Spears in and out of courthouse in a jiffy

Los Angeles – Britney Spears came to a courthouse Wednesday in cocktail party attire, stepped in the door and then bolted before a hearing began that could have restored her right to visit her children.

Wearing bright pink lipstick, sunglasses, shiny gold platform shoes and a very short black dress with a ruffled hem, Spears was driven into an underground garage and then entered the downtown civil court building.

A court spokesman said she got through a security metal detector, then announced, “I want to leave,” and returned to her car.

A lawyer for Spears’ ex-husband Kevin Federline said that behavior may have played a role in a Superior Court commissioner’s decision that she would remain barred from seeing sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

Spears, 26, was not under orders to be at the hearing, which was not scheduled but resulted from both sides filing motions seeking to be heard.

Police assess video for evidence of crime

London – Scotland Yard started an investigation Wednesday into a video that allegedly shows troubled British singer Amy Winehouse smoking crack.

The British tabloid The Sun released grainy footage showing Grammy-nominated Winehouse, 24, inhaling fumes from a pipe. The video was reportedly shot hours before she attended a court hearing for her jailed husband.

Police will look at the video before deciding whether any charges should be brought against Winehouse, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with force policy. The Sun gave the police the video, he said.

Winehouse spokesman Shane O’Neill said he was unable to comment on the investigation.

In the video, Winehouse lights a pipe in front of a photo that appears to have been taken on the day of her wedding to Blake Fielder-Civil.

End to ‘drive-through’ mastectomies sought

Washington – The Hollywood writers strike shuttered production on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” but Marcia Cross hasn’t been spending her downtime holed up inside.

The 45-year-old actress was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, lobbying Congress to pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 to end “drive-through” mastectomies for women forced to leave the hospital hours after surgery.

Cross is campaigning to give women the choice to recuperate for at least 48 hours following a mastectomy. She was joined by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Lifetime network executive Meredith Wagner.

Lifetime has collected more than 20 million signatures for the petition on its Web site, according to the network.

“It’s such a simple bill that it’s hard for me to understand why it’s been languishing in Congress for 10 years,” Cross said Wednesday.