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

MOVIES

Kidman Blasts ‘Invasive’ Reports: Nicole Kidman has lashed out at the media for their coverage of her recent miscarriage and breakup with husband Tom Cruise. Kidman told the Sydney Morning Herald that the weeks since her split with Cruise have been the toughest of her life. In an interview published Tuesday, she said reports that surfaced last week about her miscarriage earlier this year had been “very upsetting” and “very invasive.” “I understand that people are interested but it’s my life--my personal life,” the actress said. Cruise and Kidman--whose movie “Moulin Rouge” premieres at the Cannes Film Festival in May--announced their split in early February after 10 years of marriage.

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And Then There Was One: Jennifer Lopez has dropped her plans to star in a film about the life of the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, opting instead to play an FBI agent in director Tony Scott’s “Taking Lives.” In a long battle to make a Kahlo biography, the Lopez project, which was to be directed by Luis Valdez and produced by Francis Ford Coppola for United Artists, lost ground when a rival Kahlo movie--starring Salma Hayek and directed by Julie Taymor--got the go-ahead from Miramax. The latter project is slated to begin filming next week in Mexico City.

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Wake Up, Troops: Barbra Streisand has sent a written rallying cry to top Democrats, calling them “paralyzed, demoralized and depressed” since the election of President Bush. In a three-page memo released by her publicist Monday and signed simply “Barbra,” longtime Democratic supporter Streisand chastised the party leadership, saying: “I hope you’re through arguing among yourselves and distancing yourselves from President Clinton. . . . Let’s not let them divert attention from the success of his administration over the past eight years. Let’s not allow the Republicans to take away the gains we’ve made.”

TELEVISION

Where Was the Camera Crew?: A producer of TV’s bad-boys-caught-on-camera show “Cops” was arrested on drunken driving charges in Atlanta Monday while in the city to meet with police and set up filming of an episode. Murray Jordan, 64, was stopped for making an illegal left turn, and the officer smelled alcohol on Jordan’s breath, police said. Police said Jordan could not recite the alphabet or hold his leg up for more than a second and did not follow directions when asked to walk heel-to-toe. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.136%, above Georgia’s legal limit of 0.08%. Jordan, who allegedly told police he had four glasses of wine with dinner, was freed on $1,000 bail Tuesday.

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More PBS Power: Sixty-nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives have joined the Public Broadcasting Caucus, a congressional group designed to “ensure that the American people continue to benefit from the noncommercial, educational, locally managed programs and services provided by public television and radio.” The bipartisan caucus--whose chairs are Earl Blumenauer ((D-Ore.), Amo Houghton (R-N.Y.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Connie Morella (R-Md.) and Zack Wamp (R-Tenn.)--aims to educate House members about public TV and radio and “provide a vehicle to support public broadcasting’s legislative and regulatory initiatives.”

THE ARTS

Funding Windfall: Valencia’s California Institute of the Arts and the L.A. County High School for the Arts are among nine educational institutions nationwide receiving new multiyear program support and endowment grants from the Surdna Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through a new Talented Students in the Arts Initiative. The program, which will award a total of more than $16 million to the nine institutions over a five-year period, aims to support “quality training and access to that training” at “leading national arts training institutions and public performing arts high schools.” CalArts will receive more than $1.6 million under the program, while the L.A. County High School for the Arts will receive more than $1.1 million.

QUICK TAKES

LeAnn Rimes will host the 36th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, airing May 9 on CBS. . . . Ashley Judd has clawed her way to the lead in the planned Warner Bros. “Batman” sequel “Cat-woman.” . . . NBC has canceled the new drama “First Years” after three telecasts. The show had its final airing on Monday. . . . Singer-actor Ruben Blades, along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Xavier Cugat and Pedro Infante, will be inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame during ceremonies in New York tonight. Actress Rita Moreno will be among those getting a special recognition award. . . . KCET’s “Life & Times Tonight” will air coverage from the League of Women Voters-sponsored mayoral debate on both Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, the program’s April 11 edition plans to feature in-studio interviews with the winners from the previous night’s mayoral primary.