14 more days for Spears

Celebrity gossip, famous birthdays and other tidbits, compiled from Seattle Times news services.

Britney Spears got her stay in a psychiatric ward extended Sunday, as doctors decided to keep her hospitalized an additional 14 days, someone close to the pop star told The Associated Press. Spears was committed Thursday for a 72-hour hold for evaluation. To extend her stay, hospital staff members cited a section in the state law that allows patients to be retained for medical treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others, the person said.

"Idol" contender wed

Former "American Idol" contestant Katharine McPhee and producer Nick Cokas were married Saturday in Beverly Hills, according to People magazine. McPhee, 23, and Cokas, 42, met in 2005. Fellow season-five "American Idol" contestants Kellie Pickler and Mandisa were among the 305 wedding guests. McPhee lost the "Idol" sing-off to Taylor Hicks.

On Strike

Writers announce deal

Striking writers have reached interim contract agreements with four New York-based independent filmmakers, ending their 12-week walkout, the two sides said Sunday in a joint announcement. The settlement appeared to be another step toward ending the national work stoppage by the Writers Guild of America that has brought film and television production on both coasts to a virtual standstill. The announcement follows weekend reports in Los Angeles of a possible breakthrough in union talks with Hollywood studios.

Passages

Earl L. Butz, 98, an outspoken U.S. agriculture secretary forced from office in 1976 for making a racist joke and once a dean at Purdue University, died Saturday at his son's home in Washington, D.C.

Today in History

1783: Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.

1789: Electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States. (However, the results of the balloting were not counted in the U.S. Senate until two months later).

1861: Delegates from six southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.

1945: President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

1974: Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

1998: More than 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan with a magnitude of 5.9, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Today's Birthdays

Actor Conrad Bain, 85. Movie director George A. Romero, 68. Singer Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension), 64. Former Vice President Dan Quayle, 61. Rock singer Alice Cooper, 60. Actress Lisa Eichhorn, 56. Country singer Clint Black, 46. Actress Gabrielle Anwar, 38. Singer Natalie Imbruglia, 33. Rapper Cam'ron, 32. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw, 31.