FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, March 4, 2005

PASSION OF THE FAN: A jury deliberating for less than three hours before finding Idaho transient Zack Sinclair guilty of stalking Mel Gibson. Sinclair faces up to three years in prison when sentenced later this month.

SPEAKING OF STALKERS: Janet Jackson seeking a restraining order against a New York man that she claims has been "harassing and stalking" her for nine years, according to court documents obtained by Celebrity Justice. A hearing is set for Mar. 17.

SPRUNG! Martha Stewart exiting her home away from home, the West Virginia prison known as Camp Cupcake, about 12:30 a.m. ET Friday. She then boarded a plane to New York, where she still must serve five months of house arrest at her estate in Bedford. In a statement, Stewart called her time "life altering and life affirming."

HOUSEBOUND: Christopher Stanton, the chief U.S. probation officer in Manhattan, telling the New York Daily News that Martha Stewart is on home confinement and therefore not be allowed to work in her garden. The domestic diva was reportedly "ready to get planting, having ordered her seeds and made extensive to-do lists," per her magazine.

COMEBACKSTREET: The Backstreet Boys announcing that they'll play a string of club dates as a warmup for the July release of their first studio album in five years.

DURST STRIKES BACK: Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst filing an $80 million copyright infringement and invasion of privacy lawsuit against several Websites that posted an X-rated video of the singer and a former girlfriend last week, per The Smoking Gun. Durst claims the X-rated opus was hacked from his computer.

GOT GAME: 50 Cent collaborating with Vivendi Universal Games on the release of a new video game featuring his voice and likeness.

OFFER HE CAN REFUSE: Ruben Studdard suing his godfather and former advisor for allegedly misusing almost a quarter of a million dollars the year he worked for the singer.

ALL OVER, DAHLING: Zsa Zsa Gabor settling a pain and suffering lawsuit against her driver (and former hairstylist), Jaren Millard, for $2 million. The 87-year-old former Miss Hungary was seriously injured in the 2002 Beverly Hills car crash, as was Millard.

MONKEY BUSINESS: Ellen DeGeneres was outbid Thursday night in an online auction for the right to name a new species of monkey. The auction raised more than $650,000, per the Website that conducted the bidding.

ON THE STAND: The sister of Michael Jackson's boy accuser testifying Thursday that she saw him serve soda--allegedly spiked with wine--to her brothers. Earlier, jurors got a videotaped tour of the popster's master bedroom suite at his Neverland Ranch, where the alleged molestation of the 13-year-old occurred.

CAUGHT ON TAPE: The jury in Jackson's child-molestation trial watching a video Friday in which the accuser and his family praise the singer and call him "fatherly." Prosecutors allege that Jackson coerced the family into making the tape shortly after Living with Michael Jackson aired.

BLAKE WATCH: Closing arguments in Robert Blake's murder trial wrapped Friday, placing Blake's fate in the hands of the jury.

OFF-KEY: A preliminary hearing scheduled for June Pointer Whitmore, a former member of the Pointer Sisters, who is charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of a smoking device.

BREAKDOWN OF THE STEP DOWN: Dan Rather appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman Thursday and discussing the discredited story on President George W. Bush's military service. Rather pointedly ducked a question on whether he thought CBS News President Andrew Heyward should have quit over his role in the story.

ISLAND RETREAT: Mel Gibson purchasing an island in northern Fiji, but the sale may face a legal challenge from villagers who claim their ancestors were forced off the land, USA Today reports.

OFF THE ISLAND: The Ulong tribe voting Jeff Wilson of Survivor: Palau after he twisted his ankle on a coconut and was forced to drop out of an immunity challenge in Thursday's episode.

YOU'RE FIRED: Donald Trump firing 22-year-old real estate agent Audrey from the street-smart team Net Worth on Thursday's episode of The Apprentice.

CHO TOUR A GO: Comedian Margret Cho's 26-date Assasin tour kicking off this weekend. Cho will play the Jackie Gleason theatre in Miami Saturday.

OUCH! Kenny Chesney tearing a ligament in his ankle after falling down the stairs of his Nashville home, forcing to postpone the first week of his Somewhere in the Sun tour, scheduled to kick off on Thursday, People magazine reported.

CASTING COUCH: Stockard Channing set to star in CBS' as-yet untitled Christopher Lloyd pilot; Julia Louis-Dreyfus set to star in CBS' comedy pilot Old Christine, per the Hollywood Reporter.

MORE CASTING: Also per the Reporter, Gabrielle Union and Stuart Townsend cast in ABC's drama pilot Night Stalker and Jane Curtin, William Devane and Fred Savage cast in ABC's comedy pilot Crumbs.

OUT AND ABOUT: Dick Clark is walking and talking again, according to his rep, though his recovery has been slower than expected. The spokesman also denied a tabloid report the American Bandstand icon was suffering a bout of depression and wanted to die.

SURF'S DOWN: Producers confirming that Fox won't reup freshman drama North Shore. The show shut down in December after shooting 20 of its 22 planned episodes.

HITTING BACK: Lindsay Lohan telling W magazine in its April issue that her estranged father has no right to try and collect on the millions she's made as a young Hollywood starlet. "He didn't do anything for my career except go out and not come home at night," the 18-year-old said.