Ex-CNN host Lou Dobbs weighs Senate run

Hillside, N.J. — Former CNN host Lou Dobbs is seriously considering running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey in 2012 as a stepping stone to a possible White House bid — a congressional matchup that would pit one of illegal immigration’s biggest critics against a champion for immigrant rights.

Dobbs spokesman Robert Dilenschneider told The Associated Press Wednesday that Dobbs may challenge Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, but is considering other offers he’s received since his abrupt exit from CNN on Nov. 11 after 29 years on the news network.

“A logical step for Lou, should he choose to go into public life, is to run for the next Senate seat in New Jersey, or to accept some kind of appointed position, nationally or in New Jersey,” Dilenschneider said.

Dobbs, who owns a farm in rural northwestern New Jersey, flirted briefly this year with a run for governor.

Polanski wins $4.5M bail, house arrest likely

Geneva — Roman Polanski has been granted $4.5 million bail, clearing the way for the fugitive director to move within days from a Swiss jail to house arrest and electronic monitoring at his Alpine resort chalet.

The justice minister said Wednesday she saw no reason to appeal the surprise decision by the Swiss Criminal Court. Polanski would have to remain in Switzerland as authorities assess whether to extradite him to the U.S. for having sex in Los Angeles in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said the final decision on transferring Polanski to his chalet in the Swiss resort of Gstaad would be made “quickly.”

“The 76-year-old appellant is married and the father of two minors,” the court said as it considered Polanski’s offer of a cash bail secured by his apartment in Paris. “It can be assumed that as a responsible father he will, especially in view of his advanced age, attach greater importance to the financial security of his family than a younger person.”

‘DWTS’ winner goes to Broadway

New York — Donny Osmond may have been the celebrity winner on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” but his professional dancing partner already has her next gig lined up — Broadway.

Kym Johnson will make her Broadway debut Friday in “Burn the Floor,” the hot-blooded ballroom dance show at the Longacre Theatre, producer Harley Medcalf announced Wednesday. She will be partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, another alumnus of “Stars.” He opened “Burn the Floor” on Broadway in August.

Johnson and Chmerkovskiy will be on Broadway through Jan. 10. She did the original workshop of “Burn the Floor” in London in 1998 and later toured around the world with the production.