So how do you say ‘Hasta la vista, baby’ in Austrian?
The Terminator has been terminated in his hometown. On Tuesday – a day after officials in Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s Austrian birthplace of Graz removed his name from a soccer stadium, as he requested – they deleted references to him on the city’s Web sites.
The California governor earlier this month wrote to Graz officials asking for his name to be removed from the stadium and ordering the city to stop using it for promotional purposes.
He was reacting to fierce criticism from opponents in his hometown who denounced him for refusing to block the Dec. 13 execution in California of Crips gang founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams.
Capital punishment is illegal in Austria, where many people consider it barbaric.
Late Sunday or early Monday, Graz officials took down the large metal letters spelling out Schwarzenegger’s name on the 15,300-seat arena. On Tuesday, references to him were scrubbed from Graz’s main Web site and from a sister site devoted to the region’s sports scene.
Her own little soap Oprah
A judge on Tuesday lifted a restraining order granted to a New Mexico 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.
Colleen Nestler had received a temporary order requiring him to stay at least three yards away from her – which his lawyers called an abuse of the judicial process.
Nestler said that if Letterman or any of his representatives came near her, “I will break their legs.”
“He has many accomplices,” she said after the hearing. “I know this sounds crazy. I was crazy to have listened to him in the beginning.”
Nestler said Letterman first asked her to be his wife on a teaser for the show by saying, “Marry me, Oprah.”
Hope Santa made it through OK
Oprah Winfrey‘s private jet was forced to return to the Santa Barbara, Calif., city airport after its windshield was cracked in a collision with a bird, officials said.
Winfrey and her boyfriend, Stedman Graham, were not hurt in the incident Monday.
“We see these things pretty frequently,” a Santa Barbara Fire Department spokesman said.
Merry Christmas, baby
Catching up on the family beat from over the holidays, actress Laura Dern and her longtime musician boyfriend Ben Harper finally tied the knot.
Dern, 38, and Harper, 36, began dating in 2000 and became engaged in September 2004. They have a 4-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.
Meanwhile, former “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson and his wife, Kelley, are expecting their third child.
Johnson, 56, has two other offspring: a son with Patti D’Arbanville-Quinn and a daughter with Melanie Griffith.
He’s K-fed up
Aspiring rapper Kevin Federline – aka K-Fed, aka Mr. Britney Spears – has unveiled his own Web site.
It begins with an introduction of Federline rapping, “Keep messin’ with my family and you’re through,” played over various tabloid articles about the couple.
Spears has sued Us Weekly magazine for $20 million over what she says is a false story reporting that she and Federline had made a sex tape.
The birthday bunch
Comic book creator Stan Lee (“Spider-Man,” “The Incredible Hulk”) is 83. Actress Maggie Smith (“Harry Potter”) is 71. Musician Edgar Winter is 59. Actor Denzel Washington is 51. Comedian Seth Meyers (“Saturday Night Live”) is 32. Singer John Legend is 27. Actress Mackenzie Rosman (“7th Heaven”) is 16.