Midwest theater owner bans 'Fahrenheit 9/11'

DECORAH, Iowa -- The president of a company that owns movie theaters in Iowa and Nebraska is refusing to show director Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." R.L. Fridley, owner of Des Moines-based Fridley Theatres, says the controversial documentary incites terrorism. Fridley said in an e-mail message to company managers that the company does not "play political propaganda films from either the right or the left."

Great White band joining in Fla. fireworks show

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The rock band whose pyrotechnics sparked a fire that killed 100 people was booked to play an outdoor concert today coinciding with St. Petersburg's nearby July 4 fireworks show. Great White's concert is set to begin an hour before the fireworks start going off three blocks away, a backdrop that club owner and concert promoter John Claude Bodziak considered ironic when booking the date. "I don't want people to get the wrong idea, that I arranged for this date," Bodziak said. "July Fourth was the only date left."

Paris Hilton distances herself from Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The farm family who were hosts for heiress Paris Hilton and her friend Nicole Richie for the first season of "The Simple Life" says life has not always been easy since the show aired. The Ledings say they have received reams of fan mail and dozens of friendly phone calls since the first season aired. But mom Janet Leding says one message hurt her feelings. When Entertainment Weekly magazine asked Hilton last month if she kept in touch with the Ledings, she replied, "I changed my number." Leding wonders why. "Who's been calling her? We talked to them a couple of times right after they left. Nicole -- I talked to her about three times. We weren't trying to call them all the time. We don't care one way or other."

Mandolin of bluegrass legend in legal dispute

ROSINE, Ky. -- A legal fight over who will retain the rights to bluegrass music pioneer Bill Monroe's mandolin is headed to trial later this month in Tennessee. Monroe's son, James Monroe, wants to sell the Gibson F-5 mandolin to the Ohio County Industrial Foundation instead of the Bill Monroe Foundation. The Monroe foundation's executive director, Campbell Mercer, said he balked at Monroe's plan outlined during recent mediation in Nashville.

-- From wire reports