a former nanny.

SHOW'S OVER? Chappelle's Show collaborator Charlie Murphy telling the New York Post he doesn't think Dave Chappelle will be back to finish the third season of the Comedy Central series. Murphy said he thinks the eight episodes already produced will "be released on DVD, I'm sure. But that's it."

STILL GOING STRONG: Nick Lachey cohosting Live with Kelly and Regis and denying that his marriage to Jessica Simpson is on the rocks. Meanwhile, Ripa denying rumors that Regis Philbin had been fired from the show. "Regis is not fired," Ripa said. "He's just on special assignment. And we love each other."

NEW PROJECT: Melissa Etheridge telling Extra that she is cancer-free and "totally healthy" and that she and partner Tammy Lynn Michaels are considering having a child together. Etheridge has two children from a previous relationship.

AILING: Grammy-nominated blues musician "Little" Milton Campbell, best known for writing and recording the song "The Blues is Alright," hospitalized in a coma after suffering a stroke on July 27.

RAW LIKE SUSHI: Showtime announcing plans to air a "raw and uncensored" concert by Eminem this December.

REUPPED: Dr. Phil extending his contract for five more years, carrying his hit talk show through the 2013-2014 television seasons.

DANCING IN THE STREET: Martha Reeves, former lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, completing a successful primary run for Detroit City Council and advancing to the Nov. 8 general election along with 17 other candidates.

BLAKE ALLEGATIONS: Robert Blake's first wife admitting in a deposition she heard Blake put out a contract for her life in the 1970s. The deposition is part of a civil case filed against the recently acquitted actor by four children of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, who was murdered.

UNION JACK ATTACK: British-born actress Joan Collins bemoaning modern England's "lack of manners and politeness" in a Thursday Daily Mail op-ed piece.

SICK BAY: Don Knotts' failing health forcing his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia to indefinitely postpone a parade and film festival that was scheduled for Aug. 12-14 in the 81-year-old actor's honor.

WHAT CBS NEEDS? CBS moving its low-rated Monday edition of Rock Star: INXS to VH-1 starting next week. The network will air reruns of Two and a Half Men instead on Mondays.

SWEET PARADISE: Salma Hayek signing on to star in the four-hour telepic adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel, Paradise, to be produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films and ABC, per Daily Variety.

START THEM UP: Metallica opening for the Rolling Stones at both the Stones' November concert dates in San Francisco.

SHOCK JOCK, UNCENSORED: Howard Stern signing a three-year agreement with In Demand to carry the television version of his daily show on Sirius satellite radio when it kicks off in January, per Daily Variety.

SINGING THE BLUES: Wayne Newton disputing IRS claims that he and his wife owe $1.8 million in taxes and penalties from 1997 to 2000.

CRITIC'S REMORSE: A judge approving an agreement calling for Sony Pictures Entertainment to pay $1.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the studio of citing a fake movie critic in ads for several of its films, an attorney said Tuesday.

HIT THE ROAD: A.J. and Free, the hosts of BET's most popular series, 106 & Park, both exiting the network after five years, with A.J. claiming he was pushed out.

SAMURAI STYLE: Samuel L. Jackson signing on to star in and coproduce Afrosamurai, a live-action film based on a Japanese manga comic, per the Hollywood Reporter.

TAKING THE STAGE: The Killers and Mariah Carey set to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in Miami on Aug. 28.

JEN SPEAKS: Speaking in the September issue of Vanity Fair, Jennifer Aniston says she's seeking psychiatric help to cope with her divorce from Brad Pitt. "Am I lonely? Yes. Am I upset? Yes. Am I confused? Yes. Do I have my days when I've thrown a little pity party for myself? Absolutely. But I'm also doing really well," she tells the magazine.

CROSSING SWORDS: A film company headed by a vice chairman of Lions Gate Entertainment filing a lawsuit against Sony Pictures Tuesday, accusing the studio of wrongly claiming it has the rights to the Zorro character as it moves ahead with a futuristic flick entitled Zorro 2110.

REMEMBERED: Renee Roy, who starred on the 1960s soap Love of Life and has appeared in numerous television commercials, died Saturday of colon cancer. She was 74.