Robert Redford backs candidate's campaign

DETROIT -- Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga's run for Congress is getting Hollywood support: an endorsement from Robert Redford.

Marlinga's first paid advertisement is a testimonial from Redford, who is deeply involved in environmental issues. It began airing on radio this week, the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday.

Redford touts Marlinga's record as a fighter for a cleaner Lake St. Clair and urges voters to protect Michigan's environment.

Marlinga, a Democrat, faces Republican Secretary of State Candice Miller on Nov. 5 for the new 10th Congressional District.

Heston speaks at breakfast fund raiser

MOBILE, Ala. -- Charlton Heston joked about his Oscar-winning "Ben-Hur" role during a Republican breakfast fund-raiser.

Heston, who recently announced that he has symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, said his chariot-driving teacher in Italy told him to just "stay in the chariot, I'll guarantee you're going to win" the race.

"And I did," the 78-year-old actor and conservative activist said Friday.

Heston spoke only for a few minutes, reading from a file card when talking about the Alabama campaign.

Heston was last in Mobile in 1996, campaigning for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, who's running for re-election against Democrat Susan Parker.

Sessions told Heston, "You have won the real race of life. You did not choose to sit on the sidelines and watch it."

The $100-a-plate breakfast drew 250 people, with funds going to the Alabama Republican Party.

Phillips to participate in Mrs. World contest

HONOLULU -- Alabama youth pastor Kristi Leigh Phillips was crowned Mrs. America at the 26th annual pageant.

Phillips, 25, of Montgomery, will represent the United States at the Mrs. World competition Dec. 15 in Bucharest, Romania.

"I'm a little southern belle from Alabama, and going to Romania is something I probably would never have got to do. So I'm very excited," Phillips said after she was crowned Friday.

Phillips and her husband, Brian, have a 2-year-old daughter.

Charity Kelly, 26, of Blaine, Minn., was first runner-up, followed by Allison Meeks Hood, 26, of Midville, Ga., and Helen Berger, 30, of Honolulu.

The Mrs. America pageant will be broadcast Oct. 12 on the Pax TV network.-- From wire reports

Boxer gets life for armed robbery

CHICAGO -- Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings, who fought former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier to a 10-round draw in 1981, was sentenced to life in prison under Illinois' "three-strikes" law.

Judge Joseph Kazmierski Jr. handed down the sentence on Friday after Cummings was convicted of armed robbery for stealing $250 and a videocassette recorder from a fast-food restaurant in 2000.

It was Cummings' third felony conviction.

Cummings, 52, started boxing while serving a 13-year murder sentence at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet.

During his last year in prison and the three years following his release, Cummings won 16 fights, 14 by knockout. He lost only two professional fights.

Cummings is best known for his bout in Chicago against Frazier, which thwarted Frazier's comeback attempt.

Cummings' boxing career ended three years later when he and another man from Chicago were convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in Michigan.

Aldrin not facing charges for alleged punch

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- No charges will be filed against Buzz Aldrin for allegedly punching a man who called him a liar and demanded that the former astronaut swear on the Bible that he'd been to the moon.

Bart Sibrel, 37, claimed the 72-year-old Aldrin hit him in the face on Sept. 9 outside the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills after Sibrel called him "a coward, a liar and a thief."

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office announced Friday it had declined to file a misdemeanor battery count. It was unlikely a jury would have convicted Aldrin, Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Ratinoff said.

Aldrin "certainly welcomes" the decision, said his lawyer, Robert O'Brien. "We hope that in the future Mr. Sibrel will refrain from harassing Dr. Aldrin and any other Apollo astronauts," he said.

Sibrel called the decision unfair.

"It's sad the people who are in charge of upholding the law are showing favoritism," he said. "Celebrities and citizens are not treated the same."

Sibrel, of Nashville, Tenn., says he does not believe Aldrin or anyone else has walked on the moon. Sibrel said he was trying to confront Aldrin about his 1969 lunar mission when the former Apollo 11 astronaut swung at him.

A 10-second clip from the videotaped incident showed Sibrel yelling at Aldrin from several feet away before Aldrin responded, "Will you get away from me!" and lunged at Sibrel with a right hook. A young woman tried to pull Aldrin away.

O'Brien said Aldrin was defending himself and family members.

"Buzz was physically blocked from leaving the hotel and was aggressively confronted by Mr. Sibrel, and he acted to defend himself," the attorney said.

Sibrel has confronted Aldrin on two previous occasions.

Heston appears at breakfast fund raiser

MOBILE, Ala. -- Charlton Heston joked about his Oscar-winning "Ben-Hur" role during a Republican breakfast fund-raiser.

Heston, who recently announced that he has symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, said his chariot-driving teacher in Italy told him to just "stay in the chariot, I'll guarantee you're going to win" the race.

"And I did," the 78-year-old actor and conservative activist said Friday.

Heston spoke only for a few minutes, reading from a file card when talking about the Alabama campaign.

Heston was last in Mobile in 1996, campaigning for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, who's running for re-election against Democrat Susan Parker.

Sessions told Heston, "You have won the real race of life. You did not choose to sit on the sidelines and watch it."

The $100-a-plate breakfast drew 250 people, with funds going to the Alabama Republican Party.

Newton-John has life-changing meeting

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Olivia Newton-John said a chance meeting with a breast cancer survivor changed her perspective on her own disease.

A woman she met in a restaurant bathroom told Newton-John that's she'd survived cancer 20 years earlier.

"That one person made such a difference to my life. It was like, 'Oh my goodness," she said. "She had it 20 years ago, and they didn't have such a good treatment then. If she can be fine, then I can be fine."'

Newton-John, 54, disclosed in 1992 that she had been diagnosed with the disease and is now healthy.

She told a group at Thompson Center Survival Center this week that a positive attitude and support make all the difference.

Newton-John co-starred with John Travolta in the 1978 film "Grease." Her song hits include "I Honestly Love You."

XXX XXXX

LOS ANGELES -- Rena Sofer has a new job -- and a wedding to plan.

Sofer, who has joined the cast of NBC's "Just Shoot Me," is engaged to director-producer Sanford Bookstaver. They plan to marry next year, their publicist said this week.

On "Just Shoot Me," Sofer plays a fashion consultant hired to shake up the fictitious magazine Blush, Nancy Iannios said.

Bookstaver is a director-producer of Fox television's "Fastlane."

The 33-year-old actress recently filmed NBC's remake of the Stephen King thriller "Carrie."

She was previously married to Wallace Kurth, her co-star on the daytime soap opera "General Hospital."

XXX XXXX

LONDON -- The baby son of actress Angelina Jolie was discharged from a Liverpool hospital on Friday after three days of treatment for an undisclosed minor injury, a spokeswoman for the actress said.

Maddox Jolie was admitted to the Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, northwest England on Tuesday after suffering what the hospital described as a very minor injury. No details of the injury were released.

Jolie, 27, who won a best-supporting-actress Oscar in 2000 for "Girl, Interrupted," has filed for divorce from actor Billy Bob Thornton, with whom she adopted their son from a Cambodian orphanage.