"Idol" dad gets the boot

Backstage meddling caught up with "American Idol" favorite David Archuleta's dad, who has been banned from rehearsals, a person working for the TV talent contest said. Jeff Archuleta was told last week by producers that he can no longer join his 17-year-old son as he prepares for the show, said the source, who declined to be named. The elder Archuleta insisted on altering "Stand by Me," one of two songs his son sang Tuesday. By adding a verse from Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls," the father incurred additional costs for "American Idol," the source said. Fox officials declined to comment, and Jeff Archuleta could not be reached.

"W" to start filming

Director Oliver Stone, who in fewer than two weeks is to begin shooting "W," his drama about President Bush, tells Entertainment Weekly his film will be a "fair, true portrait of the man." "W" will star Josh Brolin as W and Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush. "Bush may turn out to be the worst president in history," Stone said. "But that doesn't mean he isn't a great story."

Honors

Winfrey's Harpo praised

Black Enterprise magazine named Oprah Winfrey's company, Harpo, its 2008 company of the year, and will honor her Friday in Charlotte, N.C. Winfrey, 54, who is worth $2.5 billion, tells the magazine how she turned a five-person production company into a multimedia company that last year grossed $345 million. Winfrey said that in her business, as in life, she relies more on inspiration than on calculation: "I haven't planned one thing — ever."

Theater

Break a ... wrist?

An actor in "The Little Mermaid" broke his wrists after falling at least 20 feet through a trap door to the stage minutes before a performance of the popular Broadway production. Adrian Bailey, 51, an ensemble member who plays various roles throughout the musical, was taken from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, the Fire Department said. The actor fell while preparing for the show's first scene, in which a boat is lowered to the stage, he said. The audience was in the theater, but the curtain was down. The show had not begun and was delayed about an hour.

Upbeat

Katrina loser wins big

Carl Hunter, a construction-company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina, claimed a $97 million Powerball prize last week, a jackpot won off a ticket he bought at a Metairie, La., convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk. Hunter, 73, won the jackpot in January, but waited nearly four months to claim the prize. Hunter took a lump-sum payment that will give the couple $33.9 million after taxes, according to lottery officials. Asked why he waited so long to turn in the winning ticket, Hunter said he wanted to wrap up some of his construction work and finish his outstanding contracts.

Today in History

1502: Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

1910: Glacier National Park in Montana was established.

1996: An Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Everglades, killing all 110 people aboard.

Today's Birthdays

Rock singer Eric Burdon (The Animals; War), 67. Country musician Mark Herndon, 53. Actress Martha Quinn, 49. Actress Natasha Richardson, 45. Actor Coby Bell, 33. Actor Jonathan Jackson, 26.

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