CONFUSION SURROUNDS RICHARDS' CONDITION

Confusion surroundsRichards' condition
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Keith Richards fans gathered outside a hospital Sunday where the Rolling Stones guitarist was believed to be undergoing treatment for a mild concussion reportedly suffered when he fell out of a palm tree on vacation in Fiji.
One newspaper also reported that Richards, 62, got on a Jet Ski after the fall and had another accident. Several Australian and New Zealand media outlets reported the fall from the tree.
Band spokeswoman Fran Curtis has said only that Richards was injured earlier this week and flown to New Zealand with his wife, Patti, for observation. Her statement Saturday did not comment on Richards' condition or how he was injured.
New Zealand's Sunday Star-Times provided no details on the Jet Ski crash, but quoted Dr. Uzzel Kanti Dhar as saying that Richards was admitted to Suva Private Hospital spokesman hospital in the Fijian capital on Thursday, the same day he was said to have fallen from the tree.
Richards reportedly was airlifted to Auckland's Ascot Hospital later that day. Duty manager Steve Kirby refused to confirm early Sunday that Richards was a patient there, citing the hospital's privacy policy.
Writer: Lacrosse novelis not about Durham
DURHAM, N.C. -- Tom Wolfe, who wrote about lacrosse culture in "I Am Charlotte Simmons," reiterates the novel's setting is not Durham, home to Duke University and its embattled lacrosse team.
Answering an audience member's question at a book festival on the Duke campus, the author said he did notice similarities between his fictional characters and people at the center of the recent rape investigation involving Duke lacrosse players.
Wolfe's 2004 novel, set on a fictional Northern university campus, portrays "sexually aggressive lacrosse players," and an earlier best-seller, "The Bonfire of the Vanities" depicts a white district attorney who needs black votes to be re-elected. Durham's district attorney, Mike Nifong, is white and a candidate in the Democratic primary Tuesday.
But none of the "Charlotte Simmons" characters "lived within 600 miles of Durham, N.C.," Wolfe said Saturday at the North Carolina Festival of the Book.
Duke has been mentioned as the possible setting for "Charlotte Simmons," partially because the fictional Dupont University includes the Gothic architecture that marks Duke and also because Wolfe's daughter attended Duke.
In the book, athletes at Dupont are depicted as lumbering, thuggish "herpes pustules" who get all the women and get away with everything. In lacrosse, one character says, "white boys are the ones with the machismo."
Wolfe said his next book will be on immigration. His previous works include "The Right Stuff" and the 1998 novel "A Man in Full."
Doherty released on bail
LONDON -- British rocker Pete Doherty was released on bail Sunday by police investigating tabloid newspaper photos that showed him injecting himself and a woman with drugs, a police official said.
The Babyshambles singer was detained Saturday morning on suspicion of recklessly administering a noxious substance, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to identify the suspect.
Doherty, 27, is to return for questioning in July, the official said.
The Sun newspaper published a photo Friday that appeared to show Doherty holding a syringe to the arm of a woman lying on the floor. Another showed him with a needle to his arm.
The pictures were taken at the singer's London home in the past five weeks, the paper said.
Doherty was previously arrested April 20 for suspected drug possession, hours after a judge placed him on probation on separate drug charges.
Police found marijuana, heroin and crack cocaine in Doherty's car and clothing when he was arrested Dec. 18, one of a long line of run-ins with the law.
Last year, a newspaper published pictures of model Kate Moss, his girlfriend at the time, apparently using cocaine at a music studio where Doherty and his band were recording.
Today's birthdays
Actor Glenn Ford is 90. Former astronaut Scott Carpenter is 81. Country singer Sonny James is 77. Singer Judy Collins is 67. Actor Stephen Macht is 64. Singer Rita Coolidge is 61. Actor-director Douglas Barr is 57. Actor Dann Florek is 55. Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Jr. is 52. Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen is 46. Actress Maia Morgenstern ("The Passion of the Christ") is 44. Country singer Wayne Hancock is 41. Rock musician Johnny Colt is 40. Actor Charlie Schlatter is 40. Country singer Tim McGraw is 39. Rock musician D'Arcy is 38. Movie director Wes Anderson is 37. Country singer Cory Morrow is 34. Actor Darius McCrary is 30.