Forsaking his longtime Connecticut home, comedian David Letterman has moved into an 88-acre Westchester, N.Y., estate he bought eight years ago.
The main house, built in 1986, is in North Salem, not far from the Bedford home of Letterman’s Late Show bandleader Paul Shaffer. Letterman, who earns $31 million a year from CBS, sold his 202-year- old New Canaan, Conn., house in October for $1.1 million.
North Salem residents reported seeing the talk host, 55, shopping or jogging. “He’s not a big, happy guy in the morning,” said town highway chief Drew Outhouse. “We’ll all wave at him, and he doesn’t wave back anymore.”
Suspect charged with stalking Gere
A woman who allegedly has called Richard Gere up to 1,000 times during the past year was found fit for trial and held on $5,000 bail after being charged with stalking the actor. After undergoing a psychiatric examination, Ursula Reichert-Habbishaw, 51, of Kassell, Germany, was arraigned on charges of harassment, aggravated harassment and stalking.
On Thursday, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gregory Carro set Reichert-Habbishaw’s bail, issued a protection order for Gere and ordered her to return to court on May 16. She faces up to a year in jail if convicted.
She was arrested when she showed up at Gere’s office on April 30.
Annul 2nd marriage, Gingrich asks church
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is asking the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta for an annulment of his second marriage, which ended in divorce after 19 years. Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne Gingrich, said Thursday through her attorney that she learned of the request this week when she received a letter from the archdiocese.
“We were married 19 years, and now he wants to say it didn’t exist,” Marianne Gingrich told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The couple were divorced in April 2000, nine months after Newt Gingrich filed for divorce and acknowledged a seven-year affair with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide. Gingrich and Bisek were married in August 2000.
Gingrich’s spokesman, Rick Tyler, said the former House speaker had no comment.
Kato wants to be America’s houseguest
Brian “Kato” Kaelin wants to play houseguest again, and maybe with you.
Kaelin has shot a pilot episode in Los Angeles for a TV series, House Guest, aimed at capitalizing on his fame as O.J. Simpson’s former live-in friend.
“It’s a show where I go across America, I knock on doors of the unsuspecting and invite myself in to spend a weekend with the family,” Kaelin told Barbara Walters on ABC’s 20/20 Wednesday.
Kaelin, who described House Guest as “an absolute ball,” said it will be on the air soon but offered no details about where. He does have his own place, a town house, Kaelin assured Walters.
Kaelin was staying with Simpson when Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were killed in 1994. Simpson was acquitted in a criminal trial but was found liable for the deaths in a civil trial.
Judge Ito seeks switch to juvenile justice
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, who gained fame presiding over the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, wants to switch to the less glamorous position of juvenile court judge.
Ito said he has been considering the move for a long time and thinks the change will be good for him and the youths he intends to help.
Ito still needs the approval of the court’s presiding judge. “It’s an important job, and you need people who want to be there,” Ito told the Pasadena Star-News.
Almanac
It’s the 131st day of the year; 234 days are left in 2002. On this date:
In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.
In 1888, songwriter Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Russia.
In 1946, the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.
In 1949, Israel was admitted to the United Nations as its 59th member.
In 1949, Siam changed its name to Thailand.
In 1981, reggae artist Bob Marley, 36, died in a Miami hospital.
In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.
Thought for today: “No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated.”
— Author Ellen Glasgow (1874-1945)
Today’s birthdays: Comedian Mort Sahl, 75; actress Frances Fisher, 50; actress Martha Quinn, 43; actress Natasha Richardson, 39; actor Austin O’Brien, 22; actor Jonathan Jackson, 20.
