AP - Political debates inform voters — and provide material for late-night TV show hosts.

Reuters - Actress Sally Hawkins is relatively unknown in the United States but an acclaimed role in British director Mike Leigh's new film may find her on Hollywood's red carpets this awards season, a prospect she calls "gob-smacking."

E! Online - At least Minnie Driver will have more time to spend with her baby boy.

E! Online - Nick Nolte is down and out in the Malibu hills. Or is he?

E! Online - Eva Longoria Parker was doing it for the kids Tuesday night—just not her own.

AP - My Morning Jacket singer-guitarist Jim James has been released from the hospital after being injured in a fall during a concert at the University of Iowa.

AP - An attorney for Britney Spears has rejected a plea offer that would have placed her on a year's probation and forced her to pay a $150 fine in her misdemeanor driver's license case.

AP - Author Amy Hempel, whose candid takes on modern life have brought her a small, but devoted following, has been named this year's winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story, a $30,000 prize that in previous years has been given to Paul Bowles, Eudora Welty and Grace Paley.

Reuters - Halle Berry may be a mommy of a certain age, but the men's magazine Esquire says the Oscar-winning actress is still the Sexiest Woman Alive.

AP - Now that Shea Stadium is closed for business, New York Mets fans are able to buy mementos from the venue that housed the 1969 "Miracle Mets" and an improbable 1986 World Series comeback.

AP - The dead used to be a world away, far beyond the realm of mortal existence. If they walked the Earth at all, they inhabited the night.

E! Online - Listen up, ladies: Although they were spotted hanging out, Gerard Butler is not dating Jennifer Aniston.

AP - An attorney for David Duchovny says the actor has checked out of a rehabilitation facility for treatment of sex addiction.

AP - A rare Islamic crystal jug that was mistaken earlier this year for a cheap French claret pitcher has sold at auction for almost $5.6 million.