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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

People: Britney, baby – one last time?


Britney SpearsAssociated Press
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
The Spokesman-Review

The strange, sad saga of Britney Spears apparently is in the hands of professionals.

Spears was taken from her home by ambulance early Thursday and escorted to the hospital by more than a dozen police officers in cars, on motorcycles and in helicopters.

The Los Angeles Times cited unidentified authorities who said Spears was being placed on a “mental evaluation hold.”

Asked by a throng of paparazzi and reporters whether her daughter was doing all right, mom Lynne Spears replied, “Yeah,” before leaving the UCLA Medical Center about 5:30 a.m..

It’s the second time in a month that the 26-year-old pop star has been hospitalized for psychiatric observation.

On Jan. 3, police were called to her home when she refused to return her two young sons – Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1 – to ex-husband Kevin Federline, who has custody.

Spears has been in a highly public downward spiral since filing for divorce from Federline in November 2006.

Her bizarre antics include shaving her head, attacking a car with an umbrella and dodging depositions and hearings in the custody case.

Reefer sadness

“Entertainment Tonight” says it won’t air a video that shows the late Heath Ledger at a Hollywood party where drugs were apparently being taken, out of respect for his family.

The syndicated magazine’s sister show, “The Insider,” aired a “preview” of the video Wednesday that showed an unidentified man apparently snorting cocaine.

The video reportedly does not show Ledger doing drugs, though at one point he says: “I used to smoke five joints a day for 20 years.”

Ledger, 28, died in his Manhattan apartment Jan. 22. Authorities suspect a drug overdose, but toxiocology tests still are being done.

Send her an angel

“ET” and “The Insider” are airing videos of former “Charlie’s Angels” actress Farrah Fawcett as she seeks alternative cancer treatment in Germany.

Fawcett, who was diagnosed with anal cancer in September 2006, gave pal Alana Stewart (singer Rod‘s ex-wife) the OK to talk with the shows about what she has been through since the cancer returned.

“When we were in Germany meeting with the doctor, Farrah handed me the camera,” Stewart says. “We documented everything: the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Actually, he feels fine

Paul McCartney says recent media reports that he had a heart procedure last year are “entirely untrue.”

The 65-year-old ex-Beatle says that during a routine medical examination “there was a minor irregularity which I needed to have tests for and which I have now been assured is completely fine.”

However, he adds: “I have secretly been enjoying all the sympathy I’ve been getting!”

The birthday bunch

Actor Stuart Whitman is 80. Actor-comedian Garrett Morris is 71. Singer Don Everly (The Everly Brothers) is 71. Actor Sherman Hemsley (“The Jeffersons”) is 70. Actress Sherilyn Fenn is 43. Singer Lisa Marie Presley is 40. Comedian Pauly Shore is 40. Actor Michael C. Hall (“Dexter,” “Six Feet Under”) is 37. Rapper Big Boi (Outkast) is 33.