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Police seeking 2 people in Ruffalo shooting

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Police are seeking two people they want to question about the shooting of actor Mark Ruffalo’s brother.

The Beverly Hills Police Department identified two people as “persons of interest” Thursday afternoon. Police said in a news release they want to question the pair, Brian Scofield and Shaha Mishaal Adham, as part of an attempted murder investigation.

Beverly Hills police refused to release any additional information about the pair, including their ages, recent residences or other identifying details.

They also did not release an update on Scott Ruffalo’s condition.

A publicist for Mark Ruffalo confirmed on Wednesday that the actor’s 39-year-old brother was clinging to life after being shot in the head early Monday. The actor’s spokeswoman had no comment on the information released by police.

NBC Universal cuts 500 jobs

Los Angeles — General Electric Co.’s media and theme park subsidiary, NBC Universal, this week laid off about 500 employees — about 3 percent of its work force of 15,000 — as part of a plan to trim $500 million next year, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday.

Several correspondents and other staff were laid off at NBC News. Positions were cut in roughly even proportions across NBC Universal’s ad sales operation, theme parks, movie studio and cable networks, said the person, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly.

Among those laid off at the news division, which had 1,200 employees, are Dallas reporter Don Teague, “Dateline NBC” West Coast correspondent John Larson and Mark Mullen, who served as Beijing Olympics bureau chief.

The staff reductions are in line with the corporate goal of a 3 percent budget cut next year.

Viacom to cut 850 jobs

Los Angeles — Amid an ongoing debt crisis at controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone’s movie theater company, National Amusements Inc., media giant Viacom Inc. said Thursday it will slash about 850 jobs — 7 percent of its work force — and freeze some senior-level salaries.

Viacom, which owns MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures, said the cuts are a response to the global economic downturn and not related to the debt problems at the theater chain.

“Viacom’s announcement today has absolutely no connection to the financial difficulties of National Amusements,” said Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew. “They are two separate companies.”

Redstone owns a majority of Viacom through the National Amusements holding company, which has been trying to renegotiate $1.6 billion in debt, about $800 million of which matures on Dec. 19.

‘Frost/Nixon’ director Howard voted for Nixon

Los Angeles — For all the disclosures former President Richard Nixon makes in “Frost/Nixon,” director Ron Howard has one of his own.

Howard says he voted for Nixon in 1972.

“Yeah I did,” Howard said at a discussion following a Hollywood screening late last month. “You see now, that was a long time ago.”

Five years later, Nixon granted English journalist David Frost the famous four-part interviews upon which the film is based.

Howard supported Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 election with a viral video in which he said, among other things, that he’d voted for both parties in the past.

Howard said his draft number was 41, meaning he was close to being shipped off to the Vietnam War. Both Nixon and Democratic nominee George McGovern said at the time they would pull out of Vietnam, Howard recalled.

Nixon won re-election in a landslide.

Five years later, he admitted to English journalist Frost that he may have broken the law in the 1972 break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex and subsequent cover-up.

Jane Fonda sets date of return to Broadway

New York — The date for Jane Fonda’s return to Broadway after an absence of more than four decades has been set.

The actress will open March 9 in “33 Variations,” a drama written and directed by Moises Kaufman. The play concerns a musicologist (played by Fonda) and her study of Beethoven’s fascination with a particular piece of music.

Preview performances begin Feb. 9 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for a 15-week run through May 24. Additional casting will be announced. Fonda was last on Broadway in 1963 in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Strange Interlude.”

Erik Estrada returns to Muncie for police patrols

Muncie, Ind. — Erik Estrada has returned to Muncie to take part in overnight police patrols in the city where he starred in the short-lived reality series “Armed & Famous.”

The former star of the 1970s motorcycle cop drama “CHiPs” is a reserve officer on the Muncie Police Department.

The 60-year-old actor plans to work the midnight shift for three nights this week, patrolling city streets from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

He took target practice at the police gun range on Wednesday. On Saturday, he plans to help officers at a charity event.

Estrada filmed “Armed & Famous” for CBS in Muncie in the winter of 2006-07. He and several other celebrities patrolled the city as reserve officers.

He also returned to Muncie last winter to keep up his reserve officer status.