Beverage control agents plan bar investigation

Los Angeles – Authorities conducting undercover operations at trendy celebrity watering holes in recent weeks want to know whether an underage Lindsay Lohan was served alcohol before a weekend car crash.

California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control investigators also want to know whether Lohan or others were served after hours, agency spokesman John Carr said.

Videos show Lohan leaving Hollywood’s Les Deux club at 3:30 a.m.

Alcohol cannot be served in California after 2 a.m.

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control told the Beverly Hills Police Department it wants to review witness reports and other evidence to determine whether a formal investigation is warranted, Carr said.

Les Deux spokeswoman Marissa Knies said Lohan had dinner and wasn’t drinking.

“Because of the enormous paparazzi presence outside of Les Deux that night, we allowed her to stay late and wait for her friends,” according to a statement released by Knies.

Lohan, who turns 21 on July 2, was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz that was heavily damaged when it crashed into a curb and bushes on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills early Saturday.

Lohan was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence. Her publicist announced the actress entered a rehabilitation facility on Monday.

Seat belt slip-up

New York – NBC’s Matt Lauer didn’t learn his lesson from interviewing New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine about the governor’s near-fatal car crash while riding without wearing a safety belt.

A few weeks after that chat, there was Lauer on “Today” on Wednesday, sitting in the back of a moving sport utility vehicle while interviewing Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney. Both men were unbuckled.

A sheepish Lauer admitted his mistake after “Today” ran the interview, which was conducted Tuesday.

“I should have set a better example,” he said. Romney also said he needs to keep reminding himself to buckle up.

“Today” show producers noticed the oversight before the segment with Romney aired and decided to have Lauer address it, executive producer Jim Bell said.

Viewers certainly noticed. “Today” got more than 100 e-mails about Lauer and Romney’s oversights while the segment was being telecast, Bell said.

Lisa Ling gets married

New York – Lisa Ling, a correspondent for National Geographic Channel and former co-host of ABC’s “The View,” married Dr. Paul Song on Memorial Day weekend.

Ling and Song, a Chicago-based radiation oncologist, were wed Saturday in an Asian-themed ceremony in Los Angeles, said Chris Albert, a representative for National Geographic Channel, in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Song, 41, proposed to the 33-year-old Ling in December.

“They plan to spend time with friends in Los Angeles and Chicago in lieu of a honeymoon,” Albert said.

Ling, who is also a correspondent for Oprah Winfrey’s daytime talk show, ended her engagement to entrepreneur Philip Levine in October 2005.

She left “The View” in 2002 after three years on the ABC chatfest, and went on to become correspondent for National Geographic Channel’s “Explorer.”

Schedule freed up

Los Angeles – Fred Thompson, edging toward a presidential run, is giving up his day job playing a prosecutor on the TV series “Law & Order.”

Thompson asked Wednesday to be released from the show after five seasons, series creator and executive producer Dick Wolf said.

“Although he told me he has not made a firm decision about his political future, he felt that given the creative and scheduling constraints of the upcoming season,” he should leave “Law & Order,” Wolf said in a statement.

The producer lauded Thompson’s commitment to “Law & Order” and the new TV movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” in which the actor plays a president – Ulysses S. Grant. The film, which Wolf produced, premiered last Sunday on HBO.

Thompson, 64, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, has yet to announce he’s seeking the GOP nomination but has taken steps toward a summer entry into the crowded field. He has been casting himself in speeches and on the Internet as a Reaganesque conservative.