RECOVERING
Comic Dave Chappelle, 33, was treated for exhaustion after checking into an emergency room July 14. His rep told the Associated Press the star—who walked away from Chappelle's Show in 2005—had been on the road performing stand-up and was released after a few hours.... Retired talk show host Merv Griffin, 82, was hospitalized in L.A. recently for a recurrence of prostate cancer (first diagnosed in 1996), his rep said July 18. "I was ready for a vacation," says Griffin. "However, this wasn't the destination I had in mind."
SIGNING OFF
CNN announced July 24 that anchor Paula Zahn, 51, will leave the network Aug. 2 after nearly six years. Guest journalists will fill in during Paula Zahn Now's vacated 8 p.m. slot until ex-NBC Newser Campbell Brown, 39, arrives in November.
LEGAL MATTERS
Mariane Pearl, 40, widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, sued Habib Bank Limited and more than a dozen reputed terrorists July 18 in Brooklyn in connection with her husband's 2002 murder. The suit alleges that the bank, based in Pakistan (where Daniel was tortured and beheaded), knowingly provided financial support to terrorist groups. Mariane is seeking unspecified damages. A Habib executive told Reuters, "We have never been involved in supporting any terrorist organization." ... Troubled country singer Mindy McCready, 31, was arrested July 21 in North Fort Myers, Fla., following a dispute with her mother, Melody Inge, 52. McCready, who denied attacking Inge, was freed that day on $1,000 bond. She is due in court Aug. 14 to face charges of domestic battery and resisting arrest.... A grand jury in New Orleans declined July 24 to indict Dr. Anna Pou, 51, the surgeon accused of the mercy killings of four elderly patients at Memorial Medical Center days after Hurricane Katrina. Pou, and nurses Lori Budo, 44, and Cheri Landry, 50, were arrested in July 2006 for allegedly injecting the four people—whom the doctor and nurses claimed were too ill to move—with a lethal drug cocktail. Charges against the nurses were dropped in June in exchange for their testimonies to the grand jury.
UPDATE
Anna Mae He, 8, the girl at the center of a seven-year custody fight (PEOPLE, April 2, 2007), moved back home with her Chinese-born biological parents in Memphis July 23. Shaoqiang "Jack" and Qin Luo "Casey" He entered a foster-care agreement with Jerry and Louise Baker of Cordova, Tenn., in 1999 due to financial problems. A court battle ensued a year later when the Hes tried to regain custody; the state supreme court returned full guardianship to the Hes Jan. 23.
DEATHS
Ron Miller, 74, who cowrote the pop classics "For Once in My Life" and "Touch Me in the Morning," died of cardiac arrest July 23 in L.A., following a long battle with emphysema and cancer.
WILD ALLEGATIONS?
The Discovery Channel's hit survival-primer Man vs. Wild and its host Bear Grylls, 33, have been accused of onscreen trickery. Among the charges under investigation by Britain's Channel 4, which also airs the show: that Grylls slept in hotels while he was depicted roughing it outdoors. "We have learned ... the crew and host received some assistance while in the field," admitted Discovery Channel officials, who vowed to recut existing episodes and add disclaimers. A Channel 4 rep tells PEOPLE, "It's a how-to-survive show, not a mini-expedition. Still, Grylls does some pretty perilous things, and what you see is certainly what you get."
Your Reaction
