Chelsea Clinton

You were looking for upbeat news? How about that teenage girl who, along with 70 or so other volunteers, has been working with a church group to repair poor people's homes in eastern Kentucky? The group is called the Appalachian Services Project Inc., and the 16-year-old girl, who's been eating in a high school cafeteria and sacking out in a sleeping bag in a classroom, is Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea is one of 7,000 volunteers working for the nonprofit group this year on 300 homes in 16 counties in West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to its executive director, Joe Schlatter.

Chelsea Clinton will spend spring break touring sub-Saharan Africa with her mother. The White House said Thursday that Hillary Rodham Clinton would begin a two-week visit of South Africa and as many as six other nations March 15. It added that she was asked to make the trip to showcase a variety of projects in Africa underwritten by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps and other government agencies. LAST CALL British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber will sell his 18,000-bottle wine collection at a May 21 auction in London.

THE FOLKS AT OCCUPY WALL ST. have it all wrong. If you want to get your job-creation message across on the news, you don't need to camp outside in the cold; you need your daddy to be president. For the second time in a year, NBC has hired the daughter of a former commander in chief to bring . . . we dunno, something . . . to its news division. First the "Today" show brought on Jenna Bush . Now "NBC Nightly News" and Brian Williams ' "Rock Center" have hired Chelsea Clinton . Chelsea will report stories for the feel-good "Making a Difference" series.

I am feeling a little post-election smugness because I endorsed Clinton early on. When I say Clinton, I mean it in the loosest way. Actually, I mean Chelsea, and her father only in the sense that if he raised her he's got something good going on there. It doesn't matter whom I endorsed, of course, because I'm too young to vote. Because of this minor hindrance, it's dubious that any president will directly champion my interests or even understand what they are. Politicians' ideas of youth are limited to an amorphous rhetorical device, a first cousin of "the future," if you will.

In the end, a day before today's enrollment deadline, Chelsea Clinton picked Stanford - 40 miles from San Francisco, 40 miles from Santa Cruz and just about as far away from her parents as she could get. Clinton, 17, a senior at the exclusive Sidwell Friends School in Washington, ended months of speculation over where she would attend college by choosing the prestigious Bay Area university. An aspiring doctor who was one of 15,000 students to qualify as a National Merit scholar, she will study premed at Stanford.

WHEN TATTLE first heard about former first daughter Chelsea Clinton and Hollywood party princess Tara Reid being gal pals, we thought it was funny. According to radaronline.com, Chelsea's mom, Hillary, didn't see the humor. Chelsea and Tara (an Eagles fan, at least until Monday night) reportedly met in Europe over the summer and became tight after Chelsea broke up with longtime boyfriend Ian Klaus. "It's almost like Chelsea dumped Ian for Tara," says a Radar source. "All of a sudden Tara was staying at Chelsea's in New York, and they were going out to Bungalow 8 and Nobu every night.

Chelsea Clinton reportedly will take a dancing turn with the Bolshoi Ballet this weekend after joining her dad in Moscow today. Sources say a chance to join the famed company at a practice session has been an ambition of the first daughter, an aspiring dancer who performed last month in a Washington production of The Nutcracker. All of this depends, of course, on whether she actually accompanies her mother on the flight to Russia. The White House, not inclined to respond to Chelsea queries, would not say if the teenager will go, but it's known that she wants to and this week she concluded final exams at Sidwell Friends School.

Chelsea Clinton split about a week ago with her first serious boyfriend, Matthew Pierce, their relationship a victim of her father's sex scandal, yesterday's New York Post reported. The paper quoted a source as saying that the first daughter "was devastated" by the Monica Lewinsky mess last summer "and she leaned on Matt heavily when they came back [to Stanford U.] this term. All of a sudden he had to be like this knight in shining armor for her. The pressure was too much. " The Post added that Clinton, 18, earlier this week visited the campus medical center short of breath and complaining of being stressed out over the ending of a long-term relationship.

THE CARTOON in Friday's Daily News claiming Bill Clinton had disappeared with Chelsea's bridesmaids was less than tasteless. It was insensitive, mean-spirited - and far from humorous. It wasn't even an original idea. I am shocked that it passed muster to be printed. Did no one have the decency to reject it? How very sad that no consideration was given to Chelsea's wedding as her own very special day. Must children always suffer for sins of their parents? Helen Miller Philadelphia

Chelsea Clinton got a teenager's dream yesterday on her 16th birthday. She was offered three cars. All were turned down by the first parents. The cars were all offered by radio stations seeking max publicity. One, Cincinnati's WOFX-FM, even had its gift, a well-used 1978 Olds costing $1,000, driven to the White House for the occasion. As usual with the first daughter, details about her day were sparse. A White House spokesman, noting it was a school night, said marking her 16th would be a fam affair with perhaps a bigger celebration later this week with her buds.

When U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, Democrat of Pennsylvania, switched her vote to "yes" that summer night in 1993, jeering erupted from the Republican side of the House chamber: "Bye-bye, Margie!" As political prognosticators, her tormentors turned out to be right. She lost in 1994, and left Congress after one term. Margolies-Mezvinsky, a moderate, had cast the deciding vote to enact President Bill Clinton's economic plan, which increased taxes $241 billion; most of the burden fell on the wealthy, but there was also a gasoline tax, and besides, she had promised in her 1992 campaign to oppose tax increases.

Former first teen Chelsea Clinton , 32, is all grown up. Bill and Hillary Clinton 's only child will soon be ready for kids of her own. "I always knew I was the center of my parents' lives when I was growing up," Marc Mezvinsky 's wife tells Vogue. "And I am determined that our children feel the same way. " Clinton's job as an NBC News special correspondent means she's in the public eye again. "Historically, I deliberately tried to lead a private life in the public eye," she says.

THE FOLKS AT OCCUPY WALL ST. have it all wrong. If you want to get your job-creation message across on the news, you don't need to camp outside in the cold; you need your daddy to be president. For the second time in a year, NBC has hired the daughter of a former commander in chief to bring . . . we dunno, something . . . to its news division. First the "Today" show brought on Jenna Bush . Now "NBC Nightly News" and Brian Williams ' "Rock Center" have hired Chelsea Clinton . Chelsea will report stories for the feel-good "Making a Difference" series.

THE CARTOON in Friday's Daily News claiming Bill Clinton had disappeared with Chelsea's bridesmaids was less than tasteless. It was insensitive, mean-spirited - and far from humorous. It wasn't even an original idea. I am shocked that it passed muster to be printed. Did no one have the decency to reject it? How very sad that no consideration was given to Chelsea's wedding as her own very special day. Must children always suffer for sins of their parents? Helen Miller Philadelphia

ONE WOULD THINK that after the low-budget "Precious" grossed more than $60 million, Philadelphia native Lee Daniels wouldn't have so much trouble getting his next movie made. But according to a story on deadline.com, Lee is so tired of waiting for financing to finalize on his civil-rights drama "Selma," he's signed on with producer Laura Ziskin and Sony to rewrite and direct "The Butler. " The film will tell the amazing story of Eugene Allen , who served eight presidents in the White House over a 34-year period.

Like so many aspects of Chelsea Clinton's spectacular wedding Saturday, the cake was remarkable. The nine-tier vanilla cake, filled with dark chocolate mousse, frosted in white fondant, and decorated with 1,000 edible sugar flowers, was also gluten-free. That's because the former first daughter is allergic to the gluten found in most cakes and breads. The creation was a triumph for Frances and Maarten Steenman of La Tulipe Desserts in New York's Westchester County. The Steenmans, who have owned and run their business for nearly 12 years, specialize in all kinds of exquisite tarts, pies, cookies, and of course cakes, not just those that are gluten-free.

THERE WAS a big wedding over the weekend . . . and Tattle would like to congratulate Alicia Keys who wed Swizz Beatz (aka Kaseem Dean) Saturday. The pair is expecting their first child. Mr. Beatz has two sons from a prior marriage. Deepak Chopra conducted the ceremony. Also getting married over the weekend, according to Us Weekly , was Rapper T.I. (aka Clifford Harris) and longtime girlfriend, singer and BET reality star Tameka "Tiny" Cottle . The busy couple wed in Miami and partied there, in Atlanta and L.A. And in one of the most talked about weddings since Archie married Veronica, a beaming Chelsea Clinton wed Marc Mezvinsky in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Chelsea wore Vera Wang , thankfully not the duds she made for the Eagles cheerleaders.

As the big day approaches for Chelsea Clinton and fiance Marc Mezvinsky, we can only wonder what's going through wedding planner Bryan Rafanelli's mind. To shed some insight, the Daily News spoke with local wedding and event planners to find out how they would coordinate such an affair. Christina Hill, of cHill Weddings LLC, in Germantown, said that she would encourage a historic and classic theme using earth tones, while Charita Hall, executive director of A Platinum Affair LLC, suggests patriotic decor.

Chelsea Clinton's wedding Saturday evening along the Hudson River in Upstate New York will be under a no-fly zone. Local airspace will be restricted from 3 p.m. Saturday to 3:30 a.m. Sunday, said the Federal Aviation Administration. Clinton , the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, will wed investment banker Marc Mezvinsky in Rhinebeck, about 90 miles north of New York City. The FAA website said the restriction would be in place for "VIP Movement.