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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Maybe she’d better just stay at home, sweet home


Reese Witherspoon
 (The Spokesman-Review)
The Spokesman-Review

PAPARAZZI WHO CHASED Reese Witherspoon from her gym to her home won’t face criminal charges, prosecutors say.

Although photographers undoubtedly terrified the actress when they “besieged” her in April, according to authorities, there wasn’t evidence of false imprisonment or other crimes.

Witherspoon, star of the “Legally Blonde” and “Sweet Home Alabama” films, told police that photographers swarmed her car when she left the Brentwood gym, tried to force her off the road and surrounded her when she reached the gated community in West Los Angeles where she lives with her husband, Ryan Phillippe, and two children.

Photographers told police they approached Witherspoon outside the gym to tell her that one of their colleagues had scraped her vehicle.

“I have no doubt Ms. Witherspoon was besieged by the paparazzi that day,” said Detective Jeff Dunn, head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Threat Management Unit. “But through witnesses and videotapes, we weren’t able to corroborate the incident Ms. Witherspoon described.”

For all you Beanie counters

Rapper Beanie Sigel was released from prison Tuesday after serving one year on federal gun and drug charges.

Sigel, born Dwight Grant, released his third album, “The B. Coming,” in March while behind bars at a federal prison in New Jersey.

The 31-year-old Jay-Z protege still faces a Sept. 19 retrial on an attempted murder charge in Philadelphia. A jury deadlocked on those charges in April 2004.

So that’s what the ‘G’ stands for

G-Unit rappers Lloyd Banks and Young Buck were arrested on felony gun possession charges after a concert Monday at Madison Square Garden.

Banks (aka Chris Lloyde), 23, and Buck (David Brown), 24, were riding with 10 other men in a van that was stopped for running a red light.

Police said one of the men was carrying a loaded handgun and another weapon was found on the floor of the van. All occupants were charged with gun possession.

Def, dumb and blind

Kimora Lee Simmons, wife of Def Jam hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, will serve six months of probation for driving erratically and ignoring a police car’s flashing lights and wailing siren for several miles in July 2004.

The former model also faced drug possession charges over a small amount of marijuana found in her car.

Simmons pleaded guilty Tuesday to careless driving. If she successfully completes an intervention program for nonviolent offenders, all the charges will be dropped.

So, she just made it up?

A makeup artist has dropped a lawsuit alleging she was drugged and raped by rapper Snoop Dogg and several of his associates after a taping of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” two years ago.

Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, paid “absolutely no money in the settlement,” his publicist said. In a statement, his accuser said “the matter has been resolved amicably.”

The woman claimed she was drugged with spiked champagne after Snoop’s appearance on the show. He filed a countersuit claiming she tried to extort $5 million from him in exchange for keeping quiet.

The birthday bunch

Former TV talk-show host Mike Douglas is 80. Actress-TV personality Arlene Dahl is 77. Singer Eric Carmen is 56. Wrestler-actor Hulk Hogan is 52. Singer Joe Jackson is 51. Actor Joe Rogan (“Fear Factor,” “NewsRadio”) is 38. Actor Will Friedle (“Boy Meets World”) is 29. Rapper Chris Kelly (Kris Kross) is 27. Singer J-Boog (B2K) is 20.