‘When the Levees Broke’ tackles tough questions

New York – One of the most poignant interviews in the Hurricane Katrina documentary “When the Levees Broke” is given by a man who lost his mother in the aftermath of the storm, filmmaker Spike Lee said.

In the interview, Herbert Freeman recalls his mother’s death at New Orleans Convention Center and the moment he had to leave her body there as he and other evacuees were taken out of the city.

“Before he got on a bus – he had a piece of paper, wrote his name, his cell number and her name and placed the paper between her fingers, her body,” Lee said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“How could this happen, in the – supposedly – the wealthiest, mightiest country in the world? Really, that’s the question,” Lee said.

The four-hour film, divided into four acts, examines the government’s response to Katrina. The first two parts debut today on HBO and the remaining acts will be shown Tuesday.

Lee’s film “Do the Right Thing” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989. His documentary “4 Little Girls” was nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award in 1997.

Lunch for $30,000

Denver – A man who bid $30,000 to have lunch with Jessica Biel, Esquire magazine’s “Sexiest Woman Alive,” sealed the deal.

The man, identified only as John, was dressed in a white suit with a blue shirt and striped tie when he had lunch with the actress at Denver’s Palm restaurant on Friday, said Jeanne Lee, a Denver-based publicist.

Biel, a star on television’s “7th heaven,” and the film “Elizabethtown,” agreed to have lunch with the highest bidder as part of a fundraiser for Molly Bloom, an 18-year-old woman who lost a leg in a May 13 accident.

The charity event dubbed “Mollypalooza” raised $44,000 to help cover Bloom’s medical expenses.

Though wishing to remain anonymous, “John” told reporters earlier he’s a senior vice president for an oil and gas company in Denver.

Rapper Busta Rhymes charged with assault

New York – Rapper Busta Rhymes was arraigned Sunday on an assault charge after he was reportedly accused of attacking a man for spitting on his car.

The New York Police Department released few details about the arrest, saying only that the incident occurred Aug. 12. Rhymes was arraigned on a charge of third-degree assault and was released on his own recognizance, said Barbara Thompson, spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

A lawyer for Rhymes, Scott Leemon, said the charge should have merited only a desk appearance ticket.

Police said the rapper didn’t qualify for a desk appearance ticket because of the seriousness of the charge.

Police have wanted to interview Rhymes since the February shooting death of one of his bodyguards, Israel Ramirez. Ramirez, 29, was killed outside a Brooklyn studio where Rhymes was recording a music video.

The performer and another bodyguard were sued the following month by a fan who says the two men beat him after he asked for the rapper’s autograph.