PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mel Gibson shared some baby news on Jay Leno’s final week as “Tonight” show host.

Gibson’s publicist Alan Nierob said the actor confirmed during the show’s taping Monday that his girlfriend, 39-year-old Oksana Grigorieva, is pregnant. A phone message left with an NBC spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

The 53-year-old Oscar winner has seven children with wife Robyn, but the couple has been separated for almost three years.

She cited irreconcilable differences in her April 13 divorce petition to end their marriage of 28 years.

Leno’s finale is Friday on the late-night show he’s hosted since 1992. He’ll start a 10 p.m. show this fall.

‘Idol’ finalist wants to thank his hometown

MILWAUKEE (AP) — “American Idol” finalist Danny Gokey plans to thank his hometown of Milwaukee at an event that also will raise awareness and money for his charity.

The former church music director is not expected to sing at the free event tonight for contractual reasons. But his church choir, including friend and former “American Idol” contestant Jamar Rogers, do plan to perform.

Gokey also will talk about Sophia’s Heart Foundation, which he started in memory of his wife, who died last summer after surgery for a congenital heart defect. A fundraiser is being held earlier at Hilton Milwaukee City Center.

Former eBay chief will pen book on company

NEW YORK (AP) — Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, a presumed candidate for governor of California, is working on a book about the “core values” that helped her build the online commerce giant.

The book, currently untitled, is scheduled to be published by Crown Business in February, just as California starts voting for its next governor. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Whitman will donate all of her earnings to charity.

“Whitman will interweave personal stories and leadership lessons culled from her tenure at eBay and other companies,” according to a statement issued Monday by Crown, an imprint of Random House, Inc. “She will offer a blueprint for success in both business and life, identifying core values that make it possible to achieve success without ethical compromise.”

Whitman, 52, joined eBay in 1998, when the company had just 30 employees. By the time she stepped down last year, eBay was a multibillion-dollar company with more than 15,000 workers.

She formed an exploratory committee earlier this year to seek the Republican nomination for governor. Incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger cannot run again because of term limits.

“She is eager to share her successes, her setbacks, and her values, which will provide a detailed portrait of this extraordinary woman and a best-practice template for others in business today,” Crown’s vice president and publisher, Tina Constable, said in a statement.

Wilco mourns death of former band member

URBANA, Ill. (AP) — Jay Bennett, a former member of the band Wilco, has died at age 45, according to his record label.

“We are profoundly saddened to report that our friend died in his sleep ... Jay was a beautiful human being who will be missed,” read the posting Sunday on Undertow Music Collective’s Web site.

Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy said in a statement Monday he was “deeply saddened” by Bennett’s death.

Tweedy said Bennett made significant contributions to Wilco’s songs and the band’s evolution. He said Bennett would be remembered “as a truly unique and gifted human being.”

Bennett died at his Urbana home early Sunday and an autopsy was being performed, friend and fellow musician Edward Burch told the Chicago Sun-Times in a story posted online late Sunday.

A cause of death was not immediately available. The Champaign County Coroner’s office did not return messages.

Bennett worked as a sound engineer and played instruments for Wilco from 1994 to 2001.

Earlier this month, Bennett sued Tweedy, claiming he was owed royalties for songs during his seven years and five albums with the group.

In the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Bennett also claimed that he deserved money from the band’s 2002 documentary, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” The film documents the making of Wilco’s album “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.”

What’s Twitter doing? Becoming a TV show

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter, the Web site that asks what everybody’s doing, says it wants to be doing a TV series.

The social-networking site has teamed with Reveille productions and Brillstein Entertainment Partners to develop an unscripted series based on the popular site, which invites 140-character postings from members around the world.

The show would harness Twitter to put players on the trail of celebrities in an interactive, competitive format, the show’s producers announced Monday.

“Right now, Twitter is an incredible technological and cultural phenomenon,” said executive producer Amy Ephron, who created the TV show and took it to Twitter.

The producers call their proposed series the first to bring the immediacy of Twitter to the TV screen.

“It captures what’s best about Twitter, and it’s a compelling TV show in its own right,” said Noah Oppenheim, head of unscripted development for Reveille.

Like Ephron, he was tightlipped on any details about the show, its format, even its title. He said the partners are saving all that for their upcoming pitch meetings with networks.

Once a network deal is signed, “We’re ready to go into production,” Oppenheim said.

Reveille’s scripted entertainment includes “The Office” (NBC), “Ugly Betty” (ABC) and “The Tudors” (Showtime), plus reality programming that includes “The Biggest Loser” and “American Gladiators” (both NBC).

Credits for Brillstein Entertainment, which represents Ephron, include “Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO), “The Sopranos” (HBO), “According to Jim” (ABC) and “NewsRadio” (NBC).

The San Francisco-based Twitter, which was founded in 2007, is one of the Internet’s fastest-growing sites. A recent Nielsen report found that unique visitors to Twitter zoomed from 475,000 during February 2008 to 7 million a year later.