Biographer: Jackson needs lung transplant

Melville, N.Y. — Michael Jackson is ailing from a rare lung condition and needs to undergo a transplant, according to the author of a new biography on the King of Pop.

Author Ian Halperin said Jackson, 50, suffers from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a condition that can be fatal.

“He’s had it for years, but it’s gotten worse,” Halperin said in an interview with In Touch magazine. “He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It’s the bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him.”

Halperin also said Jackson “can barely speak” and is having trouble seeing: “The vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone.”

Jackson’s spokesman was unavailable for comment.

‘Sopranos’ actor cleared of murder

New York — Lillo Brancato, who played a bumbling aspiring mobster on “The Sopranos,” was cleared Monday of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty policeman during a drunken, late-night search for drugs.

The jury convicted Brancato of a lesser charge of attempted burglary. He faces a minimum of three years in prison on that count, but the former actor could get credit for time served because he has been behind bars about that long.

Brancato showed no reaction as the verdict was read — his face impassive, his fingers pressed together. His mother, seated a couple rows back in the gallery, began sobbing.

Prosecutors say Brancato and accomplice Steven Armento broke into a basement apartment to steal prescription drugs after a night of drinking at a strip club. Officer Daniel Enchautegui, who lived next door, came out to investigate.

Armento blasted the 28-year-old officer with his .357 Magnum, hitting him in the heart. The dying officer fired back, wounding both men. Armento was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Court increases pay for Spears’ father

Los Angeles — A court has put a higher value on being Britney Spears’ father this year: about $75 an hour.

For helping his daughter through her turbulent period, Jamie Spears on Monday was awarded an additional $51,000 payout, reflecting an increase in his monthly payments since he took over his 27-year-old daughter’s affairs in February.

Jamie Spears had been receiving $10,000 a month for his work, but Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz increased that amount to approximately $16,000 per month and agreed to give him backpay.

He was also granted an additional $1,200 monthly payment so he can maintain an office, which Goetz said was justified by his work getting his daughter’s personal life — and music career — back on track.

Police: Hilton’s jewelry missing after burglary

Los Angeles — Los Angeles police are investigating a burglary at Paris Hilton’s home they say left her bedroom ransacked and about $2 million in jewelry missing.

Los Angeles police Officer Julianne Sohn said the break-in occurred around 5 a.m. Friday at Hilton’s home in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles. Sohn said detectives report that a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and gloves broke in through the home’s front door and ransacked Hilton’s bedroom.

Hilton was not at home at the time. She had been photographed the previous night at several L.A. nightspots.

Kirsten Dunst granted restraining order

Los Angeles — Kirsten Dunst has won a court’s protection from a man who she says has recently trespassed at her home.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard E. Rico granted Dunst’s request to order 25-year-old Christopher R. Smith to stay away from the actress, her personal assistant and any place they work.

Dunst did not appear during Monday’s court hearing. The request was granted without her attorney or witnesses having to make arguments. Smith did not attend the hearing and never responded to a temporary restraining order Dunst received in November.

Director of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ dies

Robert Mulligan, the Academy Award-nominated director of “To Kill a Mockingbird” who later helped launch the career of Reese Witherspoon, has died at 83.

Mulligan died early Saturday at his home in Lyme, Conn., after a battle with heart disease, his wife, Sandy, said Monday.

Mulligan was nominated for an Oscar for “Mockingbird,” the adaptation of Harper Lee’s best-selling novel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning look at a child’s world shaken by the racism of a Southern town.

The 1962 film starred Gregory Peck, who won the best-actor Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, the small town lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of rape.

Mulligan was also known as the director of Witherspoon’s first film, “The Man in the Moon.” The 1991 family drama, Mulligan’s last movie, brought Witherspoon notice as the younger of two teenage daughters grappling with her first love in 1950s Louisiana.