People

A ‘Simple’ road trip

New York — After traumatizing parts of northwest Arkansas, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are taking on the rest of the country.

The socialites and best friends will spend the second season of their reality show, “The Simple Life,” on a road trip, Fox TV announced Monday.

Auditions for families to play host to Hilton and Richie will begin this weekend and are scheduled to last throughout the month; casting information is available on the Bunim-Murray Productions Web site, www.bunim-murray.com/casting–current.php. Production is expected to begin this spring, with the show airing later this year.

Royal baby boom

Brussels, Belgium — King Albert II’s youngest son, Prince Laurent, and his wife, Princess Claire, gave birth to their first child, the royal palace said.

The new addition to the royal family is Princess Louise Sophie Mary, born Friday. Mother and daughter are doing fine, doctors said, and had already been visited by proud grandparents Albert and his wife, Queen Paola.

Princess Louise’s arrival marks a virtual royal baby boom, following Prince Gabriel, who was born to Crown Prince Philippe and Princes Mathilde last August. King Albert’s only daughter, Princess Astrid, gave birth to her fifth child, Princess Laetitia Maria, last year as well.

Laurent, 40, and his British-born wife, 30-year-old Claire, married last April.

Poison Penn remarks

New York — Sean Penn is continuing to blast President Bush over the war in Iraq, calling the president a “traitor,” reports MSNBC.com.

And he’s also taking aim at his fellow actors.

The “Mystic River” star was in South America promoting the film when he was asked about the heat he’s been taking for speaking out against the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.

When Penn was asked whether he considered himself to be a patriot, he replied, “I am more patriotic than this president we have, who I consider a traitor of human and American principles.”

When asked whether he was surprised by the way he was criticized for his trip to Baghdad, Penn blamed his colleagues in Hollywood: “I’m not surprised with the fact that there are many comfortable cowards in my profession.”

Diana Ross gets 2 days in jail

Tucson, Ariz. — Diana Ross was convicted Monday of driving under the influence and ordered to spend two days in jail, reports Billboard Online.

Tucson Magistrate T. Jay Cranshaw sentenced Ross, who pleaded no contest, to serve 48 hours in jail before March 9. She also was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation.

Tucson police arrested her Dec. 30, 2002, after a driver called to report a car traveling southbound in the northbound lanes just outside Tucson’s northeast limits.