Arkansas to pardon Richards

Little Rock, Ark. – The state of Arkansas is prepared to pardon Keith Richards for being a reckless driver, 31 years later.

The state Parole Board on July 3 approved an application for clemency submitted on behalf of Richards, the 62-year-old guitarist for the Rolling Stones, by Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Richards was arrested July 5, 1975, as he, bandmate Ron Wood, a security guard and a fan traveled from Memphis, Tenn., to Dallas. The group had stopped in Fordyce for lunch, then got back on the road with Richards driving.

A Fordyce officer saw the car swerve – Richards said later he bent to adjust the radio – and stopped the vehicle. Police said they smelled marijuana and took the four to City Hall.

Richards was charged with reckless driving and possession of a concealed knife, and the fan was charged with possession of a controlled substance. The knife charge was dropped, and Richards pleaded guilty to reckless driving and paid a $162.50 fine.

Huckabee said he got the idea for a pardon when he realized that Richards’ impression of Arkansas “was marred by a misdemeanor traffic stop.”

During a Stones concert in Little Rock in March, Richards asked whether anyone in the audience was from Fordyce, adding, “I used to know the chief of police there.”

Space flights filling up

London – So Victoria Principal, Bryan Singer and Philippe Starck walk into a spaceship …

The former “Dallas” star, the geeky “Superman Returns” director and the designer have all booked Virgin Galactic flights for tourist trips into space.

The company’s president said it’s sold some 200 tickets – at $200,000 a pop – for the suborbital flights to start in 2008. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is building five spaceships and two airplanes for the venture.

Travelers will take seats in a spaceship that will be attached to a separate airplane. Following takeoff, the spaceship detaches itself from the plane at an altitude of about 49,000 feet. It then enters suborbital space, up to 87 miles above Earth, for about 15 minutes – including five minutes of weightlessness. The total flight-time is about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and the voyages will initially launch from the Mojave Desert in Southern California before relocating to a permanent base in New Mexico in 2010.

Daniel Baldwin hurt in crash

Los Angeles – Daniel Baldwin was hospitalized Wednesday after his speeding car crashed into two vehicles parked on a Los Angeles street, police said.

The actor complained of back and neck pain and was taken to UCLA Medical Center, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman. Lee said Baldwin did not appear to be seriously hurt.

Authorities said a female passenger, whose name was not released, was not hurt.

Lee said Baldwin, 45, was driving with a suspended license. The actor was detained at the hospital while police investigated the crash, Lee said.

Lee said police saw Baldwin’s car traveling about 80 mph on the city’s west side shortly before 1 p.m. He said it weaved in and out of traffic and ran a red light before striking two parked vehicles. The speed limit in the area is 35 mph, police said.

One of the vehicles, a Hummer, was pushed about 20 feet by the impact, Lee said.

Baldwin, whose siblings include actors Alec Baldwin and William Baldwin, has appeared in such films as “Car 54, Where Are You?” and “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman.”