FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, September 27, 2006

LETHAL COMBINATION: Pathologist Cyril Wecht saying a lethal mix of methadone and the antidepressants Zoloft and Lexapro caused the cardiac dysrhythmia that led to the Sept. 10 death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel. National Medical Services in Willowgrove, Pa., prepared the latest toxicology report.

HARRY SITUATION: L.A. Law star Harry Hamlin, husband of season-two semifinalist Lisa Rinna, booted off of Dancing with the Stars Wednesday night. At least he wasn't killed off, à la Veronica Mars.

TRUST THE MAN: Tom Hanks topping yet another Hollywood poll, this time of the 10 Most Trustworthy Celebrities, as compiled by Forbes magazine. Rachael Ray, Michael J. Fox, Oprah Winfrey and James Earl Jones rounded out the top five, while Ty Pennington inexplicably came in at number seven, leaving readers to wonder when exactly Forbes morphed into Entertainment Weekly.

NOT SO MODEL BEHAVIOR: Naomi Campbell failing to appear in court to face charges of assaulting her former maid with a cell phone Wednesday, causing the Manhattan Criminal Court judge to issue, and later retract, a bench warrant for her arrest. Weird--ordinarily the supermodel is nothing if not the poster child for propriety.

DOWN THE HATCH: Honolulu District Court dismissing charges of driving without a license and disobeying a police officer against Lost star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje stemming from a Sept. 2 traffic stop. Attorneys for the actor were able to prove he did in fact have a license and that his only act of disobedience was to not spill spoilers for the upcoming season.

GET MAURY ON THE CASE: Paparazzo Larry Birkhead disputing Howard K. Stern's claim that he's the father of Anna Nicole Smith's weeks-old daughter and seeking a paternity test to prove it, posting the following message on his Website: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! In case there is any confusion, I am not laughing at myself!" Actually, there may be a couple more "HA's" in there, but you get the gist.

IDOL TIME: Fantasia Barrino's father, Joseph Barrino, filing a $10 million libel suit against Simon & Schuster, the publishers of his daughter's 2005 autobigraphy, Fantasia: Life Is Not a Fairytale, claiming it contains damaging untruths about him and hurt his reputation. He didn't name the American Idol winner in the suit, but did include her grandmother and the tome's ghostwriter. That is shocking. You mean to tell us the girl who admitted she was illiterate didn't actually write her own book?

SIMON SAYS: Meanwhile, Olivia Newton-John sitting in as a guest judge during the third round of American Idol auditions in Los Angeles Tuesday. Untold numbers of Grease songs were butchered in the process.

GAME ON: Regis Philbin, Rachael Ray, James Denton, Neil Patrick Harris, Christopher Meloni, Drew Lachey and Carson Kressley among the boldfaced names taking part in Celebrity Jeopardy!, set to air during November sweeps. We'll take "Anyone with an Eighth-Grade Education Knows the Answer to That One" for $400, Alex.

RIP: Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons and wife Justine mourning the loss of their newborn daughter, Victoria Anne, who was pronounced dead shortly after her birth last week. In a statement released through MTV, the Run's House star said, "Every pain has a purifying effect...We see life in death and believe in the celebration of life in death." According to TMZ.com, doctors delivered the baby via C-section, at which time they discovered she was born with organs outside her body.

DOUBLE DIDDY: Sean "Diddy" Combs confirming to Vibe magazine that he's expecting twin girls with his longtime girlfriend, Kim Porter. The Doublemint people would be wise not to look this gift horse in the mouth.

QUARTER POUNDER: Brad Pitt making his first foray into television, exec producing the FX drama 4 oz. with Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy. The series will follow a married sportswriter who also happens to be a transsexual. Friends it ain't.

GOING ONCE: A 1950s tape recording of Bob Dylan (née Bobby Zimmerman) singing a trio of tunes is set to hit the auction block at Dallas' Heritage Auction galleries next month, where it's expected to fetch upwards of $100,000. Sounds like somebody's gonna be tangled up in green.

GOING TO THE DOGS: London Metropolitan police warning Claudia Schiffer to contain her two dogs on her estate's property after receiving neighbor complaints that the canines were intimidating passers-by and had bitten a smaller dog. The smaller dog's name: David Copperfield.

EM & M: Martha Stewart telling AP Radio she'd love to have Eminem appear on her Martha talk show, as she plays his music in between commercial breaks. That explains the look of her shell-shocked audience. And why she handled prison so well.

BURIED FOOTAGE: Steve Irwin's widow, Teri, telling 20/20 that while footage of her husband's death exists, it will never be aired. "No. No. What purpose would that serve," she said. She also said she was informed of his death via a phone call from her brother-in-law.

CASTING COUCH: Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal in talks to star in Rendition, centering on a Cairo-based CIA analyst whose life falls apart after witnessing an interrogation by the Egyptian secret police. So, a comedy, then?

MUSIC MAN: Bono set be the first guest on former Eurythmics member David A. Stewart's untitled interview show for HBO, described as "musicians on musicians." The chatfest was originally set to air on late night Cinemax, until execs learned that "musicians on musicians" wasn't quite as salacious as it sounded.

FATHER KNOWS BEST?: Larry Williams, the father of Brokeback Mountain actress Michelle Williams, fighting an Australian federal court's order of extradition to send him back to the U.S., where he is wanted on charges of tax evasion after he allegedly failed to pony up more than $1.5 million between 1999-2001. Did Richard Hatch teach him nothing?

PAGING ANGELINA: Ricky Martin continuing to urge lawmakers to fight the exploitation of children who become victims of human trafficking. It's good work, but it's still not enough to forgive "She Bangs."

OLDIE BUT GOODIE: Danny Flores, the 77-year-old saxophonist who snarled the titular phrase in the '50s classic, "Tequila," passed away from pneumonia Tuesday.