ANNOUNCED: Former attorney general under President Clinton, Janet Reno, 63, officially began her bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination of Florida on Tuesday. The filing sets up a potential match with the current Republican incumbent, Jeb Bush, brother of the current President . . . OFFERED: Some 250 vintage, mint-condition outfits belonging to Barbie, the 40-plus-year-old fashion doll from Mattel, are being put up for auction at Doyle New York on Dec. 11, reports the Associated Press. Items include five American Girl Barbies with pageboy hairstyles from 1965 and the complete "Roman Holiday" outfit from 1959-63, including a tiny brass compact with a mirror and pink powder puff . . . SCHEDULED: Evan & Jaron, Sean Astin, Rebecca DeMornay and casts from "The West Wing," "Felicity" and "Boston Public" will be among the stars participating in the second annual L.A. Read-In, Thurs., Sept. 7, at 11 a.m. in the children's section of the Los Angeles Public Library . . . DETAINED: After eight days of treatment in a Southern California hospital for treatment of pneumonia, Bob Hope, 98, was not released on Monday, as was originally expected. "He's getting better," his physician, Dr. Lee Kagan, said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "His chest is clearing, he's off oxygen . . . and he's more communicative than he's been all week" . . . DIED: Teen heartthrob of the '60s, TROY DONAHUE, 65, suffered a fatal massive heart attack Sunday. His movies included 1959's "A Summer Place" and, in a comeback of sorts, 1974's "The Godfather, Part II," in which he played Connie Corleone's boyfriend, named Merle Johnson -- which was actually Donahue's real name. PAULINE KAEL, 82, the feared and revered movie critic for the New Yorker magazine from 1968 until her retirement in 1991, died at her Massachusetts home in the Berkshires on Monday. She had suffered from Parkinson's disease. South African surgeon DR. CHRISTIAAN N. BERNARD, 78, who performed the first human heart transplant in 1967, had a fatal asthma attack on Sunday. His first patient lived only 18 days, but his second made it through 19 months.