Public Eye

She was a punk party-goer, a magazine magnate, a porn model, a junkie. She dyed her hair purple and helped run one of the country's most explicit porn publication. She posed for pictures wearing stockings, a hat and nothing in between. She procured women for her husband and became addicted to drugs rather than let him do it alone. Her beginnings were sordid and sad (she said she was orphaned at 8 when her father murdered her mother, grandfather and mother's friend) and her end last month at age 33 - in a bathtub in Los Angeles - even sadder.

Derek McGinty, host of a popular public-radio talk show, will depart at the end of the month to be a full-time correspondent for Bryant Gumbel's CBS-TV show, Public Eye. The host station, WAMU-FM of Washington, announced Friday night that the final edition of the Derek McGinty Show would be broadcast Jan. 30. The program is carried on 33 National Public Radio stations around the country, including WHYY-FM, which airs it Monday through Friday at...

In the glare of his patrol-car headlights, Philadelphia police Officer Gary Sinclair could see the woman under Vincent Bove struggling to get up from the pavement. He could also see Bove hitting her in the face. Bove's pants were down. As soon as he saw the officer, he pulled them up and ran a half-block before two officers caught him. The woman's nose bled, her head was bruised and one eye was swollen shut, a medical report would later show. Police arrested Bove that day, July 23, 1983.

Suspended from the 90-foot-high ceiling of the Convention Center's train shed is "cirque CIRQUE," a sculpture fashioned of brilliant glass orbs and glistening steel and aluminum cables. However one judges the aesthetic merit of the work by Judy Pfaff, as well as the rest of the 61-piece collection, there's cause to celebrate its formal display. Ms. Pfaff's work completes the Convention Center's collection of sculptures, paintings, photographs, collages and silk screens, which have a strong local emphasis and a national reputation.

It's official: CBS is shutting Public Eye, the newsmagazine featuring Bryant Gumbel. The program's staff members got the word Tuesday from CBS News president Andrew Heyward that they would lose their jobs before the scheduled Sept. 16 final broadcast. About 40 people are affected, said CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius. The news came as little surprise, because Public Eye suffered low ratings during its freshman season and failed to win a slot on CBS's fall lineup, announced in May. "You can't keep a staff if you're not on the air, because if you're not on the air, you don't have a budget," Genelius said.

Poor Bryant Gumbel. Here he is, new show, new network, trying to get the word out on Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel, his newsmagazine premiering tonight. And all anybody wants to ask the former morning man about is the size of his office, his split from his wife, and how he treated Deborah Norville. The New York papers have been all atwitter, first with word that when Gumbel moved to his CBS quarters, he demanded prime real estate, knocking down walls and creating a bigger office than CBS stalwart Mike Wallace.

Paul Janssen sat back in his office chair, looking as if he had found his niche. While he began the post only one week ago, Upper Southampton's new manager showed no new-job jitters and wasted no time getting down to business. The traditional orientation wasn't necessary. Janssen, the former manager and assistant manager of two Montgomery County townships, greeted the job like an old friend. His return to municipal government was like coming home. "I'm ready to come back," he said.

When the wheels of Camden government do not turn the way some officials would like them to, an obscure nonprofit and its pot of money has come in handy. And the private nonprofit is run by the same government leaders who oversee Camden's redevelopment efforts, giving state-appointed chief operating officer Melvin R. "Randy" Primas Jr. and his handpicked redevelopment czar Arijit De powers and money they can use largely out of the public eye. When the hotly disputed redevelopment plan for Cramer Hill got tangled in litigation, Primas and De teamed the nonprofit up with a former business partner of Primas' in a bid to launch an affordable-housing piece of the project outside of the overall scheme.

POLISHING UP THE IMAGE, Obed Gonzalez cleans the prominent sign outside Cigna Corp. at One Logan Square. Gonzalez, of HGO Inc., also cleans the inside of the building, though yesterday morning his work took him into the public eye.

Yes, Dolly Parton says, she has had plastic surgery - "nips and tucks and trims and sucks . . . eyes and chin and back again. " And there's more where that came from in Parton's new autobiography, "Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. " "It is not only a right but an obligation for a woman, especially a woman in the public eye, to look as good as she can. It's like keeping up a racehorse or a show dog. " So yes, Parton says, she has had her breasts done, too. "I said, 'Do whatever you have to do to make 'em firm, make 'em stand up. "'

DALLAS - In just the last few days, she has danced with cheering schoolchildren, chatted with troops, swapped ideas with busy parents, and engaged in a friendly cooking competition with stars from Top Chef . Michelle Obama is on a national tour to promote the second anniversary of her campaign against childhood obesity. The images have been disarming, intriguing, and nonpolitical - just the type of thing her husband's reelection campaign can't get enough of. Michelle Obama's travels offer fresh evidence of what an outsize role she has assumed in the public eye and how powerful a political ally a first lady can be. She said she was "incredibly enthusiastic" about making the case for her husband's reelection.

I'M READING various suggestions to help recognize when a "flash mob" is about to organize. My suggestion would be to incorporate the Philadelphia Parking Authority, among others. I believe they have radio capabilities, correct? And as most of us know, PPA employees are all over the Center City area, ready to pounce and issue a ticket seconds after meters expire. Why can't they (whether required or just out of concern) give a heads-up to police if they believe they see a potential situation developing?

THE MEDIA follow Sarah Palin around, Stuart Caesar, because they know it won't be long before she makes herself look like a fool. Hanging out with Donald Trump? The Statue of Liberty is a "warning" of sorts from the French to not "blow democracy"? Paul Revere was also warning the British that the British were coming - he was telling them they weren't going to take the colonists' guns away? Her ego won't let her admit that she doesn't know an answer, so she just makes something up. She'd rather dig a hole, jump in and keep digging until the hole starts to fill with water than admit she flubbed one of those "gotcha" questions (that she should know the answer to, but doesn't)

Courteney Cox and David Arquette haven't been bashful about playing out their divorce in the public eye. While most stars try to cut the cord with as little media attention as possible, Cox and Arquette are blabbing all over the airwaves about their marital strife. Usually it's the wacky (or the face-slappingly irritating) Arquette who is running his mouth, but now Cox is in on the action, too. The couple, who announced their separation in January, are on the talk-show circuit supporting "Scream 4," which hits theaters today.

BREAKUPS CAN be hard on every couple, but imagine if thousands - perhaps millions - of people were paying attention to the details of yours. That's the kind of scrutiny Ed and Midge Rendell face in announcing their split after almost 40 years of marriage. "People can't get enough of it. It's seeing we're not the only ones who have ordinary lives," said Sharon Zarozny, founder of Northern Virginia-based Brilliant Exits, a counseling service for divorcing couples, and a blogger in the Huffington Post's divorce section.

This latest episode of PHA head Carl R. Greene shows that he needs to be shown the door. The latest allegations and settlements prove that he is not worthy of heading that agency. These alleged incidents along with his lackadaisical handling of his personal financial issues show clearly it's time to step down. This agency is supplied public funds and as such these settlements are not privileged or private information when it came to use of such funds to settle these incidents. Taxpayers are again being shortchanged to no avail as this man allegedly got away with more than meets the public eye!

LOS ANGELES - IN the recently released trailer for "The Expendables," the action movie directed by Sylvester Stallone about a group of aging mercenaries on a rebel mission in South America, big-screen graybeards Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke (along with the more youthful Jason Statham and Randy Couture) are plotting a coup when an unexpected face suddenly materializes. Arnold Schwarzenegger, apparently taking a break from the budgetary troubles that have dogged him during his governorship, appears on screen with Willis and Stallone, utters a crisply satirical line ("Give this job to my friend here - he loves playing in the jungle," he says about the "Rambo" star)

You have to sign a "celibacy contract" when you enter sex rehab. It's true. You also have to attend one-on-one and group therapy sessions, which sound pretty hot but probably aren't. There was a time when you had to be in sex rehab to know about sex rehab. Not anymore. Now all you need is ESPN. That's a little something I like to call progress. I turned on SportsCenter the other morning when the Disney-owned program began discussing reports that Tiger Woods is in Mississippi to get help for his reported addiction to women who aren't his wife.

When secrecy is a necessary thing Your editorial "Open the debate" in Thursday's Inquirer may be well-intentioned, but it is wrongheaded. To reconcile the two health-care versions will require delicate maneuvering and compromise on the part of our elected representatives, the kind of actions they're incapable of performing when in the public eye. It is not their fault. It is ours, for we stand ready to accuse them of treachery and disloyalty and flip-flopping if they deviate the slightest from the platforms and beliefs they've previously espoused.

WHO DOES Jenice Armstrong think she is? Since when does anyone have to be held accountable to the public for their private actions? When did America become everyone's judge and jury? You, Jenice, are in the public eye, what's your story? Where did you sleep or go this past year? Any parking tickets or anything we should know about? After all, we are your readers, your so-called fans? Am I being nosy? Too bad. How is it that a politician is good as long as he doesn't have an affair?