NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Holt maintains NBC’s lead in news ratings

NEW YORK

Two months into the transition from Brian Williams to Lester Holt as anchor of NBC’s top-rated “Nightly News” broadcast, and executives at the network can breathe easier.

NBC has beaten David Muir and ABC’s “World News Tonight” in all eight of the weeks since Holt was appointed Williams’ successor, the Nielsen company said. Last week NBC averaged 8 million viewers to ABC’s 7.7 million, and 6.4 million for the “CBS Evening News.”

NBC and ABC ran neck-and-neck during the period when Holt was the substitute for Williams, and Muir’s newscast even won several weeks.

O’Donnell’s missing daughter found

NEW YORK

Rosie O’Donnell’s 17-year-old daughter has been found by police safe in a New Jersey home, hours after it was publicly revealed she had been missing for a week.

Chelsea O’Donnell had left the family’s home a week earlier with a therapy dog, and her mother’s concern was intensified because she had not been taking needed medication. Family spokeswoman Cindi Berger said Chelsea O’Donnell suffers from mental illness.

Rosie O’Donnell lives in South Nyack, N.Y., about 25 miles north of New York City, and police there had been involved in searching for her daughter since Sunday. Rockland County police informed authorities in Barneget, N.J., on Tuesday that they believed Chelsea was there.

Associated Press