From ABC to LAPD

Los Angeles – John Miller, an anchor and correspondent for ABC’s “20/20,” reportedly is considering leaving the news program to take a job with his old boss, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton.

Officials at the LAPD and ABC declined to confirm a report that first appeared in a gossip column in the New York Post on Tuesday.

A high-level source at ABC News, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Miller was considering an offer to join the LAPD.

Miller served as deputy police commissioner for public affairs when Bratton was commissioner of the New York Police Department in the mid-1990s. Bratton, who resigned the New York job in 1996, was hired as police chief in Los Angeles in October.

As a newsman, Miller is best-known for his 1998 interview with Osama bin Laden in which bin Laden threatened to launch attacks on U.S. civilians.

Britney seeks restraining order

Los Angeles – Britney Spears has asked a Los Angeles Superior Court for a restraining order against a 41-year-old man she claims has been stalking her since September. According to the petition, Masahiko Shizawa of Yokohama, Japan, has “tracked and attempted to contact” Spears at her home in Los Angeles, as well as at her second residence and one of her parents’ homes, both outside California.

The alleged stalker has sent photographs of himself and a note reading “I’m chasing you” to Spears, and he refused to leave when he was ordered off her property, the order says.

Bono, senator on Santa mission

New York – Irish rock star Bono and Sen. Bill Frist joined the Rev. Franklin Graham in airlifting Christmas gifts to HIV-positive children in Africa.

The group, which also included Richard Holbrooke, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and chairman of the Global Business Coalition on HIV-AIDS, had a news conference Tuesday at Kennedy Airport, where an Antonov 225 cargo plane was loaded with 83,000 individual gifts.

The airlift is part of Operation Christmas Child, a relief effort led by Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham.

Doc punished for prescriptions

Los Angeles – A report by the Medical Board of California revealed that some celebrities, including Winona Ryder, easily obtained addictive prescription drugs from a doctor who had his medical license revoked last week.

Jules Mark Lusman could face criminal prosecution for allegedly making house calls to wealthy or famous drug-seekers, examining them only briefly before prescribing narcotics that otherwise would have to be obtained on the street.

Candis Cohen, a spokeswoman for the board, which licenses and regulates the state’s 112,000 doctors, said criminal proceedings could be launched against Lusman.