Hilton’s jail term cut

Los Angeles – Paris Hilton will serve about half of her 45-day jail sentence and will be separated from the general inmate population, authorities said Wednesday.

The hotel heiress will spend about 23 days in a “special needs housing unit” at the Century Regional Detention Center in suburban Lynwood, Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Her sentence was shortened after jail officials gave her credit for good behavior, Whitmore said. Officials considered several factors in calculating the credit, including that she appeared for her latest court date, he said.

Hilton will stay in a unit that contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates, he said.

Like everyone else in the 2,200-inmate facility, Hilton will get at least an hour outside her cell each day to shower, watch television, participate in outdoor recreation or talk on the telephone, he said.

The 26-year-old socialite was sentenced to jail this month for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. A judge ordered her to report to jail by June 5.

‘Grey’s’ actress in the pink

Los Angeles – Kate Walsh has plenty of reasons to celebrate this week.

ABC announced that she’ll star in a “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff in the fall, and the 39-year-old actress told Us Weekly magazine Tuesday that she’s engaged.

“It happened a few days ago,” Walsh said of her engagement to Alex Young, a studio executive. “I’m on cloud nine.”

“Private Practice” takes her “Grey’s Anatomy” character, Dr. Addison Shepherd, from Seattle and moves her to Los Angeles. There she reconnects with a friend whose medical practice needs an obstetrician – and with the friend’s former husband and business partner.

Country music’s Morgan to make video in Wichita

Wichita – A huge but controlled traffic jam will hit downtown Wichita today as country music star Craig Morgan shoots the video for his song “International Harvester.”

About 20 actors from the area will be used, but producer-director Dallas Henry on Tuesday invited the public to show up – in vehicles – for what will be filmed as a huge block party.

“Whether it’s a Hummer, tractor, wheat truck, Vespa, any car,” all will be welcome in front of the Orpheum Theater, at First Street and Broadway, from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m, Henry said.

Henry, a native of nearby Oxford, said Wichita “is new territory for a country music video, but perfect territory. Wichita screams country music.”

“International Harvester,” from Morgan’s “Little Bit of Life” album, recounts a scene familiar to anyone who’s driven backroads Kansas at harvest time: a farmer aboard his combine is “hoggin’ up the road” trailed by miles of irritated drivers heading to indoor jobs.

For the video, Henry’s concept is that commuters by the hundreds get detoured to Morgan’s downtown block party. Some scenes will be shot elsewhere in Sedgwick County.

Bo Diddley suffers stroke

Des Moines, Iowa – Bo Diddley is in intensive care after suffering a stroke in western Iowa, a publicist said Wednesday.

The 78-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was listed in guarded condition at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., said Susan Clary, a publicist for the musician’s management team.

Diddley, who has a history of hypertension and diabetes, was hospitalized Sunday following a concert in Council Bluffs in which he acted disoriented, she said.

Tests indicated that the stroke affected the left side of his brain, impairing his speech and speech recognition, Clary said.

Clary said she has no other details on Diddley’s condition or how long he would be in intensive care.

Diddley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1998.