THE VERDICT IS IN: Just minutes after both sides rested in the case, a Manhattan judge issued a surprise opinion on Wednesday that neither Rosie O'Donnell nor Gruner + Jahr, the publisher of her former magazine, should receive damages in their dispute over its demise. An official ruling is expected later this month.

DOLL PLEA: Courtney Love pleading innocent to felony drug possession charges in Los Angeles today. Before the hearing, the singer-actress rambled to reporters about money, flings with married men and throwing a sleeping pill at a police officer.

PARIS, UNCENSORED: Don Thrasher, the man who sold Paris Hilton's sex tape, says her ex-boyfriend Rick Solomon, the tape's other star, was involved in its duplication and sale, Celebrity Justice reports. Solomon's lawyer says his client denies the charges and plans to sue Thrasher for stealing the tape.

HONORED: President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush presenting the National Medal of Art awards at the White House Wednesday; this year's recipients include George Strait, Ron Howard, Buddy Guy, Tommy Tune and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

BACK AT THE MIC: Rush Limbaugh returning to his radio show on November 17 after taking a five-week break to complete a drug treatment program for addiction to painkillers.

LOOKING MAHVELOUS! The Friars Club in New York dedicating its downstairs lounge to Billy Crystal. The Billy Crystal Room will be decorated with rare photos of the funnyman's career.

YO, ADRIAN! Chuck Wepner, the former boxer who claims to be the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's Rocky character, suing the actor for $15 million in damages for continuing to use his name in promoting the movies.

IN THE PRODUCING ZONE: Britney Spears to executive produce a cable TV movie based on A Mother's Gift, the 2001 book she wrote with her mother about an aspiring teenage singer from the South who heads to an East Coast conservatory. She won't appear in the flick, which will air next April on ABC Family.

BRITNEY ADD: Meanwhile, the pop princess canceled a performance on NBC's Today show, according to the New York Daily News because she was unhappy with a Dateline piece on her.

MORE BILL: HBO renewing Real Time with Bill Maher for another 23 episodes. The second season premieres January 16.

APPLE OF HER EYE: Madonna's second children's book, Mr. Peabody's Apples, a story about the power of words and the importance of teachers inspired by her Kabbalah experience, now in bookstores.

QUEEN BEE: Juliette Binoche set to costar with Richard Gere in The Bee Season, playing a mom in an emotional spiral as her family is headed for dysfunction. Deep End helmers Scott McGehee and David Siegel will direct.

IN FOCUS: Oscar winner Adrien Brody and Natalie Portman in talks to star in Capa, a biopic of legendary war photographer Robert Capa to be directed by Menno Meyjes (Max).

REMEMBERED: TV icon Art Carney has died at age 85. Carney is best known for playing Ed Norton opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. He also won an Oscar for the 1974 film Harry and Tonto.

GOODBYE: Righteous Brother Bill Medley sang at a memorial service for his longtime bandmate, Bobby Hatfield, Tuesday. Hundreds turned out for the service to bid farewell to Hatfield, who died last week at age 63.

CODA: Drummer Tony Thompson, who played with David Bowie and Chic among others, died Wednesday in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer. He was 49.

APOCALYPSE NOW: NBC tapping writer-director David Seltzer to pen a miniseries about the final showdown between God and Satan as foretold in the Bible's Book of Revelations and the coming apocalypse. The series is set to air in late summer 2004.

IT'S OFFICIAL: DreamWorks and Universal confirming on Tuesday the acquisition by Universal Music Group of DreamWorks Records for $100 million.

ON THE BOARDS: Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz joining the cast of Broadway's Aida opposite Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child starting on January 6.

SOMEONE'S LISTENING? Hollywood's abuzz over transcripts of celebrity phone conversations that the FBI allegedly turned up after an investigation into a Los Angeles private eye, raising suggestions that he illegally tapped the phones of some movie stars, their lawyers and agents.