– J.K. Rowling expects to have a busy 2006, “the year when I write the final book in the Harry Potter series. I contemplate the task with mingled feelings of excitement and dread, because I can’t wait to get started, to tell the final part of the story and, at last, to answer all the questions (Will I ever answer all of the questions? Let’s aim for most of the questions); and yet it will all be over at last and I can’t quite imagine life without Harry,” the British author wrote in a recent posting on her Web site. Rowling expects to start on the final book, not yet titled, next month.
– Celebrity baby roundup! Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and his wife, actress Shanna Moakler, both 30, welcomed their second child on Christmas Eve, People.com reports. The new Barker girl is named Alabama Louella. No name or other information was given for the boy born Dec. 14 to “The Shield” star Catherine Dent and her husband, People reports; hopefully they didn’t follow the state/gossip columnist trend and go with Pennsylvania Hedda.
– A New Mexico judge Tuesday lifted a restraining order granted to a Santa Fe woman who accused talk-show host David Letterman of using coded words to show that he wanted to marry her and train her as his co-host. Judge Daniel Sanchez quashed the temporary restraining order that he earlier granted to Colleen Nestler, who alleged in a request filed Dec. 15 that Letterman has forced her to go bankrupt and caused her “mental cruelty” and “sleep deprivation” since May 1994. Lawyers for Letterman contended the order was without merit. Nestler appeared in court without a lawyer, and said she had no proof of the allegations she had made against Letterman. She also said that if Letterman or his representatives came near her, “I will break their legs” and establish proof of her allegations. Later she said it wasn’t a threat.
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The Personals page was compiled by Cheryl Bowles from Tribune news services and staff reports.
