Quick Takes: Nicole Scherzinger wins ‘Dancing With the Stars’ crown

The Pussycat Doll is now the “Dancing With the Stars” champ.

Nicole Scherzinger and partner Derek Hough dominated throughout the 10th season of the hit ABC show and bested Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek to win the “Dancing” crown Tuesday night.

Scherzinger performed a high-energy jive as her final dance that earned a perfect score of 30.

Lysacek’s quickstep also earned the judges’ praise but just 28 points.

ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews, the third finalist, and her professional partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, were eliminated from the dance-off halfway through the two-hour season closer.

—Associated Press

McCready

out of hospital

Mindy McCready, the country singer who battled drugs and legal woes but recently declared herself clean after a stint on “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,” was back home Tuesday from the hospital, according to her brother, after police responded to an overdose call at a Florida home.

The overdose report came at 10:38 a.m. at a North Fort Myers home, said the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. The property is owned by McCready’s mother, records showed.

Cape Coral Hospital spokeswoman Karen Krieger would not say why McCready was taken to the hospital.

McCready, 34, gained stardom in 1996 with a No. 1 hit, “Guys Do It All the Time,” and a double-platinum album, “Ten Thousand Angels.” She is well-known these days for a troubled life filled with domestic abuse, drug and DUI arrests and a suicide attempt.

Her brother, Josh McCready, called the reports a big misunderstanding.

—Associated Press

Right college, wrong alums

When “Today” show news anchor Ann Curry delivered the commencement speech at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, she named a list of distinguished alumni, including the Rev. Billy Graham, Wes Craven and Dennis Hastert.

The problem is the evangelist, the horror movie director and the former U.S. House Speaker all attended the Wheaton College in Illinois, not the one in Massachusetts.

The NBC newswoman on Monday sent an apology letter to the Massachusetts school’s president, Ron Crutcher, and the college community, saying she was “mortified by my mistake.”

College spokesman Michael Graca said Tuesday the apology was accepted.

—Associated Press

Tina Fey wins Twain Prize

The woman known for her impression of Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live” has won the nation’s top humor prize from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Tina Fey, the creator and Emmy-winning star of “30 Rock,” joins the ranks of Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin and others who have won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the center announced Tuesday. Fey will be the youngest honoree, having just turned 40.

“I am truly thrilled to receive this honor,” Fey said in a written statement. “I assume Betty White was disqualified for steroid use.”

The prize will be awarded Nov. 9 in Washington. The show will be taped for television broadcast later.

—Associated Press

McGinniss is Palin’s neighbor

Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to complain about her new neighbor — a writer penning a book about her.

Author Joe McGinniss has taken up residence in a house next to Palin’s lakeside home in Wasilla, Alaska.

McGinniss — author of such books as “The Selling of the President,” “Blind Faith” and “The Last Brother: The Rise and Fall of Teddy Kennedy” — wrote a critical exposé on Palin and her natural gas pipeline plan for Condé Nast’s Portfolio last year, and is planning a book about the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate.

“Here he is about 15 feet away on the neighbor’s rented deck overlooking my children’s play area and my kitchen window,” Palin posted on Facebook.

Neither McGinniss nor his agent was available for comment Tuesday, but his publishing house, Broadway Books, released a statement saying he would be “highly respectful of his subject’s privacy as he investigates her public activities.”

—Associated Press

Finally

Bye bye: About 8.9 million people watched Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian bid each other a teary goodbye in the finale of Fox’s “24” on Monday night. Leading up to the two-hour sendoff, “24” had been averaging about 10.6 million viewers this season.