newsmakers

August 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

Mitch Miller dies

NEW YORK

Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to “Sing Along With Mitch” on television and records, has died at age 99.

His daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther, says her father died in New York City after a short illness.

Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock ’n’ roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett.

“Sing Along With Mitch” started as a series of records, then became a popular NBC show starting in early 1961. Miller’s stiff-armed conducting style and signature goatee became famous.

Sheen pleads guilty

ASPEN, Colo.

Charlie Sheen pleaded guilty Monday to assault in a Christmas Day argument with his wife in exchange for the withdrawal of more-serious charges.

Sheen, star of “Two and a Half Men” on CBS, was sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation center, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management. He has 30 days to report to the Promises Treatment Center in California.

Colorado prosecutors dropped a felony menacing charge and a criminal-mischief charge in exchange for Sheen’s plea on a count of misdemeanor assault. The charges stem from a Christmas Day 2009 dispute with Brooke Mueller Sheen.

Lohan goes to rehab

LOS ANGELES

Lindsay Lohan has been released from jail, but she’s not exactly a free woman. The actress was discharged at 1:35 a.m. Monday after serving 14 days of a 90-day sentence for violating her probation in a 2007 drug case, a sheriff’s spokesman said. She is now required to begin a three-month stint in rehab.

A prosecutor has said that Lohan cannot be released early and will have to spend the entire time in treatment, reportedly at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The facility and government officials declined to say whether Lohan is a patient there, but paparazzi followed a van that received a police escort to the center after Lohan’s release from jail.

Inmates such as Lohan, 24, who are serving time for nonviolent offenses, typically have their stays reduced because of overcrowding and credits for good behavior.

Media have been camped outside the jail since Lohan was booked July 20, catching shots of her mother and sister coming to visit. Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, did not immediately return an e-mail message seeking acomment.

Lohan’s sentence has put several of her projects on hold, including a starring role as Linda Lovelace in a biopic on the porn star’s life. It also will prevent her from promoting her role as a gun-toting nun in Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete.”

Vindicator wire services