'SABRINA' ACTRESS GIVES BIRTH TO BABY BOY

'Sabrina' actress givesbirth to baby boy
NEW YORK -- Melissa Joan Hart, former star of TV series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," has given birth to a baby boy.
Mason Walter Wilkerson was born Wednesday afternoon and weighs 9 pounds, People magazine reported. It is the first child for Hart, 29, and husband, Mark Wilkerson, 28, lead singer and guitarist for rock band Course of Nature.
"He was a little stubborn, but all is well," Hart told People. "Everyone is well and we are all relieved."
Hart and Wilkerson met in May 2002 when she introduced his band at a Kentucky Derby event in Louisville, Ky., according to the magazine.
The new parents tied the knot in Florence, Italy, in July 2003, three months after "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," a popular sitcom about a high school student with magic powers, ended its seven-year run.
Stewart's daughter: Banhorse-drawn carriages
NEW YORK -- Martha Stewart's daughter and "Apprentice" co-star, Alexis Stewart, has written Mayor Michael Bloomberg a letter urging him to support a citywide ban on horse-drawn carriages.
In a letter written on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Stewart said she was upset by a recent accident involving a horse that ran into vehicular traffic while pulling a carriage home from Central Park.
The carriage driver was seriously injured. The horse, which hit a car, was euthanized.
"As evidenced by this catastrophe," Stewart wrote in the letter, dated Tuesday, "horse-drawn carriages aren't just cruel to the horses who are forced to work long hours in extreme weather conditions while walking on hard pavement and inhaling exhaust fumes all day long; they are equally dangerous to riders, drivers, pedestrians and motorists."
Bloomberg's office did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the letter Wednesday.
Operators of Central Park's horse-drawn carriages have vehemently denied that the animals are mistreated and say accidents like the Jan. 2 crash are rare.
PETA and the Stewart clan have an unusual history.
In 2004, the animal rights group put Martha Stewart at the top of its Worst Dressed list for wearing what appeared to be a fur scarf while leaving a federal courthouse. The fur, however, turned out to be fake.
"My daughter doesn't allow me to wear fur," Martha Stewart explained in a Barbara Walters interview.
PETA quickly revised its list, and Stewart didn't hold a grudge. She later videotaped a public service message for PETA decrying fur industry practices as cruel.
Today's birthdays
Country singer Liz Anderson is 76. Actress Frances Sternhagen is 76. Actor-director Charles Nelson Reilly is 75. Comedian Rip Taylor is 72. Actor Billy Gray is 68. Actor Richard Moll is 63. Rock musician Trevor Rabin is 52. Rhythm-and-blues musician Fred White is 51. Actor Kevin Anderson is 46. Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 45. Rock singer Graham "Suggs" McPherson (Madness) is 45. Country singer Trace Adkins is 44. Actress Penelope Ann Miller is 42. Actor Patrick Dempsey is 40. Actress Traci Bingham is 38. Actor Keith Coogan is 36. Actress Nicole Eggert is 34. Actor Orlando Bloom is 29.
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