*When Los Angeles-based lawyer Howard K. Stern showed up on talk shows, it was hard not to notice. There was the name, of course, which, minus the middle initial, carried the considerable weight of the more famous radio personality. Then there was Howard K. Stern himself. Let's put it this way: The way he came across on TV, I wouldn't have brought my legal business to him. Nevertheless, I got a kick out of spotting his nameplate on an office down the hall in the same Wilshire Boulevard building where my son works as a writer for the animated sitcom "American Dad". Coincidentally, Stern's name came up again in conversation just the other day. I asked my son where his company, which also produces "Family Guy", had set up shop for its new program, "The Cleveland Show". In Howard K. Stern's old office, he told me. You see, Stern apparently hasn't needed that high-profile office since he got himself in the middle of the Anna Nicole Smith mess. And then there he was again today, the subject of additional charges by Los Angeles prosecutors. Stern, Smith's lawyer-boyfriend, "is billed as an aider and abettor of two doctors charged with prescribing drugs that killed the former Playboy model in 2007," according to The Associated Press. Stern and the physicians have pleaded not guilty. Keep your eyes on the entertainment news shows today. Given the new developments, Howard K. Stern is likely to pop up.

*I'm ordinarily not a fan of rival news organizations sniping at each other in public. But I am pleased that CNN and others have responded strongly to bully Fox News' obnoxious and inaccurate print ad claiming they didn't cover the recent "tea party" protest in Washington. The fact is CNN and the others did cover it. And, as a YouTube video has demonstrated, Fox News not only covered it, it orchestrated it, witness the young associate producer whipping up the crowd. Fox News' slogan has been, "We report, you decide." CNN is now on air with counter-promos saying Fox News "distorts." Good for CNN.

*Congratulations to the Yankees, not just for clinching a playoff berth last night in Anaheim, but for putting it in perspective. The Yankees properly held off a champagne celebration that would have been premature merely for securing the wild card. Once the Yankees officially eliminate Boston and wrap up the division title, then they can party.