Tonya Harding

Figure-skating-bad-girl-turned-boxer Tonya Harding had a heated match with Delaware County promoter Damon Feldman Thursday night over a scuttled fight in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Feldman had booked Harding in a bout with Daisy D, a South Florida transvestite. But the Florida boxing commission ruled that Harding couldn't box the inexperienced Daisy, and the match was changed to wrestling. At that, Harding refused to get into the ring, Feldman said yesterday. "She said, 'That's my reputation.

When Nancy Kerrigan got married in September, we saw the announcement in the New York Times. Tonya Harding's getting married next month. She'll announce it tonight on "Inside Edition. " Tonya, Tonya, Tonya! Even as she claws and grasps her way back from obscurity, she remains true to tacky form. Well, isn't that what we love about her? Having chosen the classy venue of a tabloid-TV show to discuss her future plans, the banned-from-competition figure skater will disclose tonight that: She'll wed Michael Smith, a 29-year-old Portland machinist, on Dec. 23. "I finally have a man in my life who I truly love, and who loves me for me," she says.

After 3 1/2 months of marriage, Tonya Harding has filed for divorce from machinist Michael Smith and intends a skating comeback. Harding filed for divorce, citing those dreaded irreconciliable differences in Oregon's Clackamas County Tuesday, her agent said. Meanwhile, a judge has told Harding's attorney that there no legal barriers preventing her from seeking reinstatement to the U.S. Figure Skating Association. Harding hasn't decided whether she'll try for that, but a USFSA flack said Harding shouldn't waste her time.

A LITTLE BEFORE 3 p.m. yesterday, Barack Obama's camp shared with reporters a published story that the rest of Hillary Clinton's advertising would be 100 percent negative. If that's accurate, said Obama spokesman Matthew Lehrich, "It looks like we'll see the 'Tonya Harding option' on display at tonight's debate. " Why do you think we're tuning in, Matt? Well, the ladies of Wisteria Lane returned to "Desperate Housewives" Sunday, and the populist millionaires of "Desperate Candidates" returned last night.

Lost in all the celebrity-marriage comings and goings last week was the news that SideShow friend Tonya Harding has given wedded bliss another try. We all remember how No. 1 turned out for the former champion figure skater, what with some of hubby's groomsmen taking an unhealthy interest in the career of Tonya rival Nancy Kerrigan . (Plus there was that videotape, back before that sort of thing became a good career move.) And it's hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Tonya was arrested - and later spent three days in jail - for punching and throwing a hubcap at her boyfriend at the time.

Tonya Harding was reportedly paid more than $600,000 for her two-part interview on Inside Edition yesterday and today. A spokeswoman for King World, which syndicates the TV show, wouldn't talk dough but insisted that Harding was landed through persistence and because the skater "really loves" Inside Edition producer Joel Loy, who conducts the interrogation. The previous checkbook journalism high is believed to be $500,000 paid to Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco last year by A Current Affair.

Tonya Harding is free to take that $2 million offer to become a pro wrestler in Japan. She is free to pose for Playboy, or to endorse The Club. And she might need to do something along those lines to pay some expenses that just came up. But the bottom line for Harding is that she is free, and will remain so. There will be no jail time for the figure skater as a result of the agreement she entered into in exchange for pleading guilty to conspiracy in...

Mark Hornung, editorial-page editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, resigned Thursday after admitting that he plagiarized part of a Feb. 24 column from an editorial in the Washington Post. The columns were about a Senate committee's effort to exclude the Tennessee Valley Authority from the impact of a balanced-budget amendment that has since been defeated. Hornung said he had writer's block during his attempt to report on the issue and typed the Post editorial into his computer as notes.

In a highly unusual move, Michelle Kwan will travel to Norway later this month to train in case she is needed to compete in the Olympic Winter Games, the U.S. Figure Skating Association announced yesterday. Kwan, 13, finished second at the U.S. championships in Detroit last month, which normally would have qualified her for the U.S. Olympic team. However, the USFSA put Nancy Kerrigan on the team after Kerrigan was attacked before the event and was unable to compete. "In light of developments over the last month concerning Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, we felt it would be a sensible move to send Michelle Kwan to Norway," USFSA president Claire Ferguson said.

If the Tonya-Nancy morality play piqued interest in these Olympics, the Games themselves sustained it. On a pretty little stage in a pretty little town in Norway, the athletes were the show. Downhiller Tommy Moe, hair-raising in victory; speedskater Bonnie Blair, so proficient at winning; short-tracker Cathy Turner, crashing and bumping through a crowd; Tonya Harding, with one last bit of drama, and Dan Jansen, transcendent in his moment of triumph.

Get out of here, Betty White !! You're 88, and you're going around winning all these awards, just for being Betty White , not fair, since, c'mon, you have a monopoly. Leave something for someone else, would you please? I mean, you went on Saturday Night Live , hosted it once , and got an Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series. All you need to do is show up . Dang, girl: Your first TV appearance was in, like, 1939! You are busy with TV shows like Hot in Cleveland and Community and films like You Again . Monday, the Associated Press named you Entertainer of the Year for 2010.

Lost in all the celebrity-marriage comings and goings last week was the news that SideShow friend Tonya Harding has given wedded bliss another try. We all remember how No. 1 turned out for the former champion figure skater, what with some of hubby's groomsmen taking an unhealthy interest in the career of Tonya rival Nancy Kerrigan . (Plus there was that videotape, back before that sort of thing became a good career move.) And it's hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Tonya was arrested - and later spent three days in jail - for punching and throwing a hubcap at her boyfriend at the time.

A LITTLE BEFORE 3 p.m. yesterday, Barack Obama's camp shared with reporters a published story that the rest of Hillary Clinton's advertising would be 100 percent negative. If that's accurate, said Obama spokesman Matthew Lehrich, "It looks like we'll see the 'Tonya Harding option' on display at tonight's debate. " Why do you think we're tuning in, Matt? Well, the ladies of Wisteria Lane returned to "Desperate Housewives" Sunday, and the populist millionaires of "Desperate Candidates" returned last night.

I am surprised to learn that Tonya Harding has taken up journalism. What else explains last week's kneecapping of Sen. John McCain by the New York Times? Obviously, the bad girl of figure skating has been given a corner office at Times headquarters. If you missed it: The Times reported on the relationship between the senator and one Vicki Iseman, a lobbyist who, at 40, is 31 years McCain's junior. According to the Times report, several of McCain's top aides were concerned during his 2000 presidential campaign that the relationship might be romantic.

Jackson may have to beat it Michael Jackson might need to find a new spot where he can avoid growing up. Apparently, Jacko owes more than $24 mil on his Neverland Ranch outside Santa Barbara, Calif. The property will be put up for sale unless he can cough up the dough by March 19, according to a Tuesday court filing. Asking price for the 2,500-acre spread is expected to top more than $24.5 million. Furnishings and other personal property will be auctioned separately. The King of Pop's ranch includes a zoo and amusement park, in case you're in the market for an elephant or a new Ferris wheel.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good. - W.H. Auden, "Stop All the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone" So cataclysmic were the Sept. 11 attacks that some Americans believed the culture would change on a genetic level - that society would halt silliness and outlaw laughter as people carried the burden of all that death throughout their days.

Figure-skating-bad-girl-turned-boxer Tonya Harding had a heated match with Delaware County promoter Damon Feldman Thursday night over a scuttled fight in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Feldman had booked Harding in a bout with Daisy D, a South Florida transvestite. But the Florida boxing commission ruled that Harding couldn't box the inexperienced Daisy, and the match was changed to wrestling. At that, Harding refused to get into the ring, Feldman said yesterday. "She said, 'That's my reputation.

While the U.S. Figure Skating Championships were in her hometown of Portland, Ore., last weekend, Tonya Harding arrived in Philadelphia for a celebrity boxing match against a female wrestler. It was at the U.S. championships in Detroit in January 1994 that associates of Harding's former husband clubbed rival Nancy Kerrigan on the knee, helping Harding win the competition and go to the 1994 Winter Olympics. Harding's has been a rocky road since. After the Olympics, the U.S. Figure Skating Association banned her from the sport for life.

Tonya Harding canceled a scheduled fight in Oakland because of an alleged death threat. According to a report filed with the Oakland Police Department, Harding, 33, and manager Paul Brown were at the Hilton Hotel in Oakland last Friday, with Harding doing a weigh-in for her upcoming bout against Tracy Carlton. Brown told police he and Harding left the hotel bar after Carlton and some people with her began "trying to intimidate" the former figure skater. Several hours later, Brown told police he got a threatening call on his cell phone, with a man's voice saying, "If Tonya doesn't fight, I'll kill you. " Brown and Harding later left Oakland and returned to the Portland, Ore., area.

Loudon Wainwright 3d's last album, 2001's Last Man on Earth, was inspired by the death of his mother and was a relatively somber affair for the gleefully fearless singer-songwriter. That's not the case with his new live one, starting right with the title - So Damn Happy (Sanctuary). "I wanted something with a lighter tone . . . this record even has a bit of a silly tone," the 56-year-old troubadour and thespian said Monday from Los Angeles, where he moved a year ago to pursue acting jobs.