FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, February 10, 2006

OOPS! Britney Spears issuing a mea culpa for driving her sport utility vehicle with baby son, Sean Preston, sitting in her lap, instead of putting him in a car seat. "I made a mistake, and so it is what it is, I guess," the popster told Access Hollywood on Thursday.

PARTY OF TWO: Neve Campbell engaged to British actor John Light, per People. No word on a wedding date. This will be the second marriage for the former Party of Five star.

GOOD NEWS: ABC's World News Tonight co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas announcing she's expecting her second child with singer-husband Marc Cohn in late summer. The pair already have a three-year-old son, Zachary, and Cohn has two kids from a previous marriage.

SAVING SIZEMORE...AGAIN: A Los Angeles judge sentencing Tom Sizemore to three years' probation after the troubled thespian tearfully acknowledged using methamphetamines last month. He could've faced 16 months in the slammer. Sizemore must also do 90 days in lockdown rehab.

CRUSHED BY THE COMPETITION: Only 15.1 million viewers tuning in to CBS to watch the Grammy Awards between 8 and 9 p.m., while 28.3 million watched American Idol on Fox. The awards show averaged 17.6 million viewers overall.

FOUR'S A CROWD: Tennessee crooner Melinda Hyder ejected from Thursday night's episode of Survivor: Panama-Exile Island, which also saw the four tribes merge into two.

NO FAN: During a speech at the University of Mississippi's Black History Month celebration, Spike Lee suggesting Mississippi should ditch its state flag because it's a symbol of the state's long history of oppression against blacks. "I know people say it's representative of history. Well, so is the swastika," he said.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT: Willie Nelson launching BioWillie, his brand of clean-burning fuel made from soybeans, which went on sale Wednesday at an alternative gas station in San Diego.

ONE DOOR DOWN: Brad Arnold, the 27-year-old frontman for rockers 3 Doors Down recovering from minor injuries sustained after the car he was riding in hydroplaned on a rain-soaked road in Mississippi on Feb. 1. The singer reportedly needed 30 to 40 stiches to close a gash in his face, but will be okay.

A ROCKIN' WORLD: Aside from participating in the golf tournament, Kevin Costner will play a concert with his rock band on April 29 for ticketholders of the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville, South Carolina.

GRUDGE MATCH: The L Word star Jennifer Beals joining Amber Tamblyn in The Grudge 2, which starts filming next week in Tokyo.

THE DONALD'S GOLD: Donald Trump and NBC asking viewers to cast their vote for one of 12 Olympians at NBCOlympics.com now through Feb. 26 to see who joins the cast of aspiring Trump employees in a future edition of The Apprentice set in Los Angeles and debuting this fall.

KICKING OFF: The 56th Berlin International Film Festival launching on Thursday with the world premiere of Snow Cake, starring Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. It runs through Feb. 19.

STAND-UP GIRL: E! ordering eight episodes of The Chelsea Handler Show, a prime-time series featuring the comic and Tonight Show correspondent in film shorts, taped spoofs and doing stand-up before a studio audience. It debuts in April.

PASSING: Franklin Cover, the stage and television actor whose career spanned six decades but will probably best be remembered for his role as Tom Willis in the TV Land staple, The Jeffersons, died of pneumonia on Sunday in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 77.

LAYOFFS: Paramount pink-slipping some 109 out of nearly 129 employees in its domestic distribution department ahead of its merger with DreamWorks' distribution department, according to Variety.

WAR IS HELL: Also in Variety, Samuel L. Jackson set to star in director Irwin Winkler's Iraqi wartime drama, Home of the Brave, playing a doctor who tries to get his life back to normal after returning home from a long tour of duty. Jessica Biel and Christina Ricci costar.

CHART ATTACK: Barry Manilow notching his first chart-topping debut with Greatest Hits of the Fifties selling 156,000 copies in the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

GOOD IDEA: The Federal Communications Commission issuing a new report that rejects a cable-industry lobbying effort and embraces the idea of à la carte pricing options for cable customers, instead of bundling channels into packages, because it saves money for the consumer.

READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL: Al Michaels leaving ESPN after a dispute over the course of Monday Night Football and joining John Madden as cohost of NBC's Sunday Night NFL Football. To fill the void, ESPN unveiling a brand-new MNF team.