FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, July 25, 2005

HOSPITALIZED: Country singer Mindy McCready in intensive care Monday at a Florida hospital after she was found unconscious Friday from an apparent overdose. The troubled singer pleaded guilty last year to fraudulently obtaining the prescription drug OxyContin.

IDENTITY ISSUES: Meanwhile, McCready was reportedly charged in Arizona last week with identity theft.

GUILTY: A jury convicting photographer John Rutter of attempted grand theft, forgery and perjury in connection with his attempts to sell topless photos of Cameron Diaz without her consent. Rutter was taken into custody immediately and faces up to six years behind bars once he is sentenced on Sept. 17.

GLAM SCAM: A New Jersey woman arrested and accused of amassing more than $12,000 in merchandise by posing as Jessica Simpson's assistant, CaCee Cobb, and asking companies for free samples of their merchandise for the pop singer.

BROKEN DREAMS. NOT: Green Day leading the field in nominations for MTV's Video Music Awards with eight; Gwen Stefani and Missy Elliott landing six apiece and U2 scoring five. P. Diddy hosting the awards ceremony on Aug. 28.

RETURN OF HANOI JANE? Jane Fonda announcing plans to take a cross-country bus tour next year to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq. Fonda will be joined by families of Iraq war veterans on her trip.

THE COST OF LOVE: California lawyer Michael Baroni, who claims that he dated Jennifer Aniston back in 1984 when both were teens, auctioning off letters, notes, pictures and other items given to him by the actress on eBay with a reserve price of $100,000.

MEGASUIT: Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine suing the band's former bass player, David Ellefson, Monday in Los Angeles for allegedly using the name of the thrash metal group without permission in an advertisement for musical equipment.

IN THE JEANS: Brittany Murphy starring in a new ad campaign for Jordache jeans.

PAYOLA DAYS ARE OVER: Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreeing to pay a $10 million fine and to stop paying radio station deejays and music directors who feature its artists.

BAD NEWS BOX OFFICE: The week's two biggest new releases, The Island and the remade Bad News Bears, opening poorly in fourth and fifth place and leaving Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers at 1-2 on the box-office chart.

NOT SO FUNNY: Producers pulling printable Purple Hearts advertised as a gimmick to pick up women from a Wedding Crashers Website Monday after complaints from Vietnam vets. Military vets and law enforcement officials were angered by the gag, which said: "Carrying a Purple Heart in your jacket guarantees you attention, admiration and plenty of free booze."

VEGAS, BABY: Casino impresario Steve Wynn inking a deal to bring a version of Spamalot to play at the Wynn Las Vegas.

LUNCH DATE: Daisy Wright, the nanny with whom Jude Law carried on an affair behind fianc�e Sienna Miller's back, telling London's Sunday Mirror that Law tried to arrange a meeting with her for last Wednesday, but that it never took place.

CODA: Myron Floren, an accordian player on The Lawrence Welk Show for more than 30 years, died Saturday of cancer. He was 85.

UNFAIR VANITY: The model at the center of Roman Polanski's successful libel suit against Vanity Fair backing the director's version of events and claiming that Polanski never even spoke to her, let alone propositioned her while on the way to his wife's funeral.

HE DOES CARE: Ricky Martin pledging to work to change negative perceptions of Arab youth in the West while on his first ever visit to the Middle East.

BROADWAY BOUND: Huey Lewis joining the Broadway production of Chicago as lawyer Billy Flynn, beginning Nov. 1.

SPLITSVILLE: Katie Couric and Tom Werner ending their relationship, per People magazine.

ROCKIN' FEUD: Courtney Love calling Dave Grohl one of the "biggest jerks" in rock and roll in an interview in the August issue of Spin, on newsstands Friday.

PLAYING CATCH-UP: NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly announcing plans to revamp after acknowledging that the network had made serious errors last season during a presentation at the Television Critics Association.