Rumor: Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart admitted Wednesday in...

Rumor: Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart admitted Wednesday in a New Orleans court that he relied on rumor as the basis for a letter to ministers accusing a rival minister of having affairs dating back 25 to 30 years. Swaggart was on the stand for a second day of testimony in the trial of a $90-million defamation suit brought against him by evangelist Marvin Gorman. Gorman’s attorney accused Swaggart of being a hypocrite.

What Roof?: Nothing fazes New Yorkers. The aluminum roof of a Brooklyn subway station was stolen, bit by bit, and no one noticed until it was gone. The roof of an above-ground part of the stop--the length of two football fields--was reduced to what looks like the bones of a beached whale. “If they are taking it in 6-foot pieces over a several-year period, until a good piece of it was missing, people really didn’t notice,” a Transit Authority spokeswoman said.

Breakup: All agree Donald Trump’s plan to subdivide his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., would destroy its historic integrity, but the 17-acre property is a good candidate for a modest breakup, a town consultant said. Howard Decker proposed Tuesday that the new houses be placed along the north and south boundaries to protect ocean and lake views; he also suggested leaving undisturbed a nine-hole golf course and an underground tunnel from the mansion to the beach. Trump bought the 64-year-old estate for $5 million in 1985.

Pay-back: A Tucson, Ariz., woman who hoodwinked 124 people into giving $4,000 in donations for the families of troops in the Gulf War and who frittered the money on bingo, videos and other frivolities was ordered Tuesday to repay victims. Lynnda Rae Spencer, 34, was placed on probation for three years, and court fines boosted her total payments $5,702.