‘Dog, the Bounty Hunter’ signs on for third season

Honolulu – The Dog is coming back for more.

Duane “Dog” Chapman has signed a $2.6 million contract for a third season of the reality television series “Dog, the Bounty Hunter,” a newspaper reports.

The show is A&E’s highest-rated series ever.

Chapman will earn $100,000 per half-hour episode aired on the cable channel, believed to be about double what he made for each of the first two seasons, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported Friday.

“We haven’t gotten to really celebrate yet because we’re filming right out of the chute,” said Beth Smith, Chapman’s partner and companion. “But we got what we wanted.”

Chapman and Smith declined to comment on the salary figures, citing contract confidentiality.

Bono campaigns for crises in Africa while in Nebraska

Omaha, Neb. – Bono isn’t the kind of celebrity who packs up and leaves town as soon as the concert is over.

The U2 lead singer spent an extra day in Omaha after his band’s sold-out concert on Thursday to continue his campaign to raise awareness of the crises in Africa.

On Friday, Bono met with members of DATA – Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa – the group he co-founded in 2002.

Omahan Susan A. Buffett, daughter of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is one of the board members. The Buffetts and Bono have become close in recent years as they’ve worked for similar causes.

Bono, Susan Buffett and her brother, Howard Buffett, were among 16 people who met Friday at the Joslyn Art Museum.

During Thursday’s concert, Bono solicited support from the crowd for the ONE Campaign to combat global AIDS and poverty.

Elvis Presley’s homecoming to be replicated with parade

Tupelo, Miss. – Elvis Presley’s 1956 homecoming, which featured a parade in downtown Tupelo and a concert, will be re-created as part of the eighth Elvis Presley Festival, June 2-4.

In 1956, Presley was honored with a parade down Main Street and proclaimed a favorite son by Gov. J.P. Coleman. The day was capped with a concert where Elvis was greeted by screaming fans during the Mississippi-Alabama State Fair and Dairy Show.

Presley was born in Tupelo but moved with his parents in 1948 to Memphis, Tenn., where he began his recording career.

New age artist says solstice for all faiths to recognize

New York – When Grammy-winning new age artist Paul Winter started his winter solstice celebration more than two decades ago, he was looking for something that all faiths could take part in during the holiday season.

“It inspired me to look at the big picture, and I wanted to find the most universal milestone in the year that we could celebrate,” Winter told The Associated Press recently. “And it struck me that winter solstice has been for Northern people the turning point of the year for tens of thousands of years.”

The saxophonist’s winter solstice extravaganza marks the shortest day of the year with music, dance and other theatrics. It has been a fixture at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for 26 years.

Winter says many holiday traditions can be traced to past celebrations of the solstice, which is on Dec. 21.

“This is where these traditions began to grow, of bringing green things into the house,” Winter said. “Most of the symbols that we see from Christmas all came from solstice celebrations … all of these holidays are about the return of the light, regeneration.”

This year’s celebration ends Saturday, but last year’s event can be heard on various National Public Radio stations through the new year. Highlights also are available on the newly released three-disc box set “Solstice: The Paul Winter Consort & Friends.”

Arrest warrant issued for photographer wanting photo

Fullerton, Calif. – A judge has issued an arrest warrant for a photographer accused of striking a 5-year-old child with his camera while pursuing pictures of Reese Witherspoon and her children at an amusement park.

The warrant was issued Friday after Todd Kevin Wallace, 44, failed to show up for a bail hearing. He had been free on his own recognizance while waiting for his trial to begin on six misdemeanor charges stemming from the Sept. 2 incident.

Witherspoon and her friends declined to be photographed at Disney’s California Adventure, which allegedly angered the man and caused him to curse at them.

Police said Wallace took photos from afar, but once he got close to the group, he became aggressive and scared some of the people, including some children, who were in tears.

Live 8 organizer chides Arab nations for not participating

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof is keeping up with his money-raising campaigns, this time chiding the Arab world for not donating more money to ease poverty in Africa.

Geldof says the Middle East, as a region, does “very little” to help alleviate African poverty.

“I am here today to encourage the business, humanitarian and the arts sectors to do a little more for that continent that lies less than 150 miles from where we now stand,” Geldof said at a news conference Friday.

He said that if Dubai hopes to blossom into a multicultural, model economy, it must start shouldering its responsibility to the world’s less fortunate.

“We cannot leave Africa suspended and outside the economic net of the planet,” he said.

Geldof has dedicated himself to African issues, calling for debt cancellation and fair trade. He organized the Live 8 concerts in July in cities across the world to raise awareness about Third World poverty, and was the mastermind behind the 1985 Live Aid concerts that raised money for famine victims in Ethiopia.