Shields upset by media glare in Sutherland case

New York — Brooke Shields says she’s frightened and frustrated by the media storm the Kiefer Sutherland arrest has dumped on her doorstep — and really doesn’t understand why she’s being brought into the situation at all.

Sutherland was charged last week with head-butting designer Jack McCollough at a Manhattan nightclub. Shields was there, and reports have said the incident was over her. Police have said they want to question Shields.

At an event Thursday night to promote The Chain of Confidence, an organization that sponsors girls and promotes positive attitudes in women, Shields expressed frustration that she has been linked to the case.

“I am always interested in the fact that I can be minding my own business. I can be in London doing a play and things could happen. It is inexplicable to me,” she said.

Parton expanding her literacy program

Detroit — Dolly Parton says she’s expanding her philanthropic work with children through a partnership with the United Way of America.

The entertainer says her Imagination Library and the United Way have set a goal to provide free books monthly to 1 million children by 2014. That’s double what the literacy initiative now serves.

She joined Brian Gallagher, chief executive of the national nonprofit, to make the announcement at a conference in Detroit on Friday. Parton also performed her hit “9 to 5.”

The program founded by Parton in her home state of Tennessee in the mid-’90s operates in the U.S., Canada and Britain.

She recently spent several weeks in New York working on “9 to 5: The Musical,” a stage version of the 1980 movie in which she starred.

Brit actor Vinnie Jones acquitted in bar fight

Sioux Falls, S.D. — Hollywood actor and former British soccer player Vinnie Jones was acquitted of assault Thursday for his role in a bar fight in downtown Sioux Falls.

Jones, 44, was charged with misdemeanor simple assault for a Dec. 4 scuffle at Wiley’s Tavern. Surveillance video showed a bloodied Jones punching Juan Trevino-Barrera, 24, in a hallway minutes after Barrera’s friends hit Jones with a beer glass and beer bottle, causing deep cuts to Jones’ nose and forehead.

Jones’ movie credits include “Snatch,” “Gone in Sixty Seconds,” “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” and “X-Men: The Last Stand” as the character Juggernaut.

Barrera testified that the attack was unprovoked, but the defense argued it was self defense.

The actor said he was in South Dakota as part of a pheasant hunting party.

Vanessa Hudgens tries to break from Disney

Los Angeles — Vanessa Hudgens has left “High School Musical” to make a movie about music — at a high school.

The key difference: “Bandslam,” due in theaters in August, is being released by the new studio behind “Twilight,” well outside the tween hit-making machine that made her a star. Now 20, the actress-singer says she’s ready for roles that mark a departure from her shy and geeky Gabriella Montez character — and from Disney.

“It definitely is a love-hate thing, you know,” Hudgens said in a recent interview. “Disney is incredible. And ‘High School Musical’ did wonders and I could not be more thankful. But at the same time, people see me as my character, Gabriella. And I’m just excited to kind of branch out of that and have people see me in a new light.”

“You can put yourself in a hole in the ground if you continue to do the same thing. And that’s kind of why I want to branch out,” Hudgens said. “But yeah, of course it’s always something that’s somewhat frightening.”

Rapper T.I. going to Ark. for prison term

Little Rock, Ark. — Rapper T.I. will be coming to Arkansas — to serve a federal prison sentence.

T.I., whose real name is Clifford J. Harris Jr., must report to Forrest City’s low-security federal prison by noon on May 26, according to court filings. There, Harris will join 1,500 other inmates as he serves a year-and-one-day prison sentence after pleading guilty in March to federal weapons charges in Atlanta.

The rapper, the self-proclaimed “King of the South,” had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge in his three-count indictment.

Lionel Richie, Lauper among ‘Idol’ acts

Los Angeles — “American Idol” finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert will be opening up for a few music legends.

Lionel Richie, Carlos Santana, Cyndi Lauper, Queen Latifah, Black Eyed Peas and Keith Urban are among the artists scheduled to perform on Wednesday’s finale before either Allen or Lambert is crowned the eight season champion.

Previous “Idol” winners David Cook and Carrie Underwood will also croon on the two-night finale. Underwood will perform on Tuesday’s episode, which will feature Lambert, a 27-year-old theater actor from San Diego, and Allen, a 23-year-old college student from Conway, Ark., duking it out for a record contract and the title of “American Idol.”