In the news

Vandross moves from intensive care

Luther Vandross has been moved out of intensive care and upgraded to stable condition, his business manager said Thursday.

Vandross "is more and more responsive each day," Carmen Romano said in a statement. "I feel as though I am watching a modern-day miracle."

The 52-year-old R&B singer remains hospitalized at Cornell-Weill Medical Center in New York. He had been in critical condition since his April 16 stroke, at one point contracting pneumonia and needing a tracheotomy to help him breathe.

However, family and friends told the Associated Press last week that Vandross was beginning to mouth words and had started light therapy. He also no longer needs a respirator to breathe.

Jane Pauley's life away from TV didn't last long.

Less than a month after leaving as host of Dateline NBC, Pauley agreed Thursday to launch a daytime talk show for NBC Enterprises. She has also signed a contract with Random House to write two books.

The talk show, set to begin in fall 2004, will likely put Pauley in direct competition with daytime queen Oprah Winfrey in many markets.

Pauley, 52, anticipates covering traditional daytime TV topics, things that would interest women around her own age.

Random House also announced Thursday that Pauley is writing a memoir, currently untitled, that is expected to be published next year. She will then co-author an advice book with her sister, Ann Pauley, titled, Now, Begin.

CNN has hired NBC Weekend Today anchor Soledad O'Brien to replace Paula Zahn as co-host of its three-hour news program, American Morning.

O'Brien will be paired with Bill Hemmer on the program, starting next month.

She's spent the last four years as co-host of Weekend Today, most of that with David Bloom (who died in April from an apparent blood clot while in Iraq), and also reported for the weekday show.

Can't wait to read the new Harry Potter book? You now have the chance to hear it.

Random House, U.S. distributor of the audio version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has released a 105-second excerpt available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com (look for the audio version of Order of the Phoenix for the link).

Scholastic Inc. is releasing the text version of Order of the Phoenix in the United States. The fifth part of J.K. Rowling's series comes out June 21.

Spike Lee has temporarily spiked Spike TV.

A Manhattan judge on Thursday granted Lee's petition and ordered Viacom Inc. to stop using Spike TV as the new name for its TNN network, pending a trial on the issue.

State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub ordered Lee to post a $500,000 bond to cover Viacom's losses in case the company wins.

Viacom announced the name change in April as part of its transformation of TNN into "the first network for men."

Lee, whose numerous directing credits include Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing, said he sued Viacom to protect his name from a deliberate attempt to capitalize on his image and prestige.

Viacom's lawyers said Lee cannot prove their network's new name refers to him.

Viacom, which bought TNN in 2000, also owns CBS, VH1 and UPN, the Showtime movie channel and book publisher Simon & Schuster.

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