Trump: Miss USA Tara Conner Not Fired  —  It's official: Donald Trump has not fired Miss USA Tara Conner.  —  "I've always been a believer in second chances.  Tara is good person.  Tara has tried hard.  Tara is going to be given a second chance," Trump announced at a press conference in New York on Tuesday.

Cartoon pioneer Joe Barbera mourned  —  LOS ANGELES - Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna were hired within a month of each other in 1937 by the MGM cartoon factory.  They soon hit on the idea of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry.  —  "When we started, people said, `Cat and mouse?

IM-POLE-ITE  —  THE strippers at Scores East Side were surprised to read on Page Six yesterday that Lindsay Lohan was sore from pole dancing to prepare for her topless role in "I Know Who Killed Me."  They were amazed she even got the part.  When Lohan worked the pole there one night …

Ryan Seacrest: Next Idol Will Be 'Extreme'  —  With less than one month to go before the new season of American Idol kicks off, Ryan Seacrest tells PEOPLE that there will be some eye-openers early on.  —  "I was just on the phone with Simon, and we were talking about the auditions," Seacrest said at Shore Club's Skybar in Miami.

Fatone wants to appear on ABC dance show  —  NEW YORK - Actors, pop singers and athletes have busted some moves on "Dancing With the Stars."  Now celebs seem eager to appear on ABC's ballroom hit.  —  Joey Fatone, of former boy band 'N Sync, told a Florida radio station Friday that he's ready …

Gibson says controversial tirade was 'a gift'  —  Plus, Courtney Love wants to make peace with Madonna  —  Despite making anti-Semitic comments earlier this year, director Mel Gibson's new film "Apocalypto" opened at No. 1 in its first weekend in release.  —  Slide show

Tori Spelling hosts fundraiser for LA animal shelter  —  Tori Spelling and husband Dean McDermott hosted a fundraiser for Much Love Animal Rescue at the So NoTORIous DVD launch party (a portion of the sales went to the animal shelter) at the Los Angeles men's store Alpha.

SEAN PENN: IMPEACH GEORGE W. BUSH, DICK CHENEY  —  Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn called for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney in an impassioned speech Monday night in New York.  —  The occasion was Penn's winning the first annual Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award …

SEX AND THE CITY MOVIE BACK ON!  —  Since the show ended in 2004, rumors have swirled about the making of a Sex and the City movie, and finally, Kim Cattrall has confirmed to Star that fans will be getting their Christmas wish this year — the movie is officially back on!  —  But Catrall was apparently the last to know!

Flashy performance by Brit  —  So much for Britney's pledge to clean up her act.  —  The newly single pop star continued her hard-partying trampage Sunday night at a Los Angeles burlesque club 40 Deuce, when she jumped onstage between striptease acts.  —  Britney and some girlfriends gyrated …

Dimension manic for 'Madman' pic  —  Rodriguez brings comicbook to bigscreen  —  Dimension Films has made a deal to turn the Michael Allred-created comicbook "Madman" into a live-action film.  —  George Huang ("Swimming With Sharks") will direct a script he'll pen with Allred.

Yo!  Ventimiglia gets into the tough-guy act  —  LOS ANGELES — Steeped in vintage Scarface machismo, Milo Ventimiglia enters the lobby of a refurbished Culver City hotel.  —  A fedora is pulled down over one eye, and three days' worth of stubble toughen up his baby face.

Mamet renders his 'Verdict' on H'wood  —  'Hollywood is like cocaine," says David Mamet. "  You cannot understand its attraction until you are doing it.  And when you are doing it, you are insane.  Mamet hasn't quite kicked the habit.  The playwright, who won a Pulitzer for "Glengarry Glen Ross …

ANNA LETS CAMERAS IN!  —  VOGUE staffers are a bit surprised to hear their boss, Anna Wintour, has agreed to strike a pose on camera.  The notoriously frosty editor-in-chief gave the green light for a "feature-length documentary" on the making of Vogue's huge September issue, known as "the Bible of fashion."

Actress Kim Fields: Pregnancy Is 'Wonderful'  —  The Facts of Life star Kim Fields is expecting her first child in May with boyfriend Christopher Morgan, and she tells PEOPLE pregnancy is "wonderful."  —  "It is amazing, surreal," says Fields, 37.  "For as maternal as I've felt all my life, it still has the 'Wow!' factor."

Sitcom legend now teaching `The Class'  —  BURBANK, Calif. - The core cast of the freshman CBS sitcom "The Class" is crammed around a dining table on a Warner Bros. soundstage rehearsing a dinner-party scene.  —  Lina's done the cooking and Richie is apologizing sotto voce for the result.