Pilots lead singer charged after fight

Pilots lead singercharged after fight
LAS VEGAS -- The lead singer of the alternative rock band Stone Temple Pilots was arrested after allegedly fighting with his wife at the Hard Rock hotel-casino.
Scott Weiland, 38, was booked Monday on one count of domestic battery after a fight with his wife late Sunday in a room at the Hard Rock, police said. He posted $3,000 bail and was released about 12 hours later.
The band had performed Monday night at the Hard Rock.
Weiland argued with his wife, Mary, 26, in their room over a prescription he was going to have filled, police said. She had bruises on her left and right biceps.
"He wanted to leave the room to pick up a prescription. He has a history of drug use, and I was scared of what might happen if he took those pills," Mary Weiland said in a police report. "He tried to remove me from the door and, as time went on, he got more physical with me by hitting me against a wall and stepping on me."
Scott Weiland said in the report that a doctor prescribed the medication for torn cartilage in his knee. He said he tried to persuade her to move away from the door.
"She was very physical and verbally abusive," he said in the report.
Mary Weiland called hotel security personnel, who called the police.
Flynt sues to sendreporters to front lines
WASHINGTON -- Porn pusher Larry Flynt has wormed his way into the spotlight yet again. The Hustler magazine publisher has sued the Defense Department for the right to send reporters to the front lines in Afghanistan.
Flynt asked a federal court in Washington to force the agency to loosen its restrictions on press coverage.
"The actions of American soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan are of great interest and concern to American citizens," his attorney said in the lawsuit filed last week.
The Pentagon turned down Flynt's request to allow writers to accompany troops on combat missions because of "the highly dangerous and unique nature" of the operations, according to a letter Flynt said he received this month from Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.
Meanwhile, Flynt is puffing out his chest at another breed of kingpin, reports The New York Post: megadeveloper Donald Trump.
Flynt has challenged The Donald to a million-dollar, winner-take-all poker game. Half of the winnings will go to the New York Relief Fund/Red Cross for victims of Sept. 11.
"It's time for the public to find out who the card-playing king of casinos is!" boasts Flynt, owner of the new Hustler Casino in Gardena, Calif. "Trump advertises himself as a card player and a big gambler. This is his chance to put up some real money for an important cause. I'd want to play him in my own casino, but I'm willing to go face to face in Atlantic City."
Flynt issued the challenge Oct. 25. He's still waiting for Trump's answer.
Queen honors actor Lee
LONDON -- Queen Elizabeth II met Dracula Tuesday -- and asked about his career. At an investiture at Buckingham Palace, the monarch awarded 79-year-old actor Christopher Lee the title Commander of the British Empire, or CBE, for his services to entertainment.
"The queen said, 'You've had a long career' -- it's 55 years now -- and she asked me what I was doing now," said Lee, a longtime star for Britain's Hammer horror studio whose films include "Horror of Dracula" and "The Curse of Frankenstein."
Lee plays 8,000-year-old wizard Saruman the White in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, which opens in the United States on Dec. 19.
Born in London, Lee was educated at the Eton and Wellington schools. He joined the Royal Air Force at 17 and served as an intelligence officer during World War II.
Love was all2 ex-Beatles needed
NEW YORK -- Paul McCartney had a tearful six-hour reunion with terminally ill George Harrison on Staten Island last week, reports New York Daily News columnists Rush & amp; Malloy.
"Paul cried," said a family friend familiar with the visit from McCartney and his fianc & eacute;e, Heather Mills.
Beatles biographers have written of the creative tension between the two and how Harrison was blamed for stalling a reunion after John Lennon's death. But love was all they needed last week.
"George is in pretty good spirits," says the friend. "Paul was amazed that George was able to sit up the whole time."
Harrison's pain from an inoperable brain tumor is said to have subsided thanks to radiosurgery treatment he received from Dr. Gil Lederman at Staten Island University Hospital. But Harrison, whose cancer is "widespread," according to sources, is aware he's entered the final stage of his life, even as he embarks on chemotherapy.
"There is no way out," says a source. "The reason to treat him is to extend his life."
Harrison, his wife, Olivia, and his son, Dhani, 23, were spotted recently at Newark Airport, where they boarded a private jet believed to be headed for the West Coast.
Today's Birthdays
Former Senator Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., is 83. Comedian Rodney Dangerfield is 80. Movie director Arthur Hiller is 78. Actor Robert Vaughn is 69. Actor Michael Callan is 66. Actor Allen Garfield is 62. Animator and movie director Terry Gilliam is 61. Actor Tom Conti is 60. Astronaut Guion S. Bluford is 59. Tennis player Billie Jean King is 58. Rock musician Tina Weymouth (The Heads; Talking Heads; The Tom Tom Club) is 51. Baseball player Greg Luzinski is 51. Actor Richard Kind is 45. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is 43. Rock singer Jason Ringenberg (Jason & amp; the Scorchers) is 43. Actress Mariel Hemingway is 40. Actor Stephen Geoffreys is 37. Actor Nicholas Rowe is 35. Tennis player Boris Becker is 34. Actress Scarlett Johansson is 17.