Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

Legal Storm: “Twister” co-writers Michael Crichton and his wife, Anne-Marie Martin, have been sued by filmmaker Stephen Kessler, who accuses the couple of stealing his screenplay, called “Catch the Wind,” about two teams chasing tornadoes across Oklahoma. In the St. Louis lawsuit, Kessler, a longtime producer of commercials, claims he entered the screenplay in a Los Angeles writing competition in 1989 and that copies then made their way to the “Twister” producers and representatives of Crichton. Kessler is seeking all profits from the blockbuster movie, which has taken in $168.9 million in its first four weeks in theaters. The federal lawsuit also names Amblin’ Entertainment, which produced “Twister”; Amblin’s president, Steven Spielberg; and Warner Bros. and Universal Studios, the movie’s owners. A spokesman for Warner Bros., which is handling all publicity for the film, refused to comment on the suit.

ART

Max Indicted for Tax Fraud: New York-based pop artist Peter Max and his former accountant, Ruben Gorewitz, were indicted in Manhattan Wednesday on federal conspiracy and tax fraud charges. The 11-count indictment alleges that Max did not report income he received from more than $1.1 million in art sales, as well as income he received from bartering his art for real estate and other goods, on his personal federal tax returns for the years 1986 to 1991. The indictment also accuses Max, 58, and Gorewitz, 71, of taking deliberate steps to conceal the unreported income from the Internal Revenue Service and from a federal grand jury that investigated the matter. Both men are scheduled to be arraigned today. If convicted of all counts, Max could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison and fined $250,000.

POP/ROCK

Not a Memorial: Rock singer Courtney Love plans to tear down the building where her husband, Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, shot himself to death, in hopes of reducing the throngs of fans who flock to the location. “I’m knocking down the greenhouse where Kurt died because it’s become bigger than the Space Needle,” Love, lead singer of the band Hole, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, referring to a Seattle landmark. Fans of Cobain, who committed suicide in April 1994 in a former carriage house on the grounds of the couple’s Seattle mansion, often make pilgrimages to the home and tiny park next door.

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Pop Chart: The Fugees’ “The Score” was the nation’s hottest album for the third week in a row, selling about 179,000 copies for the week that ended Sunday, according to SoundScan. Rounding out the Top 5: Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” (about 144,000 copies sold), Celine Dion’s “Falling Into You” (113,000), Tracy Chapman’s “New Beginning” (98,000) and Soundgarden’s “Down On the Upside” (97,000).

TELEVISION

MSNBC Programming Set: NBC and Microsoft’s new 24-hour cable news network, MSNBC, will debut July 15 with 14 hours of daily original programming, including extensive reporting on the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the Democratic and Republican presidential conventions and the entire election campaign, NBC announced Wednesday. John Gibson, Jodi Applegate and John Seigenthaler will anchor the network’s daytime coverage from noon until 10 p.m. Nightly programs include “Time and Again,” a walk through the 20th century as documented by NBC News (airing at 10 p.m.); the previously announced “Internight,” featuring rotating hosts Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, Bob Costas, Bryant Gumbel and Bill Moyers (11 p.m.).; “The News With Brian Williams,” featuring NBC News’ chief White House correspondent (midnight); and “The Site,” a one-hour program about new technology and its impact (1 a.m.). MSNBC Weekend programming will include a 10 p.m. Saturday newsmagazine anchored by “Dateline NBC” correspondent John Hockenberry.

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Commentary Clock Running Out: “60 Minutes” executive producer Don Hewitt says he’s pulling the plug on commentary by Molly Ivins, P.J. O’Rourke and Stanley Crouch. “They’re terrific writers, but it’s not working, and viewers are telling us so,” Hewitt told The Times, adding that the commentary segment will go off soon, possibly after this Sunday’s show. “They weren’t really writing for television, and nobody seems to have been helping them” make the transition from print, longtime “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney said.

QUICK TAKES

A 16-year-old teenager pleaded guilty Tuesday to carjacking actress Robin Wright’s sports utility vehicle outside her Santa Monica home last week. He is to be sentenced June 19 in Inglewood Juvenile Court. The youth’s alleged accomplice, Dackery Williams, 18, pleaded innocent to carjacking and robbery charges last Friday. . . . “Baywatch” and “Barb Wire” star Pamela Anderson Lee, wife of Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, gave birth to a 7-pound, 7-ounce baby boy, Brandon Thomas Lee, Wednesday at an undisclosed hospital. . . . There will be a celebration of the life of jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles at 2 p.m. Thursday at Castle Green, 99 S. Raymond St., Pasadena, hosted by daughter Stacy and the Rowles family. . . . “Tempestt,” the low-rated freshman talk show starring former “Cosby Show” star Tempestt Bledsoe that airs locally on KCOP-TV Channel 13 at noon, is being canceled by distributor Columbia TriStar Television.