NEWS LITE : NAMES IN THE NEWS TALK SHOW HOST GIBBONS GIVES BIRTH TO NO. 3.

Talk show host Leeza Gibbons gave birth Friday to her third child - an 8-pound, 8-ounce boy named Nathan Daniel Meadows, her publicist said.

Both mother and son were doing well after a Caesarean-section delivery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, publicist Leslie Garson said.

The baby is the second son for Gibbons, 40, and her husband, Stephen Meadows. They have a 5-year-old son, Troy, and Gibbons has an 8-year-old daughter, Lexi, from a previous marriage.

``My husband and I are overjoyed with the miracle of our new child,'' Gibbons said.

Because of her pregnancy, Gibbons taped several episodes of her NBC show, ``Leeza,'' in the summer, which is normally a hiatus time. She will begin taping again Nov. 4, Garson said.

Astronaut senator in orbit for school

First he went to outer space, then to the U.S. Senate for four terms. Now John Glenn is headed for perhaps his most daunting mission yet: the college classroom.

The Ohio Democrat announced Friday that he will take a teaching position at Ohio State University after he retires from the Senate next year. He said he wants to help combat cynicism among today's students.

``I think that's something public officials not only have the opportunity, but the duty, to try to dispel,'' he said.

Glenn will be an adjunct professor in both the Department of Political Science and the School of Public Policy and Management. He also will be named a university honors distinguished fellow.

Glenn will give the university his personal papers and artifacts, ranging from his Mercury space capsule thruster and control stick to his father's World War I helmet and mess kit.

Entertainers fight nuclear waste dump

Opponents of a proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada are seeing stars: Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, John Trudell and the Indigo Girls.

The entertainers appeared at a benefit concert at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas to raise money for Citizen Alert, an environmental group fighting the plan for a temporary storage facility at the Nevada Test Site.

``You don't want this in your back yard, do you?'' Nash asked the crowd. ``Why should Nevada have it all? Don't let them dump on you.''

Highly radioactive waste is piling up at sites around the country. At issue is whether to consolidate it temporarily or wait for a permanent burial site, proposed for Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles from Las Vegas.

Hooker opens club solely for the blues

Blues legend John Lee Hooker joined friends and family in celebrating the opening of his new Boom Boom Room blues club.

``The Boogie Man'' and others plan to breathe new life into the once popular San Francisco nightspot, formerly known as Jack's. Bluesman Robert Cray and slide guitar great Roy Rogers dropped by Thursday to help Hooker celebrate the grand opening.

``It'll be nice for the neighborhood,'' said Hooker, a part owner of the club. ``They'll be pouring in.''

And just what kind of music can patrons expect from a club named after an 80-year-old blues icon who has inspired musicians from Eric Clapton to Keith Richards?

``No hard rock. Just blues and boogie,'' Hooker said.

Embezzler now pushes broom

A former schools treasurer convicted of stealing money from the district is coming back to work - this time as a janitor.

Judge Tommy Thompson ruled Wednesday that former Youngstown, Ohio, school district Treasurer Ralph Logozzo must pay a $3,000 fine, serve three months in jail and then work as a school janitor for six weeks.

Logozzo, 47, was convicted of stealing $87,000 from the district. Prosecutors said he used the money to pay for his son's wedding reception, his daughter's college tuition, his father's debts, a personal loan and other personal expenses.

Logozzo made complete restitution. The sentence also requires him to apologize to students in a speech.

Logozzo said he agreed with the sentence: ``If I can teach someone by my mistake, I would do that.''

The 12,000-student Youngstown district was declared in fiscal emergency last year, and its finances were reviewed by a state-appointed commission.

OVERHEARD

``Next to Spam, we have the most negative brand identity in the world.

- Alvin Collis

programming director for Muzak

in The Wall Street Journal

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO(1) GLENN

(2) Blues legend John Lee Hooker chats with Joyce Garcia at the opening of his new Boom Boom Room club in San Francisco.

Associated Press

(3) From the heart

Talk show host Larry King, who recently underwent heart surgery, appears in an ad announcing the heart-check certification mark on cartons of nonfat and low-fat milk. The mark was created by the American Heart Association. The advertisement will debut Monday in USA Today.

Business Wire