Big Green Mess
As chief attorney for Riverkeeper, a New York environmental group, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. is charged with monitoring the state's watershed and generally being greener than thou. Which makes his defense of William Wegner--a man convicted of smuggling rare cockatoo eggs into the U.S. to be hatched and sold as pets--somewhat bizarre. Riverkeeper president Robert Boyle fired Wegner, a consulting scientist, in December, when he discovered the 1995 conviction. But Kennedy secretly rehired Wegner, and at a board meeting this week, insisted that Wegner be kept on. Eight board members, including Boyle, quit in protest. "I was appalled," Boyle told the New York Times. Kennedy, who was convicted of a drug crime in the 1980s, replied, "Where would any of us be if we didn't get a second chance?"
PUT THE SHRINK ON RETAINER NOW
It's gonna take more than motherhood to keep SHARON STONE from getting naked. In the same week that Stone, 42, and husband Phil Bronstein, 47, adopted a baby boy named Roan Joseph, the actress signed a reported $15 million deal to reprise her erogenous zone-baring role in the sequel to Basic Instinct. Stone had studiously avoided Basic Instinct 2 for years (though for some reason she agreed to do Gloria, Sliver and The Muse), but relented when original producer Mario Kassar regained the film rights. "I felt assured that the project will be made with respect to the original," said Stone, although co-star Michael Douglas, director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas won't re-up. "I'm hoping that this will also be a two-box-of-popcorn fun experience at the theater." Like it was the boxes of popcorn packing people in.
MILLER TIME
The appointment of DENNIS MILLER to the Monday Night Football booth sparked outrage, but his resume bears a striking resemblance to that of late MNF legend Howard Cosell:
COSELL MILLER
Famous for using large words YES YES
Contemptuous of audience YES YES
Perpetual annoyance to some; intellectual hero to others YES YES
Appeared on Saturday Night Live (NBC, or obscure 1975 ABC variety show of the same name) YES YES
Mysterious hair YES YES
Once referred to a black athlete as "that little monkey" YES NO
Had part in Bordellos of Blood NO YES
Likely to be on the air at season's end NO NO
POPEAPALOOZA, PART II
POPE JOHN PAUL II was teetering on the edge of obscurity. His last album, the well-reviewed, new-agey Abba Pater (which did not contain a Dancing Queen cover), came out more than a year ago. And as every big pop act knows, waiting too long between releases is a bad career move. Luckily, John Paul's follow-up record is on the way. World Voice 2000, due out in September, will feature original prayers penned by the Holy Father and read by a list of stars that could double as the cast for Cannonball Run III, including JAMES EARL JONES, STEVEN TYLER of Aerosmith, DENNIS FRANZ, BRITNEY SPEARS, Brooke Shields and Jennifer Love Hewitt, to name just a few. "They were very concerned about their readings," says album producer Rick Garson. "They were like, 'Is the Pope gonna like it? Did I do okay?' " If not, we'll hear about it on John Paul, Behind the Music.