FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, March 23, 2004

BACK IN THE ZONE: Britney Spears resuming her Onyx Hotel Tour tonight in Atlanta. Last week's postponed shows have been rescheduled for April 13 in Chicago and April 14 in Detroit.

PICTURE PERFECT: Tyra Banks crowning Yoanna House as the winner of America's Next Top Model Tuesday night.

JACKSON WATCH: Grand jury candidates for Michael Jackson's child molestation case will assemble Thursday in Santa Barbara County. District Attorney Tom Sneddon will reportedly try to prove that Jackson has a "pattern of seduction," based on complaints from his current accuser and his original accuser back in the '90s.

ON THE OFFENSIVE: Michael Jackson seeking more than $10 million from a man he says is selling Jackson family memorabilia and exploiting his fame. The entertainer filed a federal lawsuit Monday.

TWISTED TAKE: Roman Polanski says he plans to make a film based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The Oscar-winning director lives abroad and faces arrest if he ever returns to the United States due to charges of having sex with a minor in 1977.

WRIST SLAP: Busta Rhymes receiving six months' probation after pleading no contest to a charge that he assaulted a woman during a concert after she allegedly touched his chin. Rhymes also filed a counter assault charge against the woman--she's due to appear in court Wednesday.

SHOW MUST GO ON: Scott Weiland to be released from live-in rehab for nine hours April 4 to work on a video. The rocker will be tested for drugs upon his release and again upon his return. He has 30 more days in the rehab program, followed by 90 days in a live-in "sober lifestyle program."

GODFATHER ON TRIAL: James Brown to face jury trial in connection with charges that he assaulted his wife. Brown and his wife have since reconciled, according to his attorney.

HIGH PRICE OF FILM: Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, announcing that the cost of big Hollywood movies skyrocketed 15 percent in 2003, with the seven biggest studios spending an average of $102 million to make and market their films.

OUT OF TUNE: The Recording Industry Association of America filing an additional 532 lawsuits against alleged file sharers Tuesday. Eighty-nine of the complaints are against users of campus networks in 10 states and Washington, D.C., according to the RIAA.

OFF LINE: Meanwhile, the RIAA remains hobbled by a computer virus, making the industry's Website inaccessible for the fifth straight day.

AILING: Aretha Franklin was admitted to a Detroit hospital Saturday after she suffered an allergic reaction to antibiotics, her doctor said. She remained hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday.

ON THE DOCKET: Bobby Brown set to appear Wednesday in Norfolk County family court in Boston for an emergency contempt hearing in a paternity suit, two days after being sprung from a Georgia jail.

NICE GUY: Kelsey Grammer flying his entire cast and crew of Frasier to Hawaii as a finale gift. Today is the last day of taping.

SATISFACTION: ABKCO Records set to issue on May 4 The Rolling Stones Singles 1963-1965, the first of three boxed sets compiling all of the Rolling Stones' U.S. and U.K. singles and EPs from the band's heyday in the 1960s.

TACKY: Great White, whose pyrotechnics at Rhode Island's The Station nightclub sparked a fire that killed 200 people, rejecting any connection to a recently released cover album titled Burning House of Love. A manager for the '80s rockers said the band is considering taking legal action against the label in Italy that put out the disc.

NO THANKS: Marin Karmitz, president of France's leading art-house exhibitor MK2, refusing to program Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, labeling it "facist propaganda."

RUSH DECISION: Rush lead guitarist Alex Lifeson charged with two counts of battery three months after a New Year's Eve brawl with police at a Florida hotel. If convicted, Lifeson could face up to 10 years in prison.

STEPPING DOWN: Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, confirming at Las Vegas' ShoWest convention that he plans to leave the film industry group in the next few months after 38 years at the helm.

PROMOTION: Bob Edwards, host of National Public Radio's Morning Edition since it began in 1979, tapped as senior correspondent for NPR news. A search is underway for his successor on the morning show.

BROTHERLY LOVE: After clashing with Philadelphia's most powerful unions, producers of MTV's The Real World reaching a deal that will allow shooting for the 15th season to resume in that city.

SPIKE 'N STRIP: Burt Reynolds and supermodel Rachel Hunter team up for Cloud Nine, an indie feature following a has-been coach who starts a women's volleyball team for strippers.

LOOKING EAST: Viacom planning to set up a joint venture to produce TV shows in Shanghai, that will give it a big share in the business. The deal is the first of its kind since China started allowing foreign companies to invest in its heavily restricted area of content production.

TYING THE KNOT: Entertainment Tonight anchor Bob Goen swapping vows with HGTV's Landscaper's Challenge host Marianne Curam in a private ceremony Saturday in Southern California.

THEY WANT THEIR MTV: The city of Memphis lobbying to host this year's upcoming MTV Video Music Awards, saying it would spend up to $500,000 for police, fire and emergency services. The cable network has yet to decide where this year's show, set for early September, will take place.

KUDOS! Cellist Yo-Yo Ma set to pick up the 10th annual Harvard Arts Medal at a ceremony on May 9.

BACK IN JAIL: Joey Buttafuoco, the former car mechanic infamous for his role in the "Long Island Lolita" case, pleading guilty Monday in Los Angeles to auto insurance fraud and sentenced to a year in the slammer.

BLUES CONVENTION: Ellis Hooks, Pinetop Perkins, Maria Muldaur and Otis Taylor among the Blues artists set to perform for the W.C. Handy Blues Awards show, set for April 29 in Memphis, Tennessee.