NEWSMAKERS | Jaime Pressly charged with drunken driving

NEWSMAKERS

Jaime Pressly charged with drunken driving

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

Authorities in California say actress Jaime Pressly has been arrested in Santa Monica for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol. Lt. Darrell Lowe says the co-star of TV’s “My Name is Earl” was stopped for a traffic violation around 11 p.m. Wednesday and booked on suspicion of DUI but he’s not releasing any details. Lowe says no traffic collision was involved.

Pressly’s blood-alcohol level wasn’t immediately released.

The Los Angeles County sheriff’s website says the 33-year-old actress-model spent the night in jail and was released Thursday morning after posting $15,000 bail.

Conviction dismissed for Howard K. Stern

LOS ANGELES

A Los Angeles judge has dismissed the drug conspiracy convictions of Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend-lawyer, Howard K. Stern, allowing only one conviction to remain against the physician while reducing it to a misdemeanor. Superior Court Judge Robert Perry found Thursday that Stern never had the intent to defraud when he used his name and others to protect Smith’s privacy when he obtained prescriptions for her.

Perry also found that psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich was acting out of concern for Smith and cited her long career and service to the community in deciding to sentence her to no more than one year of probation and a $100 fine for obtaining one Vicodin prescription under a false name.

Author whose book inspired ‘Babe’ dies

LONDON

British children’s author Dick King-Smith, whose novel “The Sheep-Pig” inspired the hit movie “Babe,” has died at the age of 88.

His publisher, Random House Children’s Books, said in a statement that the writer died in his sleep early Tuesday morning at his home near Bath, about 100 miles west of London, after suffering from poor health in recent years.

King-Smith was honored by Queen Elizabeth II when he received an OBE last year for his services to children’s literature.

The writer worked for 20 years as a farmer before he trained as a primary-school teacher. In his 50s, he began to write his first story, “The Fox Busters,” about chickens taking their revenge on foxes. The book was published in 1978.

He has published more than 100 books — mostly about animals and often about pigs, his favorite — which have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. The 1995 Oscar- winning movie “Babe,” based on his story about a pig that behaves like a sheepdog, made his books a global hit.

Potter attraction sells millionth butterbeer

ORLANDO, Fla.

Turns out butterbeer is just as popular with Muggles as with witches and wizards. Universal Orlando officials said Thursday that the one-millionth mug of the delicious frothy, butterscotchy libation was sold over the holidays inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction, which has been open only since June.

The nonalcoholic drink, served cold or frozen, was inspired by the Harry Potter stories of J.K. Rowling, whose characters regularly tipped a pint or two. Rowling approved the secret recipe for the butterbeer now served at the park. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, situated inside Universal’s Islands of Adventure, has boosted park attendance 36 percent in its first three months.