Here at "Newsmakers" we like to keep our items short and sweet. But this one's just too good to trim. Call it a loopy love story, or a case of surreal justice. It's pure celebrity gold.

Tuesday, a judge in Santa Fe, N.M., lifted a temporary restraining order he had earlier granted against late-night comicThe order was requested by a woman who claimed Letterman was proposing marriage through the television using secret code words, such as "Oprah."

59, had asked the court to keep Letterman at least 100 yards away from her at all times. We haven't Mapquested it, but we think Manhattan, where Letterman does his show, qualifies.

The case stems from a complaint Nestler filed Dec. 15, accusing Letterman of inflicting mental cruelty, causing sleep deprivation, and contributing to her financial ruin.

She claimed they were in love, and that Letterman, 58, encouraged her feelings by communicating with her in code. "It is common in the television industry," she wrote in a six-page, single-spaced statement.

Nestler said when she first saw Letterman on television in 1993, her "entire being [became] alit." She added that she knew he felt the same way because he sent her secret messages during his nightly show. Nestler claimed he wanted to marry her and train her to be his cohost.

But the love match began to sour, she told the court, when Letterman began demanding, in code of course, that she watch Good Morning America, World News Now, and Regis and Kathie Lee. Hey, some things even true love can't abide!

Finally, Nestler said, came to her emotional rescue. Using his own secret code implanted in episodes of Frasier, he convinced Nestler that she and Letterman had nothing in common. Well, he did play a psychologist, didn't he?

Now officials are saying it wasn't a bird at all that caused a windshield to break on private jet. The talk-show queen and her boyfriend had to return to the Santa Barbara airport shortly after takeoff Monday because of the mishap. At the time, fire department battalion chief said a bird was to blame. But now, he's singing a different tune.

What's that old saying about thieves not being too smart? Well 45, fits the bill. He's the guy who opened a bunch of credit-card accounts using actor name and got caught. Now, the guy's headed back to prison for two years for violating probation. A judge in Pittsburgh ruled Lomax failed to rehabilitate himself and make restitution to his victims while on supervised release since June.

Lomax served 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to opening 14 bogus credit accounts and charging $33,000 in Smith's name. He also landed an earlier conviction for running up $81,000 in credit-card charges in former Atlanta Hawks basketball player name. Maybe he should have gone with Jones.

Not quite three months - 86 days, to be exact. That's how long it tookto get over the deep trauma of divorce, and start planning yet another wedding.

That's right, our favorite poor little rich girl is engaged. Actor popped the question on Christmas Eve in Toronto, according to People and Us Weekly magazines.

Spelling, 32, and McDermott, 39, met earlier this year while working on the TV movie Mind Over Murder. In October, Spelling's husband, actor-writer filed for divorce, a little more than a year after they were married in an elaborate wedding ceremony.

Sure, it's only a ceremonial title, but that didn't stop Lackawanna County Sheriff from going through an official swearing-in ceremony with the 38-year-old Oscar winner Tuesday. In 1982, was sworn into the same police force, when he shot That Championship Season in Scranton. Now he's directing a new movie called The Trouble With Cali in town. In fact, the family's ties with the area are so close that earlier this month the county commissioners voted to set aside $250,000 to help finance the film. What's next, a Sorvino for mayor?

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