NAMES & FACES

The Donald to the Rescue?

Real estate developer Donald Trump is in talks to rescue TV personality Ed McMahon from foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar California home, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.

Trump told the Times he stepped in after widespread publicity over McMahon's default on a $4.8 million mortgage on his six-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Beverly Hills, and he plans to buy the house from the lender and lease it back to the longtime sidekick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show."

"I don't know the man, but I grew up watching him on TV," Trump said. "I'd watch him every night. How could this happen?"

Mortgage lenders filed notice of default in February, when McMahon was about $644,000 in arrears. McMahon, 85, blamed his financial problems on having broken his neck about 18 months ago, preventing him from working.

'Potter' Delay Angers Muggles

After Warner Bros. announced that it would be pulling the sixth "Potter" film from its November release schedule -- and instead releasing it in July to take advantage of skimpier competition -- fans of the popular franchise were lighting up the Internet with their rage yesterday.

At Petitionspot.com, more than 12,000 fans signed a demand that "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," starring Daniel Radcliffe and the rest of the series stars, be returned to its long-promoted November date. Their posted comments made clear that Warner Bros. Chairman Alan Horn had, for a day at least, replaced Voldemort as the main villain in the hearts of "Potter" fans.

"They are doing this for no other reason than to make more money," 25-year-old Brooklyn resident Patrick Allen wrote in an e-mail to the Los Angeles Times.

Helen Thomas: Raring to Write

White House correspondent Helen Thomas 's quiet stay at a Washington hospital is finally over, the New York Daily News reported yesterday.

Thomas, longtime dean of the White House press corps and a columnist for Hearst newspapers, had been hospitalized since collapsing onstage in May while delivering a commencement address at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. Thomas's literary agent, Diane Nine, told the News that Thomas, 88, is now back at home, but not for too long: "She definitely plans to get back to work as soon as she can. She can't wait, actually," Nine said.

DMX Arrested in Florida

DMX 's run-ins with law enforcement just keep coming.

The 37-year-old rapper (real name: Earl Simmons) was arrested outside a Wal-Mart in North Miami Beach, Fla., yesterday, two days after he didn't show for a pretrial conference on drug charges in Arizona, Reuters reports.

Simmons, who owns a home outside Phoenix, had been expected at the pretrial conference related to marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession charges. But the rapper faces several other charges in Arizona. He was arrested in May on drug and animal-cruelty charges after sheriff's deputies raided his home, allegedly discovering dog carcasses and malnourished pit bulls. And he faces two felony charges for allegedly taking the identity of another person and giving false information during a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., in an attempt to avoid paying a bill.

"This guy is treating our legal system like a revolving door, and it's time we closed the cell door on him," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told Reuters.

-- Marissa Newhall, from wire and Web reports