MORNING REPORT - News from June 26, 2001

Sinead O’Connor to Wed

Irish singer Sinead O’Connor has accepted a marriage proposal from a journalist she met a few months ago, the groom-to-be said.

Nick Sommerlad, 27-year-old Dublin-based correspondent for Britain’s Press Assn., said the couple plans to wed next summer. They began dating in February after being introduced by a mutual friend. O’Connor, 34, has two children from previous relationships. Jake, 13, was born during her marriage to drummer John Reynolds. A relationship with Irish Times columnist John Waters produced her second child, 5-year-old daughter Roisin.

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So, Now They’re Pen Pals

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who recently attended his first rock concert, a show by U2, received a thank-you note from the band’s singer, Bono. The two struck up a friendship last fall when the singer lobbied Helms on international debt relief.

Helms, 79, attended the concert on June 14 in Washington. Bono set up Helms and his grandchildren in a sky box and invited them backstage before the show, where Helms met U2 guitarist the Edge.

The note was addressed to “Senator Helms, Dot and the hundred and seventy-nine grand children,” and continued: “Hope you had fun at the concert. We are really confusing the cynics with our friendship. . . . You are blessed, [and] I am to know you. Love, Bono.”

Helms said he enjoyed the concert, but had to turn his hearing aid down because it was too loud.

TELEVISION

CNN’s King to Stay Put

CNN, which is being revamped under new management, got a shot of stability on Monday when senior White House correspondent John King agreed to a new contract. Losing King would have been a major blow to CNN when it’s struggling in the ratings.

King, who signed for three years, will stay at the White House and is talking about an expanded role at CNN, perhaps having his own show.

“I’m a former wire guy,” said King, who worked at the Associated Press before joining CNN. “This place, despite its occasional flaws . . . is the best place to do day-to-day news.”

ABC was among the networks reportedly wooing King.

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‘Millionaire’ to Come to CBS

ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” will be on several CBS-owned stations next year--including KCBS-TV in Los Angeles--as Disney’s Buena Vista Television begins selling a separate Monday-through-Friday version of the quiz show. Several CBS stations have also signed up for a similar spin-off of NBC’s “Weakest Link,” though that entry has yet to finalize a local outlet. Both programs are being sold market-by-market across the U.S. and are scheduled to make their debuts in 2002, most likely playing in afternoon or early-evening time slots.

THEATER

Saying Good-bye to Broadway

Two Broadway plays with substantial pedigrees--Tom Stoppard’s “The Invention of Love” and August Wilson’s “King Hedley II”--will be closing their doors at the end of this week. Another, a revival of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will fold July 29. This, despite each having walked away with statuettes during this year’s Tony Awards. “The Invention of Love,” which won for best leading actor in a play (Richard Easton) and best performance by a featured actor in a play (Robert Sean Leonard) will end its run on Saturday; “King Hedley II,” winner of the best performance by a featured actress in a play (Viola Davis) will close on Sunday; “Cuckoo’s Nest,” which stars Gary Sinise, won in the best revival of a play category.

A New Leadership Role

Paula Tomei, general manager at South Coast Repertory, has begun a two-year term as president of the New York-based Theatre Communications Group, the national service organization that is a leading advocate for America’s not-for-profit professional theaters. Theatre Communications Group has more than 400 member theaters and publishes American Theater magazine. Tomei has been at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory since 1979, the last six as general manager.

QUICK TAKES

NBC has announced it will run “Spy TV” twice a week through the summer: at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, with the episodes repeating the following Tuesday at 8 p.m. . . . Oded Fehr (“The Mummy Returns”) has joined the cast of the new NBC action series “UC: Undercover,” which premieres in the fall.