FROM THE NEWS DESK: Naomi’s Public Service

by McKay Heim and George Larrimore

NAOMI GETS DIRTY: Headline writers at the New York Post must have been in a state of Extreme Giddiness over the newest story about Naomi Campbell. For her Sins of Supermodel Excess (this time hitting her maid in the head with a cell phone) Naomi will fulfill five days of Community Service mopping floors in a Lower East Side warehouse belonging to the Department of Sanitation. The Post’s headline: Witch’s Broom.

New York’s DOS confirmed to Access Hollywood that Naomi will do her duty, but remained tight-lipped about details. The Post says she’ll start the work detail on March 19th and that she will be wearing a vest, boots and gloves instead of her usual catwalk wear. Naomi also sentenced to anger management classes.

IMAGE RE-HAB:Before “Dancing With The Stars” Jerry Springer had become best known for hosting a reality show that could have been called “Shower After Watching.” Now, post-DWTS, his image is all clean and fresh. So Jerry’s taking over as host of “America’s Got Talent.” Mariah Carey has been seen around middle-Tennessee where she’s shooting scenes for a new movie called “Tennesse.” She plays and sings the role of a country singer wannabe. A lot of people in Hollywood thought Mariah would never go near another movie set after the disastrous ‘Glitter,’ but a lot of people in music had written her off too, until she proved them wrong.

PRYOR SUIT: We don’t know quite how to interpret this one except to say that Richard Pryor is still earning money money for somebody more than a year after his death. In a case being heard in Los Angeles, attorneys for Richard Pryor’s widow Jennifer and attorneys for Universal Music Group say they are close to agreeing to a settlement in a suit filed by her, claiming the company sold eleven of Pryor’s recordings without authorization. The comedian himself filed the original lawsuit in October 2005, alleging he did not know until years later that the company was claiming the rights to such titles as “Are You Serious?,” “Wizard of Comedy,” “I Ain’t Lied Yet” and “Black Ben and the Blacksmith.”

CATCH AND RELEASE: Today’s News Release Of The Day comes to us from London and also covers our More Money Than Brains story of the day. Bidders and their proxies in at Bonham’s in Knightsbridge frantically waved those little auction paddles in a crowded room to outbid each other for a remarkable collection of some 400 costumes from Angels The Costumiers. The biggest selling item; the Cloak worn by Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi from “Star Wars.” £54,000. In American let’s see, drop the zero, multiply times one-point-six eight… carry the five.. Here we are: $104,305. Also sold to the highest bidder today, the dinner suit worn by Sean Connery from “Thunderball” (1965) – sold for almost $65,000 and the full outfit (presumably the kilty one) worn by Mel Gibson as William Wallace in “Braveheart “- sold for just under $50,000. And we got through that entire story without once using the word “geek.”

Let’s do some news together.. e-mail us at McGeorge.news@nbcuni.com