FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, March 15, 2004

ROCK ON: Prince, Jackson Browne, ZZ Top, Bob Seger and the late George Harrison among the honorees at tonight's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria.

CARTOON COVERGIRL: Marge Simpson to be featured on special limited-edition Maxim magazine covers for the April issue. The cartoon mom will be featured on one-third of the limited-edition covers; Paris Hilton will grace the remaining two-thirds.

PASSION STILL IN PLAY: The Passion of the Christ topped the box office for the third straight weekend, earning $31.6 million and bringing its total to $264 million.

STIRRING UP PASSION: 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney receiving 30,000 pieces of viewer mail and email complaining about his Feb. 22 segment in which he slammed The Passion of the Christ director Mel Gibson as a "wacko." It was the biggest viewer reaction to a commentary on the newsmag ever.

THORN IN HIS SIDE: A judge denying Axl Rose's request for a restraining order against Geffen Records Monday and allowing the company to go forward with its plans to release a Guns N' Roses greatest hits album next week.

DIAPER DUTY: Charlie Sheen and actress-wife Denise Richards welcoming baby girl Sam Sheen on Tuesday night, March 9th in Los Angeles. The tyke, who weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces, is the couple's first child.

SHE'S OUT: Martha Stewart resigning from her post as director and CEO at her company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia as the result of her conviction on obstruction of justice stemming from a suspicious stock sale.

READY TO MEET THE DON: More than 1,000 people showing up outside NBC's Burbank studios Saturday for the chance to audition for the second season of the hit reality show The Apprentice, featuring billionaire Donald Trump. More than a dozen casting calls are set to take place in cities all over America, including Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.

OH BROTHER! CBS now accepting applications for the fifth installment of its hit reality series Big Brother, which will begin airing this summer.

SIMPLETONS: Filming on The Simple Life 2 began over the weekend, with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie embarking on a monthlong cross-country trip from Miami to Beverly Hills.

NO MORE CRUISE CONTROL: Tom Cruise has amicably split with longtime publicist Pat Kingsley after 14 years together. Cruise will now be repped by his sister, Lee Anne DeVette.

OOPS! MTV News reporting that Britney Spears has scrapped a scene for her next video, "Everytime," that would've shown her drowned in a bathtub with pills next to her because it might be interpreted as suicide as opposed to an accidental death.

POP WANNABE: MTV giving the go-ahead for Ashlee, a new reality series following 7th Heaven star Ashlee Simpson as she embarks on a music career. The show debuts this summer.

TOSSED:A federal judge dismissing a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by producers of The Bachelor hoping to stop star Bob Guiney from promoting his new CD, Three Sides.

FILLING IN: Cedric the Entertainer set to replace Justin Timberlake as co-host of ABC's Motwn 45 special after the popster dropped out saying he was too busy filming his movie debut. Some Black groups also complained that he was too white to be hosting a show about black music.

NO SEX ALLOWED: The FCC proposing to fine Clear Channel Communications $247,500 for a broadcast of the Elliot in the Morning show on WWDC-FM in Washington D.C. that featured "graphic and explicit sexual material. . .designed to pander to, titillate and shock listeners."

IN THE CLEAR: Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin telling Launch he feels vindicated after most charges of disorderly conduct were dropped against him following an aborted concert last month in Toledo, Ohio. He pleaded no contest.

WHAT, NO CROCODILE HUNTER? Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman among 15 Aussies named "Living National Treasures" by the National Trust of Australia.

SHE SWEARS: Diana Ross' attorney insisting the Supreme diva has proof she did her time in jail--her diary says so! Ross has been ordered back to a Tucson courtroom for not completing her 48-hour jail stint as part of drunken driving sentence. She'll likely be sentenced to another two days in the clink.

THE HOLE TRUTH: According to a previously unpublished interview appearing in the British rock magazine Uncut, Kurt Cobain said he wanted to leave Nirvana and join wife Courtney Love's band, Hole. Cobain made the remarks just months before his suicide.

WHAT SHE SAW: In an interview with an Australian talk show, Lisa Marie Presley says she "saw things she could no nothing about" regarding her short-lived marriage to Michael Jackson. No word exactly what things she was referring to.

TEAM WORK: Married twosome Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker set to costar in Strangers with Candy, a feature film based on Comedy Central's short-lived satire of moralistic after-school specials. Shooting starts in June.

THE LAST SEDUCTION: Heath Ledger signing on for Disney's Casanova, playing the famous lady's man who's forced to learn the meaning of love after he meets a woman who's immune to his charms. The romantic comedy, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, starts filming in August in Venice.

READY FOR ACTION: Gabriel Byrne and Brian Dennehy joining the cast of Assault on Precinct 13, a remake of the 1976 John Carpenter flick. The new version features Ethan Hawke and Lawrence Fishburne in a police station under seige on New Year's Eve as a rogue gang tries to free a mobster.

STILL DANCING: Patrick Swayze set to produce One Last Dance, a feature film based on the stage play he and wife Lisa Niemi wrote 20 years ago about two former stars of a New York dance company who reunite to help save the company after the death of its artistic director.

NEW GAME: The Game Show Network rebranding itself GSN on Monday, so the network can broaden its audience beyond game shows to reality programming, videogames and televised poker.

IN THE MONEY: Chris Tucker developing Money Talks 2 for New Line Cinema , a sequel to the action comedy that made him a star.

FEELING GREEN: Neil Young kicking off a monthlong American tour with in support of his Greendale album by being green and fueling all of his tour vehicles with vegetable oil farmed by American farmers.