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Published: October 9, 2008
■ A Los Angeles attorney for pop singer Britney Spears has rejected a plea offer that would have placed her on a year's probation and required her to pay a $150 fine in her misdemeanor driver's license case. Attorney J. Michael Flanagan said yesterday that Spears would consider an offer that reduces the charge to an infraction and requires her to pay a $10 fine. He said that if the case does go to trial as scheduled later this month, he will appeal any conviction. He said that she is being unfairly targeted because she is a celebrity and that she does not deserve a blemish on her criminal record.
■ Berkeley Breathed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, is retiring, leaving a hole in the Sunday funnies and the hearts of "Opus" fans. The last strip featuring the beloved, large-beaked penguin will run in about 200 newspapers nationwide Nov. 2. Breathed said Monday that he is calling it quits after a comics career that has spanned nearly 30 years. Amy Lago, the comics editor of The Washington Post Writers Group, said that Breathed will pursue other interests, such as writing books and screenplays. Starting and stopping popular strips is old hat for Breathed, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif. The writers group unveiled his "Bloom County" strip in 1980; he went on to win the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning in 1987. He ended "Bloom County" in 1989 and the same year began the Sunday-only strip "Outland," which he quit in 1995. In 2003, he introduced "Opus."
■ Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who always has been afraid of flying, says he is glad to be alive after suffering severe burns in a fiery plane crash last month. "I hate planes," he said in an interview with Us Weekly magazine. "My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened ... well, I'm just thankful to be alive!" Barker and celebrity disc jockey DJ AM were the only survivors of the crash Sept. 19 in Columbia, S.C. Two pilots and two other passengers were killed, including Barker's assistant, Chris Baker. Barker was released from a Georgia hospital last week and is being treated at a burn center in Los Angeles. DJ AM was recently released from the hospital, too. Doctors have said they expect both men to fully recover.
■ Actor Nick Nolte jumped out a window and used a hose to fight a fire that broke out in his Malibu, Calif., home Tuesday, authorities said. Nolte, 67, scraped his arm and inhaled some smoke but was not hospitalized, said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Sam Padilla. The electrical fire started in the living room, and Nolte smelled the smoke from an upstairs bedroom, fire Inspector Frank Garrido said. Nolte broke a window to escape and grabbed a garden hose to try to fight the fire. It took firefighters about 30 minutes to douse the fire, which damaged a portion of the home.
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