Newsman Mike Wallace has bypass surgery

Newsman Mike Wallace
has bypass surgery

NEW YORK — Mike Wallace was recovering from triple heart bypass surgery that was performed last week, CBS News said Tuesday. Wallace, who turns 90 this spring, is already walking following the surgery Friday to bypass blockages near his heart. Doctors are calling the operation “a great success,” the network said. Recovery from heart bypass surgery generally runs about six weeks.

Pediatricians object
to show’s autism plot

CHICAGO — The nation’s largest pediatricians’ group on Monday said ABC should cancel the first episode of a new series because it perpetuates the myth that vaccines can cause autism. ABC’s new drama, “Eli Stone,” debuts on Thursday. It features British actor Jonny Lee Miller as a prophet-like lawyer who in the opening episode argues in court that a flu vaccine made a child autistic. When it is revealed in court that an executive at the fictional vaccine maker didn’t allow his own child to get the shot, jurors side with the family, giving them a huge award. The show’s co-creators say they’re not anti-vaccine and would be upset if parents chose not to immunize their children after seeing the show. But Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, president of the influential American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement: “If parents watch this program and choose to deny their children immunizations, ABC will share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths that occur as a result.”

Writers to work Grammys

LOS ANGELES — Life just got a lot easier for the head of the Recording Academy. Last month, Neil Portnow vowed to stage a full-scale Grammy Awards show with or without support from the striking writers guild. He’ll find it a lot easier to live up to that pledge now that the Writers Guild of America has agreed to let its members work the show on Feb. 10. Portnow called the guild’s decision Monday gratifying, and promised a 50th anniversary show “with an amazing lineup of artists and performances.”

Dixie Chick is pregnant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks and her husband, Gareth, are expecting a third daughter. Maguire, 38, announced her pregnancy on the group’s Web site Monday. She wrote that her 3-year-old twin daughters, Eva and Katie, “are very excited to have a new baby sister.” She said the baby is due in late summer.

Actress enters rehab
after outburst

LOS ANGELES — Sean Young has entered rehabilitation for alcohol abuse following a weekend outburst in which she was heckling from the audience at the Directors Guild of America awards. The 48-year-old actress was escorted from the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency in Century City Saturday night after sparring with Julian Schnabel, who was nominated for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” At the DGAs, all of the film nominees get a chance to say a few words before the top prize is announced. Schnabel, in his trademark yellow-tinted glasses, was a bit slow to start, looking down at the podium and running his hands through his wild, curly hair. That’s when Young could be heard throughout the room urging him to get on with it. Apparently rattled, Schnabel scanned the room and asked who said that, then spotted Young and suggested that she “have another cocktail.” Then he suggested that she should finish his speech for him and started walking off the stage. Music began playing for his exit, but the audience urged him to stay and keep speaking, and he did. Young, meanwhile, was removed from the ballroom.

Today’s birthdays

Comedian Dick Martin is 86. Actor Gene Hackman is 78. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 71. Vice President Dick Cheney is 67. Singer Phil Collins is 57. Singer Jody Watley is 49. Actor Christian Bale is 34. Pop-rock singer-songwriter Josh Kelley is 28. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 28.