NEWS LITE : DUSTIN A SHOE-IN FOR AFI HONORS.

Dustin Hoffman has been tapped for what is widely considered the highest honor for a career in film.

The American Film Institute will present Hoffman with its 1999 AFI Life Achievement Award during a special tribute Feb. 18 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, it was announced Tuesday.

Previous recipients of the AFI honor include Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Jack Nicholson and Fred Astaire.

Maybe just more of Leo to love?

His fortunes rose with ``Titanic,'' but will Leonardo DiCaprio be too pudgy to make it on ``The Beach''?

The heartthrob has put on 20 pounds, thanks to a combination of junk food, nightclubbing and a knee operation that kept him out of the gym, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

DiCaprio is due to start shooting ``The Beach'' in January. His $20 million starring role will require him to spend a lot of time in bathing suits and shorts. DiCaprio is reportedly on a strict diet and has scaled back the party life. His agent called the Post report ``gossip'' and denied that he had gained 20 pounds.

Rick James hurts neck during stroke

Funk singer Rick James suffered a stroke after a blood vessel ruptured in his neck and a lengthy recuperation period will be necessary before he can walk again, his spokesman said.

Doctors were optimistic James, 50, will recover without complications, said publicist Steve Levesque.

James was in the surgical intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, but doctors decided Tuesday that surgery would not be necessary, Levesque said. Tanya Anne James, the entertainer's wife, said earlier that he was in surgery.

``He will be treated through medication. We're looking at a long recuperation,'' Levesque said. ``It's a fairly serious situation.''

Levesque said: ``The doctor called it a result of rock 'n' roll neck, the repeated rhythmic whiplash motion of the head and neck.''

Albright at home with new citizens

Excited but worried that she might be rejected because of the way she spoke and acted, 11-year-old Madeleine Korbel sailed into New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, and landed in her new homeland 50 years ago.

On Tuesday, the frightened girl from Czechoslovakia who went on to become the United States' first female secretary of state, renewed her oath of allegiance and welcomed 97 new American citizens at a naturalization ceremony at U.S. District Court in Washington.

``Today marks a new beginning in your lives and an ongoing chapter in the story of America which is, above all else, the story of immigrants,'' Madeleine Albright told the group from 31 countries at the 35-minute ceremony.

Good enough for Badenov

Former ``Seinfeld'' star Jason Alexander will go to the big screen as Boris Badenov in ``Rocky and Bullwinkle.''

Production on Universal's adaptation of the cartoon show will start in January.

N.Y. mutt is the cat's meow

The Cat of the Year is a dog. The Westchester Feline Club, sponsor of the annual Westchester Cat Show, announced Tuesday that it has chosen Ginny, a 10-year-old mutt from Long Island, for one of its highest awards.

Ginny, who is part schnauzer and part Siberian husky, was honored for her skill at finding stray and homeless cats and her willingness to share her home with them.

The Cat of the Year award is also meant to honor Philip Gonzalez of Long Beach, N.Y., Ginny's ``human companion,'' for his work in finding homes for many of the cats his scruffy canine sniffs out.

Gonzalez has placed hundreds of cats and has himself taken in a deaf cat, a one-eyed cat and a cat with no hind feet, the club said.

A Beatle, `Boss,' Billy join band at Hall of Fame

Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Billy Joel will be among the inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year, it was announced Tuesday in Cleveland. The others are Curtis Mayfield, Dusty Springfield, the Staples Singers and Del Shannon, who died in 1990.

Beatles record producer George Martin will enter in the nonperformer category. Cited in the ``early influence'' category will be R&B singer Charles Brown and the 1930s group Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, fusers of country music with swing and blues. Artists are Hall-eligible 25 years after the release of their first album. McCartney went in as part of the Beatles in 1988.

The 14th annual ceremony will be held March 15 in the Big Apple's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Clinton plans to go whole hog on bet

WASHINGTON - There's a lot of barbecue on the line, and President Clinton hopes he will be eating it after the Arkansas-Tennessee football game this weekend.

Clinton and Vice President Al Gore are betting five pounds of barbecue from their respective home states on Saturday's game between the Razorbacks and the Volunteers. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., also has a piece of the action on the Tennessee side.

``He is quite confident that he will be the recipient of this year's barbecue,'' White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said of Clinton.

``So I'm either going to have more barbecue than I can eat, or I'm going to have to take out a loan to finish Chelsea's college education,'' Clinton joked.

Offbeat

The corpses in Wheat Ridge, Colo., won't have to pay hotel taxes anymore. When the Denver suburb adopted its hotel tax decades ago, mortuaries were listed among the ``other accommodations'' subject to the tax. But last week voters approved a measure rescinding the $18 tax imposed on the dead while they await burial.

News Lite is compiled by Audrey Ramsay Prest from Daily News staff and wire reports

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PHOTO An affectionate feline snuggles next to Ginny, a 10-year-old mutt who has won the hearts of cat-lovers by rescuing hundreds of lost cats on Long Island, N.Y.

Joan Baron/Associated Press