3 plead innocent in Anna Nicole case

3 plead innocent in Anna Nicole case

LOS ANGELES — Anna Nicole Smith’s former boyfriend and two doctors have pleaded innocent in Los Angeles to charges they conspired to provide prescription drugs to the former model before her overdose death two years ago.

Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor appeared Wednesday before Superior Court Commissioner Kristi Lousteau. The defendants said “yes” when she asked if they were pleading innocent. The commissioner granted a motion requiring each defendant to provide a handwriting sample. She scheduled a June 8 court date to determine when a preliminary hearing will begin.

Smith died of an accidental overdose in a Florida hotel room in 2007.

Italian opera star wins Sonning prize

COPENHAGEN — Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli has won Denmark’s Sonning Music Prize. The award committee says Bartoli’s “sound is unique, her technique has not been surpassed and her radiation on stage is like [opera legend Maria] Callas.”

The Leonie Sonning Music Foundation says Bartoli is “our days’ great diva.”

The committee says in a statement released Wednesday that Bartoli will receive the 600,000 kroner ($110,000) award during a concert in Copenhagen on June 16, 2010. The prize is named after Leonie Sonning and has been awarded annually since 1959 to an internationally renowned composer, musician, conductor or singer. Previous winners include Leonard Bernstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniel Barenboim.

Today’s birthdays

Jack Bruce of Cream is 66. Movie producer George Lucas is 65. Musician David Byrne (Talking Heads) is 57. Director Robert Zemeckis is 57. Actor Tim Roth is 48. Guitarist C.C. DeVille of Poison is 47. Singer Ian Astbury is 47. Lip-syncher Fabrice Morvan of Milli Vanilli is 43. Actress Cate Blanchett is 40. Actress Miranda Cosgrove (“iCarly”) is 16.