Can You Rhyme That?: Bruce Springsteen has...

Can You Rhyme That?: Bruce Springsteen has a way with words when it comes to songs, but depositions are a different matter. A former member of the rocker’s road crew filed a lawsuit in Freehold, N.J., after the singer fined him a week’s pay for missing a cue during a concert. Asked about the fine, Springsteen responded: “I was. I was, you know, I was. I was kind of angry and I think I was, you know, I felt frustrated and I felt, you know, sort of embarrassed and disappointed at the time.” A lawyer told Springsteen he should use “yes” and “no” instead of “yeah,” “nah,” and “uh-huh.” “Do you understand?” the lawyer asked. “Uh-huh,” Springsteen answered.

Really Sweet, 1: A trio of young girls with sweet smiles and polite manners stole $1,200 from elderly women in North Miami Beach, Fla., by knocking at doors and pretending to be lost, thirsty--or their victims’ own grandchildren, police said Monday. The girls began the scam two years ago by using a charity donation box they found on the street. The sisters, aged 10 and 14 and a 14-year-old friend, “were so cute,” said Goldie Roper, 82. “You would have let them in, too--and given them cookies and milk besides--if they had come to your door.” The girls were charged as juveniles with grand theft, criminal conspiracy and petty theft.

Really Sweet, 2: Is Pamela Smart the calculating, passionless woman who seduced a 15-year-old boy, then talked him into murdering her husband? That’s her TV image, but a man who may know Smart best sees a frightened, maligned daughter. “Until she tells me differently, I’ll believe her,” says John Wojas of his daughter’s claim of innocence. Smart was convicted in March on murder-accomplice charges after her young lover and two friends testified they killed Gregory Smart at Pamela’s urging because she feared she would lose everything in a divorce. Smart, 24, is appealing.

Pursuing the Case: Miss America Marjorie Judith Vincent says she will continue to speak out about the plight of battered women after her successor is crowned Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. “I would like to keep a fairly high profile. I love being out there in the community,” she says. “They’ll still hear from me.” Vincent, 26, plans to finish her third year of law school at Duke University.