Toothsome and Then Some

(Courtesy Black Enterprise)

Black Enterprise put Takoma Park dentist Lynn Locklear on the August cover because she's the magazine's Business Innovator of the Year for breaking new ground in her field: She specializes in neuromuscular dentistry and utilizes aromatherapy, chocolate chip cookies and a holistic approach in her solo practice, which brought in $1.2 million in revenue last year. Okay, sure . . . but being the "the most beautiful dentist in America" (as one patient described the 43-year-old Howard U-trained Locklear) couldn't hurt. "That's very sweet," she said yesterday.

THIS JUST IN . . .

· CNN has hired Fidel Castro's estranged illegitimate daughter, Alina Fernandez , as a network contributor on Cuba, which could make for some pretty interesting television. "I'll bring the honesty I have," said Fernandez, who hasn't spoken to her father for 13 years. She will provide analysis and commentary from Miami beginning this morning.

Born in 1956, she fled Cuba in 1993 and is now a Miami radio host and author of "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba." "I have an inside knowledge of the way my family thinks and acts," she said last night. "I know what I'm speaking about." Cuba, she said, is always a hotbed of rumors; the peculiarity now is the turnover of power to Castro's brother, Raúl . Still, she believes reports coming from her half brother and aunt that her 79-year-old father is out of danger. "He must be very weak, but I don't believe he's about to die."

Madonna's thorny image.(Dave Hogan - Getty Images)

· Trying to keep up with Angelina, Madonna tells Time that she's dedicating herself to orphans in the African country of Malawi by raising $3 million for an orphanage and $1 million for a documentary -- this as she's outraging Italian religious leaders with plans to wear a crown of thorns and hang from a mirrored cross in her Rome concert on Sunday. "To crucify yourself in the city of the pope and the martyrs is an act of open hostility," said Cardinal Ersilio Tonini.

· Star Jones Reynolds is not getting a divorce. After rumors surfaced yet again that the former "View" co-host and Al Reynolds are on the rocks, she issued a statement decrying the "baldfaced lies" and threatened to sue. That'll hold those gossips . . . oh, a week or so.

· CBS got Katie Couric , and now the network wants a new theme song for the "Evening News." She's the queen of the world ! Cue Academy Award-winning composer James Horner , who won Oscars for the "Titanic" score, and song "My Heart Will Go On." Horner's new theme will debut alongside La Couric in September.

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . .

· Andre Agassi dining at Equinox with Steve Case and three others on Monday night. The group indulged in the downtown restaurant's elaborate tasting menu and some seriously pricey bottles of wine, lingering until 10 p.m. Alas, the following evening Agassi, who is on his farewell tour as a pro this summer, got bounced from the first round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic and threw his racket in disgust.

SURREAL ESTATE

Seller: Clara Bingham and David Michaelis

Buyers: Curt and Deborah Winsor

Price : $5.2 million

After sitting on the market for months, the historic Georgetown mansion owned by the newspaper heiress and her writer husband has finally sold -- for a million less than the listing price. The 34th Street house is best known as the longtime residence of the late ambassador David Bruce and his wife, Evangeline , the great Washington hostess and social arbiter. The eight-bedroom, six-bath 1810 brick Federal was purchased by the Bank of Georgetown chairman and his wife and boasts a 34-foot-long ballroom, two-tier garden and nine-room storage bunker with two wine cellars. Still available: The house around the corner owned by former senator John Edwards -- the place has been on the market over a year and now is a relative bargain at $5.6 million.

UPDATE

Just as well that Tom DeLay switched his residency to the Old Dominion: A Texas judge has squashed his attempt to keep packing a pistol back home.

The former House majority leader, who gave up his congressional seat in June, lost his concealed-weapon permit after he was indicted on campaign money-laundering charges -- Texas law prohibits anyone facing felony charges from carrying a gun. DeLay's lawyer filed an appeal in February, but a Fort Bend County judge quietly dismissed it last month, according to court records, on what looks to be a bit of a technicality (DeLay didn't send the state public-safety officials a certified copy of his petition).

DeLay's Austin attorney Steve Brittain did not return our call, so it's unclear if DeLay has recourse other than hoping for an acquittal or for the charges to be dropped. Sadly, his change of address won't help: Virginia also prohibits folks charged with a felony from packing heat.