ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP/ROCK

Latin Growth: The Latin music market continued its boom last year, increasing at a rate more than double that of the overall music market, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America. The organization reported that shipments of Latin music grew 8%, from 49.3 million units in 1998 to 53.1 million units in 1999. The corresponding dollar value rose to $626.7 million, up 10% from 1998’s $570.8 million. That represents 4.3% of the $14.6-billion U.S. music market, up from 4.2% in 1998. In the past three years, Latin music--defined as anything with at least 51% of its lyrics in Spanish--has grown 30%. However, the 1999 figures reflect a 4% decrease over 1998’s growth rate, which may be partly due to three of Latin pop’s biggest stars--Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Marc Anthony--having switched to English-language albums in 1999.

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Meet Elton: Elton John will greet fans in his first in-store appearance in five years on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard. John’s appearance celebrates Tuesday’s release of “Elton John’s ‘The Road to El Dorado,’ ” a musical accompaniment to the animated DreamWorks film opening March 31. A spokeswoman said that John will not perform but is expected to sign autographs for “at least two hours.”

LEGAL FILE

Drunk-Driving Claim Denied: A spokesman for actress Halle Berry--who on Wednesday was slapped with a lawsuit from the driver she hit in a Feb. 23 car crash--said Thursday that “to the extent that Halle may have been responsible for anyone else’s injuries, she intends to do what she can to make things right.” However, the spokesman denied the suit’s claim that she was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident, saying: “As the police have confirmed, there is absolutely no evidence indicating that drugs or alcohol played any part . . . and to insinuate otherwise is both dishonest and reprehensible.” Hatal Raythatha broke her arm in the crash and had to be pulled from the wreckage by firefighters. Berry, who needed 22 stitches for a forehead gash, allegedly fled the scene after running a red light and broadsiding Raythatha’s car. The L.A. County district attorney’s office has been considering whether to bring hit-and-run charges against Berry. Raythatha’s attorney has acknowledged he has no proof that Berry was under the influence but contends there is no other reasonable explanation for her actions.

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Pryor Vs. Pryor: Comedian Richard Pryor has filed a restraining order in L.A. Superior Court against his son, Richard Pryor Jr., on the heels of a Van Nuys Superior Court request by the younger Pryor for conservatorship of his father’s estate. The son, 38, had claimed that due to multiple sclerosis, recurrent depression and postoperative heart disease, Pryor, 59, “is confined to a wheelchair and cannot bathe himself or prepare his own meals. He cannot shop for himself.” Contents of the restraining order were not made public, and the comedian’s attorney was in court Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

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Hughes Charged in Crash: Time magazine art critic Robert Hughes was ordered Wednesday to stand trial in Perth, Australia, over a head-on collision there last May that nearly killed him. Hughes--who still uses a wheelchair and crutches after suffering multiple fractures and internal injuries in the crash--pleaded not guilty to two charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. Three Australians were injured when Hughes’ car veered into their car’s path. If found guilty, he faces up to 18 months in jail.

ART

Likening Rudy to Adolf?: German-born Hans Haacke’s work for the March 23-June 4 Whitney Biennial will apparently liken New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s attempts last year to withhold public funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s controversial “Sensations” exhibition to the Nazis. According to the New York Times, Haacke’s Whitney work will incorporate quotes from Giuliani and fellow conservatives Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, along with texts favored in Nazi Germany; nearby speakers will project military marching sounds. Giuliani’s response Thursday: “If this [exhibition] is privately funded, as I believe it is, then the governmental objection to it passes away.”

QUICK TAKES

NBC has renewed three first-year dramas--”The West Wing,” “Third Watch” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”--for next season. The network hasn’t picked up three new dramas for a second year since 1986. . . . The Washington-based Drug Reform Coordination Network has launched a Web site, https://www.DumpJudgeJudy.com, urging visitors to contact sponsors of TV’s “Judge Judy” to protest the show. The group says that three sponsors have promised to stop advertising on “Judge Judy” in light of comments on her Nov. 16 show in which she allegedly said, “Give ‘em dirty needles and let ‘em die,” referring to intravenous drug users and AIDS. A show representative said the remark was taken out of context. . . . The Don McLean and Friends concert at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, scheduled for tonight then postponed to mid-May, has been canceled because of scheduling conflicts between McLean and co-stars Janis Ian and Jim Messina.