Affleck charges dropped

Charges against Ben Affleck were dropped after New Hanover County officials said they found no evidence to support a woman’s claims that the actor threatened to kill her.

Dist. Atty. John Carriker said Tuesday that repeated attempts by Kure Beach police to contact accuser Tara Ray were unsuccessful. Carriker dismissed the warrant.

Ray took out the warrant Saturday, alleging that Affleck threatened her on Sept. 25.

A spokesman for Affleck said the 31-year-old actor had never met Ray and was at his Georgia home that day.

Baldwin has bone to pick

Alec Baldwin came bearing a gift when he attended a fund-raiser for House Democrats: a box of Milk-Bone dog biscuits for Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

“I wanted to give this to Tom DeLay’s lap dog, Rick Perry,” the actor said Tuesday. “I thought maybe he had worked up a big appetite up there on the Capitol so Governor Perry, a.k.a. Tom DeLay’s lap dog in the Texas state Legislature, this box of dog biscuits is for you and I hope you enjoy it while you’re toiling away at a redistricting plan.”

Republicans have been working to draw a new redistricting plan to increase their strength in Texas’ congressional delegation, which Democrats now rule 17-15. DeLay, the U.S. House majority leader from Sugar Land, has been one of the strongest advocates for redrawing the lines.

F-word not indecent

U2 singer Bono did not violate the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency standards when he let slip an obscenity during an acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January.

The regulatory agency, responding to complaints from the Parents Television Council and hundreds of individuals, ruled that when Bono uttered the word, he “used (it) as an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation. … The word … may be crude and offensive, but, in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs or activities,” the standard the bureau uses to distinguish between language that is merely offensive and that which is considered indecent.

Ventura show struggles

“Jesse Ventura’s America” isn’t very crowded.

The former Minnesota governor’s MSNBC talk show debut was seen by a tiny audience of 194,000 people last weekend.

It badly trailed its cable news competition and scored fewer viewers than a rerun, taped profile of first lady Laura Bush that MSNBC aired in the same Saturday evening time slot a week earlier, according to Nielsen Media Research figures.

Ventura’s show was troubled almost since MSNBC hired him. It was envisioned as a daily, prime-time fixture, but after its premiere was delayed several times, the network said it would run just once a week on Saturday.