newsmakers

newsmakers

Sheen says he may return to hit sitcom

LOS ANGELES

Charlie Sheen says he may be reunited with “Two and a Half Men.”

In an interview with a Boston radio station Tuesday, Sheen said there have been discussions about bringing him back to the hit CBS sitcom he was fired from last month.

Sheen put the chances of him returning at “85 percent.” He didn’t offer details in the Sports Hub 98.5 WBZ-FM interview, saying he’d been asked not to divulge anything.

CBS declined to comment, and series producer Warner Bros. Television didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

The actor also said his profits from the show’s rich syndication deals are being withheld and that’s part of his $100 million lawsuit against Warner and the show’s executive producer.

Sheen was in Boston for his nationwide road show that has drawn mixed audience reaction.

PBS head: funding remains intact

NEW YORK

Efforts to strip government funding for public broadcasting appear to have failed.

PBS chief Paula Kerger tells The Associated Press that the federal budget deal retains most of the money that President Barack Obama had set aside for public television and radio stations — nearly $430 million.

Kerger said a lobbying effort that resulted in a half-million emails and also phone calls to congressional offices appears to have paid off. She said the public response “changed everything.”

The money is distributed to nearly 1,000 public television and radio stations across the country.

Radio tower gets historic designation

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

The Nashville radio tower for WSM that has broadcast the Grand Ole Opry since the 1930s has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The 808-foot tower was erected in 1932. WSM started carrying the legendary country-music show in 1925, and the tower brought it to much of the South and Midwest. The live show helped popularize country music and spread it beyond the South, aiding the careers of Hank Williams Sr., Roy Acuff, Loretta Lynn and others.

The tower now sits on a 30-acre tract visible from Interstate 65 south of Nashville.

The station announced the selection in a news release Wednesday.

Jennifer Lopez named most beautiful woman

NEW YORK

People magazine is naming Jennifer Lopez the World’s Most Beautiful Woman.

The singer, actress and “American Idol” judge tops the magazine’s annual list of “the World’s Most Beautiful” in a special double issue.

Lopez is joined on this honor roll by such lovelies as Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner and Beyonc Knowles.

Commenting on her lofty title, the 41-year-old Lopez says, “I feel happy and proud. Proud that I’m not 25!”

Wire reports