New York ? ABC News anchor Woodruff leaves Bethesda facility

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff was transferred Thursday from a naval hospital in Maryland to a facility closer to his New York home as he continues to recuperate from injuries suffered in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, ABC said.

The network wouldn’t say where Woodruff was being hospitalized.

The transfer reflects “continued progress in all respects,” ABC News President David Westin said in an e-mail to ABC staffers. Woodruff suffered serious head injuries and broken bones Jan. 29 while reporting on the war.

When he was attacked, Woodruff was in his first month as “World News Tonight” co-anchor with Elizabeth Vargas. During February, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer alternated as substitute co-anchors.

Metal mavens to headline second season of ‘Rock Star’

New York – Last summer, “Rock Star” helped resurrect the career of INXS. Now, producer Mark Burnett wants to create a chart-topping band from scratch.

For the second season of CBS’ “Rock Star,” Burnett has gathered three big names in the hard-rock world: Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, guitarist Gilby Clarke and bassist Jason Newsted. They’ll be forming a band called Supernova, and they need a singer.

Clarke played with Guns N’ Roses on its albums “The Spaghetti Incident” and “Live Era ’88-’91” and was with the band on its epic “Use Your Illusion” tour. Newsted was with Metallica for more than a decade and has also worked with Ozzy Osbourne and Voivod.

Simpson skips GOP fundraiser

Washington – Jessica Simpson loves President Bush. She’s just not a big fan of Republican fundraisers.

The Hollywood starlet and tabloid cover girl visited Capitol Hill on Thursday to lobby Congress for Operation Smile, an organization that provides reconstructive surgery to children with facial deformities. But all anyone wanted to know was why she turned down an invitation to attend a Republican fundraiser with Washington’s top star – Bush.

“We went back and forth and we could never get the details worked out,” said her father and manager Joe Simpson. “When it became obvious that it was not just a state dinner, it was more of a fundraising event, that is the wrong purpose of why we are here.”

Still, he said of the president, “We are huge fans of him and of his family, his girls. Jessica loves the heck out of him.”#

Kaplan says Ice Cube perfect for ‘Kotter’ remake

New York – Former “Welcome Back, Kotter” creator-star Gabe Kaplan says rapper-actor Ice Cube is a great choice to play his old role in the big-screen remake of the hit 1970s TV series.

In an interview airing Thursday, Kaplan tells “Access Hollywood” he thinks Ice Cube “is the perfect guy. : He has shown what kind of crossover appeal he has.”

In the TV original, Kaplan portrayed compassionate teacher Gabe Kotter, who returns to his former Brooklyn high school to teach a new generation of troublemakers, including John Travolta’s Vinnie Barbarino.

That formula will be updated in Ice Cube’s version, which Kaplan thinks “will totally be acceptable. I think that the setting is going to be in South Central L.A. He is going to be just like how I was in Brooklyn.”

Besides starring as the young teacher, Ice Cube, 36, also will produce the movie. No other casting or release date has been announced.

Pitt-Jolie wedding rumors have Italian towns abuzz

Laglio, Italy – Speculation spread once again that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would wed on these Italian shores – perhaps this weekend.

George Clooney is a friend of the Hollywood couple and his lakefront villa in the town of Laglio is cited in Italian news reports as a credible location for such a ceremony. Saturday has been mentioned as a possible date.

Clooney’s press representative, Stan Rosenfield, said Thursday: “Rumors are rumors.”

Pitt’s representative, Cindy Guagenti, declined to comment.

Reports about an impending wedding at the northern Italian lake were rife last year, but quickly fizzled out after Clooney denied his friends were scheduled to marry at his villa.